Is Love For Real?
Chapter Six - Discovery
COOKIES!!!! -Eats them with a huge smile on her face-
The three muses exchange glances.
RedFox: I guess we'd better take care of the disclaimer and the replies to reviews, seeing as our author is now on a sugar high
DarkAngel and DarkCat nod in agreement
RedFox: Cat does not own Power Rangers, Ninja Storm, or any of the characters from it. If she did, she would probably be really rich and living in a mansion...
DarkAngel: -Breaks in- Actually, she'd probably own her own book shop
RedFox: She'd read all of the books as soon as she gets them, so would it actually be a book shop?
DarkCat: -Shows a picture of the author as the owner of a library-
RedFox: Well, anyway... All she owns of this fic is the idea
DarkAngel: -Adds- And she owns absolutely nothing that's interesting... So if you sue her, you won't get anything that's of value
Replies to Reviews:
DarkAngel: Ahem! -Takes out a piece of paper, and mumbles- At least she actually wrote down the reviews... I'll read them out, seeing as I'm the only one with hands out of us three
RedFox: Yeah, but I can run faster than you can!
DarkCat: -Shows a mental picture of her walking across a really thin wall-
Funky In Fishnet: Hey, you're a new reviewer! Thanks so much, and I'm really pleased you like it. I was rather worried about staying true to the characters while writing a slash fic
BlorConra 4ever: You came up with a new word... Lol. Glad you liked that chapter. I hope you'll like this one too
CamFan4Ever: You've reviewed every chapter so far, thank you! -Huggles-
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"Dude, what is it?" Dustin asked Cam, hovering in the doorway to the main room of NinjaOps, where most of the technology was. He didn't really want to talk to Cam at the moment. Or anyone, for that matter. What he really wanted to do was stay with Hunter's body and cry over the crimson thunder ranger.
Cam was sitting at the table, a whole load of Ninja Scrolls spread out in front of him. Dustin frowned. Why is Cam studying the Ninja Scrolls while Hunter is lying dead in the other room? he wondered, feeling angry.
Cam looked up, and waved to one of the empty seats opposite. After a moment's hesitation, Dustin sat down, though he really wasn't up to talking to anyone. He was too busy berating himself for beating Hunter up.
"Cam, what do you want?" Dustin asked, fidgeting slightly. "I'm sorry, but I'm not really in the mood to get into a longwinded discussion. About anything."
"I think that you'll be interested in what I'm about to say now," Cam replied. "It's something that I think you'll find very interesting."
Dustin blinked. Then, he sighed a little, and leaned forward. "I kind of find that hard to believe," he shrugged. "But go ahead. Fire away. I know that you'll tell me anyway, no matter what I actually say."
"Well, I was thinking about what you said about you Power Rangers not being able to be killed unless you're actually in your Ranger forms," Cam explained. "I decided to check and see if there was any way that Hunter could have actually survived."
Dustin blinked slowly. "Um, news flash, Cam," he said. "Hunter's body is lying in the other room. There's no pulse, his skin's cold, and he's not responding to anything..."
"Almost like his spirit's been removed from his body somehow," Cam cut in.
"Yeah," Dustin agreed. Then, he frowned. "Dude, what's that supposed to mean?" he wanted to know.
Instead of replying directly to Dustin's question, Cam asked, "Dustin, before you lost consciousness, what do you remember?"
"Well, it's all, like, a blur," Dustin said slowly. "I mean, I was really weak at that point. You know how it gets that your visions goes all out of whack when you're really tired or whatever?"
Cam nodded.
"Well, it was like that," Dustin explained. "I remember thinking that I was definitely going to die, especially as that big creep of Lothor's was leveling one of its blasters at me at that precise moment." Dustin frowned a little. Funny, I was sure that there was something else, he thought to himself. I remembered it earlier... Oh, well. It can't have been that important if I've forgotten it already.
"Do you remember anything else?" Cam wanted to know.
Dustin thought harder, then slowly shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure there's nothing else," he replied.
"Oh." Cam frowned. "Then it can't have been what I thought it was. I'll carry on looking, though, Dustin," he added as the yellow wind ranger got to his feet. "There could still be a way of bringing Hunter back to life."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Dustin mumbled as he walked back into the other room to Hunter's body, not really believing that there could be a way of bringing his friend, the one he loved, back to life.
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"Blake, are you all right?" Tori asked gently.
"No, not really," Blake admitted in a low voice. He buried his face in his hands, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
Tori put an arm around Blake, and hugged him gently. "Blake, it'll be all right," she attempted to soothe him.
Blake clung to Tori as though she was his last lifeline. He buried his face in her shoulder, and wept like a brokenhearted child. "I can't believe he's gone."
"Sh." Tori rocked him gently, though there were tears in her own eyes as well. "I miss him too. We all do."
Blake mumbled something into Tori's shoulder.
"What did you say, Blake?" Tori wanted to know.
Blake raised his head, his eyes red and his cheeks tearstained. "I said that Dustin doesn't," he replied.
Tori flinched a little at Blake's words. "Blake, I'm sure that that's not true," she told him. "You saw Dustin's reaction when he realised that Hunter was dead. He really cared about him. I imagine that Hunter's confession merely took him by surprise and shook him up badly." She tried to smile, but it was a pretty poor attempt. "After all, think how he must have felt. One of his best friends, and a male friend at that, saying that he had a crush on him?"
Blake shrugged a little. "It was still Dustin's fault," he said flatly.
Tori looked into her boyfriend's eyes. He's not likely to forgive Dustin any time soon, she realised. Maybe he never will. I understand how he must feel... But surely he can see that Dustin is suffering almost as much as he is?
Tori knew, however, that trying to convince Blake now would be just about impossible. The pain and grief of losing his own brother, the only family he had left, was still raw.
"Blake, would you like me to stay the night here tonight?" Tori wanted to know. "I'll understand if you'd rather be alone..."
Blake shook his head. "I don't want to be alone," he whispered. "I think... I need someone to be with me for tonight."
"All right. Could I use your phone, please?"
Blake nodded dully. "Sure," he replied. "It's in the kitchen."
"Thanks." Tori quickly kissed him on the cheek, then got up and moved into the kitchen to ring her parents and let them know that she was staying the night at a friend's house, giving them the number. She was careful not to let on the gender of her friend. As easygoing as her parents were, she was pretty sure that even they would draw the line at her staying over at a male friend's house for the night. She was also careful not to tell them the real reason she was staying. She didn't think it was fair to Blake.
Coming back into the lounge, Tori saw Blake sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands. He looked up as Tori approached him.
"I thought I heard him," Blake whispered. "I could have sworn... that I heard him calling me." He smiled bitterly. "Then, I remembered that he was dead."
Tori couldn't do any more than hold him while he cried.
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Hunter reached out to Dustin, wishing that he could wipe the tears from the cheeks of the yellow wind ranger. He wanted to comfort Dustin. He wanted to hold him and swear that he would never leave him. He wanted to gently tease the earth ninja. More importantly, he wanted to spend the rest of his life by Dustin's side.
There's almost a full day gone, Hunter thought to himself. Six days left. Not a long time for them to figure out that I'm not actually dead yet. Hunter shifted his weight to his other foot, and wondered if ghosts really were weightless and could float. He didn't feel weightless... But then, he supposed that that was because he wasn't truly dead.
Hunter drifted over to his body, and looked down at his own lifeless face. He felt no fear of death, or anger. He just felt sad. Sad that he had to leave his friends, especially Blake and Dustin.
Hm, wonder if they'll notice that my body isn't decaying like it's supposed to? Hunter thought. Then again, it's not like they'll keep it around for a long time... How long do bodies take to start decaying anyway? Cam would probably know, but I can't exactly ask him that. Maybe if they do find a way to bring me back, I'll ask if he knows that.
Hunter's eyes moved to Dustin's face and the hollow-eyed look that was there. He started to reach out to the yellow wind ranger, then stopped with a slight grimace.
Dustin wasn't likely to feel anything. Or, if he did feel anything, he probably wouldn't have a clue as to what it truly was. Much as Hunter loved Dustin, he had to admit that Dustin wasn't the most intelligent of people.
Come on, Dustin, think, Hunter pleaded silently, looking into Dustin's eyes. You must remember what happened. I saw the look on your face when you were talking to Cam. You were struggling to remember what happened while you were trying to fight that monster. I know you were.
But Dustin's face remained blank.
Hunter sighed, and wondered if traveling to the Cavern of Lost Souls would occur to Cam, or even his father. Probably not. The only spirits they had seen there had been Blake and Hunter's parents. Blake might think of the Cavern of Lost Souls... But Hunter didn't think that it would be wise to trust entirely to that happening. If only there was a way to get their attention!
Hunter came out of his thoughts a little while later to find that he had somehow managed to appear in the apartment he and his brother rented.
Blake was sitting on the sofa, his eyes red. Clearly, he had just been crying.
Hunter longed to reach out to his brother and comfort him. "Oh, Blake," he sighed softly.
Suddenly, Blake's head jerked up, and he looked around wildly.
Hunter froze, and then slowly drifted over so that he was standing in front of Blake. "Can you hear me, bro?"
But Blake merely sank back onto the sofa again and buried his face in his hands, crying.
Hunter wanted to stay, but it was tearing him up inside to see those he cared about so unhappy about his supposed death. And he would just get frustrated over the fact that none of them could see or even hear him.
Hunter left.
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Dustin wiped at the new tears trickling down his cheeks. It felt like he had been crying nonstop. Idly, he wondered if it was possibly for someone to cry themselves completely out. It probably was. But Dustin wasn't getting anywhere near that stage yet. Just remembering something about Hunter was enough to set him off again.
Dustin slowly shook his head, and began sorting through the memories he had of Hunter in his mind, ignoring the pain that started as he did so.
Dustin recalled the first time he had met Hunter and Blake. They had seemed to take a liking to him straight away, but that had probably been because the two thunder rangers were just trying to get close to him. They had, after all, stolen the computer disc with the Tsunami cycles on them.
Dustin's thoughts switched to the two as thunder rangers, when they had attacked him, Tori, and Shane. Really, Dustin should have become suspicious of them, at least. After all, they had been at the track when he had left his backpack behind. And then, Blake had helped Tori against that big frog monster thing.
Dustin had to smile a little at that. I bet Hunter wasn't very pleased about what happened then, he thought to himself. Then again, it was pretty obvious that Blake had a crush on Tori... And, hey, you protect the people you love, right?
Dustin frowned as he suddenly remembered something. Something that had occurred just before he had been knocked out by that monster with blasters...
"HEY, CAM!" Dustin yelled. "Get in here now!"
After a few moments, Cam appeared in the doorway. "Dustin, there's no need to shout," he complained. "I can hear you perfectly fine. And, anyway, I'm trying to find something to help Hunter."
"But I just remembered something!" Dustin protested.
Cam frowned a bit, and pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Ok, go ahead," he replied. "Tell me what you remember."
"It was just as that monster was leveling the blaster at me," Dustin explained. He frowned a little. "I remember this crimson blur appearing in front of me, and I thought that it was Hunter... But it couldn't have been Hunter, right? I mean, he was still at the race track, after all, wasn't he?"
Cam hesitated for a long moment. Then, he said, "Dustin, I'm afraid it probably was Hunter. And that probably means that he's still alive."
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DarkAngel: Is she still on a sugar high? -Referring to the author-
DarkCat: -Nods-
RedFox: In that case, I'll say... Please read and review! We need lots and lots of reviews! They're inspiration for our author!