Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own anything you recognize.

KINGS AND VAGABONDS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Ten: Precious Possessions I

It had been a long time – almost fifteen years to be exact. Carter Grayson sank heavily down into an armchair in his house – the same house he and Dana had lived in since Austin and Paris' birth. They hadn't moved, so that the children could find them. It was a foolish hope. Austin and Paris had been five at the time of their abduction. Sydney had been four. They were too little to remember things as they had been. Insubstantial memories might be with them, but nothing else.

God, he wanted to know why.

In the early years, they had tried everything – going to court, recruiting all the other Lightspeed Rangers (and Galaxy and Wild Force) to take on SPD, hiring detectives, calling the police, invoking every law they could think of. Nothing worked. Cruger kept the locations of their children secret. No one had even the slightest idea where their children were. They had disappeared like wisps of smoke into the night.

Cruger had a lot of money, manpower and law leeway at his disposal, as they had found out during the early trials. He had known about Austin and Paris' phasing power, but he hadn't known that Sydney could turn her hands into whatever she was touching. It was unclear how Cruger knew about their powers, but he used it to his advantage. Since the powers were the indirect result of SPD work, the powers had to remain SPD work. It touched on a gray area that no one was sure of.

He had threatened them – he would kill the children if they went to the press or made any public announcements about it. Grayson was held hostage by his heart. Carter loved his children more than life itself and he wouldn't be able to live with himself, knowing that he had caused their ultimate doom. It was his fault – if he hadn't been involved in those experiments…

Nothing had changed about the house. Family pictures from fifteen years ago graced the mantel. The kids' bedrooms hadn't been altered. It was silly, since they were grown now and wouldn't be interested in the Hot-Wheels racetracks, dolls and other various and sundry toys that they had had. Austin and Paris would be nineteen. Sydney would be eighteen. It had been close to fifteen years.

Where were they now?

He didn't know and couldn't fathom. It was a small comfort that they would have those misty memories. Austin and Paris had their rings. After Sydney had been born and he and Dana decided to stop having children, he had bought three rings for the three children. The rings had Tangarian stones in them – these stones come in threes. For their fifth birthday, he gave Austin and Paris theirs. Austin had one with a white stone, while Paris' had a black stone. The third one – the one with a pink stone – had been for Sydney's fifth birthday, but she was taken before he could give it to her.

The rings couldn't be taken unless the wearer took it off. The metal of the rings was also Tangarian, designed to grow with the wearer. He hoped that those rings remained with Austin and Paris – that no one had taken what they had left of their real life.

Carter smiled as he picked up a picture taken only a few days before their abduction. It had been a picnic that Ryan and Captain Mitchell attended as well. The bay was in the background – they always went there because Sydney loved to watch the boats. Captain Mitchell had taken the picture, while Ryan had ducked out to one side. Austin and Paris were sitting his lap, mirrors of each other. They had the same hair color, eye color and facial features. Austin was a little taller than Paris, but both would have a lean look when they grew. Sydney was curled with up Dana, but smiling brightly for the camera. She looked exactly like her mother, while Austin and Paris, except for their hair, took after him.

He wanted to know why.

There had to be an explanation for what had happened. Cruger had all the legal reasons, but Carter knew there had to be something else. Cruger was of a race that was now extinct. His people and planet had been wiped out in an intergalactic invasion. He had sought refuge on Earth. There had to be something…

He remembered Cruger and Manx contacting him with the initial ridiculous story about the children becoming a danger to themselves. At the time, he had known about Austin and Paris' power, but hadn't known about Sydney's. He couldn't see how the twins could become a danger to themselves through phasing. Foolishly, he had ignored them.

The next time had been a more vehement plea on Manx's part. She wanted him to agree to send his children to the SPD Academy at age fifteen. Carter failed to see why that needed to happen and, since she couldn't tell him, he had told her that his children would certainly have the option to go to the SPD Academy, but he wouldn't force them to.

It culminated in their abduction and broken hearts.

Several years after their three children had disappeared into the night, he and Dana had considered having another child. But they came to the obvious conclusion – that child would have powers as well and would disappear just like the other three. He didn't want to feel – even remotely – that he was replacing Austin, Paris and Sydney.

Why?

It was the question that constantly haunted his sleep.

What if I had done something differently?

There was so much he could have done. He should have sent the kids to the Aqua-Base with his father-in-law the moment they received news from Maya that Bridge had been taken and that the Galaxy Rangers had redrawn their sabers, coming to Earth to find him. But no – he had convinced himself that it was an overreaction. This would all turn out to be a mistake.

Then Z Evans was taken – her mother afraid that her husband and child would be hurt if she didn't comply with what Manx wanted. He should have sent them then – there was not a chance that they could breach the security at the Aqua-Base.

And still – he waited.

Then it was too late.

The kids never got enough time to get to Ryan's house. If it had just been Austin and Paris, they would have made it, using their power. But the twins were fiercely protective of their little sister and wouldn't leave her. That had slowed them down. He couldn't blame them. It was something he had taught them from the moment Dana found out she was pregnant with Sydney. The three of them were closer than any siblings he had ever seen. He hoped that they had been placed somewhere together, because separation at that young age would have killed them.

He wanted this guilt to go away. It was his fault that the children had been taken. Everyone around him – Ryan, his father-in-law, Dana, the other Lightspeed Rangers – told him that it wasn't his fault, but he knew it was. There had been a chance to stop this from happening to his children – to all their children. But he let it happen. He had been too naïve and foolish to accept that someone might follow through with the threat.

And now – communication between the parents of the taken children had been cut. People had been threatened, thrown in prison, bribed – anything to keep them from spreading the word and fighting back. He hadn't talked to any of the others in over a decade – Wes and Jen, Cole and Alyssa, Mike and Maya.

Wes and Jen at least had it easier. They had enough warning that they sent Sky away with Eric – something he should have followed. They hadn't heard from Eric in years and neither had any of the others. Cole and Alyssa were the last to hear from him – and that had been nearly fifteen years ago. Taylor had dropped off the face of the Earth with him – neither one contacting anyone. Carter suspected that he had been threatened. At least, last that Cole and Alyssa knew, Sky was with Eric.

Fear… had his world really come to that?

So much was unknown, yet so much had been tried. He was afraid – that was the essence of the past few years. He was afraid of what might happen if he tried to talk to any of the others or bond together with them. He was a coward in the long run. That was all there was to it – he was a coward. He couldn't face losing his own life or his children's. So, he bowed to what was wanted of him – silence.

He could only wait and wonder.

The past could not be undone, but he hoped…

One of the first things he and Dana had taught Austin and Paris before they went to school was their address and phone number. He wasn't sure if they would remember it, but something might remain with them. Children didn't tend to remember things like that if it wasn't information pertinent to their everyday life.

Perhaps it was time to stop living in fear. He had been a Power Ranger! He should not be afraid of death, because he had faced it daily for a year. Perhaps it was time to contact the others and bond together. Perhaps… so much had been built on 'what if'.

Perhaps it was time to stop living in the past…

He had been living in the past since that day. Nothing had been the same and nothing ever would be the same. Thoughts of settling down and having a family had been so real and so tangible, yet ripped from him in one fell swoop. It all came back to one word – why?

The front door opened and Dana walked in.

His eyes met hers, different shades of blue meeting and understanding. They had tried and failed those fourteen years ago.

They didn't need words anymore. Words were almost pointless in trying to describe what had happened to them… to their life.

They were strangers to each other – bound together by a single tragedy.

When had he looked into his wife's eyes and first realized that he was looking into the eyes of a stranger? It had to have been a long time ago – when they first understood that none of their efforts would yield the location of their children.

Dana broke the eye contact, disappearing into their bedroom.

Anger coursed through his veins. Was there anything in this world that could justify all the heartache and pain that they had been through? Was there anything that could justify taking their children for no apparent reason? What was there… Nothing was left and his fragile faith in humanity, which had been chipping and cracking for years, shattered.

Nothing.

Had his life come to nothing? It had come to this – his children gone in the night and his wife estranged from him. Neither of those things fit into the image in the picture on the coffee table – a happy, well-adjusted family.

It had all come to nothing.

All the kings' horses and all the kings' men – they couldn't put my broken heart back together again.

He wasn't sure where he had dredged the old CDs up from. But dredged them up he did and pulled out an old player that was still in decent enough condition to provide some of the music it was supposed to. The song was appropriate. All the kings' horses and all the kings' men couldn't put his broken heart back together again. His heart was shattered into a million pieces tiny enough to become grains of sand.

He was all too aware of his surroundings – of the hot sun beating down on him, of the soft, warm grains of sand sliding between his toes, of the distant azure waves, rolling in and out, of the elusive roar of Terra Venture and the smaller native villages. The surf came and went in the distance, but he remained, the pain and memories of the last fourteen years coming to him in a blurry haze.

Nothing had changed here – and he was grateful for it. He needed the beach, their house and Terra Venture to be, when nothing else would. There were times when he felt like his life had slipped into nonexistence and the only thing that needed to follow was his body. Commander Stanton had sent him home more times than he cared to remember, because he couldn't concentrate on his work. Leo, his brother, had become a constant, despite his own wife and family. He couldn't begrudge Leo his children, but there were times when he wished he could turn back time and change something, anything.

Flashes of jealousy and anger while watching his godchildren – he felt like a green-eyed monster. He and Maya didn't have more children – they couldn't, between Maya's fragile health and the fear of other children meeting the same fate as Bridge. They had wanted a child for so long… and it had been ripped from them. He hoped that Bridge would have some kind of memories of them, but it was unlikely. He had only been three…

Michael Corbett stood on the beach, watching the sparkling, untouched horizon, hoping for something to happen. He wasn't sure what he wanted to happen, just something. He would bring Maya here later in the evening, when it was cooler. She loved the beach so much – Bridge had always loved the beach.

He let out a long breath. It didn't matter where his thoughts started, they always ended with his son – with what had happened to his son.

He had tried. God help him, he had tried. There hadn't been much warning. Communication between Mirinoi and Earth had been faulty then. Aside from the shuttle schedule, it was difficult to tell whether or not messages made it. The messages from Cruger and Manx telling them about their son being taken away for his own good and joining SPD hadn't made it. The frantic messages from Carter had.

Mike had tried not to believe it. Cruger didn't know that he and Maya had gone back to Mirinoi. Wouldn't they be safe? Wouldn't Bridge be safe?

It had been a sheer coincidence that he had passed the shuttle bay and seen Cruger and Manx getting off a private shuttle. His mind had vaguely registered what that meant and he ran. He ran all the way to his house, his thoughts churning as he tried to come up with something that could be done. The only solution had been to give Bridge to the villagers and let them hide him for sometime. Jara was like a grandfather to Maya. He would help them.

If Manx hadn't been a cat, then the villagers might have succeeded to fending her off long enough to get Bridge to a neighboring village. But it hadn't happened. She was faster and stronger than anyone could have imagined.

Things happened so quickly after they got on their shuttle with Bridge that it almost made him dizzy to recall them. Kai had summoned the others – the other Galaxy Rangers. Leo led them to the village and they drew their Quasar Sabers once more, getting on their Jet Jammers and heading to Earth after the shuttle. Too much time had been consumed. The shuttle was one like dozens of other shuttles that ran daily. Mike took the next shuttle and arrived on Earth with news that the others had made no progress. No one knew the location of Bridge and Cruger wasn't telling.

The long and messy legal battle happened next. He and Maya were not the only ones involved in that battle. Cole and Alyssa Evans were in it too along with Carter and Dana Grayson. They had tried, hiring lawyers that none of them could afford, while the line between human and result of an experiment was discussed. It didn't matter what they did – Cruger had better lawyers and the law wanted to side with an alien from a now extinct planet, the only one of his kind left.

Cruger got his way.

There was nothing left to be done on Earth.

He realized that they could stay on Earth and start a private search for Bridge, but Cruger had eyes and ears all over the place. It was likely that a detective or even them searching would just bring nothing or bogus results. The other Galaxy Rangers had gone back to Mirinoi and urged them to do the same.

So they came back, everything in their house a reminder of what had happened and what they had lost. They hadn't moved, but he had packed Bridge's things away, putting them in the attic and had the house redecorated. People urged them to move on, but he couldn't. Maya's rapidly deteriorating health made it worse. It was like she just gave up on living. She hardly slept, hardly ate – they couldn't keep going on like this. Maya could barely move on her own. He knew that she felt the guilt more acutely than ever, since Bridge had been torn from her arms.

But still – it had been fourteen years.

His heart was broken.

His son had been taken from him. His wife was slowly killing herself.

"Why?" he whispered to the surf and the light breeze. "Why?" It had become the constant mantra that plagued his waking life and his dreams. He repeated the word – it became louder and spiraled outward. It was the urge to understand. He had tried to move on and had failed. There was no closure. He couldn't move on.

He wasn't sure when he stopped speaking and started screaming. Bridge's confused cries echoed in his mind, mingling with his own howl of sorrow and confusion and anger.

Sinking to his knees, he felt the warm sand between his fingers, his voice dying out as he got closer to the ground. Tears stung his eyes. He didn't want to cry about this again. So many tears had been shed in the past fourteen years. There were times that he didn't think he had any more tears left to shed.

"Why, Cruger?" he whispered.

If only that dog had seen what would happen – seen what had happened to Maya. Would he feel any remorse for what he had done, what he had taken from them? He was tired of all this constant circling in his mind. It would eventually spiral out and leave him feeling empty and alone, that raw anger still burning on the fringes of his being.

He sank down on his heels, letting the fine, white sand sift through his fingers and fall like a miniature waterfall. Mirinoi – had it been so long ago that he had forgotten the excitement about being part of the team that would find the New World? No – it hadn't been that long ago in the grand scheme of things, less than twenty years. But that was enough time for the children born on Terra Venture, while it was still a space station, to grow up and get married and start families of their own.

Mirinoi – would his son ever know that he was half Mirinite?

It seemed impossible, since both races were humans. But he would feel it as he got older, that longing that he would never quite understand. Mirinite children were connected to their parents and felt their presence at short distances. It was something that they grew used to and it had been obvious that Bridge relied on that consistency. His son would never understand that void within himself that nothing could fill.

"Mike?"

He turned his eyes across the glare of the sun on the white sand. Kai Chen was standing a few feet away from him. Kai was a good friend from their first training days at GSA. He had been there – part of the command staff and confidants that Stanton talked to about his plans and let privy to information that most didn't have. The former Blue Galaxy Ranger was giving him a searching look, his brow furrowed with worry.

"Kai," he responded, almost mechanically. He pushed himself to his feet. Kai had married Hannah, a GSA officer who he, literally, fell head over heels for at the skating rink. They had no children, but Mike wasn't sure of the reason.

"Are you all right?" Kai stepped forward, closing the gap between them.

Mike sighed. It was obvious that Kai had heard him screaming on the beach and had come to investigate. He forgot that Kai and Hannah lived so close to the beach. The truth seemed like the best route to go here.

"I don't know," he said honestly.

Kai nodded, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "It takes time."

"You've been telling me that for the last fourteen years."

"I know." His friend gave him a wry smile. "My father used to tell me that time heals all wounds."

"I'm not sure I believe that," Mike whispered.

Kai raised an eyebrow, more in commiseration than surprise. "It's understandable.

Mike gave his friend an appraising look. Kai had stuck by them all these years, through thick and thin. He visited Maya, doing things that only people close to him knew he would do. He let relatively few people close to him – including Leo and Damon, his roommates on Terra Venture. He and Kendrix were the only ones that truly knew Kai. Kendrix remained close to them for Maya's sake, not willing to let her friend do something rash. But there would always be that wide canyon that couldn't be bridged – Kendrix and Leo had married and had the children that Mike and Maya no longer had.

"Why don't you come up to the house and have a drink?" Kai suggested. Mike knew he wasn't talking about alcohol. "Hannah wants to make sure you're not dehydrated."

Mike nodded and followed Kai up the dunes, to his beach-side house. He would much rather have preferred alcohol – it was like putting water on a mental fire, sometimes like putting oil on it. But he knew that if he started drinking, it would be a dark spiral downward and he wasn't sure that he would come up from it.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in the update - blame Jepoliant. She was slow getting the beta stuff back to me. At any rate, thanks to everyone who has reviewed and whatnot! I can't promise regular updates for the summer - summer jobs suck! But I will do my best to update once every one or two weeks. :) Again, thank you so much for the support of this piece!