'TIL I COLLAPSE - PART SEVEN: DRAGO FEARS (PG-13)
SEQUEL TO: ORDINARY WORLD
SUMMARY: Trent is suffering night terrors regarding a certain dino-faced menace. But are they really dreams or a reality that could spell doom in the future?
DISCLAIMER: It is the obvious. Power Rangers does not belong to me, and they never will. Only in my dreams, but I can always dream because without it there would be no imagination.
A/N: Like I said, I like to add a few twists that has the reader guessing. I hope that's not a bad thing, and I don't completely throw you off and confuse you. Just read on and tell me what you think.
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"I don't know what to believe anymore. Ever since our final battle was done, I've been having my second thoughts about what really happened out there on the battlefield. I'm not saying I want to leave, but there is just so many questions that have been left unanswered. I want an explanation." -Eclyptyk Neo
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A few days later.
Kira had went over to Trent's house to keep him company during the late afternoon. He had requested it, but didn't want to make it seem like he was asking too much of his yellow DT companion.
"It isn't, Trent," she had said once she arrived. She walked into the house as he directed her in. "How are you doing?"
Trent let out a breath as they made their way into the kitchen. He had offered her to join him in a dinner to just talk, and she couldn't refuse. It would be Chinese food, since he didn't have the time to whip up something right away. "I've been doing better. It's just been hard getting used to waking up knowing where my dad is, you know."
Kira nodded slowly as she helped him with the plates, setting them on the counter in front of the stove. He handed over a few napkins and silverware to make it more complete as he moved over to the fridge to get some drinks.
Trent hadn't implied it was a date of any kind, and neither did Kira really want to think of it that way. She had known though, that Trent did manage to tell her certain things that only she seemed to understand or got a chance to know about the reserved white DT ranger. She had liked the times they could just sit and talk. He could admit he did, too.
They hadn't shared much of any affection toward the other since the New Year's Celebration at the cyber cafe. But then again, they were still slow about moving on in their relationship. And they had a certain new threat to thank for slowing it down even more.
Time passed slow as the food finally arrived. The two had filled their plate, knowing they would be there awhile to talk. Trent took a seat beside Kira as he turned his chair to look at her, taking a bit of his sesame chicken before looking over at her.
"Yeah, Elsa made the offer about keeping me company, if I really needed it," Trent began as he cleared his throat.
"What'd you say?" Kira asked, somewhat surprised by their principal's offer to keep the teen company while his father was 'away'.
"Well, I didn't say I didn't approve. Nor did I say no. I just said I needed some time to myself for awhile. I mean, it would be nice, especially in a house of this size, but I don't know if I actually like the idea right now," he admitted.
"Well, just like the rest of us, we just don't want you to feel like any of this is your fault," Kira said with a gentle voice, "because it's not. This was definitely something that caught us by surprise. But we'll get him back."
"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "At least I keep telling myself that. It's just hard to really admit that it could be true when you can think of all the bad things that could be happening."
"Well, your dad is a tough guy. He hung in there when Mesogog was destroying his mind. He has all that research and success to be proud of. And he finally approved of your artistic endeavors."
Trent managed a smile, knowing that she was right. And that's what he needed. For someone else to say that to him. It didn't have the same effect if he told himself those things, but when another said it, it had a better effect on him. "Thanks, Kira. That means a lot."
"We'll find him. We'll put an end to this Mindshatter guy, even though he hasn't struck in awhile, but I know we'll pull through," Kira said as she took a drink of her soda.
"It won't be easy," Trent sighed as he hung his head.
"No one said it would," she had countered. "C'mon, as Rangers, I think we can say that. And we got a certain legendary ranger here to tell us all of his own hardships during his high school years."
"Yeah, I guess so," Trent chuckled, feeling some of the burden leave him.
It fell silent for awhile as the teens took a moment to savor their food, and take in each other's company.
In the back of Trent's mind, he had wanted to move on in their relationship. He felt that maybe in the end it would be worth it knowing he had something more to be fighting for. He had to admit he had thought about Kira in more ways than he really needed to, but he had some raging hormones that was hard to control. He had talked to his science teacher time and time again about his own romance in high school, and he had made it sound much like the situation he was in now. He didn't want to approach the situation as it had to be done, but he didn't like the slow bumps in the road because they couldn't seem to move on. Sometimes, he had wished he could read Kira's mind, but didn't want to feel like a perv or a nosy guy for asking. He pushed it away, hoping he could approach it another day. But not now. He was still coping with the kidnapping of his father.
"So, how has the music been going? Have you come up with anything new lately?" Trent asked, hoping to clear the way for new conversation.
"Since the contributions I've made toward that original song contest for graduation? No," she shook her head. She had managed to create a song for the contest opened out to the entire senior class about creating a song for the class/graduation. But she said it was still a work in progress for some of the parts. "Have you guys listened to it yet?"
"Actually no," Trent admitted as he shook his head. "Kinda locked up in a secret vault until sometime this week. We should be listening to the entries as a whole council on Thursday."
"Well, I hope everyone likes it," she breathed with a tinge of nervousness.
"A lot of people now know you're a songwriter. If not everyone is feeling it, than I know Dr. O, Cassidy, Devin and I will," Trent nodded with a smile.
They were, in fact, other members of the council. Cassidy was apart of the committee that assigned members of council to certain duties. Devin had been somewhat of a follower toward Cassidy for some time, even if they were going out. But he had a lot of ideas that wouldn't be shared in any other way. Dr. O was more there as a second advisor if their primary advisor, Mrs. Jackson, could not show up at their meetings. He had laid out a few ideas he had done during his own time as a member of council back in high school, and made sure to put his contributions in to help out the class of 2005 in whatever they decided. He even laid out a few pranks they might want to pull, saying he had plenty of connections throughout the school to help them in that field. Mrs. Jackson wasn't much for the pranks or the senior skip days, but Dr. O had made sure if they wanted to pull either of them off to let him know. He'd hook them up with no problems.
"Have you guys decided on a class gift to the school?" Kira asked.
"Well, I wasn't in on it, but a lot of people seem to like the idea. We're getting a podium with the school seal on it as a gift," Trent shrugged. "Personally, I would have liked the rock climbing wall in the gym, but everyone thought that was a crazy idea."
"Why? I think a rock climbing wall would be nice. It would get more people involved in P.E.," Kira said.
"Yeah, but they were saying now that they got a star coach from the Olympics on staff, that shouldn't be a problem," he shook his head. He didn't say that knowing the 'star' coach from the Olympics personally was a bad thing, but using Coach as a trophy to parade in hopes to get more students into P.E. class wasn't his way of saying it was worth it.
"I bet she must be pissed about that one," Kira couldn't help but laugh, but hadn't liked the idea either. Ever since Kim had joined the staff at Reefside High, more people had gotten involved in P.E. Now, she wasn't sure if it was more for keeping fit or if it was checking out a former gymnist in more ways than need be. "Let alone, I bet Dr. O would be even more mad if he saw how some of the guys would be looking at her."
"I think Coach already knows, but she doesn't seem to mind," Trent shrugged.
"Oh man, you should see some of the guys in my P.E. class. Okay, so Conner and Ethan are in there, too, but they don't look at her like mad hungry wolves like the others," she shook her head. "I don't think some of them even know she's taken."
"Yeah, well a lot of people are stupid anyway," Trent agreed.
"She would tell us stories, too, regarding a certain 5th degree black belt in the science wing, but I don't think many of them pay attention," she said.
"People can be so naive. But maybe because they're blind," he said.
"You know, I think Dr. O already knows that some people look at Coach in that way," she said thinking through the situation. "Some of those people are in Geology with me and the guys, and when Dr. O goes to Yearbook to help you guys out, they try to get out of doing their work by sucking up to her."
"He probably doesn't do anything about it 'cuz he knows that he'll be getting her at the end of the day rather than them," Trent managed to laugh.
Kira laughed as she couldn't agree anymore. She would laugh as she watched some of the guys in her class flirt with Coach. She didn't want to say that knowing her on a personal basis gave her a better understanding of the situation, but Coach had told her time and time again she was on the receiving end of flirts and flattery by other guys, even if Dr. was around her arm. Coach had said he would get mad easily, but now it doesn't seem to matter, because he had one thing their students didn't have. And that was knowing he had married her in the end.
"So, what about those senior pranks? I know you guys have been discussing it since Dr. O is there," Kira grew curious.
"We got a good line of them. It's just a matter of remembering where to set them and when. Dr. O says he still needs to talk to 'his connections' before it could go down. And he made the suggestion we should wait until April to do them in a week long hell week, as he put it," Trent shrugged.
"How does Mrs. Jackson feel about this?" she asked.
"She doesn't even know, and we'd like to keep it that way until we do them," he said with a nod. "You know she wouldn't be feeling it one bit if we told her some of the ideas."
"Which are?" Kira wanted to know what some of those pranks were gonna be on.
"One of them is the fishing line around the school. Get the fishing line one won't see right away, tie it to some poles and watch people trip. Another is gluing coins to the ground. So, when some idiots sees a quarter on the ground, and attempts to pick it up it won't work. We were thinking about either duct taping or sealing some of the doors shut, so when someone would trip up the fire alarm, no one could get out. We had the saran wrap over the toilets idea, too. The list goes on," Trent chuckled.
"Okay, some of those are just wrong," Kira groaned in disgust. "Now, did you guys come up with these or did Dr. O spill some out?"
"He had a few ideas. Most of them were us. But we're just trying to leave our mark on the school," he said.
"Yeah, I can tell," she nodded. 'But I guess after this last class failed to leave a mark, we might as well bring up the slack."
"Exactly."
The two had continued to converse for another good long hour. It wasn't much, but it beat worrying about all the rough points in their lives at the moment. It gave them the time to just relax and that's what they were hoping for.
But as the late hour approached, Kira figured she would call it in. She had to get home and finish some of her homework. Trent was the same way, as much as he didn't want to.
Trent had been a gentleman and walked her out to her car and said good night. She had said her own good night. And for awhile, they stood there less than arm length's away. It fell silent as they seemed to get lost in each other's eyes.
And Kira had made the first move as she leaned into Trent. He had followed moments later as they shared a kiss under the calm night sky. It held passion, but wasn't centered around a tongue war between the two. It was a nice way to end the evening off.
Trent broke the kiss unsure what to make of the gesture. He could only blush as he managed a sheepish chuckle. Kira had done the same as she took a step back and got into the car. She said she would see him later, he had said the same, being more speechless than her at what just happened.
Then she had left as he watched her go, a gentle smile had passed his face once she was out of sight. He had remembered the moment when he had shared a kiss at Dr. O's and Coach's wedding. And felt the sparks fly then. He remembered the kiss he shared with her on New Year's and the sparks there. And now this, but this time, he hadn't made the first move. She did and the sparks were even more powerful. And that only made it more clear that she was in need to push their relationship to the next level, too.
Trent turned and headed into the house.
Hours later.
Trent was snug in bed, dreaming away. But that's where the peacefulness seemed to stop. He had been sweating greatly as he tossed in turn in fright.
In his dreams, he had watched his past replay back to him. His days of evil, the discovery of his father as Mesogog, the day he almost died being drained of his powers, and when he was saved by his father. Of their final battle, watching as Mesogog had mutated into something more horrid and took it to scaling high proportions that forced his mentor to make an ultimate sacrifice to their zords.
He cried out in shock as he sat up, opening his eyes. The images left him the moment he woke up. He caught his breath as he ran a hand through his hair and down his face. The room was dark, but many shadows remained as possible hiding places for surprises.
"It was just a dream," he breathed. He looked down at his dino gem, watching it glow to life. Then his eyes fell shut for a moment as he felt the rage inside him grow. He groaned as he tried to push it down again. "No. Let it pass."
"Traitor," he heard a voice hiss.
Trent opened his eyes as he locked around the room in fright.
He was sure he had heard it in his mind, or was it a reality?
He looked around the room more closely as the moon lit the way.
"Traitor," the voice hissed again.
He knew this time it wasn't in his head. And it only came from one source as he looked around the room again. Then Trent turned to the corner of the room by his art desk and saw a figure looming over there. Or was it? He looked at his gem again as it glowed and back up, to see a set of yellow eyes glare at him. He turned his glowing gem in the direction of the eyes as the figure took better form. The dino-shaped head became evident over the entire darkness of the room.
Trent breathed in fright as he shook his head. And at that second, things seemed to slow down around him as the dino-faced menace of Mesogog charged toward him.
Then it stopped as Trent cried out. The room fell silent as Trent realized he had awoke from another nightmare. He ran a hand through his hair as he caught his breath. He looked around the room, but found nothing.
He turned on his light, looked in the direction he swore he saw Mesogog, but no one was there. He turned to the window realizing the rain falling, but nothing more. It was a little after three in the morning.
"Just a dream," he breathed as he fell into the comfort of his bed. "Just a dream, Trent."
He shut off the light, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep in. But he wasn't completely convinced as he felt like he was being watched by something.
to be continued...
A/N: I thought I would begin this chapter on a lighter note before hitting the bad stuff. So, Kira and Trent feel some tension in pushing their relationship to the nxt level. But is't it sweet? Ahh! But that's not the real purpose of this chapter. The end is. So, it seems that reality and fantasy are playing a game with our friend in white. But what will happen now? Stay tuned. Thanks for all your support and keep doing what you're doing. See you in the limelight. Isang diwa. Isang mahal. May the Powers Always Protect You.