Fic: Affliction (Power Rangers, Gen)

[rivulet027]

Title: Affliction
Fandom: Power Rangers Turbo, Zeo, Samurai, Ninja Storm, and Time Force
Pairing/Characters: Billy/Cestra, Antonio/Jayden, Justin, Raymond, Adam, Tanya, Katherine, Tommy, Kim, Zack, Cestro, Billy, Aisha, Lauren, Cam, Kevin, Jayden, Antonio, Rocky, Alex
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers. It's not my toy box and I'm merely playing.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ranger deaths aren't permanent, except when they are.
A/N: Written for pockysquirrel for the Power Rangers World Building exchange.


Affliction:

Justin looks up from his history book when Ashley says, “Shut up Junior!”

“I think we should consider it,” Junior insists.

“Ms. Appleby is never late,” Carlos counters, “I’m sure it’s something important.”

“It’s been over fifteen minutes,” Junior retorts, “I think we should all leave.”

“And tell her how irresponsible she is the next time we see her,” Reggie adds.

Justin is about to comment when a senior walks into their classroom.

“Raymond,” Ashley asks, “is Ms. Appleby okay?”

“She’s fine,” Raymond reassures, “but there’s been a monster attack.”

“I didn’t hear the alarm,” Junior contradicts.

“It wasn’t here,” Raymond continues. Justin shuts his textbook and slips it into his bag as he notes how pale Raymond looks.

“If it was where those Samurai rangers are, then why’s it affecting us?” Reggie puts in.

Raymond opens his mouth, then shuts it and closes his eyes. He opens his eyes, looks at all of them slowly before he moves across the room and turns the TV on. The news is on. Justin hears his book bag hit the floor before he realizes it fell out of his hands. The words from the news seem distant. Two rangers are dead. Two rangers in Panorama City are dead. There are people still missing. Panorama is where…Justin hears himself take in a shaky breath.

He needs to find his teammates. He needs to help. He…he…

Raymond squats down in front of him and places comforting hands on his shoulders. Justin blinks at him, tries to focus.

“I know you were close to Rocky and I know that’s where he’s going to school. There isn’t any word yet,” Raymond informs him, “Ms. Appleby and several of the other teachers that have taken disaster relief courses and are familiar with how to recover from monster attacks, went to help. There are a lot of people still missing. Rocky is…”

“Don’t,” Justin interrupts, “Don’t try to tell me he’s probably okay.”

Raymond swallows hard and nods.

“I want to be dismissed,” Justin manages.

“Everyone is.” Raymond informs him and then the rest of the class. Justin grabs his bag and ducks out of the classroom as Raymond starts telling them all what they already know. Inform your responsible party where you’re going. You can go home, the library will be available for those that want to study, but the Juice Bar is being set up to help organize the citizens of Angel Grove into helping the citizens of Panorama City.

Justin heads to the nearest bathroom, looks it over quickly to make sure it’s empty before sliding into a stall and teleporting to the Command Center. Kat is pacing and wringing her hands. Adam is sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around his knees. He buries his face into them when Tanya starts rubbing his back. With her free hand, Tanya keeps trying to snag Kat and get her to sit down while she alternates whispering to Adam and glaring at Tommy. Tommy is bent over a consul frowning.

Justin hesitates. He wants to join them, wants to help, wants to do something, but he finds himself sinking against the nearest wall, watching.

“Tommy,” Tanya chides.

“I know, I know,” Tommy grits out, “but if I can find anything on the monster Rocky was fighting then…”

Tommy’s inability to finish his sentence causes Justin to lean against the wall for support. His morpher suddenly feels tight against his wrist and he shuts his eyes tightly. He’s not going to ask what Rocky was doing fighting a monster. He’s not going to point out that Rocky doesn’t have a working morpher.

“Zordon, Alpha 5 and Billy are working on figuring out what the monster did,” Tanya reminds.

“You don’t,” Kat starts before she breaks off with a distressed noise.

“Don’t what?” Tanya pushes.

“They…the Samurai rangers,” Kat manages, “they rescued everyone who’d been captured by monsters before they sealed their villains away."

“They did,” Tanya comforts as she manages to finally snag Kat and get her to sit down next to Adam.

“The monster blasted Rocky before he vanished,” Tommy states voice hollow before he glances at the consul again.

Adam brings his head out of his knees to blink slowly for a moment. His mouth is slightly open and it takes him a moment to find his voice, “Where’s Justin?”

Justin opens his mouth, intent on joining and offering comfort, but nothing comes out. He wraps his arms tightly around himself.

“He’s probably still at school. He’s safe,” Tanya reasons as she brushes some of Adam’s hair behind his ear.

Adam nods, then says, “We…we should go help.”

“Would it not cause suspicion if you needed to constantly leave every time the Power Rangers are needed in Angel Grove?” Dimitria reasons.

“It’s Rocky,” Adam stresses.

“Aisha is on her way there,” Tanya reminds, “Trini is only an hour away and Zack said he’d go as soon as he gets off work.”

“He’s my best friend.”

“I know,” Tanya comforts as she wraps her arms around Adam.

“We’ll find him,” Kat tries as she joins the hug, “We have to.”

Justin startles as Alpha ducks in close to look at him, “Why are you over here?”

Justin manages to shrug and doesn’t protest when Alpha takes him by the shoulders and guides him over to his friends. He stands there a moment, not sure what to say as Adam, Kat, and Tanya look up at him. He sits down. Adam reaches forward and pulls him close. The words tumble out of him, “Raymond told us. Ms. Appleby went to help. The Samurai Rangers…Red and Blue are dead.”

Kat chokes out a sob, her arms tightening around them. Adam sinks into him heavily. Tanya pulls away just enough to say, “Tommy, if you don’t get over here right now…”

*****~~~~~*****~~~~~*****

Billy wishes he felt anything but trepidation about returning home. Time on Aquitar has introduced him to options for his life he’d never have imagined, but as much as he wants to share this with his friends he knows the situation causing his return will mean he won’t. He’s trying to stick with facts. He’s grateful that Cestro agreed to come with him.

The way Kim looks at him before she pulls him into a hug he knows she can tell it’s not good news. He hugs her close and pulls away slowly, it’s been too long since he’s seen her.

“Are you visiting your parents while you’re here?” she asks.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

She nods then gives his arm a squeeze before Zack cuts around her and pulls him into a hug, “Man, no running off without letting us say goodbye from now on, okay?”

Billy almost laughs, but shakes his head instead, “I’m sorry to have worried you.”

Zack pulls back enough to point out, “Trini is the one you’re going to have to apologize to.”

“Of course,” Billy nods before he introduces them both to Cestro.

“I thought you said Jason and Kim would be picking us up?” Cestro attempts to clarify as he takes the time to shake both Kim and Zack’s hands.

“Adam’s not taking it so well and Jason’s been hovering,” Zack explains, “I think he feeling…he’s barely left Aisha and Adam since we’ve all come together.”

“You can say guilty,” Billy points out.

Zack opens his mouth, closes it and looks away.

“You’ve known Jason longer, but it stands to reason that he would feel guilty that his predecessor is now missing,” Billy continues, attempting to catch Zack’s eyes.

Zack sighs and meets his gaze, “Don’t say the Zeo Crystal chose Rocky, because I know just as well.”

Billy presses his lips together and nods.

Zack shrugs, “Jason needs to hover, you need to try and solve things. We’re all going to deal with this in our own way.”

“This is a difficult situation for everyone involved,” Cestro attempts to temper.

They all nod their agreement before Kim sighs and says, “Well, the sooner we get everyone together the sooner we’re working together to solve this.”

Billy looks away, he’s not sure what to say. Zack squeezes his shoulder and starts making small talk with Cestro, getting him to describe Aquitar as they all pile into Kim’s car and make their way to Jason’s apartment.

When they arrive everyone looks at them. Trini approaches first, pulling him into a hug. Billy holds onto her tightly, not sure what to say.

“Where’s your girlfriend?” Trini asks.

Billy sighs, “She’s helping elsewhere. We…there was…KO-35 fell and everyone who managed to escape needs help.”

Trini nods, “You’ll have to explain more later.”

“I’ll try.”

He manages to step back and take in the friends he left behind. Adam and Aisha are sitting on the couch. Adam is hugging his legs, chin resting on his knees as Aisha cuddles into him from his left side. Jason is sitting next to Adam on the right, turned slightly to talk to them. Kat is pacing near a window. Tommy is staring out a window. Kim and Zack look at each other then nod before Zack moves to guide Tommy to the group and Kim eases Kat over into a chair. Trini pulls another chair into the room so that are enough for everyone to sit down. Billy thanks her and takes a seat.

Billy waits till they’ve all settled before he says, “I suppose we should start with what we know. The Samurai rangers managed to seal the monsters. I, at this point, can’t say for certain if the monsters are gone for good or if this is a temporary reprieve. We know Rocky was fighting one of the monsters. We know he morphed briefly.”

Adam lifts his head, “How? We used the Zeo Crystal to make the Turbo…but that morpher is broke! We were told not to use them again!”

“We were told it would be dangerous to,” Aisha reminds, “That monster had a lot of people cornered.”

“Rocky distracted it long enough that everyone got to safety,” Cestro reminds.

“Then it blasted him and he’s just gone,” Adam stresses.

“He’s not dead,” Billy tries.

Adam sighs, shoulders easing slightly, “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Zack still had some of my equipment and the readings he took indicate a type of teleport.”

“So where is he?” Kat asks.

“That’s what I’m uncertain of,” Billy answers, "Cestro and I plan to take more readings, but at this point we believe that he was teleported through time, not to a different place.”

Kim inhales sharply and Aisha buries her face in her hands.

“So he’s gone?” Adam chokes.

“He’s…” Billy starts, then pauses and wets his lips, “I’m not sure we have the technology to find him, but we’re going to try.”

“What do we tell Justin?” Kat asks.

“We don’t,” Tommy says.

“We can’t not tell him,” Jason attempts to reason, “He agreed to stay behind and get the new team up to date.”

Tommy shakes his head, “Justin said he could handle Rocky missing. He said that if it wasn’t good new he didn’t want to know.”

“Besides we’re still uncertain,” Aisha states, voice hollow.

“No,” Adam says, “We lost our best friend. It was supposed to be the three of us. We had a plan and then we split up and…we should’ve found replacements and joined you when you left.”

“Adam,” Aisha shakes her head, pulling him close and choking back a sob, “It wouldn’t have worked. I was meant to leave when I did and so was Rocky. You were meant to stay a bit longer.”

“This can’t be how things are supposed to work out,” Adam disagrees, “It can’t be.”

*****~~~~~*****~~~~~*****

Lauren lowers the bokken she’s been practicing with when Cam decides to approach her. She tilts her head, takes in his serious expression and knows why he’s here.

“Well?” he asks.

“Two minutes, maybe less,” she says. He hadn’t been watching her practice for long before he stepped forward into her line of sight.

He considers her answer, but doesn’t say anything.

She frowns at him.

“How are you?”

“Better if you’d tell me I was right,” she pushes.

“You know if you are,” he evades.

“That’s not an answer and doesn’t answer your question.”

“And what question am I not asking?” Cam teases.

Her lips quirk up into a melancholy smile, “You want to ask if I know, but you don’t want to ask in case I don’t know.”

“Then why are you out here alone?” Cam frowns.

Lauren stills and takes in the concern on Cam’s face before she answers, “I asked to be.”

“You shouldn’t be alone, not right now.”

“I have to be alone for my own safety. I have to be alone so that my brother risking his life isn’t meaningless. I have to…I don’t know anything about SPD except that their red just died.”

“That’s all most of us know,” Cam reassures as he steps in closer in case she wants comfort.

“I didn’t know him and it shouldn’t bother me,” Lauren says forcefully.

“You’re not alone,” Cam reminds.

Lauren shakes her head, “I have my protector. I have you and a few teachers.”

“You could come up to the school some time,” Cam offers, not for the first time.

“The less people that know I exist the safer I am,” Lauren says, the words repetitive on her tongue.

“You need friends,” Cam counters.

“No, I don’t,” Lauren states firmly, then shakes her head before Cam can speak. She tells him, “My father lost a teammate before he sealed Master Xandred and lost his own life. There was another red who took a hit from a monster and disappeared. I’ve been told that two people shared that morpher, that it wasn’t him who was wearing that suit when several reds got together on the moon. That’s three rangers. Two dead, one missing, but possibly dead. That’s it. No one else. The seal wasn’t strong enough and soon I’ll have to come out of hiding and do what my father couldn’t. Everyday my brother risks his life so that I can learn the seal, so that I can make what our father almost did permanent. If I'm not careful, if I don't work to keep myself safe then my dad's death was meaningless and Jayden risking his life is for nothing. I know rangers can die, so this SPD ranger, shouldn’t hurt so much.”

“You can’t stop worrying that it could’ve been Jayden.”

She nods tightly.

“He’s captured, Mirloc.”

“How many people died? How many people disappeared?” she asks.

“We haven’t figured that out yet.”

Lauren forces herself to take a slow breath in and out before she squares her shoulders and requests, “Spar with me?”

Cam nods.

*****~~~~~*****~~~~~*****

Kevin hesitates outside Jayden’s door. He wraps his arms tightly around himself and stares at the door handle. He glances down the hall toward the living room. He can’t go back to his room, it’s too quiet. He should train. He should go running. He should ask a teammate to spar with him. He wants to go swimming.

He raps on Jayden’s door instead.

“Come in.”

Keven peeks his head in and watches as Jayden struggles to sit up in bed. His hair is mussed. His eyes are red and puffy. Kevin frowns at the blanket covered lump still sleeping wrapped around Jayden.

“Is Antonio wearing a shirt?”

Jayden shrugs as he runs his fingers into Antonio’s hair, “He used it to wipe the tears off my face.”

Kevin steps into the room intent on mentioning where the tissues are, intent on offering comfort. Instead he says, “My mother taught me how to swim.”

Jayden nods and pats the bed. Kevin slips out of his shoes and sits down. He shakes his head as he takes in Antonio.

“He’s good for you,” Kevin comments.

“I know,” Jayden says, “I couldn’t stop listening to the news, he pulled me away.”

Kevin nods, “They’re saying he has a kid.”

“Maybe we can try to do something for him,” Jayden offers.

Kevin shakes his head, “They’re secret identities for a reason.”

“We know exactly what his son is going through,” Jayden points out, “And Tate didn’t have a secret identity.”

Kevin nods, then closes his eyes tightly. He just wants to go swimming, but that isn’t the training he should be doing.

“Kevin?” Antonio yawns, “Where’s everyone else?”

Kevin opens his eyes when he feels Antonio shift closer and cup his face.

“You know it’s okay to cry, right?” Antonio asks.

Kevin nods, “I’m trying to hold it together.”

“You don’t have to,” Mike says from the doorway.

“That’s what having teammates is for,” Emily continues.

“We take care of each other,” Mia finishes.

Kevin nods and swallows hard. Jayden pulls him close as the others join them on the bed. Warm arms wrap around him and Kevin’s grateful because he can’t hold onto the grief by himself anymore.

*****~~~~~*****~~~~~*****

Rocky is pretty sure he’s not breaking and entering. He has a key. He’s got this century’s equivalent of a mop and a bucket. He sets them aside as he looks around the morgue. It doesn’t take him long to find the right drawer or to get it opened. He looks down at the ranger laying there, breathing shallowly. Rocky pulls a chair close by and plops himself down to play a video game while he waits.

He makes it through three levels before the red on the table shifts and moans. Rocky slips the game into his pocket and stands.

“You’re okay. You’re safe,” Rocky reassures.

Alex blinks up at him, “Where?”

“We’re about to get out of here,” Rocky answers, “I’d have tried to get you out of the morgue, but you walking out with me on your own accord is going to look less suspicious than me carting your unconscious body around.”

“I died.”

“You did,” Rocky confirms.

“The others, my friends, they went to the past?” Alex asks.

“They did.”

Alex frowns, “They must have done something. This isn’t right.”

“What isn’t right?”

“I’m supposed to be dead,” Alex stresses, “I was told Ransik would kill me. I thought if I…and he did kill me.”

Rocky chuckles, “You’re last name isn’t Oliver, is it?”

“Drake,” Alex counters, finally looking at him, “Aren’t you the janitor?”

“One of Time Force’s many janitors. I got displaced a few years ago so they let me work here.”

“Displaced from where?” Alex asks as he sits up slowly.

“You mean when,” Rocky correct.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m okay,” Rocky tells him, “Think you can stand?”

“I shouldn’t be able to stand. I should be dead.”

Rocky sighs as he helps Alex to his feet, “Not all ranger deaths are permanent and I’m going to stick with you until you realize that.”