Legal Disclaimer: I guess it's Buena Vista, a subdivision of Disney,
that's doing the Power Ranger distribution thingy now. Story number eight
in the From The Stars series.
I do not blame you one bit if you mostly skip this story. Thank goodness it's a short one, but no matter *what* I've done to it, it still deserves the title "Beware Mary Sue story". The idea sounded good at the time, but...well, it's one time my ideas could not be translated adequately to paper in any reasonable way.
I *promise* the next story, Viral Downfall, will more than make up for this one!
In other words, I hated it, and I'd scrap it except for the one storyline feature I cannot alter: Zordon makes his debut in this story, and in a fashion that's critical later on.
The "Last Message" scene in here was inspired by Ellen Brand's touching scene from "Ashes to Ashes" and she has my gratitude and thanks for letting me borrow the concept.
Crossover By ZeoViolet Teaser:Everyone thinks Sharie is dead...and she is not so sure herself she is alive.
Sharie Triesta toyed with a strand of her hair as she watched the effects of the pulsing, fiery-hot ball called the sun come up over the horizon. A breeze was up, taking the rest of her hair and blowing it in long waves down her back to her hips, the light from the sun reflecting in her purple eyes and making them dance. She felt a presence behind her, and inadvertently, a smile tugged at her lips as her brother, obviously awake and dressed also, slid onto the bench beside her and put his arms around her, pulling her close. She leaned against him, and they were silent, letting the sunrise work it's magic.
It had been a week since the defeat of the Hydrohog. Since then, as Sharie had recovered from her own encounter with him, Trey had gone back to Aquitar for a couple more days and then attended a diplomatic function on a distant Triforian outpost. On the way home from it, he had dropped by Earth to see her, and had ended up staying the night.
Sharie glanced down at herself. By now, she hardly showed the ravages of the Hydrohog's attack, she had regained most of the weight she had lost, and the violet shadows beneath her eyes had faded completely.
Her brother had taken the emotional rollercoaster the recent adventure had cost them pretty hard, and suddenly Sharie was struck by an unplesant thought. What if she really *did* die? She very nearly had a week ago, and it had taken all of Trey's willpower to keep his head, and she knew that he had seriously considered following her if she had not regained consciousness.
Of course, the life of a Power Ranger was very dangerous, any time one of them could be easily killed. All of them had been shot down and brought near the brink of death numerous times...but had always survived. But...what if one of them did not come back at all? What if she lost Carlos for good? Or Trey, for that matter?
Once she had realized what her brother had contemplated when she had been cut down, she had warned him she would not appreciate him trying such a stunt, and that she would prefer him to live on...but would he? She wondered if he would completely hold onto his sanity, going nearly insane with greif and pain. She knew that if she had to face the same situation, she would not care to live either. Last week was not the only time he had had to face this, and he had suffered badly each time, and bearing permanent emotional scars that plunged far deeper than the average joe could imagine, for he stubbornly swallowed his pain and did not show it, or let it free easily. It was the one really bad trait he shared with his sister. Indeed, both were prone to instead throw themselves into work to try and bury it all in the name of duty.
Of course, if somebody should die, their friends would be devastated by the news, and would be full their own grief at losing a friend. But they would also have to accept that their teammate was gone for good. Sharie tried not to remember the dream she had last night, that warned of impending danger on her part....and she was even now getting icy chills up her spine that never failed to warn of danger on it's way.
She must have made some indication that her thoughts had taken an unplesant turn, for her brother suddenly turned her face upwards to look into her purple eyes.
"What is bothering you, Lalinka?" he asked gently, searching her gaze with his own dark eyes.
She was not sure she should tell him, but the insistent look he gave her had her responding guiltily. "Trey...what would you do...I am not sure how to say it." She buried her face in his chest. She could not tell him about her dream, or of the iciness in her spine. He knew of these already, and he would hover over her too much.
"What is it, Lalinka?" he prodded quietly.
When she finally found her tongue, she had to force herself to say the words. "Trey...how would you feel...what would you do if....if I were killed in battle? You know how dangerous our lives are..." she was not able to finish.
"Lalinka, what a question," he sighed and hugged her tightly. "You bet I will be devastated. You are my sister, and we have a closeness few can ever claim to posess, little sister. I don't think I could stand it again thinking you were dead. You already made me promise not to do anything drastic should you die..." he shuddered. "I might be deperessed for a long time, that is for certain. But if you are referring to the fear of my going mad with grief...I will strive to assure you I will not--if only for your sake."
She held onto him tighly as well, her head still buried in his chest and her voice somewhat muffled. "Trey...if anything happens to me, and I don't come back, promise me you will do something."
"What is it, Lalinka?"
"If, for some reason I am killed, or die one day...go to the waterfront painting in my room and look behind it. Take what you find there and read it. Do as the instructions say to do. Okay?"
"I hope I won't ever have to, Lalinka, but...okay." He shivered as the breeze sprang up, and continued idly stroking her hair as the sun filled the horizon and came up completely.
"Thank you, Trey. It means a lot to me." For some reason, tears filled her eyes. She knew, she just *knew*, that something was going to happen, soon, very soon. She could just feel it.
****
Later that morning, Sharie, out of boredom and a need to move, was showing Trey the sport of basketball. Her adoptive father had showed her how shortly after she had arrived on Earth, and she had fallen in love with the game. Now she showed her brother, and was amused by how quickly he caught on to the concept of slam-dunking a ball into a hoop with a net. At the height of the game, however, her communicator went off.
"Yes?" she said into it, tossing the ball to her brother.
It was Carlos, her boyfriend. "Sorry to bother you, Querida, but we need your help. A bevy of monsters is in the park, and they are quite literally ripping us to shreds. Care to come, Querida, and bring your brother if he is still hanging around?"
"We are on our way." A worried frown crossed her face. Carlos was rarely so tacky when he was this serious. It must be bad.
When they arrived at the battlefield, they found the other Lightstar rangers desperately trying to hold off several monsters that were threatening to tear them apart. Sharie and Trey immediately joined in the fighting, helping to beat the attackers off their friends. Through the various sounds of "oof's", "ow's" and "ki-yuh's", one monster with blue spiky armor over black....skin--if it could be called *that*--stepped forward and boldy announced, "All right. Which one of you is the famous Sharie Triesta?"
Sharie started, then flung another monster off of her, kicking it in a certain place that made it bellow in agony. "What's it to you?"
He scowled. "Considering your tone and color, I assume that is you. Simple, my dear. I, unlike the rest of the losers here with me, am here at the request of not just Astronema, but also of a deceased old friend of mine. Do you recall the name Dark Dresden?"
Sharie was instantly angry--and on alert. She had expected this to happen sooner or later...
"So, you undersized, underbrained bag or armor?"
He pointedly ingnored her insults. "Dark Dresden, in the even of his death, had he not found and killed you by now, had me swear to take over the job. It took awhile for word to reach me, but here I am." He drew a sword. "You have a choice. Surrender now, and your friends live, or a fight to the death, and they die. But somehow I doubt that the former choice is readily yours," he sneered.
"Then why bother?" she replied haughtily. "Tell you what, metalhead. I'll fight you, but you have to leave my friends out of it...completely."
"A fight to the death?"
Sharie glanced at the others. Several were emphatically shaking their heads.
"How about if I make your choice a little easier?" snapped the monster, hurtling a bomb of some kind on the ground. Their was a brief explosion, and suddenly everyone but Sharie demorphed.
"The forcefield will block all signals but yours. I am up to a fair fight, so I am letting you stay morphed. Now, a fight to the death, or do you all perish anyway?" As he said this, all the rest of the monsters closed in on the others, making sure they could not escape.
Sharie made her decision. "To the death," she agreed.
"Then draw your sword," he commanded, holding aloft his own.
Sharie drew her Zeo Power Sword, and soon, clashes of metal were heard by the others. The monster was an excellent swordsman, his self-discipline and skill at least equaling that of the Violet Ranger. For a long time, each stood their ground, neither gaining the upper hand. Then, Sharie was startled to hear the monster mutter some strange words, and he was suddenly able to slip in and cut her on the side, making her collapse.
"You-you enchanted your sword," she gasped in pain, holding her hand over her wound to stifle the flow of blood. The wound was not too deep, she realized, or her death would have been swift from that point.
"And what if I did? Both Astronema and Dark Dresden's spirit will be glad to see you gone. Of course, however, I cannot deny you the pleasure of seeing your friends killed first, can I?" he snickered. He turned and bellowed an order to the other monsters. "Destroy them!"
They swiftly moved to obey, drawing weapons and beginning to fight the now- defenseless rangers, who could not stand up to them in their unmorphed state.
"No!" Sharie exploded. Summoning all her strength, she raised her hand. "Violet Power Staff!" she called. The weapon appeared in her hand, and she ignored the burly monster as she fired several shots at the other goons, who fell back at her onslaught.
The armored monster was outraged. "You'll pay for that!" he snarled, turning up the frequency of the forcefield so that Sharie also demorphed. He began attacking her also, with his sword. Now defenseless, she had a hard time keeping herself from being fatally cut, ducking, whirling, and suffering several knicks on her arms and legs. She knew she had to act fast. Finally she levelled a special, deadly kick to the monster's solar plexus, causing him to go into fatal shock. As he groaned and collapsed, she did not stop. She grabbed his field generator and turned it off so the others' morphers buzzed back to life.
The armored monster, though dying, was not done yet. "I will have my revenge, here and now," he gasped. "This should destroy you...once and for *all*!" With the last of his strength, he pulled lose a weird object, which was what appeared to be a dimensional ripper, almost always deadly to humanoid tissue. He flung it at Sharie, who unfortunately was still unmorphed.
The rangers were nearly deafened by the explosion as the device tore a brief hole in the fabric of space and the delicate balance that kept other dimensions from intruding on this one. When it faded, they regained their equilibrium, but their minds did not want to accept the horror of what just happened.
The Violet Ranger was gone.
There seemed to be no way she could have survived a device like that. Such dimensional rippers were swift and sure. The armored monster died with a satisfied grin on his face.
Fury and pain made the group tear into the remaining monsters like never before, and they were soon destroyed as a result. They then demorphed and went over to where Sharie had been killed. There was no sign of her, none whatsoever, no body, nothing.
But the place was also eerilie silent, save for the wind whistling and the sun suddenly beating mercilessly down on their backs.
The thought finally began to sink into the stunned group that one of their own had been killed...and was not coming back. Tears began to trickle down Cassie's cheeks as the realization hit her first. "No...she can't be gone, she *can't* be..." she sank to the ground, crying over the loss of a close friend.
Carlos was unable to keep his face dry, either, despite his shock. *She was dead!* His girlfriend, his true love, with whom he had shared body, heart, and soul, and so much more....he loved her so much, and now the most vital part was gone forever.
Waves of agony and the hottest pain he had ever felt ripped through him in tidal waves, and he crossed his hands over his stomach as the pain became physical. He stumbled over to a boulder and leaned against it, and cried unashamedly for a moment, his mind still violently rejecting what had happened.
Finally, he inwardly tightened with the bitter resolution to avenge her death by *whatever means necessary*, and his hands and teeth clenched with the effort. A small part of him warned him that this should not become the only reason for keeping his soul intact, but he ignored it for the most part.
Ashley was softly crying on Andros's shoulder, and the boy in red also had a wet face, though he showed no other outward sign, his face numb from shock. TJ was much the same.
And Trey...Trey stood as if he were frozen for a moment, utterly numb, his mind instantly rejecting over and over again what he had seen. He was too numb to cry, or he was refusing to give into his pain, the heartfelt anguish so deeply shadowing his dark eyes. Only that and his trembling lips betrayed the fact he was in desperate pain and a major part of him was trying hard to break free, to scream out his rage, his frustration, his grief...but he could not let it out.
"I...I think we ought to make sure..." was all he was able to choke out.
They forced themselves to make a thorough search of the area, the last of any hope dissolving when they still found nothing. There was no sign of the girl, none whatsoever. It was like she had never existed.
Her family, adopted and blood related, were devastated by the news. Her pregnant Aunt Marisha became ill, and her husband, though upset himself, truly feared his wife would go into premature labor and miscarry the baby, for Marisha was only in her fourth month. The twins, Toby and Tami Lynne, simply held onto each other, cried, and did not sign one word.
Her mother, Jeanette, went silent, retreating to her rooms on Triforia, to mourn the loss of a daughter she had been reunited with such a short time ago. Unlike her children, she was not the type to keep it all pinned up inside of her. She cried and raged throughout the night.
Trey wanted desperately to forget his promise he had made to his sister not to join her in the herafter. Only knowing how much she would disapprove, and how much others would be crushed if he did, kept him from doing it. He also forced himself to keep another promise.
****
After that long, horrible night when he had not slept at all, in fact, he had walked the grounds until dawn, Trey was completely exhausted and even more numb with grief. He went into her room, careful not to disturb anything. He found the waterfront painting she had mentioned to him, and he gently removed it. Laying it aside, he peered into the wall behind it.
There was an opening in the wall, and he found a letter addressed to him there, as well as a holographic emitter. Picking up the letter, he fought tears as he read it.
My Beloved Brother, Trey:
If you are reading this, I must be gone. I am so sorry to put you through so much agony, Trey. I had a dream last night that I was facing my own mortality, and if you read this, then I was right in knowing I was probably going to die.
I never meant to do this to you, or anyone else who I have come to love. Please try to hold onto yourself, for my sake and yours. Take this disk out to the lake in the backyard. Bring the Lightstar Rangers with you, for on this is my personal last messages to each one of them. If they are unable to come, make copies of it and have it sent to them.
I love you a lot, Trey, and I will always watch over you, this I promise. Be happy with Delphine. I know you two were meant for each other, and I know you know it too.
All my love,
Sharie Jeanette Triesta
A half-sob escaped his lips, but it was the only outward sign of his grief, as he still could not cry. Trey clutched the letter to his heart as he absorbed her words. *You will watch over me, Lalinka?* he thought, miserable. *That is the first comforting thought I have had in this darkness of despair. I will always remind myself you are there.* His eyes strayed to the photograph of him and her as a five-year-old girl, taken shortly before she had vanished from his life then. She had somehow still managed to have that picture with her all these years, and it held a prominent place on the wall. The purple eyes of the five-year-old girl seemed to suddenly stab at him from beyond the grave, reminding him of everything that he stood for...or should.
****
In some other dimension....
*Ohhh...where am I?* Sharie thought, waking up. She appeared to be in a cave, but she could barely see. It was so dim she could not even make out the outlines of her hands. She was very sore, covered in the cuts inflicted upon her by the ugly monster she had killed. They no longer bled, she was sure none were serious. She felt tired, exhausted, as if her lifestrength was being drained away.
And yet, she did not feel hungry. Somehow, she sensed that she did not need food or anything else here, some force was keeping her alive by other means.
The creepiness of this place was unsettling, like a calm surface of a black lake, while underneath boiled evils of unimaginable horror. She could hear her blood rushing in her ears as her heart picked up pace, breathlessly waiting for something horrible to happen and sensing she would not be disappointed.
Then it hit her hard, a sense of terror, like she had never felt before, ripped through her, rushing on her like a cold wind. Oh, gods, was she in hell? Was she dead, and her soul damned? She stifled a scream as she sank to the ground beneath her as the silent furies seemed to set about to destroy her soul.
*I have got to get out of here, got to get back. They are probably all dead by now, but I have still must go back....*
Then the hallucinations began, ones designed to fill her with terror, pain and guilt beyond her wildest comprehension or anything she had ever known in her terrorizing past. It was what this placed seemed to be planned for. She did not know what she had done so terribly in life to be condemned here, and she almost cursed the diety that landed her here.
Images, sounds, chills, feelings of terror, hands clawing at all parts of her body and replaying the worst scenes from her past over and over again.....it did not seem to end. Voices kept saying she had killed all her friends and her brother, and she was forced to feel it's truth as she screamed her denial. Pictures of Dark Dresden thanked her for joining him here, and he saw that she was now no longer a child, and his hands reached, reached out to try and fondle her, to rape her, and she tried desperately to refuse to give in, taunting her that he had sworn to do this to her one day, and now he would... She could never leave this place. She was here for all eternity. Her terror had just begun.
****
It was indeed a melancholy group that gathered later that day on the beach of the lake to hear the recording. Silence reinged as Trey activated the emitter, and they saw it was a holographic version of Sharie herself, wearing the clothes she had worn the morning of the attack, before she had been killed. There was a message for each of them.
"My friends, if you are listening to this, then I must be gone. I want to say this first and get it over with, I am sorry for leaving you all, and I urge you all to not worry about me. I am still in your hearts, and I promise to watch over you. I have little doubt our spirits will meet again.
"Cassie, you became one of my closest friends in a very short time. No matter what, girl, hold onto your dreams, whether they be of the future or for love. They just may come true."
Cassie choked back a sob, her eyes glittering, but she said nothing.
"Ashley, you are such a strong person. But learn to do what I often had trouble doing, and that is letting out your grief and pain a little more. Same goes for you, Andros. Don't let your stubbornness get in the way of your happiness. You and Ashley should have a long life together, and if I were to have a list of requests, one would be that you two live live to the fullest. Andros, I have no doubt that you will find Karone soon. Don't give up."
Andros and Ashley hugged, hard, and Andros, though it was silent, finally started to cry.
"Carlos, you were the love of my life. You hold my heart in your hands, and I love you so deeply it hurts, and I mean it when I say it goes well beyond eternity. I am so sorry we could not build a life together. Try to find someone else someday, I could not bear the thought of you living your life out alone. Trust me, though, we will meet again. Don't become a miser because of the despair over losing what we had together. Trust me, we have not lost it. It will alwyas be there, just waiting to flourish again in the next eternity."
Carlos buried his face in his hands, nearly choking on his tears. She had his heart, and she claimed he still had hers, even in the afterlife. But what would he do with it, if she was not there at his side to fuel it, make it glow with what made her special?
"Teej, what can I say about you? Your cheerfulness helped me out many a time, and few could dare ask for a better friend--or a better comedian. You have a bright future, and I urge you to follow the stars. Just one thing--find a permanent girlfriend. I noticed recently that Hannah has been following you with her eyes, but she is too shy to say anything. Do me a favor and ask her out, will you?"
A laugh escaped his lips despite his sadness, and suddenly TJ felt just a *little* bit better.
"Trey, my brother, I love you beyond all reason. Please, don't lock yourself up over my death, and remember the promise you made. I could not stand it if you made yourself sick over my death. Reach for the stars! Our special bond will always be there, even in death and beyond. That I wll promise you. Build a life with Delphine, your true love. You dserve it. Mention me to your children occasionally, and remember, we are always together in our hearts.
"I love you all, guys, and I will miss you terribly. All I ask is that you think of me in a good light, and do not forget me. No one is truly dead until he or she is forgotten."
****
A week passed in abject misery for all involved. Carlos cried himself to sleep each night. How could he find another person to love, when Sharie had taken his heart to the grave with her, and after all they had shared? It was a thought he could not fathom in the least, and he did not want to, ever.
Trey still locked everything he felt into his heart. He barely kept himself from going crazy at times. He lay awake for several nights, doing nothing but shake with the efforts to control his raging emotions, refusing to give into them, and withdrawing once more behind the impenetrable barrier that had held him in place when his sister had first been kidnapped. He grew dreadfully pale, and though he remained muscular, he lost weight, and had dark shadows beneath his eyes from lack of sleep.
Jeanette, after she could cry no more, emerged from her rooms to find Trey back home on Troforia. Shocked at his condition, she held onto him tightly and finally extracted a reluctant promise from him to take better care of himself. She could not bear to lose her last child, as well. Trey barely complied with this promise.
****
How long had she been here? She was not sure. Time had no value here, they saw fit to torgure her at their leisure, and surely she had been here for years now. The hallucinations did not come all the time, there were periods of abject silence, when all she could hear was her own breathing and the beating of her own heart, driving her crazy with lonliness and figuring it was just another form of torture she had to endure because she could not seem to die. She was also thinner and weaker, despite the fact she did not need to eat here. Her grief came from her loss, of the ones she loved, for she was convinced they were dead. That was why she was losing weight. Why should she care, when they were all gone as well? Maybe this was not hell, if she was losing weight and she could still feel most physical sensations this way. But if she was alive, where was she? Was it even possible to get out of this hellhole?
*Child*.
Startled, she rasied her head, rising up partially from her curled position on the foggy floor. Was it the beginning of another wave of hallucinations, or was it just wishful thinking?
*Child, I am here. Do not despair.*
No, it could not be a hallucination. None of them ever had the ring of the side of good to it. And the strangely booming, mental voice was not quite like anything she had ever before heard.
*Child, you are caught here, you do not belong here.*
"I know," she whispered aloud. "I should not be here. But...who are you?"
*For now, it does not matter. Do you wish to leave?*
*I do not care to stay in this place.*
*Perhaps I can help you, you are a mortal child and can go where I cannot. Close your eyes and focus on the ones you love the most. You belong in your own dimension, and I will try and send you home.*
Desperately praying that this was not some other cruel illusion, Sharie obeyed. Even if she was going back to a land with no rangers left alive, she would avenge them.
She felt a fiery flash, and was blinded.
****
The megaship bridge was crowded, everyone was working morosely on various equipment. Trey had gone on some mission or other several hours away. To their surprise, the place began to shake, and the group scattered to try and make sense of what whas going on.
Suddenly, a brilliant violet light could be seen, and to Carlos's astonishment, Sharie came out of nowhere and landed right at his feet, with a small "oof" as she crashed to a stop on his toes.
"S--*Sharie*?!!" he gasped disbelievingly, grasping her shoulders--she felt real, and solid, he barely noted--and turned her up to face him. "Sharie? Oh, gods, you are alive!" He could not believe his eyes. "Where have you been...we all thought you were dead..."
"How can *you* be alive?" she cried back in shock, her complexion white as she reached up to touch his agony-shadowed face. "I though you had all been killed..."
She could speak no more as Carlos gathered her up, crying, and she held onto him tightly, trying desperately to keep her emotions under control. They were alive! It felt so good to hold onto Carlos again. Carlos, his face by now soaked with tears of gratification, bent and kissed her with such passion she kenw she was home at last.
The rangers gathered around, hugging her and alternately laughing and crying, telling her the whole story, though she did not say what she had experienced. It was something she never wanted to talk about.
"Where is Trey?" she asked weakly. "How....is he?"
Carlos and Andros looked at each other, exchanging glances. It was only when she poked him that Carlos told her everything, from how Trey had reacted to what he was doing now. Andros was trying to get into contact with him already, but it would take him a couple of hours to get here.
When Andros finally got Trey on the other line, he was shocked by how the boy looked, like Death himself, Trey was so pale and the shadows under his eyes so dark.
"Trey, she is alive!" he gasped out by way of greeting. "She is back!"
Trey blinked, uncomprehending for a moment, before it dawned on him what Andros had said. "What? How is that possible? Nobody could have survived- -"
"I don't know *how*, she just did. There was a flash of light and she came out of nowhere. She was in another dimension, all told."
"How does she look?" Trey choked.
"She is thinner and paler than we saw her last, but I think she is physically okay otherwise. Emotionally...it is a different matter. She misses you terribly, and while she was gone, something gave her the impression that we had all been killed, including you. So she is rather shocked."
"I will be there as soon as possible." Andros could tell the young Lord of Triforia was fighting tears again--this time of pain and relief mixed.
****
Until he came, Sharie spent most of her time with Carlos, absorbing what had happened and the pair renewing the love they felt for each other.
Carlos held onto her tightly for a long while, just thankful she was alive and he *could* hold onto her again.
"What happened to you in there, Sharie?" he asked gently.
She stiffened. "Terrible, horrifying things. I don't want to talk about it."
"Querida, in your final message to us, you told us not to keep things bottled up inside, and I know you have a terrible habit of doing it, but I beg you to not do so now."
"You saw that? I know you are right, but..." she reached up and gently brushed his wet face. "I am just not ready to tell about what I saw yet. It was too much of an emotional shock and strain. But I will tell you how I came to be out of the place."
"How?" Carlos asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"It was a strange presence...a bit of good among all the evil of the realm. I could tell he was a transdimensional being, it was probably sheer chance he was there among the infinity of other dimensions in existence. And somehow, I still sense him, even here. I get the distinct impression he is trying to contact me, but I will have to concentrate to find the exact frequency. But--later." She suddenly turned and kissed him with such fire he felt every neruon in his body shut down, and he responded to her lips as though they were life itself.
Carlos stopped because he was afraid that after all she had been through, she would not have the strenght to keep it up. He pulled her head onto his shoulder, and absently ran his fingers over her ribcage, where he could feel the bones there all too clearly.
"How did you become so thin?" he asked, worried. "You look as bad as Trey-- he lost weight because he has been so depressed. You are even thinner than when the Hydrohog attacked you."
"Same reason," she answered somberly. "I missed you all so much, and I thought you were all dead, why should I live? There were times I was certain I was dead anyway and had merely been transported to Hell. I just sort of pined away."
Carlos did not press further. All he could think of to say was, "You, Querida, go to Hell? Trust me, I doubt, I seriously doubt, that you are destined for that place." He was quiet after that, simply held onto the girl he loved and stroked her curly golden head. And there they stayed for a long while.
****
When Trey was due to arrive, however, she went home to await him in privacy. Her emotions were growing out of control, and were in such turmoil that she needed to be alone with him, for it was bound to cause a big emotional scene, and she was not sure how much longer the protective shell around her emotions would stay before it gave way.
She waited for him where she was sure he would come--on her bench by the lake, the sun at her back as it started to go into the afternoon hours. When the golden flash signalled his arrival, she stood as it coalesced into one spot right in front of her, and the pale form of her brother took shape before her eyes.
She had been warned, but she was still shocked at his white face and violet- shadowed dark eyes, the skin of his face drawn more tightly over the bones than usual. Gods, *what* had happened to him...
Dark eyes met purple ones, and for several moments, all he could do was stand two feet away from her and stare, desperately drinking in her image to reassure himself that what he saw was real. His dark eyes, like hers, wer full of pain and anguish, and yet now joy and relief also.
Looking into his bottomless eyes, the sheild around her emotions finally gave way. She did not care that his did as well.
Trembling, he reached out to touch her, the smooth wet skin on her pallid face feeling solid beneath his fingertips, finally convincing him that this was no illusion. If it had been, he would have died.
Tears rolling down his face, he gathered her close and held onto her as if he would never let her go, crying harder than he had ever before done in his life, his frame shaking with slient sobs. Sharie's own thin frame was the same way. The flood of tears finally began to release the burden of suffering over the past week.
Eternity seemed to pass, before he finally pulled back with a deep sigh, staring at her, drinking in a sight he never though he would see again--at least not on this plain of existence. Gently, his fingers touched her forehead, and slid down over her face, her wet cheeks, her trembling lips. Her skin felt too tight over her high cheekbones, and the violet shadows beneath her eyes were dark, like his were. And he definetly did not like the pasty color of her normally light-olive complexion...but for the moment, that hardly mattered as he was actually *touching* her, she was actually *here*, and alive. He could feel her heartbeat at the base of her neck when his hand stopped under her chin.
"You knew, then?" he whispered, choked. "You knew that this would happen, that you would....well, all of us would think you dead?"
"The dream, Trey...the icy chills....I am never wrong when I feel it..." she whimpered as he pulled her close again.
"What happened?" he asked in a choked, low tone. "What hell made you come back to me this way, too thin, exhausted, and completely hanuted?"
She started to shake, hard. "I--I cannot," she stumbled. Gods, she could not even *consider* reliving those horrific images again...
But he held her tightly, and patiently waited. Somehow he sensed that it was all to close to the surface, and she was actually desperate to get rid of it.
And she was. Despite her best intentions, it hit her hard, and simply spilled out of her, the relived horror sweeping through her body again as she clung to him and cried. He found he was shaking, too--but with rage. Gods, how had she kept her sanity? Her will to live--even for awhile? How had she even survived the ripper in the first place, since rippers were notorious for ripping humanoid flesh as they arrived at their destination. Maybe it had malfunctioned....
Sobbing into his shoulder, she at last came to the part of her mysterious benefactor.
"He is still trying to contact you, Lalinka?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Are you sure you have never met him before, or did he seem at all familiar?"
"I...I do not know," she stumbled, trying to think as she dried her eyes. "He...was transdimensional, I think. His mental tone was huge and booming. Because of the light, I could not see him exactly....but mentally, I sure heard him. I guess he sounded almost...Eltaran, I suppose. I guess...well, he sounded rather sad, as well, lonely, but I don't think he sensed that I sensed that out of him. But he probably sensed my mental powers were strong, because he is still trying to contact me. I must get in touch with him again, but I was going to do it after I had gotten some of my strength back."
Her brother absently brushed a lock of her ringlet curls off her pale face. "I will be there when you do it, Sharie, I promise. I contacted our mother just before I came. She was overjoyed to hear the news, but she was at her own diplomatic function--much further away from mine, burying herself in work. She won't be able to get back until tomorrow, even at top hyperush."
Since it was now dark, Sharie and Trey went indoors, but the talking, once started, did not cease for hours, and when it did, night found themselves curled on the couch, and neither cared. They were so exhausted, from days without sleep, that not even nightmares could penetrate the deep, black void that caught them within it's grasp.
When Sharie awoke, she knew instinctively that it was at least nine o'clock the next morning, and she had slept at least eleven hours. She had almost never slept so late except on the rare occasions she had been ill.
She snuggled in her brother's embrace, becoming vaguely aware that he was also awake, for his heartbeat, directly beneath her ear, was the faster pace of someone awake but relaxed. Memory of the past several days came flooding back to her, and her eyes filled with tears for a moment. She did not want Trey to ever let her go.
"You can stop pretending to be asleep, Lalinka." His voice rumbled gently from above her, and his arms tightened fractionally as he moved slightly.
"How'd you know I was awake?" she mumbled, not opening her eyes, but feeling a distinct pain in her stomach.
"Your stomach gave you away, I'm afraid. Mine is, too. That is what woke me up first--but I could not bear to disturb you after what you had gone through. I expect neither of us thought about food last night--or the past couple of days."
She figured that for him at least, it was probably true. She would not wonder if he had forgotten how to really eat altogether.
"Time to fix that problem," she said as she reluctantly got up and let him pull her toward the kitchen.
****
When she had questioned him about when he actually *had* eaten last, she knew, before he even said it, it had been at least two days. She groaned and made him eat carefully, lest either of them throw up what they had swallowed.
Afterwards, they went outside, wandering by the small basketball course that had shown the beginning of their last adventure. A flash of orange caught her eye, and she wandered over to pick up the basketball, turning it in her thin hands as she glanced up at the hoop in front of her. Impulsively, she made the shot--and Trey saw her really smile as it landed in the hoop with a final *thump*, and bounced on the ground.
Yes, she was truly back.
****
Jeanette was due to arrive at any time, and Sharie was too tired to walk the beach waiting for her. She frequently leaned against her brother for support when they walked anywhere, and he sort of done the same. They had awaknened at nine only to fall asleep at ten-thirty, and awoke an hour later. Sharie felt her stomach rumble again already, but she ignored it. How could she be hungry, when she had stuffed herself earlier?
Trey seemed to sense what she was thinking, for his lips quirked in amusement. "I hardly think cereal and toast was stuffing ourselves, Lalinka. And the first time in days I felt hungry, and you would not let me stuff my face lest I get sick."
"It seemed a lot to me," she smiled gently in amusement.
"It did at the moment, to me also," he reminded her. "But I suspect our stomachs shrunk. My waistline certainly has, and yours too. Your clothes don't seem to fit right."
"Thanks a lot," she grinned, a real smile this time, though his words rang true. Her jean pants--even in summer, so her thin legs would not show-- were loose around her slender waist by at least two unhealthy inches. Slender was slender, and she, like the others, had a model's figure, but she had always been genetically somewhat underweight. Any true weight loss was not healthy.
Her brother's clothes, too, were loose on him, and the belt at his waist had an extra hole in it. It had not detracted from his muscular frame, but where he should have a little extra padding he had none, and he could not afford to lose any more without becoming seriously sick.
Tiredly, Sharie flopped down on her favorite bench, and he gladly joined her as she leaned back, soaking in the sun's rays and closing her eyes. Her pale skin welcomed the lifegiving light she had been denied, and it was already obvious the sun was doing her some good.
A sudden sense made her sit upright suddenly, and she stood, and grasped for her brother's hand, startling him as she pulled him to his feet. She glanced upward, seeing a gold-violet streak enter the atmosphere to coalsece before them.
Jeanette shimmered into existence, tall, pale, her own purple eyes haunted. Her hands were crossed over her chest, as if hugging herself, and her lips trembled as her vision came into clarity, the swirls of shimmering light fading.
The woman was sure she had not seen a more glad sight that greeted her, seeing her beloved children before her, in one piece. Especially her daughter! Thinner, maybe, and awfully white, but alive!
This time, Sharie did not freeze as she crossed the few steps into her mother's welcoming arms, her brother following suit as the Triesta family reunited at last, under the pulsing rays of a world not their own.
For several moments, they clung, and Jeanette cried softly, knowing that this was truly a miracle. It seemed that if her family was going to be restored her, it should stay that way!
****
The last thing Sharie wanted was to tell her story again, she was not sure where she got the inner strength, but she did it. Jeanette was as horrified as her son had been, and Sharie wondered why Jeanette did not demand she return to Triforia for awhile. She sincerely hoped her mother would stay, since Jeanette had never really been to Earth as yet to visit, and Sharie wanted her mother to form an opinion.
Later that afternoon, Sharie went with her mother and brother to the Megaship to set up the experiment she had in mind, to attempt to re-contact the entity that had been responsible for her returning to the land of the living, and to those she loved the most. While she was attempting this, she was going to be carefully monitored by her friends, since they wanted to make sure that whatever had been done to her did not have strings attached, and possibly place her in danger again.
Andros finished adjusting the monitor by the biobed as Carlos helped Sharie onto it. The boy in red lifted his head and nodded at the pair. "It's ready."
Carlos gave Sharie an encouraging smile and she felt her fingers being gently squeezed. She gave him a slightly nervous smile in response as she laid down. Trey was on the other side of her, his hand finding her other one as she felt his encouragement radiating from him.
"I am ready to begin," she said. Andros nodded as she closed her eyes.
****
In order for the mind to expand, to roam, to explore, it should be, if at all possible, as clear as possible. The first thing she did was shove her telepathic sheilds up as high as she could to drown out the empathic noise she would otherwise received continually, and inviting her mind to go blank, black, a dark void without noise or interruption.
She felt herself relax, and knew it was working. She was no longer really aware of the others standing around her, she needed every bit of energy to concentrate on the faint thread in the back of her mind, the faint white thread against the blackness, the one that had been there since she had tumbled through dimesions yesterday in order to return to her own.
She felt it, found it. She concentrated upon it, letting her mind span dimensions in a way she had never before thought possible. She imagined the white line growing wider, the mental linke growing stronger as she sought to bring it closer, louder, so she could hear thoughts on the edge of the telepathic link, faint whispers that were not really legible.
She dared to try and send her first thought directed at the link. *Are you there?*
There was a sense of surprised exclamation, as though the awareness....had not really expected such a response.
She tried again. *Are you there? You helped me once, are you still there?*
A thoughtful silence before she finally got an answer. *I am. So you are powerful enough, I guessed so, but I was not sure.*
The link was fainter than the one she had felt in the other dimension, but the booming mental voice was just as deep, just as imposing. She felt as if she should know it somehow, but she could not place it exactly.
*Thank you,* she sent next. *Thank you for sending me back.*
*I did what was right. I do not deserve thanks.*
Sharie was somehow aware of her physical body drawing in a deep breath. *Who are you?*
****
Andros frowned at the readings he was getting. He had never seen such types of brainwaives before. "Where is her mind? I have seen telepathic brainwaves before, and I have never before seen them like this."
Trey let go of Sharie's limp hand to look over Andros's shoulder. "Sharie has a rare talent, even among our people," he said softly. "Though some of us who can do it consider it a curse. Those are the brainwaves of someone whose mind can travel and expand dimensions if it must."
"A curse?" Carlos lifted his head, looking thoughtful. "Is that the real reason why Sharie rebells against using her own telepathic ability so much? Is it that much torture for a telepath?"
"It can be," said Trey, looking at him steadily. "Trust me, it can be."
****
There was another silence lingering after her question before the entity graced her with an answer. *I believe I can trust you. I cannot use any telepathic frequency other than this one, Dark Spectre might think something was up. I am called Zordon.*
She gasped mentally. *Zordon? The Zordon, of Eltare? But you are...missing, trapped by...*
*I know why I am this way, child. What is your name, since I found you wandering where you do not belong?*
*I am called Sharie Triesta. My brother is Trey, Lord of Triforia.*
She felt a bit of skeptecisim on his next message. *But how can that be? I heard that his sister had been killed, years ago.*
*I did not die. You never detected me, but I grew up on Earth. My powers prevented you from detecting me.*
*Powers?*
*The Zeo Violet Ranger Powers.*
*I understand,* he sent. *If you are a power ranger, child, then you must know the other rangers of Earth.*
Inwardly, she shivered at the hint of sadness she felt on his mental tone. Wherever he was, he was often alone, lonely.
*They are beside my physical body even as we are linked now.*
*That is good. I sensed you had some strong mental powers, so I stayed in the back of your mind hoping you would do this, try and get word to the Power Rangers. Dark Spectre is even now slowly planning a large-scale assault, to conquer, to dominate. You must be warned.* There was no doubt of his urgency. If he said so, it had to be very dangerous.
*Where is he keeping you?*
His mental sigh seemed frustrated. *If only I knew. He usually keeps it a secret even from me. But beware his attacks, he is evil, and is planning many different ways to undo you Rangers. I wish I knew more, or I would tell you And thank you, my young friend. Whatever happens, I will never forget you. Now I must leave, before they detect my transgression. Goodbye."
The mental link snapped from her mind so fast she almost reeled. Her thoughts were whirling as she forced her mind back into the confines of her body, so she could feel herself again. Zordon! Zordon! Of all people, it had been the legendary Zordon!
When she felt her heart pounding in her ears again, she knew that she was back. Her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked at the bright light, lifting a hand to cover her eyes.
"DECA, please dim the lights," she heard Carlos say as if from a distance. "Sharie, how do you feel? Did you--"
"Yes," she whispered faintly as she tried to sit up. "You won't believe this, I scarcely can myself, but it was Zordon. He was hoping I would contact him, for he felt he had to pass on an important message."
****
"We must find him," said Andros a short while later, after Sharie had finished her story. "Zordon may be a valuable ransom piece, but Dark Spectre is draining his energy, Zordon cannot last forever this way. Sooner or later, he will meet his demise in the hands of this villian if something is not done."
"But what *can* be done?" Ashley almost wailed. "Every time we have tracked him down, he is gone again. Dark Spectre has been keeping him on the move, going from planet to planet. And the rumors keep on flying. The last time he was seen was Hercuron, the last he was heard from was when we were tracking Throion particles weeks ago!"
"We can't give up, Ash," encouraged Andros. "Somehow or other, this will end, and we will be there when it does. I personally *promise* this!"
Sharie pushed her hair out of her face as she sighed tiredly. "Since he managed to contact me before successfully, I have little doubt he will try it again if he feels he must. He gave us a valuable warning."
****
Carlos's fingers wove through hers as they walked the beach alongside her lake. By the next day, color had returned to her face, to his relief. When she had still looked like a ghost, he had still been afraid, somehow. Now he was reassured, even though her thin hand, her whole body, needed to again recover from the ravages of inflicted evil, not to mention her mind, though she still did not talk about it. Maybe it was not something she could do.
A breeze sprang up from the lake, and he hugged her closer, pushing back the wisps of her curls that fluttered gently against his face. Inadvertently, he smiled as her arms slid around him, and she stopped suddenly to hug him tightly in a spontaneous gesture of trust she rarely afforded anyone.
He cuddled her close in response as he heard her murmured whisper. "Thank you, Carlos," she said fervrently. "Thank you so much for being there for me."
"Why should I not be?" he said gently. "That heart that thuds beneath your chest, Querida, the one I can feel right now, might as well be my own, we are so tightly linked. I have to take care of it, don't I?"
Her fingers slid up to bury themselves in his hair, and gently, teasingly, she toyed with the silken strands. "Of course you do. Aren't I worth the effort?" She smiled, softly laughing at his momentarily taken aback expression.
Blinking, he made a fast recovery. "Almost," he teased back. "It is worth it to hear your sense of humor returning." His own hand slid beneath her golden curls to lightly massage the back of her neck, one of the places he had come to know that drove her completely wild with sensation.
Initially, he had meant it only to tease, but her inhaled gasp drew his attention, and she tugged his head downwards. Their lips met in a blaze of fiery sensation, and he forgot what he had been thinking about, his hand catching the nape of her neck and the other arm snaking around to catch her slender waist, nearly crushing her against him as the kiss deepened, becoming desperate as with the pressure of his lips, he managed to open hers, his tongue almost ruthlessly invading her mouth.
She gasped as his hand made it's way under the sweater she was wearing-- even in the hot summer--to span her bare back, rubbing deeply and gradually upwards as she lost herself completely to the ecstacy, not caring when his hands came into contact with her too-prominent ribs. She couldn't think, she didn't want to. At times like this, she never wanted to think again.
Neither did he. He knew she wanted this as badly as he, and he also knew that she would not let herself be drawn in this far if it were not safe. His mouth still ruthlessly ambushing hers, he caught her in his arms, sweeping her up and carrying her toward the house. She made matters easier by dreamily reaching for her teleporter button, instantly transporting them to her room.
He did not seem surprised when they materialized. For a moment, he just stood there, her in his arms and feeling that nothing in the universe felt more right, or in place.
She broke off the kiss at that moment to give him a hard hug as he lowered her onto her bed. "Yo te amo, Carlos," she whispered ferverently.
"I love you, too," he whispered back, kissing her lips gently.
I do not blame you one bit if you mostly skip this story. Thank goodness it's a short one, but no matter *what* I've done to it, it still deserves the title "Beware Mary Sue story". The idea sounded good at the time, but...well, it's one time my ideas could not be translated adequately to paper in any reasonable way.
I *promise* the next story, Viral Downfall, will more than make up for this one!
In other words, I hated it, and I'd scrap it except for the one storyline feature I cannot alter: Zordon makes his debut in this story, and in a fashion that's critical later on.
The "Last Message" scene in here was inspired by Ellen Brand's touching scene from "Ashes to Ashes" and she has my gratitude and thanks for letting me borrow the concept.
Crossover By ZeoViolet Teaser:Everyone thinks Sharie is dead...and she is not so sure herself she is alive.
Sharie Triesta toyed with a strand of her hair as she watched the effects of the pulsing, fiery-hot ball called the sun come up over the horizon. A breeze was up, taking the rest of her hair and blowing it in long waves down her back to her hips, the light from the sun reflecting in her purple eyes and making them dance. She felt a presence behind her, and inadvertently, a smile tugged at her lips as her brother, obviously awake and dressed also, slid onto the bench beside her and put his arms around her, pulling her close. She leaned against him, and they were silent, letting the sunrise work it's magic.
It had been a week since the defeat of the Hydrohog. Since then, as Sharie had recovered from her own encounter with him, Trey had gone back to Aquitar for a couple more days and then attended a diplomatic function on a distant Triforian outpost. On the way home from it, he had dropped by Earth to see her, and had ended up staying the night.
Sharie glanced down at herself. By now, she hardly showed the ravages of the Hydrohog's attack, she had regained most of the weight she had lost, and the violet shadows beneath her eyes had faded completely.
Her brother had taken the emotional rollercoaster the recent adventure had cost them pretty hard, and suddenly Sharie was struck by an unplesant thought. What if she really *did* die? She very nearly had a week ago, and it had taken all of Trey's willpower to keep his head, and she knew that he had seriously considered following her if she had not regained consciousness.
Of course, the life of a Power Ranger was very dangerous, any time one of them could be easily killed. All of them had been shot down and brought near the brink of death numerous times...but had always survived. But...what if one of them did not come back at all? What if she lost Carlos for good? Or Trey, for that matter?
Once she had realized what her brother had contemplated when she had been cut down, she had warned him she would not appreciate him trying such a stunt, and that she would prefer him to live on...but would he? She wondered if he would completely hold onto his sanity, going nearly insane with greif and pain. She knew that if she had to face the same situation, she would not care to live either. Last week was not the only time he had had to face this, and he had suffered badly each time, and bearing permanent emotional scars that plunged far deeper than the average joe could imagine, for he stubbornly swallowed his pain and did not show it, or let it free easily. It was the one really bad trait he shared with his sister. Indeed, both were prone to instead throw themselves into work to try and bury it all in the name of duty.
Of course, if somebody should die, their friends would be devastated by the news, and would be full their own grief at losing a friend. But they would also have to accept that their teammate was gone for good. Sharie tried not to remember the dream she had last night, that warned of impending danger on her part....and she was even now getting icy chills up her spine that never failed to warn of danger on it's way.
She must have made some indication that her thoughts had taken an unplesant turn, for her brother suddenly turned her face upwards to look into her purple eyes.
"What is bothering you, Lalinka?" he asked gently, searching her gaze with his own dark eyes.
She was not sure she should tell him, but the insistent look he gave her had her responding guiltily. "Trey...what would you do...I am not sure how to say it." She buried her face in his chest. She could not tell him about her dream, or of the iciness in her spine. He knew of these already, and he would hover over her too much.
"What is it, Lalinka?" he prodded quietly.
When she finally found her tongue, she had to force herself to say the words. "Trey...how would you feel...what would you do if....if I were killed in battle? You know how dangerous our lives are..." she was not able to finish.
"Lalinka, what a question," he sighed and hugged her tightly. "You bet I will be devastated. You are my sister, and we have a closeness few can ever claim to posess, little sister. I don't think I could stand it again thinking you were dead. You already made me promise not to do anything drastic should you die..." he shuddered. "I might be deperessed for a long time, that is for certain. But if you are referring to the fear of my going mad with grief...I will strive to assure you I will not--if only for your sake."
She held onto him tighly as well, her head still buried in his chest and her voice somewhat muffled. "Trey...if anything happens to me, and I don't come back, promise me you will do something."
"What is it, Lalinka?"
"If, for some reason I am killed, or die one day...go to the waterfront painting in my room and look behind it. Take what you find there and read it. Do as the instructions say to do. Okay?"
"I hope I won't ever have to, Lalinka, but...okay." He shivered as the breeze sprang up, and continued idly stroking her hair as the sun filled the horizon and came up completely.
"Thank you, Trey. It means a lot to me." For some reason, tears filled her eyes. She knew, she just *knew*, that something was going to happen, soon, very soon. She could just feel it.
****
Later that morning, Sharie, out of boredom and a need to move, was showing Trey the sport of basketball. Her adoptive father had showed her how shortly after she had arrived on Earth, and she had fallen in love with the game. Now she showed her brother, and was amused by how quickly he caught on to the concept of slam-dunking a ball into a hoop with a net. At the height of the game, however, her communicator went off.
"Yes?" she said into it, tossing the ball to her brother.
It was Carlos, her boyfriend. "Sorry to bother you, Querida, but we need your help. A bevy of monsters is in the park, and they are quite literally ripping us to shreds. Care to come, Querida, and bring your brother if he is still hanging around?"
"We are on our way." A worried frown crossed her face. Carlos was rarely so tacky when he was this serious. It must be bad.
When they arrived at the battlefield, they found the other Lightstar rangers desperately trying to hold off several monsters that were threatening to tear them apart. Sharie and Trey immediately joined in the fighting, helping to beat the attackers off their friends. Through the various sounds of "oof's", "ow's" and "ki-yuh's", one monster with blue spiky armor over black....skin--if it could be called *that*--stepped forward and boldy announced, "All right. Which one of you is the famous Sharie Triesta?"
Sharie started, then flung another monster off of her, kicking it in a certain place that made it bellow in agony. "What's it to you?"
He scowled. "Considering your tone and color, I assume that is you. Simple, my dear. I, unlike the rest of the losers here with me, am here at the request of not just Astronema, but also of a deceased old friend of mine. Do you recall the name Dark Dresden?"
Sharie was instantly angry--and on alert. She had expected this to happen sooner or later...
"So, you undersized, underbrained bag or armor?"
He pointedly ingnored her insults. "Dark Dresden, in the even of his death, had he not found and killed you by now, had me swear to take over the job. It took awhile for word to reach me, but here I am." He drew a sword. "You have a choice. Surrender now, and your friends live, or a fight to the death, and they die. But somehow I doubt that the former choice is readily yours," he sneered.
"Then why bother?" she replied haughtily. "Tell you what, metalhead. I'll fight you, but you have to leave my friends out of it...completely."
"A fight to the death?"
Sharie glanced at the others. Several were emphatically shaking their heads.
"How about if I make your choice a little easier?" snapped the monster, hurtling a bomb of some kind on the ground. Their was a brief explosion, and suddenly everyone but Sharie demorphed.
"The forcefield will block all signals but yours. I am up to a fair fight, so I am letting you stay morphed. Now, a fight to the death, or do you all perish anyway?" As he said this, all the rest of the monsters closed in on the others, making sure they could not escape.
Sharie made her decision. "To the death," she agreed.
"Then draw your sword," he commanded, holding aloft his own.
Sharie drew her Zeo Power Sword, and soon, clashes of metal were heard by the others. The monster was an excellent swordsman, his self-discipline and skill at least equaling that of the Violet Ranger. For a long time, each stood their ground, neither gaining the upper hand. Then, Sharie was startled to hear the monster mutter some strange words, and he was suddenly able to slip in and cut her on the side, making her collapse.
"You-you enchanted your sword," she gasped in pain, holding her hand over her wound to stifle the flow of blood. The wound was not too deep, she realized, or her death would have been swift from that point.
"And what if I did? Both Astronema and Dark Dresden's spirit will be glad to see you gone. Of course, however, I cannot deny you the pleasure of seeing your friends killed first, can I?" he snickered. He turned and bellowed an order to the other monsters. "Destroy them!"
They swiftly moved to obey, drawing weapons and beginning to fight the now- defenseless rangers, who could not stand up to them in their unmorphed state.
"No!" Sharie exploded. Summoning all her strength, she raised her hand. "Violet Power Staff!" she called. The weapon appeared in her hand, and she ignored the burly monster as she fired several shots at the other goons, who fell back at her onslaught.
The armored monster was outraged. "You'll pay for that!" he snarled, turning up the frequency of the forcefield so that Sharie also demorphed. He began attacking her also, with his sword. Now defenseless, she had a hard time keeping herself from being fatally cut, ducking, whirling, and suffering several knicks on her arms and legs. She knew she had to act fast. Finally she levelled a special, deadly kick to the monster's solar plexus, causing him to go into fatal shock. As he groaned and collapsed, she did not stop. She grabbed his field generator and turned it off so the others' morphers buzzed back to life.
The armored monster, though dying, was not done yet. "I will have my revenge, here and now," he gasped. "This should destroy you...once and for *all*!" With the last of his strength, he pulled lose a weird object, which was what appeared to be a dimensional ripper, almost always deadly to humanoid tissue. He flung it at Sharie, who unfortunately was still unmorphed.
The rangers were nearly deafened by the explosion as the device tore a brief hole in the fabric of space and the delicate balance that kept other dimensions from intruding on this one. When it faded, they regained their equilibrium, but their minds did not want to accept the horror of what just happened.
The Violet Ranger was gone.
There seemed to be no way she could have survived a device like that. Such dimensional rippers were swift and sure. The armored monster died with a satisfied grin on his face.
Fury and pain made the group tear into the remaining monsters like never before, and they were soon destroyed as a result. They then demorphed and went over to where Sharie had been killed. There was no sign of her, none whatsoever, no body, nothing.
But the place was also eerilie silent, save for the wind whistling and the sun suddenly beating mercilessly down on their backs.
The thought finally began to sink into the stunned group that one of their own had been killed...and was not coming back. Tears began to trickle down Cassie's cheeks as the realization hit her first. "No...she can't be gone, she *can't* be..." she sank to the ground, crying over the loss of a close friend.
Carlos was unable to keep his face dry, either, despite his shock. *She was dead!* His girlfriend, his true love, with whom he had shared body, heart, and soul, and so much more....he loved her so much, and now the most vital part was gone forever.
Waves of agony and the hottest pain he had ever felt ripped through him in tidal waves, and he crossed his hands over his stomach as the pain became physical. He stumbled over to a boulder and leaned against it, and cried unashamedly for a moment, his mind still violently rejecting what had happened.
Finally, he inwardly tightened with the bitter resolution to avenge her death by *whatever means necessary*, and his hands and teeth clenched with the effort. A small part of him warned him that this should not become the only reason for keeping his soul intact, but he ignored it for the most part.
Ashley was softly crying on Andros's shoulder, and the boy in red also had a wet face, though he showed no other outward sign, his face numb from shock. TJ was much the same.
And Trey...Trey stood as if he were frozen for a moment, utterly numb, his mind instantly rejecting over and over again what he had seen. He was too numb to cry, or he was refusing to give into his pain, the heartfelt anguish so deeply shadowing his dark eyes. Only that and his trembling lips betrayed the fact he was in desperate pain and a major part of him was trying hard to break free, to scream out his rage, his frustration, his grief...but he could not let it out.
"I...I think we ought to make sure..." was all he was able to choke out.
They forced themselves to make a thorough search of the area, the last of any hope dissolving when they still found nothing. There was no sign of the girl, none whatsoever. It was like she had never existed.
Her family, adopted and blood related, were devastated by the news. Her pregnant Aunt Marisha became ill, and her husband, though upset himself, truly feared his wife would go into premature labor and miscarry the baby, for Marisha was only in her fourth month. The twins, Toby and Tami Lynne, simply held onto each other, cried, and did not sign one word.
Her mother, Jeanette, went silent, retreating to her rooms on Triforia, to mourn the loss of a daughter she had been reunited with such a short time ago. Unlike her children, she was not the type to keep it all pinned up inside of her. She cried and raged throughout the night.
Trey wanted desperately to forget his promise he had made to his sister not to join her in the herafter. Only knowing how much she would disapprove, and how much others would be crushed if he did, kept him from doing it. He also forced himself to keep another promise.
****
After that long, horrible night when he had not slept at all, in fact, he had walked the grounds until dawn, Trey was completely exhausted and even more numb with grief. He went into her room, careful not to disturb anything. He found the waterfront painting she had mentioned to him, and he gently removed it. Laying it aside, he peered into the wall behind it.
There was an opening in the wall, and he found a letter addressed to him there, as well as a holographic emitter. Picking up the letter, he fought tears as he read it.
My Beloved Brother, Trey:
If you are reading this, I must be gone. I am so sorry to put you through so much agony, Trey. I had a dream last night that I was facing my own mortality, and if you read this, then I was right in knowing I was probably going to die.
I never meant to do this to you, or anyone else who I have come to love. Please try to hold onto yourself, for my sake and yours. Take this disk out to the lake in the backyard. Bring the Lightstar Rangers with you, for on this is my personal last messages to each one of them. If they are unable to come, make copies of it and have it sent to them.
I love you a lot, Trey, and I will always watch over you, this I promise. Be happy with Delphine. I know you two were meant for each other, and I know you know it too.
All my love,
Sharie Jeanette Triesta
A half-sob escaped his lips, but it was the only outward sign of his grief, as he still could not cry. Trey clutched the letter to his heart as he absorbed her words. *You will watch over me, Lalinka?* he thought, miserable. *That is the first comforting thought I have had in this darkness of despair. I will always remind myself you are there.* His eyes strayed to the photograph of him and her as a five-year-old girl, taken shortly before she had vanished from his life then. She had somehow still managed to have that picture with her all these years, and it held a prominent place on the wall. The purple eyes of the five-year-old girl seemed to suddenly stab at him from beyond the grave, reminding him of everything that he stood for...or should.
****
In some other dimension....
*Ohhh...where am I?* Sharie thought, waking up. She appeared to be in a cave, but she could barely see. It was so dim she could not even make out the outlines of her hands. She was very sore, covered in the cuts inflicted upon her by the ugly monster she had killed. They no longer bled, she was sure none were serious. She felt tired, exhausted, as if her lifestrength was being drained away.
And yet, she did not feel hungry. Somehow, she sensed that she did not need food or anything else here, some force was keeping her alive by other means.
The creepiness of this place was unsettling, like a calm surface of a black lake, while underneath boiled evils of unimaginable horror. She could hear her blood rushing in her ears as her heart picked up pace, breathlessly waiting for something horrible to happen and sensing she would not be disappointed.
Then it hit her hard, a sense of terror, like she had never felt before, ripped through her, rushing on her like a cold wind. Oh, gods, was she in hell? Was she dead, and her soul damned? She stifled a scream as she sank to the ground beneath her as the silent furies seemed to set about to destroy her soul.
*I have got to get out of here, got to get back. They are probably all dead by now, but I have still must go back....*
Then the hallucinations began, ones designed to fill her with terror, pain and guilt beyond her wildest comprehension or anything she had ever known in her terrorizing past. It was what this placed seemed to be planned for. She did not know what she had done so terribly in life to be condemned here, and she almost cursed the diety that landed her here.
Images, sounds, chills, feelings of terror, hands clawing at all parts of her body and replaying the worst scenes from her past over and over again.....it did not seem to end. Voices kept saying she had killed all her friends and her brother, and she was forced to feel it's truth as she screamed her denial. Pictures of Dark Dresden thanked her for joining him here, and he saw that she was now no longer a child, and his hands reached, reached out to try and fondle her, to rape her, and she tried desperately to refuse to give in, taunting her that he had sworn to do this to her one day, and now he would... She could never leave this place. She was here for all eternity. Her terror had just begun.
****
It was indeed a melancholy group that gathered later that day on the beach of the lake to hear the recording. Silence reinged as Trey activated the emitter, and they saw it was a holographic version of Sharie herself, wearing the clothes she had worn the morning of the attack, before she had been killed. There was a message for each of them.
"My friends, if you are listening to this, then I must be gone. I want to say this first and get it over with, I am sorry for leaving you all, and I urge you all to not worry about me. I am still in your hearts, and I promise to watch over you. I have little doubt our spirits will meet again.
"Cassie, you became one of my closest friends in a very short time. No matter what, girl, hold onto your dreams, whether they be of the future or for love. They just may come true."
Cassie choked back a sob, her eyes glittering, but she said nothing.
"Ashley, you are such a strong person. But learn to do what I often had trouble doing, and that is letting out your grief and pain a little more. Same goes for you, Andros. Don't let your stubbornness get in the way of your happiness. You and Ashley should have a long life together, and if I were to have a list of requests, one would be that you two live live to the fullest. Andros, I have no doubt that you will find Karone soon. Don't give up."
Andros and Ashley hugged, hard, and Andros, though it was silent, finally started to cry.
"Carlos, you were the love of my life. You hold my heart in your hands, and I love you so deeply it hurts, and I mean it when I say it goes well beyond eternity. I am so sorry we could not build a life together. Try to find someone else someday, I could not bear the thought of you living your life out alone. Trust me, though, we will meet again. Don't become a miser because of the despair over losing what we had together. Trust me, we have not lost it. It will alwyas be there, just waiting to flourish again in the next eternity."
Carlos buried his face in his hands, nearly choking on his tears. She had his heart, and she claimed he still had hers, even in the afterlife. But what would he do with it, if she was not there at his side to fuel it, make it glow with what made her special?
"Teej, what can I say about you? Your cheerfulness helped me out many a time, and few could dare ask for a better friend--or a better comedian. You have a bright future, and I urge you to follow the stars. Just one thing--find a permanent girlfriend. I noticed recently that Hannah has been following you with her eyes, but she is too shy to say anything. Do me a favor and ask her out, will you?"
A laugh escaped his lips despite his sadness, and suddenly TJ felt just a *little* bit better.
"Trey, my brother, I love you beyond all reason. Please, don't lock yourself up over my death, and remember the promise you made. I could not stand it if you made yourself sick over my death. Reach for the stars! Our special bond will always be there, even in death and beyond. That I wll promise you. Build a life with Delphine, your true love. You dserve it. Mention me to your children occasionally, and remember, we are always together in our hearts.
"I love you all, guys, and I will miss you terribly. All I ask is that you think of me in a good light, and do not forget me. No one is truly dead until he or she is forgotten."
****
A week passed in abject misery for all involved. Carlos cried himself to sleep each night. How could he find another person to love, when Sharie had taken his heart to the grave with her, and after all they had shared? It was a thought he could not fathom in the least, and he did not want to, ever.
Trey still locked everything he felt into his heart. He barely kept himself from going crazy at times. He lay awake for several nights, doing nothing but shake with the efforts to control his raging emotions, refusing to give into them, and withdrawing once more behind the impenetrable barrier that had held him in place when his sister had first been kidnapped. He grew dreadfully pale, and though he remained muscular, he lost weight, and had dark shadows beneath his eyes from lack of sleep.
Jeanette, after she could cry no more, emerged from her rooms to find Trey back home on Troforia. Shocked at his condition, she held onto him tightly and finally extracted a reluctant promise from him to take better care of himself. She could not bear to lose her last child, as well. Trey barely complied with this promise.
****
How long had she been here? She was not sure. Time had no value here, they saw fit to torgure her at their leisure, and surely she had been here for years now. The hallucinations did not come all the time, there were periods of abject silence, when all she could hear was her own breathing and the beating of her own heart, driving her crazy with lonliness and figuring it was just another form of torture she had to endure because she could not seem to die. She was also thinner and weaker, despite the fact she did not need to eat here. Her grief came from her loss, of the ones she loved, for she was convinced they were dead. That was why she was losing weight. Why should she care, when they were all gone as well? Maybe this was not hell, if she was losing weight and she could still feel most physical sensations this way. But if she was alive, where was she? Was it even possible to get out of this hellhole?
*Child*.
Startled, she rasied her head, rising up partially from her curled position on the foggy floor. Was it the beginning of another wave of hallucinations, or was it just wishful thinking?
*Child, I am here. Do not despair.*
No, it could not be a hallucination. None of them ever had the ring of the side of good to it. And the strangely booming, mental voice was not quite like anything she had ever before heard.
*Child, you are caught here, you do not belong here.*
"I know," she whispered aloud. "I should not be here. But...who are you?"
*For now, it does not matter. Do you wish to leave?*
*I do not care to stay in this place.*
*Perhaps I can help you, you are a mortal child and can go where I cannot. Close your eyes and focus on the ones you love the most. You belong in your own dimension, and I will try and send you home.*
Desperately praying that this was not some other cruel illusion, Sharie obeyed. Even if she was going back to a land with no rangers left alive, she would avenge them.
She felt a fiery flash, and was blinded.
****
The megaship bridge was crowded, everyone was working morosely on various equipment. Trey had gone on some mission or other several hours away. To their surprise, the place began to shake, and the group scattered to try and make sense of what whas going on.
Suddenly, a brilliant violet light could be seen, and to Carlos's astonishment, Sharie came out of nowhere and landed right at his feet, with a small "oof" as she crashed to a stop on his toes.
"S--*Sharie*?!!" he gasped disbelievingly, grasping her shoulders--she felt real, and solid, he barely noted--and turned her up to face him. "Sharie? Oh, gods, you are alive!" He could not believe his eyes. "Where have you been...we all thought you were dead..."
"How can *you* be alive?" she cried back in shock, her complexion white as she reached up to touch his agony-shadowed face. "I though you had all been killed..."
She could speak no more as Carlos gathered her up, crying, and she held onto him tightly, trying desperately to keep her emotions under control. They were alive! It felt so good to hold onto Carlos again. Carlos, his face by now soaked with tears of gratification, bent and kissed her with such passion she kenw she was home at last.
The rangers gathered around, hugging her and alternately laughing and crying, telling her the whole story, though she did not say what she had experienced. It was something she never wanted to talk about.
"Where is Trey?" she asked weakly. "How....is he?"
Carlos and Andros looked at each other, exchanging glances. It was only when she poked him that Carlos told her everything, from how Trey had reacted to what he was doing now. Andros was trying to get into contact with him already, but it would take him a couple of hours to get here.
When Andros finally got Trey on the other line, he was shocked by how the boy looked, like Death himself, Trey was so pale and the shadows under his eyes so dark.
"Trey, she is alive!" he gasped out by way of greeting. "She is back!"
Trey blinked, uncomprehending for a moment, before it dawned on him what Andros had said. "What? How is that possible? Nobody could have survived- -"
"I don't know *how*, she just did. There was a flash of light and she came out of nowhere. She was in another dimension, all told."
"How does she look?" Trey choked.
"She is thinner and paler than we saw her last, but I think she is physically okay otherwise. Emotionally...it is a different matter. She misses you terribly, and while she was gone, something gave her the impression that we had all been killed, including you. So she is rather shocked."
"I will be there as soon as possible." Andros could tell the young Lord of Triforia was fighting tears again--this time of pain and relief mixed.
****
Until he came, Sharie spent most of her time with Carlos, absorbing what had happened and the pair renewing the love they felt for each other.
Carlos held onto her tightly for a long while, just thankful she was alive and he *could* hold onto her again.
"What happened to you in there, Sharie?" he asked gently.
She stiffened. "Terrible, horrifying things. I don't want to talk about it."
"Querida, in your final message to us, you told us not to keep things bottled up inside, and I know you have a terrible habit of doing it, but I beg you to not do so now."
"You saw that? I know you are right, but..." she reached up and gently brushed his wet face. "I am just not ready to tell about what I saw yet. It was too much of an emotional shock and strain. But I will tell you how I came to be out of the place."
"How?" Carlos asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"It was a strange presence...a bit of good among all the evil of the realm. I could tell he was a transdimensional being, it was probably sheer chance he was there among the infinity of other dimensions in existence. And somehow, I still sense him, even here. I get the distinct impression he is trying to contact me, but I will have to concentrate to find the exact frequency. But--later." She suddenly turned and kissed him with such fire he felt every neruon in his body shut down, and he responded to her lips as though they were life itself.
Carlos stopped because he was afraid that after all she had been through, she would not have the strenght to keep it up. He pulled her head onto his shoulder, and absently ran his fingers over her ribcage, where he could feel the bones there all too clearly.
"How did you become so thin?" he asked, worried. "You look as bad as Trey-- he lost weight because he has been so depressed. You are even thinner than when the Hydrohog attacked you."
"Same reason," she answered somberly. "I missed you all so much, and I thought you were all dead, why should I live? There were times I was certain I was dead anyway and had merely been transported to Hell. I just sort of pined away."
Carlos did not press further. All he could think of to say was, "You, Querida, go to Hell? Trust me, I doubt, I seriously doubt, that you are destined for that place." He was quiet after that, simply held onto the girl he loved and stroked her curly golden head. And there they stayed for a long while.
****
When Trey was due to arrive, however, she went home to await him in privacy. Her emotions were growing out of control, and were in such turmoil that she needed to be alone with him, for it was bound to cause a big emotional scene, and she was not sure how much longer the protective shell around her emotions would stay before it gave way.
She waited for him where she was sure he would come--on her bench by the lake, the sun at her back as it started to go into the afternoon hours. When the golden flash signalled his arrival, she stood as it coalesced into one spot right in front of her, and the pale form of her brother took shape before her eyes.
She had been warned, but she was still shocked at his white face and violet- shadowed dark eyes, the skin of his face drawn more tightly over the bones than usual. Gods, *what* had happened to him...
Dark eyes met purple ones, and for several moments, all he could do was stand two feet away from her and stare, desperately drinking in her image to reassure himself that what he saw was real. His dark eyes, like hers, wer full of pain and anguish, and yet now joy and relief also.
Looking into his bottomless eyes, the sheild around her emotions finally gave way. She did not care that his did as well.
Trembling, he reached out to touch her, the smooth wet skin on her pallid face feeling solid beneath his fingertips, finally convincing him that this was no illusion. If it had been, he would have died.
Tears rolling down his face, he gathered her close and held onto her as if he would never let her go, crying harder than he had ever before done in his life, his frame shaking with slient sobs. Sharie's own thin frame was the same way. The flood of tears finally began to release the burden of suffering over the past week.
Eternity seemed to pass, before he finally pulled back with a deep sigh, staring at her, drinking in a sight he never though he would see again--at least not on this plain of existence. Gently, his fingers touched her forehead, and slid down over her face, her wet cheeks, her trembling lips. Her skin felt too tight over her high cheekbones, and the violet shadows beneath her eyes were dark, like his were. And he definetly did not like the pasty color of her normally light-olive complexion...but for the moment, that hardly mattered as he was actually *touching* her, she was actually *here*, and alive. He could feel her heartbeat at the base of her neck when his hand stopped under her chin.
"You knew, then?" he whispered, choked. "You knew that this would happen, that you would....well, all of us would think you dead?"
"The dream, Trey...the icy chills....I am never wrong when I feel it..." she whimpered as he pulled her close again.
"What happened?" he asked in a choked, low tone. "What hell made you come back to me this way, too thin, exhausted, and completely hanuted?"
She started to shake, hard. "I--I cannot," she stumbled. Gods, she could not even *consider* reliving those horrific images again...
But he held her tightly, and patiently waited. Somehow he sensed that it was all to close to the surface, and she was actually desperate to get rid of it.
And she was. Despite her best intentions, it hit her hard, and simply spilled out of her, the relived horror sweeping through her body again as she clung to him and cried. He found he was shaking, too--but with rage. Gods, how had she kept her sanity? Her will to live--even for awhile? How had she even survived the ripper in the first place, since rippers were notorious for ripping humanoid flesh as they arrived at their destination. Maybe it had malfunctioned....
Sobbing into his shoulder, she at last came to the part of her mysterious benefactor.
"He is still trying to contact you, Lalinka?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Are you sure you have never met him before, or did he seem at all familiar?"
"I...I do not know," she stumbled, trying to think as she dried her eyes. "He...was transdimensional, I think. His mental tone was huge and booming. Because of the light, I could not see him exactly....but mentally, I sure heard him. I guess he sounded almost...Eltaran, I suppose. I guess...well, he sounded rather sad, as well, lonely, but I don't think he sensed that I sensed that out of him. But he probably sensed my mental powers were strong, because he is still trying to contact me. I must get in touch with him again, but I was going to do it after I had gotten some of my strength back."
Her brother absently brushed a lock of her ringlet curls off her pale face. "I will be there when you do it, Sharie, I promise. I contacted our mother just before I came. She was overjoyed to hear the news, but she was at her own diplomatic function--much further away from mine, burying herself in work. She won't be able to get back until tomorrow, even at top hyperush."
Since it was now dark, Sharie and Trey went indoors, but the talking, once started, did not cease for hours, and when it did, night found themselves curled on the couch, and neither cared. They were so exhausted, from days without sleep, that not even nightmares could penetrate the deep, black void that caught them within it's grasp.
When Sharie awoke, she knew instinctively that it was at least nine o'clock the next morning, and she had slept at least eleven hours. She had almost never slept so late except on the rare occasions she had been ill.
She snuggled in her brother's embrace, becoming vaguely aware that he was also awake, for his heartbeat, directly beneath her ear, was the faster pace of someone awake but relaxed. Memory of the past several days came flooding back to her, and her eyes filled with tears for a moment. She did not want Trey to ever let her go.
"You can stop pretending to be asleep, Lalinka." His voice rumbled gently from above her, and his arms tightened fractionally as he moved slightly.
"How'd you know I was awake?" she mumbled, not opening her eyes, but feeling a distinct pain in her stomach.
"Your stomach gave you away, I'm afraid. Mine is, too. That is what woke me up first--but I could not bear to disturb you after what you had gone through. I expect neither of us thought about food last night--or the past couple of days."
She figured that for him at least, it was probably true. She would not wonder if he had forgotten how to really eat altogether.
"Time to fix that problem," she said as she reluctantly got up and let him pull her toward the kitchen.
****
When she had questioned him about when he actually *had* eaten last, she knew, before he even said it, it had been at least two days. She groaned and made him eat carefully, lest either of them throw up what they had swallowed.
Afterwards, they went outside, wandering by the small basketball course that had shown the beginning of their last adventure. A flash of orange caught her eye, and she wandered over to pick up the basketball, turning it in her thin hands as she glanced up at the hoop in front of her. Impulsively, she made the shot--and Trey saw her really smile as it landed in the hoop with a final *thump*, and bounced on the ground.
Yes, she was truly back.
****
Jeanette was due to arrive at any time, and Sharie was too tired to walk the beach waiting for her. She frequently leaned against her brother for support when they walked anywhere, and he sort of done the same. They had awaknened at nine only to fall asleep at ten-thirty, and awoke an hour later. Sharie felt her stomach rumble again already, but she ignored it. How could she be hungry, when she had stuffed herself earlier?
Trey seemed to sense what she was thinking, for his lips quirked in amusement. "I hardly think cereal and toast was stuffing ourselves, Lalinka. And the first time in days I felt hungry, and you would not let me stuff my face lest I get sick."
"It seemed a lot to me," she smiled gently in amusement.
"It did at the moment, to me also," he reminded her. "But I suspect our stomachs shrunk. My waistline certainly has, and yours too. Your clothes don't seem to fit right."
"Thanks a lot," she grinned, a real smile this time, though his words rang true. Her jean pants--even in summer, so her thin legs would not show-- were loose around her slender waist by at least two unhealthy inches. Slender was slender, and she, like the others, had a model's figure, but she had always been genetically somewhat underweight. Any true weight loss was not healthy.
Her brother's clothes, too, were loose on him, and the belt at his waist had an extra hole in it. It had not detracted from his muscular frame, but where he should have a little extra padding he had none, and he could not afford to lose any more without becoming seriously sick.
Tiredly, Sharie flopped down on her favorite bench, and he gladly joined her as she leaned back, soaking in the sun's rays and closing her eyes. Her pale skin welcomed the lifegiving light she had been denied, and it was already obvious the sun was doing her some good.
A sudden sense made her sit upright suddenly, and she stood, and grasped for her brother's hand, startling him as she pulled him to his feet. She glanced upward, seeing a gold-violet streak enter the atmosphere to coalsece before them.
Jeanette shimmered into existence, tall, pale, her own purple eyes haunted. Her hands were crossed over her chest, as if hugging herself, and her lips trembled as her vision came into clarity, the swirls of shimmering light fading.
The woman was sure she had not seen a more glad sight that greeted her, seeing her beloved children before her, in one piece. Especially her daughter! Thinner, maybe, and awfully white, but alive!
This time, Sharie did not freeze as she crossed the few steps into her mother's welcoming arms, her brother following suit as the Triesta family reunited at last, under the pulsing rays of a world not their own.
For several moments, they clung, and Jeanette cried softly, knowing that this was truly a miracle. It seemed that if her family was going to be restored her, it should stay that way!
****
The last thing Sharie wanted was to tell her story again, she was not sure where she got the inner strength, but she did it. Jeanette was as horrified as her son had been, and Sharie wondered why Jeanette did not demand she return to Triforia for awhile. She sincerely hoped her mother would stay, since Jeanette had never really been to Earth as yet to visit, and Sharie wanted her mother to form an opinion.
Later that afternoon, Sharie went with her mother and brother to the Megaship to set up the experiment she had in mind, to attempt to re-contact the entity that had been responsible for her returning to the land of the living, and to those she loved the most. While she was attempting this, she was going to be carefully monitored by her friends, since they wanted to make sure that whatever had been done to her did not have strings attached, and possibly place her in danger again.
Andros finished adjusting the monitor by the biobed as Carlos helped Sharie onto it. The boy in red lifted his head and nodded at the pair. "It's ready."
Carlos gave Sharie an encouraging smile and she felt her fingers being gently squeezed. She gave him a slightly nervous smile in response as she laid down. Trey was on the other side of her, his hand finding her other one as she felt his encouragement radiating from him.
"I am ready to begin," she said. Andros nodded as she closed her eyes.
****
In order for the mind to expand, to roam, to explore, it should be, if at all possible, as clear as possible. The first thing she did was shove her telepathic sheilds up as high as she could to drown out the empathic noise she would otherwise received continually, and inviting her mind to go blank, black, a dark void without noise or interruption.
She felt herself relax, and knew it was working. She was no longer really aware of the others standing around her, she needed every bit of energy to concentrate on the faint thread in the back of her mind, the faint white thread against the blackness, the one that had been there since she had tumbled through dimesions yesterday in order to return to her own.
She felt it, found it. She concentrated upon it, letting her mind span dimensions in a way she had never before thought possible. She imagined the white line growing wider, the mental linke growing stronger as she sought to bring it closer, louder, so she could hear thoughts on the edge of the telepathic link, faint whispers that were not really legible.
She dared to try and send her first thought directed at the link. *Are you there?*
There was a sense of surprised exclamation, as though the awareness....had not really expected such a response.
She tried again. *Are you there? You helped me once, are you still there?*
A thoughtful silence before she finally got an answer. *I am. So you are powerful enough, I guessed so, but I was not sure.*
The link was fainter than the one she had felt in the other dimension, but the booming mental voice was just as deep, just as imposing. She felt as if she should know it somehow, but she could not place it exactly.
*Thank you,* she sent next. *Thank you for sending me back.*
*I did what was right. I do not deserve thanks.*
Sharie was somehow aware of her physical body drawing in a deep breath. *Who are you?*
****
Andros frowned at the readings he was getting. He had never seen such types of brainwaives before. "Where is her mind? I have seen telepathic brainwaves before, and I have never before seen them like this."
Trey let go of Sharie's limp hand to look over Andros's shoulder. "Sharie has a rare talent, even among our people," he said softly. "Though some of us who can do it consider it a curse. Those are the brainwaves of someone whose mind can travel and expand dimensions if it must."
"A curse?" Carlos lifted his head, looking thoughtful. "Is that the real reason why Sharie rebells against using her own telepathic ability so much? Is it that much torture for a telepath?"
"It can be," said Trey, looking at him steadily. "Trust me, it can be."
****
There was another silence lingering after her question before the entity graced her with an answer. *I believe I can trust you. I cannot use any telepathic frequency other than this one, Dark Spectre might think something was up. I am called Zordon.*
She gasped mentally. *Zordon? The Zordon, of Eltare? But you are...missing, trapped by...*
*I know why I am this way, child. What is your name, since I found you wandering where you do not belong?*
*I am called Sharie Triesta. My brother is Trey, Lord of Triforia.*
She felt a bit of skeptecisim on his next message. *But how can that be? I heard that his sister had been killed, years ago.*
*I did not die. You never detected me, but I grew up on Earth. My powers prevented you from detecting me.*
*Powers?*
*The Zeo Violet Ranger Powers.*
*I understand,* he sent. *If you are a power ranger, child, then you must know the other rangers of Earth.*
Inwardly, she shivered at the hint of sadness she felt on his mental tone. Wherever he was, he was often alone, lonely.
*They are beside my physical body even as we are linked now.*
*That is good. I sensed you had some strong mental powers, so I stayed in the back of your mind hoping you would do this, try and get word to the Power Rangers. Dark Spectre is even now slowly planning a large-scale assault, to conquer, to dominate. You must be warned.* There was no doubt of his urgency. If he said so, it had to be very dangerous.
*Where is he keeping you?*
His mental sigh seemed frustrated. *If only I knew. He usually keeps it a secret even from me. But beware his attacks, he is evil, and is planning many different ways to undo you Rangers. I wish I knew more, or I would tell you And thank you, my young friend. Whatever happens, I will never forget you. Now I must leave, before they detect my transgression. Goodbye."
The mental link snapped from her mind so fast she almost reeled. Her thoughts were whirling as she forced her mind back into the confines of her body, so she could feel herself again. Zordon! Zordon! Of all people, it had been the legendary Zordon!
When she felt her heart pounding in her ears again, she knew that she was back. Her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked at the bright light, lifting a hand to cover her eyes.
"DECA, please dim the lights," she heard Carlos say as if from a distance. "Sharie, how do you feel? Did you--"
"Yes," she whispered faintly as she tried to sit up. "You won't believe this, I scarcely can myself, but it was Zordon. He was hoping I would contact him, for he felt he had to pass on an important message."
****
"We must find him," said Andros a short while later, after Sharie had finished her story. "Zordon may be a valuable ransom piece, but Dark Spectre is draining his energy, Zordon cannot last forever this way. Sooner or later, he will meet his demise in the hands of this villian if something is not done."
"But what *can* be done?" Ashley almost wailed. "Every time we have tracked him down, he is gone again. Dark Spectre has been keeping him on the move, going from planet to planet. And the rumors keep on flying. The last time he was seen was Hercuron, the last he was heard from was when we were tracking Throion particles weeks ago!"
"We can't give up, Ash," encouraged Andros. "Somehow or other, this will end, and we will be there when it does. I personally *promise* this!"
Sharie pushed her hair out of her face as she sighed tiredly. "Since he managed to contact me before successfully, I have little doubt he will try it again if he feels he must. He gave us a valuable warning."
****
Carlos's fingers wove through hers as they walked the beach alongside her lake. By the next day, color had returned to her face, to his relief. When she had still looked like a ghost, he had still been afraid, somehow. Now he was reassured, even though her thin hand, her whole body, needed to again recover from the ravages of inflicted evil, not to mention her mind, though she still did not talk about it. Maybe it was not something she could do.
A breeze sprang up from the lake, and he hugged her closer, pushing back the wisps of her curls that fluttered gently against his face. Inadvertently, he smiled as her arms slid around him, and she stopped suddenly to hug him tightly in a spontaneous gesture of trust she rarely afforded anyone.
He cuddled her close in response as he heard her murmured whisper. "Thank you, Carlos," she said fervrently. "Thank you so much for being there for me."
"Why should I not be?" he said gently. "That heart that thuds beneath your chest, Querida, the one I can feel right now, might as well be my own, we are so tightly linked. I have to take care of it, don't I?"
Her fingers slid up to bury themselves in his hair, and gently, teasingly, she toyed with the silken strands. "Of course you do. Aren't I worth the effort?" She smiled, softly laughing at his momentarily taken aback expression.
Blinking, he made a fast recovery. "Almost," he teased back. "It is worth it to hear your sense of humor returning." His own hand slid beneath her golden curls to lightly massage the back of her neck, one of the places he had come to know that drove her completely wild with sensation.
Initially, he had meant it only to tease, but her inhaled gasp drew his attention, and she tugged his head downwards. Their lips met in a blaze of fiery sensation, and he forgot what he had been thinking about, his hand catching the nape of her neck and the other arm snaking around to catch her slender waist, nearly crushing her against him as the kiss deepened, becoming desperate as with the pressure of his lips, he managed to open hers, his tongue almost ruthlessly invading her mouth.
She gasped as his hand made it's way under the sweater she was wearing-- even in the hot summer--to span her bare back, rubbing deeply and gradually upwards as she lost herself completely to the ecstacy, not caring when his hands came into contact with her too-prominent ribs. She couldn't think, she didn't want to. At times like this, she never wanted to think again.
Neither did he. He knew she wanted this as badly as he, and he also knew that she would not let herself be drawn in this far if it were not safe. His mouth still ruthlessly ambushing hers, he caught her in his arms, sweeping her up and carrying her toward the house. She made matters easier by dreamily reaching for her teleporter button, instantly transporting them to her room.
He did not seem surprised when they materialized. For a moment, he just stood there, her in his arms and feeling that nothing in the universe felt more right, or in place.
She broke off the kiss at that moment to give him a hard hug as he lowered her onto her bed. "Yo te amo, Carlos," she whispered ferverently.
"I love you, too," he whispered back, kissing her lips gently.
