Disclaimer: Same as usual

Thanks y gracias for the reviews! Just to warn anyone who's extremely squeamish, this chapter contains quite a bit of blood. Hope you enjoy it anyway!


Six Scenes from a Nightmare

Sky awoke to screaming and, despite the protest of his stomach, leapt up to find the source of the problem. It was Z and she was, to Sky's horror, ripping the skin of her arms open with her nails. Sky grabbed her wrists, desperate to make her stop. "What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled.

"Get them off!" she shrieked. "They're everywhere! Get them off of me!"

"What is? Z, there's nothing there, I swear! Calm down, Z, you're going to kill yourself! Stop it!" Sky pleaded desperately, still trying to hold her back.

"Let GO! There are spiders all over me! Help me! Please, get them off!" she screamed, breaking down into tears. She still struggled against Sky, but he was stronger. Sky understood that the poison was making her see things she feared, so he wrapped his arms around her tightly. He prayed that, if she felt his body, she wouldn't feel the spiders and she would stop clawing at her own skin.

"It's ok," he whispered in her ear. "I'm here; you've got to relax, Z, there aren't any spiders. It's just you and me, and I'm not going to let you go." After a minute or two, she stopped struggling, and her screams were replaced by sobs. "Shh," Sky comforted, "it's alright, I promise. Trust in me, it's all going to be okay."

"I'm so-sorry," she sobbed, "but I h-hate spiders! They were…everywhere! Biting, crawling…I couldn't get rid of them!"

"Z, look at me," Sky turned her face to his. "There were never any spiders."

Z pushed him away and yelled, "No, they were here! Just like they were when my mother got sick! Our new apartment was filled with them…we had to move, there wasn't enough money to take care of her. My father always got rid of them because my mother and I hated them. The night she died, when my father got so angry, they all went away. For years they didn't come back, but then…he was late, and I knew he'd never come back, because of the spiders. They were everywhere at the orphanage, little ones, and I could never get away from them! Not until Jack came…he chased away the spiders, just like my father had. But the one night, when he was in jail and I was with Sydney, my dreams….always spiders. They were always there, unless Jack was with me or…or…you. I never understood why."

Sky stood up and walked slowly to her. "I…I'm sorry, Z. But I promise, I'll always stick by you, and I'll keep your spiders away," he smiled, reaching for her hand.

Z looked at it, and looked into his eyes; she saw truth and protection that she hadn't seen in anyone, not even Jack, since the death of her parents. She ran into his arms, and met him with a kiss. "Thank you," she whispered.

Sky grinned, "Of course. Now let's clean you up; I don't want you bleeding to death on me." Z looked at her hands and arms, covered in the muddy green blood. But before Sky could help her, he started to fall, leaving Z to hold his weight.

"Sky? Sky what's wrong?" she asked, carefully bringing them both to the floor.

Sky looked up at her, "It's the poison. Just keep talking, Z; it will help if I can hear you."

Z understood, and put his head in her lap. "What shall I tell you?" she wondered, absently stroking his hair.

"Anything; sing, I'd like to hear you sing. You've got such a beautiful voice, but you only ever sing when you think no one's listening."

"You stalker," she laughed. "Alright, I'll sing, but only for you. This better not get back to SPD, or Syd will never let me live it down." Sky smiled, even as he passed into darkness. But in the darkness, he heard her singing softly, some sort of lullaby. Even though he knew very well that he was about to enter a realm of nightmares, he felt stronger, just hearing her singing, knowing that in the real world, he was in her arms. Everything would be okay.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jack couldn't believe it. In front of his eyes, his worst nightmare was coming true. He, Bridge, and Sydney had been called out to fight an enormous horde of krybots led by Morgana and Broodwing, but the krybots hadn't been doing anything at all. They were all just standing there, waiting for the rangers. "Grumm has a message for Commander Cruger!"

For some reason, Cruger hadn't hesitated to come, along with Sam. "What does Grumm want, Morgana?" he asked.

The woman smirked, "You already know what he wanted, but his message is that it's too late! Your time is up – or rather, your rangers' time is up. Broodwing and I have been offered the grand pleasure of finishing them off."

"We thought you might want to say good-bye to them," Broodwing cackled. Morgana snapped her fingers and four krybots came forward, two dragging Z and two dragging Sky. Both were bound and gagged, covered in dirt and blood. The krybots pushed them down on their knees and left them there. Z looked up, her eyes locking with Jack's. But her eyes had changed – now they were hollow, bloodshot, full of pain…she looked back at the ground.

"NO!" Jack yelled. He ran forward, along with Sydney and Bridge, but slammed into a transparent blue shield. Sky screamed, his body writhing while Morgana laughed. Jack's eyes went wide and he backed away with the others.

"Your friends have given us so much," Broodwing hissed. "I haven't had to build a krybot for weeks; it's so much easier just to copy them. It seems a shame to lose such valuable tools, but orders are orders." He stood behind Sky, a gun against his head, while Morgana went behind Z.

Morgana grinned, "If there's anything you're dying to say, I suggest you say it now or it'll be too…" A shot went off, and Z fell dead at her feet.

"Z!" Jack screeched. "NO!"

"Oops, never mind. Sorry, my finger slipped. Well there's still time to…" another shot went off, and Sky fell. "Oh…guess not."

Sydney screamed and fell not her knees, sobbing. Broodwing cackled, "It seems our work here is done."

"Good-bye, rangers," sneered Morgana. With another snap of her finger, the villains disappeared, leaving the corpses behind.

Jack ran forward, pulling Z's body into his arms. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bridge run to Sky, leaving Sydney sobbing in a heap on the ground. "Wake up Lizzy," Jack cried, letting his tears wash away her blood and blatantly ignoring the whole in her head. "Please wake up…"

Someone's hand touched his shoulder; Jack jumped awake. "Relax, honey, you were having a bad dream," a kind voice told him. Jack was in the rec room, with Bridge and Sydney asleep on the couch across from him. None of them had gotten much sleep since their teammates' disappearance, and the exhaustion was beginning to take its toll. The owner of the voice was a woman with brown hair and soft brown eyes.

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"I'm Jennifer Tate, and you must be Jack Landers. My son has told me a lot about you, Jack. I was sorry to hear about your parents, they were good people, but I'm glad to know you're still alive. Everyone thought you'd gone with them, but…oh, listen to me ramble! I'm sorry," she smiled.

Jack sat up all the way and moved to make room for her. "No, don't be! You just saved me from my worst nightmare. Please, um, sit down."

She shook her head, "Actually, I'm just looking for Commander Cruger. He called me a little while ago; said there was some sort of emergency. Do you know where he is? Or Sky…I haven't talked to him for so long, and I'm beginning to get worried. I was hoping to find him here, but apparently not."

"You mean no one told you all this time?!" Jack exclaimed, standing up.

"Told me what?" asked Jen, a slight quiver to her voice. "What's going on? Did something happen to my son?"

Across the room, Sydney and Bride stirred. "Wha? Who? Where?" Bridge slurred. "Oh, hey there Mrs. Tate…MRS. TATE?!"

Both shot up and ran over. "Hello Bridge, Sydney," Jen greeted. "Do either of you know where…"

Cruger walked in. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Tate," he said. "I thought you might come here first."

She rounded on him. "Anubis, what is going on? Where is Schuyler?"

Cruger sighed; this was not going to be pretty. "Jennifer, I am very sorry to have to tell you this, but…"

"What happened to him?" shouted Jen. "Is he dead? Oh God, my baby! My only son…he can't be, not after…"

"Jennifer!" Cruger bellowed, gaining her attention. "Schuyler is not dead."

Jen looked relieved. "He isn't? Then why am I here? Where is he?"

"He…he and Cadet Delgado were…were captured by Grumm," Cruger slowly explained. "We've sent C-squad to attempt a rescue mission, but when we were communicating with the troobians Dr. Manx was given the impression they had not been properly suspended. Morgana let it slip that one…one of them was poisoned with the amoragan. If left untreated, amoragan is deadly."

Jen fainted.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Z wanted to shut her ears, close her eyes, curl into a tiny ball and die, but she knew that, for Sky's sake, she would have to brave his screams. The man was yelling gibberish to no one, stretching his hands through the bars of the cell as far as they would go, desperately trying to reach…something.

Z grabbed his shoulder and tried to pull him away; he was going to kill himself this way, she knew it. He'd end up having a heart attack or straining something vital, and she'd be all alone. "Sky, calm down!"

"Dad!" he hollered. "Please come back! I'm so sorry…"

'Well, at least I understood that…' Z thought. "Sky, no one's there. It's just me and you!" She moved her arms around his waist and attempted to pry him away from the bars.

"NO! He's right there! Let me go, I've got to save him! He's gonna die if I don't reach him!" Sky said desperately.

"Don't let the poison fool you! Nobody's there! You're only killing yourself, Sky!" Z cried, knowing very well he was too heavy for her to move alone. 'Wait…alone…I don't have to do it alone!' Z tripled herself, not even thinking of the repercussions it could have on her health, and all three clones managed to pull Sky backwards. Unfortunately, Z wasn't able to keep the doppelgangers up for very long, and when they disappeared both she and Sky fell back to the ground. The shock of the impact woke Sky from the nightmare.

"Where…what happened to him? Dad? Where are you?!" he yelled.

Z kept her arms firmly around his waist. "He was never here, Sky, I'm sorry. It's only us; please, calm down, come back to me."

Sky stopped struggling against Z. "My dad…I was never good enough for him. He was always stronger, faster; he found something wrong with everything I did, and I could never get away from it. He was my idol, and I hated him so much. All I ever wanted was to be good enough for him, to be worth something in his eyes. He was never there when I needed him, and half the time neither was my mother. But she at least accepted what I did, my dad…no, I just couldn't ever live up to him. I was a disappointment, worthless to him. Sometimes I'd hope he would die on one of his all-important missions, missions that he thought were more important then me and my mother! Then one day, he did die. I knew it was my fault. He's haunted me even more now. That's why I have to be the best, I have to be perfect for him, because I killed him, I killed him Z!"

Z pulled Sky up, so that they were both on their knees. "Sky, listen to me: what happened to your dad was not your fault, and you cannot blame yourself for it. You are a wonderful person, Sky, and now I see that you've been letting your father get in the way of that. Don't let him control you, because the real you is someone who's kind, loving, sweet, handsome, and strong. And you know what else? That's the Sky Tate I fell in love with."

Sky dropped his eyes. "Now I feel like an idiot, crying in front of you. Th…thank you."

Z took his face in her hands, pulling his eyes back to her and drying his tears with her thumbs. "Hey, everyone cries. I must be some sort of tear-magnet, because I've seen Jack, Sydney, Bridge, Boom, Kat, and even Cruger cry. Just don't tell them I told you that."

"You saw the commander crying?" Sky asked.

Z smiled, "Like a baby. It was right after he made the decision to send you after that meteor. I asked him what was wrong and for some odd reason, he actually told me. He said it reminded him of the time he chose to send your dad out, and…and he didn't come back. But the other thing he said was that he knew already if anything happened, he would lose both you and Jack. You would've at least followed orders to stay behind, but not Jack."

"He cried over me?"

"Hey, I sorta started to cry, too…you should have seen him! It was enough to make Grummbreak down! But, of course, he threatened my life if I told anybody before we could really get going."

"So that's why you're telling me now?"

"Yup. At least I finally get to say th…you alright?" Sky had winced suddenly, grabbing his shoulder.

"My shoulder," he groaned, "I don't know what it is, but…damn, it really hurts!"

Z rolled her eyes, "Men; ok, let me see it. You must've pulled something when you were trying to be Jack and go through the bars. Take off your shirt." Sky gave her a look. "I'm serious, Sky."

He sighed, but complied. Then he winced and grabbed his shoulder. "Ok, then," said Z, "I'll help you." Carefully, she managed to get the uniform jacket off of his injured arm, only to see he was wearing a tight, long-sleeved black shirt under it. "You couldn't wear one without sleeves? Jack does."

"How do you know?" Sky retorted.

Z laughed, "Would you relax? I know because he's been trying to get Sydney to notice for the past couple of months and he walks into our room, without knocking, might I add, without the jacket on in this really good-looking, tight, red…"

"Ok, ok! I really don't need to picture it! Ouch!" Sky exclaimed as Z began to peel the second shirt off.

"Hey, I've seen him in less then that," Z shrugged. "It got pretty hot in the summer, and we didn't have air conditioning back before we were in SPD. Stop struggling! You're only making it worse, and I'm about to rip the stupid thing off you!"

"Ow!"

"Got it," Z smirked, handing him the shirt and jacket. "Now let me see…" She moved to take a closer look at his shoulder. She sighed, "Sky, I hate to say it, but you have definitely dislocated your shoulder. It'll keep hurting like that unless I fix."

"You?!"

"Yes, me. Hey, don't look at me like that, you sorta fixed my broken ribs, and I have had a lot of experience with dislocated bones. Um, tilt you head to the other side so I can get a better look at it."

Sky sighed but looked away from her. "How would you…OW! God…damn…you…hey, you fixed it!"

Z was smirking when he turned back to her. "You would never have let me fix it if you knew when I was going to do it. Anyway, I told you I could – I worked with Jack, remember? I think he's dislocated or broken every bone in his body. Now hand me that black shirt, I'm not sure if I did it completely right, so I'm gonna wrap it."

"You're taking my shirt apart?" Sky exclaimed, handing it to her anyway.

Z rolled her eyes again, tearing it easily. "I should have done this in the first place. Anyway, yes, I am. Oh relax! You can put the stupid uniform back on when I'm done."

Sky sighed, "Thanks."

"You're wel…uh-oh, they have guns…" Z trailed off, staring over Sky's shoulder.

"Wha? Oh…" Sky turned to see Morgana, Broodwing, and several krybots, all toting guns. Morgana and Broodwing seemed to wish to stay as far away from the rangers as possible.

"We've been given permission to get rid of you now, so you don't infect the ship," Morgana explained, with none of the glee one would expect at the opportunity to destroy her enemies.

Sky pulled Z closer to him, moving in front of her. "Don't be a hero," hissed Broodwing, "you can't protect her this time."

"Sky, can't we just die together? It'll be an easier shot for 'em, you know how poor their aim is…" Z suggested.

"Not for what I have in mind," Sky whispered under his breath. "Stay close."

Z understood immediately, and squeezed his hand. She kissed his cheek, taking the opportunity to leave the message, "Go for it," in his ear.

"Sweet, a good-bye kiss," smirked Morgana. "Well, there's no point in dragging this out if you're all done and I don't get to play. Krybots, fire!"

Sky raised his shield just before the bullets pelted them, making Morgana roar with anger. "STOP!" The shots paused. She turned her attention to Sky, who was only standing upright because Z held him straight. "Fine, you want to live this curse? Be my guest; but you won't be getting anymore food from me. Starve, or die from the poison…whichever comes first. We'll send krybots to burn your corpses in a month or so."

She turned on her heel and left, with the krybots and Broodwing trailing behind her. Z let Sky collapse into her arms. "Thanks," she said, lying next to him.

"Why? You did the same thing for me," Sky replied, kissing her.

"You deserved it," Z whispered.

"So did you…" Sky brushed a kiss to her burning forehead.