TOMMY

I watch Dar work as I let my mind wander. Okay, so Rita put a spell on me when I was younger. Zedd, not knowing it was there, triggered it when he scanned me trying to figure out what was causing my migraine. Holding myself back all those times made the evil worse. Which means that when I didn't hold back, it was not feeding it. So is this something I'll have to do regularly to keep it away or is it gone now?

The cuff that Dar has been hunched over suddenly gives and I quickly tuck my hand under the table. I'm really not ready for the scolding I'll get when they see how chafed and raw my wrist is, though by Zedd's look he's very likely already caught sight of it. I return to my thoughts as Dar starts working on the other one.

In spite of my behavior while under the influence, so to speak, Zedd didn't take advantage of the situation. He could have easily - that first day - made me do whatever he wanted, but he didn't. Which makes him more honorable than me. The worst part is that some small part of me embraced the evil - enjoyed it.

I deliberately turn away from this line of thinking. The fact remains that we still don't know if it's actually gone or not. It might have gone back to sleep. A quick glance at Zedd shows that he's nowhere near any kind of condition to try the scan again - or deal with the consequences if he triggers it again - or something else. Realizing Goldar was right and he is a mess, very likely thanks to me shoving my panic attack down his throat and then trying to bite said throat to escape him once he hauled me out of my cell I feel my guilt go up another notch. It seems like every time I try to help him by dealing with things myself it just ends up making things worse for him. Well, almost every time. I'm sure he didn't mind too much some of what we did over the past few days when I wasn't actively punching him in the face.

I can't stop the sigh that escapes as I remember the 'better' parts of what happened. The idea of doing any of it now makes me shake - and not in a good way. Once again I feel bad for Zedd. To give him hope like that and then snatch it away is just cruel, but what else can I do? In my 'right' mind once more, it terrifies me again in spite of the fact that I know it's not all bad. I'm surprised that I was able to even please him at all, considering that what little knowledge I have about such things was all gained at rehab.

Once again forcing my thoughts away from something I'm not quite ready to deal with yet, I try and figure out what to do for tonight. I can't sleep in the dungeon because I'll freak out. I can't stay awake all night. Looking at the door and uncertain if my room would do if I locked the door, I jerk my head back around as Zedd suddenly speaks in a low but almost dangerous tone. "Don't even think about it. I am locking the damn door the second you're out of those cuffs and they go back to bed. You are staying right here and getting some sleep if I have to stay up all night and watch you do it." Apparently someone is quickly running out of patience. Not that I can really blame him right now.

Wanting to tell him that me staying here with him will just cause both of us problems, one look at his expression quickly strikes down that idea. I just wish I knew for sure that the spell was completely gone, but how? Again, Zedd's in no condition to find out. I can't tell as I didn't even realize it was there to start with. There has to be some way of knowing.

I'm drawn out of my musings as Dar curses - I think. "What's wrong?"

"There's a pin in here that's bent and it's keeping me from opening the lock," he growls. He reaches for some other tools and bends over it once more.

Of course it wouldn't be easy. Why would it? Nothing has been easy since the day that Rita took me to be her evil Green Ranger. Never mind her deciding to put the second spell on me- Suddenly, I remember something that makes my heart stop.

"Things are developing as they should - at their own pace - and any magical interference will upset that. For both of them." Does this count? After all, it was a spell that made me - helped me do those things. Unable to help myself, I let out a low moan and drop my head on the table with a resounding thunk.

"Thomas?" Zedd.

"Tommy?" Pina.

"What's the matter now?" Thank you, Dar, for getting right to the point.

Not moving from the table, I answer, "I'm fucked."

Silence falls for a minute. I even feel Dar stop working on the lock. Without looking, I know that the other three are exchanging puzzled glances and trying to figure out what I'm talking about. Deciding to enlighten them, I repeat the words of the Keeper. "Things are developing as they should - at their own pace - and any magical interference will upset that. For both of them."

"So?" The curiosity and puzzlement in Pina's voice makes me grit my teeth.

"So, there was interference in case you forgot. Big, big, dangerous, evil interference." I state making a grand gesture with my hands only to have Goldar shove my still cuffed wrist back to the table with a growl to keep still.

Sighing Pina shakes her head. "We already talked about this."

"He wasn't there at the time" Goldar states returning to his work. "Also you are hardly fucked as you call it."

"Oh, right, you were sleeping" Pina says after a moment. "We think that she knew that this would happen and it was necessary for you to get rid of it." Oh, really?

"She said any magical interference, Pina. The last time I knew, spells were magic. What if what she said was supposed to remind Rita of what she'd done so that she could remove it before it was triggered?" I drop my head down on the table once more.

I hear Zedd's low growl. "So once more the witch screws up and you have to pay for it. The witch will be lucky if I only beat her to death."

"And that helps how exactly?"

I can almost hear him shrug. "At the very least, I'll feel better."

"Wait a minute," Dar cautions as I feel him working once more. "Without talking to the Keeper, we don't know how she meant it. That's why that cryptic crap irritates me - there's too many ways it can be taken." With a grunt of effort from Dar, the other cuff pops open and I put that hand under the table as well. "Let's get through tonight and see if Andros can contact her in the morning. If Tommy's right, I have no doubt that Dulcea will see to it that Rita is punished for this. If Pina's right, then we won't have to worry about it anymore and Zedd can go back to trying to mate Tommy into exhaustion without this hanging over their heads and without him running off and locking himself in the dungeon again. I'm taking these damn cuffs with me by the way."

"He's already exhausted and frankly so am I" Zedd states, but does give a nod as Goldar takes hold of the cuffs apparently not trusting my judgment right now. "See if Andros can get hold of her tomorrow, if he can't I'll scan him again." Scan me again? Did he seriously just block out what occurred over the last few days?

I can't help it. "If the spell isn't actually gone, and there's no way to know, we can't risk having Zedd scan me again. If it's still there somewhere, we don't want it triggered again."

"At least if it is there and triggers again, we know what to expect and how to handle it," Dar mutters.

"Which would be a lot easier if I'm obedient, but what if I'm not? I don't want to risk hurting you guys again."

Pina sighs her soft sigh. "Either way, we all need some rest to deal with it. And we all know that Jason and Andros aren't going to leave until there's some sort of resolution to this, which means that we'll have to do something tomorrow."

I can hear the frown in Zedd's voice when he asks, "Why? What's going on?"

"There's some problems back on Earth."

"Like what?" I ask.

"The Rangers were having a problem with a monster, which Dar and I were able to guide them toward a potential solution. Hayley's having some problems too and I know that Jason's concerned."

I can't help the next remark. "Screw her." I can almost feel the surprised looks. "If she hadn't put me in there in the first place, I'd have been able to help because they wouldn't have been making me worse." I know what's coming next and I don't care right now.

"Tommy, she-"

"Yeah, I know. She was doing the best that she could. Karma's a bitch."

"Who?"

I sigh. "Never mind." I finally raise my head, avoiding looking at any of them as I stand up and head for the bathroom. "I'm going to get cleaned up."

"Maybe you should go with him Zedd so he doesn't try to drown himself in the sink." Ha ha, so funny Goldar.