Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers or anything else you may recognize.

Author's Note: This is my first Syd/Sky story or, rather, collection of drabbles. I would really appreciate feedback. Try to be nice, though:)

Written in response to the Ars Amatoria Romance Themes Challenge.

This was inspired by a totally awesome (and often overlooked) Sky/Syd moment in "Recognition".

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Dependence

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Sky's POV.

I was doomed. Wootox had taken my body, and I was trapped in his. I stood there, frozen in horror, watching my friends grab 'Sky' and push him backwards. They were all glaring at me, unaware that they had just thrust the real enemy right in the middle of their protective circle. I looked at them—Z's weapon out, Bridge and Jack glaring, and Syd's blue eyes blazing furiously at me, daring me to try to assault 'Sky' again. She hated me/Wootox. I was so doomed.

See, I had to do something. I couldn't just let them hang around with 'Sky'; I had no idea what he might do to them. Already I had overheard Syd and Z's conversation about Wootox barging in on Syd in her bedroom. It made me see red. I had to do something. I had to find a way to make them listen.

Make her listen.

It was Syd I trusted, Syd who I knew would see me better than anybody else would—after all, she always had—and it was Syd I needed to know most of all. I don't know why. Just that in that instant, where I panicked, I knew that I had to get to Syd.

I rushed forward. I didn't even notice Z; I pushed Bridge and Jack ought of the way, because I really didn't give a damn about them at that moment. I grabbed Syd by the arms and I heard my own voice echo in my head: "It's me, Syd! It's Sky! Please!" I was so wretchedly desperate to make her understand, but, to my eternal frustration, only garbled sounds escaped my throat and the eyes that stared into her wide blue ones weren't mine.

She fought me like crazy, but I couldn't strike back and hurt her. I let her kick me. Later, when the others attacked, I hit them back, knocked them off. Why? I don't understand.

I'm sitting here now on my bed. Bridge and I just fled the common room after my game with RIC ended in a smashed viewing screen. I don't know where he is, but I'm sitting on the edge of my bed with my head in my hands and I can feel those hands shaking slightly. I look down at my knees, my legs, clad in dark uniform. They're mine. My legs, my uniform, my body. Not his. But they could have been, God, they could have been if 'Sky' hadn't attacked Cruger, who realized I was the real Sky and made my friends stop before they shot me down. I'm still reeling from that, from how close I came to being betrayed, to betraying my friends, to being contained or destroyed. But that's not the only thing I'm reeling from.

I still don't understand it. At a moment of crisis, when everything else seemed to crumble, I went straight to Syd. It was Syd I wanted to make understand, Syd's opinion I cared about, Syd I trusted to see me for who I really was. Why? Why did I go for Syd?

I mean, okay, so I've known her about four or five years now and she and I are actually friends, unlike my relationship with Jack and Z. Jack and I are rocky, and Z I just don't pay much attention to because she doesn't interest me much. But I've known Bridge as long as I've known Syd—in fact, we're even closer 'friends' because we've lived in the same room. And Bridge would, logically, have been the better choice to go to because he has his psychic abilities to help him sense the truth about somebody. So why didn't I choose Bridge then? Why, why, why, why did I make a beeline straight for Sydney? What does that mean?

There's a knock at my door. I jerk out of my thoughts. "Come in," I say, expecting Jack. He usually likes to pay me these post-adventure visits to make sure I'm all right. Whatever else he may be, at least he tries to keep the team together.

"Hi." It's Syd. "Can I come in?"

"Be my guest." Oh, great. I haven't even finished my analysis. Syd is so not the person I'm up to dealing with right now.

She's watching me, large baby-blues fixed on me. "Sky, are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" That came out pricklier than I intended it.

"Well, dealing with Wootox and everything…" her face softens and she sighs and sits down on the bed next to me. "Look, I can tell you're not in the talkative mood or anything. I just came here because it's been bothering me, like, since forever. I mean, I really need you to know how sorry I am."

I'm confused now. "What are you talking about?"

"Hello? Down in the corridor, when we attacked you because you attacked Wootox in your body," she says, and I swear there's a hint of tears in her blue eyes. "Well, I remember you grabbed me and you uttered some stuff I didn't understand, but I figured you must have been trying to make me understand. I could tell something was wrong, but I…" she falters. "I'm sorry, Sky. You depended on me to understand that that man beside us wasn't the real you, and I failed you. I… I don't ever want to do that again."

Before I can respond—and I have no idea what to say; I'm stunned—she touches my shoulder as if she wants to hug me, then changes her mind and hurries out of the room with a weak smile. And I'm left here again, sitting on my bed alone, and wondering what in hell just happened.

But suddenly, I understand. Once again, Syd's shown me the light. That was why I picked her. Because I trust her. Because she means more to me than the others do.

Because without realizing it, I've come to depend on Sydney Drew.

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