Beyond the Blue Horizon

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own them! I picked them up off the floor and decided to play a little. I promise, they will go back in the toy box once the story is done!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I know. I haven't updated in YEARs. Bear with me.. I am giving you all I have in my word processor. I promise to work on more. I am bound and determined to finish my current WIPs this year. I will probably, however, finish uploading the other 18 or so chapters on my Harry Potter work first. I wont wait years to update, though. Be patient, please.

R/R. You know you love the little box at the bottom. Flames for S'mores.

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Tommy laid in his hospital bed, trying hard not to breath too deeply. Zeltrax's assault had caught him completely unaware. He had just taken a magnifying glass away from his niece. Knowing that Celeste had just come back from Dallas and knowing what kind of terrors his sister's step-brothers were, he was not going to trust the impressionable child with a magnifying glass. Out of no where, the portal opened almost on top of him. He didn't have time to react before Zeltrax's first blow came down on his head. Dizzy Tommy had tried to find Celeste. The child, in a vain attempt to protect her favorite uncle, had taken a bite out of Elsa.

"Celeste, run!" Tommy had screamed.

Crying, but without asking a single question, the child ran. He knew where she would hide and he hoped that he could distract Elsa and Zeltrax long enough to get some back up. If they tailed her into the house, they would have her.

Stumbling, he headed into his house, planning to block the hall that lead to the closet, Celeste's favorite hiding place. Zeltrax was on his tail the entire time, throwing the distracted uncle into walls and through furniture as he cleared the way for Elsa.

Broken and bleeding, Tommy fought to remain conscious as he watched Elsa regain a grip on his niece and disappear through a portal. With a sinking feeling, he pulled himself to his room. As he reached for the phone, he collapsed. He knew nothing else until he awoke in the hospital with Hayley standing over him like a guardian angel.

Now he was good for nothing. He couldn't speak, his vocal chords were raw from being intubated…He couldn't even get out of this bed for a couple of days, so he was stuck. Zeltrax had really put him through the ringer this time. The doctors wouldn't even let him have his computer to "work on his projects."

Worst of all he had broken his promise to Billy. He swore to him before he went on the mission that he would protect Kara and 'The Baby' with his life. Billy had been so worried that the prophesy he heard on Aquitar would succeed where the Countdown failed. The prophesy that would be the undoing of the Power Ranger's and eventually the world.

"For it is written that the eldest heir of the first living Ranger's will possess an evil that is unmatched by any that have come before and that heir will be the undoing of all that is good in the universe." Those words haunted Tommy from the minute Billy relayed his fears and told him that Kara was expecting.

Kara… Tommy shifted his worry. He knew that Celeste would be kept alive. Mesogog wasn't dumb enough to destroy his link to ending the Rangers. But Kara would shut down. He remembered when Billy's space mission had been declared a loss. She had yelled at NASA officials, told them nondescriptly to get their asses in space and find her husband. She refused to let them declare him dead.

By the time that the funeral was planned, Kara had divorced herself from the situation. She pretty much divorced herself from everything, even nurturing Celeste. Yes, she nursed the tiny baby and changed her when needed, but she wasn't there emotionally. It was like robots had taken over for her.

It was at Billy's funeral that she showed the first bit of emotion. The church had been laid out flawlessly, every detail accounted for, except the coffin. There would be none. No body, no coffin, Kara insisted. A picture, one of Billy on their wedding day, had been blown up and set in front of the center isle, his warm smile beckoning people up the crimson row.

It had been a Ranger reunion. All of the former rangers, save Trini, had been in attendance. Most of them got up and shared fond memories of Billy. Even Alpha 5 had been teleported in for the event, under the disguise of a mild mannered science project. The event had read like a who's-who list from Angle Grove and Reefside's UC universities, high schools and public officials, as well as, NASA and several other government agencies. On the front row of the church, Kara sobbed silently for the first time. Before the end of the service, Tommy had taken Celeste and Kara's mother held her up.

He remembered staying at the cemetery with her long after everyone else had left. An empty plot of land in Angle Grove, under a tree and next to a small pond, bore the name of his friend and brother-in-law and over the bronze plaque Kara sobbed. She tore at the ground, she swore, she yelled, and she sobbed until she could sob no more.

Knowing all this made him fear for her well being. Celeste was the only thing left of Billy and his sister was a bit over protective. He desperately needed to talk to her and Hayley. In the past few weeks, he had made a couple of new and frightening new developments. There had been an attempted kidnapping on Zach Taylor's daughter, who was only a couple of weeks younger than Celeste. Natalia had been returned without any harm, but the event shook the Black Ranger to the core. He knew what they wanted. They wanted the heir.

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The other prisoner woke to the sound of his slamming cell door. He half expected Zeltrax to be taking him to his daily dose of brain washing. In the dimness, he waited for the smell of the large armored thing to reach his nose. It never came. Instead a different smell permeated his space. The smell of playdough and… baby shampoo? It couldn't be. Such child like smells would never exist in such a place. Perhaps his olfactory sense was off. Being locked in Mesogog's dark hole for four months had greatly increased his sense of smell, but it could not render it infallible.

Sitting perfectly still, the prisoner waited for other signs that someone new was in his cell. It took a moment, but he heard something in the corner, a soft rustling and a tiny hiccup.

"Hello?" he called out, just above a whisper. His words were met with a sharp intake of breath.

"Um?" came the voice of a small child after a lengthy pause, "Is some body there?"

"Yeah, I am coming to you. Don't be afraid, I wont hurt you." The prisoner called out.

"I'm not supposed to converse with strangers. Mommy said." came the tiny reply.

The prisoner paused at the remark. The child hardly sounded old enough to be in school, and yet she spoke with much more authority and a greater vocabulary than some of the adults on this God-Forsaken, what ever it was. He could hear the terror in the voice but he couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl.

"You're a very smart little person. Mommy was right, but I won't hurt you."

"How do I know you won't eat me? That Beetle-man told me I was going to get eaten 'cause I bit the ugly lady."

"No. I won't eat you. The Beetle-man isn't very smart. He put me in here, too."

The prisoner could see a tiny ball sitting in the corner. It was a little girl. Her long curly hair fell half-way down the length of her back and cascaded around her knees. Her light eyes were big and poised just above her the rip in her overalls. It was too dark to make out any exact coloration.

"Where you playing with a magnifying glass, too? My uncle took it from me and it reflected some light in the sky and then the Beetle-man fell out of the sky onto Uncle Tommy."

The name hit a nerve core with the prisoner as the little child, she couldn't be more than five, put her face in her knees and cried. He racked his brain with a way to comfort the child.

"I was on a ship in space. Some bad aliens took me a long time ago, I bet before you were even born. But then they didn't want me anymore. The gave me to Mesogog," he hoped his story put her a little more at ease. He certainly didn't want to close her off. He wanted to know more.

"Why?" Celeste wanted to know about this voice. It was soft and sweet. He didn't seem like a stranger. And maybe he could tell her where her daddy was. The voice had been in space!

"I worked on a space ship that was getting information about bad guys. They thought I was someone else. When they found out I wasn't, the bad guys thought they could use me to help them. I helped with their computers until they got tired of me. Then they gave me away. What is your name, little one?" Curiosity was getting the better of him.

"Celeste." she chirped.

It got real silent. Celeste had told the man her name, now he was supposed to tell his name. She waited, peering in the darkness. He wasn't far away. She could see his outline in the dark. He was skinny and his hair was long. He had a real strong jaw. Celeste liked men with strong jaws. Uncle Tommy and Uncle David had strong jaws. Pee-Paw had a strong jaw. Grampa Chuck, Mommy's step-daddy, didn't. Celeste didn't like Grampa Chuck that much.

"Mr.?" She called out, "Hey, Mr. What's your name?"

"Blue." He said. He sounded like he was choking.

His dim out-line looked straight ahead. Celeste tried to see what he was looking at, but she only saw black. Discouraged, she scooted her bottom further in the corner. Blue stayed still, he didn't even flinch when she moved.

"Are you OK, Mr. Blue?" He didn't answer.

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