Lori sprinted to the nearest subway line, clutching the card to her chest. She couldn't believe that she had finally had the courage to find them and tell them what she had seen. It had started a little over six months ago. At first it was snippets, but then it had become more detailed. More terrifying. The last vision had left her in tears for hours afterwards as she tried to figure out if she was losing her mind. She had seen how this was going to end with Skyster and had seen that she could prevent some of the damage. That is what had pushed her to come to them, to try to find at least a few of the people she saw in her visions. When she had seen that Kimberly was going to be on the Today Show again- it had seemed like the best chance she would get.
"Grant Ikehara," Lori said as she pressed the button to the intercom and stared at the building. The gate popped open and she took a tentative step inside. She saw a figure hurrying down the front steps and realized it was one of the men she had seen in her visions. "You…you!"
"Hi. I'm Axel Mayfield. Grant sent me down to grab you. Tommy gave him a call to let him know you should be showing up. He's in the middle of team tactics right now, so you've got me instead," Axel explained as she gave him a fearful look. "And you've obviously seen something about me that terrifies you. Great. Would it help if I call Julia or Hannah?"
"Ugh…no, no, no, no, no," Lori trembled as Axel took a few steps back and she stared at him. She had seen him kill, over and over and over, like it was nothing. She had seen so much violence from him and she did not know how to connect that with the person she was now meeting. He seemed to be a genuinely nice person and that did not match with what she had seen of him. "Is there a man with messy, dirty blonde hair, has a scar on his left hand…wears a lot of red?"
"Yeah, that would be Cameron. You want to talk to Cam?" Axel asked as she just nodded and he let out a long sigh. This was going to kill Cameron, he was sure of it. The little bit that Grant had passed on was that they suspected that she was a prophet and that her powers were still very new and untested. It was hard enough for him to meet with her, he knew it would be nearly impossible for Cam to have any meaningful conversation. "Look he's been through a lot, I don't know if he…"
"I have a message for him. It's important," Lori insisted and Axel grabbed his communicator and called up Cameron. He kept an eye on her, but also gave her space to feel safe. She saw another man emerge and stared at him as he approached her. "Cameron."
"Yeah, what's up?" Cam asked as he looked between Axel and the woman standing next to the door, confused at how this stranger knew his name. "Axe…"
"She wants you to know that she knew. She always knew how you felt, even though you didn't say it," Lori said as Cam froze and Axel grabbed both of his arms and moved between the two of them. Lori did not pick up on the danger she was putting herself in as she tried to deliver the message that was so pressing in her mind. He had seen Kimberly have the same lapses in judgment in the past, but they knew what it came from. Lori was new. Cameron had no idea what was coming his way. "It's important that you…that you move on. That you find your soulmate, your real one."
"Shut up!" Cameron yelled as Axel wrapped his arms around him and dragged him out of the main hallway. Lori stared in shock as Axel wrestled him away from her and she saw a woman come down the stairs from the noise.
"Axe…" Julia trailed off as he just shook his head as he dragged Cameron into one of the classrooms and slammed the door shut. "Hi. Julia Mayfield. Um, Grant is teaching right now, but if you'll come with me, I can take you to my office to wait."
"You…you've had your baby?" Lori blurted out as Julia nodded and she felt her worry skyrocket as she looked over at Axel as he emerged from the room, leaving Cameron to blow up alone for the moment. How had she known that? "He…you two...what?"
"I don't know what's going on, but if Tommy sent you here- it's important. What's your name?" Julia said as Lori fell into step next to her.
"Lori Wu…I…I've been having dreams. About all of you."
"I take Lori- you take Cam?" Kim suggested as Tommy just nodded as they walked through the Command Center and up towards the Academy. This morning had been hard on the both of them and they weren't going to catch a break now. If what they suspected was correct, they were about to have some of the hardest professional conversations they'd ever had as mentors. "That took guts to just…walk up to you like that and say what she had been seeing. Why'd you believe her?"
"The look in her eyes. It's…it's the look you have when you've seen things that terrify you and you're trying to protect me from them. You're desperate to protect me from them," Tommy explained as she came to a halt and he stopped next to her. "Beautiful…"
"Maybe you should take Lori and I take Cam then. You know what it's like to help a prophet. I know what it's like to be a prophet. She doesn't know Cam's background and why he'd react like that…and you…yeah- you'd be better at talking with her," Kim said as she started walking again, the sound of her heels echoing through the hall. "Love you."
"Love you too, meet up in your office when I'm done?" Tommy asked as she just nodded as she stood outside the classroom where they could hear Cam yelling. "It's going to be okay."
"Hey Cam, let's talk," Kim said as she walked into the room and heard Tommy's footsteps as he jogged off towards Julia's office. They were meant to have an afternoon with their kids, but she could see that slipping away. This was a problem that had to be dealt with. Now.
"Who was that?" Cam asked as he spun and stalked towards her. He needed to destroy something. He needed to take his pain out on something. He was stopped dead in his tracks as Kim folded her arms and he let out a scream. "Let me go."
"You're not going to hurt me and you're not going to wail on any of the guys here. We're here to help and I don't know a lot more than you do," Kim said as he fought against her hold and she waited. "Do I need to get Erick?"
"No!" Cameron yelled and Kim looked over at Axel and saw the bruises he was sporting. Apparently Axel had been alright fighting Cameron to keep him in this room while they figured out what was going on. She was grateful that he had been willing, but hated that it was necessary to do that at the moment. They all wanted for Cameron to be able to move past his pain and he had made great strides, but days like today still happened more often than she wanted to admit.
"What happened?" Kim asked as she walked over towards Axel and settled on top of one of the desks. Cameron spun around and tried to charge her again and she glared at him as she froze him again. "Do you know what Tommy Oliver will do to you if I go back to him with even a hair out of place? I don't know what she could have possibly done to piss you off enough that you're willing to face his wrath."
"Tommy's not scary," Cameron retorted and Kim and Axel stared at him. Where had he been the last time something had happened to her and Tommy had gone nuclear on an evil being? "He's not."
"Remind me to pull up some old files on Murianthius for him once this is over. Or just anytime anything has happened to me," Kim said as she let out a sigh. She had to get Cam to really talk about what he was feeling. "C'mon, Cam. What happened? You haven't had a reaction like this in awhile."
"She told me…she had a message for me. And it had to be…it's that I have…how does she know about Shelby?" Cameron asked as Kim stilled, recognition washing over her. "How does she know?"
"Working theory- she's a prophet. She doesn't know that though. She just knows that she's been seeing things related to Skyster and this team. That was the most that Tommy could get out of her in thirty seconds this morning. Apparently she may see things in the past too," Kim said as she cut off her hold on Cameron and glared at him for a moment. "You try to come after me again because you're in pain and I will not hesitate to take your ass out, understand?"
"You give Tommy a run for his money," Axel whispered to try to lighten the mood but Cameron and Kim just glared at him. "Okay, not the right time. Can I go? Fin has an appointment this afternoon and I really want to go along."
"Yeah. We'll be fine," Kim said as Axel gave her a small smile and then scurried from the room. "Cam- level with me. What, exactly, did she say?"
"She wants you to know that she knew. She always knew how you felt, even though you didn't say it. I never told Shelby that I love…I loved her. How does she know that?" Cameron asked as he saw the horror on Kim's face and the fight flooded out of him. It was like Kim's face showed the pain that he was feeling on the inside. "I already told the others that I can stay on through Skyster, but after that- you need a new red. I can't be around this…I can't be around someone that reminds me of her."
"We'll find someone," Kim said as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. As much as she wanted to beat some sense into him, she knew that he needed comfort right now. She knew that he was dealing with this in a far healthier way than he would have a couple of years ago. "She doesn't know about her powers yet, Cam. She doesn't know who the 'she' is that she's talking about. She just knew she needed to find me or Tommy and that we'd have answers."
"I can't deal with her or this or any of it…" Cam trailed off as Kim nodded. "You're not going to make me?"
"No. We'll explain to her everything that has happened. Who and what she is and why you freaked out the way you did. You're going to see her around here, it's part of the rangers job to keep the prophets safe, but we can make sure you get some space and that you don't…you don't have to…" Kim trailed off as she watched Cam try to hold it together. "Hey, you don't have to be strong with me."
"I miss her. I miss her so much."
"I'm sorry. I'm a what?" Lori asked as she paced around in front of Tommy and he watched her as she completely freaked out. He didn't blame her for freaking out, but there was no time to slowly tell her what they suspected. "No. I've just had some weird dreams that happened to come true."
"Pick a book. Any book," Tommy said as he motioned to the walls of his office and she gave him a confused look. "Humor me."
Lori walked over to the bookshelves and pulled out a book. She opened it and saw it was filled with handwritten words. She started reading and then glanced over at Tommy. It was talking about how he would step down as a Power Ranger mentor right before he turned 61.
"These are Kim's prophecies. There's more in the archives, but I keep her original copies here. I don't know why- I guess it comforts me. Apparently your prophecies come to you in dreams, so we'll have to figure out a way to record them. And we'll need to assign a ranger for protection duty. There's an entire part of the library that goes into your training and your safety. Kim still struggles with it some days because she didn't get the training early on. And Shelby…Shelby had it easier, but she died. A few years back," Tommy said as he avoided her gaze. She watched as the pain flooded his face and he clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to work through the pain that he felt. "What do you think about training here?"
"Here? I can barely afford my apartment with my job…training would require me to quit and to…" Lori trailed off as the door opened behind her and Kim slipped into his office. "I can't do this."
"We provide housing, food, and a paycheck. There's an entire wing of this place that is empty. Just waiting for more prophets to show up," Tommy explained as Lori gasped as she looked between the two of them. "Our job is to make sure you are able to do your job. You don't have to decide today, but I do want to figure out some sort of security for you. You're going to have a target on your back."
"And if I decide to stay? To do this?" Lori asked as Kim and Tommy exchanged a glance.
"Then welcome to the team," Kim said with a smile as she opened the back door to Tommy's office which led into a darkened hallway. The lights flickered on and Lori saw rows and rows of books and drawings. "As you can see- there's a lot to unpack."
Cameron walked the streets of New York City hoping to find peace in the crowds. Hoping that being with so many people would somehow numb the pain. He had dealt with Kimberly being a prophet and surviving. He had never really thought about the fact that more prophets had to exist, that it couldn't just be Kimberly and Shelby. And the message Lori had for him had shaken him to his core.
Shelby wanted him to know that she knew- she knew how much he cared about her, even if he had never had the courage to say it. And more than that- she wanted him to move on and find someone else. She wanted him to be ready for the soulmate that he didn't want. Since her death, he had avoided dating, he had avoided being with anyone else and now he had to face that someone else was really his person. Did he want that? He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of actually being with someone again.
He found himself back in the Command Center, unsure how he got there, staring at Shelby's portrait. He wanted to never come back to this place, but every time it became too much- he found himself standing here. He found himself staring at her and hoping that he would find answers. Most of the time he was silent. He still didn't have the words to explain to her everything he had felt and everything he had never said.
"I did a lot of staring at my parents' pictures when they first died." Axel stepped out of the darkness and Cameron nodded his head in acknowledgment. Of all his fellow rangers that could have found him, Axel was certainly the best. He settled next to him and also looked up at Shelby's portrait. He didn't press him for details, didn't push about what today was forcing him to face, and instead added a new enamel pin to the frame. He jerked his head towards Axel- he had never asked who was adding them to the frame and always assumed that the Command Center had done it on its own. "There's no wrong way to grieve, Cam. We all still carry it with us, just differently."
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes and with a sigh, he let them fall. Axel placed an arm around him, but said nothing as his shoulders started to shake and the sobs bubbled up. His anger had finally faded and while had almost lost it with Kimberly- he truly lost it now. He didn't know how to move on, he didn't know how to do what she asked, but he knew that he had to try. He knew that at some point he had to pick himself back up because she was right. He had a soulmate and that ranger deserved more than this.
AN: Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear from you- good, bad, ugly- in the comments!