A/N: I'm back again! Here we are with the final part of the Altered/Reality series! I was so excited to start this one and have been working non-stop to get some of it written for you all. This is a continuation of my previous fics with the same title in the beginning. I really hope you guys enjoy this and that you will leave a review to let me know. I know you all had SO many questions at the end of the last part so I am hoping that you will get all your answers. :)
Altered/Reality: Dawn of the White Light
Kim
When you've been gone from somewhere for long and you spend the better part of five years wishing to come back to it, you almost expect certain things. You expect everything to be the same as it was frozen in time the moment you left and reawoke when you stepped foot back in that location. That you are the beating heart it needs to keep living and it wasn't able to while you were gone. You also expect that the face you've craved to see would be there as well, smiles and happiness about seeing you again. There would be kind words, hugs, reasons for celebrating as you reunite with those who you haven't seen in what felt like a lifetime. Happy tears even, knowing that you were back where you belonged after being gone for so long.
There were no happy faces upon my return back to my world. Instead, they were faces of horror and anguish. In the last five years of this war that has been waging between the two worlds, the loss has been a common thing. I had seen it for myself in the castle, the wives working in the kitchen and infirmary hearing news that their husbands and sons had been lost in battle causing their cries and wailing to carry throughout the cold stone walls of the castle. It always left a hollow feeling in my chest, sorrow for them and their heartache that I couldn't help them with. I had been lucky that no one I knew had been lost to the war and that everyone I knew was still alive to fight. As I watched my friends and their old counterparts stare down at the body of what was an older Jason, I realized that that luck had just run out.
"Oh my god," Trini whispered to my right, her hand covering her mouth. I noticed that she did not have an older counterpart in the room as well as Zack. He was off to the side, a sickened look on his face as he turned away from the sight of the fallen ranger. An older Billy bent down next to the slain Jason, reaching for his wrist for any kind of pulse. Just by looking at his face and complexion, I knew there was no chance that he was still alive in any sense. His eyes stared into the distance, no light in them while his skin was a pale bluish-gray color. There was no life inside of him anymore, courtesy of Lord Drakkon.
"Is he…?" Our Jason asked, a strained sound in his voice. Behind him, our Billy was at the computer. He looked pale, the glow of the lights of the room making him look like he was transparent. The Billy on the floor hung his head, bringing a hand to his face. After a second, he sniffed and nodded before turning his attention to my alter ego, the Ranger Slayer. She laid unconscious on the floor next to him, still breathing though.
"What happened?" Alpha asked in a soft voice.
"Drakkon happened," Trini said, tears welling in her eyes.
"Yeah. And now he has our daughter." Tommy's voice said from behind me where he had propped himself up against a control panel for support since I had told him about what we had left behind.
"William," Zordon's voice called from the tube above us all. "Please move Jason and Kimberly both to the medical bay." The older Billy stood, nodding. I could see the trails of tears on his face as he grabbed a device that was sitting on the larger control panel desk. He hit something and the two on the floor rose up, floating on something invisible to the human eye. I watched as he led them out of the room, disappearing through a doorway.
"Alright. A lot happened over there. We need to talk about it." Jason said, stepping forward. His helmet was gone but he was still dressed in his uniform.
"Talk about it? I am going back there right now to get y daughter." Tommy said, walking to where the portal had been when we had come through. "Billy, get the portal back on."
"Tommy, you would be walking into a suicide mission," Trini said. "After our attack, his forces are going to be crawling all over the palace."
"I don't care! I need to go save her!" He exclaimed. "I will go in, grab her, and get out before they even know I'm there."
"It's more complicated than that," I said, finding my voice. The room turned, looking at me. It had been five years since I had seen all of my friends and here I was with them again. It felt like I had gone in a time machine, transporting me back to our meetings in the Command Center. This wasn't the Command Canter though. It did resemble it with the technology and the lights, along with Zordon's floating head. This was smaller though and felt darker like we were underground.
"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.
"Drakkon came to me right before you showed up at the castle. He asked me to watch this little boy for him because they weren't sure where his parents were. He told me that they wanted to make sure he was safe." I replied, wiping the drying tears from my own face.
"Who was he?" Zack asked. I glanced over at Tommy.
"He was you," I said. Tommy's eyes widened. "He sent Goldar back in time in our world and kidnapped you. I think you're about 3. I'm not sure. I don't even know what his plan is."
"Well, that's perfect," Jason said, putting his hands on the control panel in front of him and allowing his head to drop down. "I don't suppose it was just to reconnect with his youth."
"Chances are he wants to eliminate Tommy as a child to prevent the threat of him uprising his invasion of our world," Billy said, adjusting his glasses. I noticed one of the lenses was broken, shattered in the corner near his hand.
"Fine. I will get both kids then. Doesn't change the plan at all." Tommy shrugged.
"You can't. It's too dangerous." Alpha said, holding his hands up. "Your Power Coin was destroyed in the other world and the crystal has been tapped out. It will need to be recharged before you can use it and without a Power Coin, you'll be unable to morph as it is."
"I came through it without an issue to get back here. I'm willing to risk it going back. Billy, the portal!" Tommy glared over at Billy who looked startled at the tone.
"Alpha is right, Tommy. The crystal took damage and it will affect your molecular structure. The Grid itself took a toll as well. You will risk not only yourself but the children being harmed traveling without the protection of a Power Coin. The Grid is too unstable to handle any transportation as it is. I'm unable to bring the portal back until it has time to stabilize." Billy looked almost terrified to say the words that he was, an uneasy feeling to his features.
"I'll go to a different portal then. The Ranger Slayer said the one we used before would take us right to the castle. I'll go there." Tommy moved to leave from the room but Jason reached out and grabbed his arm.
"I can't let you do this, man." Jason said. "I'm not letting you waltz to your own death." Tommy looked down at the hand on his arm. "We already lost someone today. I can't just let you go off too."
"It's my daughter," Tommy said, redness in his eyes appearing through tears that threatened to fall.
"I know. Once it's safe to go through, I will go with you and we will get her together. I won't let her spend any more time there than she has to. Right now is too risky though."
"She's safe there," I said, softly. Jason glanced over at me. "Drakkon won't hurt Abby. He has this sick thought of her being his child. He won't hurt her. I know that for sure."
"And obviously you are still here. That means he hasn't done anything to toddler Tommy yet. We have some time to regroup and come up with another plan. Storming in there isn't going to work a second time, especially after his powers have a chance to stabilize."
"Right now, we have to talk with Kim about everything in the other world," Trini stated, unmorphing. "The more we learn about Drakkon and his forces, the better. You've been there for five years. You have to know more than we do by now." I nodded.
"I've seen stuff inside the castle. I know he's got Zedd and Goldar working for him." I replied.
"Not anymore he doesn't," Zack said, letting out a dark chuckle. "He has Zedd's head on a stake in the middle of the town square and he's absorbed his powers," I swore, shaking my head.
"I knew he would try something like that. It's why I didn't want to tell him what I had overheard in the castle." I wrapped my arms around myself. "Goldar and Zedd were planning to lead a revolt against Drakkon once his powers failed. Zedd wanted to be the ruler and take care of Drakkon when he was most vulnerable. I only told him what I had heard because Zedd said he would kill Abby and me. He said he would take care of it. That must be what he meant."
"It's to make up for the crystals he couldn't get," Billy stated. "Without the complete crystal or the appropriate Power Coins, he wouldn't be able to use the pieces he had."
"We were able to get those," Jason said, walking over to the bag Trini had been carrying. Reaching in, he carefully pulled out the two pieces of the crystal we had taken from the cavern. He brought them over to Billy who put them next to a pink one that was on a metal slab in front of him. Jason and Trini handed them their pieces of crystal too while Tommy pulled his from his pocket. Unlike the others, it didn't glow at his touch. Instead, it was just a clear crystal with no power coming from it. Billy reached out and took it gently from Tommy's hand.
"So, now that we have the whole Zeo crystal, we can zap Drakkon off the map, right?" Zack asked, eyeing the glowing stones.
"The Zeo crystal doesn't work like that, Rangers. The pieces would need to be magically welded back together to form the crystal in its entirety. Until then, the piece will have to be used in conjunction with Power Coins." Zordon stated, his voice resounding around the room we were in.
"Well, what do we do about Tommy's Power Coin then?" Jason asked. "Can we repair it?"
"Billy and William will need to run some tests on it to determine that." Zordon replied. "Until then, we will need to regroup and rest."
"Rest? Yeah, okay." I heard Tommy mutter under his breath as he handed his Power Coin over to Billy. I thought about Abby, alone in the castle without me for the first time in her entire life. Was Finster still there? Was he caring for her in my absence? Had the castle come crashing down on top of her? Had no one located her in the closet I had hidden them? Tears welled in my eyes and I buried my face in my hands as a soft cry escaped my lips. Tommy wrapped his arms around me in an instant, holding me close to him. I clung to his shirt tightly, trying to push the images from my mind.
"Take her into the sleeping quarters, Tommy." Alpha said in a soft tone. "You both need some time."
"Thanks, Alpha." Tommy said. Tommy pulled away just enough to wrap an arm around my shoulders. I wiped at my face as he led me away from the rest of our group towards a door on the opposite side of the room where the Ranger Slayer and the dead Jason had gone. Tommy stroked my back as we walked down the dark hallway until we came across a fork that was lit with a dull light. He went to the left, entering another doorway. Here, I saw make-shift sleeping quarters with bunks pressed up against walls. It looked as if the bunks from the Command Center had been stolen and placed in any manner they could get them to fit in here. There were about ten beds in total, personal effects at each one that told me they were well lived in.
"Here. Sit." Tommy whispered, bringing me over to one of the beds. I did as he said, bending to sit down on a cot. He sat next to me, holding on to me as we sat together.
"I can't believe she isn't with us. I've spent years thinking about this moment of being rescued and back with everyone but I never imagined that it would be without her."
"It's my fault. I should have listened to you. You were trying to tell me to stay and I wouldn't listen." He said, shaking his head. "I was more focused on saving you."
"I hid her in a closet. Both of them. We were going to try to escape when you guys showed up. I didn't know what else to do so I hid them. The castle was falling down…What if…" My voice trailed off and cracked, the images threatening to come back again. Tommy reached out and cupped his hands on my face.
"Hey. Listen to me. If the castle had fallen, the Billys would know about it. We have that place on our radar 24/7 somehow. It has to be in one piece still. And Drakkon isn't going to let anything happen to her. He has too much leverage with her there now anyway. As they said, we're going to let the crystals get fully recharged, and then we will go in and save both of the kids."
"I think Goldar is the one who killed your parents," I whispered, looking at him. "Your biological parents. Drakkon said they couldn't find them and you were found wandering around a tower. I think he sent Goldar to kill you but he screwed up."
"We're gonna worry about that later. Right now, I have you back here with me. That's something, right?" He smiled, giving me a kiss on the forehead. He was right. I spent every night that we were apart, wishing and praying that we could be together. Even when I thought he was dead thanks to Drakkon's lies, I prayed with my entire heart that he would just show up and take us away from there. And he did. I was back with Tommy, the person I loved with every fiber of my being. I didn't think this would happen ever again and it made my heart swell with emotions.
"I missed you," I whispered, closing my eyes as our foreheads pressed together. "When Drakkon told me you had died, a part of me died with you. I didn't want to believe it."
"Everyone here believed you were dead too. I never stopped looking for you. I searched every single day for a way to find you and get to you. I knew you were out there somewhere." Opening my eyes, I sat back.
"Drakkon said that you and the Ranger Slayer were married. That's why you never came to the castle until today." Tommy shook his head, taking my hands into his. I could feel the roughness to them that came with war and battle.
"No. I never came because I didn't know how to. I had no proof you were alive and the Grid was unstable all this time. Something happened though and they were able to pick up on your energy readings. That's why we made our move today."
"I should have tried to escape sooner," I whispered, turning away from him. "I stayed like an idiot, thinking that there was no point because you were dead."
"You had no way of knowing what would happen if you did try," Tommy said, squeezing my hands. "It was too risky and you wanted to protect Abby." I nodded.
"I didn't know what else to do." He rubbed his thumbs over the tops of my hands.
"Tell me about her." He said, giving me a smile. "What's our little girl like?"
"She's brilliant, Tommy. She's so smart and bright. I swear she picks up anything you try to teach her like it's nothing. She has your hair and your sense of humor. Her laugh is just the most beautiful thing in the world. She has this smile that just lights up a room. She's perfect in every sense of the word." I said. "She reminds me of you so much."
"I can't wait to meet her. I can't believe we have a daughter. I mean, we were only together that short time."
"I know. I was surprised too. After Drakkon took me, he discovered it as well when he was healing my stab wounds. I think it's what kept him from putting a spell on me like he did the other Kimberly." I explained. "And when she was born, he knew I'd never put her at risk."
"I'm going to bring her back here, Kim. I don't care what it takes. I promise you."