Epilogue: Portraits
[Angel Grove City Park, Saturday, June 21, 4:25 pm]
A few days later, all six Rangers spent some time at the park, taking in the fresh air and getting everything back to normal. It was so good, they all thought, to finally have a day when they could at least feel like ordinary teenagers (or in Justin's case, an ordinary kid). While Justin and the three girls watched from under a shade tree, Tommy and Adam sparred. "Wow, who would've thought that if it weren't for Master Vile way back then, you and Adam probably wouldn't even be here now!" Kat said to Andréa, recalling how Master Vile had attacked Earth two years before.
"Yeah, no kidding," the Purple Ranger said, "but who's to say that any of you guys couldn't have lived in another time too? I think we'd probably still be here now, but maybe just in a different way. But none of that really matters anyway. We're all here now, and that's what's important."
At the same time, Tommy and Adam were having their own conversation. "C'mon, let's face it, Tommy," Adam said as he waited for his friend to strike, "you're afraid that I'm gonna take over as leader now!"
Tommy tried a spinning kick but missed. "No way man, I'm the leader!" He then tried a punch, but Adam blocked it right away. "I've been the leader since before you were even on the team! You know that!"
Adam copied Tommy's kick, his attempt more successful in knocking his friend to the ground. "Yeah, but you've forgotten how Rae and I were two of the first Rangers ever created," he replied, standing over the Red Ranger, "and that was long before you even became a Ranger! You just don't want to admit that you're jealous!"
"Okay, okay, I admit it," Tommy finally gave in as Adam helped him up, "I am a bit jealous. I do feel like you're trying to upstage me now." A playful grin crossed his face. "But when you're using your Turbo powers like the rest of us, I'm in charge, got it?" He struck out at Adam again.
"All right," Adam agreed to the proposition, blocking Tommy anyway by twisting his arm some. "However, when I'm using my Black Dragon powers, that's when I take over! Fair enough?"
Tommy finally got in a lucky shot and knocked Adam to the ground. "Fair enough," he replied, pulling his friend up.
Kat glanced over to see that Andréa had her sketchbook open and was working in it. "So what are you working on now?" she asked.
"It's actually something I'd started back on Tuesday," Andréa replied, "but I decided to change a few things after what happened after that."
"Can we see?" Tanya inquired. Andréa showed the two girls the unfinished drawing, which already looked like a portrait of Adam as he looked during the battle on Khalterria and was also based on a quick photograph taken just after the two of them had returned two days before. "Wow Rae, that's incredible!" she complimented her. "You're a really good artist!"
"Thanks," Andréa said, slightly blushing.
"I'm not surprised you're doing something like that," Kat commented. "That must have been quite an experience."
"Oh, it was," Andréa replied, watching the boys spar some more as Justin eagerly joined Tommy and Adam, "it definitely was. And now that I think about it, this is probably the closest Adam and I have ever been in our relationship. I think a lot of it comes from how much we really had to rediscover ourselves." She paused for a moment, glancing back down at the drawing before looking back at Adam and closing her sketchbook. "One thing's for sure though . . . I'm never gonna look at Adam the same again."
Kat couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think any of us are," she said.
"Yeah," Tanya added. "I guess things wouldn't have worked out between us to begin with, seeing as how the two of you were really supposed to be together all this time anyway."
Andréa smiled at the Yellow Ranger. "So you're not jealous or anything?"
"Of course not! I haven't been jealous of you since before I knew who you were!" Tanya paused for a moment. "To be perfectly honest, I think you and Adam make a really great couple regardless of you being destined to be together. Besides, I've got Zack now." Her eyes lit up as she said that name.
"Uh oh, here she goes again," Kat joked.
Andréa stared back out at Adam again, all the scenes from her nightmare two nights before suddenly and unexpectedly coming back to her. "But there was a time the other day when I almost thought I was going to lose him again," she said softly. "It tore me to pieces, almost making me afraid to go into battle. Oh my god, I try not to think about it, but that nightmare still keeps coming back to haunt me even after the battle, and it still scares me. I'm still afraid something like that could really happen to either one of us. I don't even know what I would do if it did."
"Being a Ranger definitely does have its risks," Tanya commented, "but yeah, it would just be so hard to believe that any one of us could get seriously hurt or even killed in battle."
"Rae, you're not the only one who's at least given it some thought," Kat added, looking out at Tommy. "I've sometimes wondered about it myself, what the rest of us would have to do and if we'd have to end up revealing our identities because of it in one way or another." She noticed how Andréa was barely even listening. "Hey, are you all right?"
Andréa nearly jumped upon hearing Katherine again. "Oh, sorry about that," she sighed. "It's just . . . I think I need some time by myself." She then stood up and started to walk away.
Adam stopped what he was doing when he saw Andréa walking away from the girls in silence. When Tommy noticed how his friend wasn't paying attention to him and Justin anymore, he looked over to find Adam with a moderately distressed expression on his face. "Hey buddy, something wrong?" Tommy asked, tapping him on the shoulder.
The question broke Adam out of his daze. "Oh, uh, no, it's nothing," he said, obviously lying. He could sense that something was troubling Andréa, but he didn't know what. Rae, what's going on? he tried to ask her telepathically. Andréa gave him no response; she was blocking him out in the same manner he had with her a few days before. "I'll be right back . . ." he said to the others, then looked out at Andréa again. ". . . Then again, maybe not."
Before anyone could even ask anything more, Adam quickly trotted off in her direction. Katherine, Tommy, Tanya, and Justin didn't have to be mind-readers to know that this had to do with the two's journey to Khalterria; in fact, they hadn't even known about Adam and Andréa's telepathic link yet. But though they were all friends and could talk about nearly everything with each other, the four of them knew that this was something that it would have been best for them to stay out of.
* * *
Adam eventually found Andréa standing and looking out at the lake, apparently deep in thought about something. The late afternoon breeze blew her long hair around carelessly, Andréa totally oblivious to it. Come on Rae, just tell me what's on your mind, Adam tried to say to her again. I can't help you if I don't know what your problem is. She was still doing a good job of blocking him out, even overpowering his manipulative abilities. "Man, she must really want to be alone if I can't even tap into her thoughts," he said to himself.
Just then, Adam found Andréa's sketchbook sitting in the grass right in front of him. "I wonder why she left this here," he continued to himself as he picked it up. Curious as to what could have been in it, Adam opened it up and flipped through some of the pages. "My god, I had no idea," he said, noticing how the very first page was a very lifelike portrait of him despite there being a date from 1994 written on it, that year being when Adam had first become a Ranger. Though she had told him about how she had already felt a connection to him when she first saw him, Adam never would have guessed that it went all the way back to that point in time. Looking over more of the work, he found several more very realistic portraits like that dated all the way up to the middle of 1996, which was when she had first moved to Angel Grove; nearly the entire sketchbook was filled with portraits or some kind of drawings of Adam in some shape or form. If they had known each other that long, one easily might have thought her to be obsessed, but how could Andréa have been obsessed with someone she had never met until not quite a year before? In between some other sketches of different things and a few pictures of someone else he didn't recognize, there were even more portraits of him: a few of him as Zeo Ranger IV, two from the first time he was the White Ranger, a couple as the Green Turbo Ranger, and then one as the White Ranger the second time around. Finally, Adam came across Andréa's latest work-in-progress. He looked at it hard, the photograph still paper-clipped to the page, then looked back up at her wandering along the beach. "Maybe that's what's on her mind," Adam wondered out loud as he closed the sketchbook. He knew Andréa wanted to be alone, but he also knew, thanks to her, that even when one wants to be alone, it's always good to have a companion there for them.
Adam walked quietly towards Andréa, careful to keep his distance in the event that she really didn't want him to be around. Without even turning to look, she knew that he was a few feet behind her. "I really kinda wanted to be by myself right now, Adam," she said emotionlessly, still looking out over the lake. "It's not that I don't want you around, but more because I just wanted some time to think about stuff." Yeah, like trying to figure out why things went the way they did in that dream of mine, especially the reason why Rowen had shown up in it and was acting the way he was towards me . . . she decided to leave to herself.
"I understand," Adam replied, "but I remember what you said the other day, how even when we want to be alone, sometimes it's better if there's someone there who you can talk to about it, and that's why I followed you." Andréa turned to face him, an emotionless expression still on her face. "Rae," he then said, partially changing the subject, "there's something I think I need to tell you."
Andréa glanced back at him as he came up to her. "What's that?"
Adam wasn't sure how to put this into words, but he knew that it had to be said sooner or later. "Do you remember the other day when I had found that sword and you saw me in that armor?"
"Yeah," she replied, "but what about it?"
Adam took a deep breath and let it go. "A long time ago," he began, "when I was still living in Corinthia and two years before we had met, I was told about a prophecy regarding that sword. It said that there was a powerful talisman that was supposed to fit into it and then reveal an equally powerful warrior, the Warrior of Corinthia."
"And you think your FireStar Crystal is that talisman?" Andréa asked, just to make sure she was following everything.
"I think so," Adam replied. "But it doesn't end there. The prophecy also said that this warrior would eventually become the true ruler of Corinthia, the Immortal King, who would come at a time of great need and then bring peace to the land for all time. And I have this feeling that I just might be this warrior, and that's why that happened the other day."
Andréa thought about that for a moment, finally understanding why Adam didn't want to tell her anything then, but was still curious. "Well," she said, "we did come back at a time of great need, and we finally brought peace to Khalterria, but it's just really . . . I don't know what to believe anymore after everything that's happened. But if this really does happen, that you really do turn out to be this king someday, what would I do?"
"I don't know," Adam answered, "but right now, we'll just have to take this one step at a time and wait for that time to come." He paused for a moment. "By the way," he continued, handing Andréa the sketchbook, "you left this back there."
"Oh . . . yeah . . ." she sighed, reluctantly accepting it, ". . . thanks . . . I think." Andréa found it somewhat difficult to look Adam in the eye. "So I'm guessing you saw everything that was in there, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did," Adam said. He then noticed how she still wasn't looking at him. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"No, absolutely not," Andréa answered. "It's just, well . . . I tend to be real private about some of my work, kind of like keeping a journal, you know, even though I had a feeling that I would've eventually been letting you see those anyway." She paused for a moment, finally looking back up at Adam. "Do you like them though?"
Adam smiled. "Of course I like them," he responded. "Why shouldn't I when they're that good?"
"Oh, I don't know." Andréa set the sketchbook down on the ground and turned back to face the lake, still standing next to Adam. "If you really want to know why I'm out here," she changed the subject, "it's because I somehow got to thinking about that nightmare again." She looked at him once more. "Have you ever been scared that something like that could really happen to us and we'd end up losing each other again?"
"More than anything," Adam said softly as he took her hand. "I've thought about it a lot since I found out you were a Ranger. When Divatox took you a while back, I was so afraid that you would've been killed or that you would've tried to kill me. And now after all this, I've barely been able to stop thinking about the possibility of losing you too. It's become one of my biggest fears in life now. But I obviously don't have to ask your opinion on that."
Andréa nodded. "Oh my god, how can't I be scared? The way my life has been so far, it shouldn't have to be much of a surprise. And though there were a few times early on in our relationship when I was afraid that I might lose you, this is by far the worst." She paused for a moment. "I know this is a really pathetic thing to ask but . . . what do you think you'd do if you were to lose me?"
"I really don't even want to think about that right now," Adam told her. "I'd rather think about us being together." He brushed a lock of hair from her face and lifted her chin, looking into her eyes. "I want us to be together for as long as we possibly can. This isn't going to be anything like last time." Drawing her in as closely as possible, Adam kissed Andréa gently on the lips. "Adrian's finally found Aurora after thousands of years of searching for her, and this time he won't let her go ever again."
Andréa rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, his long hair brushing up against her face. It was moments like these when both of them knew that their love was and would always be for real. "I believe you, Adam," she replied softly, "and I really do hope that everything you say will be true." I will always love you, Adrian, she then said telepathically as a few tears slid down her face.
I promise never to leave you again, Aurora my sweet, Adam responded in kind, still holding onto her in fear of losing her again as he let a few tears fall as well. And I promise that I will always be here for you when you need me, no matter what may happen to us.
The End . . . for now