Reassurance
By
Veronica Buckland
Note: This isn't an alternate ending and some things have been added to the battle sequence solely for my take on what might have happened AFTER the ending of the episode.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I wish I did or at least that the writers of PRSPD would see my stories and beg on hand and knee for me to write for the show. Not gonna happen though, I still need to work on my writing skills. ;-)
~*~*~*~
“No!”
Sydney cried out and bolted upright in bed. She gasped and tried to get her breathing back to normal. Her heart was beating at an accelerated rate and beads of sweat slid from her forehead to mingle with the tears on her cheeks. She remembered the last part of the nightmare vividly.
The ‘monster’ attacked ‘Sky’ with a vengeance.
“If you destroy me you’ll lose your body for good.” ‘Sky’ growled at the ‘monster’, but it wasn’t Sky’s voice that came out of his mouth.
“You’re a broken record, you know that?” The monster garbled back and blocked Sky’s attack before kicking him in the gut. Sky doubled over for a moment before looking up at the monster with murder in his eyes.
“You’ll pay for that.” ‘Sky’ seethed and lunged at the ‘monster’ with his deltamax striker. The ‘monster’ dodged the attack and brought its arm down on the deltamax striker, breaking it in half. Sydney and the others watched in shock as it clattered to the ground. The monster stepped forward and wrapped its clawed hand around Sky’s throat before lifting ‘Sky’ up, leaving ‘Sky’s’ legs to dangle and kick at the ‘monster’ in a vain attempt to be set free.
The ‘monster’ let out a loud cry of pain as each of the three rangers sliced at him with their deltamax strikers, sending sparks flying in all directions. Jack was the last to attack and he shot repeatedly at the monster. This action made the ‘monster’ drop ‘Sky’. ‘Sky’ fell to the ground gasping for air, his hand rubbing at the bruise forming at the base of his throat, smiling all the while behind his ranger helmet as the ‘monster’ continued to cry out in pain as the rangers continued their assault, unknowingly hurting their teammate that was inside the monstrous body.
Eventually the cries stopped and the monster exploded in a fiery blaze.
“Foolish rangers.”
The rangers looked at ‘Sky’ in surprise as he got up and dusted himself off. They just now figured out that something was seriously wrong with their teammate. ‘Sky’ de-morphed and smirked at the rangers in triumph as he pulled out his SPD issue blaster and pointed it at the rangers.
“You just killed your friend.”
He pulled the trigger.
Shaking her head to dispel the horrible dream, she kicked away
the covers and got up, leaving a sleeping Z in the other bed alone and oblivious
to her friends current state of mind.
The doors hissed open at her approach and she entered the semi-darkened room,
Bridge didn’t like having the room completely dark. She looked at Sky’s bed and
found him lying there on his back, asleep. Sydney felt the beginnings of a smile
come to her lips, she had never seen Sky sleep before.
His blondish-brown hair was slightly tussled by sleep and a hint of a smile was on his lips. The blue comforter lay up to his hips, revealing only the top of what he slept in. A black t-shirt with the words Officer Blue stenciled in big white letters across the chest, a joke gift that he had received at some point in time.
She crept to the side of the bed and slid in beside him, resting her curly blond haired head against his chest. Sydney felt tears come to her eyes as she heard the thump, thump of his heartbeat in the one ear that rest against his chest.
A sign of life.
She had just closed her eyes and sighed in relief when Sky mumbled something and stirred in his sleep. Sydney gasped and opened her eyes in alarm.Wide corn flower blue eyes met momentarily sleepy hazel-blue ones.
Busted.
She didn’t know what his response would be at finding her next to him. All she’d wanted was to know that the nightmare hadn’t actually come true, that he was still alive, and now she found her staring right into his blue-hazel eyes.
“Sydney?” Sky whispered softly, his eyes now wide open in surprise at seeing the blond haired pink ranger beside him. Sydney blushed and averted her eyes from his confused gaze. She was about to pull herself away from her comfortable spot beside him when he asked in a concerned whisper.
“Is there something wrong, Sydney?”
Thinking that he would laugh at her she kept her eyes averted as she answered quietly.
“I had a nightmare.”
She tensed, waiting for his laughter. It never came. Chancing a look at him she saw concern warring with hurt. Somehow he’d known why she’d tensed like a child who was waiting to be laughed at and to be called a fool. There was also some confusion and the next thing she heard was his voice laced with the same confusion that had been in his eyes.
“O-kay, um, shouldn’t you be talking to Bridge? Z? Jack? Commander Cruger? Anyone but me?”
Sydney smiled slightly in response to his unusually un-Sky-like behavior. It was a rare treat to see the vulnerable side of Sky Tate. It made him seem more human.
“No.” Sydney answered and nibbled on her lower lip, nervously. She had never done anything like this before, but she supposed it was understandable. She’d never had a nightmare like that before.
As a child she’d had nightmares that usually had something to do
with her parents dying or herself being kidnapped and never being able to get
back home again. For a small girl, well for either gender, these are frightening
things. This nightmare however was completely different. It had been caused by
what had happened earlier that day. They had almost lost Sky for good.
The monster had switched minds with Sky and had almost succeeded in getting the
four rangers to kill the monster that had Sky’s mind. Luckily, Cruger and RIC
had shown up and had stopped them from doing just that. Jack used RIC to prove
that the monsters mind was still dwelling in Sky’s body by tossing a red rubber
ball. RIC brought it to the ‘monster’ instead of ‘Sky’ and that was how they
were sure who was who.
Except in the dream there was no Cruger or RIC to stop them from vanquishing the ‘monster’.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the feel of a warm, masculine hand pulling her close and giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. She looked up at him and he gave her a reassuring smile.
“I have no idea why you came to me, but if you need someone to listen. I will.”
Sydney smiled in return. Only she of all the rangers knew this part of him, the part of him that couldn’t bear to see a girl cry or in pain. Chivalry isn’t dead, Sydney thought with a smile, it’s just in hiding and needs to be awakened once in a while.
Sydney closed her eyes for a moment and tried to remember every detail of the nightmare, not that she really wanted to, but the SPD officer in her wanted to be completely accurate. She nestled her body close to his and started her tale. By the end of it she was in tears and crying into his t-shirt to muffle the sound.
All through her account of the nightmare Sky listened and stroked her long blond curly hair with his fingers to soothe her. He remembered the day’s events and the helplessness he had felt. Not being able to warn his friends and having to run for his life and away from his teammates just to be able to stop the monster from getting its way. The toll it had taken on Sydney was very different then the toll it had taken on him, the experience had changed him, he believed it was for the better. He was okay with being the blue ranger now.
Sydney closed her eyes as he continued to absentmindedly stroke her hair while he was thinking of how to respond. She knew that this kind of thing was probably new to him and that he probably didn’t know how to react to tears. Sydney felt him sigh and the rise and fall of his chest against her cheek as he sighed.
“I’m sorry, Sydney. I’m not much good at this sort of thing. I wish there was something I could do to help.”
Sydney lifted her head at the sound of his apologetic words and smiled with tears still sliding down her cheeks.
“You already have, Sky.”
She kissed his cheek and got up off the bed, leaving a very surprised and confused blue ranger still sitting up.
“How?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
The doors slid open and she turned to face him.
“You gave me reassurance.” She stated simply before turning and leaving the room, the doors hissing shut behind her.
Sky stared for a moment and shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his lips. Sky was just about to get comfortable again in his bed when he heard quiet singing coming from across the room. He was kinda surprised and a little embarrassed that Bridge had been awake that whole time.
“Sky and Sydney sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G,”
Sky blushed at the implications of the song. He did like Sydney a lot, probably more than he should but now he'd never hear the end of it.
"First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes..." Bridge continued to chant.
Sky rolled his eyes in annoyance and reached behind his head for a pillow to throw at the supposedly sleeping Bridge Carson.
Thump.
“Ouch!”
Sky smirked and turned over on his side before closing his eyes. He was still a bit tired after a rather active day.
“Goodnight, Bridge.”
Bridge mumbled something in return but Sky didn’t know if he really wanted to translate it or not.
The End.