Arwennicole: Um, okay, I won't tell you.
AH/AY: No! She is in danger now! As you will soon see.
Mz. Daydream: If any serious K/Z-action happens it won't be until the end, which is a ways to go. Be glad of that though, since I'm rewriting the end to make it better! No, the wishing won't go around. I thought of that, then decided that that was too much work and would eventually become predictable. I may use the idea of other people (other than those I've already written wishing in this story) wishing for a sequel, if I do one to feed my inner plot bunny.
C.C.C.: Right side. Huh. Interesting. You better keep reading.
Phantom Rogue: You think you have a sick mind? You should see the stuff I don't write! Glad you like it.
Disclaimer: I'm so poor the college I go to is paying for everything for me (and since when I wrote this it was a community college), how could I own Power Rangers?
Author's Note: You are all welcome! This chapter was originally all Phantom/Cassie because I thought that this section deserved to stand alone, then I looked over and saw Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow's MegaZords and decided to latch what was originally the beginning of next chapter to the end of this one. I hope you are happy! Also, this means that the title of the chapter really only refers to the first part, not the A/A part at the end.
Also, Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrg, shiver me timbers! Have fun!
Be Careful What You Wish For…
Chapter 8 - Beauty
Ivan Ooze had originally decided to keep Cassie as a simple prisoner, one who he could show-off whenever other evil villains happened to stop by. But two escape attempts and a blown up factory later, he decided to try a change in tactics.
"Don't worry my dear," he called down, "this won't hurt- much."
She had been allowed to stand--for aesthetic purposes she was told--her hands and ankles bound to the floor with chains. She wouldn't have been all that worried, were she not in a giant tube attached to one of the ooze dispensers. Ooze was above her on a catwalk, poised above a lever that no doubt activated the dispensers. Cassie closed her eyes.
"Now we can't have that," Ooze said, and sent a bolt of electricity down at her. The girl's eyes shot open with the pain, but she refused to cry out. It didn't matter though; Ooze pulled the lever.
Cassie could feel the substance covering her body, but then she felt something very different. It was entering her body. She began to fight against her bonds in earnest, but these movements soon gave way to the hardening of the substance in her veins.
Once the tube began to overflow Ooze pulled back the lever and pressed a button, opening vents at the bottom of the tube. Once the ooze had receded a perfect Pink Ranger statue was left behind, her features with a slightly pink hue to them due to the ooze in her body. Every aspect of the statue spoke of pain and fear. Ooze placed it in the dining room.
Phantom raced through what had once been trees on what was now called Ooze Island. The trees had been completely filled with ooze, making them solid as stone, Phantom had no desire to find out what would happen to a living being who suffered the same fate.
The other Rangers had been more in favor of calling the Aquitian Rangers for help, but Phantom would hear none of it. He couldn't feel Cassie anymore, and was beginning to wonder just what Ivan had done to her.
Phantom eventually came to the massive factories Ivan had built, completely destroying the beautiful landscape that had once existed on this island. Phantom headed for the most heavily guarded building, it looked more like a home than any of the others and Phantom knew that Ooze would keep Cassie close, one did not let a Ranger prisoner out of one's sight for long.
Phantom snuck in the house through the kitchen, knowing that at that time of night there wouldn't be much cooking going on. He was careful to keep his invisibility on and not to touch anything; pots and pans had a way of banging into each other no matter how lightly they were touched.
When Phantom silently stepped into the dining room however, he couldn't help but drop the invisibility in shock. There, in the center of the table was his Cassie. It was obvious that she had suffered the same fate as the trees, and that it had been even more painful than Phantom would have imagined. His movements were jerky and forced as he climbed up on the table and he could barely keep himself from crying out in pain at the fate of his beloved.
"Cassie," he croaked, rubbing her cheek with the back of his hand. "Oh Cassie, what has he done to you?"
He did not know how long he stood there, touching her, speaking to her, begging her to awaken, but soon the sun began to rise and he knew he had to leave, but he would not leave her there, even in death. He picked her up - which was very hard due to both the odd position she was in and the extra weight of the ooze - and carried her out into the forest. He quickly dug a hole, knowing that hers might be the only body ever to be buried in dirt on that world, since Aquitians buried their dead in the ice at the poles. As he looked down at Cassie, frozen in pain as she was, he couldn't help but cry.
There was no one around, and it wouldn't have mattered if there were, he demorphed and lay down in the hole with her. He had never been able to demorph in front of anyone, not since the accident. He had been badly wounded, so much so that he should have been put in a cryochamber, despite the dangers they posed even to Rangers. He wouldn't abandon the fight though, and asked that instead the healing components of the chamber be integrated into his own suit. They were, and the ruby was found to power the suit as it slowly rebuilt the parts and systems of his body that it had been replacing. The suit had finished its work only months after he had first met Cassie, but he couldn't bear to demorph. He knew that the damage was repaired, but he did not know the extent of the scarring, and did not want to have anyone look on him in fear, least of all Cassie.
Now, as he lay there in that grave, cradling her frozen form, he knew he would never know if anyone could look on him without fear, for he would never have been able to demorph for anyone else until she accepted him.
She was cold… and crushed. It was like something was pressing in on her, keeping her from moving, keeping her from thinking. She couldn't fight it, all she could do was scream, and cry, and moan. Finally she had fallen into silence, unable to even gather the energy to make sounds in her own mind.
Eternity seemed to pass, and everything was moving; colors blurred in her vision, but they didn't matter since she wouldn't have been able to make sense of them in any case.
She had felt no emotion during the first eternity, but the second was all sadness, sadness that came from without rather than within. Sadness and loss filled her and eased the pressure on her mind. Then there was light, a red light that filled her up and made her body and mind free to move once more.
There was something near her, something holding her and shaking. She did not know what it was, but she knew it and knew she loved it and it loved her, though she didn't know how she knew. She slowly, for she had not yet caught up with time fully, wrapped her arms around the thing and realized it was a man, a man who was crying.
He froze when she touched him and looked up at her. His face was marred by tracks from the tears and his eyes held sadness and fear, then hope and finally joy so full she felt she would drown in it.
"Cassie?" he asked, as if afraid she would deny it.
Her answer came slowly, for she had to first remember that it was indeed her name that he had uttered. "Yes."
And then he kissed her, full and long, as a man who has been lost in the desert takes his first sip of water.
His kiss did what the sadness and the light had not and she was fully revived. That said, it is understandable that she pulled back suddenly.
"Phantom?" she asked, breathless.
His eyes grew large and the fear had returned. "I-"
She stopped him with a hand on his cheek. "You saved me, you brought me back." When he seemed at a loss she decided to ask a question. "What is your real name?"
"Airek," he breathed.
She giggled. "It is a perfect name, for the perfect man," and she kissed him, one swift, gentle kiss. She then pulled back and took in their surroundings. "Why are we in a hole?"
"Why did we share dreams?" Ashley asked. She was lounging on Galactus' bed, not at all worried that he would try anything.
"We are Fet-na," he said, as if that explained everything. He was sitting in the window, looking out at the stars. He could feel her angry look, or maybe he could feel her anger itself, either way he decided to explain. "It means that we love each other, and only each other. From our first moments of life we were destined for one another and because of the great distance that separated us at birth whatever force runs the universe decided that we should be connected, so that we could find one another more easily."
"So, you're my one true love?"
"You could say that, yes."
"Are there many people like us?"
"I don't know. I don't think anyone's ever counted."
There was a moment of silence, broken by Ashley's question, "Why did you split us up?"
"I needed to make sure that I got you, and the only way I could think of was to have my father give each of you away."
"Do you have any idea what they must be doing to my friends!" Ashley demanded. She had gotten up off the bed and was gesturing frantically with her arms. "Most of them would rather have died than be subjected to the fates you gave them! It would have been better if we'd all died."
"No!" Galactus stood to face her. "I cannot allow you to be harmed, no matter what happens you need to stay safe."
"Why?" she asked defiantly.
"Because I love you!" With that statement the floodgates were opened and Galactus couldn't stop himself from kissing her. He had promised himself that she would make the first move, she needed to start this for her own piece of mind, so he was rather shocked when she deepened the kiss and even began pulling him toward the bed.