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Disclaimer: Billy Cranston and Trini Kwan, plus anyone else in this
fanfic, are the registered property of Saban Enterprises; no copyright
infringement is meant by this, and I am not, nor do I desire to, making
any profit at all on this.
Author's Note: This fanfic takes place in the same Power Ranger universe
as "Three Words", and takes place long afterward, sometime after the
change to Zeo, but before Billy's early graduation. For convenience's
sake, I'll say it's just after "A Zeo Beginning, Part 2". The entire
"Rangers in Romance" series takes place in the same universe, and any
changes from the standard Saban universe will be noted in either the
fanfics themselves or the author's notes. Thank you.
by: Niobe Craft
"I miss the others," Jason Scott said quietly. "Sheesh, I even miss Bulk and Skull."
Zack Taylor nodded his own agreement. Sure, it had been a good idea to come here back when they had. It had been a relief to finally be away from the penetrating gaze of Lord Zedd, to get out from having to save the world on a daily basis. The first few days, the three of them had practically went insane with that joy. But by now, two and a half years later. . .they were bored.
"I want to go home," the third member of the group, Trini Kwan, stated the words at last that they'd all felt in their hearts. "Now more than ever."
Jason looked over at her, half-invisible in the shadows of the evening. "I know you got a letter from Billy today," he said. "What happened?" they had all sensed something weird going on the past few months, but they hadn't been able to get in touch with anyone back in Angel Grove to know. They had found that even though they'd given up their powers, they were still somewhat sensitive to the events happening back home. They'd all felt the most horrible of internal wrenches when the ThunderZords had been destroyed, and most recently, they had sensed an odd disturbance they never had before.
"You guys remember how Rita and Zedd got married?" Trini referred to the letter Kim had sent them some months ago, detailing out one of the Ranger team's latest adventures, being trapped in a theater while their two greatest enemies tied the not. As her friends nodded, she kept going. "Well, not too long after Kim moved to Florida, Rita's father, Master Vile, showed up, and he activated a special device called the Orb of Doom, that moved time back about seven years or so. The only reason we noticed it was because we happened to be Rangers at one point. The others went after this special crystal, the Zeo Crystal, to fix things, and to give them powers again, since their Ninja Power Coins were destroyed while the world was still back in time."
She paused, letting all of that sink in, then continued. "Aisha stayed in Africa after her Zeo Quest, and sent a young girl she'd met instead, Tanya Sloan. But the reason I want to go back is this: there were only five shards of the Zeo Crystal, and six people. Billy's no longer a Ranger."
The words fell on their ears like a thunderbolt. Then, without even having to say anything else, they got up and started back to the dormitory. It didn't matter that it was late here, or the commitment they had made when coming here. They were bored, they wanted to go home, and they weren't doing a bit of good here, anyway. In Angel Grove, they were needed. Maybe not to save the world, but that wasn't the only thing they could do.
They could still be friends.
It was one of the most beautiful days Angel Grove had ever seen in quite a long time. Billy had awakened the same way he had every morning since the Zeo Quest had ended and the Power Rangers Zeo had been formed: with an empty place in his soul where his own powers had once been. He'd repeated the same phrase he had ever since that first morning to himself. You'll get used to it. Everyone else did.
He sighed a little, scuffling his feet in the dirt as he did so. Jason, Zack, Trini, and Kim had all gotten used to giving their powers up. But I didn't give mine up, he was rather harshly reminded. Mine were stolen from me.
"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say that looked like a very depressed Billy Cranston walking towards us," a voice he knew as well as he knew his own breath landed on his ears, and caused him to stop in his tracks. He looked up to see three people standing in a row in front of him, three people he'd honestly never thought he'd see, at least not back in Angel Grove. It was the one in the center, the tall, muscular one still dressed in red, who had spoken. The boy to his left, in black-colored garments so familiar that Billy's heart ached to see it, grinned.
"I do believe you're right, Jason!" he declared. "Why don't we go see if we can cheer him up? Isn't that what best friends do, after all?"
Billy's lower lip was quivering, and his eyes were filling up with tears of pure joy as they settled on the one figure he would've given his entire soul to have seen the last few years. "Trini?" he whispered, not willing to believe he was actually seeing her again. "Trini, is that you?"
Jason and Zack looked at each other, then moved out of the way and behind the former Yellow Ranger. Trini hadn't said a word during the flight over here, and she had been the one to figure out Billy would be in the park, once he hadn't been in his lab or in the new Power Chamber. They watched, knowing it would only be a matter of time before it happened, before either Billy or Trini broke through the barriers that had been holding them apart all these years.
It was Trini who broke first. Unable to hold herself back from the arms she'd longed for ever since she was six years old, she ran towards Billy and wrapped her own around him. Billy stood in shocked surprise for a moment longer, then enveloped her in his own embrace. Tears spilled down both sets of cheeks as Jason and Zack just smiled, and headed for the Youth Center, eager to meet the two new girls they had heard about.
"What was I ever thinking about, letting you go to Switzerland without saying something?" he murmured, feeling all the old pain he had back when he'd thought Trini had a crush on Richie. He'd had a talk with the other boy not long after Trini had left, and had found out Richie had a girlfriend back in the town he'd come from.
"The same thing I was, I guess," Trini whispered. "For leaving without saying something to you."
They managed to break apart, but just a few inches. Neither of them wanted to move any farther apart than that, lest something happen to interfere with their reunion. "What made you come back?" he asked, drinking in her long raven hair and sparkling eyes as if they were the very tonic of life itself. "Not that I'm complaining."
"I've wanted to come back ever since we left. I didn't really want to go in the first place, but it was such a great opportunity, and I honestly thought we could do something there, something that made more of a difference than being a Ranger," she told him. Both of them had noted somewhere in the back of their minds that Jason and Zack had left, but that didn't seem very important. This talk, this time with just the two of them, that was what was important. "I was wrong, Billy. Jason, Zack, and I talked about it just after we got there. Once the thrill wore of, it was just. . .dull. Talking. A lot of talking. Meetings, classes. It was just like being in Angel Grove High, only a lot duller, because nothing ever changed there. There weren't any monster attacks. No putties jumping us at odd hours. No one getting put under spells. I missed it. . .and I didn't at the same time."
Billy nodded, already he understood how she felt, the two of them had always understood each other the best. "You got my letter, then?" "Yeah. That was really the catalyst. You were the last of the originals to give up the power, and it sort of drew us back here, I guess. We knew we had to be with you," she could see the shadows of pain and loss and regret in her friend's eyes, and wished that she could wash them away.
"It didn't draw everyone back," he half-muttered. "Kim's still in Florida," he didn't mention Aisha; though she was a good friend, she wasn't one of the originals, and she had something important there, anyway.
Trini smiled faintly. "Actually, she's in the Youth Center, talking with the others, by now, I think," oh, he looked so cute when he was startled, and she quickly continued. "When Kat called her up and told her of what had happened, she caught the first flight down here. When she heard that me, Jason, and Zack were coming to find you, she said she'd meet you and me in the Youth Center. After we 'talked', she said."
Billy flushed a deep red at that, then smiled just a little bit. They're all back. Something worried him, though. "What about going for the Pan-Globals? She's wanted that since she was a little girl, she shouldn't give that up just because of me losing my powers."
"What she told me was 'being with Billy and being with all of my other friends is the most important thing to me. Nothing else matters, not even winning a gold medal.'" Trini smiled at the way Billy's eyes seem to grow more and more filled with light as she spoke. The darkness was leaving them, and that made her even happier. I can't give him his powers back. . .but at least he's going to have his friends back.
Billy looked at Trini for several moments, hardly able to believe that this was all really happening. Jason, Zack, and Kim were back in town. He was with Trini. Or. . .was he? They had said things, but those words were still unsaid. Did he have the courage to say them? To risk so much. . .he thought she loved him, but until those words were said, he couldn't know. . .
"Trini," he said softly, reaching out to touch her cheek tenderly. "I'm glad everyone's back. It's like a dream come true, one that I've had ever since you, Jason, and Zack left for Switzerland. But there's still one part of the dream that hasn't come true yet."
"And what's that?"
The entire world seemed to stand still as Billy stepped closer to her, and slowly placed a gentle, tender, loving kiss on her lips. For a moment she just stood there, shocked, then began to return it tenderly. For several long moments they kissed, then Trini moved back just enough to look into Billy's eyes. Billy looked back at her, then softly whispered the words he had longed to say for so man
