A Darker Shade of Red (Time Force/Power Rangers, T, Chapter 7: What's Left)
-Beats LiveJournal into submission for several minutes-
I made the mistake of browsing Power Rangers Central to try and figure out a timeline for this story. I ended up with a huge headache and trying to add in something I'd failed to mention. So ... yeah. Remind me never to do that again.
Fandom/: Power Rangers Time Force, slight crossover with S.P.D. (In Bright Skies universe)
Characters/: Alex
Pairings/: Alex/Jen, Lucas/Trip, Katie/OC, Wes/Eric
Rating/: T
Disclaimer/: Saban/Disney/Whoever sure didn't write *this* into the series. The plot comes purely from my own warped little mind, and the characters are merely borrowed from them for my own amusement. Lucky you.
Summary/: The legacy of Wesley Collins and Eric Myers didn't just affect the past - it affected the future. One thousand years after they became Rangers, one person is still struggling against the corruption of Time Force and the heritage he never wanted.
Warnings/: People used for scientific experimentation, corrupted Time Force, character with self-image issues
Author's Notes/: Bonus points to anyone who figures out where Saurians came from, as well as the movie Alex and Trip are watching. And because I've been trying to make an Alex and Trip banner for ages:
There is nothing more pathetic than a guy spending Christmas alone, Alex sighed to himself.
The radio was playing a galactic station with a language mix that he usually found amusing. Unfortunately more than one culture had come to enjoy the Earth holiday, and he was fairly certain he just heard someone grunting out a techno version of Jingle Bells in Saurian. There were no decorations in his apartment, other than the holofire playing a merry tune of its own he couldn't seem to turn off. Holidays were something he rarely took part in, but after spending the previous year with Jen's parents, this one felt a little lonelier than usual.
He was pretty sure she'd been trying to invite him again; Jen had been horrified when she first learned that he didn't have a family to celebrate any holidays with, and always made an effort to drag him to her own ever since. Avoiding her this year took a certain skill and determination, and in the end he wasn't quite sure if it had been worth it or not. Spending time with the Scotts would have been incredibly awkward, being that they didn't know he and Jen had even been engaged, let alone broke up - unless Jen had told them over Thanksgiving weekend, which he doubted being first of all, that she'd only returned from the past a few days earlier, and second because no one had shown up at his doorstep to ring his neck for hurting her. But being there just didn't feel right, not at after everything that had happened.
Instead it was Christmas Eve, the Rangers were all off with their families, and he was cursing at his holofire because it wouldn't stop playing an instrumental version of Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.
The knock on his door startled him into looking up. "Identify visitor," he called to the AI, frowning.
"Visitor identified as Trip Regis," the computer informed him. "Allow entry?"
"Of course." He frowned again when the door opened, revealing Trip giving him a somewhat awkward smile. "What are you doing here? Didn't Katie drag you to the Walkers' this year?"
Trip shook his head, already moving to sit on the couch. "She wanted me to, but I thought she should have a chance to spend Christmas with her family," he confessed. He looked up shyly. "And ... I wanted to spend it with mine."
He blinked, feeling inexplicably pleased. "You're always welcome," he told him after a pause, shrugging absently before turning back to the holofire.
Trip giggled behind him. "Still can't get rid of that?"
"No," he grumbled. "I've tried everything I can think of! I even started treating the stupid thing like a virus and tried purging it from the system, but it won't *stop*!"
"Did you try looking up the options?"
"And turn it to something else? No thanks."
There was a sigh, and he was gently elbowed aside. "No, I mean look up the options and find mute," Trip informed him, fingers skimming over the side panel. He paused. "Or I can put it on shuffle if you want, so you don't have to listen to the same song on repeat."
He scowled at him. "Very funny. Off. Off is good."
"If you say so," Trip said cheerfully, and moments later there was blissful silence.
"Thank you," he sighed in relief.
A minute passed, and the radio began to croon Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire in English.
Trip burst into giggles as Alex groaned. "Everyone's against me," he complained. "The world exists to see me suffer."
Trip didn't answer, and he glanced down at him in surprise, expecting to be teased. But Trip was frowning, fiddling with the strap of his backpack and staring at the floor. Alex reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Trip? What's wrong?"
Trip started when he touched him, looking up with wounded eyes. "I ... " He paused, shaking his head. "That wasn't funny, Alex," he murmured finally.
He sighed quietly. "I'm sorry."
Trip stared at the floor again, fists clenching. "I ... I really did think I lost you, you know," he said softly. "I couldn't sense your thoughts anymore, and then the medics were working so hard and - " He stopped, blinking rapidly. "And then you were back, and it was like you were a different person. You didn't even care that I was there - it was all about the mission."
Tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling for a moment, Alex finally let out a slow breath. "Sit down, Trip."
They each took a seat, and Alex leaned forward to rest his chin against his hands as he tried to decide what to say. "After I woke up in the labs, they put me through therapy," he said at last. "I faked my way through most of it until I was released back on restricted duty. I spent the next eight months monitoring the five of you." He saw Trip stiffen out of the corner of his eye, but didn't acknowledge it. "I watched you struggling and I tried to send help. Lucas was getting in trouble with the authorities, Katie decided to consider 2001 her home. I saw you trying to prove yourself over and over again. Jen was - " He cut himself off before he could finish the thought. "You were forgetting why you were there," he finished after a long pause. "You were so wrapped up in your new lives, you forgot where you'd come from. I had to remind you before you stopped caring completely and tried to live there permanently."
"We didn't forget!" Trip argued. "We were getting used to living there, but it doesn't mean we forgot why we came at all!"
"That's not how Time Force saw it," he muttered.
Trip paused. "Wait ... You mean *Time Force* sent you after us?"
He looked up, giving him a look. "You really think I went there on my own?"
Trip blinked for a moment, his eyes dimming as he stared at the floor again. "That changes things," he said quietly.
He sighed. "Why would it change anything?" he asked irritably. "I showed up, I tried to repair the timeline before you all forgot what you were doing and ceased to exist, and no one wanted me there. So I gave Collins back his morpher and left, and everyone was a lot happier."
Trip winced, a hand going up to his head. "I can feel that you know," he murmured.
"Feel what?"
"When you're lying. *You* weren't happier. You wouldn't be so angry about it if you were."
Alex sighed, pinching his nose before leaning back in his chair. "Trip, did any of you stop to think about how it looked to me?"
Trip frowned, and the silence lingered.
At last Alex sighed again, shaking his head and pushing himself to his feet. "Look, just ... forget it. I don't want to spend the rest of the night arguing."
"Me, either," Trip agreed softly, glancing up hesitantly.
He looked at him for a long moment. "What do you want for dinner?"
Trip brightened. "Pizza?" he asked hopefully.
"It's Christmas Eve. No one's delivering now," Alex reminded him. He paused, wrinkling his nose. "And pizza is so ... unhealthy."
"Please Alex?" Trip begged. "Can't we just look? And if no one's open, we can always try a synthetron ... "
Alex stared at him for a long moment, arms folded, before at last letting out another sigh. "I spoil you too much," he muttered. He ignored Trip's cheers as he headed for the comm to try and find a pizza place that was still open and delivered, because there was *no way* he was going out and get it.
****
Hours later he lay back on his couch, clutching his stomach and groaning softly. "How can you eat something so greasy?"
"You get used to it," Trip responded with a shrug, happily inhaling his fifth slice. Alex had barely managed two. "Besides, you still eat the cardboard they serve in the cafeteria," he pointed out.
"Just because it's healthy doesn't mean it's cardboard," Alex retorted. He watched Trip lick his fingers clean before reaching for yet another slice with a sick sort of fascination. "Where are you *putting* that?"
Trip laughed at him. "In my stomach. Where else would it go?"
"In your hollow leg?" he muttered, shaking his head again. "Television: on," he ordered the A.I., ignoring Trip sticking his tongue out at him.
An ancient Christmas vid was playing, and Trip lit up instantly, dropping his pizza slice back into the box. "Ooh, leave it Alex! Please?"
Alex groaned, but he didn't change the channel. "How can you stand this trash?"
"It's not trash, it's a classic," Trip corrected him, leaning against his shoulder.
He sighed, reaching up to put an arm around Trip. While he wasn't exactly a 'touchy' sort of person himself, Trip craved physical contact. It was something Alex tolerated for Trip's sake, because it wasn't worth dealing with the disappointed looks he'd get if he said no.
Trip celebrated the holidays in that he loved the idea of them, that everyone was wishing for peace on Earth. He threw himself into enjoying the old traditions of singing and buying presents for his friends, but when it came to actually believing in the meaning of them, he really didn't. He just enjoyed the opportunity to have fun.
Alex, on the other hand, hated holidays almost as much as he hated religion. He had decided long ago that if there was a god, god hated him too much to be acknowledged in return. Religion was for people who needed to believe there was something beyond themselves, and holidays were an expensive excuse for those people to get drunk. Alex believed in fighting his own battles and never drank, which meant he obviously didn't need either of them.
The only good thing he could ever have said about holidays like this one was the chance to spend time with the closest thing he had to a family. Jen wasn't a part of that anymore, but Trip was and would always be as far as he was concerned. And with the Rangers gone, he could finally indulge in spending time with his best friend, and treat him like the little brother he considered him to be.
"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives," the character mused on the screen. "When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
"He does," Trip murmured, cuddling under his arm. He peeked up after a moment, dark eyes solemn. "You left a hole with me, Alex."
He didn't believe that. He'd seen the way the Rangers and Collins had interacted. He'd even found the timeship logs when Collins had set the autopilot to send them back to the future against their will - the one thing Alex was grudgingly forced to admit he agreed with him on.
"I feel like this is my home!" Trip had screamed.
Jen had cried, pleading that she had something to tell Collins. Lucas had been stunned, Katie outraged. And it had been Collins they were all screaming for.
If anyone had left a hole in their lives, it had been him.
"You'd leave a hole in mine too, Trip," he said finally, gently tussling his hair. Trip smiled and snuggled back against him, and he continued to tug gently on the strands of green under his fingers.
You already have, he finished bitterly, staring blankly at the screen.
I made the mistake of browsing Power Rangers Central to try and figure out a timeline for this story. I ended up with a huge headache and trying to add in something I'd failed to mention. So ... yeah. Remind me never to do that again.
Fandom/: Power Rangers Time Force, slight crossover with S.P.D. (In Bright Skies universe)
Characters/: Alex
Pairings/: Alex/Jen, Lucas/Trip, Katie/OC, Wes/Eric
Rating/: T
Disclaimer/: Saban/Disney/Whoever sure didn't write *this* into the series. The plot comes purely from my own warped little mind, and the characters are merely borrowed from them for my own amusement. Lucky you.
Summary/: The legacy of Wesley Collins and Eric Myers didn't just affect the past - it affected the future. One thousand years after they became Rangers, one person is still struggling against the corruption of Time Force and the heritage he never wanted.
Warnings/: People used for scientific experimentation, corrupted Time Force, character with self-image issues
Author's Notes/: Bonus points to anyone who figures out where Saurians came from, as well as the movie Alex and Trip are watching. And because I've been trying to make an Alex and Trip banner for ages:
There is nothing more pathetic than a guy spending Christmas alone, Alex sighed to himself.
The radio was playing a galactic station with a language mix that he usually found amusing. Unfortunately more than one culture had come to enjoy the Earth holiday, and he was fairly certain he just heard someone grunting out a techno version of Jingle Bells in Saurian. There were no decorations in his apartment, other than the holofire playing a merry tune of its own he couldn't seem to turn off. Holidays were something he rarely took part in, but after spending the previous year with Jen's parents, this one felt a little lonelier than usual.
He was pretty sure she'd been trying to invite him again; Jen had been horrified when she first learned that he didn't have a family to celebrate any holidays with, and always made an effort to drag him to her own ever since. Avoiding her this year took a certain skill and determination, and in the end he wasn't quite sure if it had been worth it or not. Spending time with the Scotts would have been incredibly awkward, being that they didn't know he and Jen had even been engaged, let alone broke up - unless Jen had told them over Thanksgiving weekend, which he doubted being first of all, that she'd only returned from the past a few days earlier, and second because no one had shown up at his doorstep to ring his neck for hurting her. But being there just didn't feel right, not at after everything that had happened.
Instead it was Christmas Eve, the Rangers were all off with their families, and he was cursing at his holofire because it wouldn't stop playing an instrumental version of Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.
The knock on his door startled him into looking up. "Identify visitor," he called to the AI, frowning.
"Visitor identified as Trip Regis," the computer informed him. "Allow entry?"
"Of course." He frowned again when the door opened, revealing Trip giving him a somewhat awkward smile. "What are you doing here? Didn't Katie drag you to the Walkers' this year?"
Trip shook his head, already moving to sit on the couch. "She wanted me to, but I thought she should have a chance to spend Christmas with her family," he confessed. He looked up shyly. "And ... I wanted to spend it with mine."
He blinked, feeling inexplicably pleased. "You're always welcome," he told him after a pause, shrugging absently before turning back to the holofire.
Trip giggled behind him. "Still can't get rid of that?"
"No," he grumbled. "I've tried everything I can think of! I even started treating the stupid thing like a virus and tried purging it from the system, but it won't *stop*!"
"Did you try looking up the options?"
"And turn it to something else? No thanks."
There was a sigh, and he was gently elbowed aside. "No, I mean look up the options and find mute," Trip informed him, fingers skimming over the side panel. He paused. "Or I can put it on shuffle if you want, so you don't have to listen to the same song on repeat."
He scowled at him. "Very funny. Off. Off is good."
"If you say so," Trip said cheerfully, and moments later there was blissful silence.
"Thank you," he sighed in relief.
A minute passed, and the radio began to croon Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire in English.
Trip burst into giggles as Alex groaned. "Everyone's against me," he complained. "The world exists to see me suffer."
Trip didn't answer, and he glanced down at him in surprise, expecting to be teased. But Trip was frowning, fiddling with the strap of his backpack and staring at the floor. Alex reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Trip? What's wrong?"
Trip started when he touched him, looking up with wounded eyes. "I ... " He paused, shaking his head. "That wasn't funny, Alex," he murmured finally.
He sighed quietly. "I'm sorry."
Trip stared at the floor again, fists clenching. "I ... I really did think I lost you, you know," he said softly. "I couldn't sense your thoughts anymore, and then the medics were working so hard and - " He stopped, blinking rapidly. "And then you were back, and it was like you were a different person. You didn't even care that I was there - it was all about the mission."
Tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling for a moment, Alex finally let out a slow breath. "Sit down, Trip."
They each took a seat, and Alex leaned forward to rest his chin against his hands as he tried to decide what to say. "After I woke up in the labs, they put me through therapy," he said at last. "I faked my way through most of it until I was released back on restricted duty. I spent the next eight months monitoring the five of you." He saw Trip stiffen out of the corner of his eye, but didn't acknowledge it. "I watched you struggling and I tried to send help. Lucas was getting in trouble with the authorities, Katie decided to consider 2001 her home. I saw you trying to prove yourself over and over again. Jen was - " He cut himself off before he could finish the thought. "You were forgetting why you were there," he finished after a long pause. "You were so wrapped up in your new lives, you forgot where you'd come from. I had to remind you before you stopped caring completely and tried to live there permanently."
"We didn't forget!" Trip argued. "We were getting used to living there, but it doesn't mean we forgot why we came at all!"
"That's not how Time Force saw it," he muttered.
Trip paused. "Wait ... You mean *Time Force* sent you after us?"
He looked up, giving him a look. "You really think I went there on my own?"
Trip blinked for a moment, his eyes dimming as he stared at the floor again. "That changes things," he said quietly.
He sighed. "Why would it change anything?" he asked irritably. "I showed up, I tried to repair the timeline before you all forgot what you were doing and ceased to exist, and no one wanted me there. So I gave Collins back his morpher and left, and everyone was a lot happier."
Trip winced, a hand going up to his head. "I can feel that you know," he murmured.
"Feel what?"
"When you're lying. *You* weren't happier. You wouldn't be so angry about it if you were."
Alex sighed, pinching his nose before leaning back in his chair. "Trip, did any of you stop to think about how it looked to me?"
Trip frowned, and the silence lingered.
At last Alex sighed again, shaking his head and pushing himself to his feet. "Look, just ... forget it. I don't want to spend the rest of the night arguing."
"Me, either," Trip agreed softly, glancing up hesitantly.
He looked at him for a long moment. "What do you want for dinner?"
Trip brightened. "Pizza?" he asked hopefully.
"It's Christmas Eve. No one's delivering now," Alex reminded him. He paused, wrinkling his nose. "And pizza is so ... unhealthy."
"Please Alex?" Trip begged. "Can't we just look? And if no one's open, we can always try a synthetron ... "
Alex stared at him for a long moment, arms folded, before at last letting out another sigh. "I spoil you too much," he muttered. He ignored Trip's cheers as he headed for the comm to try and find a pizza place that was still open and delivered, because there was *no way* he was going out and get it.
****
Hours later he lay back on his couch, clutching his stomach and groaning softly. "How can you eat something so greasy?"
"You get used to it," Trip responded with a shrug, happily inhaling his fifth slice. Alex had barely managed two. "Besides, you still eat the cardboard they serve in the cafeteria," he pointed out.
"Just because it's healthy doesn't mean it's cardboard," Alex retorted. He watched Trip lick his fingers clean before reaching for yet another slice with a sick sort of fascination. "Where are you *putting* that?"
Trip laughed at him. "In my stomach. Where else would it go?"
"In your hollow leg?" he muttered, shaking his head again. "Television: on," he ordered the A.I., ignoring Trip sticking his tongue out at him.
An ancient Christmas vid was playing, and Trip lit up instantly, dropping his pizza slice back into the box. "Ooh, leave it Alex! Please?"
Alex groaned, but he didn't change the channel. "How can you stand this trash?"
"It's not trash, it's a classic," Trip corrected him, leaning against his shoulder.
He sighed, reaching up to put an arm around Trip. While he wasn't exactly a 'touchy' sort of person himself, Trip craved physical contact. It was something Alex tolerated for Trip's sake, because it wasn't worth dealing with the disappointed looks he'd get if he said no.
Trip celebrated the holidays in that he loved the idea of them, that everyone was wishing for peace on Earth. He threw himself into enjoying the old traditions of singing and buying presents for his friends, but when it came to actually believing in the meaning of them, he really didn't. He just enjoyed the opportunity to have fun.
Alex, on the other hand, hated holidays almost as much as he hated religion. He had decided long ago that if there was a god, god hated him too much to be acknowledged in return. Religion was for people who needed to believe there was something beyond themselves, and holidays were an expensive excuse for those people to get drunk. Alex believed in fighting his own battles and never drank, which meant he obviously didn't need either of them.
The only good thing he could ever have said about holidays like this one was the chance to spend time with the closest thing he had to a family. Jen wasn't a part of that anymore, but Trip was and would always be as far as he was concerned. And with the Rangers gone, he could finally indulge in spending time with his best friend, and treat him like the little brother he considered him to be.
"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives," the character mused on the screen. "When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
"He does," Trip murmured, cuddling under his arm. He peeked up after a moment, dark eyes solemn. "You left a hole with me, Alex."
He didn't believe that. He'd seen the way the Rangers and Collins had interacted. He'd even found the timeship logs when Collins had set the autopilot to send them back to the future against their will - the one thing Alex was grudgingly forced to admit he agreed with him on.
"I feel like this is my home!" Trip had screamed.
Jen had cried, pleading that she had something to tell Collins. Lucas had been stunned, Katie outraged. And it had been Collins they were all screaming for.
If anyone had left a hole in their lives, it had been him.
"You'd leave a hole in mine too, Trip," he said finally, gently tussling his hair. Trip smiled and snuggled back against him, and he continued to tug gently on the strands of green under his fingers.
You already have, he finished bitterly, staring blankly at the screen.