Tommy's eye colors:
Clear blue - annoyance/exasperation
Midnight blue - disgust
Prussian blue - submissive/nervous/worried/wary
Ice green - anger/hatred/rage/betrayed
Royal blue - nervousness/irritation/insecure/confusion
Cerulean - determination
Green turquoise - astonishment/shock
CHAPTER 7 - THE GILDED CAGE
Zedd was standing in the doorway watching as Tommy opened his eyes, which shaded to clear blue the moment he saw Zedd there. Zedd chuckled at his obvious exasperation.
"You will get dressed and join me at the table for breakfast, my child," Zedd stated. When Tommy's gaze shifted to where he'd left his clothes last night, Zedd continued, "I disposed of those. You will wear what I have supplied you."
Tommy waited until Zedd left the room before getting out of bed. "Those were some of my best clothes," he mumbled, complaining to himself. "It's not that easy finding decent clothes in green either. Least half the green crap there has a Green Ranger on it and while Zack thinks its funny to wear his own picture, I won't." He opened the closet, full of green clothing made from the finest materials not of Earth, and grabbed the first things he saw.
The clothes were solid green, fit perfectly, and though he was loath to admit it, they were the most comfortable things he'd ever worn. No footwear was to be found though, which made Tommy thankful for the rather plush carpeting throughout this prison apartment. All his weapons were gone.
Cursing under his breath, Tommy took a moment to check on his Rangers. Con? You awake?
Yeah. A slight pause then, They don't really do 'calm' all that well, huh.
No. Definitely not. Just keep them from doing anything stupid, 'kay.
I'm doing my best. With everyone still here …
It should be okay for everyone to go back to their normal lives. Just make sure everyone has a communicator so they can teleport in an emergency.
There was a pause while Connor passed on the message. You know, Jason and Harry are getting pissed over not knowing how we're talking here.
Tommy sighed. I know. It's your call, tell them if you need to. I - I think I'm in deep shit here, Con. Zedd was here when I woke and he found all my weapons and he can read me. If the only time he leaves me alone is when I'm drugged, how the hell am I supposed to get out of this?
I don't know, man. If we have to, we'll show our hand. I know the Thunder team's a great secret weapon but it ain't nothing if we don't use it.
Yeah. But for now let's see where it goes, Tommy said, pushing his own doubts and fears aside. We might still get through this without letting him know how.
Zedd reappeared in the doorway. "I would suggest you come join me now, my child," he hissed, then walked off again.
Gotta go, Tommy quickly informed Connor. Best not keep the angry Dark Lord waiting. He headed to the dining room as he felt Connor settle back to observe.
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Zedd was sitting at the head of the overly large formal dining table when Tommy entered the room. Tommy sat at the opposite end, putting as much distance as possible between them and earning another amused laugh from the dark emperor. Zedd waved his hand, teleporting food and drinks before each of them. Zedd began eating but stopped as he noticed Tommy's midnight blue gaze staring at the food.
"Eat, child," he ordered.
"What the hell is this?" Tommy said. There was what he thought might be a type of scrambled eggs but they were a sickly grey color, some sort of meat that was oozing an orange fluid Tommy assumed to be its blood, and the rest wasn't even that identifiable. The smell was even worse than its appearance and the mere thought of trying to eat it turned his stomach.
"Traditional breakfast. Now eat before it gets cold."
"Traditional," Tommy breathed, incredulous. "Not on my world."
Zedd growled angrily. "You are not on your world now, child."
Tommy's eyes shaded to Prussian blue, wary of the dark lord's anger. "No offense. I'm sure this is, uh, great for your people and all. But really, there's no way I can eat this."
"Stop being fastidious, it's unbecoming."
"I'm not!" Tommy spat, anger shining in his ice green eyes. "I never had a chance of even thinking about being picky over food, damn-it! I've eaten outta garbage bins when necessary but there's no fucking way I can eat this!"
Zedd calmly waved the food away, leaving the table bare before them. "When?" Seeing Tommy's eyes shade to royal blue in confusion, Zedd expanded, "When have you been required to eat refuse?"
When Zedd spoke those words, Tommy realized he really had yelled that to his most feared enemy. He cut off the connection with Connor as he tried to think of a way to respond. "I, uh … I don't suppose you'd just forget I said that?"
Zedd leaned back in his chair, silently observing the young Ranger who was staring rather hard at a spot inches before him. "You are a rather interesting child," Zedd said after awhile. "So fiercely independent except at times when you show a great dependence on those around you. You fight so strongly for that little world of yours, bravely place yourself in the greatest of dangers for people that care nothing for you. You show no emotion in the face of those you know and care about speaking hateful words directly to you, yet I've seen you flinch when you overhear strangers say the same things. You have no family save the younger White Ranger who you are raising when you are much too young even by your own world's standards to be on your own. You show little to no care for most laws of your world or Zordon's, following your own rules alone. You walk the Warrior's Path though I see no indication that you have ever had a teacher. You act as though you never have and never would submit to anyone's rule, except for when I would almost swear you've never known freedom. Who are you, Tommy Oliver?"
Tommy was frozen still, his gaze still locked on the tabletop as Zedd spoke. Zedd saw too much of what Tommy wanted hidden, forgotten. He'd been watching Tommy for barely a month, making the observances all the more frightful for the ease in which he saw them. Tommy forced himself to sit up straight and meet Zedd's gaze strongly, his cerulean gaze unflinching. "Who am I?" he repeated the question softly. "I never needed a 'teacher' for the Warrior's Path because it is obvious. I don't follow laws that are only there to control others but instead follow my own as they are part of the Warrior's Path. You ask who I am. I'm many things, I've been many things, but the only part that really applies here is this. - I'm someone that knows the true worth of freedom. No gilded cage will ever convince me there's anything worth more than that." With that, Tommy stood and walked out of the room.
Zedd watched him go, surprised and angered at the audacity of the youth. After a calming his anger, he once again stepped into the boy's bedroom where Tommy was sitting on the bed. "It's not slavery that I offer you."
Tommy shook his head slightly, though he was a bit curious. Zedd hadn't actually ever said what he wanted from Tommy. "If it's not my choice, it's not freedom."
"The Green Dragon Power accepted you," Zedd pointed out yet again. "While it was not my doing, the Power of my family line has accepted you as part of us. That in effect 'adopted' you into my family. By the Lines of Power, you are now my son. As my son, you will be second only to me in the entire Empire. That is the exact opposite of slavery."
Tommy's green turquoise eyes grew wide in shock at this. While it did explain some of the difference in how Zedd had been treating him, it was more frightful than anything else he could imagine. If Zedd was seeing him surviving the Green Power as his being adopted into his family, there was no way he'd ever let up. "I don't want your empire," Tommy quietly stated. "You might can keep me here in this gilded cage but you cannot convince me it is anything but a prison. It's not my choice, it's not freedom."
Zedd just looked at him for a long moment, holding back his angered response. Then he smirked and said, "I suppose that means your friends are slaves in their homes, my boy? The child never chooses its own family. It is nature, just as the Power accepting you is natural." He paused, letting the thought hang in the air between them. "I have work to do. Enjoy your 'gilded cage' while I'm gone, son. I'll be back at lunch with something from this little world."
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Continued - Let me know what you think. Review