A/N: So sorry I didn't post yesterday, work was hectic last week and I needed to catch up on some stuff, so I am posting two chapters today to make up for it, hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 16

As the others start to settle down for a movie, Emily curled up in Mike's lap while Jayden and Antonio were sat together, Mia leaning against Kevin's shoulder Evie slips out and walks out into the garden, pulling out her samuraiser she draws a symbol she hasn't used in years, ignoring the drain she felt from it. And a moment later an image of her mother appears in front of her, she smiles as she looks at Evie, "I'm so proud of you Evie, and I love you," she says before disappearing again and Evie doesn't bother to fight the tears that slide down her cheeks. A momentary visage, a dream made into a vision.

A hand rests on her shoulder and Evie isn't surprised when Ji sits down next to her.
"I know you said using it was a bad idea," sighs Evie.
"After today, I think we can let it slide," assures Ji gently. "You saved everyone, not just the civilians but your team as well."
"It didn't affect me the way it did them," says Evie.
"The Nighlok showed them the worst moment of their lives, made them relive it, over and over, trapping them inside their own minds with their fear and pain," nods Ji.
Evie sighs and looks at Ji, "I see it every day, I've relived it so many times over the years, when I'm awake and when I'm asleep. It lives in my head."
"And that is what made you able to fight past it, why it had less of an effect. You embrace the pain, you've used it to push yourself forwards, instead of letting it crush you, you used it as fuel. It shaped you into who you are, and who you are is a strong, smart, loyal friend and samurai," assures Ji. "I could not be prouder of how far you have come since that day," he adds with a smile.

"You think?" she asks.
"I know" smiles Ji, "that Nighlok would've run rampant today if it weren't for you, you not only defeated him in his first life. But you single handily piloted the megazord and defeated him in his second life. Today you are the hero, and once the others have recovered a little more, they'll know that as well," assures Ji.
"Who knew being all dark and twisty would be the thing that saved me," snorts Evie.
"It's part of you, it is part of your strength, never be ashamed of that Evie. You could have let what Nia did destroy you completely, but you survived, more than that, you have thrived. Remember that, you are a phoenix," advises Ji gently.
Evie smiles, "thanks," she says.
Ji merely smiles and hugs her.
Evie nods, "I'm just going to take a shower before I join the others," she says rubbing her neck.
Ji squeezes her arm before they head back inside and Evie walks down to her room, locking both the doors and setting the shower to her preferred temperature and steps inside.

She leans her arms against the wall as the water falls over her, mingling with the tears still on her cheeks as she takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes, her mother's last words to her ringing across her mind as they so often did. She slams her fist into the shower wall as her eyes fly open, "I'm stronger than you were, I've always been stronger," she says determinedly.
Finishing up her shower she dries off and towels her hair through, her gaze landing on the picture of her and her dad, "you'd have been proud."

Squaring her shoulders she walks out and joins the others, settling on the floor against Jayden's legs, his hand idly beginning to run through her hair without even thinking about it.
As the movie continues the mood lightens as everyone slowly calms down, Evie keeping a careful eye on them.
Once the movie finishes Mike looks at Evie, "you saved us today."
"I did what any of you would've done," shrugs Evie.
"No that's just it, not one of us could do it. We were completely helpless against that Nighlok, we'd still be stuck in his mindscape if not for you," replies Kevin.
"Yeah, you're the reason we're all sat here," nods Emily.
"Evie to the rescue," smiles Mia.
"How did you do it? How did he not affect you?" asks Antonio.
Evie just shrugs, "because I see it every day, I've relived the worst moment of my life over and over from the day it happened. I see it in my mind, I see it in my dreams. It's part of me, I'm used to reliving it. He didn't show me anything I'm not already achingly familiar with seeing," replies Evie as she examines her nails as if they were simply discussing the weather.
"Thanks for being a badass," smiles Mike.
Evie looks at him, "anytime," she replies with a small smile before sighing and rubbing her head.
"You, okay?" asks Kevin.
"Just tired I think, and headaches tend to come when I've overdone it," she assures.
"Then sit up here instead of the floor, you've certainly earned it," smiles Antonio.

Evie stands up and then sways, Jayden and Antonio catching her arms.
"Wow, head rush" she says.
"You sure you're alright?" asks Mia.
"Yeah, this happens after excessive use of symbol power, and even with the box it was hard," replies Evie.
"Fair enough," nods Mike as Evie sits down next to Jayden curling up against him as he wraps his arm around her.
Still sensing that the experience was weighing on the others Evie looks at them.
"I'm not saying you have too. But internalising is about the quickest path to self-destruction after experiencing something traumatic," she notes carefully.
"What now?" asks Mike.
"She's saying that maybe talking about it will help us move past it," answers Kevin.
"You don't have too, but it might help?" offers Evie.

For a moment its quiet and then Mia takes a deep breath, "when I was 9, my mom, dad and me were in a car crash. A bad one, a driver who was on the phone hit us from the side, it was the most terrifying thing I'd ever experienced. I was physically okay besides some minor bruises and cuts. But my parents, my mom broke her arm in three places, she had bruised ribs and a severe whiplash. My dad was in a coma for a week, we didn't know if he'd ever wake up," says Mia shivering at the memory and Kevin wraps his arm around her hugging her close.

"When I was 8, my best friend at the time, Luke, we were playing the park. He decided to climb a tree even though we'd been told not to. Initially I tried to talk him out of it, but then he started goading me about always doing as I was told. So I started climbing the tree and I told him I was going to climb higher than him, which led to him climbing even higher up the tree. He must've hit a weak branch and he fell, he hit his head on the floor and he was unconscious for a while. And when he woke up, he was told he'd never walk again, the fall had damaged his spine," sighs Kevin.
Mia hugs him tightly.

"I was 14, my friends Chad, Shaun and I, we liked to skateboard. And we were always trying to one up each other with tricks. One day Chad said he'd mastered a new one, one that would put everything else to shame. Shaun and I, we egged him on, told him he'd be a loser if he face planted. I even bet Shaun twenty bucks he would. I'm not sure where it went wrong exactly, but he was thrown off his board, landed on his neck. Came within a hairs breath of breaking it completely, and he was never able to be the same again, he broke his back, spent months in rehab and has to be careful for the rest of his life because of it. Because I egged him on" admits Mike.
Emily hugs him tighter kissing his cheek, "you couldn't have known," she soothes.

"I saw the day our parents defeated Master Xandred, I walked out of the house with Ji as the team came back through. They were all injured and I looked for my dad, but I couldn't see him. It was your mom Mia who finally told me he was dead. But I didn't believe her, I tried calling for him, over and over. Convinced he couldn't be gone, but he was, my dad was gone. And I was never going to see him again" sighs Jayden.
Evie squeezes his hand, "he'd be so proud of you," she assures.

"I was 8, Serena was playing her flute to cheer me up after a bad day at school. When she suddenly started coughing and she couldn't stop, and she was having trouble breathing. I can't remember ever being so terrified, she was my big sister, she was invincible. But for days I didn't know if my sister was going to live or die. And I couldn't help her," explains Emily quietly.
Mike pulled her closer resting his head on top of hers, "there was nothing you could've done Em," he murmurs.

Antonio gulps, "I was five when my mom died, she had a brain aneurysm, it hadn't been a problem until she fell down the stairs and hit her head. They didn't know about it at the hospital, but her blood vessels were already weak. And it was just enough force to weaken it enough that it ruptured a couple of days later. We were in the kitchen, she was making cookies, and then suddenly she just dropped, clutching her head as she started having a fit. I didn't know what to do, I didn't understand what was going on. She died at the hospital; I never even got the chance to say goodbye. And the last time I saw my mom was her fitting on the floor of the kitchen, and I was utterly helpless," says Antonio quietly tears pricking his eyes.

Jayden pull him into a one-armed hug and Evie squeezes his hand.
"How do you manage with the worst moment of your life playing in your mind so regularly?" asks Antonio looking at Evie.
Evie bites her lip deciding how to answer, "it's part of me now. For a while it broke me completely, I was a mess, I wanted nothing to do with being a samurai. But over time I realised that I could let it break me, I could go down the same root as my mother and resent my birth right, or I could give in to the dark like my uncle and end it all. Or I could rise from the ashes, I chose to rebuild, and each time it came back, each time I saw it, over and over. I let it push me forwards, let it become my fuel. Ensuring I never became like either of them, and especially not like my mother. I won't say it doesn't still hurt, because it does.
But it's like an old injury, an ache you feel but after a while stop noticing as much. Without that I wouldn't be who I am now, I wouldn't have been here, I wouldn't be as strong a samurai as I am. I wouldn't have had the life I have. It brought me here, brought me to Ji and to Jayden, and to all of you. And I wouldn't trade that for anything, including making that moment go away. It's part of me, my shadow, and sometimes it creeps forwards, but I didn't let it beat me. I kept on moving forwards," answers Evie.
"Like a phoenix," smiles Mia as she looks at Evie.
Evie nods, "exactly, but what got me out of that spell today, it was all of you. Because we're a team, and we're a family, and that gave me the strength to break it."
"Together we can handle anything," nods Emily.
"Even our own demons," agrees Kevin.
"Well said," smiles Antonio and Mia and Mike nod.
"Rangers together, samurai forever," they smile as they look at each other, they'd survive, they'd heal and they'd keep fighting, together.

As night fell everyone felt a little apprehensive about sleeping, fairly certain nightmares of the day's events would follow.
Mia looked at everyone and decided to take matters into her own hands, "alright, am I right in thinking no one likes the idea of being alone tonight?" she asks.
Everyone nods.
"Then everyone bring me your pillows, your blankets, comforters, whatever. And we will build a pillow fort in the living room. And tonight we can stay in there," decides Mia.
Evie smiles, "sounds like an excellent idea."
"I agree," smiles Antonio.
"Been ages since I built a fort," beams Mike.
"Me too," nods Emily.

They each depart, grabbing the requested items before depositing them in the living room, Mia, Mike, Emily and Evie building the fort with enthusiasm.
Though Jayden does pull Evie back when he hears her tone shift to what he had long ago dubbed her drill sergeant voice, and soon enough, with some work and a little symbol power a pillow fort had been assembled in the living room.
Ji looks at it and smiles before heading to his own room, knowing the team needed to heal together.
"Okay, is this thing seriously going to fit us all?" asks Antonio.
"And it doesn't appear to be structurally sound," adds Kevin.
"Shut up and get in the fort," replies Mike.

They crawl inside and are surprised by how much space there was.
"Okay who did the fairy lights?" asks Antonio.
"Me," smiles Emily.
"Nice touch" he nods approvingly.
"And the snacks?" asks Kevin.
"I'll give you one guess who thought of food," answers Mia and Mike just shrugs as pops a chip into his mouth.
"So what next?" asks Emily looking around.
"We could do scary stories?" offers Mike.
"With the day we've had you really wanna add imaginary trauma too?" retorts Kevin.
"Emily's already next to you, you don't need to scare her into your lap," adds Evie.
"You just love being able to tease another couple don't you," smiles Mia looking at Evie.
Evie just smirks and pops a chip into her mouth.

"Okay how about we try and replace the bad with the funny, share our most embarrassing stories" suggests Antonio.
"No," says Jayden instantly.
Evie fails to hold back a snort of laughter.
"What are you hiding from us?" asks Mike narrowing his eyes.
"I'm not discussing the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me," replies Jayden.
"Why, we'll all share?" asks Mia.
Antonio looks at him and his eyes widen, "oh my god, you don't want to tell us because it's how Ji found out about you and Evie."
Jayden sighs and his head slumps forwards onto Evie's shoulder.
"No way, Ji actually caught you together?" demands Mike.
"How together is together?" asks Emily suspiciously.
"Not that together," answers Evie.
"So come on. How did it happen?" urges Antonio.

Evie looks at Jayden who still hadn't removed his face from Evie's shoulder.
"Ji was meant to be out all day, so as any couple alone in the house would, we took advantage of that fact. Thing is someone's ego decided that it wanted to beat, how did you put it, personal best," smirks Evie looking at Jayden.
"Oh god," says Kevin rubbing his eyes, he knew where this was going.
"Don't get me wrong, objective more than fulfilled, but it had the unforeseen consequence of attracting outside attention shall we say. Ji walked in to find Jayden and me in bed together, clearly not wearing clothes and making out. Did not take him more than a couple seconds to figure out what was going on," explains Evie.
Jayden just groans still hiding.

The others all burst out laughing, "no way, its your fault Ji caught you?" laughs Mike looking at Jayden.
"Oh god no wonder you don't like talking about it," giggles Mia.
"Either way, we were busted and after some heated discussion Ji, mostly accepted it. Laid down the ground rules and left us to it," finishes Evie.
"That's so bad," cackles Antonio rolling backwards with the force of his laughter.
"Poor Ji," says Kevin covering his face with his hands.

They laugh for a little while longer before Evie finally take pity on Jayden, "okay, okay you've had your fun, now leave him alone if you actually want him to look you all in the face sometime in the next six months."
"Honestly dude, you're not the only one who's been caught," assures Mike, "my dad walked in on me and Arianna, suffice to say he never walked in without knocking ever again," admits Mike sheepishly.
"See babe, its not just us this stuff happens to," assures Evie looking at Jayden who finally lifts his head up.

"Moving on, Antonio, what have you got? Another incident with a fish hook and your pants maybe?" asks Mia.
"Worse, a fish hook, and my lip," replies Antonio.
"How the hell do you get one through your lip?" asks Evie.
"Very, very bad aim," answers Antonio, "And I did it front of this girl I was trying to impress and she could not stop laughing at me."
"Aw Antonio," says Emily trying not to laugh.
"It gets worse, I tried to get the first one out with another one, and got that one stuck in my thumb," admits Antonio.

The others all laugh at that, "oh dude," says Mike shaking his head with a laugh.
"That's really bad" snorts Evie as she leans back against Jayden.
"I'm mean seriously Antonio?" asks Jayden with a smile.
"I told you it was embarrassing," replies Antonio covering his face.
"Just a bit," agrees Kevin.

"Come on Kev, other than losing your pants during trainers, most embarrassing," prompts Evie.
"Or the tutu pictures," adds Mike.
"Huh, maybe we're the source of a good portion of Kevin's embarrassing moments," giggles Emily.
"I'd been working on a science project, a volcano that spewed the lava I'd created. And I was carrying it into school, I got distracted for a moment and I tripped. It crashed right into my science teacher. The whole thing exploded and she ended up wearing the fake lava and bits of the volcano," admits Kevin.
"Bet she loved you for that one," laughs Antonio.
"I was not popular to say the least," replies Kevin.
The others laugh, "remind me to stay away from you and carrying stuff," snorts Mike.

"What about you Mia?" asks Jayden.
"Oh that's easy, I was 16 and I was in charge of the breakfast club at the daycare centre I worked at. And I made omelettes, and all the kids got sick. I don't know what I did wrong. But no one let me cook there again," replies Mia.
"Miracle no one died," mutters Mike and Emily giggles.
"I'm sure it wasn't so bad Mia," says Evie.
"No what was worse was I spilled the mix over me and I didn't get a chance to change before I went to school. Everyone avoided me the whole day because I smelt like mint and fish," explains Mia.
"How did you spill enough of it on you for it to cling all day?" asks Jayden.
"I might've overdone the eggs a little," replies Mia. "Even the teachers avoided me."

The others chuckle.
"Em?" asks Mike.
"My life has been a series of embarrassing moments" replies Emily.
"There's got to be one that stands out more," says Kevin.
"Well there was one, it was last year. I was changing after gym, and I was worried about a biology test, and I somehow put my bra on over the top of my t-shirt instead of the other way around. I didn't realise until one of the others pointed it out, half the school saw me before I could deal with it," admits Emily.
"Oh Em you scatter brain, how do you put your bra on outside your top?" asks Mia.
"I don't know, I just, did," says Emily with a shrug and the others shake their heads with smiles.
"Well now we've all been thoroughly embarrassed," says Jayden.

"Wait, what about you Evie?" asks Emily.
"Uh did you miss the part of Ji walking in on her and Jayden?" asks Kevin.
"Yeah but that was Jayden's, you didn't seem that embarrassed by it, so what's yours?" asks Emily suspiciously.
Evie rolls her eyes but nods, "okay, I do have one. I was 11 and I informed Ji I needed a shopping trip because I needed to buy my first bra," answers Evie.
"Oh my god I bet he loved that," laughs Mike.
"He was blushing before we got to the store, and when he tried to explain to the sales assistant he was stuttering and it made me feel even more awkward. The entire thing was completely cringe inducing," admits Evie with a shudder.
"He couldn't look either of us in the face for a week after that," chuckles Jayden.
"You made it worse by bringing it up," snorts Evie.
"Wait so Ji took your bra shopping?" snorts Antonio.
"No, we didn't make it that far, in the end he called Kat and begged her to take me instead. Apparently sending me with an almost complete stranger was less awkward. And it turned out he was right," smiles Evie shaking her head.
"Ha Ji in a woman's underwear shop, that's something I would pay to see," laughs Mike.
"It was so awkward," recalls Evie.

The others laugh at the thought of Ji in that situation.
The chatter turns idle and slowly people start to drop off. Emily unsurprisingly falls asleep first curled up next to Mike. Mike soon following her, cuddling her against him.
Mia falls asleep not long after, and Kevin does too.
Evie drops off, the combined effects of the day finally getting to her and Jayden settles down so Evie would be comfortable. Her head resting on his shoulder as he idly ran his hand up and down her arm.

"Does she really see it every day?" asks Antonio looking at Jayden.
Jayden sighs and nods, "it was an almost nightly occurrence for her to wake up crying in the first few months after she arrived. She didn't trust Ji enough to tell him, but she trusted me. I used to keep an ear out for her, and when I heard her, I'd crawl into bed with her so she'd know she wasn't alone.
They got less frequent over the years, but yes, she still sees it. There have been so many occasions where I've watched the shadow that lives in the corner of her mind creep forwards. But like she said, she pushed it back, she let it propel her forwards, stopped trying to bite the hand that was there to help her. And it got better, her nightmares are much less frequent now. They usually only turn up if something has triggered her or her minds restless," explains Jayden.

"Do you think about your dad?" asks Antonio.
"I do, especially lately. When I have to make decisions, I wonder what he'd have done, I wish he was here to give me advice, to tell me what to do. And it miss him, wonderful as Ji is, sometimes I just want my dad," sighs Jayden.
"My dad did his best after my mom died, he threw himself into being a dad, like I was his life raft. And he was great, he still is and I wouldn't change him. But sometimes, sometimes I just ache for my mom, the kind of hug only a mom can give, I miss her smile, or how she'd dance," admits Antonio.
"I don't remember my mom, I miss her, but I think I miss the idea of her more than actually missing the person herself," replies Jayden.
"I get that," nods Antonio. "I'm glad I came you know, even after days like today."
"Really?" asks Jayden.
"Really, I wouldn't trade becoming a samurai, or this team either" smiles Antonio.
"I'm glad you came back" says Jayden.
"I told you I would" replies Antonio, "and I'm glad I did," he assures.
Jayden smiles, "wouldn't trade you either."
Antonio nods and with a final fist bump they settle down, and let sleep take them.