Who am I 4
"Why haven't her parents come to visit?" Sky wondered as the foursome gazed at the forlorn blonde staring out the window. Sydney had been at that window ever since she woke up. They had come to visit every day but if she had noticed she never said a word. Until today.
Without looking back, she responded quietly. "I haven't talked to my parents in four years." Taking her interaction as the first step, the other rangers took it as a sign to enter the room. But they didn't know what to say.
Luckily Sydney continued on. "Do you know what it's like living in a house where no body wants you?" She queried miserably, without turning around. "they were too busy with their own careers to be bothered raising a child. When I was a child, they hired a nanny. And when I was older, there was Maria our housekeeper and Markus our chauffeur." She explained quietly.
"Syd, I'm sure they wanted you." Jack tried to protest, not believing her story. Sydney laughed in disbelief. "Like you guys wanted me? When you look at me all you see is a spoiled princess."
"What do you see Syd?" Z wondered as she looked at Sydney as if seeing her for the first time. She didn't look like a princess sitting by the window. She looked vulnerable and small and scared. And Z suddenly wished she had never judged Sydney Drew. There was so much more to her than she had expected.
"I don't know." She sighed. "All my life I've been told what to do and what to be. No one ever asked me what I wanted. It didn't matter." She declared forcefully.
"Well, you sure saved us out there the other day." Bridge commented truthfully, breaking the silence. "We couldn't have done it without you Syd."
Sydney shrugged off his compliment. "You would have thought of something." She murmured in disagreement.
"We found some of your stuff." Z informed her quietly, handing her a box of they had gathered from the lawn. "Why did you throw it away?" Jack was confused. "It must have been special." He commented, recalling the trophies and awards that had been beyond repair that they had found.
"Its just stuff." She replied bitterly. Sydney pulled out a frame from the box. "This is the only picture I have of my parents and me." She declared. Sky realized that Syd had been a little girl when that picture had been taken, it made him suddenly grateful for the relationship he had with his parents, even if his father had died; he had known he was loved. "This was my sixth birthday and we had a party in the park. That was the last time I had a birthday party." She confessed sheepishly.
"What about this doll?" Z inquired patiently. A soft look passed across the pink ranger's face for a moment. "That was my gift for my 10th birthday. My dad bought it for me in Russia." She said, placing it back in the box.
"A talent show trophy." Bridge declared, pulling out a broken statue, hoping somehtng would trigger a smile on Sydney's face.
"Yeah, I won that the night I was discovered by Eric Snow." She said nonchalantly. "Eric Snow?" Jack repeated in shock. "Eric Snow, the record executive of Pop Jive?" He wondered in awe.
"He was the one who started my music career. Afterwards Maria and I went out for icecream to celebrate. 10 days later I was on my way to New York." Sydney enlightened them softly.
"How old were you when you left?" Bridge requested as gently as possible.
"Fourteen." Came the quick response. She allowed the questions, it was the first time they were actually interested in her; even if it was only about her troublesome past.
Z wasn't sure she heard right. "Fourteen?" she repeated in shock. "Your parents let you go?" You were just a kid." They all sat spellbound by her unbelievable journey.
"I think my parents were relieved at this opportunity. They never knew what to do with me. My record label became my guardian. I lived with my manager. Kate was 23 and loved to party." Sydney shared with a small smile. "At first it was great. I got to sing; which I loved, but then it became Sydney do this. Sydney, wear that." She remarked sadly. "I felt like a puppet, they were just using me to make money. They didn't care about me. So I walked away."
"And came to the academy." Bridge finished as he became more aware of her past. Sydney nodded. "Do you miss your music?" Sky was anxious to understand her, realizing how badly he had misjudged her before.
"I miss music." She corrected, "But what I was doing could hardly be called music. My songs were silly pop songs that meant nothing to me or the people buying them." She opined strongly. "It was just empty, shallow words put to music. That experience made me hate music. I haven't played in two years." She remarked softly, Jack thought she looked a bit wistful about that.
"B-Squad, please report to the command room." Commander Cruger's voice interrupted the tension filled room. The rangers were upset at the announcement, and were reluctant to leave. "We'll be back Syd." Bridge promised the distraught girl. The others gave their goodbyes but she didn't respond to them. Bridge's heart sank as he glanced back and saw her withdrawing back into herself.
The pain of reliving all her heartache wore her down. Sydney was tired physically and emotionally. Tears she wanted to cry refused to fall, keeping themselves trapped inside. Numbness eventually took over as she was alone again. She wanted to shout, scream, cry anything to release all the tension and anger she felt. She just didn't have the energy to deal with anything more than the simple act of physical rehabilitation.
The next few days, they took the opportunites to visit with her, but they were few and far between with an increase of attacks by Grumm keeping them busy. It seemed all the progress they had made on Tuesday was gone. Sydney had not spoken since, and had not responded to them at all. Even the act of physical therapy proved to be too much for the fragile girl. She was on the edge of breaking, with no one to care or catch her if she did.
"We're losing her." Bridge announced to the group, including Cruger and Kat. "I don't think she's spoken since Tuesday." He continued, worry mounting for his teammate. Tuesday was when she had opened up to the other rangers, surprising them with the depth of her painful past.
"How can we help her?" Z cried out in frustration. "She doesn't trust us." She whispered as she covered her face with her hands in shame.
"Why should she?" Sky demanded as he began pacing the room. " We've never tried to understand her, to see past her princess façade." Guilt was written all over the blue ranger's face. He had never felt so badly before. It was their fault Sydney had retreated away where no one could help her.
"Music." Jack said simply. "It's the only thing I can think of." The leader and red ranger exclaimed hopefully.
"Hey Syd, I've come to take you for a ride." Jack announced as he opened the door to her room. He prayed that his plan would work, she was slowly fading away. Sydney was barely eating enough to survive, and he worried she was losing her will to fight. She didn't say anything as he wheeled her away from the window and out of the room.
Sydney didn't know where Jack was taking her, but she was curious. She took in the surroundings and realized she had never seen this part of the academy before.
Tears filled her eyes as she entered the room and took in the environment. It was just a room, like most of the others in the Academy, with one exception. In the corner was a beautiful black baby grand piano.
Jack watched her as she slowly wheeled herself over to the piano and gently caressed the keys with her fingers. Life filled her eyes as she lifted her head to look into Jack's eyes. "Thank you." She murmured gratefully before gazing back at the piano.
Jack's heart leapt at her statement, grateful himself that her blue eyes had a small spark that reminded him of the Sydney they used to know. He knew that this piano would be the thing to get her going on the road to recovery. And he promised to himself that he would be there every step of the way for Sydney. And for anyone of his teammates that would ever need him.
"Good job Jack." Came a voice from behind him as he retreated to the common room, allowing Sydney her privacy. He was surprised when he realized it was Sky. "Whatever it takes to help her." He replied solemnly and truthfully. Sky nodded in agreement and the two teammates shook hands. Maybe there was hope for all of them to become closer than they ever were. Seeing Sydney in a different light was helping them all to see each other in a different light.
Hesitantly, Sydney placed her fingers over the keys. With a deep breath, she moved them according to memory playing one of her favorite songs from her childhood. Halfway through she stopped as her emotions overcame her. Flashbacks from her lonely childhood raced through her mind, and she realized she had her whole life ahead of her. Sydney was tired of giving up. She was ready to fight. Physical therapy, music therapy, whatever it took, Sydney was eager to move on.