Tommy's cry echoed out over the battlefield, his voice a mixture of fury and terror. "What the Hell are you doing?"
The Blue Ranger didn't answer. He just grinned behind his helmet and continued to cut a deadly path through the attacking cogs, heedless of his own injuries.
Red Ranger flinched as Rocky took yet another hit. The other boy staggered but kept going, his arm blades whirling expertly, dismantling cogs left and right. "Tanya! Get over there and help him out," Tommy ordered, unable to break away from his own battle.
Yellow Ranger nodded and did a graceful series of flips over to Rocky. The two of them soon dispatched the remained of the cogs.
Mondo's newest monster, the Merciless Modem, hissed angrily. "Next time Rangers," it said predictably, "You won't be so lucky!" In a flash of light, it was gone.
The rangers regrouped. "Rocky, what the hell was going on out there," Tommy demanded, still breathing hard from the exertion.
Rocky shrugged. "Who cares? I kicked ass."
"We care, Rocky," Kat said quietly, placing a calming hand on Tommy's arm. "You're going to get yourself killed if you keep this up."
Rocky turned to her, then, his silence chilling. Tanya cleared her throat. "Let's get back to the Power Chamber."
~*~
"Rocky, look," Tommy tried again, struggling to keep his voice calm. "We know you're going through a lot of cogs out there, but you also took a lot of hits. You can't keep going on like this."
Rocky shook his head. "I'm fine, Tommy. I can hold my own."
"Maybe so," put in Adam, "but this is a team. Don't forget that."
Rocky snorted as he demorphed. "Whatever."
Billy raised an eyebrow. "You don't like working with the team?"
"I didn't say that. And stop picking on me."
"We're not picking on you, we're worried about you," Tanya clarified. "You've been so reckless... lately."
Everyone knew what she wanted to say. Ever since Chrissy's death. That was what it all came down to. It was as if the formerly carefree and fun-loving boy no longer cared whether he lived or died. In battles or in his normal life, it was the same. He'd pick fights with unsavory people in unsavory parts of town, drive way too fast on residential roads.... And Adam suspected he'd been getting drunk on occasion as well. His behavior on a few mornings had screamed "hangover."
Rocky sighed. "Okay okay, I'll tone it down. You happy now?"
The Rangers shot each other worried looks. What could they say? How could they be sure he meant what he said?
Billy decided for them. "Rocky... perhaps we should talk. Will you join me in my quarters?"
Rocky started to protest, but a stern look from Billy was all it took. "Okay," he said simply.
~*~
Billy finished whatever it was he was doing and took a seat next to Rocky on the bed. "You comfortable?" he asked quietly. Rocky shrugged, and Billy smiled slightly. "I thought you'd say that. You don't seem to have much of an opinion on anything lately."
"I guess not." Rocky turned his attention to the CD Billy had chosen. It was quiet, melancholy. It was too soft for him to hear the words, but something about the melody was drawing him inward.
"You like that?" Billy asked after a moment.
"Hmmm?"
"The album? it's one of my favorites."
"What is it?"
"Sting. The Soul Cages."
"Oh. It's nice."
"Yeah. I thought it was fitting."
"How so?"
"Well...." Billy looked pensive. "It's all about love, it's about loss... it's about life. It's about us."
Rocky's eyes grew far away. "About us...." Dimly, he felt Billy's arm drape itself across his shoulder and pull him closer.
"Rocky... I know you miss Chrissy-" Rocky shuddered convulsively as he mentioned her name, and Billy gathered the younger boy into a hug. "I know you miss her, but this isn't the way."
"I... I don't know...."
"You're throwing your life away, Rocky, and she wouldn't have wanted that. She loved life."
Rocky pulled away violently. "And she lost her life, Billy! She lost her life saving me! It's not fair that-"
"She lost her life saving, me," Billy corrected quietly.
"What?"
"I was dying, and she traded places with me. I would gladly have given my life for your happiness, Rocky, but she didn't want that. She made the decision, and we have to honor that."
"I...." Rocky deflated, his eyes filling with tears. "I can't.... I just can't."
Billy nodded. "I want you to hear something, Rocky." He stood and walked over the the CD player, where he fiddled with the controls. The song playing in the background stopped, and another began. Billy turned the sound up.
Rocky froze. "B... Billy...?" He shook his head. Something wasn't right. "Billy, you're...."
"I couldn't let Him control me Rocky," Billy said quietly, his eyes far away. "That was what He wanted. He couldn't stand to see me stand on my own. I was His creation, and I betrayed Him. In destroying me, He thought He could destroy all of you. Don't let him win, Rocky, please. I... I don't want him to win."
Rocky was crying freely now. "Chrissy...? No... you're dead...."
"We've won, Rocky," Chrissy told him. "Don't you see? If you go on... we've won."
"I can't go on without you Chrissy. I love you."
"I love you too. I never felt love... before. I found it with Billy, and with you. Our love is still here, and it always will be."
"But you're never coming back."
"I never left."
She (he?) leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then blushed brightly. "Billy would kill me if I did what I wanted to do."
Rocky blushed too. "Yeah I guess so," he mumbled.
"The song's over," Chrissy said absently, staring off into the distance. "You heard it, right Rocky? You heard everything?"
"I heard. I'll miss you...."
"I'll be here, always. In your hearts." She placed a hand on his breast, and he covered it with his own. Billy's hand was a lot smaller than it should have been....
"Don't go," Rocky begged, sensing somehow that she was fading. "Stay with me. Please...."
She shook her head. "I can't. It's not... it's not time."
"Time? When will it be time?"
"We will be together again, Rocky, I promise. Somehow, someday.... All of us will be together." Billy's face shifted, changed; and finally, Chrissy sat before him. His Chrissy. "I love you always."
She kissed him, and time stood still.
Rocky sat up slowly. "She... she was here."
"I know," Billy nodded. "I felt it."
"Then she's alive? Somewhere... she's alive?"
"In our hearts...."
"That's what she said.... In our hearts. I don't understand."
Billy hesitated. "Me neither," he finally admitted. "But I don't think we have to."
They sat in silence.
