Mal got home, only to find his mother waiting, looking somewhat less than amused. He checked his watch and found that he had indeed come home a lot later than he had intended.

"Mom..."

"You can save the excuses." She stated.

"I don't have any excuses!" He yelled at her. He was just as stunned as she was by the fact he had spoken back to her. He didn't make a habit of it. "I was visiting Melanie."

"That girl that tried to kill herself?" She asked him. "What did I say to you? You shouldn't..."

"Were you there?" He asked her, interrupting her tirade.

"No, but that doesn't matter." She protested. "You know that it's wrong..."

"Well, what about what those bastards did to her to make her feel that way?" He asked her. His mother just looked at him, placing her hands on her hips.

"You do not speak to me that way!" She stated. He just shook his head.

"That's just the problem. No one talks about it." He told her. "I guess my plate's in the microwave?"

With that, he brushed past her into the kitchen. He hated being at odds with his parents, but he couldn't help it. Their faith, no doubt combined with their desire that their son not get too involved with the whole situation had led them to outright forbidding him to see Melanie. Unfortunately, it was already too late. He was already involved.

He couldn't get the image out of his mind, the moment that he saw Melanie take the razor to her wrists. Blood, that was what got to him, there was so much blood. He couldn't believe that one person would be able to bleed so much, but it was all he could think about now. He could still remember seeing it all over the bathroom, and all over his clothing. The smell was the worst, now...days later...he could still smell the blood.

As he re-heated his dinner, he saw his father in the doorway. He just rolled his eyes. His dad was always the disciplinarian in the house.

"Just make it quick." Mal told him abruptly. "My dinner's almost ready."

"Your mother is in tears." He stated. "What the hell...?"

"Dad..."

"We've done everything for you!" He yelled. "We've fed you, clothed you..."

"Yeah, you also told me that I had my own life." Mal protested. "I made a choice..."

"What that girl did was sad, but it was her choice." He blurted out. "Malcolm, she committed..."

"I know what she did dad, I was standing less than ten feet away when she did it!" He barked. His dad just shifted a little.

"Does your faith mean nothing to you?" He asked. The microwave bleeped, indicating that the reheating cycle had finished. He just opened the door.

"I saw it happen. I watched her cut her wrists." He replied. "She felt like she had nothing left. If my faith tells me that I'm meant to turn my back on someone, then to hell with my bloody faith."

Mal's dad was stunned by what he had heard.

"Now, my dinner's waiting." He told him. Mal's dad just walked away, unable to say anything else. Mal hated being at odds with his family, but he couldn't get this out of his mind. Looking to the meal on his plate, he dumped it in the trash, and ran out the back door.

Dekker stood on a hill, looking out over the naval base. After the battle, he had decided to check out what Octoroo had told him, that Urumasa still existed, and that it was here in Scotland.

His connection to Urumasa was so close, that normally he could tell where it was at all times, like it was a piece of him. Since his return though, he hadn't heard it calling. Something blocked it out, something was stopping him hearing it calling for its master. Now though, here, he could hear the faintest whisper of it on the wind. It wasn't much, but enough to let him know that at least in this instance, Octoroo had been telling the truth.

"I will have you in my hands again Urumasa." He declared. He pulled the Bane of Life out of his robes. "I swear it."

"Don't you want to know where it is first?" He heard a voice asking. Dayu, still badly burned from her encounter with Urumasa appeared behind him.

"You again?" He asked.

"That base has hundreds of buildings, thousands of places to hide it." She told him. "I have no desire to fight you, but if you are planning on doing what I think you're doing, then perhaps instead of taking on every marine there..."

"I am not the Red Ranger." He stated. "I don't care if I have to face five or five thousand. I am not afraid."

"I never said you were." Dayu replied, pulling close to him. She stunned him a little as she placed a soft kiss on his cheek, before pointing to a building. "It's in there."

"Thank you." He answered, before she disappeared. He didn't know why, but there was something about this Nighlock, this woman, that sang to him, that touched him on a level he didn't fully understand. Looking back to the naval base, he smiled. "Thank you very much."

Mal arrived at the hospital, and came to the room finding, to his horror, that Melanie wasn't there. He ran in, placing his hands on the bed.

"Sir..."

"Where's the girl who was here?" He asked the nurse in a panic. "Where?"

"Mal?" Melanie asked as she stepped out of the rest room. "Um...I was just...freshening up."

Mal breathed a sigh of relief as the nurse left to go back to her rounds. Melanie came back to the bed, sitting on it.

"You do realise that it was only about three hours since you were last here right?" She asked him. He just nodded.

"I figured that you would like another visit." He told her. "I a on your approved visitor list."

"Well, aside from my dad who's still on remand, and my mom, you're the only one that does." She commented. "I guess I only have myself to blame for that."

"Don't..."

"Why not?" She asked him. "I mean seriously, I was the most popular girl in school, and when I finally need something..."

She shook her head as Mal sat with her, putting his arm around her.

"I never thought about what I did. I never gave any thought to the people I hurt." She told him. "I don't even know half the kids I've hurt in my time. I never knew how badly a person could feel..."

"Melanie..."

"Maybe I deserve what happened." She cut him off. "Maybe this is the universe's way of paying me back for being a complete bitch to everyone."

"I doubt that very much." He told her.

"Why, because I deserve to be in Hell..."

"Well, as a Jew strictly speaking I don't believe in Hell." He told her with a little chuckle. "Look, I won't bullshit you, you did some pretty shitty things in your time, but no one deserves this."

"I never noticed this before, but...you're a pretty great guy." She complimented him. She suddenly realised what she had said, and how it had to sound "I mean..."

"Well, you're the first girl in a long time to say that." He laughed. "What your dad did was lousy, but there's no reason that should be your problem. Those other kids are just jackals."

"You...you've been so nice to me." Melanie told him. "Why?"

"Well, I'd like to give you a really deep and philosophical answer, but the fact is, what you did...it really hit me." He told her. "I would never want someone to feel so badly about themselves. This world is a pretty crappy place at times. The least we can do is try not to be complete assholes to each other."

Melanie leaned in, kissing him softly on the cheek.

"Thank you." She told him. "Unfortunately, I'm being released tomorrow. I can stay home for a day or two, but when I go back..."

"It'll be fine." Mal assured her. He smiled as he noticed a DVD on her bedside table, and picked it up. "Phantom of the Opera?"

"Um...yeah, mom brought it." She explained. "I'd never admit it out loud, but I'm knd of a sucker for musicals."

"Well, you may as well go for the classics then." Mal commented. He then just took a breath, before starting to sing. "No more talk of darkness, belay these wide-eyed fearss, I'm here, no one will harm you, my words will warm and calm you."

She smiled, seeing him pick up a sheet from the other bed in the room and drape it over himself like a cape.

"Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears, I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you."

Melanie just laughed, before standing up.

"Say you love me every waking moment. Turn my head with talk of Summertime." She sang in response. "Say you'll need me with you now and always. Promise me that all you say is true. That's all I ask of you."

She smiled as he held a hand over the right half of his face.

"You have a pretty good voice, but it was Raul that sang that song, not the phantom." She reminded him.

"Well, I guess all those hours of dance and singing lessons weren't completely wasted then." He chuckled.

"I seriously mean it. Thank you." She told him. "I know if you hadn't done what you did..."

"Hey, we all have to look out for each other right?" Mal asked her. "Where would musicals be without people like us?

With that, he started to head out.

"When you get back to school, I'll be there." He told her. "I know it's not much but..."

"It's more than you know." She answered. "Thank you."

He smiled as he left her, with a bit of a spring in his step. He was defying his parents, he was going against what everyone in the school wanted, and he couldn't care less. He could just feel in his heart that he was doing what was right.

Over in Faslane, an alarm sounded as the doors to the hangar concealing the bunker Urumasa was held in were carved open. Joel arrived, morphed and ready for battle, seeing Dekker standing there as he arrived. A few marines fired at him with their SA 80's, but he blocked most of the rounds, and seemed to barely flinch at the others.

"Hold your fire!" Joel warned them. "Go!"

"But..."

"If you value your lives run!" He commanded them, powering up his saw. "Alright, I don't know who you are, but I can probably guess what you're here for."

"Then step aside and keep your life." Dekker warned him. Joel ran at him, swinging wildly with the saw. Dekker though blocked it, shattering the blade with the Bane of Life, before slicing across his chest, with so much power that Joel de-morphed and fell to the ground face-first. Dekker checked, seeing that miraculously he was still breathing, but was satisfied that he would be no further threat.

"Pathetic." He sneered as he went on.

The rest of his journey was much the same, most of the troops had been ordered to back off, but those that were in his way quickly found out why Dekker was a renound warrior long before they were born. As he got to the deepest chamber, carving open the door with a succession of slashes, he saw Urumasa on a stand a little way off, behind some safety glass. Carter was standing in his way.

"I know what you want." Carter warned him. "You're not getting it."

"And I suppose you're going to stop me?" Dekker asked. Carter just morphed, pulling out his rescue blaster, raising a derisory laugh from Dekker.

"What is it with you Red Rangers and guns?" He asked. "You think that will take me down? Be my guest and try."

Carter fired a volley, but Dekker ran straight through it, ignoring the damage. He swung the Bane of Life, unleashing a power that forced Carter to demorph. With his second slash, he opened his stomach, causing Carter to fall to the ground and clutch it as he bled at a lethal rate. Angela was by his side quickly, fighting to save his life.

Dekker though had other concerns. He looked to the glass, and smashed it with a strike form his sword. He climbed through the hole, and approached Urumasa.

"No, you can't!" Angela screamed. "No one..."

With that, he picked it up and drew the Nodachi with no sign of resistance whatsoever. It let out a melodious hum that only he could hear. Urumasa was back with its master, and that was all that mattered.

"But how...?" She asked.

"He will live if you attend to him now." Dekker told her. "If you value your friend over answers, then you will do so."

With that, he disappeared into a gap, leaving Angela alone with Carter. She picked up a communicator to call a medical team.

A/N: The song is from Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I do not own the rights.