Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.
Thanks again to the reviewers! This chapter is a lot of discussion, but I promise the next one will start the real action!
Three Things We'll Never Say
For the past week, every day had been the same for Sky. He would wake up to the same small cell, the same eerie silence. Z would either still be sleeping or sulking on the opposite side of the cell, her back always to him. Sometimes they would attempt to work together, but it never lasted for very long.
Almost every day, Morgana would come in and drag Z away for a few hours. Every other day, someone would toss them food. They had to share the meager meal, so they split it as evenly as possible without speaking. They saw very little of Grumm, and Sky hoped it would remain that way. Then again, he really would have loved to see less of Morgana, too.
Now Sky sat deep in thought. Z had been gone for longer then usual, but Sky would never admit to worrying about her. Instead, he tried to keep his mind occupied with escape plans. His thoughts were interrupted by the cell door opening, but he refused to look up. If he acknowledged her, she would only glare daggers. But this time was different; rather then hearing Z cursing the krybots, Morgana, and all dolls, he heard the thump of a body hitting the ground. The doors banged closed, and Sky could not help a glance behind him when he heard no movement from his companion.
"Oh God…" he whispered. Z had been thrown on her stomach, unconscious. Sky ignored his pride, knelt next to her body, and turned it over carefully. "Z?" he called. "Z can you hear me?" He leaned over her and checked for any major injuries. There was a nasty cut on Z's forehead that Sky assumed came from whatever had knocked her unconscious. Deciding it was better than doing nothing, Sky ripped off a piece of the small, dirty blanket they had been given and dipped the corner into a bowl of equally dirty water. Carefully, he dabbed it across her cut, trying to wash away the blood and keep it from getting worse.
Z's hand wrapped tightly around his wrist and her eyes flew wide open. She blinked a few times at Sky's blurry figure before releasing his arm. "Oh, it's you! Sorry…well, sort of. What are you doing, anyway?"
Sky rubbed his wrist, trying to ease the pain. "I was trying to help you; you're bleeding. Ow…I think you broke my wrist!"
Z sat up slowly, a palm against the cut on her head. "Oh, quit being such a baby. As for the blood, you probably just infected me with whatever was in that water – can you call what we have water?"
"Thanks Sky, it was nice of you to care if I was unconscious and possibly injured," he mocked. "It was the only thing at hand; what did you want me to use?"
Z stood up, using the wall to stumble back to 'her' side of the cell. "Whatever."
Sky groaned in frustration, throwing the ripped piece of blanket on the moldy stone floor. There were several moments of tense silence before Sky spoke, "So, what exactly happened?"
"Huh?" Z looked up. "Oh…well, apparently Morgana was not too happy when I kicked her ass, so she had about five blue-heads come in and try to kill me," she explained.
Sky smirked, "Looks like they did a pretty good job of that."
"I'm still here, aren't I?" she grinned. "They'll never get rid of me."
"Yeah, until they are allowed to use guns."
Z grew quiet again, looking down at her feet. Sky almost missed her muttered words, "Thanks, by the way…I guess."
"Your welcome…I guess."
She looked up again. For the first time since they were introduced on the streets of New Tech City, the two shared a real, friendly smile.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Z was worried. Sky was sleeping, but he kept calling out and rolling over. Not that she'd ever tell him she was worried, but she did care. Heck, the guy was her teammate, and he had tried help her.
She smiled a little, going over to him with the blanket in hand; the cell was freezing, and he was shivering. She put it over him and brushed some of the blue ranger's normally perfect hair out of his face. Now she reconsidered the blanket, because he was sweating. His face was contorted in a grimace, so Z decided it was time to wake him up. "YO SKY! NAP TIME'S OVER! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! SAVE THE WORLD!" She never was one for the fuzzy, comforting, wakey-wakey-eggs-and-bakey junk.
Sky shot up, prepared for battle, and then noticed Z standing over him. He groaned in acknowledgment of his surroundings. "Hey, I don't look that hideous, do I?" Z joked. When she received no curt response, Z sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Alright, blue boy, what's going on?"
"Huh?" Sky opened one eye.
"I just gave you the chance to insult me and you didn't take it. What's with you? I mean other then the whole being captured by Grumm thing."
"Nothing; just a nightm…why do I have a blanket?"
"Because you were shivering. So you had a nightmare? About what?"
Sky pushed the blanket aside and sat up. "Nothing, Z, don't worry about it. I'm fine. How's your head doing?"
"Don't change the subject," Z replied. "And do not lie to me. That was some nightmare – you were screaming."
"I was screaming?"
"Don't sound so upset about it; Jack used to get nightmares, too, before we came to SPD. Everybody's afraid of something, or more then one something," Z explained.
Sky raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? What are you afraid of then? Anything warm and fuzzy?"
Z smiled, "You would be surprised to see how dangerous fuzz is. Honestly, though? A lot of things. When I was little my abuela always told me that only a fool fears nothing. True courage is to face your fears; to voice them and accept them."
Sky shared her smile, "My mother said that, too. Abuela is grandmother, right?"
"Yeah."
"Did your family always speak Spanish?"
"Well, we sort of spoke spanglish." Sky laughed. "No, I mean, we knew both languages, but we used a lot of English because we had to speak it everyday. How about you?"
"Well, I took French one year at the academy so I could be in the same class as Sydney. I had this huge crush on her," admitted Sky.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, we even dated for a little while," Sky made a face. "That did not work out, so don't ask me about it and never tell her that I told you."
"If we ever get out of here, my lips are sealed."
"So…what about you and Jack?"
Z stared at him, "Me and Jack? Um, eww! Just the thought is kind of sickening. He's my brother, Sky; it would be only a little less frightening then you dating Cruger."
Sky cringed. "Never say that again. That is so wrong in so many ways…" he shivered.
Z laughed again, "Alright, well maybe it was like you dating Sydney."
"Syd and I – we were just too different," Sky explained.
"Like you and me?"
Sky's laugh was a little nervous, but Z didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, I guess so."
But Z had noticed, with a small bit of satisfaction, the hint of disappointment in his voice. "Or maybe we are more alike than we would like to think."
"How do you figure?" asked Sky.
"We're stuck in the same cage because we were arguing when we should have been fighting. We both lost people dear to us when we were young. We're both stubborn, hard-working, and, somehow, beneath that tough-guy shell of yours, I can tell you care as much as I do."
Sky fiddled with his hands, "My dad did a lot of charity work, so I always ended up going with him. I guess when he died, I didn't see the point anymore."
"You know, when I first met Jack he said the same thing; it took me a good month to convince him to start our little charity operation – however illegal it was. See, you and Jack are not so different after all."
Sky let out an exaggerated groan, "Great; shall I go become Robin Hood, then?"
"Hmm…I think you'd look pretty good in tights," Z smirked.
"Please tell me that wasn't a part of the job…"
Z chuckled, "Nah, Jack's bad enough in the red spandex. I do not even want to think about tights!"
"Well the yellow looks pretty damn good on you," as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sky put a hand over his lips. 'I did not just say that out loud!'
But Z was grinning, "Really? Then I guess I'll have to admit that blue looks good on you. Blue is my favorite color."
"You're kidding?" Sky dropped his hand in shock. "Then why do you always wear yellow?"
She shrugged, "Why do you wear blue if your favorite color is red? Why does Jack wear red when his favorite color is pink?"
"His favorite color is what?!"
"I'm joking, Sky! Jack prefers black."
Sky let out a sigh of relief, "Phew. I was gonna say, Jack in red spandex is bad enough, you're right. Jack in pink spandex…" Both shivered, laughing.
"Man, if he could hear us now…"
"I know, he'd kill us!"
Z smirked, "You know what Tate? You're not half bad. It's a pleasure to be stuck with you."
Sky returned her grin, "You're not so terrible either, Delgado. Want some blanket?"
"You know that means we'll have to sit closer together, don't you?"
"I'll live…I think. But the first thing I'm doing when I get back to SPD is taking a shower."
"Good; you reek!" Z shouted.
