Standard fanfiction disclaimers: I don't own the characters much to my dismay. I have not intentionally tried to steal anyone's idea. This story centers on Jason, Kim and Tommy. I will have some original characters show up at some point, but please don't use them without asking first
Back in the System
A Power Rangers Story
Part Four: Kim's Flight
By PaperKat
Kimberly Anne Hart ran for all that she was worth towards the boarding gate. Ahead of her Adam leaped over an unsuspecting traveler's luggage as he yelled back at her to hurry up. Somebody's been in Hollywood a little too long, Kim thought, a smile blossoming on her tired face. She was sure that this was Adam's brand of payback for dragging him around Angel Grove all day long. For the first time Kim appreciated her shorter stature and petite frame as she waved herself in and out of the other passengers around her.
It had taken far longer than Kim had anticipated completing all of her business arrangements after she had decided to buy the warehouse and the dojo. The first order of business had been to convince Mr. Hamin to sell her his dojo, which had not been easy by any stretch of the imagination. Her and Adam had shown up at the dojo, much to Jason and Rocky's surprise, and she had requested an audience with the owner in a very business like manner.
It had been a tough hour of negotiations. The price was never haggled over, Kimberly had thought Mr. Hamin's price for all of the dojo's equipment and trappings and the dojo's name had been more than fair. However, the suggested change of location had upset Mr. Hamin. He had already had a buyer for his building, but he hadn't wanted his students to have to travel too far to continue with their studies. After hearing where she wished to move his next concern had been that she wanted to turn his dojo into a large school, pumping children in and out for money. When she had told him that she would never take on more students than Jason or Rocky thought were appropriate, he seemed very pleased. So pleased in fact that after leaving his office and she had tried to shake his hand to seal the deal, the burly man had gathered her up in a bear hug that had popped her spine. Which hadn't gone unnoticed by her three ex-teammates, but with so little time available Kim hadn't had the luxury to stop and explain.
On the way to the realtor Kimberly had explained to Adam her plan to buy the warehouse, use the top two floors as a gallery, studio and apartment, then set up the first floor as a dojo. Adam had voiced his concerns about entering a business relationship with friends, but after her quelling glare he had admitted that the normal complications of friends working for each other would probably not apply for them. Kimberly had her own reservations about the situation and they stemmed less from working with the guys and more from just being with them again, especially Jason.
In for a penny, in for a pound. If you're going to go swimming, jump in the deep end. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Or as Rocky would say, 'If you're going to get bit, it might as well be a big dog.' Which Kim had never quite understood, but it seemed oddly appropriate for this situation.
"Gate 11 is that way!" Adam yelled over the noise and the heads of the other travelers. All Kim could see was her Asian friend's arm and hand directing her to the right.
Putting on a bit of extra speed, Kim forced her way over in the direction Adam had indicated. A speaker above her announced that her flight was giving it's last boarding call. Kim knew that if she missed this flight that she would have to wait until morning for another one and she just wasn't prepared to say another night.
"Kim! Over here!" Jason's voice boomed ahead of her surprising her enough to make her trip. Before she could go all the way down Adam caught her arm and pulled her ahead with him. Standing by Gate 11 was Rocky and Jason, both still wearing their gis. They must have come straight from the dojo.
"We didn't think you guys were going to make it." Rocky told them.
Kim grabbed her portfolio and carry-on from Adam and handed them along with her ticket to the guard. "Technically I still haven't until I make it on that plane."
"Mr. Hamin said that you bought the dojo. Is that true?" Leave it to Jason to cut to the chase. Kim quickly searched his expression to see if he was angry with her and seeing nothing but surprise she relaxed.
"Yep. The ink's probably still wet on the closing for the warehouse, and I still need to get an American business license, but I should be able to take care of that easily."
"Warehouse?" Jason asked puzzled. "What warehouse?"
"Miss… your bags." The security office said as he handed her back her things and pointed at the hallway leading to the plane. "I suggest you hurry Miss. They're ready to leave." Kim smiled her thanks and turned to Adam giving him a huge hug even as she spoke over his shoulder to Jason.
"I don't have time to explain." Kim switched her hug from Adam to Rocky, but still addressed Jason. "I'll call as soon as I get to London. Adam can fill you in with some of the details." She pulled away from the former blue Zeo ranger and dug around in her coat pocket. "Here." She called out in warning, throwing a set of keys and her cell at Adam. "You're going to need those and be careful with the phone Andros gave it to me. It's special if you know what I mean." And if Andros finds out I'm using it to move I'm in deep trouble.
Adam 'ahh'-ed in understanding as he pocketed both items. Kim turned back to Jason and swallowed hard. An electric thread of panic raced through her system. Please let it be just a normal hug, no funny stuff, Kim prayed to herself as she threw her arms around her long time friend. She was stiff at first waiting for something to happen. When nothing did she let herself melt into the embrace with relief. Kim gave a silent prayer of thanksgiving. She just didn't know what she would do if she were forced to never see her childhood friend again because of her illness. Last night must have been a fluke. I just missed my morning dosage that's all.
"Call as soon as you get to Kat's." He demanded of her as he let her pull away. Kim felt the old familiar warmth flood her at Jason's brotherly tone. She wondered if he realized that he had already started calling the loft her and Kat had shared for two years as 'Kat's'. Overwhelming joy washed over her at the thought of finally coming home again. Kimberly threw herself back into Jason's arms, gave a squeal of excitement and then quickly moved away.
"I will. See you guys in a few weeks!" Kim yelled over her shoulder, high-tailing it for the plane, bouncing on her toes as she went.
It was a simple matter to find her seat and then to put her carry-on and coat in the over head compartment. Kim buckled her seatbelt and sighed as the plane began to taxi on the runway. For the first time since she and Adam had started on her quest for a new home this morning, Kimberly sat down and relaxed. What an incredible day! She thought, a bright smile lighting her face. She not only found the perfect place to live and create her work, but also a wonderful location to display all that she had already made.
To say that Kim was prolific in her work was like saying Rocky could eat. In the few years that she had started drawing she had created hundreds of works, most of which were what she deemed private and not to be on display for the general public. Her studio in London was far too small to show them all off and the loft walls had already been covered a long time ago.
Yes, the warehouse was going to be perfect. After it was renovated of course. Kim giggled remembering how she had shanghaied Adam into being her liaison for the massive undertaking of remodeling the old warehouse into an apartment, studio, gallery and dojo. Poor, poor Adam. He's such a trusting sweetie.
"Adam, do you know of anyone that I can trust to remodel the warehouse?" She had asked of her friend, hoping that he would give her the answer she was looking for.
"Sure, my uncle has a decent sized construction company that could probably handle anything that you would need." He had replied unknowing that he had been walking into her snare. Kim had already known about Adam's Uncle Reese.
"You talk to him often?"
"Oh, every once in a while. Mostly he comes over when I'm visiting my folks."
"So, you will be seeing him next week?" The trap had been set, all she had needed was for him to step in.
"Yeah, he'll be there. I…" It had been in that moment that Adam had known that he was a goner. "Kim…"
"Please, Adam. I have soooo much to take care of in London and I really need someone here that I can trust to oversee the start of the renovations." Kim had turned on the pout and the patented 'under the eyelashes' plea. Adam hadn't stood a chance.
"Alright, alright. I'll do it. Now put that thing away." He had told her tapping her thrust out lower lip. "You could put an eye out with that."
In-between the realtor and the bank to get a cashier's check for the warehouse, Kim had let Adam in on the general plan of what she wanted to do to her half of the building. She was going to let Jason and Rocky decide what needed to be done with the first floor to make it into a proper dojo, something that she really knew nothing about. She knew that there was going to be a lot that she and the guys were going to have to talk about to make this work. Her intentions were to own the dojo only until Rocky and Jason could get on their feet enough to buy it from her. What Kim really wanted to do was to just give it to them, but she knew them well enough to know that they would be uncomfortable with that arrangement.
A yawn caught Kim by surprise although it shouldn't have. Other than the hour or two of sleep she had gotten at Jason's apartment she hadn't slept for over thirty-six hours. Last night listening to the comforting sounds of her friends' voices as they poured through the newspaper had lulled her into a deep sleep like she hadn't had since she had left Angel Grove. She had been pulled from that nurturing slumber by dreams that she had hoped she had concurred years ago. Dreams that scared her more than any monster she had fought while a ranger. Tangled dreams of Jason and Tommy.
They were old nightmares of Tommy's anger and rejection, of Jason's disappointment and rebuke. Pain, sadness, desperation and loss twisted and pulled from the darkness inside her, burning flames of destruction and joining. One bled into the other, the second becoming the first until there was no difference. That was always the way of her dreams. Images cloaked in shadows, but the feelings were always intense and always cutting.
Upon awakening she had been slow to realize where she was, but the scent that lingered in the pillow and linens had told her quite plainly where she had been, in a bed, Jason's bed. She had leapt off the mattress so fast that most of the covers had went with her, tangling her in them, trapping her. She had struggled to be free, all the while feeling the panic clutch her chest. By the time she had broken free, Kim had been in a full blown panic attack.
Not caring if anyone would see her, she had run into the living room and snatched up her carry-on bag. Thankfully Jason was still the heavy sleeper he had been in their childhood. Frantically she had searched for her medicine, all the while fighting to breathe. It had been years since she had had an attack like that, not since Muiranthius. Kim had dry swallowed her pill as soon as she had found it. She had then crawled her way backward until she had hit the wall, pressed her back against the support, grasping her knees to her chest and had rocked while she had silently cried. It had taken nearly an hour before she had been able to function again.
The attack that had seized her at the tournament had thrashed her in its jaws for two days. At least she had been told that two days had passed only after the fact. When Kim had become aware of her surroundings she had been in the company of an elderly man that had only identified himself as True of Heart. Kimberly still didn't know what had happened during those two days, but the doctors had given her new medication and she hadn't had another attack, at least until last night.
Kim shook those remembered feelings off and concentrated out the window, using the meditation techniques her therapist had taught her. Before long she was able to block the unwanted emotions and push them down to a place she could lock them away. Kim hoped that this latest episode was a result of the stress of traveling and the mix-up of the time of her medication. Sighing calmly, Kim reached for her portfolio, unlocked it and started examining her work. Drawing always seemed to relax her.
The movie studio had loved her work, though they had many suggestions on how to change her drawings into something they could recreate. They had even hinted that they would like to use her skills to make map paintings even though she had warned them that she wasn't that proficient in computer imagery. They hadn't seemed too worried, telling her that they could either send her to school or hire someone to take her paintings and recreate them in the computer for them.
Extracting a pencil from a compartment hidden in the portfolio, Kim started to make notes on the sketches, and where she could she made the modifications on the drawing itself. She worked steadily for a few hours never realizing that she was starting to droop in her seat and that the portfolio was sliding from her lap. Just as her pencil slipped from her grasp, Kim fell asleep.
It wasn't immediately recognizable as a dream at first. She was still on the plane sketching when the aircraft gave a violent shudder. Passengers started screaming and barely audible over the cries was the pilot's instructions to stay in their seats and put on their seatbelts. Kimberly never one to easily frighten, moved over to the window seat and buckled herself in. Outside the window she could see a monster, identical to one of the ones she had in her portfolio, hurling rocks at the plane. Ahh, another 'ranger dream'. Kim thought to herself not really concerned. She had been having what she called 'ranger dreams' ever since that very first day. A monster would come the rangers would respond, win and then she'd wake up, no big deal.
A blast from somewhere behind the plane drew the tentacled monster's attention from the aircraft allowing the pilot to circle back around the way they had come and to land. Passengers crushed to the emergency exits, pushing, pulling and dragging Kim along with them to the air slides. As soon as she hit the bottom, two people grabbed her arms and ushered her away from the crowd. She looked to her right and to her left.
"Rocky? Adam?" she asked them stupefied. Usually 'ranger dreams' consisted of the original five, and sometimes Tommy. Rocky was in his red Ninjetti outfit with the mask and head covering pulled up while Adam was in a green Ninjetti uniform, his face and head were also covered. "Since when were you a green ninja?" This is a first.
"Hey, it ain't easy being green!" he snapped back at her. He seemed rather put out at her. "I'll have you know that I waited all day for the cable guy and he still hasn't come!"
"What are you talking about?" Kim demanded, but Rocky turned her around to face him before Adam could answer.
"Never mind Mr. Grumpy Pants over there, Sexy. He's just mad that he's too scared to kiss the fairy princess." Rocky told her with a shrug.
"Well, if he wants a kiss he better come get one. I'm a little busy right now."
Kim turned to the voice to see Tanya standing in the middle of the runway in bright yellow scrubs, apron, and gloves; even the patient she was working on was covered with a lemon colored sheet. Of course Adam's princess would be Tanya, she thought with a smile. She had heard all the stories from Kat and Rocky about those two.
All the equipment you might expect in an operating room was gathered around Tanya. Monitors and Ivs were hooked up to her patient along with some alien apparatus into his brain that was completely exposed on top. Gross! I must have watched Hannibal one too many times.
"This is such a mess!" Tanya declared as she poked around at the connections buried in the reddish gray mass of tissue. "How could they possibly expect to control something that's ethereal by manipulating the physical?"
"Am I going to be alright, Doc?" the patient asked and Kim's blood froze when she recognized his voice. No, no not one of those dreams! To Kim, Jason was the strong one, the anchor, and the unstoppable force. While 'ranger dreams' were easy for Kimberly to deal with, dreams that involved Jason's inability to help himself terrified her.
"Jason?!" Kim called out as she ran in slow motion to him.
"You'll be fine," Tanya assured him. "I have an expert on the way now to help. They just had a hard time finding a boat to get here." Tanya wheeled her patient through a set of swinging double doors that Kim hadn't noticed before, totally ignoring her cries for them to stop.
Kim was hot on their heels, but when she crashed through the free-swinging doors there was nothing but more runway on the other side. No, I can't lose him. I'll die without him. She turned around and around in a circle but all she could see was the double doors that she had just come through and her two friends in red and green. Rocky approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey, Sexy. We can't stay to chat. We've got your monster to hold back, but don't stay away too long. We can only help but so much."
Rocky pulled her in for a searing kiss that only confused Kimberly more. What the hell is going on here, don't they see that Jason needs help!? Without another word Rocky and Adam ran towards the battle that was already raging between the monster, a black lion and a sabertooth tiger. Within a few yards they changed forms from humans to a red ape and a giant black and green frog.
"But what about Jason?" Kimberly yelled after them feeling helpless and lost as events whirled about her. Just a dream, just a dream. None of this is really happening.
"Don't worry about that Kim. It's already been taken care of." To Kim's left, Aisha seemingly materialized out of nothingness in her Ninjetti uniform. She ran forward and enveloped Kim in a bear hug. Kimberly returned the hug with equal intensity.
"What's going on Aisha?" She asked her friend.
"'What's going on' is that you've let that…" Aisha pointed over to the battle, "…go on for far too long." Aisha cradled Kim's face in her hands and smiled at her. "We are all more than happy to help you Kim, all you ever had to do was ask, but there's only so much we can do. We can hold it back only for so long. There's only one person that can make it go away."
With that Aisha turned and starting running to join the battle, like the others she changed into a golden colored bear, the symbol of her Ninjetti powers. Kim sank to the ground, crying silent tears as she watched her friends fight on her behalf. How can I stop this? Who could stop this? Kim was loosing her sense of her conscious self inside the dream. The more it carried on the more real it became to her.
Coming towards her from the direction of the battle was a cloud of dust. As it came closer it resolved itself into the form of a car. A white and pink convertible to be exact. At top speed it approached Kim but she had neither the thought nor the power to move from her spot. She needn't have worried that it would hit her for the car spun, applying brakes and came to a complete stop just a few feet from where Kim knelt. The passenger door swung open and through the opening Kim could see the friendly, if not grimy, face of Katherine Hillard.
"Hurry up! Get in," Kat demanded of her. Kim didn't think to argue. With great effort she climbed into the car and the door automatically shut. Kat buckled her seatbelt for her and then quickly gunned the engine. Kimberly looked over at her replacement. Kat was all decked out in her hot pink Zeo uniform, but her helmet was nowhere to be seen. The material of the outfit was smudged all over with dirt and soot.
"What happened to you?" Kim asked fearing the answer.
"What do you think? I've been fighting that thing alone for years now. It's about time I got some help. I told you that they would lend a hand if you just let them, but oh no you just wouldn't listen to me." Kat chastised her as she sped down the runway and into the trees beyond.
"Where are we going?" Kim asked pleading silently for her friend to make it all go away, for someone to take her out of this nightmare.
"We're going to bring in the big guns." A beautiful smile touched her face making her blue eyes shine.
Kat said nothing more as she drove the convertible through the trees at brake neck speeds. Endless amounts of green screamed by Kim's eyes blurring to untouchable white. All at once the trees fell away and ahead of them was a large triangular opening in a volcano that was all too familiar. Kim started clawing at her seatbelt, desperate to get away, but it wouldn't budge.
"No, no, no. We can't go back there! I've moved past that!" Kim screamed frantically as she tried to take control of the wheel. Kat fought back, pushing Kimberly away while driving into the opening.
"You think you've moved past this? You haven't ever been here." Kat told her, coming to a sliding stop. Kim's door popped open and she came tumbling out when the seatbelt disengaged. Kat exited the car and came to kneel beside her friend.
"Kim you're running out of time. You can't fight this anymore. You have to go to him." Kat said as she pointed over to Kim's right. Before her was Maligore's temple, exactly how she remembered it, except this time the only people there were her, Kat, Jason and Tommy. Jason was in his black undersuit that had been beneath his scuba gear on that fateful day and Tommy was exactly as he had been the first time she'd seen him, dark green tank-top and loose black pants, his hair curling just above his shoulders.
Oh God! Not this again! Don't make me choose. Kim tried to scramble away but Kat held her where she was.
"Come to me Kim. This is where you belong." Jason entreated holding out his hand to her.
"Yeah, Kimberly, come to me. You need someone to look after you." Tommy said a sad shy smile titling his lips even as his eyes sparked with something unimaginable.
"She doesn't need you to look after her. That's my duty." Jason told the ex-green ranger beside him, his fists clenched tight.
"And a piss poor job you've done of it, bro. I had to step in and take over when you up and left her high and dry." Tommy slapped Jason on the back and leaned in to stage whisper in his ear. "Don't worry Jase I'm going to take good care of her. Once she's mine she won't need you anymore."
"I won't let you take her away from me! She's mine. She always has been mine and she always will be mine!" Jason yelled just before he tackled Tommy to the ground.
The two combatants fought furiously. Throwing punches, breaking bone and bruising muscle. Kim watched horrified as the two friends tried to kill each other with their fists. She screamed for them to stop, sobbing each time, as one got hit by the other. Suddenly Tommy got an advantage over Jason and flipped him over his shoulder and into the circular lava pit, then just dissolved away. Kim's scream of denial was echoed by another deeper shout. From the shadows came a figure. He flung himself to the edge of the volcano and reached down catching Jason before the flames could consume him. There poised at the lip was Tommy, but not a Tommy she had ever seen before. This Tommy was older, his hair all but gone in the back and sides, and gelled into spikes on top wearing deep red racing overalls.
"Kim, help me understand what happened. Why did this happen?" Tommy begged her as he struggled to keep himself and Jason from falling in. "Why did you do this?"
"I… I tried not to Tommy. I'm sorry, but I tried not to," Kim whispered back.
"Kimberly, you have to go to them. You have to help them!" Kat shouted at her, as Kimberly remained unmoving on the ground. "They are the only ones that can save you. You are the only one that can save them."
"That is utter nonsense. Next you'll be telling me that she's a Power Ranger or something, come to save the universe."
"Bloody hell! Not you again!" Kat exclaimed whirling to face her adversary. Behind Kat was Dr. Lucide. Kim had never seen him in a full-length lab coat before. During her therapy sessions he had always been causally dressed. The way he was dressed now made him look more like a medical doctor than a psychiatrist. Kim knew that Kat had never approved of the work Dr. Lucide had done, but the venom in her voice made Kim cringe. "You stay away from her! Don't you think that you did enough damage in Florida?"
"Me?" The doctor asked surprised. "I was not the one that drove this poor child into a coma." Dr. Lucide snapped his fingers and two burly orderlies in stark white uniforms came and grabbed each of Kat's arms. "It was her unhealthy obsession with those two… " he said with obvious distaste as he pointed to Tommy and Jason at the volcano's edge, "…that made her sick to begin with. If she had of just given herself over to Devin none of this would be happening."
Dr. Lucide turned his back on Kat and put his full concentration on Kimberly. "Now Miss. Hart. Why don't we try one of our meditation techniques and push all these nasty little thoughts and hallucinations out of your mind? You want to feel better don't you? You want to be able to function again don't you Miss. Hart?" Kim managed a weak nodded even as Kat yelled at her not to give in. All Kim wanted, all she ever wanted was for the confusion and the pain to go away. One of the orderlies punched the ex-pink ranger to quite her and Dr. Lucide drew Kim's attention back to himself.
"Now remember what I taught you. Deny the unreal. Ignore the impossible and concentrate on what is real and what is now."
Kimberly did as she was told, but as soon as she did she heard a shout from Tommy and Jason. Her eyes snapped to them and she saw that an invisible force was forcing Tommy over the edge. She cried out their names scrabbling to her feet and begged Tommy to hold on just a little longer. Dr. Lucide grabbed her around the waist and prevented her from going to them.
"Well, it looks like meditation alone isn't going to work. So, we'll just have to go to something stronger." With a wave of his hand a mesh like fence made of little white, red and pink pills was constructed in front of her. Kim forced her way loose from her old doctor, but when she crashed into the barrier it would not move.
"Tommy! Jason! Hold on! Please, just hold on!" She cried to them even as her hands stop bounding on the fence of pills. Each time her fists touched the barrier she could feel it sapping her strength and numbing her senses.
"Kimberly you have to let them go." Kim turned to see the latest figure here to torment her.
Beside her now was Devin, looking exactly like he had in Florida. Long curly midnight hair pulled back at the nape, warm dark brown eyes, and broad thick shoulders to carry all her worries away. He touched her cheek with one hand and rubbed her shoulder with the other. Always so sweet and gentle just like Tommy.
"You don't need them Kim. Jason left you a long time ago and Tommy doesn't need you…" Devin started to draw her face towards his, his breath touching her lips, "…like I need you."
"Kim don't listen to him. He's only trying to steal your heart!" Kat yelled at her, somehow managing to break free of the orderlies though they still kept her at bay.
"I love you Kim. I want you. I need you." Devin told her as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. It was the letter she had sent to Tommy. She recognized it immediately, ever painful and cutting word of it. Kim started to cry and shake her head in denial. "See right here. You signed the contract. You belong to me now."
"Kim!" Tommy shouted. "I don't know how much longer I can hold on. You have to tell me what's going on!"
Kim looked at Tommy giving his all to try and help Jason, his friend, his best friend. She could see that he was ready and willing to force his friend out of the pit even if it meant taking Jason's place. Tommy fought the force that was pushing him and was able to get Jason up high enough so that he could hold on to the edge himself. Jason yelled at Tommy to 'not be a fool' and 'let him go he could take care of himself'. She smiled lovingly at them. That was the Tommy that she had fallen in love with and still loved to this day, and that was the Jason that had always inexplicably been a part of her. Identical but different, and her entire world.
"I'm sorry Devin," Kim said to the man that for a short time eased her pain, "But it doesn't matter anymore if they love me anymore or not. I still love them and I can't hold that back anymore. No matter what it might do to me." Kim pushed Devin away from her. "You left me when I got sick. They…" she pointed to Tommy and Jason,"…would have never done that. I made a mistake a long time ago, but I'm not going to repeat it."
"No!" Devin screamed as he tackled her to the ground. Dr. Lucide joined in and helped Devin to hold her down. Kim cried out for help and there was an explosion from the pit that drew all of their attention.
Stalking over was Jason, eyes blazing red, his voice deep and harsh as it had been while consumed by Maligore's influence.
"You will not touch her! No one may touch her unless I deem it!"
"Jason, calm down. Think this through." Tommy pleaded with his friend, but Jason just shook him off.
"You don't understand. You never did! She offered you a place and you rejected her!" Jason slammed his fists into the wall of linked pills, but it remained firm and turned to glare at Tommy. "You think too much and now look what it's done!"
"Neither one of you need her like I need her. You abandoned her and left her for me." Devin told them. He turned to Dr. Lucide. "Are you ready for the operation doctor?" Dr. Lucide pulled a scalpel from his pocket and handed it to Devin. Kim felt panic start to overwhelm her watching Devin handle the instrument.
"Here you go. Cut right between the love and the longing and that will get you where you need to go," the doctor instructed.
Kim struggled as the doctor held her arms above her head and Devin straddled her pelvis. She could hear Jason, Tommy and Kat yelling and screaming, but she couldn't pull her eyes away from Devin's hand. With a quick downward plunge the surgical knife sliced into her chest, right over her heart. Her one time love reached into the opening he had just created and rooted around. The pain was excruciating but Kim remained cognizant enough to recognize Devin's crestfallen expression.
"It's not here!" Devin exclaimed, now thrusting both hands inside her. Kim screamed in agony, she was being ripped apart. As she started to loose her hold on this reality, Kim heard Devin begin to cry. "It's not here, without it she can't fix me."
Light, sound and feeling faded away when the doctor told him, "There is another way."
Kim's eyes snapped open. She tried to leap out of her seat, but she had never unfastened her seat belt and she remained where she was. Her portfolio fell from her lap and spilled across the floor of the plane, but she didn't notice. Clawing at the belt's fastener she broke her nails down to the quick, the pain making her panic all the more. When the belt finally came free she darted to the bathroom, knocking people aside in her mad rush.
Once inside she slammed the lock in place and ripped at her jeans' pocket to get at her pills. After last night's attack she had decide to place a few of her 'panic pills' in a thin box in her pocket. Then she finally got the container out and opened, she dumped the contents into her hand. A few stayed her in palm and the rest swirled down the sink, never to be seen again. She threw what she had into her mouth and started shoveling in water from the tap. Unable to help herself, Kim cupped the water in both of her hands and splashed her face. When that didn't seem to calm her she began to pour water over her head. Over and over again until she felt like she could breathe again.
"Miss, is everything alright?" a stewardess asked from the other side of the door. Kim looked at herself in the mirror. She was drenched from the waist up, there was blood on her cream jeans from her broken fingernails and her eyes resembled an animal ready to be rolled under the tires of a semi.
"I'm fine," she lied to her shakily. "Just got airsick all the sudden. I'll be fine"
"Alright Miss, but if you need anything let us know. Take as much time as you need."
You got a couple of years? Kim wanted to ask. She sank down to the floor and even with her petite frame it was a tight fit. She'd had thought her panic attacks where controlled years ago with her new round of meds after Muiranthias and the hallucinations she hadn't had since she started her original round of therapy and medications with Dr. Lucide back in Florida. So why were they showing up now? Am I going to have another episode like I did in Miami?
Kim pushed that thought aside. She knew what to look for now, she wasn't going to let herself fall victim to her own mind. It was just too important for her now to return home. All she had to do was tell her physiatrist in London what was going on and he would up her dosage or maybe even give her a new medication. Now that she was going to be separated from Kat, Kim knew that she was going to need something to take up the slack of not have her friend's constant support once she moved. The medications maybe a crutch, but at least she would be able to walk with them.
She stayed there on the floor for quiet some time meditating, waiting for the pills to kick in. She banished all images from her dream into a back corner of her mind where they wouldn't bother her again. She wasn't strong enough to handle them right now, maybe when she had her next counseling session she'd bring them out. Then she thought better of it. How could she possibly explain the ranger references, without revealing too much? No, she would have to deal with this on her own. Kim knew that the pills she had swallowed had taken effect when all of her perceptions started to dull and her muscles began to feel like jelly. She giggled at the thought of her arms being rubbery mint jelly.
Kim left the bathroom and returned to her seat. The stewardess came by to check on her and she smiled drunkenly and told her she was 'fine, just fine'. It seemed like only minutes later that they were preparing to land, but since her clothes had dried Kim guess she had passed out. After the plane docked Kim had a horrible time trying to gather up her portfolio that she had dropped, but the stewardess from earlier helped her.
"Dramamine?" the older lady asked when she handed Kim her stuff. It took a minute for Kimberly to realize that the stewardess thought that she had taken the motion sickness drug and was now feeling the effects of it.
"Yeah, it will kick you in the 'you know what' if you're not careful."
The older lady nodded her agreement then ushered Kim out of the plane and into the terminal. She thanked the nice woman for her assistance and then headed towards the rendezvous point. Kim often flew in and out of London for business. Her and Kat realized early on that they had to have a single meeting point not based on what gate Kimberly was arriving at to meet each other.
Just ahead was her destination, Starbuck's Coffee, and perfectly framed in the window her soon to be ex-roommate Katherine Hillard. Kimberly took a moment to observe Kat as she had done a million times before. The beautiful champagne blonde was poking absently at the foam on the top of her expresso as she read the magazine in front of her. It was a perfect picture, one that Kim wanted to commit to memory so that she could recreate it on canvas.
Kat's baby soft, shoulder length, softly curled hair was lightly pulled back by hidden combs at either side of her head. Almond shaped, deep sapphire colored eyes set in a perfectly symmetrical face was her friend's finest physical facet. Her make-up was light, really only shell pink lipstick, mascara and eyeliner to enhance Kat's already exotic features. Kim knew that the flush on her flawless ivory skin was completely natural and lightened and darkened depending on her mood. Kimberly thought that Miss. Hillard was unquestionably a striking young lady by anyone's standards. That's probably why I have so many portraits of her.
To date Kim had already created a dozen works with Kat as the subject. There were multiple ones of Kat performing at the ballet in various costumes from traditional tutu to full body paint. Kim had a few choice favorites. There was the oil painting of Kat reading a book in her favorite wingback leather chair, her feet tucked underneath her and a cup of cocoa steaming on the coffee table in front of her. She had a watercolor of a topless Kat sunbathing (face down of course) on a mint and pink striped towel during their holiday to the French Riviera. Kim's all time favorite: Kat preparing for her first awards ceremony at the dance academy. It was a memory that never failed to bring a smile to Kimberly's face.
Katherine had been so nervous that evening, pacing the floor, worrying about her hair, her dress, and her make-up. Kim had just sat back and watched her usually composed friend work herself into a frenzy before finally telling her to settle down. She had already gotten ready for the event, choosing a very simple black slip dress for the occasion; Kimberly had not wanted anything to distract from her friend's big moment. Kat's floor length dress had been a dark coral, spaghetti strapped creation that had made her alabaster skin glow with natural radiance. It had been cut low both in the front and the back, but not indecently so, and the sequins and crystals that had dotted the material had shown off Kat's tone and trim body perfectly, as if the slit up the right side to her thigh didn't.
The painting that she had created came from when Kat had called for Kim's assistance from their bathroom. She had walked in to find Kat posing in the full-length mirror there. Kat had just pulled her curlers from her hair and the light blonde mass had been thick with sausage curls that had bounced on her shoulders as she moved. The dancer had been gazing into the mirror on her tiptoes to simulate her wearing her high-heeled shoes as she held the sides of her hair back from her face to see if she wanted to wear it up. The back of Kat's dress had been partially unzipped were she hadn't been able to finish it herself. When Kat had seen Kim in the mirror she had smiled. That was the moment that Kimberly had encapsulated in her full sized portrait of her friend.
Kat had been all at once a graceful dancer, a beautiful woman, an excited young girl, and a friend. Katherine was all of those things and so much more to Kimberly. The blonde had been the one to save Kim from her physical isolation and possibly another complete mental breakdown. From Kimberly's letters that she had taken to writing after Zordon's death, Kat had known that the original pink ranger had been living in London for a few weeks, but she hadn't seen or heard from her at all during that time. Worried, Kat had setout to find Kim. With a fair amount of detective work, Kat had found Kim in her small studio, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, living off of coffee and Danishes from the café across the street.
Kimberly had known that she had looked a site. Ten pounds under weight, circles under her glassy eyes and a gray parlor to her skin from keeping herself indoors all the time. Kat had taken no argument when she had dragged Kim from the hallow, empty space to her loft apartment. Within hours Katherine had moved her into her home and had taken charge of Kim's life. Now that Kimberly reflected on those past events she wondered that maybe her intentions when she had moved to London had been to find someone to take care of her.
Paris had never felt like home, just as Miami had never felt quite right. It had taken two years before her mother let Kim out of her sight after her hospitalization in Florida, but as soon as her mother let go of the apron strings Kim had run to London. Angel Grove always was and always would be home to Kimberly, but two and a half years ago she couldn't bring herself to go there. The doctors' had advised that until she could control her emotional state that returning to California would have only cause a relapse. So, Kim had run to the only person that she knew might be able to comfort her, understand her.
Kat knew what it had been like to be a ranger, something that Kim just couldn't talk about with her therapist. She could understand how it was magical, wonderful and terrifying all at once. There was also the advantage that Kat knew both Tommy and Jason, and could understand why Kim had always refused her councilors advise to never have contact with them again. And on an even stranger note, Kat knew what it was like to be in love with Tommy, something that Kim had never dreamed could be an asset.
The past two years had been wonderful for Kim. Her and Kat had become closer than she had ever thought possible considering on Muiranthias Kim would have gleefully ripped Kat's arm from it's socket. Kat had recharged Kim's waning zeal for life in general and had gotten her dreaming of a future again. Things she had lost when she had left Angel Grove for Florida. Kimberly had even told Katherine the whole story about how she had gotten sick, the hundreds upon hundreds of tests performed on her to derive the cause, meeting Devin and letting go of Tommy, then the coma. Kim had told Kat how she had woken up nearly two months later to find that Devin had left her, that none of her friends had ever even known that she had been ill and the final blow, to be told that she had not a physical problem, but a mental one.
Kimberly could fill a book with the list of mental illnesses that Dr. Lucide had given her. Topping the list were paranoid schizophrenia, social anxiety, manic-depressive, he had even hinted that she might have multiple personalities based on the visions and periods of lost time she experienced. Kim had had doctors in Florida, Paris and even London, but none of them really helped. They just gave her more medication to stem the tide of symptoms. It had been Kat that had healed her heart, mind and soul where therapists had not. Kat listened to all Kim had to say without judgment. She had told Kat things that she had never told anyone, not even her childhood friends. She had been too embarrassed by her lack of control, something her old friends seemed to have an abundance of.
Trini had always been Kim's ideal, the perfect woman. She was feminine but far from weak and oh so graceful and beautiful. Trini had an ethereal way about her had made you feel like you'd been touched by something very special and mystical. The thought of soiling the Asian woman's image of her was abhorrent to Kimberly.
Zack was the ultimate pal, the guy you hung out and had a good time with. He was Kim's constant reminder of her carefree childhood existence, untouched by time or travesty. She couldn't bare the loss of that feeling of innocence that connection with the past and all its simple wonders. When she looked at Zack all she wanted to see was his lust for life not his pity.
If Kim could have told anyone it would have been Billy. He had the ability to be both scientist and friend, analyzing the problem with cold efficiency then turn around and give you advise laden with caring and understanding. But Billy was star hopping, seeing the universe and all it's glory and Kim couldn't bring herself to waste what little time she had to talk to him with her own problems.
Then there was Jason, one half of the source of her problems. Kimberly couldn't place why Jason was so important to her, why he was so integral to her thoughts and actions. It had always just been that way for as long as she could remember. He was father, brother, friend and leader. He was the anchor from which she branched from, drawing out the patterns of her life but always returning to the person she called home. The doctors called it sick, obsessive and unhealthy for her to center her self on a single individual, then they had heard about Tommy and that's when the real heavy drugs came out. She was not only neurotic about one male but two, and they just couldn't allow that for her own mental health. She couldn't tell Jason about her illness, no matter how much her essence cried out for her to do so. To see his disappointment in her would have been too much.
No, Katherine had been the best ultimate choice. The two of them were so alike in so many ways it was uncanny sometimes. Kimberly knew that had been why she had chosen Kat in the first place to carry on in her stead. Plus Kat knew what it was like to be controlled by evil and enjoy it. The ex-Zeo ranger could relate to the freedom and rush of being completely set loose from your own morality, to become your own opposite. Katherine was as imperfect as Kimberly was and the two of them had found common ground in that.
Kimberly had confessed to Kat how her odd conflicting feelings for Tommy had led her to fall for another man, even if it was for a short time. How when he had taken the White Ranger power their relationship changed and she couldn't tell anymore if Tommy was her friend or her boyfriend. She even told Kat about how Dr. Lucide thought that she was transposing her feelings for one person to another, specifically Jason to Tommy, because of Jason's absence in her life at the time. That it had been this confusion of emotions and Kim's inability to deal with it that had sent her into a self induced coma. They had told her that it had been a cry for help and attention. Kim only hoped that she was strong enough now with the medications' help to stand on her own in Angel Grove without her friend there to listen to her fears every evening. She wasn't in a relationship with Tommy any longer so there shouldn't be a conflict anymore. Moving back was unquestionably her biggest step.
Knowing that she had spent far too long staring at her friend through the window, Kim looked down at herself to make sure she didn't look too bad after her attack on the plane. She pulled her sweater down farther over her bloodied pocket and hid her damaged nails under her coat that she had draped over her arm. Confident that she would pass for being travel worn, Kim walked into Starbuck's. Kat saw her approaching and waved. Kim waved back and smiled when her friend stood up to greet her.
"Long trip?" Kat asked when she hugged Kimberly, not letting go even when Kim answered.
"You could say that."
"Well, I've found something that's bound to knock your socks off." Kat reached over and grabbed her sports magazine from the table. "Look at this!"
Kim took it from the bouncing woman and rolled her eyes. Probably another swim hunk or boxing stud, Kim thought to herself as she skimmed over the page. It didn't take long to figure out which picture Kat had been referring to. In the top right hand corner was a photo taken of the winner of some race or another. The subject of photo had captured Kim's attention so completely that she didn't even see what race it was. There, arms raised in triumph, surrounded by his race crew was Tommy Oliver, but not the one that she remembered from high school.
A flash of buried memory from Kim's earlier dream came to the surface. The two were identical. Dark hair cut close in the back and sides, wild spikes crowning his head. Age had matured his features but had done nothing but made him more attractive. Deep, blood red racing overalls covered with adds from sponsors were an exact match to the ones in her dreams. Kim made a mental note to call her doctor when she woke up just before she fainted dead away.
End part 4