Fic: The Possibility of Still Being Evil (PR, Fred-centric, Fred/Justin)
Title: The Possibility of Still Being Evil
Fandom: Power Rangers
Pairing: Fred/Justin, mentions Rita/Zedd
Rating: PG-15
Summary: Sequel to A Touch of Guidance. As far as Fred can tell he's no longer evil which means finally meeting his team.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers. It’s not my toy box and I’m merely playing. I also own nothing to do with Gargoyles.
A/N: Written as a gift for queenriley. Thanks to pockythoughts for suggesting Silyv.
A/N2: Fred is the kid from MMPR:TM, Nico is Justin's soccer friend from Turbo and Silvy is the girl who hung out with the iS rangers.
The Possibility of Still Being Evil:
Fred kept his eyes tightly closed. He wasn’t evil. He’d gone to sleep and he’d woken up and he was still no longer evil. Where did that leave him? Was he a member of the team? He’d only fought with them once and after the monsters had grown Nico had told him to leave. They each had individual zords and while he supposed five against three odds weren’t bad, wouldn’t it have made sense to have six against three odds?
Was there a reason Nico hadn’t let him call his zord?
He couldn’t think about that now, not when he heard his bathroom door opening. Justin had stayed. Fred turned his head, opened his eyes. It had been one week of phone calls after Nico suggested they try dating each other. One week of trying to find a gap in Justin’s busy schedule. Then when they did finally set up a date he’d been turn evil for two weeks. Twyla and her evil spells had cost him seeing Justin standing there wrapped only in a towel. He could’ve had that earlier.
“I really only meant to ask you for coffee,” Fred confessed.
Then there had been that overwhelming fear that he wouldn’t wake up tomorrow and still be him, that he’d be that evil version of him. That he’d never have another chance with Justin. That he wouldn’t get to kiss him, hold him, sleep with him and…
“I only showed up for coffee,” Justin shrugged before he ran a hand through his damp hair, “I have to get to work.”
Fred fell back into his covers with a groan and covered his eyes, “Work!”
He reached over and snatched his phone off his nightstand. Wait, was it too early to call? He had to call! He hadn’t shown up in two weeks! Dialing he tried to think of places he could start applying to. He leaned in when Justin sat next to him and placed a soothing hand on his arm.
He greeted Annette as she picked up the phone and then she began to gush at him about finally hearing from him and how the building had been a mess since that evil Gold Ranger’s Zord had attacked. Fred closed his eyes, great he had no place to work because he’d destroyed it.
“At least they’ve deemed the building still safe, the bank across the street is going to have to rebuild,” she told him before he could hear the sounds of his boss asking who was on the phone and snatching it away.
“Fred!” he greeted.
His boss had never called him by his first name before.
“Thank you for being one of two people that remembered the policy of ‘don’t come in if the monster attacks get non-stop!’”
What?
“Only you and Kathie remembered! That’s why I’m giving you two the first of the vacations while we rebuild. Can’t pay you for the time the Gold Ranger was attacking, but take the rest of the week off and come back next Monday!”
“Really?”
“You followed the rule! Do you know how many people I had to try and evacuate because they decided to come to work? There were head counts while Zords were battling! I had to show up every day and then go hide in that stupid monster shelter because people kept showing up to work. I would’ve been safer at home!”
“I’m sure we all would’ve been,” Fred said.
“Exactly! See you next Monday,” his boss told him before hanging up the phone.
Fred stared at the phone.
“How bad?” Justin asked.
“I’m on vacation for the rest of the week,” Fred said slowly, “Don’t go back till Monday. You free at all?”
Justin laughed then kissed his shoulder, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Fred smiled. He had the whole day to himself. Then he remembered he had a life to piece back together. He ran a hand down his face. First he had to call all the parents of his students and announce on his website that they’d restart classes since it seemed that the Gold Ranger was no longer going to be attacking. Hopefully his no class while there are non-stop monster attacks would keep anyone from being suspsious as to what he had been doing the past two weeks.
Then he had to call his father and let him know he survived. His father was going to try and convince him to move again. Monster attacks had been the reason they’d moved out of Angel Grove when he was younger.
“You’ll figure it out,” Justin reassured.
Fred sat up and pulled him into a kiss. Justin returned it, hands coming up to cup his face before he pulled away, “I have to get to work.”
“And I need to get my day started.”
“Go see your team,” Justin told him.
“I barely know most them,” Fred stated.
“You’ll need to,” Justin pointed out.
Fred frowned. How easy would it be to fight alongside them when just the day before he had been trying to destroy them? He’d done it once, but did once translate into him being a full-fledged member of the team? Did he even deserve to ask for their forgiveness?
Nico was his friend and he’d tried to kill him.
“Hey,” Justin caught his attention, “You won’t know unless you try.”
“Good point.”
“I make those occasionally,” Justin smiled.
“More than occasionally,” Fred smiled back, “Get to work. I’ll be fine.”
“Sure?”
Fred nodded.
“Make enough coffee for both of us?”
“Coffee after my shower would be perfect,” Fred laughed as he took another kiss.
His good mood stalled as after he’d crawled out of bed and paused to find clothes. Nothing looked right, nothing felt right. It was all the wrong color…
Wrong color? What did that mean?
A shirt hit him in the back of the head. He spun and saw a knowing look on Justin’s face. He stared down at the plain black shirt he’d occasionally used as an undershirt. That felt right, he could wear his gold watch too.
“Black?”
Justin shrugged, “I made a few calls. Apparently the guy who was gold before you managed to get away with wearing a lot of black.”
“Good to know.”
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Fred paused to check the address Nico had given him as he stared at the large worn structures. His eyes traveled downward, searching for any sign of life. Standing at a far door a young woman lounged against the wall of a building. Her hair was dyed blonde with a black undertone, short and spiked. She wore black platform boots that stopped just below her knees and had more buckles than Fred thought were necessary. Her skirt puffed out under the black lace. Her shirt was a dark green under a black vest with several buttons on it.
“Silvy?” Fred asked as he approached.
She smirked, “Welcome to our world.”
“Who would think that the headquarters of the Power Rangers was in the middle of the old abandoned business district?” he quipped. Twyla had demanded he find their base of operation and though he’d searched this had been one of the few places he hadn’t looked.
She shrugged, turned and entered the building. He followed her down a dim corridor feeling a bit lost. Was the whole building this dark? Silvy stopped at an elevator, except there wasn’t a button to press, instead there was a device to press your hand against.
“We can’t give you a pass just yet,” Silvy explained.
“Better safe than sorry,” Fred agreed before Silvy touched her hand to the pad and the doors of the elevator slide open.
Silvy seemed to be assessing him while the elevator moved downward. Finally she asked, “You’re friends with Nico?”
“I hope so,” Fred answered. Could he and Nico still be friends?
Silvy looked up at him and smirked, “You were friends before so you’re friends now. You were under a spell, if you hadn’t been then you wouldn’t have…”
“But I did,” Fred told her, frowning down at his hands. How many buildings had he destroyed? How many people had gotten hurt? Worse, how many people were dead?
Silvy touched his arm, “The moment Thera managed to break the spell you fought with us. You’re not evil. You’re our teammate now.”
“Thanks,” Fred told her.
She stepped into his line of vision again and told him, “If you were friends before then you’re friends now, so you friends with Nico?”
“Yes,” Fred told her, smiling slightly.
Silvy nodded, “He’s an awesome red!”
“And you’re green?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Welcome to the team,” she told him as the door opened and he got his first view of their Command Center. Nico was sitting in front of a large computer, next to dark-skinned girl, wearing blue. Her hair was in a short bob that framed her face. They both turned to take him in.
“Fred!” Nico greeted with a smile.
“Hey,” Fred smiled back, feeling more relaxed now that he’d seen Nico wasn’t angry with him.
They hugged briefly before Nico pulled him over to the computer, “You’ve met Silvy.”
“Yep,” Silvy agreed as she dropped into the chair that Nico had vacated.
“This is Lauren, our tech,” Nico introduced.
She turned long enough to greet him, shake his hand and then go back to the computer. He looked past her to the screen and asked, “Isn’t that my Zord?”
“Yes,” Lauren answered, sounding excited, “I think I’ve unlocked a way for it to combine with our Megazord.”
“Should we try it?” Fred suggested.
Nico frowned, looked over in concern and advised, “Not just yet.”
Fred frowned. Why not? He was about to ask when Nico distracted him by introducing him to Noah.
“Hi Dude!” Noah called out before becoming absorbed in the TV program he was watching.
“Hi,” Fred greeted as he took in the back of Noah’s head. His only impression of Noah was a shaved-near bald head slouched on a couch watching cartoons.
Noah waved.
Fred watched the TV a moment and asked, “Is that Gargoyles?”
“Yeah!” Noah answered happily.
“Maybe you should go to your homework,” Lauren suggested.
“No way,” Noah told her, “We’ve been run ragged and we finally have a moment to breathe so I’m going to take a deep breath and relax. I want this comfy couch and some good cartoons.”
“I wonder if all male yellows are geeks,” Silvy pondered as she tilted her head, before she turned back to Lauren and poked her, “What about your homework?”
“It’s done,” Lauren told her, “You fill out any college applications yet?”
“Nope,” Silvy grinned as she leaned back into the chair and rested her hands on her stomach, “I’m happy to be a Power Ranger.”
“We’ll finish out mission eventually,” Lauren prodded.
Fred tucked his hands into his pockets and watched the exchange, wondering if this wasn’t the first time the two had had this argument.
“And then I’ll join SPD,” Silvy told her, “And before you go thinking that I’m planning on being a goof and revealing my secret identity, understand that I kinda hang out with you guys a lot and wouldn’t want someone with half a decent brain to figure out that we’re color-coded.”
Lauren eyed her a moment before she asked, “You’re going to tell them and have one of your ranger friends put in a good word for you?”
“Exactly,” Silvy agreed before she sat forward, staring intently at the screen. She pointed to two things then poked Lauren. Lauren looked at the screen again, her fingers suddenly flying over the keyboard.
“Huh,” Lauren said as she sat back, “That could work.”
Silvy grinned.
Fred glanced over at Nico who shrugged, “Silvy’s tech smart.”
“I wanted to be a rocket scientist for awhile,” Silvy explained.
“Awesome,” Fred nodded, feeling slightly lost.
Another door opened and Fred turned to take in a tall young women in dark jeans and a pink tank top. She leaned in the doorway and yawned.
“Feeling better?” Silvy asked.
She shrugged.
“Your…” Nico started.
“If you call him my dad,” she cut off.
“You’re guardian called,” Nico pushed, “He said he got you out of school for the day.”
She nodded as she moved slowly towards them. Fred frowned, she looked familiar, exhausted, but familiar.
“Maybe you should call him and let him know how you are,” Nico suggested.
“I don’t want to talk to Adam,” she countered.
“Maybe you should,” Noah suggested sounding worried.
She paused for only a moment before she reached him. She circled him slowly.
“Do I know you?” Fred asked, feeling suddenly out of place.
“I look a bit like my mother,” she explained, “She and my father were well known in Angel Grove.”
“Well-known?”
She paused in front of him, “Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. I had a twin brother that was kidnapped into the past and attacked a few years ago.”
“Thrax,” Fred supplied.
She nodded as she placed a hand on his chest, “I’m Thera.”
“She kinda handles all the magic stuff,” Silvy said.
“You broke Twyla’s spell. Thank you.”
“I’m just sorry it took me so long. And I’m not evil. My parents weren’t either, when they died,” she said as she tilted her head and frown. She turned away from him to Nico, “He’s clean. Her hold on him is gone. I just don’t have the energy to handle his zord yet.”
“My zord?” Fred questioned.
“It’s still evil,” she explained with an apologetic look.
“What does that mean?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Nico told him, “Either it means you can’t work the zord until we get the spell off it or you can use it, but by using it you’re under Twyla’s spell again.”
That was why Nico had sent him away when the fight had turned to zord.
“How do we find out?” Fred asked.
“We don’t do anything,” Thera explained, “The more likely possibility is that you’d be turned evil again. I need to rest and then I’ll take care of your zord. You need to stay away from your zord until I know it’s not dangerous for you anymore.”
“We’re connected to our zords,” Fred pointed out.
“It’s a bond I shouldn’t try to break,” Thera nodded.
“Could she use that bond?” he asked.
Thera frowned, “I don’t know yet.”
Fred nodded. Closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was no longer evil. He had been welcomed onto the team. He could begin to make amends for the things he’d done when he’d been evil, but the possibility of being evil again still hung over his head. His nightmare was still his reality.
Fandom: Power Rangers
Pairing: Fred/Justin, mentions Rita/Zedd
Rating: PG-15
Summary: Sequel to A Touch of Guidance. As far as Fred can tell he's no longer evil which means finally meeting his team.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers. It’s not my toy box and I’m merely playing. I also own nothing to do with Gargoyles.
A/N: Written as a gift for queenriley. Thanks to pockythoughts for suggesting Silyv.
A/N2: Fred is the kid from MMPR:TM, Nico is Justin's soccer friend from Turbo and Silvy is the girl who hung out with the iS rangers.
The Possibility of Still Being Evil:
Fred kept his eyes tightly closed. He wasn’t evil. He’d gone to sleep and he’d woken up and he was still no longer evil. Where did that leave him? Was he a member of the team? He’d only fought with them once and after the monsters had grown Nico had told him to leave. They each had individual zords and while he supposed five against three odds weren’t bad, wouldn’t it have made sense to have six against three odds?
Was there a reason Nico hadn’t let him call his zord?
He couldn’t think about that now, not when he heard his bathroom door opening. Justin had stayed. Fred turned his head, opened his eyes. It had been one week of phone calls after Nico suggested they try dating each other. One week of trying to find a gap in Justin’s busy schedule. Then when they did finally set up a date he’d been turn evil for two weeks. Twyla and her evil spells had cost him seeing Justin standing there wrapped only in a towel. He could’ve had that earlier.
“I really only meant to ask you for coffee,” Fred confessed.
Then there had been that overwhelming fear that he wouldn’t wake up tomorrow and still be him, that he’d be that evil version of him. That he’d never have another chance with Justin. That he wouldn’t get to kiss him, hold him, sleep with him and…
“I only showed up for coffee,” Justin shrugged before he ran a hand through his damp hair, “I have to get to work.”
Fred fell back into his covers with a groan and covered his eyes, “Work!”
He reached over and snatched his phone off his nightstand. Wait, was it too early to call? He had to call! He hadn’t shown up in two weeks! Dialing he tried to think of places he could start applying to. He leaned in when Justin sat next to him and placed a soothing hand on his arm.
He greeted Annette as she picked up the phone and then she began to gush at him about finally hearing from him and how the building had been a mess since that evil Gold Ranger’s Zord had attacked. Fred closed his eyes, great he had no place to work because he’d destroyed it.
“At least they’ve deemed the building still safe, the bank across the street is going to have to rebuild,” she told him before he could hear the sounds of his boss asking who was on the phone and snatching it away.
“Fred!” he greeted.
His boss had never called him by his first name before.
“Thank you for being one of two people that remembered the policy of ‘don’t come in if the monster attacks get non-stop!’”
What?
“Only you and Kathie remembered! That’s why I’m giving you two the first of the vacations while we rebuild. Can’t pay you for the time the Gold Ranger was attacking, but take the rest of the week off and come back next Monday!”
“Really?”
“You followed the rule! Do you know how many people I had to try and evacuate because they decided to come to work? There were head counts while Zords were battling! I had to show up every day and then go hide in that stupid monster shelter because people kept showing up to work. I would’ve been safer at home!”
“I’m sure we all would’ve been,” Fred said.
“Exactly! See you next Monday,” his boss told him before hanging up the phone.
Fred stared at the phone.
“How bad?” Justin asked.
“I’m on vacation for the rest of the week,” Fred said slowly, “Don’t go back till Monday. You free at all?”
Justin laughed then kissed his shoulder, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Fred smiled. He had the whole day to himself. Then he remembered he had a life to piece back together. He ran a hand down his face. First he had to call all the parents of his students and announce on his website that they’d restart classes since it seemed that the Gold Ranger was no longer going to be attacking. Hopefully his no class while there are non-stop monster attacks would keep anyone from being suspsious as to what he had been doing the past two weeks.
Then he had to call his father and let him know he survived. His father was going to try and convince him to move again. Monster attacks had been the reason they’d moved out of Angel Grove when he was younger.
“You’ll figure it out,” Justin reassured.
Fred sat up and pulled him into a kiss. Justin returned it, hands coming up to cup his face before he pulled away, “I have to get to work.”
“And I need to get my day started.”
“Go see your team,” Justin told him.
“I barely know most them,” Fred stated.
“You’ll need to,” Justin pointed out.
Fred frowned. How easy would it be to fight alongside them when just the day before he had been trying to destroy them? He’d done it once, but did once translate into him being a full-fledged member of the team? Did he even deserve to ask for their forgiveness?
Nico was his friend and he’d tried to kill him.
“Hey,” Justin caught his attention, “You won’t know unless you try.”
“Good point.”
“I make those occasionally,” Justin smiled.
“More than occasionally,” Fred smiled back, “Get to work. I’ll be fine.”
“Sure?”
Fred nodded.
“Make enough coffee for both of us?”
“Coffee after my shower would be perfect,” Fred laughed as he took another kiss.
His good mood stalled as after he’d crawled out of bed and paused to find clothes. Nothing looked right, nothing felt right. It was all the wrong color…
Wrong color? What did that mean?
A shirt hit him in the back of the head. He spun and saw a knowing look on Justin’s face. He stared down at the plain black shirt he’d occasionally used as an undershirt. That felt right, he could wear his gold watch too.
“Black?”
Justin shrugged, “I made a few calls. Apparently the guy who was gold before you managed to get away with wearing a lot of black.”
“Good to know.”
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Fred paused to check the address Nico had given him as he stared at the large worn structures. His eyes traveled downward, searching for any sign of life. Standing at a far door a young woman lounged against the wall of a building. Her hair was dyed blonde with a black undertone, short and spiked. She wore black platform boots that stopped just below her knees and had more buckles than Fred thought were necessary. Her skirt puffed out under the black lace. Her shirt was a dark green under a black vest with several buttons on it.
“Silvy?” Fred asked as he approached.
She smirked, “Welcome to our world.”
“Who would think that the headquarters of the Power Rangers was in the middle of the old abandoned business district?” he quipped. Twyla had demanded he find their base of operation and though he’d searched this had been one of the few places he hadn’t looked.
She shrugged, turned and entered the building. He followed her down a dim corridor feeling a bit lost. Was the whole building this dark? Silvy stopped at an elevator, except there wasn’t a button to press, instead there was a device to press your hand against.
“We can’t give you a pass just yet,” Silvy explained.
“Better safe than sorry,” Fred agreed before Silvy touched her hand to the pad and the doors of the elevator slide open.
Silvy seemed to be assessing him while the elevator moved downward. Finally she asked, “You’re friends with Nico?”
“I hope so,” Fred answered. Could he and Nico still be friends?
Silvy looked up at him and smirked, “You were friends before so you’re friends now. You were under a spell, if you hadn’t been then you wouldn’t have…”
“But I did,” Fred told her, frowning down at his hands. How many buildings had he destroyed? How many people had gotten hurt? Worse, how many people were dead?
Silvy touched his arm, “The moment Thera managed to break the spell you fought with us. You’re not evil. You’re our teammate now.”
“Thanks,” Fred told her.
She stepped into his line of vision again and told him, “If you were friends before then you’re friends now, so you friends with Nico?”
“Yes,” Fred told her, smiling slightly.
Silvy nodded, “He’s an awesome red!”
“And you’re green?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Welcome to the team,” she told him as the door opened and he got his first view of their Command Center. Nico was sitting in front of a large computer, next to dark-skinned girl, wearing blue. Her hair was in a short bob that framed her face. They both turned to take him in.
“Fred!” Nico greeted with a smile.
“Hey,” Fred smiled back, feeling more relaxed now that he’d seen Nico wasn’t angry with him.
They hugged briefly before Nico pulled him over to the computer, “You’ve met Silvy.”
“Yep,” Silvy agreed as she dropped into the chair that Nico had vacated.
“This is Lauren, our tech,” Nico introduced.
She turned long enough to greet him, shake his hand and then go back to the computer. He looked past her to the screen and asked, “Isn’t that my Zord?”
“Yes,” Lauren answered, sounding excited, “I think I’ve unlocked a way for it to combine with our Megazord.”
“Should we try it?” Fred suggested.
Nico frowned, looked over in concern and advised, “Not just yet.”
Fred frowned. Why not? He was about to ask when Nico distracted him by introducing him to Noah.
“Hi Dude!” Noah called out before becoming absorbed in the TV program he was watching.
“Hi,” Fred greeted as he took in the back of Noah’s head. His only impression of Noah was a shaved-near bald head slouched on a couch watching cartoons.
Noah waved.
Fred watched the TV a moment and asked, “Is that Gargoyles?”
“Yeah!” Noah answered happily.
“Maybe you should go to your homework,” Lauren suggested.
“No way,” Noah told her, “We’ve been run ragged and we finally have a moment to breathe so I’m going to take a deep breath and relax. I want this comfy couch and some good cartoons.”
“I wonder if all male yellows are geeks,” Silvy pondered as she tilted her head, before she turned back to Lauren and poked her, “What about your homework?”
“It’s done,” Lauren told her, “You fill out any college applications yet?”
“Nope,” Silvy grinned as she leaned back into the chair and rested her hands on her stomach, “I’m happy to be a Power Ranger.”
“We’ll finish out mission eventually,” Lauren prodded.
Fred tucked his hands into his pockets and watched the exchange, wondering if this wasn’t the first time the two had had this argument.
“And then I’ll join SPD,” Silvy told her, “And before you go thinking that I’m planning on being a goof and revealing my secret identity, understand that I kinda hang out with you guys a lot and wouldn’t want someone with half a decent brain to figure out that we’re color-coded.”
Lauren eyed her a moment before she asked, “You’re going to tell them and have one of your ranger friends put in a good word for you?”
“Exactly,” Silvy agreed before she sat forward, staring intently at the screen. She pointed to two things then poked Lauren. Lauren looked at the screen again, her fingers suddenly flying over the keyboard.
“Huh,” Lauren said as she sat back, “That could work.”
Silvy grinned.
Fred glanced over at Nico who shrugged, “Silvy’s tech smart.”
“I wanted to be a rocket scientist for awhile,” Silvy explained.
“Awesome,” Fred nodded, feeling slightly lost.
Another door opened and Fred turned to take in a tall young women in dark jeans and a pink tank top. She leaned in the doorway and yawned.
“Feeling better?” Silvy asked.
She shrugged.
“Your…” Nico started.
“If you call him my dad,” she cut off.
“You’re guardian called,” Nico pushed, “He said he got you out of school for the day.”
She nodded as she moved slowly towards them. Fred frowned, she looked familiar, exhausted, but familiar.
“Maybe you should call him and let him know how you are,” Nico suggested.
“I don’t want to talk to Adam,” she countered.
“Maybe you should,” Noah suggested sounding worried.
She paused for only a moment before she reached him. She circled him slowly.
“Do I know you?” Fred asked, feeling suddenly out of place.
“I look a bit like my mother,” she explained, “She and my father were well known in Angel Grove.”
“Well-known?”
She paused in front of him, “Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. I had a twin brother that was kidnapped into the past and attacked a few years ago.”
“Thrax,” Fred supplied.
She nodded as she placed a hand on his chest, “I’m Thera.”
“She kinda handles all the magic stuff,” Silvy said.
“You broke Twyla’s spell. Thank you.”
“I’m just sorry it took me so long. And I’m not evil. My parents weren’t either, when they died,” she said as she tilted her head and frown. She turned away from him to Nico, “He’s clean. Her hold on him is gone. I just don’t have the energy to handle his zord yet.”
“My zord?” Fred questioned.
“It’s still evil,” she explained with an apologetic look.
“What does that mean?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Nico told him, “Either it means you can’t work the zord until we get the spell off it or you can use it, but by using it you’re under Twyla’s spell again.”
That was why Nico had sent him away when the fight had turned to zord.
“How do we find out?” Fred asked.
“We don’t do anything,” Thera explained, “The more likely possibility is that you’d be turned evil again. I need to rest and then I’ll take care of your zord. You need to stay away from your zord until I know it’s not dangerous for you anymore.”
“We’re connected to our zords,” Fred pointed out.
“It’s a bond I shouldn’t try to break,” Thera nodded.
“Could she use that bond?” he asked.
Thera frowned, “I don’t know yet.”
Fred nodded. Closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was no longer evil. He had been welcomed onto the team. He could begin to make amends for the things he’d done when he’d been evil, but the possibility of being evil again still hung over his head. His nightmare was still his reality.