The End of Days
Title: The End of Days, Chapter 6
Author: Griddlebone/eggplantlady
Prompt: #058 - The girl who does not know herself
Fandom: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Genre: Divergence/AU/Post-Apocalyptic
Word Count: 888
Rating: T
Summary: Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Previous installments are here.
Tommy did not realize he had fallen asleep until he woke up with the sound of buzzing in his ears, a mechanical drone that was far more annoying than anything should be allowed to be. Worse: his eyes felt crusty, his body bone dry, and he had sand in places where there should never, ever be sand.
And since that apparently was not bad enough, there was a giant thing (airship, his mind supplied belatedly) hovering in the air near the mesa where he and the girls had taken shelter for the night. Hovering maybe fifty feet overhead, it looked for all the world like a small, deranged zeppelin, and was the source of the constant noise.
"When did that get here?" he muttered.
"Just a few minutes ago," a very familiar voice chirped from somewhere behind him. Kimberly. "She's a beauty, isn't she?"
"Yeah," he agreed absently.
"Come on, get up," she urged. "It's here for us."
A short while later, after a hasty breakfast, Tommy found himself escorted up a rather terrifying rope ladder and into the airship. Three men and a woman were waiting for them as they climbed one by one through the hatch. After exchanging greetings with Trini and Kimberly, and sending suspicious looks in his direction, the woman and one of the men descended from the ladder; the remaining men retreated to a room toward the front of the vessel, which Tommy assumed was the control room, leaving the passengers alone.
The room they were in was fairly large, with a cluster of benches secured to the floor toward the center. But more importantly, there were windows. Lots of windows.
Once they were safely aloft, he made his way over to the nearest window and looked out. They were rising slowly and drifting roughly west across the desert. From up here, the world seemed like nothing so much as a sea of sand, dotted with small islands and distant, tiny pockets of green.
It was beautiful, in a strange, desolate way.
He made his way slowly along one row of windows and then crossed to the other before finally settling on a vantage point. He had to admit it was kind of soothing to just drift along like this, watching the world go by. It had been a long time since he had really had a chance to relax. Being a Power Ranger tended to have that effect.
As his thoughts gradually soured, he became aware of a presence nearby. He glanced over without turning his head and nearly sighed.
Kimberly stood next to him, eyes closed, her elbows propped on the railing and her chin resting atop her hands. She looked peaceful, serene, beautiful... as utterly at home in the air as the Kimberly he had known back in Angel Grove.
And he could feel the wounds, so recently beginning to heal, start to reopen at the sight of her.
It was difficult, and somewhat confusing, to keep the two versions of Kimberly separate in his head. There was the Kimberly he had known and fallen head over heels for, who had ultimately broken his heart, and then there was this Kimberly, who he really did not even know yet. They looked the same and had many of the same mannerisms, and yet there were differences.
This one wore leather, for example. Not that he was complaining.
Except maybe he should complain, because it wasn't fair for one Kimberly to be this attractive when the other had recently dumped him.
He wondered if he had a prayer of being friends with this Kimberly, or if he would be doomed to make the same mistakes all over again. It would be risky... but so far she was the closest thing to a real ally he had in this place, and he had a feeling he was going to need all the friends he could get.
Even if that meant swallowing his lingering bitterness and tempting fate.
"I thought you and Trini were supposed to be on a patrol of some sort," he commented quietly.
"We were," she said with a little laugh. "But the Elders asked us to return to the 'Hold with you to give a more thorough report."
He could practically feel Trini's gaze boring into his back. It was almost creepy. "Sounds like it's kind of a big deal."
Kimberly shrugged. "Well, it isn't every day we find cute guys with no memory wandering around in the desert, you know."
It was probably better that they thought he had amnesia, since his real story was a bit hard to believe, so he didn't correct her about the memory thing. Instead, he asked, "So, uh, what's this 'hold' thing you keep talking about?"
She shifted to face him, and he found himself almost unconsciously doing the same. "The Angel's Grove Stronghold. 'The 'Hold' for short. It's where the Rangers live, sort of our base of operations."
"I see," he said, even though he did not, and that earned him another giggle.
"Don't worry, you will. I'll even give you a tour myself." The dazzling smile that followed told him without a doubt that he had just stepped out of the frying pan... and straight into the fire.
Author: Griddlebone/eggplantlady
Prompt: #058 - The girl who does not know herself
Fandom: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Genre: Divergence/AU/Post-Apocalyptic
Word Count: 888
Rating: T
Summary: Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Previous installments are here.
Tommy did not realize he had fallen asleep until he woke up with the sound of buzzing in his ears, a mechanical drone that was far more annoying than anything should be allowed to be. Worse: his eyes felt crusty, his body bone dry, and he had sand in places where there should never, ever be sand.
And since that apparently was not bad enough, there was a giant thing (airship, his mind supplied belatedly) hovering in the air near the mesa where he and the girls had taken shelter for the night. Hovering maybe fifty feet overhead, it looked for all the world like a small, deranged zeppelin, and was the source of the constant noise.
"When did that get here?" he muttered.
"Just a few minutes ago," a very familiar voice chirped from somewhere behind him. Kimberly. "She's a beauty, isn't she?"
"Yeah," he agreed absently.
"Come on, get up," she urged. "It's here for us."
A short while later, after a hasty breakfast, Tommy found himself escorted up a rather terrifying rope ladder and into the airship. Three men and a woman were waiting for them as they climbed one by one through the hatch. After exchanging greetings with Trini and Kimberly, and sending suspicious looks in his direction, the woman and one of the men descended from the ladder; the remaining men retreated to a room toward the front of the vessel, which Tommy assumed was the control room, leaving the passengers alone.
The room they were in was fairly large, with a cluster of benches secured to the floor toward the center. But more importantly, there were windows. Lots of windows.
Once they were safely aloft, he made his way over to the nearest window and looked out. They were rising slowly and drifting roughly west across the desert. From up here, the world seemed like nothing so much as a sea of sand, dotted with small islands and distant, tiny pockets of green.
It was beautiful, in a strange, desolate way.
He made his way slowly along one row of windows and then crossed to the other before finally settling on a vantage point. He had to admit it was kind of soothing to just drift along like this, watching the world go by. It had been a long time since he had really had a chance to relax. Being a Power Ranger tended to have that effect.
As his thoughts gradually soured, he became aware of a presence nearby. He glanced over without turning his head and nearly sighed.
Kimberly stood next to him, eyes closed, her elbows propped on the railing and her chin resting atop her hands. She looked peaceful, serene, beautiful... as utterly at home in the air as the Kimberly he had known back in Angel Grove.
And he could feel the wounds, so recently beginning to heal, start to reopen at the sight of her.
It was difficult, and somewhat confusing, to keep the two versions of Kimberly separate in his head. There was the Kimberly he had known and fallen head over heels for, who had ultimately broken his heart, and then there was this Kimberly, who he really did not even know yet. They looked the same and had many of the same mannerisms, and yet there were differences.
This one wore leather, for example. Not that he was complaining.
Except maybe he should complain, because it wasn't fair for one Kimberly to be this attractive when the other had recently dumped him.
He wondered if he had a prayer of being friends with this Kimberly, or if he would be doomed to make the same mistakes all over again. It would be risky... but so far she was the closest thing to a real ally he had in this place, and he had a feeling he was going to need all the friends he could get.
Even if that meant swallowing his lingering bitterness and tempting fate.
"I thought you and Trini were supposed to be on a patrol of some sort," he commented quietly.
"We were," she said with a little laugh. "But the Elders asked us to return to the 'Hold with you to give a more thorough report."
He could practically feel Trini's gaze boring into his back. It was almost creepy. "Sounds like it's kind of a big deal."
Kimberly shrugged. "Well, it isn't every day we find cute guys with no memory wandering around in the desert, you know."
It was probably better that they thought he had amnesia, since his real story was a bit hard to believe, so he didn't correct her about the memory thing. Instead, he asked, "So, uh, what's this 'hold' thing you keep talking about?"
She shifted to face him, and he found himself almost unconsciously doing the same. "The Angel's Grove Stronghold. 'The 'Hold' for short. It's where the Rangers live, sort of our base of operations."
"I see," he said, even though he did not, and that earned him another giggle.
"Don't worry, you will. I'll even give you a tour myself." The dazzling smile that followed told him without a doubt that he had just stepped out of the frying pan... and straight into the fire.