Bright Skies (Multi - Season Crossover/Power Rangers, prompt #63: Hours, T)
People have accused me of writing evil cliffhangers before. This ... may actually be one of the worst.
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Fandom/: Power Rangers Time Force moving into S.P.D., multiple Rangers from each season
Characters/: Wes (Time Force), multiple Rangers from other teams (Literally too many to list)
Pairings/: Post - Wes/Eric, Rocky/Adam, Shane/Dustin, Hunter/Cam, Carter/Dana, Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, Carlos/Ronny, Jason/Taylor, Conner/Ethan, Justin/Rose, Tommy/Kimberly, Tyzonn/Mack, Cassie/OC, Nick/Maddison, Zack/Aisha, Trent/Kira, Post - Billy/Cestria. Future Ryan/Carter and Billy/Hayley. More couples will most likely be mentioned, but not shown.
prompt/: #63: Hours
Rating/: T (For non - graphic mentions of people having babies and being violent with one another)
Disclaimer/: I don't own the Power Rangers, but if Disney's hiring any new writers I volunteer.
Summary/: When Wes' life starts to fall apart, an accident gives him a chance at a fresh start in New Tech City, with Space Patrol Delta. But even a new life has its ups and downs - and weird friends. Meanwhile, Eric tries to move on.
Warnings/: A mentally handicapped person living in a medical facility, angst, male and female slash, non-cemented couples (In otherwords, pairings that will be separated), children created by scientific means, character death
Author's Notes/: This ... is not what I planned to have happen at all. But it did, and it actually kinda works out better than what I was planning. So, um ... -Hides-
~"Who's Sky?"~
Wes sighed, rolling over. The strange conversation with the Time Force Rangers had been bothering him for the last few days, but now that he was in bed with nothing else to distract him, Jen's words kept flickering through his mind. Over and over, on constant repeat, with flickers of Trip and Lucas between.
~"Wow, you guys look old!"~
~"Who's Sky?"~
He glanced up at the clock at his bedside. Yet another thing specially made just so his SightMap could pick it up. Billy had tried to explain how it worked, but Wes had stopped him before his head could hurt too badly. It worked, and that was all that counted.
11:02pm.
~"Speaking of weird, since when do you hang all over Trip, Lucas?"
"Since I'm allowed to touch my boyfriend." ~
He'd always wondered if Lucas and Trip had finally gotten it together and started dating. Trip's crush on Lucas was painfully obvious to anyone with eyes, but Lucas had always been too restrained to respond. His answers had always been different every time Wes had tried to ask why he didn't do anything about it: 'Trip? Are you kidding me?' 'This isn't the time for working on relationships', 'I can't see Trip that way', 'This time period doesn't deal with male couples well', 'It's just a crush; he'll get over it', 'Trip's just a kid' ...
But every time Wes had asked, he'd always noticed that each time, Lucas' answer was different.
And apparently, now Lucas had finally worked through whatever issues he had. Trip seemed happy, if not embarrassed. And Lucas wasn't shy about it, which was good. If Lucas spent less time on himself and Trip learned to speak up, they'd make a good pair. Although he was pretty sure Katie would go into Big Sister Mode on them both to make sure things worked out.
He wondered where Katie had been during the call. It wasn't like her to stay silent in the background, so she must not have been there. Maybe checking up on Alex?
~"Actually, he's in a meeting with Ca - I mean, Admiral Logan."~
So the good captain got promoted. He didn't know much about him, but he hoped it was something he deserved. Jen had always seemed to trust him, at least.
~"Why are you calling us with a civilian in the room? You both know better than to let just anyone see this technology."~
Squad Leader Scotts at her finest, as Katie had liked to say. Oh, wait - it was Captain Scotts now, wasn't it? There was something about being promoted after they'd gone back to the future with Ransik and the others ...
He smiled faintly. By Ranger standards, Jen would be considered Commander Scotts, while he was the captain. He wondered what her S.P.D. title would have been. He could see her as part of the training department ... Sergeant Commander Scotts. Yeah, that sounded about right.
Huh. Jennifer Scotts. Jason Scott. Maybe they were related somehow. Jen *did* act a lot like Taylor, and Casey looked just like her father ...
~"Who's Sky?"~
He looked at the clock again.
12:16am.
He laid back again with a sigh. He knew he *needed* to sleep. He had work tomorrow. But for some reason, his brain just wouldn't shut off. He couldn't seem to just relax and stop thinking for once.
~"You have a dog, Wes? I always wanted a dog ... "~
A glance to the foot of the bed found Jen fast asleep, stretched out to cover as much space as she could possibly take up. She wasn't a small dog, but she wasn't big, either. And yet somehow he was still forced to pull his legs just to the side of her if he wanted to stretch out.
He smiled fondly, shaking his head. Silly mutt.
~"She was sort of ... necessary."
"Why's that?"
"Don't you know? I mean, you're in the future aren't you?"~
He sighed, laying back against the pillow. Did they not know about ... what happened? Or were they just not allowed to say anything because it could change the future? Maybe Trip was just being - well, Trip? He didn't always think about what he was saying before he said it.
But S.P.D. was always touting him as some hero. And if Time Force was the future of S.P.D., wouldn't they know then? Maybe ... maybe Time Force *wasn't* S.P.D. He'd always thought it was, but maybe he was wrong.
~"These people are supposed to be your teammates, aren't they? How can they ask something like that?"~
He rolled over again to bury his face against his pillow. Trip could be a little dense sometimes, but he wasn't insensitive. And Jen wouldn't have let him get away with saying something that could be interpreted the wrong way. Lucas hadn't even said anything about it at all.
Maybe they really *didn't* know. About ... about the - Then. That he was blind. Maybe they just ... didn't know. They weren't pretending not to know, or being cold about it. They just didn't know any better.
But *why* didn't they know any better? Why wouldn't Time Force have records of the battle? They lost *Rangers*; wouldn't they at least have some sort of memorial to them still? Some sort of historical document stating that they gave their lives to protect civilians?
~"What does Sky have to do with Alex?"~
He closed his eyes tightly, swallowing hard. What did Sky have to do with Alex? *Everything*! Sky wouldn't even have been born if he hadn't done what Alex needed him to - hadn't allowed Time Force to -
He sat up, blinking.
Time Force kidnapped Alexander and Benjamin. Alex said he was created from their DNA. That was what he told Jen and the others, and it was what Wes had learned from the Chrono Morphers.
He could feel the blood draining from his face.
Alex didn't know.
They hadn't known that Sky was Alex's brother because they didn't know Alex was his *son*. Alex thought ...
"No ... " he whispered, feeling his chest grow tight.
Alex didn't know he had parents. He thought he was just part of a DNA process; he'd never even known they actually *wanted* him. All he'd ever known was the labs, and the scientists who'd used him to perfect the Red Chrono Morpher. Without Ben and Trip to look after, and later Jen to mellow him out, he might not have considered himself to be *human*.
~"*Who* is Sky?"
"*I'm* Sky."~
Alex had never known anything beyond Time Force. So Time Force had never told him more than he was the genetic child of two Time Force Rangers. That was what he'd told Wes by accident when their morphers merged - not that he was kidnapped.
I thought they were going to steal the genetic coding. Not our kids, he thought distantly.
His stomach rolled over before he did, and he ran for the bathroom.
****
The tea wasn't doing as much to settle the nausea as he'd hoped it would, but he knew there was no way he could sleep now.
~"But ... there are no records of - "
"Trip! I ... I don't understand. Wes, you ... you have a son?"
"Three, if you want to be specific. But you already know that."
"No. No, Alex and Ben are - I have to go."~
He buried his face into his arms, trying not to whimper.
"If you squeeze that thing any tighter, you're going to start bleeding."
He glanced at his right fist, where he'd been holding on to Jen's Time Force badge since he'd wandered back out to the kitchen. He wasn't sure why he'd picked it up at first, other than a fierce desire to throw it as far across the room as he could in hopes it would shatter. But then he'd taken to looking at it, and realizing that he could barely remember what *that* looked like anymore, let alone his old team.
Hands gently pried his fist open before he was aware of what Eric was doing, carefully removing the badge to set it on the table. "Yeah, *that's* gonna leave a bruise," Eric remarked. He shot him a look. "Smart, Wes. Real, smart." Then he froze, staring at him. "Wes ... ?"
"Yeah?" His voice sounded hoarse and weak even to his own ears.
There was a soft sigh, and Eric sat down beside him. "How long have you been awake thinking about whatever's going on in your head?" he asked quietly.
Wes shrugged. "What time is it?"
"Quarter to four."
"Almost six hours." He sighed, burying his face against his hand. His forehead hit his Chrono Morpher by accident, and he reached for it furiously, grabbing at the strap to rip it off and throw it across the room.
The moment his hand touched it, a dark, desperate feeling of *wrong* swept through him.
Before he could stop to contemplate the sensation, Eric had caught his hand. "Whoa! What the heck are you doing?" he demanded.
"Alex doesn't know," he heard himself say. Great, his mouth was working for him on its own again. Wasn't that fun?
Eric looked at him like he'd grown another head. "What?"
He shook his head, laying it against the table again a moment later. "You always thought I let Alexander and Benjamin be kidnapped," he said thickly, wondering distantly if he was going to cry again. "But that's not exactly what happened."
The hand on his tensed. " ... What do you mean?" Eric asked slowly.
He let out a shaky breath. "I knew ... that Alex is our son. Genetically. What I learned when our morphers merged, was that Alex was born from DNA created from you and me - and so was his brother, Ben. I didn't know that Time Force would actually kidnap our boys because they *were* Alex and Ben."
He heard Eric suck in his breath sharply, and looked up with moist eyes. "I thought, that I was going to protect them from *hurting* the boys - not take them away from us completely. I thought about it, but I didn't think Time Force could actually do that without damaging the time stream." He swallowed, and knew for certain that he was crying now. "And when I was thinking earlier, I realized that Alex doesn't know that he's our *son*. He thinks he's just a DNA experiment."
Eric was staring at him, sitting so still he barely looked like he was breathing.
"He doesn't realize he was born because I love you," he finished, his voice cracking.
But Eric just continued to remain where he was, frozen in shock.
Wes slowly pulled his hand free and rose to his feet. He smiled faintly to himself, shaking his head before raising an arm to wipe at his face. "So I gave up everything, just to make things worse."
"Everything ... ?"
Eric's voice was so quiet he barely heard him.
He glanced back, forcing a watery smile. "Well, yeah. I gave up you, didn't I?"
And because there was no possible way for Eric to hate him anymore than he already did, because his heart felt like it had shattered into splinters for what had to have been the third time in his life, and because he so desperately wanted ... something, even for a moment, he leaned in before Eric could say another word, and kissed him.
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Fandom/: Power Rangers Time Force moving into S.P.D., multiple Rangers from each season
Characters/: Wes (Time Force), multiple Rangers from other teams (Literally too many to list)
Pairings/: Post - Wes/Eric, Rocky/Adam, Shane/Dustin, Hunter/Cam, Carter/Dana, Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, Carlos/Ronny, Jason/Taylor, Conner/Ethan, Justin/Rose, Tommy/Kimberly, Tyzonn/Mack, Cassie/OC, Nick/Maddison, Zack/Aisha, Trent/Kira, Post - Billy/Cestria. Future Ryan/Carter and Billy/Hayley. More couples will most likely be mentioned, but not shown.
prompt/: #63: Hours
Rating/: T (For non - graphic mentions of people having babies and being violent with one another)
Disclaimer/: I don't own the Power Rangers, but if Disney's hiring any new writers I volunteer.
Summary/: When Wes' life starts to fall apart, an accident gives him a chance at a fresh start in New Tech City, with Space Patrol Delta. But even a new life has its ups and downs - and weird friends. Meanwhile, Eric tries to move on.
Warnings/: A mentally handicapped person living in a medical facility, angst, male and female slash, non-cemented couples (In otherwords, pairings that will be separated), children created by scientific means, character death
Author's Notes/: This ... is not what I planned to have happen at all. But it did, and it actually kinda works out better than what I was planning. So, um ... -Hides-
~"Who's Sky?"~
Wes sighed, rolling over. The strange conversation with the Time Force Rangers had been bothering him for the last few days, but now that he was in bed with nothing else to distract him, Jen's words kept flickering through his mind. Over and over, on constant repeat, with flickers of Trip and Lucas between.
~"Wow, you guys look old!"~
~"Who's Sky?"~
He glanced up at the clock at his bedside. Yet another thing specially made just so his SightMap could pick it up. Billy had tried to explain how it worked, but Wes had stopped him before his head could hurt too badly. It worked, and that was all that counted.
11:02pm.
~"Speaking of weird, since when do you hang all over Trip, Lucas?"
"Since I'm allowed to touch my boyfriend." ~
He'd always wondered if Lucas and Trip had finally gotten it together and started dating. Trip's crush on Lucas was painfully obvious to anyone with eyes, but Lucas had always been too restrained to respond. His answers had always been different every time Wes had tried to ask why he didn't do anything about it: 'Trip? Are you kidding me?' 'This isn't the time for working on relationships', 'I can't see Trip that way', 'This time period doesn't deal with male couples well', 'It's just a crush; he'll get over it', 'Trip's just a kid' ...
But every time Wes had asked, he'd always noticed that each time, Lucas' answer was different.
And apparently, now Lucas had finally worked through whatever issues he had. Trip seemed happy, if not embarrassed. And Lucas wasn't shy about it, which was good. If Lucas spent less time on himself and Trip learned to speak up, they'd make a good pair. Although he was pretty sure Katie would go into Big Sister Mode on them both to make sure things worked out.
He wondered where Katie had been during the call. It wasn't like her to stay silent in the background, so she must not have been there. Maybe checking up on Alex?
~"Actually, he's in a meeting with Ca - I mean, Admiral Logan."~
So the good captain got promoted. He didn't know much about him, but he hoped it was something he deserved. Jen had always seemed to trust him, at least.
~"Why are you calling us with a civilian in the room? You both know better than to let just anyone see this technology."~
Squad Leader Scotts at her finest, as Katie had liked to say. Oh, wait - it was Captain Scotts now, wasn't it? There was something about being promoted after they'd gone back to the future with Ransik and the others ...
He smiled faintly. By Ranger standards, Jen would be considered Commander Scotts, while he was the captain. He wondered what her S.P.D. title would have been. He could see her as part of the training department ... Sergeant Commander Scotts. Yeah, that sounded about right.
Huh. Jennifer Scotts. Jason Scott. Maybe they were related somehow. Jen *did* act a lot like Taylor, and Casey looked just like her father ...
~"Who's Sky?"~
He looked at the clock again.
12:16am.
He laid back again with a sigh. He knew he *needed* to sleep. He had work tomorrow. But for some reason, his brain just wouldn't shut off. He couldn't seem to just relax and stop thinking for once.
~"You have a dog, Wes? I always wanted a dog ... "~
A glance to the foot of the bed found Jen fast asleep, stretched out to cover as much space as she could possibly take up. She wasn't a small dog, but she wasn't big, either. And yet somehow he was still forced to pull his legs just to the side of her if he wanted to stretch out.
He smiled fondly, shaking his head. Silly mutt.
~"She was sort of ... necessary."
"Why's that?"
"Don't you know? I mean, you're in the future aren't you?"~
He sighed, laying back against the pillow. Did they not know about ... what happened? Or were they just not allowed to say anything because it could change the future? Maybe Trip was just being - well, Trip? He didn't always think about what he was saying before he said it.
But S.P.D. was always touting him as some hero. And if Time Force was the future of S.P.D., wouldn't they know then? Maybe ... maybe Time Force *wasn't* S.P.D. He'd always thought it was, but maybe he was wrong.
~"These people are supposed to be your teammates, aren't they? How can they ask something like that?"~
He rolled over again to bury his face against his pillow. Trip could be a little dense sometimes, but he wasn't insensitive. And Jen wouldn't have let him get away with saying something that could be interpreted the wrong way. Lucas hadn't even said anything about it at all.
Maybe they really *didn't* know. About ... about the - Then. That he was blind. Maybe they just ... didn't know. They weren't pretending not to know, or being cold about it. They just didn't know any better.
But *why* didn't they know any better? Why wouldn't Time Force have records of the battle? They lost *Rangers*; wouldn't they at least have some sort of memorial to them still? Some sort of historical document stating that they gave their lives to protect civilians?
~"What does Sky have to do with Alex?"~
He closed his eyes tightly, swallowing hard. What did Sky have to do with Alex? *Everything*! Sky wouldn't even have been born if he hadn't done what Alex needed him to - hadn't allowed Time Force to -
He sat up, blinking.
Time Force kidnapped Alexander and Benjamin. Alex said he was created from their DNA. That was what he told Jen and the others, and it was what Wes had learned from the Chrono Morphers.
He could feel the blood draining from his face.
Alex didn't know.
They hadn't known that Sky was Alex's brother because they didn't know Alex was his *son*. Alex thought ...
"No ... " he whispered, feeling his chest grow tight.
Alex didn't know he had parents. He thought he was just part of a DNA process; he'd never even known they actually *wanted* him. All he'd ever known was the labs, and the scientists who'd used him to perfect the Red Chrono Morpher. Without Ben and Trip to look after, and later Jen to mellow him out, he might not have considered himself to be *human*.
~"*Who* is Sky?"
"*I'm* Sky."~
Alex had never known anything beyond Time Force. So Time Force had never told him more than he was the genetic child of two Time Force Rangers. That was what he'd told Wes by accident when their morphers merged - not that he was kidnapped.
I thought they were going to steal the genetic coding. Not our kids, he thought distantly.
His stomach rolled over before he did, and he ran for the bathroom.
****
The tea wasn't doing as much to settle the nausea as he'd hoped it would, but he knew there was no way he could sleep now.
~"But ... there are no records of - "
"Trip! I ... I don't understand. Wes, you ... you have a son?"
"Three, if you want to be specific. But you already know that."
"No. No, Alex and Ben are - I have to go."~
He buried his face into his arms, trying not to whimper.
"If you squeeze that thing any tighter, you're going to start bleeding."
He glanced at his right fist, where he'd been holding on to Jen's Time Force badge since he'd wandered back out to the kitchen. He wasn't sure why he'd picked it up at first, other than a fierce desire to throw it as far across the room as he could in hopes it would shatter. But then he'd taken to looking at it, and realizing that he could barely remember what *that* looked like anymore, let alone his old team.
Hands gently pried his fist open before he was aware of what Eric was doing, carefully removing the badge to set it on the table. "Yeah, *that's* gonna leave a bruise," Eric remarked. He shot him a look. "Smart, Wes. Real, smart." Then he froze, staring at him. "Wes ... ?"
"Yeah?" His voice sounded hoarse and weak even to his own ears.
There was a soft sigh, and Eric sat down beside him. "How long have you been awake thinking about whatever's going on in your head?" he asked quietly.
Wes shrugged. "What time is it?"
"Quarter to four."
"Almost six hours." He sighed, burying his face against his hand. His forehead hit his Chrono Morpher by accident, and he reached for it furiously, grabbing at the strap to rip it off and throw it across the room.
The moment his hand touched it, a dark, desperate feeling of *wrong* swept through him.
Before he could stop to contemplate the sensation, Eric had caught his hand. "Whoa! What the heck are you doing?" he demanded.
"Alex doesn't know," he heard himself say. Great, his mouth was working for him on its own again. Wasn't that fun?
Eric looked at him like he'd grown another head. "What?"
He shook his head, laying it against the table again a moment later. "You always thought I let Alexander and Benjamin be kidnapped," he said thickly, wondering distantly if he was going to cry again. "But that's not exactly what happened."
The hand on his tensed. " ... What do you mean?" Eric asked slowly.
He let out a shaky breath. "I knew ... that Alex is our son. Genetically. What I learned when our morphers merged, was that Alex was born from DNA created from you and me - and so was his brother, Ben. I didn't know that Time Force would actually kidnap our boys because they *were* Alex and Ben."
He heard Eric suck in his breath sharply, and looked up with moist eyes. "I thought, that I was going to protect them from *hurting* the boys - not take them away from us completely. I thought about it, but I didn't think Time Force could actually do that without damaging the time stream." He swallowed, and knew for certain that he was crying now. "And when I was thinking earlier, I realized that Alex doesn't know that he's our *son*. He thinks he's just a DNA experiment."
Eric was staring at him, sitting so still he barely looked like he was breathing.
"He doesn't realize he was born because I love you," he finished, his voice cracking.
But Eric just continued to remain where he was, frozen in shock.
Wes slowly pulled his hand free and rose to his feet. He smiled faintly to himself, shaking his head before raising an arm to wipe at his face. "So I gave up everything, just to make things worse."
"Everything ... ?"
Eric's voice was so quiet he barely heard him.
He glanced back, forcing a watery smile. "Well, yeah. I gave up you, didn't I?"
And because there was no possible way for Eric to hate him anymore than he already did, because his heart felt like it had shattered into splinters for what had to have been the third time in his life, and because he so desperately wanted ... something, even for a moment, he leaned in before Eric could say another word, and kissed him.