Live Like You Were Dying

Title: Live Like You Were Dying
Author: kazeko
Show: Power Rangers
Rating: R
Chapters: ?
Series: no, also no relation to "Children of the Gods"
Multipart: yes
Time: About a year after Power Rangers in Space, changing the Power Rangers timeline after that
Couple(s): Tommy/Kimberly, Jason/Kat, Tanya/Adam
Disclaimer: Saban and Disney own Power Rangers and they don't deserve it if they won't release MMPR on DVD!
Disclaimer 2: I own everything else, including characters, other planets, and the plot.

Chapter 6: Confessions of the Pink Rangers

Kimberly hummed to herself as she brushed her hair, digging through her closet for one of her favorite shirts. She froze as her fingers touched flannel. "I don't have any flannel shirts," she murmured. Shrugging, she pulled out the shirt, realizing instantly that it did not belong to her. Staring at the green-and-white checkered material, she struggled to remember where it came from. Digging deeper, she found a small wooden box. She sat on her bed and opened it, smiling at the shining medals. "I remember these," she smiled. "Why did I put them down there?" Pushing the gold and silver circles of metal to one side, she pulled out a strange-looking pink watch with extra buttons on the side. "I wonder . . . what is this?"

A knock on her door interrupted the brunette's thoughts, and she snapped the watch on her wrist as she rose and glanced outside. A tall man with black hair and strange reddish eyes smiled at her, something in his expression chilling her to the bone. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"I should hope so. I'm Dervalet, and I am searching for a Kimberly Ann Hart. Do you know her?"

Kimberly nodded. "I am her. Do you have a child you want to enroll in my class? Is that why you're here?"

The man nodded. "Yes, that's it exactly. My daughter, Kapiire, is very interested in gymnastics. She's a little shy and wouldn't come. We live nearby, and it would be a great boost to her confidence if you could stop by some time and ask her to come to a class."

Kimberly glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "I'm not busy now. If you don't have somewhere else to be, I can go with you."

Dervalet nodded and bowed slightly. "I don't have anywhere else to be."

"Is this Kim's apartment?" Aisha and Trini exchanged a glance, wrinkling their nose at the furnishings and random items that attempted to turn the small apartment into a home and failed pretty miserably. "This isn't her," Aisha pointed out. "It doesn't remind me of her, I mean."

"I reminds me of her before Zordon and the Power Rangers," Trini admitted, glancing at young Tommy. The two former Yellow Rangers turned to the pair of Mages. "Did she tell you what was going on in Florida?"

"We can't tell you."

Jason glared at his older self as he picked up the wooden box on the bed. "Her medals," he whispered, picking up the green-and-white shirt. "Tommy," he whispered. "This shirt. Is this the one you gave her?"

"Yeah, it is." Tommy glanced at his future self as he looked around. "She's not here."

"Maybe she went out for a bite."

"No, Tanya," Adam whispered. "She wouldn't have left stuff out. What if . . ."

Tommy whirled on his older self, fists clenched. "You said that we would find Kimberly if we thought of her! Here we are, so where is she?"

Tommy closed his eyes, focusing on his link with his wife. "Dervalet hasn't hurt her, or Kimberly would have reacted. He must have a Mage with him to block their power signature and push us off the scent. The only thing we can do is go back and try to cast a tracer spell . . ."

Tommy reached in his pocket and pulled out his old communicator. "In the past it was so easy. If Kimberly was missing we could just trace her through the grid. Now . . ." He smiled as he pushed the button for pink, jumping when he got an answer. The others gathered around as Kimberly's shocked voice crackled from the old piece of equipment.

"Whoa, what was that? Hello?"

"Kimberly? Where are you?"

"Who is this? What is this? Is this some sort of pager? Who are you?"

Tommy tapped a button on his communicator, closing his fingers around the bloodstone. He vanished, the other ex-Rangers just behind him.

Kimberly opened her eyes, startled to find Kat sitting in the chair across from her. "Kat? Why aren't you with the others?"

"Because you needed me more. How have you been?"

Kimberly struggled to sit, groaning in pain. "Not so good, Kat. Really not so good. How about you? It's been, what, a year since Zordon's death?"

"Yeah, that's about right. How did you feel when you learned what happened?"

Kimberly grinned and gratefully took the cup of water Kat offered. "Quite honestly, I was suffering from a bout of severe self-inflicted amnesia at the time. When Trini told me Zordon was dead, I didn't know who Zordon was. When Baliree took me and forced me to remember, I cried for so long. I still miss him, Kat, seventy-eight years later, and I know that the pain will never go away. He really was like a father to me."

"I guess it was different for you and the other original Rangers. After all, he chose you and gave you the power to save the world. You gave me my power, and I imagine that you and I are quite a bit closer than the Yellow Rangers or the Blacks."

Kimberly nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. "I really missed you, Kat. Ten, twenty, even thirty years after we left, I wanted to come back. If I could have done anything differently, I would have answered Baliree when she asked me who I wanted to come with me. I told her that I didn't want to go and that it didn't matter to me who else she chose, so she asked Tommy who he wanted to come besides me. I think if he could he would have chosen every Power Ranger he's served with, but he had a choice of one and he chose the man who has been like his bother and mine for so long."

"How did Jason fare? Does he have a wife and kids back in the Adamarei Alliance?"

Kimberly shook her head sadly. "No, and I don't think he ever will. He left someone on Earth and he always regretted that he didn't have the chance to tell her how he felt."

"Who was she?"

"You have to know that I'm not going to tell you, Kat."

The Aussie shrugged and sipped her water. "I thought I'd try. So, Shana's your kid, huh? I see that you and Tommy finally worked everything out."

"It took almost twenty years. God we were stubborn, Kat. And it'll probably take twenty more years this time around. I hate Time Paradoxes."

"Then why did you come back?"

"To stop this damn plague. It's going to wipe out Adamaren Prime if we can't halt it. The Dragons caught it first—I think someone was trying to wipe them out, take our power away. It might have been Dervalet or one of his faction. The Shamirii with power live in a symbiotic relationship with the Dragons—we need their power to have children and they need us to protect theirs. They're lonely without us. When the first Dragons on Adamaren Prime came down with the plague, their powers faded so fast and they just died one day. Anarii was only a child then, but she lost two of her best Dragon friends. The strongest Shamirin Mages tried to cure it, but they caught it and it spread."

"How does a magical plague spread?"

"When we do spells together, Shamirin magic from two Mages links." Kimberly held up her hands and twined the fingers. "Like this. If one has the plague, the other gets it." She pulled her hands apart, just barely not touching. "If an infected Mage casts a spell near a normal person, sometimes the plague will pass that small space and infect the next person. For a very weak Shamiri, the plague will only sterilize them, prevent them from having children. That's what happened to Anarii, which is why she had to choose an heir. Tommy, Jason, and I tried to stop the plague, but it didn't work." Kimberly fell silent, staring into her cup.

"Kimberly, what aren't you telling us? What aren't you telling me?"

Kimberly looked up suddenly, a touch of suspicion in her brown eyes. "Why are you here?"

"Jason sent me a ticket."

"No, Kat; why did you really come? Why did you stay with me? Tommy and the others could have used your help; I'm not going anywhere and I'm not going to get into any trouble in this time. So, why?"

Kat bit her lip nervously, placing her own cup on the table. "Kimberly, when I learned that you, Tommy, and Jason are going to leave, the first thing I thought was, 'God I wish I could go with them.' Then I knew that me being there would have hampered you and Tommy, and who knows if you would have ever gotten together. I know that I never got the chance to tell you, but I know that you never stopped loving Tommy and I'm really sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"Because when Tommy got your letter, all I could think was how lucky I was. I had him all to myself, and I tried so hard to keep him. When it didn't work out after I headed to London . . . all I could think was that I wanted you and Tommy to have another chance. I was hoping I could tell you."

Kimberly wiped the tears out of her eyes and leaned forward, embracing the taller blonde. "Thank you, Kat. I wondered for decades . . . Jase and Tommy have a plan to fix your future, and maybe you and I will get a chance to talk."

"Can I come with you?"

TBC