Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, although with few exceptions, everyone here is an OC set in the Ranger world.
A/N: I once read a story where Carter was related to Robin from Batman...not that this is actually related to that *cough* just an interesting fact. Also, again, story has not been abandoned. I plan to try to finish this before the end of the year.
When Lance woke up, it was with a migraine and an oath to never do whatever it was he'd done again, ever. He pressed one hand to his forehead and groaned. "Lance?"
Lance opened his eyes to find Nicole leaning over him, "What happened?" He asked.
"You were looking over the injured and you just started screaming," Nicole replied, "what happened?"
Memory made itself known through the migraine. "The girl," he said, "Elizabeth? She's sick, really sick." He pushed himself up, finding himself in the infirmary tent with the four people he'd been intending to help.
"Lance," Nicole said, "you should stay down."
"No, I'll be ok," Lance said. He glanced at the man who had been sleeping, and was now awake, "I can't let this wait, I'm sorry." He stumbled over to Elizabeth and sat down beside her, "Sorry I scared you," he said.
"What happened?" Elizabeth asked.
Lance smiled sadly, "Just an old memory crashing with a spell, old trauma." He laid his hand on her leg, "Elizabeth, I don't know an easy way to say this, but your illness, it's cancer." She gasped and paled and he squeezed, "I can't heal you all the way. I'm not strong enough even under the best circumstances, but if Corinth has all the advanced medicine they're supposed to, you will be ok. I can use my abilities to hold off your symptoms and to slow the advance of the cancer until we get there." He called, not the verdant green healing magic, but the softer, but infinitely more powerful yellow into his palm and let it flow over his hand and into her leg, where it spread out over her.
"How is that different than what you did for the others?" Nicole asked.
Lance sighed, "I'm an elect, Aunt Nicole, and I'm Dad's heir in almost every sense of the word, including being a future yellow ranger. When Mom was pregnant with me, there was that thing with the Giants of Higher Springs and Mom had to morph. They didn't know she was pregnant, but it affected me. I can't morph, I don't have a morpher, but I was connected to the Grid in the womb. I overheard Pa and Dad talking about it once, even if I wasn't supposed to. Studies about pregnant human Rangers are few and far between, usually a kid whose mom morphed while pregnant is different. For me, it means that I have a little extra power and I can do some things that I really shouldn't. It's why I'm so advanced in my training. My natural abilities are fed by a connection to the Grid and never had to 'wake up' if you would. They've always been active, and while they're getting stronger now that I've hit puberty, they were near what most healers consider full power all my life. The only thing keeping me from being at least a journeyman healer by now is youth and experience."
Lance turned back to Elizabeth, "Feeling better?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said.
"Good," Lance replied, "keep in mind, I haven't completely healed you. You are still going to tire easier than you would have, and bruise faster than normal, but your breathing should easy and you shouldn't have any other problems. Come see me in the morning and I'll do what I did again, ok?"
"Thank you," Elizabeth said.
Lance stood carefully, and nearly fell over as his body began to shake from strain. Nicole caught one arm and Macy caught the other, "I'm ok," he told them, "I just pushed a little harder than I should."
"If you hadn't of," Nicole began.
"Not here," Luke hissed, taking a step forward, and then a second one.
His aunt and Macy flanked him back to the tent he would share with his aunt, "You gave her pure Grid energy didn't you?" Nicole said as soon as Luke was on his cot.
"Yes," Luke replied. "Is she a Ranger kid? She felt a little like one."
"No," Nicole replied. "Elizabeth is the adopted daughter of Carter Grayson's half-brother, Richard. She spent a lot of time around Carter and his team, but she has no genetic connection to a Ranger. What do you mean, felt like one?"
"She's got a connection to the Grid," Luke said, "like she could be a Ranger if she had the morpher. Not like I have, but more like Mon or the twins, the Power's waiting for her to tap it."
"I don't understand," Macy said.
Luke sighed, "My parents were Rangers, meaning they drew power from what's called the Universal Morphin' Grid. Because my mother used the Power while she was pregnant with me, I was exposed in a mostly unformed state that gives me a unique link. In theory, with training, I could even achieve a low level morph, nothing Ranger level or anything, but some protection. Most Ranger kids, or future Rangers, have a latent link to the Grid. It doesn't do much for them, except giving them a predisposition for athletic prowess and decent healing abilities. Elizabeth has that latent link. I can channel Grid energy to her, which heals a little of the damage the cancer does to her."
"What does that mean about your little freak out?" Nicole asked.
"Have you ever heard about 'Heal or Die'?" Lance asked.
"No," Nicole said after a moment of thought.
Lance nodded, "Then listen closely," he sat back up, "there are times when a Healer has to heal, sometimes an injury but mostly it's an illness, and they hit what could be called a point of no return. They'll give so much of themselves to the healing that they can't back out without outside intervention. They will literally heal themselves to death, giving all of their energy. That's why I prefer to use holistic methods as much as possible. When I was a kid, Dad used to take me to the hospital to see what he did for a living. I made friends with this kid, Amber, and after a while, I started giving her healing energy to help her get better. She had cancer, you see, and the treatments weren't working. What I was doing wasn't enough, so I decided to sneak into the hospital at night and just heal her. I couldn't understand why Dad wouldn't do it."
Lance swallowed, "I almost killed myself. Dad figured it out where I was, but by the time he got there, I was locked in and couldn't be pulled out. I had to heal Amber or I would die. Dad, Mom and Pa all channeled their magic into me so that I could finish the job. Dad almost lost his job because of that. The parents heard what happened and got mad. It was only the fact that I spent two weeks flat on my back barely able to breath for myself that convinced them that such a thing would be unwise. I think some magic was worked to get people to back off as well. The hospital knew Dad was a Ranger anyways, after the final battle against the Master, but after a while, the parents just stopped asking. Dad later explained to me that he did use his magic to help the kids, in little doses. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes it didn't."
"So you could get trapped like that again," Nicole said.
"I could," Lance agreed, "but now you know about it. That means we can work to prevent it from happening."
"And work we shall," Nicole replied. "Get some sleep, Lance. We still have to break camp in the morning. With those Grinders following us in, we don't want to risk something worse finding us."
"Yes ma'am," Lance replied. "Just wake me in the morning," he added with a yawn.