Disclaimer: If they were mine, I'd be waaaay nicer to them than this.

Coming down the home stretch. Thanks to all of you for hanging in with me.

Legacy, part 32

All for nothing.

Seconds ago, Kim's lifeless body had joined Zack's on the floor, and the pain at this loss was exquisite. Sharp, cold, piercing – like a shard of glass straight through the heart. More so for Billy, because when it came down to it, they'd died because of him. It was his idea to force the Xeryan powers into Zack. It was he who had prevented Tommy from saving Kim. All for nothing.

God, if he could take it back, could have just five seconds back…

From the control center behind them, Billy could hear So'Vran's fury. "Find me that whelp of Resgro's!" the dark tyrant was shouting hoarsely. "I will flay the skin from her body and her lover shall watch as I devour her soul!"

They stared at each other, the same question on all of their faces: now what?

From the floor came a whisper of something. Billy glanced sharply down at his old friends' bodies. They were still, empty of the lives that had meant so much and been sacrificed so needlessly.

But there was that whisper again.

Maybe he was crazy. Nobody else seemed to hear it. And then Jason said, "What's that?"

A tendril of – smoke? – steam? – mist? – something ethereal wafted from between Zack and Kim, sparking deep blue.

And then the two began to meld, their bodies fusing together, becoming a formless mass, crackling with energy. The Rangers stepped back, huddled together, staring at this new horror. Blue sparks and whirling light obscured what was happening for a few seconds.

Abruptly it stopped with a soft hiss, and where Zack and Kim had lain dead was a single being, created, for all Billy could tell, from infinity. Formed completely of contained energy, it sat, crouched in a fetal position with its head tucked into its knees, looking like nothing so much as a patch of deep space weirdly transplanted to So'Vran's palace: blue-black and filled with stars.

The creature lifted its head, then got to its feet slowly, unfolding limbs that were easily twice as long as any normal human, and when it stood it towered over them. Slim, lean, beautifully proportioned, yet there were no secondary sex characteristics at all; it was neither male nor female, though its shape was definitely humanoid. It turned its face to the frightened Rangers; Billy presumed it was looking at them, though it was hard to tell.

"No fear," it said in a chorus of voices. With that simple edict it turned and walked gracefully toward the control room.

They all crowded out of the niche behind it to watch what would happen.

So'Vran whirled, his face a mask of fury; but when he saw the creature, the fury turned to cold fear. "No," he whispered.

"It is time," said the Infinity being. "You must return. Balance must be restored."

"NO!" he shrieked in protest, backing away, all but cowering.

The huge being tilted its head inquisitively. "You have attempted to destroy the balance of order," it said in its eerie vocal chorus. "This cannot be allowed. You are aware of this. Why do you fight that which must occur?"

"I shall not return," So'Vran said defiantly, though his voice was shaking. He grabbed a disruptor from a nearby soldier and emptied it at the Infinity creature, but it was like shooting into space. The blasts simply disappeared into the starfield.

The creature shook its head. "You shall. Now." With that it reached for him.

The evil tyrant screamed in fear and fury as the Infinity being grasped him firmly around the upper arms and lifted him into the air.

So'Vran… cracked. His countenance spiderwebbed with a thousand hairline fissures, the shell that was his body finally giving way under the strain. Between the cracks oozed dark and viscous energy, which shot minute tendrils into the air above him, quickly absorbed by the creature that held him aloft. And then, like ash dropping from the spent end of a cigarette, So'Vran disintegrated and was absorbed into Infinity.

The palace began to shake violently. The creature turned to face the Rangers. "Run," it said.

"No… no! NO!" Tommy lunged for the being that had been Kim and Zack again, Jason narrowly catching him around the waist.

"Tom! We gotta go!" He waved the others ahead of him as he wrestled with his friend. Billy stayed behind to help.

"Tommy! Come ON!" The floor shook and the trio staggered into the wall, hard, burdened by Tommy's weight. Billy shoved the distraught man ahead of him, past caring what direction they were going in as long as it was outside. They ran as best they could, weaving and stumbling as the palace shook violently, like a rat held in a terrier's jaw. A chunk of wall crashed to the floor in front of them, revealing the turmoil without: the sky had gone opaque, the wind had picked up, spiraling around the palace, which appeared to be at the eye of the gathering storm.

Another crash of nearby wall and Billy felt something pierce his thigh. He looked down to see a metal rod sticking straight through his leg. Jason turned at the cry Billy couldn't quite suppress and started toward him. "Get out of here!" yelled Billy above the din of the maelstrom. "I'll be fine! Just go!"

Jason hesitated. The palace began to crumble. "GO!" Billy shouted, and Jason finally did, heaving Tommy up and over the debris and out of sight.

Billy found a sharp shard of stone and used it to tear free the sleeves of his suit, intending to use them for bandages. He gritted his teeth and with a mighty heave pulled the rod free from his thigh, mentally reciting calculus equations to prevent himself from fainting. The wound was bleeding freely; he let it go for a moment to clean itself out a bit, then tied the sleeves of his uniform securely around his leg.

A chunk of the palace floor fell away nearby, and Billy dragged himself to the hole, peering in. Not too bad a drop, he decided, and rolled into it, landing on stone, jarring every bone he had. He winced harshly and got to his feet. Adrenaline was a wonderful thing, he mused as he staggered painfully toward the open courtyard.

A strong shoulder slipped under his arm. "Didn't think I was going to leave you there, did you?" said Jason, hollering to be heard over the storm.

"Where's Tommy?" shouted Billy.

"Outside the walls. Come on."

Together they staggered out of the Citadel, dodging flying debris. Jason shielded Billy with his own body more than once, grunting as chunks of rock rebounded off his muscular frame. Jason pulled his friend bodily through a chink in the Citadel wall, reeling slightly as the very ground rumbled and shook.

"What's happening?" he shouted.

"I don't know," cried Billy, "but it can't be good. Where are the others?"

Jason shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't seen anyone since we scattered." A whining howl came from above; both men looked up to see a roiling hole in the sky, surrounded by writhing black clouds. Jason uttered a succinct curse and hauled Billy over his shoulder completely, running.

They found Tommy under a small bluff, protected from the brunt of the storm. Together the three men stared back at the black crags of the Citadel, lit occasionally by forks of lightning, as it crumbled to the ground. And then, unbelievably, the sands of the desert opened and swallowed the city whole, to the accompanying sound of Tommy's heartbroken roar.

***********

Aji stared in horrified disbelief as the Citadel sank below the desert sands. Trini whirled at the other woman's gasp, in time to see the last dark spire disappear. Tanya, who was helping Adam along, cried out, while her husband simply stared, dumfounded.

A fierce, hot wind blew past them, robbing them of breath, whipping their clothes and hair. Then from where the palace had stood, a bright ring of power exploded outward, knocking them to the ground as it hurtled past.

"Everyone okay?" Trini pulled Aji to her feet. "I don't believe any of this," she added with a deep sigh.

"It's just – gone," added Tanya sadly. "And Zack and Kim…"

"Ah, don't," said Trini, her face crumpling. "Don't. I can't – there are things we have to focus on now. I can't face this…" Aji put her arms around Red Zeo, and Trini broke down completely.

"They have saved us all," Aji said gently, her own voice unsteady as she blinked back tears. "It was what they intended. Grieve, but know that their deaths have given us a free world."

Tanya began to cry, and Adam folded her close. "Adam?" she sniffed after a while.

"Mmm?"

"Can we name the baby Zack? Or Kim?"

Adam dashed away his own tears. "Wouldn't think of anything else."

The steady hum of a hoverskid caught their attention, and the four looked skyward to see Deorth land a short distance away. He jumped from the craft and ran to Trini, hugging her tight, checking her over to see that she was all right. Red Zeo was doing the same, when Aji noticed something tucked in Deorth's belt. "Oh," she said. "Oh, no."

"What—?" Trini looked down, and lightly touched the long blond braid that was looped at his waist. "What's this?"

Deorth's lips tightened, and Aji answered for him. "Medja. It's Medja's. She has fallen." The redhead's shoulders slumped and she turned away. "So much death," she sighed, stifling a sob. "So much loss. Damn So'Vran for bringing us to this." She turned to Deorth when he asked her if she would be coming in the hoverskid with them. "No. I need Jason."

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

"Kim…" it was a broken whisper that came from Tommy's lips as they looked back at where the Citadel had stood in cruel majesty. There was nothing. Not a crater, not a depression, not a scorch mark, nothing, as though it had never been. Jason's dark eyes were so full of tears he couldn't prevent them from tracking down his face.

Tommy sank to his knees slowly. All the life was gone from his face, the muscles slack and flat, his eyes clouded and unfocused. And then he swung around, looking at each of them, and finding his quarry: Billy, who flinched back at the look of sheer hatred in his old friend's bloodshot gaze.

"You," Tommy snarled, getting to his feet purposefully, aggression in every line of his body.

Jason grasped his friend's shoulder to slow him down. Shockingly, Tommy straight-armed him to the ground. Jason hit the rocky sand much harder than usual, exhausted and unprepared as he was.

Billy backed up a few steps. "I won't fight you, Tommy."

"Good." Tommy nodded coldly. "It'll be that much easier for me to KILL YOU!" He put a shoulder down and ran at the stunned scientist, knocking him back and ramming them both into a boulder, winding Billy, who slid to the ground with a cry of pain, his leg bleeding again.

Jason ran forward, picking Tommy up bodily and throwing him away from his victim. "Stop this, Tom! This is crazy!"

"You'll have to kill me to stop me," Tommy panted. "He knew they would die, Jase. Ask him. He knew, and he let it happen."

Billy wiped fresh blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his wrist. "Kim knew too," he croaked. "She chose it, Tommy. They both did. And if it could have been me – "

"Bullshit." Tommy feinted left, then dodged right around Jason in a horrible parody of their usual horseplay, adding a lethal touch by snapping out a kick to put Jason in the dirt. The former Gold Ranger heard his knee blow out before he felt it, the pain washing over him in waves of nausea.

Tommy swung his terrible regard back toward Billy, who lifted his chin. "It won't bring her back, Tom." In answer Tommy launched himself at his old friend, Billy catching him in midair. They went to the ground, hard, grappling, struggling with each other.

Jason roared in frustration as his knee refused to bear his weight. "Tommy! Tom! STOP! YOU'LL KILL HIM!"

Out of nowhere came a snarling growl and a flame-headed blur who flung herself at Tommy, tackling him around the midsection. They rolled, grunting, hitting, clawing at one another. Jason finally struggled to his feet, his expression thunderous.

Aji got the upper hand and sat on Tommy's chest, her hands around his throat. "YOU SHALL NOT!" she cried, thumping his head against the ground.

Jason limped over and scooped her up with an arm around her waist. "Easy, Aj." She struggled for a moment, then stopped abruptly when she heard her lover's grunt of pain.

"No more," she hissed at a dazed Tommy. "No more death, no more loss. NO MORE!" Jason put her down, and she crossed to Tommy, pulling him harshly to his feet. "This is the value you place upon their sacrifice?" Aji poked him in the chest, hard. "This is how you would repay them? With more death?" She gave a brusque growl of frustration. "So'Vran himself began with a single murder, Tom. Never love the dead more than you love the living."

He stared at that, hollow-eyed and slack-jawed. Billy approached him tentatively, placing an arm around Tommy's rounded shoulders. "I swear, Tom, if there was any way I could have taken her place, I would have."

Tommy sobbed once, the sound dry and raw. "I know. I know. Oh, God, Bill, I'm sorry…" Jason sighed deeply in relief as Billy pulled Tommy into a hard hug. A hug that the thoroughly wrung-out ex-Shadow returned, gripping his friend tightly. "It should have been me. It should have been me…"

There was a rumble, as though from a distant shore, and Jason turned toward the source: the place where the Citadel had been. He saw nothing but a distant heat wave, shimmering above the sand. The wind had picked up and a dust cloud rolled toward them, close to the ground. The sound grew louder.

Without warning all four were thrown into the dirt again as an unseen force whined and whistled about them, buffeting them, sending sand and dirt into the air. Then as suddenly as it had begun, it ended.

"This damn planet," spat Tommy around a mouthful of dirt.

Aji, for her part, was staring at the ground. "What is it?" Jason got up gingerly… and realized his care was completely unnecessary. His knee was fine.

Billy made a sound strangely like an 'eep'. Jason shot him a glance, and his suspicions were confirmed as the brilliant young man unwrapped his leg to find perfectly whole, unblemished skin beneath the makeshift bandages.

He turned his attention back to Aji. She reached out a shaking hand to caress a bright green sprout that had unfurled at her feet. Jason frowned. "What the – ?" He looked around. Sure enough, tiny green shoots were poking through the arid sand everywhere.

Billy got to his feet, his brow furrowed in fascination as the small plants burst into life, like a nature film with stop-action photography. Then he jumped as a taller plant erupted from the ground beside him, as big around as his wrist with large, flat, shiny leaves. Another shrub exploded into full bloom near Tommy, who leapt away as though burned.

"What – ?" Billy never finished his thought as a stand of saplings surrounded him. "Come on." He fought his way free of the encroaching undergrowth and clambered up a large, flat stone, the other three following him. "The worst we'll see here is moss."

They stared in stunned silence as the planet came to life around them. Trees, full blown, exploded from the ground with the sound of cannonfire. Flowers snapped into being, their heads nodding from the sudden strain. A green and verdant carpet spread over the landscape like spilled milk.

Aji touched Jason's arm gently, pointing. Her eyes were round. "Do you see that?" she whispered. He followed her gaze. On the ground before them grew a group of white mushrooms.

In the shape of an arrow.