Disclaimer: Buena Vista owns the Power Rangers. "Too Much To Ask" is by Avril Lavigne from her album, Let Go.
Timeline: after "General Deception part#2".
Author's Note: I'm on schedule! how cool is that! :) thanks TJ, Red, Sugarplum, and Starhawk. :)
by Adrienne Sekitou
Can't you see that you lie to yourself
You can't see the world through a mirror
It won't be too late when the smoke clears
'Cause I am still here
Dude, he was tired. He thought he could sleep for days. Zurgane was tough all right. Dustin so didn't look forward to fighting him again.
He trudged slowly up his driveway, backpack thrown over his shoulder. It was late, but the lights were still on in his house. His parents weren't expecting him home tonight, so the lights weren't on for him. They must still be up.
When he and the guys had woken up at the campsite, Tori and Cam had been there, teasing them for falling asleep. With food gone and camp trashed, no one particularly wanted to recreate an episode of "Survivor". 'Cept maybe Hunter. So since Tori was there with her bus, there was a group decision to just go home.
The ruined camp had been packed up, and they'd driven back to town in sleepy silence. He'd left all his stuff in Tori's bus, swearing he'd get it tomorrow. He was just way too tired to do anything right now.
As he put his key in the front door he heard something inside. A loud clumping, running kinda sound that he couldn't place with anything normally found in his home. Ninja senses on alert, he slowly pushed open the door. And was pounced upon by a half-grown dog. A black and white half-grown dog.
Waldo.
Waldo was in his house.
He started to wonder if he was really still asleep and back at camp. But the dog's persistent licking convinced him he was awake. As he pushed himself inside the house, his dad met him in the hallway.
"I see Waldo found you."
"Um, yeah," he said uncertainly. "Hey, Dad, what's he doing here?"
"Your friend, Marah, stopped by earlier. She said she had to go out of town, and asked if you could dogsit." His dad smiled, "I told her you wouldn't be home for a few days, but that we'd be happy to watch him till you got back."
At that his dad seemed to realize the oddness of his presence. "Which brings up a good question; you're home early. Anything wrong?"
"Um, no. Well, kinda," he answered distracted, his head was spinning with the news his dad had just given him. "Lots of bad luck, ya know? It was easier just to call it quits and go home."
"Well, as long as you're okay."
"I am," he assured him.
"You look exhausted, Dustin. You should sleep," his dad said, warmly gripping his shoulder. "Though I think Waldo here would really like a walk first."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll do that," he agreed, walking to his room to dump his backpack.
Marah was gone?
He returned a moment later, stopping only to grab a plastic bag from the kitchen. He greeted his mom in the living room with a kiss, waved to his dad, and headed back out into the night. Waldo followed eagerly on his heels.
Marah was gone?
What did 'out of town' mean for a space ninja? How much more out of town could you get than space?
He wandered along as Waldo sniffed everything. Having never been there before, it was all new and shiny, and the puppy wanted to see it all. Or smell it at the very least.
They ended up in a nearby park. Waldo took a particular interest in a willow tree. Dustin waited for him to do his business, moving to take a seat on a swing. His mind, still elsewhere wondering what was happening. What he'd missed in less than a day in the woods.
Suddenly the air seemed to change and he was on alert again. But he knew this change. He'd felt it countless times before. It lasted a mere second, then there was a flash of blinding light and Marah stood there.
He jumped back up immediately.
She was in her alien look. She never appeared like that.
Not when it was just them.
Something was way wrong here.
"Marah." There was no way to act casual right now. Every ninja instinct he had was screaming at him. "What's up?"
"I'm sorry for unloading Waldo on your parents without asking you," she started. "But I had to get him off the ship."
"It's okay," he said. "What happened?"
She looked distinctly uncomfortable, but refused to answer specifically. "It's all going down, Dustin. And falling apart. I just don't want him to get hurt."
"So leave," he urged.
"Kapri's still there. She needs me," she shook her head. "I can't leave. But he can." She pointed to her dog, who had left the tree to come to her. His tail was whipping with the joy of happy puppy innocence. "It's not safe for him up there."
"But it's safe for you?"
"He can't protect himself against evil space ninjas. I can. I'm one of them."
"No, you're not!" he shouted. His frustration with not understanding was clear. And it stunned her into silence. "You're not. You're not like them," he said more quietly. "Please, Marah…"
"Dustin--"
"Just leave," he pleaded.
"No. I can't," she shook her head again resolutely, her long twists of hair swaying. "It's where I belong. I don't have anything else."
"You got me!"
She looked as shocked as he felt that he'd said it. But surely she knew that by now. He wasn't gonna turn his back on her. They were more than that.
She looked at him sadly, like her resolve might slip. Her eyes were wet and she sighed. "Dustin, I can't! Please try to understand!"
"Can't or won't?" he said harshly. He hadn't meant it to sound so much like a challenge. Or maybe he had. Didn't she get that she mattered to him? That she had choices? That he just wanted her to be safe?
Her face hardened at his question. She was about to respond, to really let him have it from the look of things. But her PAM chimed. And she stared down at it with dread bordering on terror.
"Marah!" he reached out to her, panicking. He had the sudden horrible feeling that if she left he wouldn't see her again. "Don't go! Please!"
But she just stepped away, still looking at the flashing light on her PAM. "Um, I have to go," she said distractedly, as if they hadn't been arguing just moments before. "Will you take care of Waldo? Please?"
"Of course," he answered quickly. "We'll both be here, waiting for you." He added, "But you don't have to go. It's not too late."
Her tears that had been threatening finally started to fall. "Yes, it is," she said softly. "Goodbye, Dustin." And she was once again enveloped in bright light.
"Marah!" he screamed, and Waldo was barking. But she was long gone, teleported back to the ship or wherever.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, though she was no longer there to hear it.
He'd always told himself he wouldn't push her. He'd let her make her own decisions about whose side she was on, where she stood. But when the time had come, he'd pushed her just like everyone else.
He just wanted her to be happy. And safe. And somewhere he didn't have to fight her everyday and act like he didn't care. 'Cause he did care. More than he'd even realized.
Waldo looked up at him. Ears down, whining pitifully, he looked to Dustin for reassurance.
"She'll be back, boy," he patted the dog's head. "She has to."
They started slowly back toward his house. Watching the skies. Not sure what for. Maybe a sign of something good.
He shook his head. This sucked. A lot.
Lying here alone in fear
Afraid of the dark
No one to claim, alone again
TBC