Chapter Three: The Haunting
"Three days, she's locked herself inside her room for three days now" Jason said as he, Adam, Kim, Tommy and Andros sat inside the Lee house three days after they'd returned from the future.
"Let me talk to her Jase, maybe I can help" Kim suggested, she'd seen the look in her friend's eyes when she'd returned. The pain, the despair reflected in her eyes at her lost child.
"You can try, but I can't even get her to talk to me. She won't even eat" Adam sighed, his love had returned and she wouldn't let him comfort her like she used to and he was at a loss of what to do.
Taking their words under advisement, she rose from the chair and ascended the steps that led up to Keri's room. It was dark upstairs, but Kim knew where she was going, she'd been here many times before back when she was in Angel Grove. As she moved silently down the corridor, something moved in the shadows.
"Keri?" she asked attentively, in case her friend had decided to finally leave the confines of her room. Suddenly, she felt something wrap itself around her leg and she jumped, only to chastise herself when she saw it was only Keri's cat Boots.
"Awe Boots, you gave me a heart attack" Kim whispered as she knelt down to pet the affectionate cat. She remembered when Keri received Boots as a birthday present, she'd been small and tiny back then, but know she was tall and a bit overweight.
Continuing forwards, she paused at Keri's bedroom door before knocking. Hearing no sound, she tried the knob only to find it locked. Kim smiled; there was a reason why she'd worn bobby pins today, now she knew why. Slipping a pin from her hair, she maneuvered it in the key hole until she heard it softly click. Cracking the door slowly open, she peered inside to find her friend sitting by the window, gazing outwards, as though waiting for someone.
"Keri, I know you're upset, but everyone's worried about you. Will you please at least join us for dinner?" she said as she pushed the door further open and attempted to step further inside the room but something blocked her path.
Looking up, her eyes locked with the other woman's, a haunting look on her face as she concentrated on keeping Kimberly from coming any closer. Her eyes were lifeless, and their pupils seemed nowhere to be found as their colour seemed no longer present. Kim gasped as she saw a shadowy figure in the window, grinning with malice that reached its gleaming red eyes. Then, before the scream could leave her throat, she was thrown out and the door slammed in front of her.
"Okay Kim, calm down, nothing you haven't seen before. Your friend is possessed that's all, nothing to worry about. The hell its not" she said to herself and quickly made her way downstairs to inform the others.
Meanwhile…
She laughed. She'd managed to scare the hell out of Kim and she liked it. She liked the look in Kim's eyes when she was frightened; it made her seem so vulnerable. She'd felt the panic that had grown within her and the scream that fought to make itself known to the household. Her puppet was just how she liked all her victims, filled with guilt and despair. She'd felt her mind back in the graveyard, the anguish called to her and she'd answered. Now, she was going to destroy her.
Downstairs…
The others couldn't believe their ears as Kimberly told them what had happened upstairs when she entered Keri's room. She told them that she'd been stopped from entering the room by some invisible force and that there was a shadow hovering by Keri with gleaming red eyes that it appeared Keri didn't even see.
"I'm telling you guys, she possessed by something. I know that people hurt when they grieve but this is different, her eyes literally are one complete colour that her pupils have faded from her eyes. It's like she's nowhere to be found inside her own body" Kim pressured them, she knew what she'd seen and if they didn't believe her then she didn't know what she was going to do.
"She did wander off in the cemetery; do you think something happened when she did?" Adam suggested and Jason gave him a look like he was nuts.
"You're not suggesting that she's possessed by some ghost or something I hope. Come on, yeah sure monsters and aliens are real, but dead spirits? I just don't buy it" Jason replied, shaking his head; he had a feeling whatever was going on was just something that would pass given time.
"Hey, you never know. Besides, let's check and make sure that there were no monsters loose while you guys were in the future first. I'll give Wes a call and confirm that everything is as it should be" Tommy interjected, just because some things had been proven real and some had not, didn't mean it should be ruled out.
"Chinese good for dinner, I don't feel much like poisoning you guys with my cooking and Keri obviously isn't going to be doing it anytime soon" Adam said as he stood, all thought about how things just kept going downhill since Keri's return was getting on his nerves.
The others watched him go, they knew he was hurting about the fact that Keri wouldn't talk to him about how she was feeling. They knew all he wanted was to be with the woman he loved and yet, everything just conspired against them. However, they felt that if they could last through six years of not knowing where the other one was, then they could survive this as well. One day, one day they would be happy.
That Night…
As the former rangers slept, someone was watching them. Silently, a lilith frame slipped from her room and made her way towards the rooms of the sleeping people. The puppeteer watched as her puppet made her way into the first room. Without moving from the doorway, things began to levitate from their place and fly around the room. The mirror began to drip with blood and in a flash; everything had been left in chaos.
Once the other three rooms had been left in the same state, the puppet began to make her way towards the stairs to cause the same destruction in the lower levels of the house. However, the floorboard creaked under her weight, waking the occupants from their slumber. They barely noticed the state their rooms had been left in as they hurried out of them to where they'd heard the noise.
"It appears as though you've been discovered my puppet. It's time to destroy them" the puppeteer hissed in Keri's ear, blending in with darkness along the walls so that only her eyes were visible to them.
"Keri?" Adam called to her, carefully taking a step towards her since she was in front of a long staircase and he didn't want her to fall down it.
They saw something flash within her eyes and fell back a bit as she stepped into the light. Kim had been right all along, her eyes had no colour in them. Then Jason saw it, the red gleam off of his cousin's left shoulder that seemed to hover there. Nudging Tommy, he inclined his head towards the sight and his friend nodded in understanding as to what Jason was referring to.
"I don't know who you are freak, but you're gonna pay for using my cousin this way. Let's do it guys, its morphin' time!" Jason yelled, taking up the age-old position as leader of the power rangers.
"Ninjetti – The Falcon!"
"The Frog!"
"The Crane!"
"The Jaguar!"
In a flash, those who'd given up their powers to protect earth long ago became one with their sacred animal spirits that would forever be apart of them. The puppeteer looked on with interest as the four who opposed her appeared before her in a completely different attire and demeanor. She felt the mind of the one she controlled stir in recognition formed in her eyes.
Meanwhile…
Keri's mind became alert as she saw the four Ninjetti warriors in front of her. Their spirits were crying out to her, warning her. Through her eyes she saw her arm move forward in the attempt to strike them down. What was she doing? She'd just lost her daughter; she didn't want to lose anyone else.
"It's pointless to resist me, you will kill them and I will watch as you suffer for all eternity" the puppeteer laughed in her ear as her body continued to move against her friends and family.
'No, I won't let you do this to them because of my grief. I will lose no one else. I can resist you. I WILL resist you!' she yelled back at puppeteer as she fought for control over her body.
'You cannot stop me you powerless child. You will crumble' she sneered and strengthened her hold on Keri's body.
'You're wrong, I have more power than you ever will. Ninjetti – The Fox!' she screamed, calling on her sacred spirit to help her combat the evil that was trying to control her.
The others watched as Keri's body expelled, with a faint silver sheen, her own sacred spirit, forming at the foot of its mistress' feet and hissing intently at the one trying to harm her. Suddenly, the room began to fill with an intensely blinding light that eradicated the darkness around them.
'This can't be! No! I will not be defeated!' the puppeteer hissed as the light exposed her to those within the room. For the first time that night, they were able to see just what exactly they were supposed to be fighting and decided to use it to their advantage.
"Alright guys, let's finish it! Ninjetti Corkscrew Kick!" Tommy called as he leapt into the air and spun around with intense speed, his feet targeted on the puppeteer as he sent her flying backwards into the wall behind her. Still alive, she stumbled to her feet.
"You've not won yet Rangers, prepare to be defe…" she hissed but was cut off as someone's hand tightened around her neck with incredible force. The four Ninjetti looked on as Keri gripped her former controller's throat.
"Fin peace in hell" she whispered as the light expelled from her body consumed the puppeteer and vanquished her. As she turned around to face the others, they saw a reflection in her eyes. They reflected million of tiny galaxies before they returned to normal and her, for the most part, along with them.
The Next Day…
It was silent as Adam and Keri walked through the park hand-in-hand that afternoon. Unlike when she'd been possessed, the true Keri had been easier for Adam to coax out into the world.
"You think I'm being silly don't you? Grieving so much over a child I barely knew. The Astro Rangers have known her longer and yet, I'm acting like a fool" she said, she had willingly agreed to go outside with him for a while.
"I think you being her mother gives you that right. You lost a daughter you barely knew but loved all the same. I promise, you will get another chance at this" he replied, stopping to face her; he gathered both her hands in both of his.
"You mean you're not mad I had a child that wasn't yours? I mean, it wasn't really anybody's, just one of those freaky happenings that no one can control. I mean I'd understand if you're upset and hate me for the rest o…" she babbled until Adam shut her up with a passionate kiss. His hands wrapped around her body; one at her waist and the other at the back of her head, drawing her closer to him. She let her unease fade away as her arms wound around his neck and melted into his warmth.
Later…
The two arrived home to find Kim, Tommy and Jason outback with the BBQ and a few Labatt lying in a cooler.
"Hey you two, pull up a chair!" Kim called when she spotted them, a Labatt in her own hand.
"I'm just going to change first, it'll get cooler soon" Keri replied, kissing Adam on the cheek before heading inside to change into something suited for the chill of night.
"Hello Princess Kahara" a voice greeted her as she opened the door to her room.
"Illyana" Keri stated as a look of surprise passing over her face at the sight before her, "What are you doing here?" she inquired of the woman before her.
"It's time" she replied, her eyes firm as she said this to the younger girl, her own eyes reflecting what Keri's had the night before.