AN: Welcome back to the main universe of the Where It Began Series! In Another World- The Story of the Truehearts has about ten chapters left (you'll see why that is important later) and so it is time to jump back up in to our main world. Story 5 picks up with our heroes moving forward with being mentors, facing new villains, and establishing the Power Ranger and Prophet academies. I hope you're all as excited about seeing how this world matures as I am for writing it!
TW: Evidence of substance abuse and addiction
"I can't believe it's been a year," Carrie said as looked through the newest intake forms and watched as several students walked across the quad. Kimberly had been good to her word that there was a job for her if she wanted it and after a few months struggling with the new hosts- she had jumped ship. She had never been happier when it came to a workplace. She had even had some say in what the uniforms were going to look like for the cadets. Mostly though, she had never been in a place where she saw how her work was changing the world every day.
"You ready for the weekly?" Grant asked as he walked into her office and she smiled up at him. She was still not sure how the both of them wound up working here, but she was so glad that she had another non-ranger that was consistently amazed by all the things that happened here. Kimberly and Tommy were completely immune to any extraordinary acts that the rangers might do and were critical of what skills the cadets needed to be successful. A cadet went to Tommy and Kim if they wanted critical feedback, they came to Carrie or Grant if they needed softer feedback. "They're in rare form today."
"More Kiros research?" Carrie asked and Grant shook his head no. That was the biggest thing that they let drift heavily into their ranger jobs, although there had been murmurings that they were concerned about at least one of the current rangers.
"No idea- I just know that they both came in and asked to spar, separately, today," Grant said and Carrie just stared at him. She was only aware of that happening once before and it had been after a monstrous fight where Tommy had all but ordered Kimberly to stay out of anything dealing with Kiros. Her prophecy had set all of them on edge and so far they hadn't made any progress towards actually being able to communicate with another world. Even though the guardians claimed that Kimberly had the ability, everything she tried had failed. "I know you've been getting the enrollment together for the fall semester… thought you could use a warning."
"I appreciate it," Carrie said as Grant just nodded at her and then left her office. She let out a sigh as she gathered her reports and decided to go try to have a chat with Kimberly prior to the meeting. Maybe she'd let her in on what was going on or at least be less likely to kill Tommy in front of others.
"Hey- Carrie!" Axel yelled as he jogged down the hall and she looked up to see the rangers heading towards her. They almost never attended the weekly syncs en masse, normally only one or two of them were free on any given Monday. Today was apparently one of the few times that Tommy and Kim had made it mandatory for everyone. "You know why we were called in?"
"No idea," Carrie whispered as she gulped as she scanned the group and noticed Cameron was missing. They had all taken Shelby's death hard, but Cameron had taken it the hardest. They all tried to ignore the smell on his breath most days, at least until he had started to get unreliable with ranger things. They had hoped he would pull himself out of it, but the last few weeks only showed that it was getting worse. "Cam?"
"Didn't answer," Julia stated as Carrie just nodded. "Dr. O set up an appointment for him with a therapist- he's supposed to be there."
"And he didn't show…again," Tommy said as they stepped into the conference room and the rangers all snapped their eyes up to him. All of them had been going to therapy to deal with the aftermath of Shelby's death, but Cameron kept refusing. It had gotten to the point that Tommy was going to have to step in and he hated it. He wanted for Cameron to make this choice on his own. "Roberto is discreetly monitoring him, but I'm heading out to get him this afternoon."
"Which I still don't agree with," Kimberly stated as she slammed her books down on the table and glared over at him. "He does not need tough love right now, Tommy."
"He needs a reason to live, Kimberly. And I think I may be the only one that has ever felt even a fraction of what he's feeling right now," Tommy said as he locked eyes with her and she returned his glare. "I'm just trying to get him to rehab, that's it."
"We've got to pull him from teaching," Kim said and Tommy let out a groan. They had fought about this over and over for the last few weeks. They both knew that something needed to be done, but they couldn't agree on what should be done. "Until he gets it together- I'm not budging on this one."
"Nah budging on whah?" Cameron slurred as he stumbled into the room and they all glanced back at him before quickly looking away. "Whah? Why can' you look at me?"
"Cam…" Julia started and he moved uncomfortably close to her and she tensed, but met his gaze. There were enough male rangers here to stop him if he lost it and next to him she had been closest to Shelby. "You can't keep living like this."
"She'd wan me to keep living my life," Cameron mocked as Julia's shoulders fell and she glanced back at Axel who barely shook his head. As much as they all wanted to rail on him, it didn't feel like the right thing to do and he was dangerously close to losing it on one of them. They all hoped that it would be Tommy or Axel as they could safely disable him without hurting him. "All of you jus get to live. Be happy. Why didn she deserve that?"
"She did! We all did! We're all hurting- but you can't get your head out of your ass long enough to see who cares about you," Julia shot off. Cameron cocked his head at her before he moved to hit her and Axel grabbed his arm and just shook his head. He agreed with everything that Julia said, even if her delivery was a little rough around the edges.
"Don' protec her, Axe," Cameron slurred as Tommy walked over to stand between the two of them and he looked up at him. Tommy motioned for Cameron to sit down and then crossed his arms. "I prefer to stand."
"I can't have you teaching the cadets anymore. At least not until you get your head back on straight," Tommy said and Cameron stilled. He knew how much Cameron was pouring into making the next rangers better than they had been, better than he had been, good enough that they wouldn't lose someone that they loved. In spite of that, his want to not feel anything was far stronger. "You've missed every therapy appointment we've tried to get you, you're drinking yourself to death, and your parents called to let me know that you've been stealing from them too. I'm assuming that is to keep up the alcohol habit because the Command Center cut you off already. I'll take you to the treatment that helped me the most, but we have to go today- they can only hold a place for you for so long."
"Fuck you," Cameron said as he started towards the doors and Brandon and Patrick slid in front of him to block his path. "I'm nah going."
"And we're not going to bury another friend if we can help it," Brandon said as Cameron stilled as he saw the pain etched on his face. "We all miss her, but we can't watch you kill yourself. Take the offer- go."
"What if I just want to be done?" Cameron asked as the room fell silent and Tommy then stepped forward. "No- you still have your person."
"But I haven't always had her. You know what I did when I lost her?" Tommy asked as he stood next to Cameron and just stared straight forward. He hated having to relive this in front of Kimberly, but Cameron had not given him the option to have this conversation privately. "I was too young to drink myself into oblivion, but other than that- I did all the same things. I threw myself into being the best ranger I could be- into making sure the next group was still able to protect the Earth. I lost myself. My parents sent me away to my uncle for awhile to just change the scenery, get some real perspective. It's the only thing that saved me. You're not talking to anyone- you've just dove into the alcohol. I would've done the same if I had any access to it. None of us can make you go, but we all want for you to have the life that you deserve."
"I never…" Cameron trailed off as he looked over at Tommy and Tommy finally turned to look at him. "I have…I have so many regrets."
"I know and I'd really like for you to not add to those regrets," Tommy stated as Cameron barely nodded and Tommy nodded as well. "Dr. Schutlely is waiting outside, c'mon."
Cameron nodded again as Tommy started walking out of the conference room and he fell into step next to him. The other rangers watched as they moved through the room and Kimberly motioned for them to stay back as she hurried to join them. The other rangers glanced around the room as relief flooded through them. They hadn't known what Kimberly and Tommy had planned for today, but they were so glad that their friend had a chance to get the help he so desperately needed. They needed him back- because they were still in the fire as the serving rangers and they were down their leader.
AN2: This story is going to get very dark in some places. I will do my best to put appropriate trigger warnings at the beginning of each chapter where something problematic may happen. I just want to let readers know, from the beginning, that there will be parts of this story that are darker than any story I've written before.
