Transdimensional Archives

 

And So Life Goes On Part 6
By ZeoViolet

*Where am I?* The roar in Cassie's ears was so loud that even this thought was almost unheard by her mind, which had generated it in the first place. She was so stiff she could not move, not even to open her eyes. *How did I get here….*

With a startling flash of intense clarity, memory came flooding back to her mind. Going over to Phantom's ship. The corridor. The fight. The alien flinging something at her…

*Phantom!* with a new sense of purpose, Cassie struggled to open her eyes, this time succeeding, though the place in which she found herself was dim, and was made worse by her blurry vision. She moaned softly and struggled to sit up, rubbing at her eyes.

Her vision finally cleared, and she looked about her in alarm, trying to find the familiar armor-clad figure she had come to love with all her soul. But to her intense surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. But what she did see almost made up for it, if her astonished mind could register it as real.

A boy lay slumped against the wall, clearly unconscious. He bore little resemblence to the person she knew only as a shadow, but the ruby around his neck told her surprised mind clearly who this was…and he was unmorphed.

Cassie was unable to do anything but stare. This was the fist time she had ever seen him like this, and a part of her wanted to commit this form to memory while it lasted.

He had black hair. Astonishing black hair, so black it had bluish highlights. It was short and straight, the front forelocks falling charmingly on his forehead. His features were well-formed, chisled, with a strong jaw, straight nose, and high forehead. His lips were well-shaped, and had the appearance of fullness that would drive any woman insane with wanting for him. A strongly-built body was obvious underneath a sleeveless tunic and black pants.

In short, he was impeccably handsome.

As she absorbed these features, another thought came to light. He was surely going to be upset if he came to and found himself demorphed, when it had often been obvious he did not want to be seen. She had no idea what to say to him when he awoke and found himself as exposed to her gaze as she had often been to his when she was demorphed.

It also registered to Cassie that she was also unmorphed. Groping for her morpher, she tried to make it work, and found something blocking the signal. She looked around her, finding herself in a sort of cave. The walls were stone and the floor beneath her felt worse than cement.

*Ow,* she thought. *No wonder I was so stiff, lying on that.*

She got stiffly to her feet and made her way over to the other occupant of the room. She had to find some way out of here, and she would not be able to do it alone.

Kneeling beside him, she found herself unsure of how to begin. "Phantom," she called softly. He moaned quietly in response, and moved his head slightly, then was still again. Cassie frowned, frustrated. Gently laying a hand on his shoulder, she shook it, saying fervrently, "Phantom? Can you hear me?"

His brow furrowed, and another soft moan came from his lips before it formed coherent words. "Cassie? Is that you?"

"Yes. Are you okay?"

"I am well." It was what seemed to be his standard reply as his eyes fluttered open, and Cassie found herself looking at the most dazzling green eyes she had ever seen. Those deep eyes met her own, widening as he seemed to be realizing something. He looked quickly down at himself, then back at her.

"I am…unmorphed?" he asked quietly. She nodded, her eyes meeting his again. "You must have when that alien threw that device…is that so terrible?"

"It depends on your viewpoint," he whispered, as though unused to talking too much to people. "For most, it can be dangerous."

"I don't see anything wrong with you," she observed.

"My job is dangerous, Cassie," he told her, his eyes imploring her to understand. "I am this way because I must be, until the need for my fighting has ceased. To know my identity would be dangerous for you or your friends." It surprised her when one of his hands came up and lightly touched her chin. "Especially you."

Her eyes went wide. Surely her mind was playing tricks on her, surely what she saw in her eyes was only imagined. "Why me?" she asked, having no idea that her eyes were revealing to him what he also secretly wanted to see, but never dared ask. Those dazzling green eyes went wide themselves, and filled with a tenderness that made her ache all over.

"Because I love you," he said simply. "Since I first saw you, I could not deny what I knew was true–and I could not let you get hurt for the same reason. Plus, I did not know how you felt about me."

"How could you not?" she asked softly. "I love you…but you always were leaving before we had a chance to talk."

"I know now," he said quietly. "I can see it in your eyes. But being this close to you and not doing anything, Cassie….it is really, really hard. And every moment I am this close to you also increases your danger."

"I don't care," she whispered fervrently. "I can keep a secret, Phantom. But I need you to trust me."

"I do, believe me." his voice sounded choked. "The danger is so great to you, Cassie, but you are weakening my resolve to *never* place you in danger."

He was stroking her hair lightly, now, and she could see the longing in his eyes. It matched hers. "Then get rid of it."

"Cassie…" it was almost a groan. "This is your last chance to turn back from *your* resolve and possibly save us both a lot of trouble.

"Maybe trouble," she insisted stubbornly. "But not the pain. I love you, Phantom, and not knowing was much, much worse. Don't put me through that again, please! If I have to accept you between missions only, if I have to be the only one who knows your identity, then so be it."

His eyes widened as she presented him with a clear, though dangerous, alternative, and he knew he could not talk her down from it. And it would tear his own heart out to refuse her, and he no longer had the strength to fight it.

"Cassie…" it was a sheer moan as his hand found the way to the back of her neck, pulling her close. "Do you have any idea at all what you do to me?" Her faint smile was his answer as she leaned forward when he did, their lips scorching together in a firey candence.

Cassie's world exploded in fire as his bare skin touched hers. If this *was* anything like what he claimed she did to him, then he had to be getting uncontrollable very quickly. *She* certainly was….

At last, he released her, resting his forehead against hers, eyes closed.

"Cassie," he whispered. "My beautiful Cassie. What do we do now?"

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"What *can* be done?" he almost moaned. "I cannot live without you, I know. But I cannot be with you like you want, either. Not until my mission is complete. At best, we would still not see each other often."

"It would be better than nothing at all," she insisted stubbornly.

"I know. But the danger? There are plenty of people who want me dead, Cassie. I am not the only one of my group to be like I am. We all swore to keep our identities secret, except for those in our lives who had to know. It was the only way to keep them safe. Now that you have seen me….and that we know that we love each other…."

"Phantom, what is your name?" Cassie asked quietly.

He surprised himself by not even hesistating. "My given name is Tar'yn, of Eltare."

"Tar'yn," she repeated. "I love you, Tar'yn."

"And I you," he murmured. "Cassie, if we try this, you must never reveal my identity to anyone, not even your friends, if you could possibly help it. It would be too dangerous. Never even say to anyone *but* them that you even know my identity. I will try to come when I can, but I doubt if it would be very often."

"If I have to have you between everything else you do, then so be it," she said quietly. "I can wait."

"But for how long?" he turned sorrowful eyes toward her. "Do you even have any notion of how old I am, Cassie? I am over three melennia old. You are how old–eighteen?"

She nodded.

"I would live eons past your lifespan. There are ways I could extend it, but it would take time, and this part of the universe is in enough turmoil. By the time I got to you, you would be an old woman."

She laughed outright. "Then I guess you do not know that our Astro powers do not let us age while we are connected to them," she assured him. "I will be fine for now, I assure you."

"Oh, Cassie," he chuckled also, while she listened, captivated. It was a wonderful sound. He leaned forward again and kissed her. "Now, perhaps we should find a way out of here."


"Andros," TJ began carefully. "I *know* you went through an awful time, and I *know* you are upset. But could you please quit pacing before I get as upset as you are?"

Andros whirled on him, eyes flashing. He was about to open his mouth to retort, when he stopped, swallowing.

"I will try," he answered quietly, to everyone's surprise. "I…apologize, TJ, if I was bothering you that much."

TJ gaped at him, then turned to Ashley. "I expect you would kill me if I asked if it was *that* bad," he said softly.

Ashley, who had been slumped in her chair with her arms on the console, nodded, not looking at him. "It *was* that bad, Teej. How easy would you figure it would be to lose someone, to deal for a long time with the pain, and then have it torn to the front of your mind, and mock you with the details and guilt?" Tears had filled her eyes again. "She captured Johnathan too, and she was going to kill him in front of me, so I would face the pain of losing another brother by being unable to do anything!" she almost spat.

Carlos sat down beside her, looking serious. "'Another brother'? Ash, I thought you only had one brother."

She shook her head numbly, too worn out to hide it at the moment. "No, there were three of us. Clyde was my other twin. He was killed, a year ago, right in front of my eyes in a car accident…and there was nothing I could do." Ashley shook with the effort to control her feelings.

"Was that the incident you referred to, but never specified on?" Carlos asked gently. She nodded. "I'm sorry, Ash. I did not know…"

"It is all right," she assured him, trying to smile but barely succeeding. "The hardest part was trying to live without a third of my own soul. I could not bear to lose Johnathan too."

"I doubt if I would be able to, either," said Carlos quietly. "You told me once that being a twin was hard. Being a triplet must have been even worse, when one of you did not return." As Ashley nodded, Carlos suddenly blushed and glanced at Trey, who surely must have heard the whole conversation.

"Sorry, Trey, I guess that did not come out right. I know how your species is Trifold, after all…"

"I am not insulted, I assure you," the boy said quickly, his dark eyes still not quite hiding the mysterious pain that seemed to be with him constantly. "The idea that Triforians are a joined race of triples is a common misconception. We are one, even when splintered. It is…difficult to explain."

Calos did not press the issue. The Lord of Triforia had tried to deliberately steer him away from an unknown sensetive subject for him, and Carlos did not want to pry. But Trey had seemed affected by his and Ashley's talk about losing someone close. Why, he was not sure about.

Ashley straightened. "I should call him, let him know I am okay. DECA, will you tap into our cellphone lines and connect us?"

"Of course, Ashley." Even DECA seemed more subdued than usual. "Connecting now."

A moment later, there was an audible buzz as Ashley's brother answered his cellphone. "Hello?"

"Johnathan?" asked Ashley softly.

"Ashley, is that you?" he exclaimed immediately. "Are you okay? Mom and I have been hopping with worry." his voice sounded strangled, almost.

"We escaped, Johnathan. I am fine. I just had to let you know."

"Fine physically, Ash, but what about mentally? It was bad enough to have to sit there and *watch* that crazy woman torture you and Andros. What did it do to your *mind*?"

"I can handle it, Johnathan. I can't talk long, we are searching for Cassie. I will try to be home soon."

"I hope so. Mom hates you being a Power Ranger, Sis. *Please* be careful. I love you."

"I love you too, Johnathan," she said quietly. "I'll see you soon."

She cut the link, leaning back in her chair and looking slightly sick. Carlos wanted to say something but did not press the issue. Andros looked at her also, coming out of the trance he had been in. Carlos had to swallow his surprise as he reached over and squeezed her arm gently. She gave him a grateful look in return.

*I don't believe it,* his disbelieving mind told him. *Andros and Ashley…a couple?*


The whole cave shook as the Phantom Ranger and Cassie struggled to stay on their feet. She cried out and lost he footing, he caught her before she hit the floor.

"What is happening?" she asked breathlessly.

"I think our 'friends' have found us," he answered ruefully. "I also am getting the eerie feeling we are being watched. But not by them. A presence…"

Cassie had felt something odd, too, but had been unable to place it. She had no time to contemplate it, however, as a bone-chilling voice called out, "Well, well, looky what we have here!"

Another voice, just as chilling, said, "Yeah. Welcome to *our* domain, Power Rangers!"

~*~

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