I'd like to give a big shout of THANK YOU to pinksakura271 for letting me use her OC in this story. I hope I can do her justice.
There were two things that Maleficent hadn't counted on when she had done the time reversal spell to prevent the decree that had sent her daughter and her little friends into Auradon. The first was that two of the ranger's would have found love with each other even without said powers, and hence ruin the spell around their team mates. The second was that doing so would reverse the memory alternation spell she had put on Mal before they had left for Auradon so that she had plan b ready in case Mal had done what she did. That memory alteration spell was now gone, but only Maleficent knew that. "Mal, Amelia, get in here now." She demanded.
The purple haired girl entered, clad in the same leather outfit she wore on the isle. Behind her was a girl with hair color like that of a dark pink rose wearing a leather jacket like Mal's but was open to show her dark pink tank top that said "Think pink or evil" on it. Sometimes Mal would tease her about that, calling them complete opposites of each other. Her blue jeans were coated in pink, purple and blue roses on the sides. Black ankle boots complete the look, normally they had black plastic skulls on them but they were jangling in one of her pockets as they had come off just recently.
"I really don't think there's any need to get Amy involved in this." Mal said condescendingly to her mother with an eye roll at her younger, by five minutes or so, twin sister though really it was just an act because Mal didn't want her to get hurt in one of these schemes.
"I can take care of myself." Amy said to Mal, but again it was the cover the two sisters had developed to disguise the relationship the two sisters had with each other, less Maleficent find a way to use that against them.
"Normally I would like nothing more than to leave the childish, over pinked one out." Mal said with derision as Amy managed to flinch at the insult and glare at the same time. She knew her daughter hated being those two criticisms. "But in this case I need Amelia as well."
"I asked you to call me Amy." The rose haired girl reminded her with the same sort of eye roll that her Mal would give. Both girls became slightly more irritated when Maleficent waved off the protest.
"What do you want us to do mother?" Mal asked her. Maleficent glowered at her and for a moment had to resist the urge to strike her eldest daughter down at that moment. While the evil fairy remembered Mal and her friends turning their backs on evil and all those who served it only to become one of the paragons of good ,a Power Ranger, she did not.
Amy however proved that she knew just a bit more than her mother would have preferred. "This is about the rumored gem of the forest, isn't it?" She asked. When Maleficent looked at her she took a step closer to Mal. "I…It was discussed in school earlier this week."
Mal was quick to step in for her sister. "Yeah, I remember that. It was said to be placed on the Isle long before we were all exiled here." She filled in. "And it was also supposed to be something that no evil could ever touch, which means sending us after it would get us killed."
Maleficent recalled that rumor too, just as it had been said with the infamous Zeo crystals. No one knew if that were true or not, and likewise after researching the matter she had determined that the 'gem of the forest' could very well be a power gem like Mal had once possessed before the time reversal. If that were true than Mal could touch it, as could her friends and probably even Amy.
In truth Amy had always disappointed and even at time disgusted Maleficent. While Mal seemed to embrace most aspects of evil, though she had received saddening information from Mother Gothel that killing innocents had not been part of Mal's thought processes yet, Amy had only reluctantly learned those ways. She even had heard that when anyone tried to pick on Amy she did her best to avoid the fight. It was always Mal who had come to her defense. When she had asked her purple haired daughter about it she claimed it was only because she wanted all the experience she could get.
Amy frowned a moment as she caught a wave of disappointment and disgust but she couldn't figure out how. She felt dizzy and leaned against Mal for support as she had flashes of a limo taking her sister along with Evie, Carlos and Jay. Of her going out into said forest that Maleficent was sending them too as she worked to better prepare herself to face life on the island without those she cared about the most.
For once Mal's façade broke for concern. "Amy are you okay?" She asked as she turned to face her and put her arm on her younger twin sister's shoulders.
"I…I think so." Amy answered as she placed a hand on her forehead. She didn't think she was running a fever. She had a flash of Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay first meeting Audrey and Ben. She felt an immediate dislike of the brunette princess as she haughtily told Evie that the Grimholde the evil queen had no royal status in Auradon and kept her hands protectively on Ben's arm despite the fact the two seemed intrigued by each other. It made a flash of resentment travel through her body.
"You better be." Maleficent said to Amy. "You're not getting your way out of this evil little quest Amelia." She turned her back on her daughter's to retrieve something, unaware of the glare and tongue sticking out that the two girls gave their mother.
"Knock knock losers." Jay said as he opened the door. He waltzed over and threw his arms around Mal's shoulders as Evie and Carlos came in, releasing hands. Something about that suddenly seemed wrong to Amy despite the fact that she had been certain not too long ago that Evie and Carlos would get together. She shook her head as she had a flash of Jane and Doug, and gain of Audrey. She didn't understand why that would matter when Audrey was with the other one, the one that her sister seemed to like. She saw Lonnie talking to them, her sister saying that life on the Isle was different…and was Lonnie crying? Amy felt that kind of sadness sometimes but expressing it to anyone but Mal and occasionally Evie was unheard of.
Maleficent returned with a glare at them, silencing them all. In truth though it was because unlike the four teens she knew exactly what her Mal's friends had become as well. She found almost as much annoyance with Jay as she had Mal because he had fallen for the daughter of the family that had forced them onto the Isle of the Lost. "Use this to track the signatures. It was something that Professor Facilier cooked up just for it." It was actually made by Nerissa but they didn't need to know that.
"We're going to the woods for a gem?" Carlos asked with a laugh. "Can't we just go to the market and swipe one?" He laughed again and Amy had to giggle a little at that too.
"This is a very special gem." Maleficent snapped at them. They all jumped a little at the power in her voice, even Mal and Amy. "With this we can finally start to get back at those in Auradon."
It was on Amy's tongue to ask why they didn't just try to improve their lives here and show Auradon they could be honest, contributing members of society but held it. She knew where that would lead.
Mal rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine." She relented. "We'll go get your gem already." She tapped Amy and Jay on the shoulders and looked toward Carlos and Evie. "Let's move out people, I want to be back by dinnertime."
They left Maleficent's castle and headed toward the forest. Some of the people who liked to pick on Amy because she wouldn't fight back shot her cruel glares but backed down almost as soon as Mal or Jay looked their way, with only a few exceptions.
One of those was Helen Hook, the daughter of Captain Hook from Neverland. She always bragged that she could take Mal in a fight though so far that hadn't been proven. She still liked to harass Amy just to provoke Mal in the long awaited fight though. Still, the sight of all five of them was enough to keep her back for now.
The other one was Gaston Junior, who seemed to like Amy a lot. She did not share his feelings, even telling Mal that he actually kind of repulsed her. As a result of the way of live on the island, both Evie and Mal made sure Amy was never alone when he was around.
Amy looked over at the blue haired girl and for some reason the words sustainable urban planning went around in her head and she didn't understand why. Then Evie looked at her. "Mal is right, you don't have to come with us. We can hole you up somewhere or…okay, that sounded bad." She said with a shake of her head.
"What she means is that you go do what you want, and we'll meet up with you later." Mal said as she stroked Amy's rose colored hair gently. Despite being twins and Amy was actually quite a bit smaller than the purple haired girl.
Amy shook her head. "No. I feel like I should go with you guys this time." She revealed. "Is that okay?"
Mal nodded. "Absolutely." She replied. Evie smiled too and said, "Anytime."
The five crossed a small group, including Gaston Jr, playing a version of street hockey. He saw and flexed his biceps at her, causing Amy to roll her eyes at him and Jay to shake his menacingly at him. Then Amy thought she heard someone say something about not talking to them, unless someone wanted to take another hundred year nap. But there was no one there. Still, she swore it sounded like Audrey, the same person who told Evie she had no royal status in Auradon. She had flash of another guy by her. Despite that though he seem really dark to her and she didn't know why. She an echo of Evie calling him the biggest jerk in the land and she laughed softly.
"What are you so happy about you dork?" Mal asked her sister with a smile.
Amy snickered again. "Nothing." She replied. She loved that line and wondered if she could ever use it.
They crossed into the forest and started toward in, following the scanner Maleficent had given them. Carlos was currently working it. Amy felt a flash of jealousy, wishing that she were smart enough to run it before cocking her head and frowning with shock at the realization that she could easily read it.
"You sure you're okay?" Jay asked her. "You seem kind of out of it."
Amy shook her head. "Yeah, fine." She tried to assure them.
They heard a noise and were approached by five guys. They gave Evie, Mal and Amy looks of approval that neither of the three felt comfortable with. "We're on a mission from Maleficent, I suggest you get out of our way." Mal stated coldly as she stood in front of Amy protectively.
"Take it easy Mal." Said one of the guys. "We were just out here looking for something to do. We'd love to help you with your mission."
"Sorry, we're not hiring goons today." Jay said. "We're fresh out of money."
"It's fine." Another guy said. He grabbed a hold of Evie's wrist. "I think we can work something out."
Out of nowhere Mal and Jay had a flash of a brunette girl bound to a tree as another guy leaned down to try to kiss her against her will before flashing back to the guy coming onto a very unresponsive Evie. Mal leaned over and grabbed his wrist, squeezing until he released her wrist. Then Jay clocked him across the face hard.
"What's the deal man?" The lead guy demanded of Jay.
"We said we are NOT interested." Jay warned with a glare.
"So back off." Mal added with a flare of green in her eyes.
Apparently dense the guy again reached over to grab Evie's wrist but Amy pushed past Mal, red flashing in her eyes, and intercepted his hand, taking him by the wrist and bending it back before flipping him onto his back hard.
"You little…" One of them snapped and reached for Amy but Mal was in front of them with her eyes glowing green, and surprisingly to everyone, including Mal herself, there was a large roar as if from a mighty beast and then she unleashed her own attack similar to the meteoric attack that her at the moment forgotten dragon zord used.
"Wow, what was that M?" Evie asked shocked.
Amy blinked in shock too. She had always thought her sister was the stronger of the two, but even that was beyond what the rose haired girl expected. "Wow."
They didn't even think twice about running from the five of them.
"Practicing magic somehow Mal?" Carlos asked in awe.
"Not possible." Mal said in shock. "I don't know what that was."
After the moment of shock wore off the five teens continued on their way. Amy couldn't help but glance at her sister though. That wasn't just magic, it wasn't just power. She wasn't exactly an expert but she swore that was power, not only but also of the good. She always doubted the abilities of her, her sister and the ones she had thought of as surrogate siblings, to be evil. Now she was even more unsure of that.
On the heels of that thought came other images in her mind. Mal telling Evie that when the villains invaded Auradon and ruined their lives having Ben in love with her seemed cruel. She saw Evie with her B+ chemistry test, as if realizing she was a smart as she was beautiful. Jay looking at an MVP trophy for something called Tourney. Carlos with a dog…how odd Cruella instilled fear of dogs into him. And again her own sister, making a mix for an anti-love potion and crying. She felt tears in her eyes that she quickly had to blink away.
Then she thought of herself, in the forest, focusing her mind despite missing the four of them terribly, though she had never really been away from them. Realizing she could feel things around her. These memories were starting to really confuse her.
"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Evie asked her gently. "You seem to…I don't know, out of it I guess." She placed a hand on her forehead now. "Are getting sick?"
"No." Amy assured her. "I'm just fine."
"Hey." Carlos said. "I've got the energy signature." He said. "It's just over the horizon, in that tree up there."
"I'll grab it." Jay said and he tried to get on a branch but it broke under his weight and he hit the ground. Carlos and Mal burst out with laughter, while Evie and Amy did their best to hold it back. He looked to them and growled, "Not funny guys."
"I respectfully disagree." Mal said with another laugh as she helped Jay up. "Seriously though this tree is pretty old Jay. You can't climb this thing. I don't think even Carlos could."
Amy suddenly realized why her mother had sent her with them. "I can." She realized. "We might be the same age Mal but I'm smaller and weigh less than you." That was something she and Mal had a few clashes over as the purple haired girl thought that her sister was too light, not more than 100 pound soaking wet. Amy meanwhile always pointed out that wasn't really her fault and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Amy, you might be light like a twig but you aren't one." Mal reminded, getting a small glare from her twin. She raised her hands. "Okay, okay." She relented and stroked her sister's hair. "Just be careful Amy."
Amy nodded and went to the tree. Her hands reached out and touched it and she got a shock, more visions. She saw Ben give Mal his ring, the four of them deciding that the lives they built in Auradon and choosing good were more important. Maleficent confronting them at the coronation and Mal overpowering her. She saw Mal say something to another woman about the girl; she assumed the woman's daughter and she saw the brunette princess give a bow of appreciation to Mal, something he sister returned. She wondered how Mal and her friends could leave her behind.
She took a deep breath and got onto the tree. Then she found out how they could leave her. Just after Mal had given her a purple headband with a purple rose on it for luck, Maleficent had come to them. For this mission you will lose all your memories of your Amelia. Maleficent had told Mal, Jay, Carlos and Evie. Clearly she had known how close they were after all.
No way mother. Mal had stated in hard voice. If she had had her way she never would have given up her memories of Amy. The other three echoed the same disagreement.
Maleficent had forced the memories out of her sister and her friends. So much the better Mal, when you return maybe you'll have them back but honestly we'd be better off without that little pink pipsqueak holding us back. Amy had felt her heart breaking at that comment. She knew her mother had never really liked her but that was more than she ever needed to hear. Since they would not remember to say goodbye again to her she had ran away as the limo had left.
As she continued to climb the tree she had more memories come to her. Her time training in the woods. She had been near this tree a lot as she worked to find every way to improve herself as she learned to live without her sister around and even her mother. It had given her a certain hardness to her resolve, but as she focused her mental energies she had found something in her responding that seemed to allow her to read emotions and even strong thoughts…which explained all of the visions she had started to get, of another life they had all lived. She thought maybe it was the right life though. Through her meditations she had encountered someone who helped guide her and train her, something she scarcely remembered but each day she woke up feeling more confident in herself and her ability to fight. She had even taken up hunting, quickly becoming a top archer in order to survive.
While that had happened she saw the images of her twin and her friends. Fighting new evils. Making friends with Audrey and with Lonnie and making new friends in the forms of Ally, Aziz, Jordan and Will. Becoming the Power Rangers, and the legacy they had only started to learn about when the Space Rangers Andros, Ashley, Cassie, Carlos, TJ, Zhane and Amber had shown up to help them with the Psycho Rangers. She saw Mal get close to Ben's mother Belle and had to love the library she saw in the castle. She saw Evie getting close to her older step-sister Snow White. She saw the return of her mother from the loss at the coronation and their mother's frustration at Mal until she disowned her sister, and her sister's secret heartbreak over it no matter what front she tried to put up for others.
What Amy didn't understand was if that was their lives then what had happened to change it all.
Finally she reached the top of the tree, which was so fragile even she wasn't sure how long she could stay up there. But nestled in between a bunch of leaves was something she had never seen before. A small perfect looking gem that was dark pink in color, almost like a dark colored rose. She reached out and grabbed it and she saw the same colored energy surge up her arm and through her body.
It was then that the branches around her snapped clean off and she started to fall a long way down.
"No." Evie gasped and tried to figure out what she could do at least break her fall. Jay and Carlos gasped in shock too.
Mal let out a slight scream as she saw her twin sister falling and she wanted to move to help her and for an instant came to a realization there was nothing she should be able to do. Then she had a thought; she had a mental image of two people standing beside her that she had never had met, or at least so she thought. If she had her memories intact she would have recognized Amber, the purple space ranger and one of the longest serving rangers in history. The other was a woman she had never met but wore a ranger uniform similar to the green ranger but in purple instead, right down to the gold shield on the chest. It confused her as to why she would see them or why they would help her then almost as if they had planned it; the other two women lifted their arms and cupped their hands. Despite their seemingly ethereal nature Mal jumped, planted her feet, and with a toss from the two she launched up and caught her sister in her arms. Together the two landed on the ground only stumbling slightly.
"Wow." Amy breathed softly and then looked at her sister. "Thanks Mal."
"I've got your back little sister." Mal told her with a smile. "Everytime." Amy smiled; glad to know that short of magic that was true. "Though it's so weird that we're the same age but I can catch you like this." She sat her sister down. "You need to put some meat on those bones." She teased.
Amy swatted her older sister's arm softly but was willing to let the jibe go on account of Mal saving her from serious injury or even killing herself. "Oh get off it Mal." She said with an eye roll. Mal laughed a little bit too.
Now her friends were by her, Evie giving her a quick hug. After confirming she was okay Jay asked her, "Did you find anything up there?"
Amy bit her lip. She hated to lie to her friends but she had a sudden feeling that her mother shouldn't know about the gem she held in her hand. That meant right now her friends and her sister couldn't know either. "It must be inside the tree or something. There's nothing up there." She answered.
"Mom is not going to like this." Mal noted. "I wonder if she expects us to cut down this tree."
"That wouldn't be right." Amy said. "It's been here longer than anyone on this island has."
"I agree with you." Evie replied. "But what can we do if Maleficent wants whatever is in here so badly?"
"Only one way to find out." Mal said. "We have to go back to my mother and tell her what we found out."
"I get we have to go and get Mal, Jay, Carlos and Evie." Audrey said as she was working on the potion Jordan had made for her. She was glad her formerly broken arm was one of the first things to heal. "I just want to know how we're going to be prepared for the fact that we won't be welcome there and we won't have any powers to protect ourselves."
Despite their memories returning Jane and Fairy Godmother had concluded that the actual ranger powers could not be reactivated until the whole team had been reunited and returned to the command center. That meant they would go in without that to protect them. Similarly while Ben was able to make arrangements for them to go to the Isle of the Lost it was pretty much unsanctioned. They could not count on any help beyond that.
"You're going to have to get in and out as quickly as you can." Fairy Godmother answered with a small shrug. "Right now it's the best we can do." She motioned toward Jordan. "Well, that and disguises."
"It won't be much." Jordan warned them all. "But the good thing about a place like that is that most people won't question…" She waved her hands and cloaks appeared in their hands. "A bunch of mysterious cloaked figures running around."
"This won't be permanent protection so we have to get in and out as soon as we possibly can." Ben said. "That means finding Mal and the others and running out of there as quick as we can."
"Then let's get going." Audrey said. She wanted Jay back as soon as possible, and really having Mal and Evie and even Carlos back would be a really good thing. She stood up and flinched a bit, still feeling stiff.
"You sure you're up for this?" Ben asked. As much as he wanted Mal and the others back he knew they needed to be as on top of things as possible in order to be able to survive going to the Isle of the Lost.
Audrey nodded shakily; Lonnie wrapped an arm around her. "Positive." She told Ben. "I want them back. I want Jay back."
Ben nodded in almost understanding. There was one small difference as far as he was concerned. He wanted Mal back by his side. After what had just happened again, his best friend needed Jay back by her side.
"Then our coach awaits." Will said as he came over and placed a reassuring hand on Lonnie's shoulder. "Let's bring them home."
"Good luck to all of you." Fairy Godmother said as they went up the stairs. "Please come back safely." She had a horrible feeling that they might not, and there was nothing she could do about it…