Legal Disclaimer: We don't own the Rangers, we own our original characters, been there, done that. . ..be warned, slight sexual innuendo in here.among other stuff.
Azure's eyes fluttered open slowly as she began to look around, the sight of Lord Zedd; alive, well, and hideously evil staring at her, sent shivers down her back. The memories flooded back into her mind of what had happened, and her heart broke anew. He laughed a hideously evil laugh at her. "Glad to see you awake, my dear!"
"What did you do to me?" she snapped, the last thing she remembered was Aura standing over her, then total oblivion followed. He smiled as he leaned over and touched her cheek.
"You're just going to love being with me!" he hissed as she backed away from him. She hated the very sight, the feel of him anywhere near her.
"I couldn't stand being with your son in my universe, what makes you think I'm going to want to be with you?"
He laughed. "Because you have no choice!"
Azure shuddered; her life had went from pure heaven to pure hell in the space of less than a week. "What do you want from me?" she groaned. Zedd's wicked smile was chilling as he gazed lustfully at her.
"What I want, I've already gotten!" at that declaration, she simply curled up against the wall, sick to her stomach.
Please, let him be lying. . ."Adam. . .," she whispered.
"Aura. Get me out of here." Images of them together danced through
her head, making her sick to her stomach.
Aura sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and glanced around. "Uhhh. .. Azure?!" Where is she!?
"She's not here," the Amber Ranger looked across to see the two Adams there, the one from her world had been the one who spoke. "Where is here?" he wondered.
"I don't know," she shook her head. This place was dark, dismal, and gloomy, and those were it's good points! Something about this was striking her wrong, but she couldn't identify what it was.
The werewolf Adam shivered. "I don't like the looks of this."
"That's putting it mildly," Aura said, getting to her feet. "That's putting it very mildly indeed."
Evanthe sat up, yawning, her white fangs flashing briefly as she did so. It was still rather shocking for Aura to think that she was in the same room with a vampire and a werewolf. She shrugged mentally; they were probably thinking the same thing about being in the same room with a non-Earthborn human. "We've got to get out of here," the vampire stated, adjusting quickly to the situation. "For your sakes, and most especially, for Adam's," she was looking at the Amber Ranger and the Adam from Aura's world; if she didn't feed soon, she'd have to take some of their blood, and that was something she didn't want to do.
Adam sighed. "We have to get to her," he missed his wife, he couldn't believe how badly he'd screwed up! "Not like she'd want to see me, though."
Aura shook her head. "We can get that settled when we get home, Adam," she preferred practicality for the moment. "For now, we need a way out of here!"
The werewolf Adam glanced to his vampire friend. "I wish we could get those two back together," he whispered. Evanthe nodded, an idea coming to her even as he spoke.
"I might know a way."
"How?"
She smiled softly. "Vincent."
Her friend smiled as well, then turned to the others. "Now, to figure out A: where we are, and B: How we get out of here."
Aura stretched, working out the kinks that came from sleeping on cold stone, and glanced around. As the precise shape and flow of the dungeon around her came into her mind, she went even paler than Evanthe. "Oh, great," she whispered. "This is just where I didn't want to be!"
Werewolf Adam glanced over. "What is it?" I've never seen someone that white. . . she looks almost as scared as she did when she found out Zedd exists in our world!
"A month of my life I wish had never happened was spent in this place," she remembered. "Or it's duplicate in our world."
The Adam from her world swore; he remembered that as vividly as she did. "Right before you went home?" he asked delicately, knowing the two most sensitive spots in Aura's life were the month she'd spent in torture and when Zedd had re-entered their lives in their world.
She nodded, shivering a little. "I do not like this place, not at all!"
He put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "We'll get out of here," he said firmly. "And soon!"
"And find Azure," Evanthe came over to them. "And leave this place a battered wreck if we can!"
Aura smiled. "Thanks, Adam. Being here, it's bringing back memories I don't like."
The crack of the whip. . .the cracking of her own bones. . . Zedd's laughter. . .Goldar pulping parts of her body that were never meant to hurt in the ways they did. . .she had learned new definitions of the word 'pain' in this place. . .
"You got over it," she reminded herself softly. "You healed. You grew."
"Try not to think of it," Adam suggested. Aura took a deep breath and nodded, turning her mind to business.
"We need a way out of here. If I could just morph in this world, my Axe could probably chop through that lock!"
He nodded. "I wish I still had some power!" it's not good being a powerless person involved with Rita and Zedd and Divatox! I wish there was something I could do, if they're going to keep pestering me and my family. . .or at least find a place where we can be safe from them.
Evanthe stepped up. "Let me at that lock. I might be able to deal with it!"
Werewolf Adam looked up, smiling. "Evanthe, what do you say we morph and bust that door open?"
Her smile matched his. "Let's do it!"
Aura and 'normal' Adam watched as a semi-blast from their past occurred. The two other Rangers held forth their morphers. "It's morphin' time!"
"Black Ranger Power!"
"Purple Ranger Power!"
As the two Rangers stood there morphed, the Black Ranger pulled out the Power Axe, and the Purple a gleaming whip. Aura glanced to her friend. "Kind of brings back memories, doesn't it?"
Adam nodded a little sadly, as the two Rangers attacked the door. With the power of a morphed vampire and werewolf behind their blow, the door fell: and standing there was Zedd, with Azure next to him, clad in a tight-fitting leather outfit, that didn't leave much to the imagination, and a pair of 6 inch black high heels.
"Azure!" Aura cried out happily, glad to see her sister again, no matter who she was beside. Zedd's arm was wrapped around Azure, whose hands were cuffed in front of her.
"She is mine now!" Zedd laughed. "Get used to the idea!"
Aura growled harshly as she attempted to attack Zedd, but was thrown back against the wall. Adam just stared at his wife, his heart breaking to see her like that.
"I am sorry, Aura," Azure mouthed, her eyes red with tears. She wouldn't even look at Adam. Aura ran over, kicking Zedd with all her might, despite the fact he didn't even seem to notice her.
"Get your hands away from her!" the Amber Ranger ordered as Zedd just shook his head.
"She's mine!" he repeated. "Get used to it, Ranger. You four have been asleep for three months now!" he told them.
Evanthe looked as if she were about to faint with that news, shaking her head she could hardly believe it. "No! I have to feed, I'd be insane if it were three months!" not the Blood Lust. . .not with my friends here. . .I WON'T do that to them! I won't!!!
Zedd only laughed, gesturing to a corner where a light shone, revealing an IV very near where Evanthe had been asleep. "I only did that because Azure talked me into it!" he declared. Aura stared at her sister.
"Azure, what has he done to you?!"
The young woman stepped away from Zedd, the handcuffs falling off her as she did so. The sisters hugged, and Azure whispered softly, "I wish I had a choice!"
"You can escape!" Aura urged. "Live free at least, away from him!" Azure shook her head quietly, and Aura growled, "Why not!?"
Before Azure could answer, Zedd cleared his throat. "Spend what little time you can together. I will be back for you, my dear."
Azure watched him leave, breaking down into tears in her sister's arms. "Cause I'll die if I leave the palace!"
"Oh, Azure!" Aura cried. "I've protected you all my life. . .and when it counts the most, I failed you!"
"You didn't," Azure shook her head. "Save yourselves!"
"We have to save you somehow!" Aura declared. The Adam from their world walked over carefully.
"Azure?" he said gently. Three months. . .three months . . .
Azure sighed. "Unless you can get this off," she touched a crystal around her neck. "I don't see any way," she looked to Adam. "What do you want?"
"To say I'm sorry," he said. "And that I'd give my life and soul to have changed that night so that it never happened."
Azure smiled. "So would I," she nodded, touching his face gently, then slapped him suddenly. "I've wanted to do that for three months!"
Adam's eyes widened for a moment, then he nodded. "I deserved that."
"I've had three months to calm down over that," she told him, then wrapped him in her arms, both of them enjoying the feeling of touching at last.
"Oh, Azure," he whispered. "I love you so much."
Azure murmured, "There is some bad news. . .I'm pregnant."
He pulled back, looking at her pale and in shock. "Azure. ..who?"
She sighed. "The day you were put under the spell, Zedd. . .raped me," as Adam held her close to him, she whispered in his ear, "What is it about me that people feel they have to do stuff like that to me," she wondered.
Aura's hands tightened into fists. "It was bad enough what his dimensional double did to me, but if it takes me a thousand years, I'm going to take his head for this!"
"Need any help?" Evanthe growled. They both were taken aback when Azure looked to them in pure fear.
"No!"
Her sister frowned. "Why not?"
"This necklace also serves as a sort of lifeline. As long as Zedd is alive, so am I. If he dies. . .," she whispered. "I die!"
"I'll make him wish he were dead then!" Aura promised. She would do nothing less to the person who had tormented her sister so.
Azure sighed and shook her head. "While you have the chance, get out of here! I know you'll find a way to free me but till then, go!"
Aura glanced back at the others; she and Azure had been through this conversation at other times. "Come on. We're going for now, but we will definitely be back."
Azure nodded as they slipped out past her, and whispered softly. "Good luck."
Aura was whispering insults to Zedd that would've turned even his ears, if he had them, red. The werewolf Adam touched her shoulder gently, gesturing down a hallway. "Let's try down there."
"Can't be any worse than what we left behind," Evanthe shrugged. Aura and the other Adam nodded, as he glanced behind them for a moment before they headed down there. As they walked down the hallway, the vampire muttered briefly, "I wonder if Vincent can get that thing off her, or knows someone who can?"
"He'd better," Black Ranger Adam replied.
"He should," Evanthe said. She knew Vincent couldn't do everything, but he could do quite a lot.
The other Adam sighed deeply. "I hope she's going to be okay," Aura nodded her agreement as they turned around a corner. Four pairs of eyes widened in shock as they saw the door to the cell they'd escaped from on the ground in front of them.
"This just gets worse and worse!" Aura growled as the others swore. Things didn't get any better when Zedd stepped out of the cell, laughing.
"And it's about to get even worse!" he told them, seizing Aura in his talon grip. "Time for some old fashioned torture!" he taunted her. Aura struggled with all her strength.
"Let go of me! What are you talking about!?"
Zedd snapped his fingers, and Goldar emerged with Azure, holding a blade to her neck. "You shall see! Rito!" he ordered his brother-in-law out. "Put them into another cell!"
As Rito obeyed, Zedd had Aura and Azure taken to a torture chamber, with Azure chained quickly to the wall. Goldar seized Aura from Zedd, chaining her wrists and pulling her by them to a table. "No!!" Aura screamed as he did so. "Let go of me!" Something about the way he was looking at her was making her more than nervous, it was making her terrified!
As Goldar chained her ankles to the table, he laughed. "Now, time to see what you have to offer as my new pet!"
"No!" Aura almost burst her lungs at the force of her cry. "No!!" Goldar slapped her hard, and she spit at him. "Don't you even think about it!" she ordered.
Something that might've been a smile twisted Goldar's features. "I shall either do it to you or your sister!" he told her. Aura could see the horror in Azure's own eyes, and stopped fighting. "But I would rather have someone new!" Aura closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and kept her mind completely on Billy as Goldar fulfilled his disgusting desires.
Once he was done, he looked at her, laughing. Aura was doing all she could not to cry, not wanting to give them that satisfaction. "Not as good as your sister!" he laughed. Aura only bit her lip, keeping her thoughts on Billy and on one other thing, amazingly. You've been through worse. You've been through Zedd.
"Let's leave them for now," Zedd ordered. "We will have more fun later!" he laughed as he and Goldar left the sisters alone together. Aura stared up at the ceiling as Azure, released from her chains, unbound her quietly.
"Aura?" she said softly. Aura looked over to her, hiding the grief and pain in her eyes.
"I'll be all right," she said quietly. She would let no one know what was really going on inside her mind and heart.
Azure shook her head. "I don't believe you."
"I'll be fine, Azure," Aura lied through her teeth, she ached all over, and felt as if she'd never be clean again, inside or out.
"Stop lying to me," Azure declared. "Please, you are the only person I trust!"
Aura looked at her sister, then broke down into tears. "Azure. ..why can't all this just be over with? Why can't we live our lives in peace for more than a few months at a time?"
Azure held her gently. "I don't know. I really don't."
Aura leaned against her for a few moments. "Oh, Azure," she whispered. "This is the most hideous thing they've ever done to us!"
"You try having Rito do that to you," Azure said dryly. Aura shivered.
"Oh, that's disgusting!" she declared. Azure sighed, she'd grown used to it.
"Zedd seems to use me as his army's private toy."
Aura growled softly, then shivered. "Maybe that'll stop now that I'm here?"
"It won't."
"It had better!"
Azure only held her sister quietly, stroking the shivering woman's hair for a time. "This is a switch, isn't it?" she said at last. Aura nodded, trying to control her shakes. "This. . is almost as bad as. . ." she appeared to be trying to think of something to compare it to.
"As what could've happened to me when I met Zedd back on Kalakan in our universe," Aura sighed deeply, remembering what had happened them. Azure looked at her confused.
"Kalakan? What's Kalakan?"
Aura frowned. "Come on, Azure, you know what it is!" she sighed, remembering the beauty that had been her homeworld. "Or what it was."
"Sorry, Aura," Azure shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
Aura looked at her sister for a moment, then asked, "Azure. . .how did I get my Amber Ranger powers?"
"From. . .Zordon?"
Aura pushed away from this person, seizing her clothes as she did so and dressing quickly. "You're not Azure!"
"I am," the person said quietly. "Sort of. I am Azure's dreamself."
"What are you talking about?" Aura growled, not quite trusting this. The image stepped closer to her.
"Before Zedd comes back, go to the others. Tell them to think of waking up. You're in a dream, the real Azure is in danger the longer she's in Zedd's hands. Go now!"
Aura nodded, she had little else to go on. "Thanks," she said
shortly, then went.
"Leave me alone!" Azure shrieked, trying to escape from Zedd as he reached for her again. "Just leave me alone!"
Zedd laughed. "Oh, no! I'm having too much fun!"
"Where is my husband?" Azure closed her eyes, wanting to be with Adam, to be away from this place and all the horrors within.
"Where he'll never find you!"
"Let them go," Azure begged. "Please! They did nothing to you!"
Zedd growled, "They tried to take you away, and they're Rangers! That's all the reason I need to do anything I want to do to them!"
"My children," the young woman whispered, her thoughts turning to those whom she believed she'd never see again. "Please take care of my girls, Billy."
Zedd laughed. "What's the matter, Azure? Not having a good time?"
"How could you?!" she glared at him. "I hate you!"
"I like the way you say that!" he teased. "Do it again!"
"Go to hell!" she cried. Zedd just laughed at her hideously. He was enjoying the torment he was putting both her and her friends through in that deep dream.
He grinned. "Would you like to see what your precious friends and relatives are suffering through in my dungeons?"
Azure looked at him. "Aura! Keep your hands off Aura!"
"I'm not the one touching her!" he laughed. "Goldar has that pleasure!" he waved his staff, displaying what had been done to the Amber Ranger in the twisted dream he had provided the four captives. He'd edited it, of course, so Azure wouldn't see 'herself' in it and realize the truth. The young girl screamed in outrage at the violation of her sister, as Zedd smirked. "He's been such a loyal fighter, he deserved a reward!"
"I'm sorry, Aura," Azure whispered, trembling. "I'm so sorry!" Zedd continued.
"And he's going to be doing that to her for a very long time, or at least until he gets what he wants! Don't you think they'd make such a lovely pair of parents?!"
Azure growled, hitting him with all her strength. "Leave her alone!"
"Oh, that wasn't a good hit!" Zedd mocked. "Let me show you how it's done!" with all his considerable strength, he knocked her down to the floor, one hand flying to where he'd hit her. "Your sister belongs to Goldar just like you belong to me!"
"The Rangers will get me out of here! And you'll pay for what you have done!"
"What, do you take lessons from the Night Rangers? That sounds like something they'd say!"
"Go to hell!" she repeated. Zedd laughed at her, his eyes blazing with unholy fire.
"Guess what. . .you live there now!"
Azure's husband paced back and forth in the small cell they'd been thrust into. Evanthe sighed. "What do you think they'd doing to Aura. . .or should we even think about that?"
"If he's following after our Zedd, then, no, you don't want to know!" the Adam from the Amber Ranger's world told her harshly. Evanthe growled, her eyes almost glowing in the semi-darkness.
"He'll pay for it too!" she declared. The werewolf Adam only glanced to his alternate self a few times. The other Adam looked about as depressed as a person could be and still not be suicidal at the moment. The werewolf sighed.
"I'm sure the others are doing their best to get us out of here."
"Guys!" they all turned at the sound of Aura's voice. "You are never going to believe what's going on here!"
As they all took a look at her, they all had to flinch. "Aura?" her brother-in-law asked. "What did they do to you?" her hair was matted with sweat and blood, she was bruised from head to foot, and looked totally exhausted, but somehow. ..triumphant.
"Don't worry about it," Aura shook her head. "It's just a bad dream!"
"What?!" the werewolf Adam stared at her in total disbelief. What could she be talking about, a dream?
Aura quickly explained what the image of her sister had told her. "You see, this is just a dream of Zedd's. If we imagine ourselves awake. .then we'll be awake."
"Just think about waking up and that's it?" the werewolf asked. Aura nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating on waking up. They all felt a strange twinge, then opened their eyes.
"It worked!" Azure's husband smiled. Aura glanced down at herself, feeling much better and seeing her bruises were all gone.
"All right!" she declared. "Now the next step, finding Azure!" with a powerful kick, she knocked the door down in mimicry of what had been done in the dream. "Come on, I've got a sister to rescue!"
The Adam from her world nodded. "I've got both a wife and a marriage to save."
"Then let's go!" Evanthe declared as they started out. The
Power Rangers and friends were back on the job.
Zedd laughed as he showed the dream to Azure over and over, among a mixture of hits and kisses. He glanced down at her, growling softly when he saw how close to passing out she was. "Wake up!" he ordered, throwing a bucket of ice water on her.
"Leave me alone. . .," Azure whispered, barely waking up. "Please. . "
"No!" he snapped; he was having far too much fun tormenting her in every way his sick mind could come up with!
"You're killing me," she whispered. She was on the very edge of blacking out, and welcomed the shadows, they would be far better than what she was living through now.
Zedd shook his head. "Not before you see your sister, husband, and friends die!"
Azure closed her eyes, giving herself up to the darkness. She didn't notice the door slamming open or everyone else entering the room. "Azure!" Aura screamed as she and her brother-in-law ran over to her sister.
"No! Not again!"
Evanthe hissed, "Zedd, you're going to pay with your life for this one!"
Zedd shook his head. "I'd like to see you try! If she lives, she will never be able to talk about what happened to her, never!"
"So?" Aura retorted. "There are other ways to deal with the things that have happened. I know," never have I TOLD anyone what happened to me. . .and I never will. ..
The Master of Evil vanished, and they heard his voice. "I will have her completely one day! This is a promise!"
"Over my dead body!" Aura growled. She would let none hurt her sister.
Azure's husband glanced up. "How quickly can we get her to your Command Center?"
"In the blink of an eye," Evanthe snapped. That was about how long it took before they were there, and Aura turned quickly to the little robot there.
"Alpha, can you help her?"
As her husband put her down, Alpha scanned her. "Yes, but I won't be able to clear up those bruises, they'll have to heal by themselves."
Things were still and quiet for some time as Alpha worked, while the Adam of that world teleported off somewhere. Aura and Adam stayed beside Azure, waiting patiently. The Amber Ranger almost jumped out of her skin when the werewolf Adam and a stranger teleported in.
"Hello, Rangers," he said, nodding to them all. Evanthe smiled as she looked at him, the smile of a friend to a friend.
"Vincent, can you help Azure?" Evanthe asked.
The vampire king looked at the near-comatose young woman. "Alpha has done all he can on the physical, it is a marriage I came here to save."
"Really? Can you?"
Vincent nodded at the visiting Adam's question. "Concentrate on the night in question," he said, putting his hand on Azure's forehead. "And she will see it all."
As Adam did so, Vincent created a temporary link between their two minds, binding them so Azure would see, first-hand, what he truly had been thinking that night. His every thought and emotion had revolved around her, and when he realized what was going on, the very first thing he thought was What's Azure going to think!?
She opened her eyes and moved her head away from Vincent's hand. She'd seen more than enough, as she stared at him through tear-filled eyes. "I trusted you."
"I know," Adam whispered, turning away, tears in his eyes. "I can't say I'm sorry enough times. But I don't know what else to say."
She shook her head. "Don't say that again. I know you're sorry, but Adam, look at everything that has happened when I trusted someone outside of my parents and sister. Starting with Eric, I forgot what it was like to give my trust to people. I'm sick of wondering when the trust I give is going to be snatched away from me, and you did it this time, the man I love the most in all the universes."
Adam sighed. "I know. I missed you so much that night, I couldn't get my mind off you, all I was thinking about was you."
"It's going to be a while before I can trust you again."
"I know," he replied. "And I won't blame you if you never trust me again."
She sighed. "I want to. More than anything."
"I will love you until the end of time, Azure," Adam told her. "and beyond."
Azure sighed as she looked at him, then turned to Aura. "Any chance of going home?"
Her sister glanced up at Zordon. "I don't know. Is there?"
ALPHA HAS FOUND A WAY TO TEMPORARILY REOPEN THE PORTAL HERE IN THE COMMAND CENTER, Zordon told them; the robot had been working on it ever since they'd returned in search of Azure. Aura smiled.
"Come on. Let's go home."
Azure cleared her throat a little, glancing at the sheet that was the only thing she wore. "I need clothes."
Evanthe looked at her for a moment, then teleported out and back within a few moments, with a set of clothes in her hands. "We look about the same size, these should fit you."
"Thanks," Azure nodded as she quickly ran and changed. Evanthe smiled at the way she looked when she came back in.
"No problem," the vampiress smiled. "Consider them a gift."
Adam gently picked Azure up, despite the glare she gave him when he
did. "Time to go."
Billy the Phantom Ranger paced around nervously as the Turbo Rangers waited for Aura and Adam to get back, preferably with Azure with them. What's taking them so long?
A flash of white, like a tear in space, got their attention suddenly. Everyone turned to see Aura, Adam, and Azure there, Azure being held in Adam's arms. "Aura!" Billy put Jeni, who he'd been carrying, in the playpen and ran over to her to grab her in a bear hug.
"Oh, man, I missed you!" Aura cried, hugging back with all her strength. "Oh, Billy. . ."
Azure sighed as she got to her feet and walked over to her kids; all the Park and Cranston offspring had been brought to the Power Chamber. "On top of all this, I've got to deal with the fact I've lost a child."
Adam touched her hand gently. "Yet another thing that Zedd will pay for."
"I hope one day, I can have another child," Azure sighed. Adam closed his eyes for a moment.
"We. . .we can find out if you're still capable of it," he suggested weakly. "The spirit. .."
Azure glared at him for a second, then turned to her sister. "Aura, can we talk?" at Aura's nod, she pulled her over to a corner. "Aura, about what happened in that dimension. .when you first came to find me."
"What about it?"
"He. . .," Azure closed her eyes. "He. . ."
Aura dodged quickly to catch her as Azure suddenly passed out practically in her arms. Adam stared as he ran over. "Zedd said she'd never be able to talk about it."
"We have to get her to do something, to write about it, maybe?" Aura suggested.
"Like she did after Galan's death?"
Aura nodded. "Just to communicate it."
"Let's hope he didn't stop her from doing that too," Adam hoped. Aura sighed.
"I don't think he would, but it could happen."
Azure's eyelids flickered as she began to wake up. "W. ..what happened?"
"You tried to talk about what Zedd did, and passed out," Aura reported. She almost flinched back from the look in her sister's eyes.
Azure just got to her feet. "I have to go arrange my child's funeral," she teleported out quietly.
Adam sighed as he looked to where his wife had been only moments earlier. Tommy tried to be encouraging, "She'll be okay. Just give her time."
"I hope so," Adam prayed with all his heart that she would
be all right. He didn't know what he'd do with himself if she wasn't. She
had the right idea, though. It was only right that their child be given
a funeral. Poor Baby Park, he felt tears in his eyes. You never
had a chance to live. . .thanks to Zedd and Finster in that world. ...may
the Night Rangers bring them the justice they deserve for this.
Azure watched quietly as the small coffin was lowered into the ground. She looked over to where Adam sat near, but not next, to her. There were tears in his eyes, as there were in hers as she leaned against her father, not hearing the voices of the various people who offered their condolences.
"Azure," she looked up to see Adam there, and took a long breath.
She reached out and opened her purse, removing a small brown envelope from it. She could see the fear in his eyes at that action; she'd been living with her parents for the past few weeks. "I know this isn't the right place to give this to you," she said softly. "But I have to."
Before he could say or do anything, she walked off. Adam glanced after her for a moment, then looked down at the envelope. Gods, she is serving me with divorce papers at the funeral? It really is over. He quietly pulled the papers out and began to read, paling even as he did so.
I'm going to kill him, he thought firmly as he read over what had happened to Azure in that other dimension while they were in their dream. He glanced around to see if she was anywhere near, and sighed to see nothing but trees and leaving people in the graveyard. Putting the papers in his jacket, he headed for his car.
"I love you, Azure," he whispered to himself. "I love you so much."
He jumped when a peach rose was suddenly thrown into his lap from the back seat, and whirled to see Azure sitting there, smiling briefly at him. "Azure?!"
"What do you say we go home?" she asked quietly. "And stay there for a while?"
"Yes!" he agreed fervently. "Yes!"
"Our home," Azure smiled at him. "Forever our home."
Adam twisted around to give her the sweetest kiss of their life. "I love you, Azure."
His wife smiled as she got into the passenger seat and held the rose gently between two fingers. "We need to work hard on this relationship."
"I know."
Azure looked at him for a moment, then kissed him on the neck. At the expression of incredulity and love in his eyes, she smiled. "You seemed to like it when Elissa did it, but you didn't quite react that strongly!" I should know, I saw what happened!
"Of course not!" Adam told her. "Because I'm in love with you!"
Azure smiled for a few moments, then turned beet red beneath her bruised face. They'd told everyone that she'd had a bad accident and that was why she was so torn up and bruised up; luckily no one was investigating it too much. Then again, the Rangers had a good friend in the police department that kept their secrets real well.
"There's no one else I could love, Azure," Adam said. "No one in the world but you."
Azure giggled and pointed behind him. He turned to see Aura, Billy, and just about every former and current Ranger standing there watching them. Adam laughed a little as Azure got out of the car and stared at them.
"Can't a married couple get back together without interruptions?" she asked. Aura grinned a little.
"Who us, interrupt?"
Azure shook her head. "Guys, Adam and I need some time alone, not only to work on our marriage, but to mourn," she said. Adam nodded, they were going to be going out of town for the weekend; she'd asked him at the end of the letter that had revealed almost all that had been done to her by Lord Zedd.
"No problem," Tommy shook his head. "We're just checking to makes sure everything's all right."
"We're going away for the weekend," Azure told them.
"Good, you guys need to," Aura started pushing people away from the car. "Come on! Let them go, people!"
Azure smiled as she caught Aura's eye, then mouthed, "Thanks."
"No problem, sis," Aura mouthed in returned. Azure smiled as she got into the car.
"My parents are watching Katia and Jeni for the weekend," she told him. Adam smiled as they started to pull off. "It was a beautiful service, wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
She stared out the window for a few minutes, watching the countryside roll by . "I wish they'd had a chance to live."
"So do I. But we'll have more children. But it won't be the same."
Azure glanced back at him. "Did you read it?"
"Yes."
"And?"
Adam looked over at her. "If I ever see that Zedd, I'm going to slowly dissect him for daring to lay a hand on you."
"Nice to know that you're still as overprotective as when we dated."
"Some things never change," Adam squeezed her hand a little.
Azure leaned back, enjoying the drive. "I'm glad. I just wish we
could verbally talk about it." Maybe some day we can, she thought.
I guess we'll find out. ..in time.
Aura stared out the window of their bedroom, lost in thought as she had been for some time. She turned back at the sound of someone behind her and saw Billy there, smiling at her. She returned the grin. "It's good to be home," she said softly. Billy held her hand gently and wrapped his arms about her shoulders.
"I wish Adam and Azure the best this weekend," he said softly. Aura nodded quietly, and sighed. "Something the matter?"
"Just remembering," Aura shivered a little as the events of the past few weeks caught up with her. She'd been fighting them off for weeks, not wanting to face them just yet.
He pulled her gently over to the bed and held her. "Want to talk about it?"
"I don't know if I can," Aura whispered, remembering how Azure wasn't able to speak of some events. Billy stroked her hair.
"Try. You'll never know till you try."
Aura sighed and nodded, then slowly began to speak of everything that had happened from the moment Zedd had kidnapped Azure up until they'd awakened from the dream-realm Zedd had enspelled them into. When it was over, Billy took a long look at her, then spoke. "Remind me to decapitate Zedd if I ever see him again."
"You're going to have to stand in line, I think," Aura smiled and shivered again.
"Right behind you, Adam, Azure, and the Night Rangers," he said, kissing her tenderly. "We are going to get through this, all of us."
Aura returned the kisses tenderly. "I hope so. That dream. . .it scared me so much, in a lot of different ways."
"We have all weekend to talk about nothing else but that if you want."
Aura trembled. "I think I'm going to have to," she said. "Because Goldar is still around here, somewhere, Billy. And if he ever meets Divatox, who knows what could happen from there?"
"Let's hope he left," Billy suggested. " But remember what you did for two of their henchmen."
Aura smiled and nodded, then pulled him to the bed. After all, if the
Amber Ranger was going to have ten children, they were going to have to
get started on them!
Things weren't very peaceful on the Subcraft, though, as Divatox stormed around raging at the top of her lungs. "I don't care what universe he's from, Zedd can't do anything right! The one here dies by the hand of a human, and that other one couldn't even keep those Rangers in his world!"
Her head jerked up as she heard a pounding on the door. "Go away!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "We don't want any!" when the pounding continued she glared at her nephew. "Elgar, go make whoever that is go away!"
Elgar stumbled over to the door and opened it. "Go away!" he screamed into the face of the visitor. "We don't want any!"
Goldar glared back at the other mutant. "No! I came to see Divatox!"
"Who is it?!" Divatox screamed out, then glared to see the former chief warrior of Rita and Zedd in the doorway. "Oh, what do you want?"
The huge warrior returned the glare of the pirate queen. "I want to destroy those Rangers!"
"You and everyone else in three galaxies," Divatox shrugged. "What else do you want?"
Goldar entered the Subcraft as she returned to her throne. "To join forces with you!" he declared. Divatox shrugged.
"Oh, great!" she growled. "Another idiot around here, just what I always wanted!"
Goldar pulled out his trump card: a pouch that he threw to her. "I know how to capture them. The crystal within will capture anyone you want inside of it!"
Divatox's eyes widened. "You're hired!! Now. . .the hard part! To decide just one of those little Power Pukes to get!" she leaned back in her throne, gazing at the crystal. Things were about to get very difficult for the Rangers.
