Disclaimer: Don't own the Power Rangers. Anybody you never heard of before is probably mine, but it doesn't matter because there's no money involved anyway.

Note: this is completely AU. Zordon never died. The originals are all in their early to mid-twenties. You'll recognize the other stuff I changed. Alert: angst ahead, and some pre-friskiness.

Legacy, part 4

Billy found himself again in the place of darkness. "Guardian, are you there?" he said, his voice echoing oddly. A fragile gasp came from the depths. "Can you hear me? Guardian!"

"You…" a voice said faintly. "I know you, you helped me before… oh, no, not you…not this…I can't let you…"

"Where are you? Talk to me and I will find you," Billy moved forward tentatively.

"You must risk no more," her voice seemed stronger. "I can feel your courage, your heart; though it gives me strength, I do not wish for you to die. I beg you, leave me, leave this place. So'Vran may have destroyed me; I'll not let him have you too."

"So'Vran has won nothing yet, and I'll be damned if I let him start with you." There was…something…building within him, but he ignored it, continuing his search. Billy brushed against something, and instinctively wrapped his arms around it.

She moved within his grasp, turning to face him, though they could not see each other. He felt hands brush his face. "Why do you do this for me? Who are you?"

The darkness began to lift; belatedly, and much to his astonishment, Billy realized that he was the light source. His body began to glow softly. The girl struggled in his arms, trying to shield herself from the light, but her held her firm. "Draw strength from me, Guardian. I have enough."

"I cannot," she cried. "I have lost too much, have borne too much. I cannot do what you ask of me!"

"You must, or you will die," he pleaded.

"Then I shall die; it is a small price. You shall not bear the brunt of my failure." Her eyes were dark, like Jason's; they searched his face wildly, then turned away as she struggled.

"What will Xerya do without her Guardian? How can you abandon her?"

She went still for a moment; Billy could feel the tremors wracking her slender body. "Abandon her? I have failed her! Another Guardian will rise; one who will not fail."

Billy gritted his teeth. "How can you speak of failure? You've done nothing wrong. Let me help you, please…"

"I am no longer worthy to be Guardian. I allowed So'Vran to capture me, to hold me, to destroy me! Can you not hear his call? It tears at me, even now – and I must answer him." With a mighty push, the girl broke Billy's hold and ran toward the receding blackness, turning back once to look at him, tears in her dark eyes. "You gave me strength, strength enough to die; I am grateful to you. At least I shall never serve him…" then everything went white, and Billy found himself in the infirmary as he collapsed to the floor.

"NOOOOOOO!" he cried, struggling with his father, who tried to hold him away from the girl's still body.

"Zordon!" Peter shouted over the comlink, still fighting Billy, "we're losing her!" At his words, Jason came skidding into the room, wild-eyed. The lights on the diagnostic screen began to dim.

"No, Taia, hang on! Please," cried Jason. "You're all I have now! TAIA!"

Billy reached for her, tearing out of his father's grasp. "LET ME GO TO HER! I AM—" he paused, confused, looking at his father, with eyes blazing bluer than ever before.

Peter hesitated, disbelieving, reaching out a tentative hand; then he whispered, "Go on, son…you are…

Something in Billy's heart burst free, and he knew, suddenly, who he was. "I am Sentinel," he whispered, then shouted it in defiance to the darkness within Guardian. "Do you hear me, So'Vran? I AM SENTINEL, AND I DEFY YOU!"

Jason and Peter watched in amazement, as bronze seemed to pour from within Billy to cover him until he appeared to be made of the gleaming liquid metal. Jason could feel the power coming off his friend in waves, as the bronze figure crossed to the body of the lifeless Guardian and took her firmly in his arms. "This time," he whispered in a voice that both was and was not Billy's, "I will not let you go."

***************

The darkness was back; Billy banished it in a blaze of light, gathering the form of the dying girl in his arms, curving his body around her own.

"Look at me, Guardian. Taia, look at me," Billy grasped her exquisite face between his hands and forced her dark gaze to meet his own.

"It – hurts," she moaned feebly, but she met his bright blue eyes, and something arced between them, holding them both in its grip.

"I know," he felt her pain blaze through him too, and willingly took it on. "Just hold on to me. I won't let you go."

"Why?"

"Because…," something flickered in his blue gaze, and he felt his heart expand as the pain ebbed away. "Because I am Sentinel, and we are the future."

***********

"He's doing it," gritted Peter, staring at the readouts, willing them to rise, working furiously to locate and remove So'Vran's handiwork.

"Come on, Billy," breathed Jason. "Save her."

************

They stood there, frozen, inches from each other, for what seemed like eternity; blue eyes boring into black, forcing his energy on her, into her, surrounding her, cradling her, caressing her, until the glow emanating from her matched his own.

************

"Thank God," muttered Peter, hugging a sobbing Jason to his chest. "He's done it, Jase. She'll be all right now, son."

************

"Thank you, Sentinel," she breathed, the vibration of her voice tickling his chest where her face pressed into it as Billy held her in a fierce embrace.

"Anytime," a relieved chuckle rumbled through him. "You're all right?"

"Tired," she smiled up at him, then looked at her glowing hand, and back to his handsome face. "Wonderful."

The sensations between them coalesced then, into…something else, and his long fingers traced down the column of her throat. She made a low purring sound, pressing herself closer, and he felt his blood thundering through him.

"Guardian," he whispered, every sense on overload, filled with the essence of her. She smiled back at him and he nearly keeled over. What was happening to him? "I want…" he whispered, not knowing what it was he wanted; only that he craved. "I need…"

He stared at her, wide-eyed. It was almost as if…he were aroused, beyond anything he'd ever experienced before.

"What…?" she said, pulling her head back to look at him, and Billy saw from the glazed look in her dark eyes that she was as affected as he.

What is this... I feel... I...?" Emotions swirled within him, his body struggling to fight against them, his hands shaking, body shivering with the effort. "This isn't right," he bit out, talking more to himself than to her. "I have to stay in control. I can't take anything from you – I won't, no matter how badly I want to." Yet his warm hands skimmed lightly over her of their own volition, and the girl moaned softly, her slim hands cupping either side of his face when he tried to shy away. She held his fiery blue gaze steadily.

"You hurt; tell me why…"

"I'm not sure…I'll try." And then it was there, all his old pain and insecurity, like an infection, needing, suddenly, to be drained. "Too close," he breathed, meeting her gaze unwillingly but unable to look away. "This is too close; you're too—we're too intimate, like this. You'll see what I am, you'll know, and—and then you'll –"

The girl shook her head, caressing his furrowed brow. "I see what you are, William. I know. And I'm still here."

He said nothing, closing his eyes against the tide of despair that rolled across him.

Warm lips brushed his trembling mouth. "Have you always been so alone?"

"Yes…" It was barely a whisper, as a tear squeezed from his tightly shut eyes.

"Has there been no-one to ease your burden?"

"No…not…not really. I have friends," he choked, forcing himself to look at her, to meet that steady gaze that somehow wrapped around him like a lifeline. "I've been…intimate with women, a couple of times, when the loneliness got so bad I would have done almost anything to take the edge off. I never understood…why it only seemed to help for a moment. It's always been there, holding me apart from everyone, no matter what I tried to do. I thought—I thought it would always be that way, until I heard you in my dream. And even then, I woke up alone."

"And now?" She gave him another whisper-light kiss, and he grasped her shoulders, hard; but she looked back at him fearlessly.

"Why do you affect me like this?" Billy burst out angrily. "I don't know you!" His voice gentled as he looked at her. "But that's not true, is it?"

"You are Sentinel now. You know the truth; you just need to trust it."

He traced the pad of his thumb over her full lower lip. "You trust it, don't you?"

"More than that, I trust you."

Her words hit him like a fist in the gut. "Wh-what is this, between us? Tell me…"

She shook her head, the glossy darkness of her hair rising and then settling about her. "I can only give you a name for it, William. It is called the Bloodsong. What it is you already feel. Choose to answer it, or do not; I will abide by your choice."

Then, after all, he had a choice; Billy's fears abated somewhat, though there was still something he needed to understand. "And you? What happens to you if I refuse this Bloodsong?"

She ran her open hands up his chest to twine around his neck. "In saving my life, my very being, you have given me all that you are, William. I know you. You have filled all of the empty places in me; you are a part of me now. I—I already sing the Bloodsong." She looked at him through dark lashes. "For me there will be no other. We are intimately connected, and shall always be so. I will never speak of it again if you do not wish it; but know that I belong to you." He did not move for a moment, and she smiled sadly, and tried to step away from him. "Let me go, then, if you do not want me. Your father has succeeded; I am free of the devices So'Vran placed within me. You have done well, Sentinel; but you must let me go, before…"

His blue eyes blazed brightly. "Before what?"

"Before my heart breaks," she whispered, pushing on his strong arms.

"Taia." Billy held her closer and waited for her to look at him. "I told you, I will never let you go." His mouth met hers in a searing kiss before their selves mingled, each completing the other, and his spirit knew a shattering moment of utter joy; then everything went white, and he was being slapped into consciousness by his panicked father.

"Billy! Billy, come back to me, boy! You did it, oh please, son, wake up! Billy!"

At last Billy felt like himself enough to speak. "I'm here, I'm here, okay? Stop smacking me, Dad."

Peter Cranston chuckled and helped his son stumble to a chair, as the bronze energy that had covered him seemed to drain away into his skin. "Your mother was always cranky after using her Sentinel energy, too. I'm – very proud of you, son."

Billy opened his eyes and turned to the girl on the examining table. "Taia? Is –?"

"Is that her name?" Peter answered, interested. "Her vital signs are strong; I managed to remove all of So'Vran's infernal devices. She needs rest now, but I think she'll be fine, eventually."

"Thank God for that, anyhow," Jason said fervently, covering his sister's hand with his own large warm one.

Peter Cranston placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your turn, Jason." The procedure was identical to the removal of Billy's constraint; Jason felt a slight tingling at the base of his skull, but no real discomfort. He looked down at his body hopefully, but no changes had occurred. Peter ran a diagnostic shield over him. "Your readings haven't altered much, but I am hopeful that will change, in time."

"Is there a problem?"

"Not to say problem, exactly. It's just that – I buried those powers of yours very deep, you know. And after your difficulties when losing the Gold Ranger powers – I'm not sure that just removing the constraint will be enough to revive them."

"So I may never be Paladin, is that what you mean?" And I'm still going to die.

Peter Cranston nodded. "That's about it, yes."

Jason went very still for a moment, then gave him a small smile. "It's amazing how quickly you come to want something that you never had before, just because someone tells you that you never will." He chuckled bitterly. "It's okay, Mr. Cranston. I'll get over it. The main thing is that Taia is okay, and Billy too. He deserves to be Sentinel."

Peter sighed. "I may be wrong, Jason. I hope I am."

The dark-haired youth smiled at the older man. "Don't worry about it, Mr. C."

"You boys should get some shut-eye. I'll sit with her for a while, until she wakes up, then put her in one of the guest quarters. That table probably isn't very comfortable."

Jason slung a companionable arm around his exhausted friend's shoulders. "Come on, Bill; you can bunk with me."