A\N: I have a two-year-old sister who also worships Power Rangers. If anyone EVER asked her to become a superhero before at LEAST twenty, I would murder them. So I started thinking. Enjoy!

I am a Power Ranger. I live by three rules: Never escalate a fight, never use powers for personal gain, and never reveal my identity.

I broke the third rule by talking in my sleep.

Uncle John gestures at breakfast. Well, if he cooked, it can't be a bad sign. So I head over and sit down, fiddling with my communicator. The food smells okay, but I'm kind of wondering how anyone could ever eat again.

"Tommy...I'm proud of you."

I blink. Well, of all the things he could have said, that was least expected. "Just so you know, before you mind-wipe me or anything." Uncle John explains, smiling. "I really am, Tommy. Fighting something like Zedd takes a lot of courage."

"I can't mind-wipe you, Uncle John." I explain quietly. "I wouldn't do that to a civilian, anyway."

Uncle John picks up some bacon and chomps on it, shrugging. "Want to tell me how you ended up White Ranger?"

"It started when I was sixteen." I tell him. Memories threaten to overwhelm me, but as always, I push them back. "Zordon of Eltar came to Earth to defend it against Rita and the United Alliance of Evil. The original five Rangers--you've met them, but I can't tell you who they are--were doing so well fighting her that she needed a general. I was that general."

"Oh my god." Uncle John breaths. "How?"

"She kidnapped me the first week we were in AG." I explain, and I'm not a child any more, I'm an adult, explaining something to Uncle John that no child should ever have to explain to his guardian. "She made me her evil Green Ranger."

Uncle John shakes his head in amazement, so I continue. "I attacked everyone I met. I killed a hundred people and wounded more. I psycologically tortured the only other Rangers on the planet. And, oh, yeah, I think I actually kidnapped and tortured the Pink Ranger." Not think--know. I still remember her tiny body shaking against mine as she kissed me, the soft moan as I drew her pleasure in my power and dominance from the dark corners of her mind. I wish I knew how much I'd actually done, how much I have left to make up for.

Uncle John says nothing. I don't blame him. I can feel the morning darknening from my recital. "Red Ranger eventually destroyed my Power Sword, which broke the spell. I ended up on Zordon's side. Rita wanted to punish me for leaving her, and destroyed my powers to do it. Then Zordon infused a white coin with energy straight from the Morphin' Grid--what the Rangers use as a power source--and gave me that so I could keep fighting." I smile wryly. "So I ended up fighting Zedd and being White Ranger."

"To make up for being evil?" Uncle John asks.

I nod slowly. "Yes."

Uncle John sighs. "I'd like to meet your Zordon, if only to give him a peice of my mind."

"Excuse me?" Trini's rubbing off on me. I actually said that without an added 'are you out of your mind'?

Uncle John looks carefully at me, then reaches over and pulls my wrist out, pushing my sleeve up. "That's why. Those scars."

I wince. Those are from after I was evil, when I was pretty much suicidal. "That wasn't Zordon's fault."

"Really? And tell me, did Zordon help get those powers away from you and make sure I knew enough to get you help? Even just to keep you from dying?" Uncle John asks. "Tommy, the difference between good and evil is action. Rita turning you was evil. What you did under her spell was evil. And Zordon asking children to fight for him was evil."

"Children can fight."

Uncle John lets my arm go. "Yes. But they should never have to. Would you have asked Kim to go fight in the second world war?"

"No!" I say instantly.

"Then why should she be Pink Ranger?"

I gape in horror. How much did I say last night?

Uncle John smiles. "You only hang out with five people, Tommy. Really, how hard is it? And you...you don't really think of yourself as innocent, but you certianly didn't have any suicidal tendencies before this Ranger thing." He sighs. "I should have known something was wrong when you tried to kill yourself. But I thought...well, you're a good liar. I wish I'd seen how much you were hurt, Tommy, I really do. It's a parent's job to take care of his son, and you might not be my son, but you're very badly hurt, and it is my job to take care of you."

I blink. Where did that come from? "I'm not hurt, Uncle John."

Uncle John raises an eyebrow. "Would you kill yourself if I wasn't here to stop you?" Yes. "Then you're hurt. What Rita made you do is still hurting you, and instead of making sure you got help, Zordon let you keep getting hurt again and again. Not really surprising, though, given that he's the one who initially hurt five other children in the same way."

"He's like...like a father to us." I say, but the words are so hollow. He's right. Oh, dear lord, I know he's right but I don't want to admit it at all.

I know I'm hurt. I just didn't know the words to say it before.

"Fathers don't hurt their children." Uncle John says. He clears his plate, starting to rinse it off. "You deserve better, Tommy. Much better. But you are an adult, no matter what the law says. That's why I'm so proud of you. No matter what you were put through, you grew up and matched it. That's what a man does, Tommy. He isn't a victim. He takes his own life into his hands." He heads away. "If it were me in your shoes, Tommy, I think I'd be asking myself whether I really trusted this Zordon or not."

And he's gone.

I shake my head. I trust Zordon. Of course I do!

But...but Kim's so innocent. She's always been like that...

"Tommy. Please...don't do this."

Her tiny body shaking against mine, my cruel smirk touching her lips. My mouth invading hers, my hands stroking her back. I was doing something so wrong, I knew that, but I liked it, liked taking my own pleasure from Kim and drawing her own pleasure from her. She moaned as I succeeded, once again, in seducing her, just for the moment.

We broke apart, and Kim whispered, pathetically, "We shouldn't be doing this." She really believed she could save me with only her words. "Tommy, stop, please. I can help you. Zordon can."

I took her hope and crushed it. "No, beautiful." I told her, biting her neck. "No one can save me now. And no one will ever save you."

I wince. No wonder I didn't remember that. I crushed her, made her believe she was alone. And she was.

What child could do that to another child?

Were we truly children?

Was I ever a child?

I shut my eyes in pain. When was the last time I felt safe? The last time I knew someone else would protect me, that Uncle John would keep the monsters away? The last time I wasn't scared I would die tomorrow?

Why is it like this? Could it...how could it be Zordon's fault?

But how could he have hurt us? Maybe...maybe he just didn't know. Maybe his people aren't children at sixteen. Maybe he didn't see how innocent we were until it was too late.

I look at my communicator. I can find the awnsers. I just have to ask.

I raise my communicator to my lips. "Zordon? It's Tommy."

"YES, TOMMY?"

"We need to talk."

Zordon pauses, then says, "VERY WELL."

With a white flash, I take my life back. I smile.

And all it took was the breaking of one rule.