The Moon Child

Chapter Three: Talks, Explanations and Forgiveness

Disclaimer: I don't own them and even if I could afford to own them I would only want Jason David Frank (Tommy), Jorgito Vargas Jr. (Blake), Adam Tuominen (Hunter), and Daniel Southwood (Eric). They are just too good looking for their own good...sigh, But alas I don't own them Disney  and Saban do. I only own the idea of Serenity, her design, and that's it. Her powers are taken from the show sailor moon, that's where I got the idea from, when I was babysitting a six year old.

AN: This chapter contains hints of child abuse. Child abuse is a very serious thing through out our country, I in no way condone the hitting of child, even for disciplinary measures. I urge all readers to report to the proper authorities any suspicions you may have that any form of child abuse is taking place somewhere, and I urge all readers to report to the proper authorities if you, yourself have been or are the victim of child abuse or any other type of abuse. You are not alone, and it is not ok for a person to do this, they need to be reprimanded for it and stopped. Thank you and read if you feel you can.

Set about three to four months after the ending episode. Few changes though the rangers still have their powers, Marah is on the side of good dating Dustin, Blake and Tori are still going strong. Kapri and Vexacus are now in control of Lothor's ship and are trying to take over the universe. The academy's are back along with all the students.

A few quick notes on a few things through out the story:

(((())): are scene changes

"....." speaking

...: telepathic thoughts

'...'thinking

We last left our yellow wind ranger as he left his sisters house with a black cloud now hanging over his head, one cloud that would soon be spread to the other wind, samurai, and thunder rangers.

Ninja Ops:

Our beloved rangers and Marah were gathered around Cam and the central super computer as the scenes of their previous battles play. They were all looking for the exact point at which the mysterious figure showed up on the battle scene, but they were going to soon find out that finding out the identity and origins of this mysterious figure was just one of their problems, for as they watched the computer Dustin slowly made his way down the entrance stairs of Ninja Ops. Hunter was the first to notice that Dustin had entered ops, but it was Tori who first noticed the dark look on Dustin's face.

"Dustin what's wrong?" Tori asked walking over to Dustin as he set the containers he was carrying on the table and dropped onto the couch. Dustin didn't say anything just kept his head down as he reached into his back pocket and handed it to Tori as she sat next to him, while Marah sat on the other side of him and put her arms around him. Tori just looked at Dustin and then the note and then to the guys who had gathered around the couch and table. When Dustin didn't say or do anything Tori opened up the folded piece of paper and began to read it. After a few minutes of silence Tori looked up quickly and just stared at Dustin before voicing her thoughts.

"Dustin is this true? Does she really mean this?" Tori questioned. Dustin just nodded his head sadly and gestured to the containers.

"Is what true?" Shane asked. Tori handed him the letter as she and Marah comforted Dustin. Shane took the letter and sat on the table so the others could see the note and read it as well. Again there was silence as the boys finished reading, then the gates burst, starting with Hunter.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Hunter stated with force. "This is ridiculous. You mean to tell me that just because we ran off to save the world, and left a little mess that she no longer trusts us or Dustin her own brother!" A nod from the others was the answer given. "Well that is a bunch of hog wash, and not to mention its just plain dumb." Hunter said sitting down on the other couch.

"No dude its not" Dustin spoke for the first time since arriving, his voice sounding as if he was trying hard not to cry.

"I'm sorry dude, but I'm gonna have to agree with Hunter on this one, those are crappie reasons." Shane said. "I'm gonna have to say the same thing bro, Hunter's right" Blake said taking a seat next to his brother. Dustin looked up at the thunder brothers and the red wind ranger with hurt filled eyes.

"How can you guys say that?" He questioned. "I mean we all knew the rules, she told us them before we even started doing anything, and we had all agreed to them. Then what do we do? We just run off and break them."

"But Dustin you guys didn't have choice. You needed had to leave, Vexacus and Kapri and needed to be stop." Marah said in a soothing voice, while rubbing her boyfriends back. "If she wants to be mad then we need to let her be mad. You saw what she wrote in the letter, she'll get over it eventually."

"You guys don't understand" Dustin cried getting up as he ran his hands through his hair and starting to pace the floor. "I lied to my sister; she called me 'Dustin'! Do you have any idea what that means or how much that hurts!" he cried sitting down again.

"What does calling you Dustin have to do with anything?" Tori asked.

"Serenity has never in my existence called me 'Dustin', she has always called my Dusty. Never has she called me anything else, except with the exception of 'bro'. She told me once that the only time or way she would ever call me by my full name was if I did something so horrible that it would cause her to lose her respect, trust and faith in me. And I did that.... I lied to her. I lied to her face and didn't even flinch. I can't believe I lied to my own sister, what was I thinking!?" Dustin cried barring his face in his hands.

"Dude, look if lying caused your sister to lose her faith, trust and respect in you, and then she obviously didn't have much of them in you to begin with." Blake stated.

"See you don't get it." Dustin said lifting his head up.

"What don't we get it?" Cam asked.

Dustin sighed and leaned back into the couch trying to think of away to explain what he meant. Leaning forward again he started to explain. "Look at it like this, Tori how would you feel if your sister lied to you and then you found out that she was lying to you the whole time?" "Well I would mad. I don't think I would talk to her for a while." Tori said a look of understanding coming across her face. "Shane what about you, how would you feel if Porter was lying to you, better yet, how did you feel having to lie to Porter while he was here, before he found out about you being a power ranger?" "I felt bad bro. I felt like I was losing what little and any respect I had been gaining with him." "Cam, Marah how would you feel about it?" Dustin asked addressing his girlfriend and her cousin. "Well I guess I would feel the same way and I would feel like I was an awful person because I had lost the trust I have finally gained in Cam." Marah said. "I honestly don't know if I would ever be able to fully trust Marah again if she lied to me about something big." Cam said. "Blake how did you feel when Hunter kept his knowledge about the gem of souls from you. And using the gem to try and reach your parents from you? Hunt how did you feel keeping something like that from Blake, who is your own brother?" Dustin asked the two thunder rangers sitting across from him.

"I felt betrayed. I didn't know or understand how he could keep something like that from me; after all we had been through together." Blake said after a minute or so of silence.

"I felt horrible. Keeping that from Blake was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Even after he found out, I still felt bad. I didn't know how to make things right, with him. I didn't even know if I could make them right." Hunter said lowering his head to the ground.

"So you see. This isn't dumb or ridiculous, this is serious. I have no idea what to do. I don't even know when she will talk to me again. Serenity is very capable of never talking to a person again who has lost her trust and respect. Just ask her fath...." Dustin's last comment trailed off as he lowered his head.

"Just ask who Dustin?" Tori asked. "Who has lost Serenity's respect and trust before that she won't even talk to them anymore?"

"No one just forget it ok. It doesn't matter, what does matter is how we are going to fix this." Dustin said trying to change the subject.

"Good try Dustin but your not going to change subjects on us that easily." Marah said. "Now finish what you were going to say."

"Look just forget I even said anything ok, let's concentrate on the present problem at hand here." Dustin pleaded with his girlfriend. "No! Finish what you were going to say, it's rude to do say or imply something then not finish explaining." Marah declared, and the others just nodded in agreement.

"Fine you want to know what I was going to say I'll tell you. The only other person who has ever lost Serenity's trust, respect and faith is her father." There are you happy? Now you know, so let's forget it and move on." Dustin shouted in a raised voice.

"Whoa Dustin calm down ok. It was just a question no need to flip out." Shane said.

"I'm sorry you guys... it's just that, that's a tuff and sensitive subject to bring up or talk about." Dustin replied.

"Dustin, can I ask why Serenity hates your father? I mean when I met him he seemed like a really nice guy." Marah said.

"She doesn't hate my father, she hates her father." Dustin said. The group just looked at him for a few minutes while the perplexity of his statement set in.

"Wait a minute I'm confused" Blake said. "You and Serenity are brother and sister right" Dustin nods his head. "Then how can she hate her father and not your father? I don't get it."

"We don't have the same fathers" Dustin said. The group just blinked in shock at the news. "But Dustin you told me once that your parents were never married before they met each other." Tori said. "They weren't and never have been." "Are you saying that your mom had an affair dude?" Shane stupidly asked, causing Dusting to look at him in disbelief of his question, while both Cam and Tori smacked him on the back of the head.

"No she didn't have an affair its just...it's just I don't know if I should be telling you this...but in order to understand you need to know." Dustin mused to himself out loud. "But if I tell you guy's this, you can't tell Serenity I told you, you have to wait for her to bring it up, if she ever decides to talk to us again. Ok? You guys have to promise me." Dustin said with earnest and intensity.

"Ok, Dustin we promise, right guys" Hunter said. The group nodded their agreement.

"Ok, this is really hard to tell so bear with me. You all know now that Serenity and I are brother and sister but we're not blood related in anyway. My parents adopted Serenity when we young. In fact she is three years older them me, making her 24. I never knew who Serenity's real parents were and I never really cared to know either. My parents first saw Serenity when they had to take me to the hospital. I was 4 and I had just broken my arm in a bike accident, when we entered the emergency room, the ambulance had just arrived with Serenity. I will never forget how she looked, I was only 4 but I knew something bad had happened. She was all bloody, cuts and bruises adorned her body, and the doctors were rushing all around yelling for an O.R. to be prepped for immediate surgery. I remember my parents taking me and walking up the front desk to get checked in as they rolled Serenity out the E.R. and into an elevator and I heard my parents asking what had happened to that little girl who was just there, and I heard the nurse say that she really shouldn't say anything, but it was such a tragedy that she needed to say something...." Dustin had trailed off at this point, his voice getting chocked up, and Marah got up to get him a glass of water. "It's ok Dustin just take your time babe." Marah said handing him the water and rubbing his back in a comforting manner.

"Thanks Marah, I'm ok now. Where was I? Oh I remember now... The nurse told my parents through a few tears, that the little, who was just there, had been beaten by her father." In takes of breath were heard all around the room. "She didn't have all the details right then, but she said that it was a horrible scene when the paramedics had arrived, the man had killed the mother and the little girl was very close to death as well. After the nurse had told my parents that she left us to get a doctor." 'Oh my god' was said by somebody, but Dustin couldn't tell who had said it. "I don't remember much after that, due to the fact that the doctors and knocked me out so they could fix my arm. I didn't really think about that girl in the E.R. much afterwards until the day my parents came to talk to me that I remembered her. My parents had sat me down and told me that we were going to have a new member of the family joining us later that day and I didn't understand what they meant because I didn't remember my mom having a baby. But my parents explained to me that we weren't having a baby, they told me that they had decided to adopt a child." Gasps were heard from the other rangers. "Yeah that was my reaction too, anyways later that day Serenity was brought to our house by a social worker, and we were introduced to each other. When I saw her I automatically remembered her from the E.R., she still had quite a few bruises on her face, and not all of her cuts had completely healed yet. My parents had introduced themselves to her then asked me to show Serenity to her new room, so the 'grown ups' could talk, and I did. Serenity was really hesitant and who could blame her? After what she had been through, I wouldn't trust anyone either, but I showed her to her room chitchatting the entire away, about what I don't know, all I knew was I was happy to have an older sister. And I remember telling Serenity that too, I'll never forget the look she gave me. I had hoped onto her bed and I was just staring at her, and she snapped at me for it, telling me that it wasn't polite to stare. I apologized and told her that I couldn't help it, I was just so excited to have a big sister, then I went up to her and hugged her. She was so shocked that she just stood there stiff as a board, but I wouldn't let go until she hugged me back. She started crying about that time too, and we just sunk to the floor holding each other. That's how my parents found us and ever since then we were Serenity and I were inseparable. If I had a nightmare or if she had one, we would always go into the others room and crawl into bed and sleep together, it was like we knew as long as the other was there nothing could hurt us." Dustin finished his story.

"Wow..." Shane said.

"No kidding bro, I can't believe... I don't even know what to say." Blake said, just nodded his head, he too had no idea what to say for what seemed like the first time ever.

A sniffle was heard coming from Marah and Tori. They both had no words for what was just bestowed upon them. "Its ok guys, you don't need to say anything. I know that what I just told you is a lot to take in, but the gist of the story is pretty much that, ever since then she hasn't talked to her father, not even when he was released from jail."

"You mean that man was let out of jail!?" Marah exclaimed.

"Yeah he was let out when I was about 6, so Serenity was 9 at the time, it was just after I met Tori and Shane. That's why you guys never met Serenity. After we were notified that he was let out, my parents felt that it would be better to get Serenity out of town so they had her go live with our grandparents and she was put into a boarding/finishing school. We would go see her, she never came home. My parents didn't want to risk the chance of her father seeing her and following her back to school."

"Do you know what ever happened to her father?" Cam asked.

"No. But I'll tell you this I hope he's dead, because if I ever see him, I'll kill him."

"Dustin, don't say that." Marah said

"No! I'm sorry but I hate that man, and I have no feelings what so ever for him, when he does die I hope he burns in hell for what he did to my sister."

"Ok dude. We understand, and we don't blame you. I think I speak for everybody when I say we feel the same now, and believe me if we ever see her father we'll help you." Shane said. Collective nods were given all around.

"Alright now that we have clarified things, what are we going to do to get back in the good graces of Serenity?" Blake asked.

"Well I believe that it is time Dustin told his sister the truth." Sensei said, walking out of the shadows.

"Sensei, Dad, Uncle" The rangers and Marah cried, at the surprise of his sudden appearance.

"How long have you been standing there, Sensei?" Dustin asked

"Long enough Dustin to know that you need to tell your sister the truth, and I mean the 'Truth', my son" Sensei replied.

"You mean I can tell her about being a power ranger and having to save the world and everything?" asked Dustin. Sensei nodded his head and Dustin jumped up to hug him. He was so happy he was going to be able to tell Serenity the truth and not worry about having to hide things from her again. It was about this time that Hunter bolted off the couch and headed for the entrance to Ninja Ops. Blake called out to him, but he didn't even acknowledge that he heard him. Blake made as if to go after him, but Sensei stopped him.

"No Blake, let him go." Sensei said.

"But..."

"He needs time Blake. I was watching Hunter and his reactions as Dustin told his story. Hunter is upset and hurt right now. He needs time and don't worry Blake I have a feeling I know where he is going."

"Where is he going Sensei?" Blake asked.

"He is going to see Serenity."

"WHAT!!" Was the collective response to Sensei's response.

"I've gotta go after him before he makes things worse."

"No Dustin. This is something Hunter has to do, and something Serenity needs too. Trust me my ninjas all will be well." Sensei turned toward Cam. "Now son tell me about this mysterious figure you say helped you, but you do not know whether they are good or evil." Cam nodded and turned toward the computer as the others gathered around once again to try and find the origins of the mysterious figure.

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Beach House:

After Hunter had left ninja ops, he had streaked all the way to Serenity's house. He had no idea why all of the sudden he had to talk to her, but he just had too. So here he was standing on the beach just a few feet away from her house contemplating on what he was going to say once he got up there.

'What the hell am I doing here? Better yet what the hell am I going to say to her.' Hunter thought to himself.

'How am I going to explain that I know what happened to her and that I know what she is feeling.' Hunter continued to think as his feet carried him close to the house.

'Should I just tell her I know? No I promised I wouldn't let her know I know, so what am I going to do?' As Hunter finished his thoughts he realized that his feet had carried him all the way up the porch steps and he was now standing in front of the sliding glass doors that connect the porch to the inside of the house. And as he knocked Hunter was still trying to find a way to tell her everything. He heard a 'coming' from in side the house and through the doors, he saw Serenity come out of the kitchen with a happy look on her face. 'Well at least she's in a good mood' Hunter thought. But when Serenity saw who it was her mood changed and you could see it in her face. 'Okay, maybe this won't be as easy I had hoped it would be.' Hunter's thoughts conveyed to himself.

"What do you want?" Serenity asked as she opened the door.

"Um....hi" was the only thing Hunter could think of to say.

"Is that all you came here for? Was to say 'hi', because if it was then I'm shutting this door right now."

"No, no, that's not why I'm here" Hunter said, and Serenity gave him a look that obviously said 'well then why are you here?'. "Um... Dustin showed us the letter. That's why I'm here. I wanted to talk to you about that." Hunter said stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking out toward the beach. "Would you take a walk with me?" he asked turning back to face Serenity.

Serenity regard him with a weary eye, but finally nodded her agreement, and turned back into the house, to lock her front door, grab a coat and a blanket, and her keys. Once she gathered all these things she stepped out onto the porch with Hunter and locked the doors behind her. She also took a minute to roll up her pant legs, she opted to leave her shoes off, and followed hunter down the steps to the beach. After a do 20 minutes or so of walking Hunter stopped and took the blanket from Serenity and spread it out on the sand. He motioned for her to take a seat, which she did, before he himself sat down next to her. For a while neither of them spoke just looked out into ocean and watched the waves. Finally Hunter spoke.

"I don't know if you ever wondered about this or if you know this or not, but Blake and I aren't real brothers."

"I had wondered about that, but I didn't want to pry into your personal lives so I never asked." She said.

"Yeah, our parents adopted us when we were young. I was only 8 and Blake was only 7. I don't know why Blake was in foster care, I never asked and he never asked me, to us it didn't matter. We were now brothers and that was all there was to it. That and the fact that we promised each other that we would never ask about why the other was put up for adoption."

"I don't want to sound rude but is there a reason why you are telling me all this about yourself Hunter?"

"I wanted to let you know that I know how you feel about trust, respect and faith. I'm not good at giving it or letting people have it. When we first came here I was really cold toward your brother and his friends. I didn't trust them because a person who I trusted made me think they had something to do with the death of my parents. But even though I was awful to them and I tried to hurt them on more then one occasion they stilled trusted me and Blake. They forgave us because they knew we had been lied too and they still wanted us as friends. Dustin stuck up for us when Shane was hell bent on never talking to us, and he did this even knowing that we were acting like nothing but a bunch of jerks, and if he hadn't of done that, then Blake and Tori wouldn't be together right and I never would have learned how to be more trusting toward people, and its all because of your brother and his friends."

"I can respect that Hunter, but why are you telling me this? Dustin has already told me about when you guys met and how you acted and everything. So why tell me again?"

"Because you need to understand that sometimes people lie to try an protect those they love from having to face the truth and getting hurt."

"So they lie and hurt that person they love even more? Is that what you're saying."

"In some cases like this yes. But you're missing the point, you doing this, not talking to Dustin and not trusting him is killing him. You didn't see him when he came to us and showed us that note."

"Do you think I like hurting my brother?" Serenity asked looking at Hunter "Well I don't I love him more then anything on this God forsaken planet, but what he did hurt me more then..." Serenity trails off and looks away from Hunter and looking back out into the ocean.

"Hurt you more then what?" Hunter asked. When she didn't answer or look at him, Hunter took her chin in his hand and turned her face toward him, what he saw shocked him. She had tears in her eyes and was trying her damn-est to keep them from falling. "Hurt you more then what?" He asked again in a soft voice.

Serenity closed her eyes, as a few tears escaped her eyes and Hunter reached up and wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs. Taking a shaky breath Serenity told Hunter what she has never told anyone before.

"It... hurt me more then when my real father use to beat me and my mother." She said and then the years of tears that she had suppressed broke free. Hunter saw this and pulled her into his arms, holding her as she cried her pain out. He stroked her back and whispered what he hoped were comforting words. When her tears had finally died down to just sniffles, Hunter continued to hold Serenity and she snuggled into his comforting embrace and let him hold her. Finally after a few minutes of silence, Hunter spoke.

"My father... my real father use to beat me too." Serenity just looked up at him, with red and puffy eyes. "He never use to at least when my mother was alive. But then she died and he started drinking, and the beatings started. At first it was just a slap, then they slowly got worse, until one night when he really lost control. I was in the hospital for a week, before I was taken and placed in a foster home. I never knew what happened to my father and I frankly don't care what happened to him. The Bradley's found me not to long after, they took me into their home and gave me the loving family that Blake and I had always needed and wanted. Then they were taken from us too, and it seemed like fate was out to get us, but then we found the guys and everything has turned out for the better." Hunter looked down at Serenity and she just smiled and laid her head back on his shoulder.

"Boy, aren't we quite the mess up pair?" Serenity said after a while.

"Yeah, but hey at least we can be a messed up pair together, right?" Hunter asked.

Serenity looked up at him and smiled, nodding her head. "Yeah together." Then she laid her head back down and watched the sun as it started to set.

"So..." Hunter said, dragging out the 'O', "Dose this mean that we're forgiven?" He asked looking down at Serenity.

Without moving her head Serenity answered, "Yeah, your forgiven. And thank you Hunter." "For what?" he asked. "For making me see what an idiot I have been about this whole thing, and for making me see that it's ok to trust people sometimes and let them trust you." She said. "Hey, don't worry about it." He said while giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head, then pulling her closer to him as she shivered.

"We should head back, it's getting cold and I'm sure the others are wondering where you are by now." Serenity said softly.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right" replied Hunter

"Of course I am. I'm always right." Serenity said looking up at him and smiling. Then without warning she poked Hunter in the ribs and took off running down the beach.

"I'm gonna get you for that." He yelled after her. "You have to catch me first" Serenity yelled stopping a few feet away and turning back towards him, then taking off again. "Hey come back here" Hunter yelled, scrambling to his feet and grabbing the blanket before taking off after her.

Hunter chased after her all the way back to her house, with Serenity always a few steps ahead laughing at him and always avoiding capture. But right before Serenity could get to the porch steps, Hunter caught her from behind, throwing her over his shoulder, he ran with to the water and threw her in. But Serenity wasn't going to go down alone, she grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled him with her into the water. When they resurfaced, they were both laughing and shivering. The one thing they didn't notice was the person standing on the sand, at least they didn't noticed until they cleared their throat, bringing Hunter and Serenity's attention to them.

"Oh... um... Hi Dusty" Serenity said.

"Hey bro" responded Hunter.

"And just what are you two doing?" Dustin asked lifting an eyebrow at them.

"Um... would you believe we were taking a swim?" Serenity asked. Dustin just gave her a 'Yeah, right you expect me to believe that' look as they walked up onto the sand where he was standing.

"Come on you should get inside before you get sick sis. You Hunter, oh and by the way, Blake is looking for you. He's going crazy cause he doesn't know where you are." Dust said addressing the soaking wet duo.

"Ok, thanks bro. I should head home anyways, it's getting dark out." But before Hunter could leave Serenity stopped him. "Hunter wait." "Yeah" "I... um... I just wanted to say thank you. What you did means a lot to me." Hunter just smiles, and Serenity walks up to and gives him a hug, then turns and runs towards her house. Hunter looks at Dustin. "I'll see you later ok? Oh and Dustin, make sure you tell her the truth this time. Like Sensei said no more lies, ok?" Dustin nods "No more lies". The two rangers shake hands and go their separate ways. One to calm a nervous and crazy brother, and the other to make right the wrongs he made to his sister.

AN: Ok that's chapter three, and I'm gonna try to get four out as soon as I can. What did/do you think? Let me know via review or email. And I'm always changing the chapters as I type them up so if you have a suggestion just let me know, I am always open to opinions. And just a heads up it might take me a little bit longer to get chapters up, I am getting ready to move back to school and I am busy, busy, and busy. But I'll try my best. Thank you to those of who you reviewed please keep it up by all means. Bunny

Quote: "Trouble is a part of your life and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you a chance to love you enough."

Dinah Shore