Heart of Crimson

Summary: What if Hunter wasn't the first Ranger to wear Crimson. AU for MMPR Season 2. Dairanger powers, sorta. TommyKim, JasonOC slash.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I intend/desire to make any money off the Power Rangers/Super Sentai concepts and characters presented in this story. They are fully the property of their respective owners and are used with loving respect. Furthermore, this story utilizes concepts borrowed/adapted from Chris Claremont's run on X-Men. Certain aspects of the story are also due to my current obsession: Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger.

Chapter 7: Diving Into Shadow

Zack, Trini, and Billy had been spending the evening at Billy's house watching movies and commiserating on being the "single half" of the Ranger team when Zordon alerted them that Jason had morphed. They arrived on the scene in full armor just in time to see Jason blasted by Dreaveus and scream, collapsing into the Crimson Ranger's arms as his attacker was swallowed by shadow. They began to run towards their leader when they stopped dead in shock as their sometimes ally screamed "Jason!"

The Crimson Ranger quickly lowered Jason to the ground, the Red Ranger's morph flashing out of existence as he did so. Cradling Jason's head in his lap, the Crimson Ranger's own morph vanished in a burst of fiery crimson light. The Black, Yellow, and Blue Rangers all gasped as the quickly reddening amber eyes of Brandon Loksen looked at them and he said, "Help."

Now the Rangers found the ability to move again as they ran to Jason's side, Billy getting there first and releasing his own morph. Brandon looked at him dumbly, "Billy?" but young genius didn't look at him. Instead he quickly checked Jason's vitals, his expression of concern deepening.

Raising his left wrist to his mouth he pressed a stud on the side of the strange watch that Brandon, for the first time, realized matched Jason's . . . the only difference being the colored insets in the band. Speaking into the device Billy said in a disturbingly authoritative tone, "Alpha, I need teleport by five direct to the infirmary. And contact Kim, I'm going to need her help."

A high pitched, but seemingly mechanical voice responded, "Five, Billy?"

"Affirmative. We'll explain later."

"Acknowledged. Teleporting now."

Brandon's head shot up at the second mention of teleporting. However, before he could even speak he felt something like a static charge cover his body and then his vision was filled with sparkling crimson light. When the light faded he was no longer kneeling on grass, but instead on the floor of a room that looked like something out of Star Trek. He had been prepared for becoming the Phoenix, that he could handle, but finding out his boyfriend was the Red Ranger and then seeing him blasted by Dreaveus and now lying unconscious and frighteningly cold in his lap was too much for the young man for one night. He knew Billy was saying something to him, but his brain was just refusing to work right then.

Billy cursed under his breath, he could tell from the glazed look in Brandon's eyes that the other young man had slipped into mild shock. He looked up at his two teammates, "Zack, help me get Jason onto the table. Trini, see to Brandon."

The Black and Yellow rangers immediately powered down and complied, Zack moving to help Billy lift Jason onto the medical table, Trini retrieving and wrapping Brandon in a blanket. As she pulled the blanket around his shoulders, Brandon's eyes seemed to clear a little and he looked at Trini . . . the expression made it seem like it was the first time he was actually seeing her. His eyes flicked to her t-shirt and then to her left wrist. He then made eye contact again and asked, "Yellow?"

Trini smiled and nodded. Brandon's eyes then moved fist to Zack and then to Billy and he asked as he did so, "Black, and Blue?"

"Yes," Trini responded with a relieved tone. She had basic first aid training, but Billy and Kim were so much better with the medical aspects of being a Ranger, so she was pleased to see Brandon coming back to himself.

"Tommy and Kim . . . White and Pink?" Brandon's eyes were now almost back to normal as, if in answer to his question, white and pink flashes heralded the arrival of the aforementioned Rangers.

Billy immediately looked up from where he was attaching scanners to Jason, "Kim, I need you."

The look in Kim's eyes was one of shock, but she didn't react the way most people would have expected of her. There was no scream, no cry, instead she exuded calm focus as she moved Zack out of her way and began assisting Billy. When she first became a Ranger Kim had quickly tired of feeling useless. Jason and Tommy were the leaders. Zack was the cheerleader and occasional strategist. Trini was the voice of reason. Billy was the tech guy. Kim was just the pretty girl in pink. Yeah, she had learned to kick butt on her own, and she was deadly with her bow, and while everyone told her she was the heart of the team, she wanted to be able to contribute something tangible behind the scenes. With this in mind she threw herself into learning to be the team's medic, becoming the only teen in Angel Grove with first responder certification and making Billy teach her how all the medical equipment worked and how to use it.

While Kim and Billy worked on Jason, Tommy stepped into the leadership position, and his first order of business was to ask Trini, "What happened? And why is Brandon here?"

Trini never got the chance to answer, because Brandon did, "Dreaveus attacked us," standing as he spoke. Trini moved as if to help him up, but he just shook his head at her and handed her back the blanket with a smile. Looking back at Tommy he continued, "He found out my identity somehow." Realization dawned on Tommy's face, which Brandon spoke aloud, "I'm the Crimson Ranger."

Several questions fought for dominance in Tommy's mind, but the one that was most important was "What happened to Jason?"

Brandon sighed heavily, and it was obvious he was fighting not to tear up, "We had Dreaveus on the ropes. I was about to finish it when Jason got in my way and Dreaveus blasted him."

Tommy's expression went hard, while Zack and Trini's eyes went wide. "What do you mean by finish it?" Zack asked.

Brandon just looked at Zack with a surprised expression and so Tommy answered in a cold voice, "He was going to kill him."

Zack and Trini looked to Brandon to deny it and when he didn't, they both gasped. Trini found her voice and said, "Ranger's don't kill."

Brandon looked at her, "Even to save billions of lives?"

"He hasn't threatened billions of lives," she retorted.

"His existing, his using his powers is a threat to every living thing on the planet!" Brandon replied forcefully.

"Whoa man, don't you think you're being a little melodramatic there," Zack responded.

Brandon looked around Tommy, Zack, and Trini. "You really don't know what he is, what his powers do, do you?"

Before the conversation could continue the various sensors and scanners Billy and Kim were using on Jason started screaming, followed by Jason convulsing. Billy and Kim simultaneously swore and the others, Brandon included, crowded around the table.

"Billy, Kim, what's going on?" Tommy asked, a slight edge of panic in his voice.

Kim continued to work on Jason while Billy half glanced up and responded, "I don't know. His biosigns are erratic and he's drawing almost as much energy from the Grid as he would when morphed."

Tommy began to ask how, but was cut off when Brandon said, "There's a Shadow inside him."

Everyone looked at Brandon and Kim asked, "What?" but Brandon didn't respond, his eyes fixed on Jason while reflecting the glow coming from the golden pendant around his neck. An inverted isosceles triangle, its longest side roughly two inches, it was etched with a stylized design of a bird in flight. Brandon moved closer, his left hand going to the amulet, his right reaching out and grasping Jason's.

Brandon's first thought was, "What the hell?" as he looked around. He was somewhere suffused by a warm red glow. There didn't seem to be a ground or a sky or any other discernable features, just the omnipresent red glow. It was like standing in a fog bank of red light. However, as he looked, Brandon noticed that the distance was growing steadily darker. "Where the hell am I?" he asked no one in particular. For a moment all was quiet, but then the silence was split by a battle yell . . . Jason's.

Brandon spun around, trying to locate the source. "Jason?! Jason, where are you?!" The silence was deafening, until there was another yell and finally Brandon could see two silhouettes in the distance. He ran towards the figures and as he approached he was finally able to make out Jason, although the sight made him slow down. Jason was wearing a strange amalgamation of his training gi, along with pieces of his old and current Ranger armor, and all the pieces kept shifting. The other figure still seemed far off until Jason landed a blow and Brandon realized that his boyfriend's opponent didn't look like a silhouette because it was far off . . . in effect it was a silhouette made three dimensional, its only significant feature being a pair of coldly glowing blue eyes. Brandon didn't understand what was going on, at least, not completely. However, he figured that somehow he was with Jason and that this was the Shadow Dreaveus' attack had left inside his boyfriend.

Brandon's hand went to his chest and he yelled, "Phoenix Henshin!" He then looked down in shock when nothing happened and found that the amulet was gone. "Fine, we do this the old fashion way," he muttered before charging the Shadow and knocking it away from Jason in a flying tackle.

"Brandon?" Jason asked in shock as his boyfriend intervened. The flickering armor settled down into Jason's training clothes and the omnipresent red glow pushed back against the encroaching darkness. Brandon, however, was unable to respond as the Shadow knocked him away, slashing his side with claw-like fingers.

None of the Rangers were sure what had happened. Jason had started convulsing and then Brandon had reached out and grabbed his hand. Now Jason was no longer convulsing, but both he and Brandon were completely unresponsive. Kim observed that Jason's bio and energy reading were beginning to stabilize, and so Billy was reluctant to separate them, despite the fact that he didn't understand why Jason's readings had changed

Suddenly Trini gasped and Billy looked at her questioningly, "Trini?"

"Look," Trini responded, pointing. Both Kim and Billy came around to look at the spot on Brandon's left side where Trini was pointing. A spot along his ribs was wet and the wetness was spreading rapidly. Kim reached out and pulled up Brandon's shirt and gasped herself . . . the wetness was blood from three parallel wounds in his side.

Jason held Brandon up as the other young man clutched his side and they both backed away from the Shadow. "Why didn't you morph first?" Jason asked in a scolding tone.

"Morph?"

"Change into your Ranger form," Jason explained.

"Oh. Tried. Can't seem to do it here. Amulet's not with me," Brandon spoke between spikes of pain. "I think it's because . . . I think we're inside your powers. And that thing's trying to feed on them."

Jason paused for a second, and then responded, "I think you're right. Not sure how, but I do."

The Shadow was getting closer. "Jason, I think you're the only one that can fight this here," Brandon observed.

"I was trying, but it's really strong. I don't think I can do this alone."

"Jase, if we're in your powers, you should be unbeatable here. Focus. Feel your powers. Believe in them. I believe in you."

Jason looked into Brandon's eyes, seeing the trust and something he could only identify as love there. He drew strength from that look. Letting Brandon go Jason stepped forward and focused himself. He could feel the Power all around him and flowing through him. Locking his chocolate brown eyes with the glowing blue hollows that were the Shadows eyes, Jason forcefully called, "Red Ranger Power!" The light that surrounded Jason was blinding, and even the Shadow took a step back. But unlike his normal morph, the light never really faded. Jason was just a blur of red light and power as he tore into the Shadow . . . which after that point never stood a chance. With a final punch through the Shadow, it vanished. Jason returned to Brandon, the light fading. He pulled Brandon to him and they kissed.

The first thing both Jason and Brandon realized as they kissed is that, even through their closed eyes was that the quality of the light had changed. Brandon realized his chest and back was somewhat cold, and Jason realized that he was feeling skin under his hands rather than cloth. They also both realized that there were giggles in the background. Both young men broke off the kiss and looked around. They were back in the infirmary, surrounded by the smiling faces of the other Rangers. Brandon's shirt had somehow been removed and there were bandages around his left side. Jason and Brandon both blushed severely. However, before anyone could speak a deep voice issued from a concealed speaker, "Rangers, if everything is alright now, please come to the main chamber. And bring the Crimson Ranger."