David woke early, as the first birds started to
greet the coming dawn with sleepy chirps. He lay on his back for a while,
staring at the tent roof while he took stock of his feelings. With the
light of day mere minutes away, he had to admit that yesterday hadn't been
all
bad… that his lousy mood had mostly been his own doing. The young man still
would prefer to be out here alone with his brother, but Jason had turned
out to be not as disruptive a presence as he'd feared him to be. As a matter
of fact, under different circumstances he actually might enjoy talking
to him some more. *I really shouldn't let him get to me so much,*
David mused, trying to find a more comfortable position on the hard ground.
*He's
here, he won't go away on his own, so I'll have to deal with it. Okay.
There will be other times for Tommy and me to bond.* Stretching, David
lifted a corner of the tent flap. The horizon was just turning from purple
to the reddish-golden hues of immanent sunrise. He really should go outside,
greet the day according to tradition … briefly weighing the comforts of
his sleeping bag against following Sam's teachings, David suppressed a
yawn and reluctantly opened the zipper. Naturally, the thing got stuck
halfway down, and it took some convoluted gyrations to get it loose again.
Muttering under his breath against the perverse nature of inanimate objects,
he crawled out of his sleeping bag. He didn't really feel like getting
up yet, but the air was stifling inside the dark blue dome, a large pebble
or something was digging into his hip, and the double chorus of snores
from Tommy and Jason wasn't very pleasant to listen to, either.
Carefully, so as not to disturb the other two sleepers,
David went outside and stretched the kinks out of his muscles. This early
in the day, the desert air was still crisp and fresh, but the clear sky
already held a hint of heat to come. Seized by an impulse, David turned
eastward, towards the rising sun. Standing at the very edge of the plateau,
he waited for exactly the right moment, when the first golden flash of
sunlight would bathe the desert in brilliance. The tent was maybe 20 yards
behind him, half hidden from view by a few boulders. He took a deep breath,
straightened, spread his arms in supplication and began to chant softly,
greeting the morning in a prayer as ancient as the rocks.
The longer David recited the words he'd learned
as a small boy, the more he felt peace wash over him, filling him with
a serenity he had sorely missed the day before. The last word died down
softly like a falcon's feather drifting to the ground, and David stood
for another moment, drinking in the beauty of the wakening day. Then, he
turned … and the peace he'd gained shattered into a million pieces when
he saw Jason leaning against a boulder only a few yards away. His vision
blurred with a sudden burst of temper, and no force in the world could
hold back the words spilling out from his jealous heart.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed sharply.
"Good morning to you, too," Jason said with what
calm he could muster, surprised by the instant unfriendliness and determined
not to retaliate in kind, although he could feel his own hackles rise.
For some reason, David and he were rubbing each other the wrong way, had
from the start, and Jason didn't know how to change that. He still hoped
politeness would eventually do the trick. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to
intrude; if I could've left without disturbing you, I would have."
"Yeah, right!"
"No, seriously," he said reasonably. "It's a matter
of respect for your tradition, beliefs, whatever, if nothing else."
"You call it respect when you come skulking after
me like that?!? Funny way you have of showing it!"
Not giving Jason any chance to reply, David took
a couple of steps away from the ledge, towards the other who slowly straightened
from his comfortable position. He saw Jason smile at his words (admittedly
just a tad overly dramatic), and instantly – mistakenly – perceiving it
as a mockery of himself and his heritage, he lost control. "This is an
invasion of my privacy! You had no right to come after me, spying on me
like a sneak or worse. Isn't it enough that you're taking my brother away
from me – do you have to intrude on my prayers, as well?"
Thoroughly taken aback now, Jason didn't know how
to reply at first. The verbal attack came completely out of the blue; he'd
woken when David dislodged a small stone outside the tent and, giving in
to both his curiosity and a full bladder, had followed the other. He quickly
answered Nature's call, then went looking for David. When he realized that
David was apparently performing a ritual of sorts, he'd chosen to stay
put, waiting for him to finish.
He finally found his voice. "Are you nuts? I'm not
'spying' on you – I woke up, needed to use the bushes and was curious where
you'd gone off to, that's all." He snorted, half amused, half pissed that
David could even think such a thing of him. Then again, they hardly knew
each other. "You've got some chip on your shoulder there," he muttered,
wondering why his best friend's brother should dislike him so. He certainly
wasn't aware of having done anything to provoke this!
David ignored him and continued to rant, listing
all of his grievances in a rush as he stood in front of the former Ranger,
trembling with fury. Jason stood there, listening to the unfounded accusations
with incredulity and growing dismay … which slowly turned into anger as
the tirade continued unabated for a couple of minutes.
*I can't fight with Tommy's brother!* With
an effort, Jason wrestled his own slowly igniting temper under control.
*No
matter what his beef is, if I get back at David in kind, I'll only hurt
my best friend. I'm NOT gonna let that happen!*
Trying to salvage what he could, Jason waited until
David had to pause for breath.
"You are nuts," he repeated. "I said I
was sorry; and if you're so paranoid and insecure to see me as a threat
or whatever, you seriously need to have your head examined. I have no intention
of coming between you and Tommy. He's your brother! Why would I want to
do that, anyway?"
"You want to take my place!" David snarled, beyond
listening or reason now. He was unable to realize that in his current state
of mind he was projecting his own fears and desires onto Jason.
Jason shook his head, not comprehending what was
happening here, but starting to lose his cool, too. "Idiot."
The term smarted. "So now you think I'm stupid,
too?!?"
"If the shoe fits ..." Hostility crept into the
deep voice as well. "For the record, I didn't – not until now, that is!"
"Oh yeah?" David sneered. "Why should I believe
you?"
"Why shouldn't you?" Jason replied more sharply,
stung at having his word questioned. He, who had never willinglybroken
a promise or told a lie if he could help it! "What reason have I given
you to doubt me?"
*None,* David's conscience whispered, but
went unheard. Instead, he ignored the question and resumed his invective,
his words getting less circumspect by the second.
"… I don't care how long you've known each other,
Tommy is MY brother, not yours, and I'm not going to just sit back and
look on how some stuck-up, conceited bigmouth is trying to push me away!
I wish you'd pack your fancy European stuff, your stories of foreign places
and all the 'grand experiences' you've had and haul your ass back to fucking
Scotland, where you came from! Tommy and I don't need you, we don't want
you here, and while you're at it, take the rest of your asshole friends
with you!"
Seething with his own rage by now, Jason's face
was white under his tan. This was going way too far; he could handle insults
to himself, but he was not about to let the gang be put down in
such a way, too! Anyone who did this in his hearing had better beware,
or else. When it didn't stop, however, Jason decided he'd about had it
with David!
"You listen to me, mister," he gritted out from
between clenched teeth, fists balled against his sides to keep himself
from lashing out physically. "Leave my friends out of this! The only asshole
I see around here is you, David." He gave the name an unpleasant
emphasis, remembering how he'd been rebuffed for using a perfectly normal
diminutive the day before. "I'm here because Tommy wants me to be here,
and nothing – NOTHING! – you can say will send me away unless he
tells me to, you hear? Why don't you just take your bloody attitude and
fuck off?"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you? Well, it's not going
to happen. I'm here to stay, I'm family and you're not. And there's nothing
at all you can do about that, so shove it already where the sun
doesn't shine!" Some part of David was appalled by his own behaviour, but
the situation had spun too far out of control by now to be saved by an
apology or simple retreat. "I can make Tommy kick your tail back home if
I try," he boasted slyly, not at all sure if it was true, and beyond caring
if it wasn't. All that mattered was to get back at Jason somehow, to make
him feel as miserable as he had the previous day.
Jason was breathing hard and had to call on every
ounce of discipline he possessed not to wipe the nasty expression off David's
face with a well-aimed blow.
"Tommy would never do that – not to me, nor anyone
else," he seethed. "He's too good a friend. The only reason I'm not beating
you to a bloody pulp here and now, moron, is because I know how he missed
knowing his family; that's the only reason he cares for you I can see,
and I don't want him hurt just because you can't handle there are other
people in his life besides you. Deal with it!" He inhaled deeply, battling
for calm. Taking his own advice, hard as it was, Jason knew he had to put
up a good front for Tommy until they returned. Deliberately, he moderated
his voice. "Once we're back in Angel Grove, I don't want to see you ever
again if I can help it."
Uncomfortably aware that Jason was coming off much
better in this confrontation than himself, David fought with his own demons,
finally, grudgingly winning a victory of sorts. Still, his expression remained
thunderous.
"Which can't be too soon for my taste!"
Jason barked a short, mirthless laugh. "Then we're
agreed on one thing at least. You can go to hell for all I care, and take
that goddamned chip on your shoulder with you!"
"Yeah well, we'll see who of us goes to hell first!"
"Whatever," Jason sneered back. He could sense that
he was rapidly losing what little hold he still had of his temper. David's
hostile attitude wasn't helping much. With an effort, he recalled every
lesson and lecture on self-control he'd ever received from his parents,
senseis or Zordon. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he found a measure
of calm, his dark eyes bore into David's. "I'm not going to lower myself
to your level by fighting with you, although nothing would give me greater
pleasure than to kick your ass to the moon and back!"
"That makes two of us!"
"You and what army? You can't beat me even now,
when I'm not fully fit," Jason jibed, knowing from Tommy's description
that he was the better fighter, knowing also that David knew, who
flushed an angry red. Adding insult to injury, Jason turned his back to
David, almost as if daring to attack him from behind like the unscrupulous
coward he'd been accused of being. With an indifferent shrug that was somehow
worse than a blow or more name-calling, the one-time Gold Ranger assumed
a deliberately calm tone, realizing instinctively that David wanted Tommy
as little involved in this as he did.
"I'll say nothing about this to Tommy. I'll keep
out of your way until tomorrow evening as much as I can, and I expect you
to do the same," he said over his shoulder.
"Gladly," David muttered under his breath, torn
between a nigh-overwhelming desire to slug it out with Jason here and now
and wishing he'd never laid eyes on him in the first place. How dared he
give orders to him like that? It was worse, somehow, having to admit that
Jason was right – this had to be kept from his brother. "Fucking
little shit!"
Jason paused, turned back for an instant and gave
David a sharp glance, then chose to ignore that last insult. If he didn't,
there would be violence, and things would get ugly. VERY ugly. He
pivoted on his heels and walked briskly away, leaving David behind. He
passed the tent where he could hear Tommy stirring, and because he wasn't
at all sure he wouldn't inadvertently betray what had happened in the last
half hour if he stayed, Jason picked up their canteens and climbed down
to the small well to fetch water for breakfast. It took a few blessed minutes
of quiet to fill the containers, and the simple chore gave him time to
simmer down again and to present a once-more placid face to his best friend.
~*~
Breakfast was a quiet affair, with Tommy still rather
sleepy and Jason and David trying to maintain at least a façade
of civility towards each other for his benefit. They managed that by limiting
their 'conversation' to "pass the bread, please" and the like, while otherwise
studiously avoiding talking to each other as much as possible. It helped
that the Red Ranger never was at his most alert early in the morning, the
previous day's excitement notwithstanding. Thus, there was no overt discord
when the three young men made plans for the day.
"If we go about a mile and a half in a southwesterly
direction, over to that rise with the four peaks," David pointed towards
the hills, still hazy in the bright morning light, "there's a lookout point
about halfway up the second from the left which would give us a great view
of the desert." He saw the slightly dubious look Tommy exchanged with Jason,
and smiled to himself. *Maybe I can't beat the crap out of him, but
I CAN make him feel totally miserable,* he thought, remembering Jason's
limited stamina. The hike he was suggesting wasn't a particularly strenuous
one, nor was the climb, but both required full concentration and a not
inconsiderable amount of sheer physical strength – which, from the way
Jason had called for occasional breaks yesterday, he just didn't have right
now.
It was petty, not a very nice thing to do, and really
rather beneath him – not to mention that it went against everything Sam
Trueheart had taught him; David was aware of that, but in his current state
of mind simply didn't care. The burning need he'd developed since yesterday
to be close to his brother, to somehow remove Jason from Tommy, no matter
what it took, overruled both his innate decency and common sense. Plus,
he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd come off second best somehow in
the earlier confrontation with Jason, and needed something – anything –
to make himself feel better again. If it took humiliating his rival in
the process by showing up his currently less than excellent fitness, so
be it.
"I dunno, David; how difficult is the climb?" Tommy
asked, concern for his best friend evident in his voice and expression.
"If Jase can't make it …"
"As I said before, then he has no business being
here in the first place," David murmured, too quiet for Tommy to hear,
but audible to Jason who was sitting between the brothers.
"Don't worry about me, Tommy; I'll be fine," Jason
interrupted him firmly, disregarding the snide remark. He'd seen the slight
smirk on David's face, even though he had done his best to hide it, and
suspected some of what was probably going through the other's mind. Well,
he wasn't so macho that he would endanger himself; it might be embarrassing
if he'd have to stop halfway to wherever David suggested they go, but he'd
lived through worse.
*Not that I wouldn't love to wipe the floor with
him, show him how strong I really am, but …not the way I am now.* With
an internal sigh, Jason dismissed the tempting thought. He still hadn't
fully recovered from holding the Gold Powers, and that was quite
simply that. While he was confident that he could hold his own in
almost any fight – well, except maybe against Tommy – he knew he was just
off enough that there was a chance David might beat him. *Which would
really kind of defeat the purpose,* Jason conceded wryly. *Oh well.*
"Trust me to know when to call it quits if I need
to," was all he said to his best friend, closing the subject.
"Are you sure?"
"YES," Jason replied slightly louder than strictly
necessary, a hint of irritation creeping into his voice, which caused Tommy
to look at him strangely. He wasn't the most observant person in the world,
but instincts honed by years of Rangering screamed at him that there was
something … well, not wrong, exactly, but not quite right, either. He had
hoped that his brother and best friend would be as delighted to be in each
other's company as he was, taking this time-out from job, school, duty
and whatnot. So far, it hadn't happened, but trying to be optimistic about
it – after all, they had only met the day before – Tommy kept quiet,
only raising a questioning eyebrow at his friend.
Jason exhaled noisily, not quite making it an exasperated
sigh. "Tommy …." It was a plea for trust and understanding, but also a
warning to back off. The dark eyes signalled clearly that he did not want
to talk about whatever was bothering him. *Not now, Bro …* Thankfully,
the silent communication between them worked as well as it always had.
Tommy got the message.
"Okay, okay," he said placatingly, deliberately
ignoring the undercurrents in the atmosphere. If there was something going
on besides general getting-to-know-each-other problems, he didn't want
to know. Not today, anyway. *Surely we can sort things out when we're
back home, after a good sparring session and over smoothies at the Juice
Bar!* Tommy conveniently forgot how badly his brother had reacted to
being bested by himself, that first time right after they'd found each
other, trusting Jason's usual willingness to give everybody at least one
chance. "So, you feel up to going to that lookout?"
Jason shrugged, carefully glancing just past David,
not meeting the hard eyes. "Why not. Is there anything to see besides sand
and rocks, though?" He kept his tone deliberately neutral as he addressed
David, subtly insinuating that the stark if grandiose landscape wasn't
quite enough to make him show too much enthusiasm … while in reality, he'd
always enjoyed the vastness of the arid mountains, letting the curious
not-quiet soothe his mind when things, or maybe just life, became too much.
Only looking out over the ocean afforded Jason a similar effect, the crashing
of waves on the cliffs or the moonlit calm of a deserted beach often both
counterpoint and complement to his moods.
"Depends on what you want to see," David replied,
trying not to sneer. "The desert has life enough, if you know where to
look … or aren't too blind to notice."
Tommy laughed. "Don't worry, Dave; Rocky may be
the best botanist among us, but Jason's no slouch, either. In fact, when
my folks first moved to Angel Grove from Detroit, he was the one to show
me the local wildlife and stuff in the area. If it hadn't been for the
hikes we did together, I'd never have been able to follow the falcon during
my Zeo Quest. There's not much desert or mountains in Michigan." The brown
eyes sparkled with affection, gratitude and even a tinge of admiration
for his friend. Jason grinned back amiably.
"Had to show you all the ropes, Bro," he
chuckled. "After all, I couldn't risk you'd get lost or whatever if you
ever had to walk to the Command Center!"
"Yeah well," David muttered, annoyed at having been subjected to yet another glowing tale of past experiences Tommy had shared with Jason, then pulled himself together. "Let's get going then, before it's too hot."
"Sure."
Within fifteen minutes, the three young men had
secured their camp so that there would be no unpleasant surprises during
their absence. Food was stowed safely away from roaming wildlife, their
cooking fire was banked and covered with rocks in order to prevent it from
spreading out and the tent closed up as tightly as possible. They didn't
really need to fear theft, as access to the area was restricted, but why
take chances?
"All set, everybody?" Tommy asked, checking the
buckle of his communicator strap. While he might officially be on vacation,
the Red Ranger nevertheless needed to be available if Divatox chose to
launch another attack. No more missed alerts like during his days as the
Green Ranger; leading the team after Jason's departure had rid him quickly
of that particular habit out of his sense of responsibility and stark necessity.
Hardly waiting for David and Jason's affirmative answers, he tapped on
his canteen to make sure it was clipped safely to his belt, then turned
towards their destination.
"Let's get this show on the road, guys!"
To Be Continued …