Disclaimer : I own nothing…like usual.
A/N : Ok, hello everyone yet again. Here's the thing, this was originally Chapter 2 for Dark Shadows…Hidden Light, but it is now Chapter 10 for this Series and it has been re-modified. Which means, if you read it as Chapter 2 from other said story, you should read it again since it has been changed. Oh, and one more thing, you might want to read over Chapters 8 & 9 'cause I redid them too. I discovered upon browsing over the story that some things just didn't fit together and other things seemed way to rushed. Focus has been reverted back to Tommy and Kim, but Rocky and Isabel still play a key role. Now that I think I have my act back together, please read and review as always. Enjoy!!
Oh, P.S., I don't really know if Kat is afraid of thunderstorms, but it just fit in with the story so as of now, she is. Ok, go ahead and read now…
THE POWER RANGERS IN :
THE HARDEST THING I EVER DID : PART II
Chapter 10 : Strange Lightning
Rocky drove like there was no tomorrow, wildly sliding around turns, and almost crashing into other slower moving vehicles, and stopping at lights only once they had turned red. Yellow to him meant speed up, not slow down. It was always a contest, especially when he was in a hurry, could he beat the light before it changed? This worried Isabel as she once more tore herself out of her dark thoughts. Dark thoughts about her own dark past.
There was still so much about her that the others didn't know, things she didn't want to discuss. Hell, she didn't even want to think about it, it hurt too much. Kat, her best friend in the world, didn't even know about this terrible secret, and Isabel wasn't sure if she could share the secret with her, with any of them. It had been hard enough to tell them about Brenda, her own twin sister. How could she tell them about the other secret…the far darker secret?
Only one other person knew about the terrible secret, and that was her brother Donny. Oh, and her parents too. How could she hide something like this from them? And the person responsible for the terrible secret…
She recalled the phone call she had received, and chills ran up and down her spine. Her eyes unconsciously slipped over to Rocky, he was paying attention to the road for once, and not her. Her mind flitted back to the phone call that had turned her world upside down. I know where Brenda is. Those five simple words had killed her, all over again. Wasn't it bad enough that she had had to relive events of the past, now someone had to bring up a far darker side of her past? She knew who it was, per say, she knew who he was.
He'd haunted her dreams, hell, he'd haunted her entire life, since the day he had taken Brenda away from her. Wasn't it bad enough that he'd taken Brenda, now he had to terrorize her when she was with…what exactly was Rocky to her? Her boyfriend? She didn't know if she could call him that yet. What would be next, calling her at home? Just then the phone chose that moment to ring and Isabel eyed it wearily. Her eyes clashed with Rocky's and his seemed to say 'Don't you even dare answer it.'
Should I answer it or not? Isabel wondered to herself dully, fully expecting it to be him calling her again.
Hesitantly she reached for the phone, she meekly broke eye contact with Rocky, "Hello?" she said as she hit the send button, her voice a mere whisper. I know where Brenda is, echoed in her mind.
"Isabel?" Mr. Manning's voice came over the phone.
"Sir?" She asked.
"My wife can't work tomorrow, I'm sorry for asking this of you, with all that has happened and such…" her boss left the question unasked, thrown up in the air. She could refuse, she knew that…but if Mr. Manning really needed the help…
She looked over at Rocky and he looked darkly back at her, his dark eyes burning with anger. "It's Mr. Manning," she said quietly. Rocky just nodded his head. "He wants me to work tomorrow."
"You're a big girl," was all Rocky said.
He's mad, Isabel realized. That phone call must've really upset him.
"I'm sorry Mr. Manning, I really can't. We're on our way to the hospital at the moment, to visit our friends and we'll probably be there tomorrow too."
"Is everything all right?"
"One of them just came out of surgery."
"Ah, the ones involved in the accident then?"
"Yes," Isabel answered.
"I'll be letting you go then. I hope everything works out and that they're ok."
"Thank you sir," Isabel responded softly.
Hitting the end button she turned her blue eyes back to Rocky. "Rocky?" She said quietly.
He looked over at her and realized for the first time exactly how vulnerable she looked. This was a side of her he had really never gotten to glimpse. She seemed as fragile as a flower, instead of the tough she-devil she always portrayed. Her heart and soul were in her eyes as she stared at him, the tears shimmering in their depths. He saw heartache and betrayal in their depths, along with a strong sense of longing, and love. "What?" He asked softly, he voice getting stuck in this throat.
"Thank you," she said softly as she scooted across the space separating them and laid her head down on his shoulder. "Thank you so much for being here."
Rocky smiled and slipped a hand around her shoulders and drew her closer just as a large raindrop pelted the windshield. Isabel leaned forward and looked up into the sky, noticing for the first time the dark gray storm clouds starting to eclipse the sun.
"Looks like a storm's on its way," she said softly and snuggled back into Rocky's warm embrace.
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The bright sun was eclipsed by a dark cloud, shrouding the peaceful city of Angel Grove into a darkness far darker than it had any right to be. Tommy noticed this as he walked out of the hospital, Kim was asleep at the moment and he was taking the brief reprieve to go out and get some air. He had been cooped up in that hospital for far to long, but he was thankful that the hospital staff hadn't tried to keep him in his own room. He didn't know what he would have done had they tried to keep him from Kimberly. He couldn't get over the feeling that she needed him.
As the dark cloud fully encompassed the sun, Tommy realized that there was one hell of a storm on the horizon. He could already feel the wind picking up and tossing his dark hair around. Thunder echoed in the distance and lightning flashed across the sky. He felt someone walk up behind him and turned around to face them. "Hey," he said softly.
"Are you sure you should be up walking around on that leg?" Aisha asked from beside him.
He looked down at said leg and smiled half-heartedly. "Probably not."
She glanced up at the quickly blackening skies, "I think we should be getting back-" she was cut off by the squealing of tires as a red truck came hauling ass into the parking lot. "Looks like Rocky finally made it." She glanced down at the watch on her wrist and smiled as she said, "I think that's the longest it ever took him to get-" she broke off as Rocky came running up to them. The first few rain drops of the storm pelting his exposed skin.
"Rain and traffic," he said breathlessly. "There's one hell of a storm on its way, plus I think I caught every damn red light there is and a few there isn't."
"That really made no sense there Rock-o," Aisha said as she glanced around, looking for Isabel. "And where is your girlfriend at?"
"My-huh?!" Rocky asked as he glanced at the smiling faces of his two friends.
"Cat's out of the bag, Rocky my friend," Tommy laughed as he watched Isabel cautiously walk up to them.
She grabbed hold of Rocky's hand as another loud crack of thunder echoed through the quiet city.
"Kat was in a bag?" Isabel asked, her body pressed up against Rocky's, as if she were trying to hide from the approaching storm, as she looked suspiciously, first at Tommy then over at Aisha. "What was she doing in a bag?"
"Just a figure of speech, girl, just a figure of speech." Aisha said with a laugh. "You've been in this country what, a total of four years?" Isabel nodded her head, already knowing where this line of questioning was leading.
"And I still haven't picked up all your funny sayings…" Isabel said at the same time Aisha did. "Yes, I know, I know. I'm a slow learner. It's an Australian trait, just look at Kat." That brought smiles and laughs from everyone.
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Trini, Jason and Billy were just on their way out of the hospital in search of their missing friends when Trini suddenly noticed the darkened skies. "Looks like rain," she commented to her husband and friend. "I don't recall there being anything in the forecast about the possibility of rain."
"That's because there wasn't." Jason replied.
"The probability of rain was suppose to be at 20 percent or less for today. The likelihood of it occurring wasn't really possible." Billy said from behind them.
Jason just turned around and looked at him. "I actually understood that," he said with a laugh.
A bolt of lightning suddenly zigzagged across the sky, momentarily blinding the three friends with its intensity. The crack of thunder booming simultaneously. Trini pointed to just outside of the sliding glass doors, "There they are, and it looks like Rocky and Isabel finally made it."
"'Bout time," Jason muttered good-naturedly underneath his breath.
**********************************
Kat looked in on Kim once more and held her breath, listening to the silence of the ICU area. Only the steady beeping of the various machines dared to break the silence. She watched as Kim's room darkened, the lights and other illumination glowing brightly in the sudden darkness. What in the world? Kat wondered to herself silently.
She glanced out of a nearby window and noticed that a large and rather angry looking storm cloud was obliterating the sun. Wind whistled just outside of the window and smashed unmercifully against the glass, as if trying to shatter it so it could gain entrance into the hospital.
Kat shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself, willing the creepy feeling to go away. Isabel is probably just loving this as much as I am, she though. Her eyes met with both Tanya and Adam's. "I really hate thunderstorms," she said as a loud crash of thunder shook the very foundation of the hospital. A small gasp of terror escaped from her lips and she once again tried to will the fear to leave her body. "I really, really hate thunderstorms!"
"They're not that bad," Tanya said.
"What's not that bad?" Zack asked as he walked in in the middle of the conversation.
"That's easy for you to say," Kat directed to Tanya. "You're not the one who's afraid of them!" Then she looked over at Zack, "Thunderstorms, that's what!"
The words hadn't even escaped her mouth as another bolt of lightning flashed past the window, drawing a gasp from Kat. She hadn't seen what she just thought she had, had she? The bolt of lightning had been pink, as pink as her Ranger uniform had once been!
************************************
Rocky looked down at Isabel , she had her face buried against his chest, her grip on his hand tightening with each crash of thunder. She looked up just long enough to direct a question toward Tommy regarding Kim, "How's she doing?" Another peel of thunder echoed all around them and she almost literally jumped into Rocky's arms. "We can go in anytime now," she said weakly.
"How is Kim?" Rocky re-asked her question, tightening his arms around her.
Isabel peeked out from beneath lowered lashes, waiting for Tommy's answer.
Tommy looked down at the sidewalk beneath their feet. "She's asleep right now." He answered. "But she seems to be doing better."
"That's good, and how are you doing?" She asked, stepping just slightly way from Rocky.
Almost like she's daring the storm, Rocky thought to himself, but didn't relax his arms around her, knowing as soon as the thunder rumbled she'd be right back in his arms again.
His eyes shot up to meet with hers. "I'm not suppose to be walking without crutches…you can see how well that's gone over."
She glanced down at the cast on his leg, "Yeah, I can. You do know though, that if the doctors said you're suppose to be using crutches, there is a good reason for the suggestion? And that you should be using them?"
"Well…yeah, maybe."
Aisha laughed as Trini, Jason and Billy walked out through the sliding glass doors. "What's so funny?" Trini asked.
"Oh, not much really. Isabel's just lecturing 'Fearless Leader' here about not using his crutches."
"I was not lecturing," Isabel said indignantly, but there was a slight laugh to her voice. "I was just stating the obvious. That's all."
The wind suddenly picked up, sending down a few more large drops of rain and blowing debris and various other junk from the ground around. Isabel shielded her eyes as Aisha and Trini did the same. "Where did this storm come from anyhow?" She asked as the wind blew strands of blond hair into her eyes, which she turned cautiously up toward the sky.
"Um…hell if I know." Rocky answered. "I wish it would go back though."
"Kat's probably shaking in her boots," Isabel said, smiling to herself, trying to take her mind off of her own fear of storms.
"Worse than what you are?" Tommy couldn't resist asking.
"Almost forgot she was scared of these things," Aisha said as another load crack of thunder echoed all around them.
Isabel jumped, wrapping her arms around Rocky's neck. "I don't think she's the only one scared of them." Rocky laughed.
"Yes, well…we weren't questioning my fear of them, now were we?" Isabel asked indignantly. "And besides, it just took me by surprise, that's all." She said as she removed her arms from around his neck, once more.
That brought another bought of laughter from everyone.
Another boom of thunder vibrated through the air, along with it another streak of lightning etched across the sky. It split apart and two strands struck the ground, seeming to strike on either side of the hospital. "I…I think it's time to go in," Isabel said shakily.
Jason and Rocky just stood in their places, saying nothing. The lightning had been tinted with a bright shade of red, which both of the ex-Red Rangers had seen.
"I would quite agree with that observation," Billy said, having not seen what both Rocky and Jason had.
Isabel just stared at him. "All right then," she said, still staring at Billy. "I think."
"Let's go," Tommy said as he started toward the sliding glass doors.
Another crash of thunder sent Isabel running for the doors, which barely had time enough to open. The lightning bolt that accompanied the thunder was hued a slightly different color than the previous ones. It was a brilliant white, with what looked like a pale purple radiating out from its core. Isabel paused momentarily to watch as it streaked across the sky, crashing to the ground in a remote area just outside of Angel Grove.
Laughter carried on the wind and the blond Australian turned to glare at her friends. "And just what do you think is so funny?" She called back to them.
"Are all you Australians scared of thunderstorms…or is it just you and Kat?" Rocky asked.
"You'll have to ask Donny when he comes for a visit," was all Isabel would say.
Rocky walked through the doors and stood beside her, just looking down at her. "I'll have to remember that," he said.
"When is he coming, anyways?" Trini asked. "We've all heard so much about him from you and Kat, but we've yet to meet him."
"I'm…I'm not sure really," Isabel answered. "He had been planning of visiting this week, but I don't think either Kat or I managed to get hold of him due to the accident…" Her voice trailed off as she looked sadly at Tommy.
Another crash of thunder made Isabel jump. Aisha and Trini were just walking through the doors and paused to turn around and watch as the bolt of lightning they knew would accompany the thunder streaked through the sky. Trini's eyebrows rose in surprise and she heard Aisha gasp softly.
The lightning bolt they saw radiated out yellow light.
They heard a soft gasp from behind them and turned to see Tanya standing there along with Adam, Kat and Zack. Tanya's jaw was still dropped from her surprise, and her eyes met questioningly with the other two ex-Yellow Rangers.
"What was that?" She asked softly.
"You saw it too?" Trini and Aisha asked at the same time.
"Saw what?" Rocky asked.
"That yellow lightning," Tanya answered.
"Yellow lightning?" Tommy asked as he glanced back out to look at the dark skies. "It looked like regular lightning to me."
"It was tinged with yellow," Tanya insisted.
"It was," Aisha spoke up. "I saw it too."
Kat cleared her throat, everyone's eyes jumped to her. "I may not have seen the yellow lightning they saw, but I did see pink lightning earlier."
Tommy was beginning to think that some of his friends had lost their minds. Another crash of thunder echoed through the hospital and he glanced out the sliding glass doors to watch the lightning that he knew would come with it. It was an ordinary bolt, he turned his attention back to his friends, "Anyone see any strange colors in that bolt?" He asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
A blinding flash of light streaked across the sky, no thunder accompanied this lightning bolt, in fact it wasn't even a bolt of lightning. "Ball Lightning," someone whispered.
Billy gasped as the orb of light hovered just below the threatening storm clouds. It glowed with an intensity. A light cerulean blue radiated out from it, casting the surroundings with an unreal glow. He looked around at everyone else to find that all of their eyes were focused on him. He knew at once that none of them had seen it's unusual color.
"What did you see?" Tommy asked.
"It was a light blue," Billy responded.
Jason and Rocky looked at one another, "Actually Tommy, Rocky and I did see a colored bolt too…"
"Let me guess," Tommy said, growing slightly annoyed. "Red."
Neither Rocky nor Jason answered. "Does anyone notice anything strange here?"
"You're all seeing your former colors…but that doesn't explain…" Isabel's voice broke off as everyone's eyes turned to regard her.
"Doesn't explain what?" Rocky asked.
"Why I saw purple in one of the lightning bolts."
Tommy regarded her silently, his eyes narrowed in speculation. "There was never a purple Ranger, at least not to my knowledge."
"That's just my point," Isabel said calmly. "If these strange occurrences have something to do with when you were Rangers, I shouldn't be seeing anything. I was never one of you."
There was another crack of thunder and the rain suddenly began to poor down. Double shafts of bright white light erupted from the skies, striking the ground furiously. Zack took a step back, his jaw dropped in surprise, behind him he heard Adam gasp. A bolt of black lightning struck the ground, while behind it a bolt of blinding white light served as a back drop, illuminating the bolt that would have been impossible to be seen against the black skies.
Another streak of lightning lit up the sky, not even striking the ground. It leapt from one point of the sky to another, striking clouds. Tommy imagined that he could almost hear the clouds sizzling from the intensity. His eyes opened wide in surprise as the bolt leapt from the clouds again, it's core radiating green then eclipsing into a blinding white light.
The rain pelted the doors, making it almost impossible to see out of them. "This is one hell of a weird storm," Aisha said softly. She was standing next to Billy, her hand entwined with his.
"Affirmative," Billy said, not even glancing over at his girlfriend. (A/N : When exactly did I make them a couple? I guess they must've gotten their act together sometime when I wasn't looking.)
Rocky grabbed hold of Isabel's hand and drug her up toward the doors, she resisted until he turned around and picked her up in his arms and carried her over. She wrapped her arms around his neck and said sweetly into his ear, "Drop me and I'll kill you."
He just looked at her and smiled.
It was that moment that the lightning decided to put on one final light show. Bright stands of light erupted from the clouds and the steady down poor of rain lessened in its intensity. Purple streaked from the sky, followed by a bolt of red, almost striking the ground in the same place. Seconds later a bolt of yellow savagely streaked down from the skies, followed closely by a bright line of blue, striking in the same vicinity as the bolts of purple and red. A streak of black light erupted from the sky, followed closely by a bolt of green light radiating out into white, then a bolt of bright pink struck the ground, hitting the same spot as the bolt of green/white lightning.
All of the friends gasped in awe, watching the spectacular display of light, until Billy interrupted them with some news that brought another round of gasps, this time from surprise.
"By my calculations," Billy said quietly, "Those lightning bolts are striking near to, if not exactly at, the location of the Command Center."
**************
Brown eyes opened up to the darkened room and gazed curiously around at a room that looked suspiciously empty. Where did everyone go? She wondered to herself.
Her eyes were attracted to a window by a bolt of strangely colored light. The bolt of pink hued lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the darkened room with a soft pale pink. She heard a loud crash of thunder, then a rainbow full of colors light up the sky. It was almost like the Fourth of July, as the various colored bolts of lightning lit the sky up with a multitude of colors.
The last thing she recalled seeing before sleep claimed her once more was a bunch of words written in pink across the window of her room…but she couldn't make out what they said. She didn't even know if they were really there or if they were the product of a very mixed up imagination.
So then, what did you think? Review, I was a little disappointed by the lack of reviews for the last chapter. Ok, actually I was a lot disappointed. If you liked….then be kind and review. Tankies!!