Disclaimer: They're not mine. Neat, eh?
Author's note: sorry this has been taking so long, but I've been having a lot, and I mean a LOT of trouble accessing the site. I hate my computer, it hates me, we have an understanding. But please keep reading; I love it when you guys read!!!
Tommy hobbled onto the bridge and looked around. He hadn't the slightest idea of what to do, so he did what he thought was best: what they did on star trek.
"Um, computer?" he felt so stupid saying it, but he decided that it was better than trying to push some buttons, possibly sending the entire ship crashing into whatever planet they were close to, or maybe even blowing it up altogether. What surprised him though, was that he got an answer.
"My name is D.E.C.A., how may I help you Tommy?" a voice answered.
Tommy looked around instinctively, trying to find the source of the voice, but smiled realizing that he was talking to a computer. Then, it hit him that it had called him by name.
"H-how do you know my name?" he stammered.
"I have been monitoring your progress. You are a very strong young man Tommy. I am impressed. Now, what can I do for you?" she asked again.
"I was hoping that I could watch Kim's memory quest, at least I think that's what it's called." Tommy sighed, leaning his crutches up against the wall.
"Of course, I am happy to pull it up for you. Take a seat in a helm chair and I will load it on the main view screen." D.E.C.A. replied.
"Um, thank you." Tommy said, and moved over to the captain's chair. He sat down and looked around some more. The various controls and stations just blew him away. This was far more advanced than any of the rangers' powers of the past. An image on the view screen before him pulled his attention from the technology that surrounded him. He saw Kim, walking slowly through a dark cave. She looked down at a drop of water on her arm and mumbled something, but Tommy didn't hear it. "D.E.C.A.? Is the sound on?" he asked.
"No, my apologies."
"Thanks." Instantaneously, Tommy heard the sounds of the cave. The dripping water, and Kim's slow, careful steps as she proceeded. Suddenly, a voice was talking to her as she came into an opening in the dark hall. Tommy noticed something oddly familiar about the voice, and frowned. This all somehow seemed familiar to him. Then, it hit him. That's my voice! I remember bits of this! I must've somehow been there from my subconscious. Weird. He thought. It somehow made no sense, but being a ranger, Tommy knew that he should just accept it and be thankful that he could be there, even if he couldn't remember it. His thoughts got away from him and before he knew it, Kim was in her first memory. He watched sadly, as she relived the horror of losing her powers. He heard her thoughts, and wanted to look away. He couldn't watch her go through this, couldn't watch the pain play across her face as she watched her life fade from her, knowing that there was nothing that she could do. But he kept watching, he had to be strong for her. Then, he watched, in the same utter astonishment when he noticed himself look at Kim in the cave just before he carried her out. The eerie light in the dark dimension reflected on the visor of his helmet for a fraction of a second, and in that second, he looked up at her. He saw the hope on her face, and felt her latch onto it, her body pulled forward from the emotional tug. She held onto it for dear life, and as he watched, Tommy felt an overwhelming hope in himself, and knew that he loved her now more than anything in his life, more even than his own soul.
"I love her." He breathed. The memory ended, and he sighed. He then leaned forward in anticipation for the next memory. The fact that it was the night her parents decided that they were getting a divorce, made him considerably upset.
He'd always wondered what had happened after he'd left her at the door that fateful night, and now, he had his answers. Kim crumbled in tears on the stairs as her parents screamed. He never knew that their words were so venomous, and he was angry that they involved her. Then, the blow they both knew was coming.
"I want a divorce!"
Kim let out a silent sob as the house before him went silent. No longer could he hear Kim's parents screaming. All her saw was Kim, frozen in pain. He could see the life drain from her eyes, could see that her world had shattered that night. Time seemed to slow down as he watched her image collapse. She held her breath as the shock continued to ripple through her like electricity, and it transferred to him, but in the form of anger, pity, and helplessness. Then the image speed up for him again as Kim bolted for her room, and the last fragments of the memory played out. He sat back and sighed, wiping a stray tear he hadn't even noticed had fallen from his face. Kim struggled with her past before him, and then moved on to the next, final, and worst memory. He shifted nervously as it began to play out, and his stomach churned when he saw her throwing the contents of her apartment into a duffle bag. It had to be bad, because Kim didn't give up so easy. He was startled by the banging on her door, and prayed it wasn't what he thought it was. Then, his beloved's worst nightmare kicked the door in and began to beat and scream at her. Tommy's face went white, and froze in anger as he watched. He winced when Brad's hand connected with Kim's face, and his fists unconsciously balled as he glared at the image. He felt like an idiot also, as he watched how the letter that ripped his heart apart had come into existence.
*Why didn't I call!* he lamented.
His breath caught in his throat when Kim ripped up the letter. Momentarily proud of her courage to defy the monster, he instantly knew that that was a bad idea. And he was right. Brad removed a gun from his shirt and Tommy jumped up.
*If he shoots her.* he was going to kill him anyway for even pointing that thing at Kim, adding to the list of reason's why he deserved to die in Tommy's opinion. But his anger dulled slightly turning to relief when Kim wrote the letter and he left. Death to Brad, though satisfying, would do no good for anyone accept jail time and ridding the world of another bastard. And Tommy knew that even though he would gladly do the time, he was not judge jury and executioner, and could not decide who lived or died. So he had to settle for hating him profusely for now. The memory ended and Tommy slammed his hand into the helm chair in frustration.
"Kim.God if I'd only known." he sighed.
"You couldn't have known." A voice from the door said. Tommy whirled to find Kim standing at the door of the bridge, looking at him sadly. "D.E.C.A. pause quest." She added as she entered the space.
Tommy was frozen where he was. He didn't know whether to run to her, hug her forever (which was what he wanted to do), or stay back and let her make the rules. He did just that, partly because he lacked the mobility to move as his mind and muscle connection was emotionally blocked because his eyes were locked on her.
She came closer and Tommy stood there. She looked up at him and smiled weakly, tears threatening to fall. She was trying to fight them, but a few escaped and cascaded down her face. "I don't need to see the rest." Tommy said.
Kim looked down. "Yes. you do." She took the next helm chair over and looked at him. He sat immediately, and continued to stare at her. "You're making me nervous, staring at me like that. Like I'm some kind of alien." She smiled.
"I'm sorry, I-'' Tommy began, leaning towards her.
"Tommy, it was a joke." Kim smiled nervously. "I'm working on rebuilding my sense of humor."
Tommy smiled and sat back, finding a spot on the floor to stare at for a while. They sat like that for a moment before Tommy heard Kim's voice weakly command D.E.C.A. to resume the quest. He looked up at her, noticing that she averted her eyes from the screen, and was about to say something when,
"You must face your greatest enemy, and fight your greatest love." Pulled his attention back to the screen. He looked over at Kim questioningly.
"Wh-what does that mean?" Kim looked away from him. "Oh god, please tell me it's not me. Kim." his voice trailed off as a tear escaped from her eyes. He turned back to the screen and watched himself taunt and try to trick into surrender. He cringed when they came to blows. Thankfully his evil self was defeated. But then, he watched as he ignored her as she poured her heart out. When he disappeared, the screen went black, and he turned to Kim. He didn't even hear her tell D.E.C.A. to turn it off.
"The uh.the rest is just me retrieving the stone." She said, staring at her hands.
"Kim," he finally said, instantly at her side. He grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes, which hesitantly met his. "Please tell me you know that I would never be that heartless." He paused as Kim nodded after a moment. "Talk to me. Please.I'm here."
She began to shake slightly, and he could feel her hands trembling in his grasp, but she fought even harder now for control. She sighed, and then spoke. "I uh.I met him at a welcome party. He seemed nice.but I guess they all do at first.I told him all about you, and the gang. Nothing about the rangers of course.god, he told me that he thought you and me were meant for each other. I always showed him pictures of the two of the guys, and us and he said he wanted to meet you. Then one day, he just blurted out that he liked me, and he tried to make a move, but I reminded him about you.It.it just went down hill from there. He hit me, told me to forget about you and the guys, that I was his now. Of course I tried to refuse, to fight back.but he was so strong.I tried to get away so many times, but it never worked. He just kept showing up.There was no way I could contact you guys.I tried everything, lord knows I tried everything.so.I gave up." Kim paused and risked a look at him, expecting to see disappointment; frustration that she gave up so easily, but instead found his forgiving doe eyes.weeping for her.
"I am so sorry that you had to go through that alone." He breathed. He embraced her immediately, but she frowned.
"I'm confused." she said.
Tommy pulled back in shock. "Why?"
"I.I thought you'd be disappointed in me.for giving up." She stammered.
"No."
"I mean, for god's sake I was a power ranger! And I couldn't fight off one human!" She cried, as she rose and began pacing the bridge.
"Kim don't do this to yourself." He said firmly, as he rose, taking hold of her shoulders to both stop and force her to look at him, then hugged her to him again.
"I thought that I'd pushed you away. I don't even know why I even thought I wanted that." she said after a moment. "Hey," Tommy began, pulling back to look at her. "It is going to take more than that to push me away. No, I take that back. Nothing, absolutely nothing will push me away from you.unless you sincerely want me to go. But.I'll admit that I am surprised that you gave up.that's not like you." Kim sighed and looked away. "Hey, don't. It surprises me, that's all. Which means that it must have been a lot worse than what I saw for him to break you, because I know that that's not easily done." Kim looked into his eyes and smiled briefly, before her face fell and she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. As she broke down, Tommy enveloped her immediately, and stroked her back. "Shhh.it's okay. That's good, let it all out. It's okay, I'm here.I'm always here." He kissed the top of her head as she sobbed into his chest. Soon he felt her knees giving weigh, and guided her to the floor, leaning back against a near by console for support. They sat there for a while as she sobbed. Tommy just rocked her, stroked her hair and kissed her head as she let all of her pain out.
"Why?" she breathed between sobs. "Why me? What did I do to deserve that?!" she cried. Tommy fought to control his own tears as she muttered those words, before responding as he hugged her tighter.
"You did absolutely nothing!" he then pulled her back to look into her eyes. "This not your fault, you hear me? It was Brad. It is not your fault." He hugged her to him again as another wave of frustrated tears hit. The sobs eased themselves down to light crying and left behind labored breathing. "He is going to pay dearly for this. I swear to you that I will stop him from doing this to anyone else, and make him pay for doing it to you." Kim pulled away in shock, suddenly gasping in fear. "Kim, what what's wrong. Look at me!" Tommy cried.
"He-he's going to come after me!" she cried fearfully. "I was teleported out just before he came in.he's going to come looking.he's going to come to Angelgrove." Tommy just pulled him to her again as she hyperventilated.
"I won't let him hurt you, you hear me? He will not get to you. I am going to do everything I can to stop him. I won't lose you to him again, I love you too much to lose you again." He said. Kim pulled away again, her breathing returning to normal.
"Tommy, what I said in my quest."
"I know, don't worry. I know you need to deal. I just wanted you to know that.When you're ready we'll talk, but not until you're ready. I'll wait as long as it takes." he trailed off as he gazed into her eyes.
Kim sighed, the tears drying on her face. "Thank you. For, for being here, for waiting.thank you."
"Hey, nothing could keep me from being here with you." he smiled caressing her face with his hand.
"Nothing almost did." she said, placing her hand atop his.
"But thanks to you," he smiled, placing a kiss on her forehead, "nothing, lost." They smiled at each other for a moment before Tommy moved to rise. "Come on, let's go exploring together." He offered her a hand up, which she gladly took, and they exited the bridge together.
*** "Here Kimmie Kimmie Kimmie. Don't you worry.I'll find you. Then I'll be able to meet Tommy-boy face to face. And he can watch you die." The malevolent man stalked through Angel Square searching the faces of the crowds that passed him. He spotted a building, which seemed to be attracting a majority of those crowds. "Hmm, the Surf Spot."
Dun dun dun! Hah! How do you like it? I've been away, sorry for the tardy update. (Tardy as in late, I'm too lazy to check if it's spelled right). Hope you like it! I'm only on section P of my book, so there's a lot more. Oh, I wrote it in a giant address book I bought thinking it was a snazzy black writing book. (It was wrapped in plastic so I couldn't look inside). Oh well, at least it's written somewhere! Hope you like it! P.S. congrats to the fanfiction.net people for getting the site back up! I'm computer inept, so I cannot begin to fathom how much that took. So thank you for this website!
Author's note: sorry this has been taking so long, but I've been having a lot, and I mean a LOT of trouble accessing the site. I hate my computer, it hates me, we have an understanding. But please keep reading; I love it when you guys read!!!
Tommy hobbled onto the bridge and looked around. He hadn't the slightest idea of what to do, so he did what he thought was best: what they did on star trek.
"Um, computer?" he felt so stupid saying it, but he decided that it was better than trying to push some buttons, possibly sending the entire ship crashing into whatever planet they were close to, or maybe even blowing it up altogether. What surprised him though, was that he got an answer.
"My name is D.E.C.A., how may I help you Tommy?" a voice answered.
Tommy looked around instinctively, trying to find the source of the voice, but smiled realizing that he was talking to a computer. Then, it hit him that it had called him by name.
"H-how do you know my name?" he stammered.
"I have been monitoring your progress. You are a very strong young man Tommy. I am impressed. Now, what can I do for you?" she asked again.
"I was hoping that I could watch Kim's memory quest, at least I think that's what it's called." Tommy sighed, leaning his crutches up against the wall.
"Of course, I am happy to pull it up for you. Take a seat in a helm chair and I will load it on the main view screen." D.E.C.A. replied.
"Um, thank you." Tommy said, and moved over to the captain's chair. He sat down and looked around some more. The various controls and stations just blew him away. This was far more advanced than any of the rangers' powers of the past. An image on the view screen before him pulled his attention from the technology that surrounded him. He saw Kim, walking slowly through a dark cave. She looked down at a drop of water on her arm and mumbled something, but Tommy didn't hear it. "D.E.C.A.? Is the sound on?" he asked.
"No, my apologies."
"Thanks." Instantaneously, Tommy heard the sounds of the cave. The dripping water, and Kim's slow, careful steps as she proceeded. Suddenly, a voice was talking to her as she came into an opening in the dark hall. Tommy noticed something oddly familiar about the voice, and frowned. This all somehow seemed familiar to him. Then, it hit him. That's my voice! I remember bits of this! I must've somehow been there from my subconscious. Weird. He thought. It somehow made no sense, but being a ranger, Tommy knew that he should just accept it and be thankful that he could be there, even if he couldn't remember it. His thoughts got away from him and before he knew it, Kim was in her first memory. He watched sadly, as she relived the horror of losing her powers. He heard her thoughts, and wanted to look away. He couldn't watch her go through this, couldn't watch the pain play across her face as she watched her life fade from her, knowing that there was nothing that she could do. But he kept watching, he had to be strong for her. Then, he watched, in the same utter astonishment when he noticed himself look at Kim in the cave just before he carried her out. The eerie light in the dark dimension reflected on the visor of his helmet for a fraction of a second, and in that second, he looked up at her. He saw the hope on her face, and felt her latch onto it, her body pulled forward from the emotional tug. She held onto it for dear life, and as he watched, Tommy felt an overwhelming hope in himself, and knew that he loved her now more than anything in his life, more even than his own soul.
"I love her." He breathed. The memory ended, and he sighed. He then leaned forward in anticipation for the next memory. The fact that it was the night her parents decided that they were getting a divorce, made him considerably upset.
He'd always wondered what had happened after he'd left her at the door that fateful night, and now, he had his answers. Kim crumbled in tears on the stairs as her parents screamed. He never knew that their words were so venomous, and he was angry that they involved her. Then, the blow they both knew was coming.
"I want a divorce!"
Kim let out a silent sob as the house before him went silent. No longer could he hear Kim's parents screaming. All her saw was Kim, frozen in pain. He could see the life drain from her eyes, could see that her world had shattered that night. Time seemed to slow down as he watched her image collapse. She held her breath as the shock continued to ripple through her like electricity, and it transferred to him, but in the form of anger, pity, and helplessness. Then the image speed up for him again as Kim bolted for her room, and the last fragments of the memory played out. He sat back and sighed, wiping a stray tear he hadn't even noticed had fallen from his face. Kim struggled with her past before him, and then moved on to the next, final, and worst memory. He shifted nervously as it began to play out, and his stomach churned when he saw her throwing the contents of her apartment into a duffle bag. It had to be bad, because Kim didn't give up so easy. He was startled by the banging on her door, and prayed it wasn't what he thought it was. Then, his beloved's worst nightmare kicked the door in and began to beat and scream at her. Tommy's face went white, and froze in anger as he watched. He winced when Brad's hand connected with Kim's face, and his fists unconsciously balled as he glared at the image. He felt like an idiot also, as he watched how the letter that ripped his heart apart had come into existence.
*Why didn't I call!* he lamented.
His breath caught in his throat when Kim ripped up the letter. Momentarily proud of her courage to defy the monster, he instantly knew that that was a bad idea. And he was right. Brad removed a gun from his shirt and Tommy jumped up.
*If he shoots her.* he was going to kill him anyway for even pointing that thing at Kim, adding to the list of reason's why he deserved to die in Tommy's opinion. But his anger dulled slightly turning to relief when Kim wrote the letter and he left. Death to Brad, though satisfying, would do no good for anyone accept jail time and ridding the world of another bastard. And Tommy knew that even though he would gladly do the time, he was not judge jury and executioner, and could not decide who lived or died. So he had to settle for hating him profusely for now. The memory ended and Tommy slammed his hand into the helm chair in frustration.
"Kim.God if I'd only known." he sighed.
"You couldn't have known." A voice from the door said. Tommy whirled to find Kim standing at the door of the bridge, looking at him sadly. "D.E.C.A. pause quest." She added as she entered the space.
Tommy was frozen where he was. He didn't know whether to run to her, hug her forever (which was what he wanted to do), or stay back and let her make the rules. He did just that, partly because he lacked the mobility to move as his mind and muscle connection was emotionally blocked because his eyes were locked on her.
She came closer and Tommy stood there. She looked up at him and smiled weakly, tears threatening to fall. She was trying to fight them, but a few escaped and cascaded down her face. "I don't need to see the rest." Tommy said.
Kim looked down. "Yes. you do." She took the next helm chair over and looked at him. He sat immediately, and continued to stare at her. "You're making me nervous, staring at me like that. Like I'm some kind of alien." She smiled.
"I'm sorry, I-'' Tommy began, leaning towards her.
"Tommy, it was a joke." Kim smiled nervously. "I'm working on rebuilding my sense of humor."
Tommy smiled and sat back, finding a spot on the floor to stare at for a while. They sat like that for a moment before Tommy heard Kim's voice weakly command D.E.C.A. to resume the quest. He looked up at her, noticing that she averted her eyes from the screen, and was about to say something when,
"You must face your greatest enemy, and fight your greatest love." Pulled his attention back to the screen. He looked over at Kim questioningly.
"Wh-what does that mean?" Kim looked away from him. "Oh god, please tell me it's not me. Kim." his voice trailed off as a tear escaped from her eyes. He turned back to the screen and watched himself taunt and try to trick into surrender. He cringed when they came to blows. Thankfully his evil self was defeated. But then, he watched as he ignored her as she poured her heart out. When he disappeared, the screen went black, and he turned to Kim. He didn't even hear her tell D.E.C.A. to turn it off.
"The uh.the rest is just me retrieving the stone." She said, staring at her hands.
"Kim," he finally said, instantly at her side. He grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes, which hesitantly met his. "Please tell me you know that I would never be that heartless." He paused as Kim nodded after a moment. "Talk to me. Please.I'm here."
She began to shake slightly, and he could feel her hands trembling in his grasp, but she fought even harder now for control. She sighed, and then spoke. "I uh.I met him at a welcome party. He seemed nice.but I guess they all do at first.I told him all about you, and the gang. Nothing about the rangers of course.god, he told me that he thought you and me were meant for each other. I always showed him pictures of the two of the guys, and us and he said he wanted to meet you. Then one day, he just blurted out that he liked me, and he tried to make a move, but I reminded him about you.It.it just went down hill from there. He hit me, told me to forget about you and the guys, that I was his now. Of course I tried to refuse, to fight back.but he was so strong.I tried to get away so many times, but it never worked. He just kept showing up.There was no way I could contact you guys.I tried everything, lord knows I tried everything.so.I gave up." Kim paused and risked a look at him, expecting to see disappointment; frustration that she gave up so easily, but instead found his forgiving doe eyes.weeping for her.
"I am so sorry that you had to go through that alone." He breathed. He embraced her immediately, but she frowned.
"I'm confused." she said.
Tommy pulled back in shock. "Why?"
"I.I thought you'd be disappointed in me.for giving up." She stammered.
"No."
"I mean, for god's sake I was a power ranger! And I couldn't fight off one human!" She cried, as she rose and began pacing the bridge.
"Kim don't do this to yourself." He said firmly, as he rose, taking hold of her shoulders to both stop and force her to look at him, then hugged her to him again.
"I thought that I'd pushed you away. I don't even know why I even thought I wanted that." she said after a moment. "Hey," Tommy began, pulling back to look at her. "It is going to take more than that to push me away. No, I take that back. Nothing, absolutely nothing will push me away from you.unless you sincerely want me to go. But.I'll admit that I am surprised that you gave up.that's not like you." Kim sighed and looked away. "Hey, don't. It surprises me, that's all. Which means that it must have been a lot worse than what I saw for him to break you, because I know that that's not easily done." Kim looked into his eyes and smiled briefly, before her face fell and she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. As she broke down, Tommy enveloped her immediately, and stroked her back. "Shhh.it's okay. That's good, let it all out. It's okay, I'm here.I'm always here." He kissed the top of her head as she sobbed into his chest. Soon he felt her knees giving weigh, and guided her to the floor, leaning back against a near by console for support. They sat there for a while as she sobbed. Tommy just rocked her, stroked her hair and kissed her head as she let all of her pain out.
"Why?" she breathed between sobs. "Why me? What did I do to deserve that?!" she cried. Tommy fought to control his own tears as she muttered those words, before responding as he hugged her tighter.
"You did absolutely nothing!" he then pulled her back to look into her eyes. "This not your fault, you hear me? It was Brad. It is not your fault." He hugged her to him again as another wave of frustrated tears hit. The sobs eased themselves down to light crying and left behind labored breathing. "He is going to pay dearly for this. I swear to you that I will stop him from doing this to anyone else, and make him pay for doing it to you." Kim pulled away in shock, suddenly gasping in fear. "Kim, what what's wrong. Look at me!" Tommy cried.
"He-he's going to come after me!" she cried fearfully. "I was teleported out just before he came in.he's going to come looking.he's going to come to Angelgrove." Tommy just pulled him to her again as she hyperventilated.
"I won't let him hurt you, you hear me? He will not get to you. I am going to do everything I can to stop him. I won't lose you to him again, I love you too much to lose you again." He said. Kim pulled away again, her breathing returning to normal.
"Tommy, what I said in my quest."
"I know, don't worry. I know you need to deal. I just wanted you to know that.When you're ready we'll talk, but not until you're ready. I'll wait as long as it takes." he trailed off as he gazed into her eyes.
Kim sighed, the tears drying on her face. "Thank you. For, for being here, for waiting.thank you."
"Hey, nothing could keep me from being here with you." he smiled caressing her face with his hand.
"Nothing almost did." she said, placing her hand atop his.
"But thanks to you," he smiled, placing a kiss on her forehead, "nothing, lost." They smiled at each other for a moment before Tommy moved to rise. "Come on, let's go exploring together." He offered her a hand up, which she gladly took, and they exited the bridge together.
*** "Here Kimmie Kimmie Kimmie. Don't you worry.I'll find you. Then I'll be able to meet Tommy-boy face to face. And he can watch you die." The malevolent man stalked through Angel Square searching the faces of the crowds that passed him. He spotted a building, which seemed to be attracting a majority of those crowds. "Hmm, the Surf Spot."
Dun dun dun! Hah! How do you like it? I've been away, sorry for the tardy update. (Tardy as in late, I'm too lazy to check if it's spelled right). Hope you like it! I'm only on section P of my book, so there's a lot more. Oh, I wrote it in a giant address book I bought thinking it was a snazzy black writing book. (It was wrapped in plastic so I couldn't look inside). Oh well, at least it's written somewhere! Hope you like it! P.S. congrats to the fanfiction.net people for getting the site back up! I'm computer inept, so I cannot begin to fathom how much that took. So thank you for this website!