Part Four

"Okay," Captain Mitchell declared twenty minutes later, shutting the doors to the conference room behind him as the six Power Rangers and Miss Fairweather filed in, "now that we're finally here, in private, care to clue us in on what happened out there, Ryan?" He gave his son a strong look of bewilderment.

Ryan found he couldn't meet the gaze of his dad, and ducked his head to glance at the cold gray floor.

"Yeah," Carter piped up, propping himself sturdily against the side of the large conference table in the middle of the room. "You never told me what Vypra was doing in your room earlier."

"Vypra was in your room?!" Dana cried in surprise, her blue eyes wide.

"This is just getting too weird for my taste..." Joel muttered, taking a seat at the table and placing his hat down.

A long, unnerving silence passed as the seven of them waited for Ryan's answers to their questions, but he didn't speak up. How could he? He was still reeling himself from the shock of the actual fact that he was going to be a father!

But as he thought it over, it did make some sense. It explained her weight gain and perhaps even her moodiness over the last few weeks that he noticed but always seemed to dismiss. Ryan continued to ponder, avoiding the confrontation of questions until Miss Fairweather finally spoke up.

"Ryan," she paused, as he glanced up at her, "maybe you could start answering everyone's questions by explaining how Vypra is human."

His jaw nearly dropped to the floor. How did she know?! Victoria's demon-persona of Vypra was made so that everyone would assume she was Diabolico's real blood daughter, at least that's what he had always assumed in his mind. Everyone believing she was a demon hid the real truth behind her powers...and it kept her safe. "How did you know?" he insisted darkly, somewhat upset his lover's cover had been blown.

The rest of the group appeared taken aback by the sudden turn in his attitude. "So she IS human?" Miss Fairweather pressed, not backing down on her curiosity.

Ryan hesitated, lingering on whether to admit it. "Yes, she is," he replied finally. Figuring they would want to know more and would be relentless until they found out the entire truth of his situation, he continued to explain. "That's not her real name either. Her name is Victoria.

"When Diabolico kidnapped me, he took to me to a crypt and left me with her. She had been their a year longer than I had, but she had been brought there the same way I was; her mother gave her to Diabolico by choice." He wasn't so sure if he should be telling them her entire history, but decided to because it would help him explain Victoria's attachment to Diabolico. "Diabolico is the only real parental figure she's had in her life, so she calls him her father; I used to as well."

Ryan spotted the pained look that fell upon his dad's face, but continued before anyone could say anything. "Victoria and I, we grew up together: slept together, ate together, played together...we were never alone. It's what we both were afraid of.

"Diabolico raised us for fourteen years, trained us and molded us. I trained to be his warrior; Victoria trained to be his enchantress. She mastered all ten arts of demonic magic, that's why she's always so strong when you fight her. She uses her protection spells. It's also why she wears all that armor; it's her disguise. To be Vypra, is to be demon and to be demon allows her easier access to the magic."

"That still doesn't why she was in your room this morning," Carter pointed out, trying not to be controlling but not being able to help himself.

Ryan paced the room once, stopping by the window and staring out into the watery depths of the ocean. He knew explaining his relationship with Victoria would be the hardest point of his story because he didn't want to tell them he was madly in love with her. However, he knew it would be the only answer that would satisfy Carter's query.

He faced the group again, all of their eyes intently focused on him. "Victoria and I slept together for thirteen years without one sexual thought about each other. We were just friends and companions, training together and sleeping with one another. That relationship changed around six months ago."

"Aww, man," Joel abruptly groaned, covering his face with his hat as everyone glared over at him. "Do we have to hear about your love life, Ryan?"

"This time, you do," Ryan remarked flippantly. Somewhat irritated by the interruption, he ended up snapping out his next comment with a kind of harsh nonchalance. "You see, Victoria's pregnant; two months pregnant. And she just told me that a half-hour ago."

"WHAT?!"

"Well, that explains the time we saw you at the flea market making out with her," Kelsey coughed quietly, recalling the day and totally veering away from the pregnancy subject.

"You remember that?" Ryan questioned eagerly, happy that someone was choosing to avoid the subject he had brought up.

"Wait a minute," Chad spoke up, interrupting Ryan and Kelsey's talk and steering them back to the uncomfortable and shocking subject. He was on his feet, leaning forward on the table towards the blond man. "So you mean, neither one of you used protection?"

Ryan shoved a trembling hand through his hair and rolled his eyes at Chad's question, which he thought was utterly stupid. At that moment, to him EVERYTHING seemed utterly stupid except his dad's reaction that he hadn't seen yet because Captain Mitchell had his back turned to Ryan completely. "What do you think, Chad?" he scoffed, trying to get his nervous trembling under control. He had never trembled before, except for when he was with Victoria in bed and they were...he stopped himself before he started thinking of that again. "It's not like Diabolico was handing out condoms or something!"

"Well, ain't that great?" Joel remarked with a sarcastic sigh. "You got your girlfriend, who just HAPPENS to be our enemy, pregnant. What do you want us to do? Stop attacking her altogether and let her take over Mariner Bay for Diabolico?"

Ryan groaned angrily, whipping his foot out to viciously kick at the wall. "I don't know why I told you all this," he muttered in regret, his voice slowly rising as he glared heatedly at everyone in the room. "I should've known you would react like this...like she was some kind of manipulative person. I should've never told you all about her...it was better off before!"

"No," Ryan's dad's clear and loud voice cut through the air swiftly, bringing silence with it.

Glancing over at his dad, Ryan arched his eyebrow in confusion. "No?"

"It's better off that you told us, Ryan," Captain Mitchell persisted, taking a few steps towards his son. "Has Diabolico ever told you about a prophecy-"

"The one about the two children raised to become a warrior and enchantress?" the blond man finished for him. "Yeah, Diabolico told us all about that right before we came to Mariner Bay, just about the same time he gave Victoria her Vypra armor."

"Did he tell you the entire prophecy?" The older man pressed, resting a hand down on the table next to him while staring directly into his son's eyes. "Did he tell you that the two chosen children - the warrior and the enchantress - were supposed to bear to a child of both worlds: magic and strength? And that their child would overthrow Queen Bansheera's rule and launch Diabolico into power?"

"What!" Ryan cried, completely thrown and stunned. "Diabolico didn't tell me anything about that!"

Captain Mitchell nodded his head, expecting Ryan to have not known that part. "Vypra probably knew when you didn't," he suggested, leveling with his son and telling him what he believed. "She may have manipulated you so that she could have the child for Diabolico...you did say that she looked up to him like her father, right?"

Ryan's head was swimming. Had Victoria known? Did she manipulate him into making love to her so that she could help Diabolico? "No," he declared quite strongly, glancing around the room once more and suddenly feeling incredibly claustrophobic. "She couldn't have; she wouldn't have lied to me...even for Diabolico..."

The need to get out of the conference room became even more intense and he suddenly burst, pushing through the group of people to run out the door and down the hallway.

Watching her brother become completely frantic, Dana tried to follow him out the room, but Captain Mitchell stopped her. "Dana," she turned to look at her father, her eyes welling with worry for her older brother, "leave him alone. He needs some time to absorb it all."

***

Diabolico and Victoria stood alone in the gathering room of Skull Cavern on opposite sides in complete silence. Many hours had passed sionce they returned from Mariner Bay, but they continued to simply stare at one another in silence, waiting for the other to speak first.

Victoria eventually gave in, sitting down against a pillar and playing with the folds in the billowy skirt of her emerald green sundress that she had changed into out of her armor. "You didn't attack, Ryan," she stated, being terribly blunt to start the conversation that had to take place between them both before they could move on with their lives.

"You told him you are having his child," Diabolico shot right back, standing a few feet away from where Impus slept on his own pillar.

"I assumed it was what you wanted me to do, Father," she replied, arching her brow while her brown eyes shifted slightly from him. "It WAS what you wanted, correct?"

"Ryan deserved to know," the demon remarked meaningfully. "Even if he doesn't know of the prophecy surrounding the child."

Victoria gasped, her face taking on a frazzled look of horror. "What do you mean, Father? You didn't tell him?!"

"Never."

She lifted herself from the ground and began to wander the room in a dazed fashion. Biting her lip furiously, she touched a pillar tentatively and snapped her head around to look Diabolico's way once more. "But, he said you told him the entire prophecy?! He told me before we...before we had sex the first time; he said he knew everything!" Her voice was frantic, trying to understand what had happened.

"Perhaps he believed he knew everything," Diabolico responded, sounding somewhat cryptic in his answering.

"I have to go tell him everything," she declared out loud to herself. Before she moved to leave though, she swiveled on her father. "First, tell me why you spared Ryan's life?"

"It would be a waste to destroy such a warrior as he." He folded his arms across his chest, tapping his claw absently as if he were trying to kill time.

"If that is so, then why did you give him the cobra?"

"I had to take my vengeance somehow."

"He is still in your favor, even though he betrayed you?"

"I raised Ryan and you in my image." Diabolico walked over to where Victoria held her ground steadily, and cupped his surrogate daughter's cheek with his large hand. "I expected you to leave me, to betray me, to lie to me and to disobey me eventually. It is only human...and that is what you both truly are, no matter how I may wish it.

"You, my dear Victoria, are human. Yes, your thinking is of my child - of a demon - but you are human no matter. I have come to accept that, and I respect that of both you and Ryan."

The petite woman gazed up into her father's face, the fury dissipating from her own eyes. What was he saying? What was he trying to imply? "Are you...letting me go?" She stammered, totally thrown by his words. "I thought you wanted me to stay."

"You can only stay where you feel you belong."

Victoria bowed her head quietly, understanding the full extent of his words.

***

Ryan sat subdued on the sofa within his quarters, his iridescent green eyes staring blankly down at the floor.

Shards of broken glass littered the room, reminders of Ryan's fury. When he had stormed out of the conference room, he returned to his own private sanctuary within the Aquabase and began throwing things in his fit of frustration.

At first, it had been little and light things - like pillows - but when the pillows ran out, he advanced to the glass cups and pitcher filled with water resting on the table; in the middle of the common room was a puddle of standing water. When the glasses ran out, he turned to the chairs until his flame of anger suddenly burned out.

So there he sat, cradling his glass cut hand to his chest, letting all his confusing emotions engulf him and swallow him whole. Pain, regret, loneliness...they were all there, churning within him and he couldn't do anything about it. Fact was, he didn't know WHAT do to about it.

Ryan didn't even react when a knock came to his door and Kelsey's voice wavered into his hearing. "Ryan, open up. It's me, Kelsey. I just wanna talk to you."

Kelsey's knocking persisted when Ryan didn't answer - and after awhile of waiting - the Yellow Ranger simply forced her way into his quarters by opening the door herself. "Ryan, are you alright?" She instantly shut her mouth when she glanced around, surveying the damage he had ravaged upon the room. "Ohmigod! Ryan, what happened here?" The brunette rushed up to him, kneeling down before him.

His gaze never wavered, never left the floor, no matter HOW much Kelsey tugged on him or pleaded with him.

"Ryan, TALK TO ME!" she cried insistently. Pulling the arm that he had cradled away from his chest, she gasped at the sight of the angry crimson gash cutting cleanly across his entire turned-up palm.

Finally responding to some kind of stimulus, Ryan raised his eyes to glance at his bleeding hand within Kelsey's grip. "I cut myself," he whispered meekly in a somewhat detached voice, not quite believing what he was seeing.

"Yeah," she agreed, leaving him for once minute to find a towel. Once she found one, Kelsey quickly pressed it down against the cut, trying to stop the blood from oozing. "Here," she took his undamaged hand and moved it so it was holding the towel down on his cut, "hold that and keep it like that for now."

Ryan nodded dazedly as Kelsey slipped her fingers over to her communicator on her morpher and called the other rangers hastily, hoping they'd be able to help her get Ryan out of his trance.

Waiting for the others to arrive, Kelsey watched Ryan intently as his concentration and all his thoughts appeared to be directed towards simply holding down the cloth of his wound. It truly frightened her...just how withdrawn he seemed.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!"

Kelsey was knocked out of her observation of the young man by the familiar yell, and when she snapped her head in the voice's point of origin she was met with a startling surprise.

There, standing in the doorway between Ryan's bedroom and the common room was Vypra...or should she have called her Victoria?

She wasn't dressed in her usual armor, instead she donned an airy dark green sundress, and she carried herself much more lightly that she did when they were in battle. She looked far more human that she had ever before. So perhaps calling her Victoria WAS appropriate.

Victoria's eyes were as wide as saucers while she surveyed the room, and became even wider when she saw the condition of her lover. Without one bit of hesitation, she dashed across the room madly through the mess to Ryan's side.

Easily shoving the brunette aside, Victoria took Ryan's hands into her own. "Ryan, you've gotta take this off towel off your hand," she said; her voice was tender and coaxing, but incredibly shaken at the same time. She eyed the blood-soaked rag in worry.

"Okay," he replied in a child-like manner, removing the towel from his bruised hand.

She looked directly into his eyes before she began to heal him and let out a shuddered breath. They were clouded and completely out of focus; he was in shock.

She let her hand hover over his cut and quickly Victoria forced herself to concentrate her thoughts. To heal Ryan she had to. To SAVE Ryan she had to.

As Victoria began the process of healing Ryan, someone at the door knocked and Kelsey, who had been simply watching the couple, moved to open it, allowing the other rangers and Captain Mitchell to file in. "What is she doing here?!" Joel hissed, sounding somewhat spiteful.

"She just showed up." Kelsey shrugged, just as confused while watching Victoria go to work. "I think she's healing Ryan though."

They continued to watch in silence as the usual blue mist formed from Victoria's hand, eating away at Ryan's cut and healing it shut so that there wasn't even a scar left behind. She then turned her attention to his shirt that was soaked in the blood from when he had held his hand against his chest. Gently unzipping his shirt, she stared at the blood splotch on his chest and easily "thought" away the blood.

From there, her hands slid up to clutch at his head. Victoria shut her brown eyes once more and almost instantly a halo of orange light flared up around her hands placed on either side of Ryan's head. After many long minutes of no movement from either Victoria or Ryan, both of their bodies suddenly shook from a violent tremor and their eyes snapped open at exactly the same time, gazing at one another.

"I have questions," Ryan stated bluntly, his hands moving to absently re-zip his shirt.

"And I have your answers." Victoria pulled her hands away from his head. "That's why I originally came, but when I saw the room and I saw you bleeding..."

"...you got scared." He reached out to brush a stray lock of her pretty bronze hair from her face. "I got angry. I'm sorry."

"Anyone care to explain what's going on here?"

Ryan and Victoria, who had completely forgotten they weren't alone in the room, turned to face Captain Mitchell and the rangers.

Victoria instantly froze up and stood up from where she had been sitting on the floor, trying to leave as quickly as possible. Before she could leave however, Ryan grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Stay, Victoria," he urged her, meeting his leader's harsh gaze, but still talking to his girlfriend. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Listening to him, Victoria took her spot beside Ryan and held her ground. Sure, she hadn't wanted to face all of them at once...but there they were and here she was. She wasn't about to show fear and back away now. "They certainly don't share your sentiment, Ryan," she retorted heatedly, crossing her arms across her chest and almost reverting into her persona of Vypra; just simply lacking the armor.

A bitter feminine chortle came from the back of the group of people confronting the villainess and Dana quickly stepped forward, facing down her brother's supposed lover. Dana was a forgiving person and well, she was pretty open-minded, but she couldn't bring herself to play nice with Victoria. Not after she knew that the woman had most likely USED her brother like an inanimate tool. "You LIED to Ryan and forced him to have sex with you so you could give Diabolico a child," she spat hideously, her voice laced with acid. "Of COURSE we're not going to see you like the innocent that you may claim to be!"

"Dana-" Ryan was cut off by Victoria as she placed a calming hand on his arm, slowing his building rage.

"No...let her yell at me; I deserve it." She shrugged, leaving Ryan's side and pacing before her "jury". She realized she had to let Vypra go for awhile, that it was about time Victoria took responsibility for her alter-ego's actions. Vypra had created a reputation of true and forceful evil for Victoria, and now she needed to clear her name. "Even if there is no truth behind your words, Pink Ranger, you should all be allowed to take one shot at me. However, before you do, let met just tell you a few things.

"When I first met Ryan he was scared and frightened. He wanted his father and his sister, his family." She paused to direct a light glance at Captain Mitchell and Dana, then returned to her monologue and pacing. "I knew he wouldn't be able to have that; I knew Diabolico, my FATHER, would keep him locked up in the crypt with me until he wanted to let us go. So I gave Ryan solace; I calmed his tears. I TRIED to replace his family the best way that I could by myself, being only but a child. I would always be there by his side, hugging and holding him when he needed it and he did the same for me. Anytime Ryan got injured, I was the one to heal his wounds - life-threatening or otherwise. I've spent the last fourteen years of my life with him as his only family; I know him better than any of you will no matter how hard you may try.

"I know his favorite color is gray. I know that his favorite food is pineapples. I know that he hates chocolate because it's too sweet. I know that he keeps a dagger hidden in his right boot at all times. I know how dreadfully loyal he can be...and I know that he is torn between his loyalty to my father and to his own father. You don't see it, but I can."

"Why would he have any loyalty to Diabolico?" Carter spat at her insinuating words. "Diabolico only kidnapped Ryan and brainwashed him!"

Victoria gritted her teeth, nearly grinding them. They had no right to speak of what they didn't know! "You don't know anything, Red Ranger," she retorted fiercely, snapping her hand out and allowing it to pulse a beauteous crimson before extinguishing it. "You never LIVED with Diabolico...you never experienced the attention or the emotion he fed to us, and ONLY us. We were raised as his children, in his image."

"And that's exactly why you are dangerous, Vypra," Joel finally spoke in an accusing tone, pointing his finger straight at her. "You were raised like Diabolico...we can only expect Diabolico-like thoughts from you."

Ryan, who had remained fairly quiet in the time where his companion had tried defending herself, let out an deeply angered growl from within his throat. "If that's the way you all insist on seeing Victoria, then maybe you should see me the same way too." He reached out to grab the petite woman's small wrist within his hand. "After all, I was raised from the same mold she was!"

Before anyone could protest, the couple was swept away by Victoria's usual aura.

***

"You brought us here; you accessed my magic..."

"Yeah, well...the mental bond was still there from when you entered my mind."

Victoria stood behind Ryan's kneeling form as he stared out into the endless horizon from his perch on the jutting edge of the cliff they now were on. "Aren't you going to ask me any questions?"

"I could."

"Then please do."

Ryan cocked his at her awkwardly, arching up to look her in the face. "Why didn't you tell me about the rest of the prophecy?"

Seeing his uncomfortable position, Victoria bent down and sat beside him, her legs dandling over the edge of the cliff like it was no big deal and there was no big drop below her. "I asked you before we first had sex if you knew the entire prophecy." She spoke rather casually, her brown eyes simply gazing at her swinging feet. "You said, "Uh-huh" and I went with that."

"I would've said that I said I was a COW in that position when you asked me!" Ryan cried, laughing a little while recalling the moment exactly when she proposed the question. "I'd think any guy with half a brain would've said yes to that question if they were in my place, Victoria."

Her pretty head of brown hair instantly shot up at his response and she looked at him with a fairly hurt expression mirrored in her brown eyes. "You were using me then?"

"No!" Ryan registered her obvious interpretation of what he had just said and quickly tried to amend his last comment. "I mean, I wasn't totally conscious of what the hell I was saying when you asked me. I was utterly enamored with YOU...because, well, to me you're like a drug: the best drug this Earth has to offer; a drug that I'm completely happy to be addicted to." He paused, picking up a nearby pebble and tossing it over the cliff with a sigh. "Besides, I THOUGHT I knew the entire prophecy...that is until my dad told me the entire thing."

Victoria's hurt faded into understanding, returning her gaze to her feet. "Father said he was going to let me go," she told after a long silence between the two of them fell again. "I don't know what's wrong with him...I always thought that he WANTED me to stay with him! And I always thought I wanted to stay by his side, but recently, that's all changed..."

Ryan was truly excited by the news that she presented him with, but he certainly didn't express it. He didn't want to startle Victoria, and he didn't want to get his hopes too high up far too fast. He knew Diabolico was capable of lying...even to the woman that he claimed as his surrogate daughter.

Besides, it sounded a little odd to him. Diabolico was acting a little too friendly for Ryan's taste, even after all the years he had spent with the demon. Why would he let Victoria go, when she carried the key to his reign of terror? "Where would you go if he did let you go?"

"Somewhere where I'd be free to make my own choices, and live comfortably." A bright smile swept over her features as Victoria leaned back on her arms and stared up towards the darkening sky, daydreaming. A smile befell his own mouth as he studied her, so content with a mere fantasy; it was hard to imagine she was the same woman who had insisted on bathing him in the rangers' blood when he had killed them. Then again, perhaps all the change that had taken place in last few days had made her blood-thirsty core a little less red. "Where no one knows me, and where I can spend my life with you," she reached over to take his hand into hers, "and our baby."

Ryan's eyes lingered momentarily on her fingers entwined with his before glancing up into her glittering eyes. With his other hand he silently brushed the back of his hand across her cheek and she nuzzled into his caress. Oh yeah...this baby had made them both incredibly sappy. But no matter how corny they both sounded or looked or felt, he didn't mind...so long as Victoria was his always, no matter her state of mind.

And then in the most unexpected move on Victoria's part, her deep brown eyes - which were locked in a loving gaze with Ryan - suddenly rolled up into her head and she collapsed dead away with a shuddering breath.

***

"She took off with him!" Dana cried, staring at the spot in Ryan's quarters from which her brother and his lover disappeared from. "I can't believe this!"

"He's talking irrationally," Carter insisted in frustration, suppressing the urge to grab a tray off the counter and throw it to the floor. "Vypra could be influencing him. It did look like she formed some kind of mental connection with him when she was supposed to be "healing" him." His voice came out harsh and skeptical.

The room fell silent to Carter's words as Joel simply nodded to show his support to the other man. Chad and Kelsey conveniently busied themselves with cleaning up the mess of Ryan's anger, avoiding having to choose sides in the situation.

"He was speaking out of love."

Everyone turned to look at Captain Mitchell standing off to the side, a look of consideration lining his features. "Ryan's right, no matter how much you want to deny it, Rangers. We really have no right to accuse Victoria the way we are doing." He emphasized the usage of Vypra's human name. "Before, I didn't believe him...but after what just happened, I can't help but believe Ryan."

"But we have every reason TO accuse her!" Joel remarked, challenging the older man's statement. "She's tried to destroy us a thousand times!"

Captain Mitchell came right back with the perfect retort. "Ryan tried to kill you all more than once, but you all still accepted him."

"But that's different," Dana protested. "Ryan's changed."

"Who are we to say that Victoria can't change for the better too? She's human like the rest of us...her entire life isn't set in stone. We should at least give her the benefit of the doubt."

Kelsey stood up from where she had been kneeling and picking up glass shards. "The Captain is right." She wasn't surprised when she earned three glares while tossing the glass into the garbage. "When she showed up, Vypra seemed totally sincere; like she truly cared about Ryan. And she didn't even try to attack me. Sure, she did sort of shove me aside, but that's only because she wanted to get to Ryan and heal him."

Carter groaned unpleasantly. "Can't you see?! Don't you see what she's doing?! She's manipulating you and turning us against each other!" Before he was allowed to rant any further, his morpher started blinking and Ryan's frantic voice could be heard.

"Carter? Carter, answer me! I need help!"

The Red Ranger glanced meaningfully around the room at the other five people, the lifted the microphone close to his lips and replied the call. "What's wrong? You alright, Ryan?"

"I can't explain it right now...just bring the hummer and pick me up at Seaside Bluff; HURRY!"

***

Diabolico watched the images play out before him in interest, but more so in guilt.

Ryan kneeled in front of his companion who has abruptly passed out without even a slight warning. His companion being Diabolico's surrogate enchantress daughter that he had forced into unconsciousness with a casting of his magic.

He hated having to hurt her to get his way with her, but it just sometimes was direly necessary; like when he had to toss her into a pillar to help Victoria regain clarity. It had been necessary.

It was necessary for Victoria to be unconscious in order for the Recovery Spell to work. It was necessary for the Recovery Spell to work because it would speed up the progression of his daughter's pregnancy. It was necessary for his daughter's pregnancy to be sped up because he needed her child in his possession soon. And it was necessary to have her child to save his life.

Perhaps he was being somewhat selfish in his intents, but Diabolico couldn't see that he had much of a choice. Either he overthrew Queen Bansheera while he still had a chance or his Star power would be stripped from him and passed down to her sniveling son, Impus. He couldn't, and he wouldn't allow that to happen. So, he had to use Ryan and Victoria as pawns against each other, and he simply couldn't regret that choice now.

***

"You expect us to help HER?!" The vicious words came exploding out of Dana's mouth as she got out of the Lightspeed Rescue hummer and stared at her brother accusingly. "We thought YOU were in trouble...not HER!"

Ryan stood up with Victoria in his arms and glared at his younger sister, resisting the urge to slap some common decency into her on the spot. "Why do you feel the need to be so mean?"

Caught off-guard by the question, Dana solemnly shut her mouth and backed down, allowing Carter to move up and confront Ryan. "Just get her into the back of the hummer," he growled angrily, shifting his gaze away from Victoria's limp body to the vehicle. "We'll take her down to the Aquabase and see if Miss Fairweather can figure out what's going on with her."

Even though Ryan was sure Carter wasn't helping him and Victoria out of the goodness in his heart, he was nonetheless grateful and quickly climbed into the back of the hummer, carrying Victoria.

Dana and Carter climbed back into the vehicle following Ryan, and Carter started up the hummer, driving in back onto the rugged dirt path which lead back to the main highway. "So what happened to her?" Dana questioned, her voice clipped.

Ryan glanced up from staring at Victoria's peaceful face to meet his sister's gaze as she turned around in the passenger's seat. "I'm not sure." Just as those words left his mouth, Victoria's body began to viciously convulse in his arms. Stunned by her sudden movement, Ryan tried to vainly hold her down, cursing loudly. "DAMMIT! Carter, step on it! I think I know what's happening!"

***

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice, Diabolico?"

Diabolico was pulled from his quiet reverie in his quarters by the bodiless voice he knew could only belong to one monster, and one monster alone.

"Notice what, Queen Bansheera?"

"Notice your unfolding plan." Diablico didn't need to turn around to determine that Bansheera's "spirit" floated just above his shoulders behind him. "How you have purposely gotten Vypra pregnant and are now speeding up her birth process. Or did you forget that you DID do these things?"

Diabolico found it futile to deny her accusations because of the rather forceful tone of her voice. There was no other way he'd be able to convince her that it wasn't what it seemed. "I haven't forgotten, my queen." His voice was flat and completely obedient.

He heard her scoff heavily and could just imagine her rolling her eyes. "Interesting how you should address me as your queen...when it is SO terribly obvious you are trying to fulfill the prophecy to overthrow my power."

Diabolico remained uncomfortably silent, not exactly sure of how to respond.

"I should just kill Vypra," she hissed spitefully into Diabolico's ear, causing him to cringe. "I can just imagine how you would react to your dear "daughter's" death; you've always had too much of a heart."

"I wouldn't care."

"Oh, how I beg to differ." Queen Bansheera chuckled, returning to her former train of thought. "But I'd rather not kill her or her unborn child. They both show great potential. So instead, I choose to take away your Star power, Diabolico."

Queen Bansheera spoke with such a calm finality that Diabolico didn't even realize that she had started to drain his Star power until it was too late; the red thread of energy flowed away from him and towards her spirit, allowing her to absorb it. He stood paralyzed by his own shock as the last of his Star power exited the glowing red star upon his chest. "You..." the monster gasped and reached his hands out at Queen Bansheera vainly, collapsing forward onto the stone floor of his chambers.

"I what, Diabolico?" Queen Bansheera's disembodied voice chuckled as her spirit hovered over the former monster's still form. "You shouldn't have betrayed me, Diabolico...look where it got you. You're dead and you've left my son with an ugly mess to clean up." Her voice turned from one of scolding to excitement as a tinge of red flashed through her ghostly blue spirit. "And as soon as I transfer this power of your to my Impus, Diabolico, he will be far more powerful that you as Olymypus; smarter as well."

Queen Bansheera stared long and hard at the empty shell that had once belonged to her most loyal subject and shook her head. "What a waste."

***

Victoria's eyes fluttered open to find herself surrounded by a hazy, disorienting fog of darkness. "Ryan?" she called out, slowly pushing herself off the ground to stand. "RYAN?!"

"Ryan isn't here, but I am."

Victoria shuddered at the voice: slippery, mocking, and most of all, cold. "Who are you?" she asked, shaking off the ominous feeling that had begun to grow within her. Being scared wouldn't get her anywhere. Finding answers to her questions would. "Where am I?"

"You mean, you don't recognize my voice?" The feminine voice held a playful lilt to it.

"Should I?"

A sudden rush of silver light appeared from out of nowhere, cutting through the haziness and brightening the area in front of Victoria. For minute, she couldn't see at all - as she had to allow her eyes to adjust to the sudden flow of light - but when she was finally able to make out the person before her, Victoria nearly collapsed.

"Okaa-sama?"

The tall and leggy woman before her laughed a tinkly laugh and tossed her long jet black hair over her shoulder. "I thought you almost forgot me, Vicki-chan!" She winked at Victoria with her dark - nearly pupil-less - brown eyes.

The shock at the sight of her mother finally wore off and anger began to peel off Victoria in waves. "How DARE you come back!" she screamed fiercely, fending off tears. "How DARE you invade my life after leaving me so long ago!"

"I'm not trying to invade your life, Vicki-chan. I-"

"It's Victoria-san to you, Okaa-sama."

"Fine then." Victoria's mother didn't even bristle at the coldness of her own daughter's voice. "I'm not trying to invade your life Victoria-san," her mother assured, her face becoming quite serious. "I'm trying to look out for you...to spare you the grief I've gone through."

Victoria's eyes bulged. "Grief?!" she cried cynically. "You've gone through GRIEF?!"

Her mother ignored her words and continued on. "Give your baby up to Diabolico, Victoria-san. Don't keep it; he'll be nothing but a burden to you."

"No...I was a burden to you because you never wanted me in the first place," Victoria restated firmly, her fists tightening at her sides. "My son will NEVER be a burden to me; I want him. I LOVE him!"

A silence followed Victoria's passionate declaration where she and her mother simply stared each other down. Victoria felt sick to her stomach at her mother's urges. Deep down Victoria knew that the woman before her was never her mother. She may have given birth to her, but never was she her mother.

Victoria's mother spoke, breaking the silence. "Alright. If you can't make the right decision for yourself, I'll just have to make it for you." She grabbed Victoria by the wrist, jerking her daughter closer as she pressed her hand against Victoria's stomach.

The enchantress - stunned by her mother's actions - tried to squirm out of her mother's grip when she suddenly felt a sharp pain within her stomach. Victoria's eyes darted upwards to gaze directly into the older woman's and she gasped loudly. "You...you're taking him away from me..."

"You left me no other choice," she replied solemnly, her forehead furrowed.

Another stabbing pain overcame Victoria and she screamed.

***

Miss Fairweather shook her head in uncertainty as she looked at Ryan. "There's nothing to explain what's happening to her, other than the fetus is going through an abnormally fast growth. She's already five months into her pregnancy when according to you told me, she should be in her second."

Ryan nodded his head mutely, his eyes glued on Victoria's body as he sat beside her bed. After they had gotten her to the Aquabase, Victoria's spasms had stopped. Ryan brought her down to the Med Bay and Miss Fairweather quickly hooked Victoria up to several machines, analyzing her condition.

Lifting his head momentarily, Ryan looked to his father standing beside Miss Fairweather, then to Miss Fairweather herself. "It's alright. I already know what's wrong." He returned his gaze to Victoria, taking one of her limp hands into his own. "It's called a Recovery Spell, at least that's what Diabolico always told us; it acts as a kind of catalyst.

"I remember when we were younger, Victoria and I both got chicken pox which prevented us from training. Diabolico used the spell on Victoria first, causing her to go through the illness at a faster rate; she went through it in one night. During the spell she was feverish and lucid and would go through spasms. After Victoria went through it, so did I."

"So now you think Diabolico is using the Recovery Spell on Victoria so she'll go through he pregnancy faster?" Captain Mitchell voiced, shaking his head disapprovingly.

Ryan nodded his head to the rather rhetorical question.

"It must be dispelling the baby like a foreign virus or bacteria in body; trying to get rid of it as quickly as possible," Miss Fairweather mused to herself in fascination and disgust.

"We can't stop it either. It has to run its course." Wearily, Ryan rose from his seat to stand. "I'm going to go grab some coffee."

Captain Mitchell watched his distraught son as he pulled the curtain surrounding the bed aside and headed out the door into the corridor. Ryan's father wanted to do something - ANYTHING - to take away Ryan's pain; the same exact pain he has gone through when his own wife has been suffering. Nonetheless, he knew there was nothing he could really do...Ryan had to work through it himself.

***

"Ryan?" Dana cautiously approached her brother, watching him quietly nurse a cup of streaming coffee in the deserted galley.

Ryan's head snapped around instinctively at the sound of her voice and he somewhat relaxed when he identified his sister. "I'm not in the mood to fight with you Dana." His shoulders slumped while he took a moderate gulp of his coffee. "If you're looking for a fight-" She cut him off calmly, almost sheepishly.

"I'm not looking for a fight."

Ryan simply replied her with a period of silence.

Dana uncomfortably walked across the room and pulled out a chair, sitting across from her older brother. Quietly, she sat, staring at her brother's head, bowed and buried in his hands. "What are you here for, Dana?" His voice was crisp and precise, looking to get the conversation over and done with.

His green eyes emerged from hiding to meet her hazel ones tiredly. The Pink Ranger bit on her lip guiltily. "I'm here to apologize to you?" First, she asked permission; the least she could do was ask.

Letting his finger trace the rim of his coffee mug, Ryan's eyes shifted focus and became somewhat distant. "Go ahead." His voice was nearly toneless for the exception of a bit of weariness that he released in the form of a sigh.

Studying him from where she sat across from him, Dana felt that ball of guilt lodge tightly in her throat. How could she have been so cruel when it was so obvious that Ryan was deeply in love with Vypra...Victoria? Why did she become so fiercely mean?

"I was afraid to lose you, Ryan. That's why I was so cold and such a bitch. Yeah, that doesn't justify what I did or said...but I was just so scared- threatened - by Vypra; I mean, Victoria. I could see her connection to you; she is obviously so much closer to you that I am. I wanted to have that same kind of connection to you."

"You were jealous."

"Jealous beyond belief," Dana agreed, continuing on with her apology. "I mean, she got to spend fifteen years of her life with you. Fifteen years that I should've gotten to spend with you! You were, and still are, my brother; I figured it at least was my right."

Dana peered at her brother as he took a long drag from the coffee mug, trying to gauge his reaction. However, she found she couldn't gauge his reaction due to the simple fact that he had his face buried behind the large mug; whether on purpose or by coincidence, she didn't know.

Instead, she returned to her "confession" sketching lines absently on the smooth tabletop with her fingers.

"I thought that it was impossible for you to be so closely bonded to someone that wasn't me. So I deluded myself. I told myself that she had you under some magic spell or whatever that kept you in love with her; a power over you that I didn't have.

"But when I think about it, that power she holds over you is only love...and even so it's a kind of power that you LET her keep over you. So yeah, I'm sorry for being a bitch about this all." She ended abruptly and quite awkwardly, mentally pleading for a response of some sort.

"You're forgiven."

Stunned, Dana blinked and then looked straight at Ryan, eyes wide. He merely stared at her from over the rim of his mug, green eyes forever unwavering. "I'm forgiven?" The Pink Ranger has yet to fully compute the words. "Just like that...I'm FORGIVEN?"

He nodded, carefully placing his coffee cup down and smoothing out his hands against the table. Reaching up to cover his face, Ryan rubbed his forehead, trying to conjure up some semblance of strength from his deep reserves.

"I don't have the strength to argue with you and debate with you, Dana." He moved his hands away from his face and took in his sister's confused face. "I know it's been weird the last few days - and HAS it been weird - having me thrown back into your life after being "dead" for fifteen years, but, DAMN, you gotta understand that it's been weird for me too; weird and incredibly hard!"

Dana shook at the sudden rise of Ryan's voice. "I do!" she insisted fiercely. "That's why it's been so hard to accept everything at face value!"

Ryan blinked tiredly, smiling slightly. "So now you can't even take me forgiving you at face value?"

"I guess so." She shrugged sheepishly.

"I forgive you, that's the full truth," he assured her, reaching out to take her hand into his own. "I get why you were cruel to Victoria, but more of my forgiveness lies in the fact that I don't have the energy to fight you. Victoria's lying unconscious in the Med Bay and I don't know whether she's gonna make it out of the Recovery Spell alive. And then there's the small fact that she's also carrying my kid who has less of a chance making it out of the Recovery Spell than the woman I love. My child might die." Ryan paused, bringing his trembling hand to his mouth and forcing down his emotions momentarily. "This new life that I helped create...I may never get to know him. Listen to him laugh or see him smile, or even see if he looks more like Victoria or me!"

Dana watched her brother as he scoffed at himself. "Listen to me; I sound like rotten pineapples."

"Rotten pineapples?"

"Never mind." Ryan shook his head and pushed himself out of chair, stepping away from the table. For a moment, he just stood there gazing down on his little sister. "My point is, Dana, just give me a damn break. I've already got a nice gigantic burden to carry without all of your bitching."

Ryan headed towards the exit of the galley, but before he could, Dana's voice stopped him yet again.

"Ryan?"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

"I believe you."

"I believe you too."

***

Ryan shoved his anxious hands into his deep pockets, trying to keep them occupied with picking the lint from inside his pockets. Of course, to everyone else, Ryan looked cool and perfectly composed - not the terrified and nervous wreck he felt on the inside.

"Your training is actually coming in handy," he muttered lowly to himself, thinking of Diabolico. "For once."

Channeling all of his emotions into the simplistic action of picking lint allowed Ryan to disguise his weakness. It was already eating him up inside about how he had left himself utterly vulnerable to Dana.

His sister.

Even if she was his sister, Ryan felt like he had somehow betrayed himself by cluing her into his innermost workings. His weaknesses and flaws had been completely exposed; he felt unsafe, the fierce need to be on-guard for a sneak attack.

Walking down the corridor headed to the Med Bay, Ryan forced his thoughts away from his own insecurities. They could wait. Victoria most certainly-

"AHHHHHH! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!"

The piercing voice which echoed down the halls instantly sent Ryan running the rest of the way to the Med Bay. He knew how she screamed. He had heard he many times when she'd wake up from nightmares shaking violently.

Ryan broke into a stride and dashed down the hall until he entered the Med Bay to see the curtain that had been pulled around her bed pushed aside and Miss Fairweather, Carter and Chad pinning Victoria down to the hospital bed. Her eyes were wild and she thrashed madly, her mouth open as if she were screaming, but there was no sound to be heard.

"Victoria!" Ryan quickly ran over to the bed, shoving Carter aside. He took her face into his hands and stroked her sweaty hair away from her forehead, effectively calming her. "Victoria, shhh...Calm down. I'm here, everything's alright."

Victoria's eyes finally stopped darting and she focused on Ryan's face as he tried to comfort her. "She, she, she...she took him away, Ryan!" She screamed in a hoarse manner, panic flushing her features.

Confused, Ryan continued to question her in efforts to keep her calm while watching Miss Fairweather run scans on Victoria out of the corner of his eyes. "Who, Victoria? Who took him away? Who's he?"

Before Victoria even had a chance to answer, her face contorted into a tight mask of pain as she gritted her teeth and squeezed her blood-shot eyes shut. "Victoria?" Ryan pleaded once more, fear rising in his throat.

"Ryan," Miss Fairweather's voice brought him out of his worried trance, "Victoria's gone into labor. It seems she's having contractions and that they've been happening about four minutes apart since she's been awake.

"I don't think I'll be able to get Doctor Guerin here in time, so we'll have to do this on our own. I need Dana down here for help."

Chad, who was sitting in the corner of the room with Carter after being pushed out of the way, quickly volunteered. "I'll go get her."

For many moments after Chad left, a hushed silence took over the Med Bay, only to be interrupted by Ryan whispering softly and encouragingly to Victoria. Miss Fairweather was prepping for the baby's birth and Carter stood silently in the corner, unsure of what to do.

Out of nowhere, Ryan snapped his head and glared at Carter. "You can leave now."

It was within that very moment of clipped coldness that Carter finally accepted Ryan's disdain of his hate towards Victoria and simply respected his teammate's wishes, exiting the Med Bay.

***

Ryan woke up seven hours later to the smooth feel of fingertips running through his hair and tickling the sensitive skin of his scalp. "Mmmmm..." He moaned into his arm pillow, slowly blinking his eyes open to see the pristine hospital blue sheets of Victoria's gurney where he had laid his head down to sleep two hours prior.

"I know you're awake," Victoria taunted him with her sing-song tone, fingers slipping away from his hair and down the back of his neck to play with his silver chain. "So wake up."

He grunted into his arms playfully and lifted his head up to look at Victoria at last. "Aren't we demanding?"

"I can be when I want to," she answered with a grin.

"I know," he agreed, grinning back. A solemn look took over his features moments later and Ryan leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to Victoria's lips. "God, I love you," he whispered, gazing deeply into the brown pools of her eyes. "Don't ever leave me."

Victoria slipped her hand around his neck and pulled him to her so that their lips were nearly touching. "Only if you never leave me," she promised, whispering the word against his mouth before claiming his lips with her own.

Ryan moaned against Victoria and crawled halfway onto the gurney to sit beside her, his hands cupping her face. Victoria's hands rested on the collar of his shirt, keeping him as close to her as possible.

They remained glued to one another until they heard someone cough from behind them. Quickly peeling apart, they both looked towards the doorway to see Dana holding a little cooing blanket bundle in her arms. "I thought you might want to see your son," she smiled widely, making her way over to Victoria's bedside.

Instinctively, Victoria reached out to take her son from Dana's arms and cradled him close to her body protectively. She smiled peacefully as he cooed up at her incoherently, reaching up with his small chubby hands to touch his mother's face.

Watching his beautiful companion lean forward to lay a delicate kiss to the crown of their son's head, Ryan glanced up at his little sister who was rather misty-eyed and smiled reassuringly at her. "Thank you," he mouthed silently to her and she nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Dana left the room to leave Victoria and Ryan alone with their son, and Ryan stared in awe at the new life he helped to create in his girlfriend's arms. "He's beautiful...amazing. What should we name him?"

Victoria's eyes glazed over momentarily as she remembered something and spoke softly. "My mother used to tell me stories about my father when I was young." She looked at Ryan and held his gaze. "She met him when he was on leave from the Navy; he was American. He had dark hair and dark eyes. He died before I was born; I never found out how. The only thing I did know was that his name was Evan; never did find out what his last name was..."

Her eyes had taken on a haunted look and Ryan reached out to stroke his girlfriend's cheek in comfort. "Evan it is then," he voiced with a small grin, brushing some of Victoria's hair from her face.

"Are you staying here?"

"Hmmm?" Victoria glanced up from her beautiful newborn child to face her lover; his question had surprised her.

"Are you staying here or are you going back to Skull Cavern?"

The blissful look that had been upon her face dissipated and her usual calm, yet concerned look returned. "I don't know," she murmured softly. "Father...well, he told me to leave, but I don't know if I CAN leave him."

Ryan nodded his head understandingly. As much as he was skeptical and wary of Diabolico, he realized how much Victoria relied on him emotionally. "Stay here tonight and think about it, alright?" Ryan suggested, hoping one night could convince her to stay longer.

Victoria nodded and turned her gaze away from Ryan back to Evan. Instants later, she lifted her head up to distractedly stare into nothingness. "You know, I could never take him away from you," she blurted out as her son began to fall into a tender sleep in her arms.

Blinking, Ryan tried to appear caught off-guard by her statement, but in all truth he wasn't. Victoria has been thinking about the same thing he had: the prophecy.

"I know you wouldn't."

***

"How should we go about doing this? Suppposed suicide or simply kill her in cold blood?"

"What makes you think she will return here?"

"She will return. She owes too much to Diabolico; she's indebted to him. And then when she does return, she'll find her dear father dead and my son the new champion."

Olymipus bowed slightly at his mother's praise. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me." Queen Bansheera grinned to herself. "With Diabolico out of the way, nothing can stop me - not even Vypra's child..."

***

"Okaa-sama?"

"Victoria-san."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here for you."

"And how does your being here help me?"

"I'm trying to help you see the light...trying to get you to realize that you and your son belong with Diabolico."

"NO! We belong with Ryan!"

"Are you sure? Is a place filled with hatred for you and your son really a place you want to live?"

"What do you mean, "hatred"?"

"My dear Victoria-san, please don't tell me you were so naïve to believe that you would live happily ever after just because you have your little boy toy by your side. The rangers despise you; you will never belong there."

"I do belong here - with Ryan!"

"Poor delusional child. Even after a life filled with broken dreams, she still hangs onto her last one desperately."

"IT'S NOT A DREAM!"

"You belong with Diabolico - your father-"

"I BELONG HERE!"

***

Victoria woke up with a start from her nightmare, sweat beading down her brow. Pushing her sticky hair out of her face, she slowly sat up in the bed she was sharing with Ryan in his quarters.

It had been a week since she left Diabolico and given birth to Evan. Marnier Bay remained quiet on the demon front and Victoria couldn't help but wonder if it was out of her father's respect for her. Ryan still had his cobra tattoo and Victoria thanked whatever higher power there was for the lack in attacks.

Sitting up in the darkness, she looked to the corner to corner to watch her son peacefully sleeping in a cradle that had been brought in just for him. Victoria found herself becoming accustomed to motherhood and was enjoying it; her life felt full and filled with so much more meaning than it had been before. Of course the downside of it all was that she hadn't left the bed for the past week because she was still recovering from the aftereffects of the Recovery Spell.

Including her nightmares of her mother she hadn't told anyone about.

Ryan was a heavy sleeper so he never was awakened by her cries, and she couldn't even fathom how Even slept through them; but he did, and Victoria was grateful for that. She didn't want anyone to know that she had dreams of her mother telling her that she didn't belong with Ryan; that he was good and she was bad. No one could know because, in all truth, Victoria believed the dreams were right.

She sighed heavily with a slight shudder as she pushed her legs over the side of the bed to stand. Slowly and carefully, she stood up and took a few cautious steps, trying out her feet for the first time in awhile. Once she was sure she would be able to walk, she grabbed Ryan's gray robe and threw it on over the pajamas she had borrowed from Dana.

Victoria headed out of the quarters and wobbled down the barely lit corridors in her bare feet until she reached her destination.

The galley.

"Leave it to me to have a passion for food," she scoffed to herself, tucking her hands into the overly large pockets of the robe she donned.

The room wasn't lit very brightly and Victoria nearly ran into the main counter. She lifted herself onto one of the stools, clasping her hands in front of her on the cold metallic surface before her.

For a long time she just sat there staring into the darkness until a peculiar shadowed object sitting in the fruit basket caught her attention. Reaching out, she ran her fingers over the rough surface of the fruit. Intrigued, Victoria lifted it into her hands and held it to her nose, sniffing deeply.

"Pineapples." She sighed softly, a gentle smile peeling across her face.

Her face immediately took on a frown when she realized that the fruit she was holding was hard and painful. She couldn't quite understand: how could something so yummy and sweet be so hard at the same time? Why was there something so hard blocking her from what she really wanted?

Victoria sat cradling the pineapple in her hand for many moments, solemn tears trickling down her cheeks as the realization of her situation wash over her in tremendous waves.

***

Ryan rose from his slumber at the waking cries of his son. Moaning, he stretched his arm out to pull his girlfriend into his embrace so that he could greet her good morning before attending to their son. However, as he reached out he found Victoria's spot in the bed to be empty and cold.

Evan's wailing continued and Ryan clambered out of the bed over to the cradle. Leaning over it, he gently lifted his son up into his arms, effectively calming the baby. "You were just looking for some attention, weren't you?" he chuckled, watching Evan yawn quietly and snuggle into his father's arms.

Ryan paced up and down the room for a few minutes, waiting for the baby to fall asleep before placing him back down in his cradle. "Now, where is your mom?" Ryan rhetorically asked in a whisper as he pulled Evan's blanket gently over his tiny body.

Crossing the room, he picked up his gray rode and put it aside before sitting down in the chair, anxiously awaiting Victoria's return from wherever she had gone.

***

Victoria walked aimlessly around downtown Marnier Bay, swishing her hands absently through the long green skirt of her sundress - the only other piece of real clothing she had besides her borrowed pajamas.

Eventually, she stopped in front of a small little corner shop - the sign above it declaring it as "Charlie's Donuts" - and stared at it for a moment. Ryan and her used to frequent the donut shop when they first came to Mariner Bay and discovered the wondrous world of baked sweets; Victoria hasn't been there in the last two months.

When she pushed open the glass door to enter the shop, the bells hanging on the inside of the door jingled, alerting the empty room to her presence.

Everything was still the same as she remembered it. There were booths lining one side of the shop, while the display of all the freshly baked donuts took up the other side. In the middle of each booth there was a powdered sugar shaker. Littered all along the wall beside the booths were carious pictures of some of Charlie's favorite customers; Ryan and Victoria had a picture just a little to the left of the third booth.

"VICKI!"

Victoria turned to see a man in his late fifties come out from the back kitchen behind the main counter. Wiping his hands quickly on the apron he wore, he came out from behind the counter to approach Victoria. "My pretty pineapple princess has returned!" he exclaimed with a bright smile.

She smiled back and briefly hugged the old man. "I was starting to miss my donuts, Charlie, what can I say?" She shrugged innocently with a friendly wink. "Could I possibly get one of my special ones?"

"Of course! Anything for the princess!" Charlie grinned and headed back into the kitchen. "And if you want some coffee, go ahead and grab some; you remember where it is?"

"Uh-huh," Victoria answered, also heading behind the counter and pouring herself a cup of rich black coffee.

Taking her coffee, Victoria slid into a booth and began to nurse he cup of coffee, letting her momentarily chipper façade to fall away. "Where do I go next?" she whispered quietly to herself.

For a long time she simply sat in her silence until she finally stood up from the booth knowing where she had to go. A green mist materialized in her hand, forming a twenty-dollar bill that she laid flat down on the table next to her unfinished cup of coffee.

Charlie came out from the kitchen just moments later to find the room deserted. His eye caught on the twenty sitting on the table and he simply smiled.

"She always was a great tipper, that princess..."

***

Ryan awoke to the sound of the irritating door chime in a startled fashion, nearly falling out of the chair he had been sleeping in. However, his son wasn't fazed by the sound as he continued to sleep.

Grabbing his robe and throwing it on, Ryan padded out of the bedroom and into the common room. "Who is it?" he called as he approached the door.

"It's me," the voice outside - which Ryan recognized as Carter - answered.

Unconsciously, Ryan winced. The last person Ryan wanted to see was Carter. The Red Ranger had been very adamant at having Victoria remain in the Aquabase while recovering from her pregnancy. Ever since their encounter in the Med Bay when Ryan had told Carter to leave, there had been a strong tension between them.

Even though he was somewhat wary, Ryan opened the door to come face to face with Carter. "Yes?" he asked curtly.

"I found this outside your door as I was walking by." Carter awkwardly handed Ryan a blank white envelope. "I thought it might be yours or something."

Opening the envelope and removing the letter from within it, Ryan nodded. "Thanks," he acknowledged, his attention focused on the letter rather than Carter still standing before him.

After a few minutes, Ryan's face went completely pale and his eyes widened. "Oh God..." he murmured, the letter trembling in his hand.

Literally slamming the door in Carter's face, Ryan ran into the bedroom and dressed as quickly and quietly as possible. Sticking the letter in his back pocket, he then ran out of his quarters and began to bang on his sister's door while Carter watched him in utter shock.

"What do you want, Ryan?" Dana yapped at her brother when she finally opened her door, looking like she just woke up which she had.

"I need your to take care of Evan, Dana," Ryan blurted out frantically, nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Stunned by her brother's strange actions, Dana tried to calm him down. "Ryan, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"There isn't time to explain!" he insisted. "Just watch Evan for me, okay? I've gotta stop her." And with those words, Ryan began sprinting down the corridor, leaving a confused Carter and Dana in his wake.

***

"Father?" Victoria's voice echoed throughout Skull Cavern. "Father, it's me, Vypra." Her demon name hesitantly rolled off her tongue.

Victoria walked cautiously down the corridors of her home, very much confused by the lack of activity in the cavern.

Skull Cavern was home.

She opened the door to the quarters she had shared with Ryan and smiled sadly at the mess before her eyes.

After returning from telling Ryan she was pregnant and following her conversation with Diabolico, Victoria went to her room and had torn it to pieces searching for Ryan's old training shirt that he always used to wear. She had wanted it so it would remind her of her lover and somehow make her feel closer to him.

She never did find the shirt.

Perhaps, it had been for the best. Better for her to forget him as quickly as possible and make a clean break. Father wouldn't STAND for her sulking around the caverns like a little lovesick fool.

Following her own advice, Victoria lit the torch in the room and began tossing all of Ryan's scattered clothes into the crackling fire. Standing still for a moment, Victoria stared at the hungry flames while clutching a pair of Ryan's sweats in her hands. "Forget about him, Vypra," Victoria coaxed herself. "Forget about him and-" Her voice choked up, but someone finished her sentence nonetheless.

"...and your son."

Victoria spun around towards the door and gasped.

"QUEEN BASHEERA!" Victoria peered at the red demon beside the floating spirit of Queen Bansheera. "Impus?!"

"Olympius, Vypra," Olymipius scoffed at the young woman, shaking his head in pity.

Still gripping onto the gray sweatpants tightly, a look of utter panic and fear crossed her features. "What are you two doing?! Why are you here?! Where is my father?!"

"Dead," Olympius informed with a shrug, not an ounce of sympathy in his voice.

"YOU LIE!" Victoria spat viciously in his face.

Queen Bansheera sighed pathetically. "If you don't believe us, go to his quarters."

Fright welled up within her and Victoria dropped the sweatpants, darting out the door. Striding down the corridor, she made it to Diabolico's room rather quickly and shoved open his door.

Moments later, Olympius and Queen Bansheera arrived behind Victoria to find her standing in the doorway, still with shock. A few feet in front of her laid Diabolico's spiritless body sprawled out on the floor. She knew he was dead without touching her father; his star no longer glowed a bright red. Victoria slowly moved her hand to cover her mouth as tears began to brim her saddened eyes.

As the two demons looked down on Victoria in glee, the young woman suddenly snapped around to face the two, her eyes now dark and wet. "YOU DID THIS TO HIM!" she screamed vengefully, her open hand glowing a deathly black. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

Queen Bansheera snickered as she blew a fine white mist from her ghostly lips, allowing it to encompass Victoria. "No, my dear. YOU will pay for it..."

***

"VICTORIA! ARE YOU HERE?"

"He's come for her. Should I kill him?"

"No, I'll deal with him. You just set her down there and do what I told you to."

"Yes, Mother."

***

"VICTORIA!"

Ryan ran down the corridors of Skull Cavern frantically, screaming Victoria's name as he searched for her.

The closer her got to the quarters he had shared with her, Ryan began to notice how the corridors seemed to fill with a think and heavy smoke; most certainly no kind of smoke Victoria would produce with her magic.

Ryan pulled his shirt over his mouth and nose to protect him from inhaling the smoke and continued until he could see the shadows of the blazing flames of the fire playing upon the wide open door of his former quarters. "Oh please no..." he murmured to himself, running up to the room. "VICTORIA!

When she didn't respond to his call, Ryan began to get desperate. Running back down the corridor into Diabolico's quarters, the Titanium Ranger found his former guardian lying dead on the floor. "Oh no, no...no!" Ryan's mind began to put pieces together and painted a rather dismal picture of what could have happened to Victoria for him. He quickly grabbed a cape out of Diabolico's many chests and ran back toward the burning quarters.

Draping the cape over his head, Ryan went into the fiery room. "Victoria!" he coughed, looking around the room, but it was hard searching as everything was engulfed in flames.

Ryan's eye eventually caught upon a form lying on the floor near the overturned torch which was the source of the fire. He quickly kneeled next to the body to find it was indeed Victoria and swept her into his arms. Placing the cape over the both of them, Ryan carried her out of the room and into the corridor.

Ryan laid Victoria down on the cold stone floor, checking for her pulse; she didn't have one. He was about to perform CPR on his lover just as Dana had just taught him a few days ago, but then he stopped, realizing it was futile.

Victoria's body was covered with soot and burns from the fire's intense heat, but that wasn't what stopped him. What stopped him was the blast mark on her bare chest that scorched her beautiful tan skin with dry blood and exposed flesh. He knew the blast mark all too well; it was the mark left behind by her most lethal spell.

Blinking furiously, Ryan let his tears flow down his cheeks as he reached over and shut his lover's eyes for her - her big brown eyes that he probably would never see alive and bright again. From her eyes, his fingers grazed down her paling cheeks to outline her lifeless lips.

"Victoria..."

Ryan cradled Victoria's limp body in his arms and clutched her to his chest as he began to rock back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably over her.

"It's a shame she had to die..."

Turning his head in the direction of the dying fire, Ryan looked up at the spirit of Bansheera. "You killed her, didn't you?" His voice was toneless.

The demon queen scoffed. "Now why would I do that?"

"The prophecy."

"If you hadn't noticed, Ryan, I already disposed of Diabolico. The prophecy is pretty much null and void with his death."

Ryan's green eyes narrowed on Queen Banhseera. "Then who did this to her?!"

"She did it to herself."

"NO! I don't believe that! WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT?!"

"Grief over Diabolico's death." Queen Bansheera hovered closer to Ryan. "Personally, I don't see a reason to grieve for a traitorous demon like him, but Vypra seemed to think otherwise."

Ryan shook his head fiercely. "Even if she did loose him, she still had me and Evan and-"

"Diabolico was her FATHER, Ryan," the demon emphasized, carefully luring the distraught Power Ranger under her influence. "Besides, the evidence of her suicide is staring you right in the face; she's the only one who could have inflicted that wound from demon magic upon herself."

"I can't loose her." He stared longingly at Victoria's dead body.

"But you already have. Even though, I am truly sorry for your loss, Ryan." Bansheera slowly began to warm up her acting skills. "I mean, if there was ANYTHING I could do-"

Right on Queen Bansheera's expected cue, Ryan spoke up with renewed hope, "But you CAN do something! Can't you bring her back?! Isn't there some kind of demonic healing spell for that?!"

She pretended to ponder. "Well, I suppose I could, but there would be conditions attached to me reviving Victoria."

"Like what?"

***

"Do you know where he went?"

"No, Dad. He just told me to watch Evan and ran out."

"How long has be been gone?"

"For the last two hours. I was there with Dana when he left. I gave him this letter, he read it, freaked out-"

"What letter? Do you know what it said?"

"No. Ryan took it with him."

"Well, Victoria is gone too. Maybe Ryan went to go look for her or something?"

"I found her, Kelsey. She's dead. Victoria's dead."

***

If Ryan had known about the craziness that was to ensue after his declaration of Victoria's death, he wouldn't have said a word.

Of course, all of them were in shock, even Carter. Ryan ended up explaining what had happened when he left the Aquabase and the other rangers and his dad had nothing to offer him but mounds of sympathy, and lots of busy work. Neither really helped, but Ryan figured that they thought if they managed to keep him busy, they could stop him from sacrificing his life. Unfortunately, they were already too late.

Night had fallen on Mariner Bay and the Aquabase and many hours has passed since Ryan's beloved's death. He now sat in his bed rereading the content of the letter he had received that very morning...

***

Dear Ryan,

I wanted to start this letter differently. You know, not as sweet and tender as it sounds. This isn't a love letter, Ryan - you should know that now.

I was in the galley earlier this morning and I had my first encounter with a real pineapple - not like the pineapple chunks we used to eat like candy as children - the real fruit. And as I smelled it and looked at it, I realized it was actually rather ugly. It had a rough skin with pokey things on it; they weren't thorns, but they were pointed and poked me, so I dubbed them pokey things. As I saw this, I suddenly thought of you because you and I know that you are absolutely addicted to pineapples; you are sweet and yummy and so are pineapples. But the pineapple has something holding it back from being sweet and yummy - that skin.

I'm that skin, Ryan. Yes, I realize that it's a kinda of stupid analogy, but it applies to us. I stop you from reaching your full potential, Ryan. You're good, but I'm bad. I hinder you in every way possible. Okaa-sama always told me I could never make anyone happy and, you know, I didn't believe her until now. Your life had been nothing but misery and horror since we met fourteen years ago; its all been a lie. You can do better than me; I don't deserve you - I'm evil.

I'm going back to Father. He needs me and I need him; I will never make him happy, but that's okay because Father is Father.

I promised you I would never take Evan from you and now I'm keeping that promise. I know you will take care of him. And maybe once in awhile remind him of his mother and remind him that she loves him desperately. Tell him I left because I had no choice and that it was never his fault. I don't want him to see me as I see my Okaa-sama.

Lastly, Ryan, forget that you ever loved Victoria, it will make it easier on you. After you read this letter, Victoria will no longer exist anymore, only the evil demon Vypra will live on. I will meet you on the battlefield that is to be sure. Don't hesitate to kill me - I'm the enemy.

Good-bye, Ryan. I hope you lead a good life.

Vypra

***

...Tears dribbled down Ryan's cheek unchecked as he stared down at the letter in his hands; he really didn't need to read it, he had practically memorized it after read it so many times. His fingers grazed across the worn paper and her inked words. "I can't forget," he whispered to the air. "I love you too much to let go. But soon, we'll be together."

Setting the letter aside on his nightstand, Ryan quickly wiped the tears off his cheeks away and rubbed the heels of his palms against his thighs. He then stood up from the bed to walk over to the side of his son's cradle.

As soon as Evan spotted sight of his father, he began gurgling happily and flailing his chubby little arms upwards. Ryan couldn't help but smile- even in his morose mood - when he caught sight of Evan's glee.

Carefully, Ryan lifted Evan from the cradle and held him closely in his arms. He had his mother's hair, a small patch of soft black fuzz on the top of his head and a smile that was wide and teasingly playful. That also belonged to his mother.

"Your mother was a beautiful woman," he whispered softly to his son, pacing the room slowly. "She saved me from misery, even though she never believed it. She was strong, smart and stubborn; I loved her for that.

"She loves you. Even now when she's gone she loves you; you can't forget that. I love you just as much as she does. You are a miracle to us both; you were unexpected, but a miracle nonetheless. You made me realize I couldn't live life without you mother, and soon, I won't.

You have a destiny, Evan. Bansheera says that it doesn't exist anymore, but I don't believe her. I know your destiny: it's to save your parents from eternal torment. You're already on your way to your destiny - I have faith you will complete it."

***

Dana awoke the next morning to the cries of a baby.

Confused somewhat, she sat up in her bed and looked around her room, but saw no baby. Nonetheless, the wailing continued persistently.

Dana dragged herself out of bed and headed into the common room of the quarters. "Oh my God..." she gasped in utter shock.

There in the middle of her common room stood Evan's cradle with Evan wailing within it.

Rushing up to the cradle, Dana was about to pick up the wailing child when an envelope placed on the outside of the cradle caught her eye. She quickly tore it open and read its contents.

A few minutes later, the letter fluttered out of her hands to the ground and Dana immediately followed, slumping down to the floor in solemn tears.

Evan's painful wail echoed off the walls.

*GASP* Yes...I have ended "Clinging To Promises" like so because there is a sequel in the works! ^_^ So, stay tuned for that and tremendous thanks for reading! :) Oh! By the way, I know Jennifer Yen isn't Japanese, but give me a little creative license here, hmm? ;)