Thunder Gold, Chapter 5.
oOo
The Crimson Ranger stood perilously close to the cliff's edge, every line of his body speaking of fatigue and tension. The sun was just above the ocean he looked out over, more red than yellow, the light of the end of the day casting the lone figure into hues of black. His helmet lay discarded several yards behind him, a teasing wind swirling his unkempt hair into a playful dance.
"Hunter?" Soft uncertain voice and he hadn't even heard his approach. Spinning around, uncaring of the cliff's edge, his eyes greedily took in the exhausted teenager standing unsteadily a few feet away. Faded jeans and an over large T-shirt he'd taken from Hunter's closet this morning, Alex looked Heaven sent. Not even the matching morphers could distract from that beloved face, pale and sheened with sweat.
"Hunter?" Alex gasped, in apparent pain as his knees gave way. In a burst of Ranger speed Hunter was there, scooping him into his arms and hugging him close. The smaller youth collapsed gratefully, eyes blinking open once before he passed out.
"Alex? Hang on, baby, I'm taking you home."
oOo
Two days later Alex woke alone. He ached in a general way and a twinge of nausea when he tried to move made him decide to lie where he was. The sheets felt cool against his over warm body and smelled of a familiar cologne. Burying his nose into the softness of pillow he breathed in and remembered.
Hunter. He was in Hunter's bed. How he came to be there when the last thing he remembered was being given the Wind morpher he didn't know, but he chose not to question it. He was home. Smiling happily he snuggled down, buried to his nose and curled around his lover's pillow.
His joy was short lived, however, as pain lanced up his spine and exploded in his head. He writhed, fists tearing the sheets, screams reduced to choked whimpers as agony seized him in its crushing grip. Memories of another life bombarded him and he was back in the forest, falling before the Asian man as his old self and new tried to tear him asunder. Dustin wanted back in, but more than that, he wanted Alex's life. He wanted the acceptance, the sense of belonging.
He wanted Alex's life with Hunter.
No! Locked within his own mind Alex had fought his former incarnation. He had been blind to the forest that bore witness to his writhing, convulsions that gave physical evidence to the scale of the battle that waged on an unseen battlefield.
He didn't know how long he lay on the ground, but eventually he had won. More than equally matched, Hunter's love had finally given him the winning advantage. Dustin had been absorbed into his consciousness, settling into his identity like Peter Pan's shadow. With him came all his memories of what he had been, the Yellow Wind Ranger.
Though Alex had won he now acknowledged, lying in his boyfriend's bed, that his life was a lie. Hunter, the man he loved, had done something to him, erased his memories, and he struggled to understand why. Why him? Why pretend to be his boyfriend? Was he the butt of some sick joke? The mere thought made him sob and curl tighter into Hunter's pillow.
"Alex?" The sound of his boyfriend and tormentor's voice made him stiffen, the concerned tone squeezing his eyes shut. Oh God, what if none of this was real? What if he was about to prove what an idiot Dustin really was? "Baby, are you okay?"
Strong, familiar hands pulled the blankets away and stroked over his arm. The mattress shifted as Hunter climbed atop, straddling his legs. "Alex, please let me know you're okay."
With a defeated sigh Alex propped himself up on one elbow, reluctantly lifting his tear matted lashes to gaze up at the man he'd thought he meant everything to. The love that stared down at him made his jaw unhinge; there was no faking the warmth in those impossibly blue eyes. Nor the concern that crinkled the corners. He smiled then in obvious amusement, shaking his head at Alex's blush. "You goof," the larger boy admonished, his capable hands lifting Alex from the mattress and into his arms.
Hunter hugged him tightly. Tightly enough that Alex felt the subtle stiffening of his muscles. Turning his head he saw the scattering of ash that marked where he'd lain, the reason for Hunter's sudden tension.
"Dustin?" Hunter softly asked.
And Alex remembered that Hunter had never taken his virginity, despite all his begging. That had to mean something, exactly what he didn't know. Had to possess some profundity that he was too happy or stupid to grasp. Maybe it meant Hunter really loved him, enough to go to extreme lengths to have him and yet at the same time loving him as though his innocence was sacred. It all sounded too complicated for his still fuzzy mind to comprehend, but such bizarrely twisted logic sounded like Hunter. In the end, however, he realized it all came down to here and now, and what he, Alex, would do. With the weight of two destinies in his arms, snuggled into the most protective, comforting embrace he'd ever know, Alex realized the choice was fairly simple.
"Who got knocked on the head here?" He softly joked into Hunter's ear. "The name's Alex, remember?" Another flinch, but then his lover was hugging him tightly once more. "Always your Alex."
Now if he could also figure out how to be Dustin as well.
oOo
Three weeks later.
Life had been quiet in Blue Harbor but the Rangers recognized it for the brief lull it was, convinced Lothor would never peacefully quit the field of battle. One day they would defeat him, but till then they prepared.
A monster appearing downtown and attacking a shoe sale of all things was an almost welcome return to normalcy for Shane and the Red Ranger raced to tackle this newest threat. To his right Tori kept pace, the side to his left notably empty. There was nothing to be done right now but mark the loss, but he promised to himself, a regularly repeated vow, that he would get Dustin back.
"Shane, look out!" The Red Ranger barely leaped aside in time to avoid being skewered by the monster's long talons. The warning hadn't come from Tori and as he rolled to his feet Shane started to see the Gold Thunder Ranger. Beyond him the Royal Ranger was leaping to Tori's aid against a wave of Kelzacks, the Crimson gleefully unleashing himself on the monster.
"Dust-" he began, reaching out to grab his brainwashed teammate but the Gold Ranger quickly stepped back.
"It's Alex, dude, and why haven't you guys called up your Megazoid?" The voice was Dustin's, but the confident tone was not and Shane reared back.
"That's kind of hard to do without our Yellow Ranger," he snapped, angry at Dustin suddenly for letting himself get kidnapped, at knowing he was being played and helpless to stop it. The words, hard and burning, flew out of his mouth and he didn't regret a one. "Maybe you've seen him around? A lazy ass loser who doesn't seem to have the brains to figure out what team he belongs on!"
The Gold Ranger stood still for a long minute, then slowly brought his wrists together. A flash of light and two Rangers appeared. "Don't know the dude," the Yellow Wind Ranger said, briefly touching hands with the Gold Thunder Ranger at his shoulder. "Cam, are we ready to launch?"
It was Dustin's replicating power and now that Shane was aware of it he realized both yellow Rangers had a morpher. A different morpher. /Yeah, Yellow Ranger/ Cam said softly into their helmets. /The Zoids are go./
"Cam," Shane whined as the yellow Rangers bounded off, the Gold rejoining the Thunder Rangers, "what is going on?"
/Just you making things a whole lot easier on Alex/ came the sharp reply. /Get to your Zoid, Shane, and let's deal with this monster./
Tori was understandably surprised when the lion Zoid came roaring down the street, but managed to keep her focus and leap into her own battle robot. After that no one had time to ask questions, the two teams roughly coordinating their Zoids to defeat the enlarged monster. For Shane, sitting in the cockpit with a quiet Yellow Ranger behind him, it was surreal. After a drawn out battle they vanquished the monster and if the Red Ranger let himself, the moment almost felt like it used to.
The monster exploded and Shane pumped his fist in the air. "Awright! Now that's how we do this!"
"Good job, guys," the Yellow Ranger said behind him, climbing to his feet. Twisting around in his seat, Shane opened his mouth but nothing came out as the other boy disappeared.
"Dammit!"
"Shane, down on the ground!" Tori excitedly exclaimed, pointing to the three Thunder Rangers leaping from their zoids. The Blue Ranger was on her feet and Shane was right behind her, eyes narrowed to see two morphers again on the Gold Ranger. Why the hell was he choosing those assholes over his friends?
A burst of Ranger power and they were on the ground, yards away from the Thunder Rangers. "Dustin!" Shane shouted, speeding forward to grab the smaller youth, but was thrown off by a blue streak. Palm out Blake glared down at him, tensed to deliver another warding blow to safeguard his teammate. Behind him Hunter was holding Alex, having yanked him away even as his brother interceded. Having followed the Red Ranger Tori was staring at Blake aghast.
"Guys, stop it!" The blond clenched her fists, the air visibly rippling around her. "I mean it! Stop fighting!" Raindrops, small but growing heavier, started to splatter around them and Blake stepped back though he did not relax his stance. Shane scrambled to his feet.
"Tori," Shane snapped, wiping at his wet faceplate, "unless they're going to melt, this is not helping. We need to get Dustin with us, get him away from those two so he can get his head back on straight."
Wrenching himself out of Hunter's arms Alex stepped up to Blake's shoulder, but not past, minding the arm the Royal Ranger threw out. "Why can't you get this, Shane? I'm where I want to be!"
"Dustin-"
"No! The name's Alex!"
"Listen to you! You're brainwashed, man! Your name is Dustin and you ain't one of them!" Stepping closer Shane eyed the smaller Blake, calculating what it would take to lay him out and snatch Dustin before Hunter could counter attack.
"Wise up, dude! Dustin was no more my name than Alex or Waldo." The Red Ranger jerked back at that reminder and Alex yanked his helmet off, uncaring if anyone could possibly see him through Tori's continued rain shower. "Dustin was just who I wanted to be then, who I thought I had to be, to be accepted by everyone at the dojo. Waldo the Ninja would not have exactly inspired respect. Alex is who I want to be now. Do you get it yet? This is the life I want! Hunter and Blake let me be, respect my skill and accept my weirdness. Hunter loves me as goofy as I am! I don't want to be Dustin anymore!"
The rain came down harder, sheets of it that blurred the world around them. A small hand touched Blake's arm, a gentle pressure that heralded Tori appearing in front of him. Her other hand touched Alex's cheek, pale blue eyes meeting dark brown evenly. "I am sorry for anything I might have done, or not have done, that made you feel this way, that you had to put on an act with us. Alex, Dustin or Waldo, you are my friend and I hope you won't forget that." She smiled and leaned in to peck his other cheek. "Shane's gonna take awhile, but me, I knew you when you were Waldo and we were friends then. Don't be a stranger."
"Thanks, Tor'," Alex whispered, taking her hand and giving it a tight squeeze. "And I'm not abandoning you guys. With my splitting power, I can be where I'm needed."
Tori nodded, though she frowned as she stepped back, starting to fade into the rain. "That's not a fair solution to you, Alex, but give us time. Now go."
Meanwhile, Shane was trying to make sense of anything that he was seeing, which wasn't much. "Tori!" The rain was practically coming down as a solid wall, blinding him. He was tempted to take off his helmet but the water was hitting his shoulders hard, discouraging him from exposing his head to similar treatment. "Fuck! Cam, I can't see anything! We're going to lose Dustin again! Cam!"
There was no answer but static and he cursed again. Just when he had decided to charge head and hope the Thunder Rangers were as sight blind as he was the rain began to relent. As quickly as they opened the heavens closed. Shaking his head Shane resisted the urge to scream seeing only Tori standing before him.
"Dammit, Tori, what the hell were you thinking? You let them go with Dustin! Do you not get that they've brainwashed him?"
"Shane," the Blue Ranger began, "I don't think -"
"Yeah, you didn't! That's pretty fucking obvious!"
/Shane/ Cam's voice came loud over his helmet's internal speakers, making him wince. /That's enough! Alex knows who he was and he's chosen to stay with the Thunder Rangers! Maybe you need to think on that/
Was everyone insane? How the hell could Tori and Cam be okay with Dustin staying with those assholes? They'd kidnapped him and done who knew what else to coerce him into staying! How could he be the only one who got that? With a shouted of frustrated rage Shane streaked away.
Watching him go Tori sighed, dropping to her haunches and hanging her head. "Cam, did I make the right decision? Is Alex really brainwashed?"
/He may have been before, but not after I gave him the Yellow Wind Morpher. He's made the decision to stay with the Thunder Rangers./
"You could see it, you know? Hunter really loves him. That's why . . . Do you think Shane's going to forgive me?"
She wasn't sure Cam was going to answer her, the silence stretched on for so long, but then his words came to her, quiet and sad. /Not until he forgives himself./
TBC.