Authors Note: I'm sorry that I've kept you all waiting, my stress load has just been building and building over the past week, and I thought I was going to die. Hopefully this will give me some time for some happy expression to get a lot of it out! YAY FOR HEALTHY FORUMS OF EXPRESSION! Anyways, I hope you all enjoy chapter 6 of Breaking Ground
Disclaimer: Don't own it…never have, never will…period, end of story (metaphorically of course!)
Breaking Ground :
The bay window welcomed him like it always did. The beautiful view of the ocean was all he needed to know that was where he belonged when it came time to think. He sat in his usual spot, bringing one knee to his chest, and resting his chin upon it. Why had he ordered Khyla around, and yelled at and harassed her? It confused him as much as it did everyone else, and then some. There was something about her that just irked him, pushed his buttons, yet, whenever he wasn't around her, he was wishing that he was. It was as though there was this anomalous side of him that looked forward to their arguments, but he was so desperate for them that he felt like he had to make them, even if they were for no reason at all. Which was completely unfair to Khyla, he knew, but it was almost entirely subconscious, and he didn't realize that he was doing, until after he had either already done it, or until it was entirely over, and there was nothing he could do to reconcile it.
What was even stranger was, he really did feel like he should apologize. He never apologized to anyone, for anything, it just wasn't in his nature. He shook his head, as he began to try and draw up what he was going to say to her when he saw her. How would he even get her to listen to him? Every time they had ever spoken, nothing but chaos came of it; how would he get her to even hear his apology, let alone accept it? He figured that going to her room after dinner was over was the best course of action, but he still had no idea what he was going to say to her. He sighed, and put his forehead against his knee, he had thought about things that were non-SPD oriented today more than he ever had in his entire life. He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on his imminent task of coming up with a halfway decent apology. This is going to take forever he thought to himself.
Khyla was sitting at her desk, busying herself with her decorating. She had already made a good dent in the stack of magazines she had bought at various newspaper shops along the way to her favorite stores. Ripping out whole pages of advertisements for things she liked, cutting out sayings that conveyed her kind of attitude, celebrities she admired, brands she used, basically anything that caught her eye went up on the wall. She had restored her supply of museum putty, which was basically sticky-tack that left no colored residue, and held things a lot better, and was planning on using all of it to give her boring room some personality before dinner time. She had bought a portable closet to put more of her clothes in so she wouldn't have to strive to see what was actually in it, and a hanging shoe rack so her collection could be more organized. She had also purchased some framed posters of things she loved which consisted mainly of 1940's pin up girls, and vintage Vogue covers. She bought 2 dozen roses to hang and dry, a dozen deep crimson, and a dozen assorted with colors ranging from creamy pink, to pink with yellow infused into it.
She heard a knock at her door "Come in!" she said distractedly. Commander Cruger walked into her room, hands behind his back, never losing his professional look.
"I see you're getting settled in." He said, causing her to turn around in her new chair. She smiled.
"Yeah, I wanted to give my room some personality." Cruger nodded.
"Most do, the gray is just too boring for most."
"Myself included." She replied.
"I just came to let you know that dinner will begin in one hour in the dining room." He said cordially.
"Thank you." She replied sincerely, "I'll be there."
"The B-Squad Cadets will escort you there. I'll see you then Khyla."
"Bye Commander." He turned on his heel and walked out the door. Khyla sighed, and turned back to her collage making.
She hooked her laptop up to her camera and began to upload her pictures so she could print them out. She grabbed her miniature printer from her duffel bag and placed the photo paper inside it to begin printing out her photos. She smiled as she felt a rather large, and rather painful wave of nostalgia as she looked at the photos of everything that she loved from Phylia. Her friends, her father, her room… everything that she wanted to go back to so badly, yet she knew that it wouldn't happen for a while. She sighed, and listened to the printer churn out her photos as she busied herself with her cutting once more, the sound of the scissors easing her into a state of focus that came very rarely.
When Syd walked into the room that was supposed to be Khyla's, she gasped. It was as if an interior decorator had come in and completely revamped the entire room in the span of a few short hours. The walls were almost completely covered by pictures, magazine clippings, advertisements, celebrities, clothing brands, anything you could think of somehow found it's way onto Khyla's wall. Needless to say, she was impressed.
"Wow!" Syd exclaimed, pulling Khyla's attention from her laptop. "The next time you get a decorating fix, let me know, my room is in dire need of some adjustments!" A huge smile graced her features.
"The gray was too much for me…" Khyla admitted "I couldn't take it anymore, and you guys looked really busy, so I had my fathers body guard fly me to San Francisco to go shop for some stuff that I absolutely needed."
"The next time you absolutely need something, girl, you better give me a call so I can come with. This is amazing! How did you do it all so quickly?"
"Little bit of patience, lotta bit of focus, and tons of magazines. The scissors helped too, but they like to take more credit than they deserve." Khyla joked. Syd laughed wholeheartedly, and let her gaze rest on the girl in front of her.
"You ready for dinner?" She queried.
"Abso-freaking-lutely, I'm starving!" Khyla exclaimed, slipping her crimson flip flops on, she followed Syd out the door, and into the hall where the rest of the rangers were waiting.
"Took you long enough." Z joked. Syd feigned offense, and gave her the blonde attitude that she was famous for.
"I was checking out Khyla's decorating job. You should see it Z, its amazing!" Z was about to reply, when Jack cut off their conversation.
"As much as I would love to sit here and listen to you two talk about room decorating, I think I can speak for the guys when I say that we're hungry, and we want to go to dinner. So can we please save the chit chat for later, or at least multi-task and walk at the same time?" Z rolled her eyes, and moved to walk down the hall. "Thank you." Jack said to her retreating form, and followed suit, the rest of the rangers and Khyla trailing behind.
To be quite honest, Khyla didn't really know what to expect from the food at the SPD headquarters. She was praying that it wasn't like dormitory food, or something of an absolutely disgusting nature. Much to her surprise, and content, the food was quite good, and they had a great range of selection, from a grill, to a sandwich bar, to an "interplanetary/intergalactic" food station, to an amazing salad bar. Khyla, feeling a little jet lagged, and not quite used to the 24 hour days, decided to go for something light and eat a salad, which was actually quite delicious. The alien who made it knew how to whip up an amazing Caesar salad in no time. She sat at the B-Squad table, since she didn't know anyone else, and munched happily as she and Syd chatted about their lives.
When they were finally finished, they all got up, and walked back to their quarters together, Khyla once again being reminded not to do anything, or go anywhere without informing one of them beforehand. Khyla, not really liking this, but accepting it, agreed, and retired to her private chambers to finish off her decorating.
Sky paced in his room, coming up with the final touches of what exactly he was going to say to her. He had spent every last minute that he could at the window thinking up the perfect thing to say. He heard his roommate chuckle slightly, which drew Sky's attention. "What?" He asked.
"You are too funny." Bridge replied amidst his laughter. "Have you figured out what to say yet?" He asked from his position on his bed, placing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. Sky scratched the back of his neck.
"Umm…well, sort…of…" He stuttered, which emitted another bout of laughter from Bridge.
"You have absolutely no idea do you?" Sky sighed in defeat, and slumped his normally perfect posture.
"No." he said, his tone emanating disgrace. "I know what I need to apologize for, I just don't know how to word it….well."
"Don't worry about how you word it." Bridge coached. "As long as the words 'I'm sorry' and 'I want to resolve this' are in there somewhere, just tell her what you're sorry for and you should be fine." Sky sighed.
"I should probably go while it's still fresh in my mind, huh?"
"That would be a wise decision." Bridge said with finality. "Now go, little grasshopper. Take what you have learned and use it for the power of good, and do not let the evil prevail!" Sky cocked an eyebrow and gave him the look. Bridge made a shooing motion towards him.
"I'm going, I'm going!" Sky said exasperatedly, and walked out the door, passing Jack on the way. Giving him a nod, he pursued on his task. Jack brisked past him, and went to sit on Bridges bed next to him.
"What's going on?" Jack asked.
"Sky's going to try to apologize to Khyla for all the crappy things he's done to her." Bridge said simply. Jack raised his eyebrows, and grabbed a handful of popcorn.
"This should be good."
"Very good." Bridge agreed.
He stood outside Khyla's door, trying to get the courage to knock, and get this over with. He finally did so, and heard a muffled "Come in!" from behind the metal doors. He pushed the button that caused them to slide open, and stepped inside. She looked to the door, the look of mild content on her face changed to that of mild disdain.
"Yes?" She asked, wanting to keep this as brief as possible.
"Um, Khyla… can we talk?" He asked trying as hard as he could to be nice. She cocked a suspicious eyebrow at him, and moved from her place on the desk to sit on her bed, grabbing her desk chair and dragging it behind her so he could sit. She sat down on her bed, and grabbed one of her pillows to hold, and motioned to the chair; he sat down across from her, and avoided her eyes.
"So…Talk." She almost commanded. He closed his eyes, and reminded himself that he wasn't here to fight, he was here to make amends.
"Khyla….I…ummm…I, well, I guess what I'm trying to say is…umm…"
"Spit it out Sky." She commanded forcefully. Her response to his stuttering caught him off guard, and he did what he never thought he could do.
"I'm sorry okay!" he blurted out. "I don't know why I said all those mean things to you, and I don't know why I harass you the way that I do, but it just happens. There's something about you that just pushes my buttons, something that just gets to me, in a way no one else can…"
"Oh, so now it's my fault?" She demanded.
"No! No, that's not what I meant. I…"
"Then what did you mean Sky, because you better say it quick, I'm getting impatient."
"I don't mean to be so rude to you, I honestly don't. Maybe it's the whole assignment that just didn't sit well with me, I don't know. But I am sorry, and I don't want you to think that I hate you, or don't want you here. Because I don't, hate you that is, I like having you here, but I just, I don't even know what I'm trying to say anymore." He looked at Khyla who had a bemused look on her face. And then she began to laugh.
It was a beautiful sound that resonated off of every wall, and every thing in the room, creating music to his ears. He could listen to it forever, get lost in it like a symphonic piece that was beautifully composed. He felt intoxicated, and entranced by it, and didn't want it to ever end.
"Why are you laughing?" He asked innocently, hoping she wasn't laughing as his lame excuse for an apology. She didn't answer him immediately, but rather kept on laughing, which he oddly didn't mind.
"You are so cute when you ramble." She said between gasps of laughter. She fell back on her bed and allowed the laughter to consume her once more. Sky stood up, and crossed his arms over his chest at the sound of being called cute.
"Cute?" He asked, "Is that all you can say after my first ever real apology?" He asked in disbelief. She sat up again, still giggling, obviously trying to suppress her laughter.
"I'm sorry." She took a deep breath and composed herself. "Sky," she said with mock seriousness, that brought another smile to her features, "I accept your apology, no matter how long, and drawn out it may have been. And I concur with all of the things you said, and I apologize for instigating them as well." Sky cocked an eyebrow at her, feeling that it was his turn to poke fun at her.
"Did you just use the word 'concur'?" He asked. She gave him a look of mild scolding.
"Oh shut it Mister 'Ramble-on-for-twenty-minutes-and-put-apologee-to-sleep-before-I-finally-get-finished!'" Sky laughed with her this time, the period lasting for a few moments, before it simmered to giggles, then died altogether. She pushed herself up from her bed, and stood in front of him. "Let's start over." She said, sticking out her hand in front of her. "Hi, I'm Khyla Gabrey, it's nice to meet you." He laughed and turned is head to the left.
"Hello Khyla, My name is Schuyler Tate, Sky for short. It's nice to meet you as well." He grasped her hand in return, and felt the electric shock run up his arm. He was momentarily put off by it, but recovered quickly as he shook her hand. It felt so right there, her small hand encased in his, as if it belonged there. He shook his head slightly to rid himself of these thoughts that had come out of nowhere, and focused on her.
Khyla had felt it too, that small shock, like a bolt of electricity running through her veins. She liked the feeling of his hand over hers, it was comforting, and made her feel like he wouldn't let anything happen to her. She quickly placed the thoughts at the back of her mind for later contemplation, and slowly repealed her hand, a small smile gracing her delicate features.
He sat on his throne, still seethingly unhappy about their loss today. If Broodwing kept failing to deliver on his promises of monster friends to destroy the rangers, there was going to be consequences, some very heavy consequences. His thoughts were interrupted by Mora skipping into his room, humming contently. He turned his head to her swiftly, and his red eyes began to glow.
"Mora." He growled. "How many times must I tell you to never enter my private chambers?" The evil child rolled her eyes, and swung her hideous monstrosity of a doll idly at her side.
"I wouldn't have come if it hadn't been important Grumm" She said, emphasizing his name.
"Well, what is it?" he said impatiently.
"I thought you might like to know that there is a new large energy signature in New Tech City, and it's in the SPD Mobile Command Center as we speak." She said with a self-satisfying grin.
"Really? And why would this energy signature concern me?" He asked maliciously. Mora rolled her eyes again, losing patience with her evil master.
"Because, Grumm, if we find this energy signature, its resources are almost untapped, and unlimited, and do you know what we could do with that?"
"Wipe out the rangers for good…" Grumm caught on. "Broodwing!" he called for his useless bat-like alien henchman.
"You called master?" The raspy voice whispered from the shadows.
"Find the energy signature of which Mora speaks, track it, and bring it to me. I want this energy to take down Cruger and his silly Space Patrol Delta crap for good." Broodwing nodded, and bowed to his master upon receiving his new assignment.
"Yes master." He bowed out of his masters chambers, Mora skipping along behind him.
"Now, Rangers…" Grumm said cryptically. "Prepare to meet your doom. The beginning of the end is near."
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