a/n. Jason/Kim pairing. Sorry to those who favor Tommy/Kim, I never was a die hard Tommy fan. Anyway. They are 23 years old, Jason has been away since his short bout as the Gold Ranger. He's in the Marines, (don't knock it, doesn't play a huge roll). Kim has been back in Angel Grove for a little over a year. Now, *warning*, this fic is really AU. I altered a lot because I didn't really watch the show much after the original five were gone. I was a MMPR kind of girl, and haven't had a chance to go back and see how things were done afterwards. All the other details will be explained as the story goes on. =)

Disclaimer: I own nothing PR related.

Starts in Jason's POV, will alternate with Kimberly's every so often.

Back to You.

By: Snap.101

Chapter 1 - Prologue

The sun is blistering today. Even more so than usual, I think. I can feel the sand making it's way into my lungs with every breath I take, the tank I'm riding on kicking up enough to blanket us if we weren't moving. I look out over the miles and miles of dunes, my helmet and the material I have tied around my face tunneling my vision so that I'm looking through a small slit. It's so hot out here. But I've gotten used to it. I'm good with adjusting, with change and uncertainty. In fact, I think that's when I'm most comfortable. I don't like schedules. At first, being in the Marines, I was forced into a constant schedule. Someone constantly in my ear, on my back, screaming at me to do whatever it was they had me assigned to do. For three years I was stationed in America, and all I did was train. Anything and everything they threw at me, I mastered it. That's just the kind of person I am, I guess. For three years they tried to find something I couldn't do, and when they came up short, they sent me here. Afghanistan.

I've been in the military for almost six years now. From the second I turned eighteen, I was in uniform. Trini and Zack were pretty upset when I cut my Peace Conference run short, something about how much they'd miss me, but we all knew it was for the best. Apparently sitting around talking about how we should do things and how many things we could change, wasn't the best atmosphere for me. I used to be content. Way back when I was first introduced to this whole saving the world bit, I was completely comfortable where I was. But, then again, I was also only sixteen years old. I still lived with mommy and daddy and looked up to my older brother like he was some sort of God. I found comfort in having friends and knowing that they were there for me. But, somewhere down the line, I lost all of that. I didn't feel like I needed my parents, my brother was nothing short of juvenile when I compared him to the things I've done, and my friends… well…they were there I guess, they just weren't the same.

I'm not the type to point fingers, really. I usually take whatever happens and flow with it without complaint. But I can honestly say, without a doubt, that we all began drifting the moment Tommy entered the picture. I started losing my temper, Kim was so wrapped up in him that she couldn't see strait. Trini resented him for taking my place, as if she had a right. Zack was consumed with keeping me under control while my head seemed to be spiraling into some fucked up alternate universe due to my sudden change in surroundings. And Billy just wanted us all to get along. I never thought that a change like that would affect me the way it did. In fact, it still amazes me now how easy I made it for him to push me out. I don't blame him, it's not like I put up much of a protest. I don't hate him. I don't resent him. We still talk and write to each other. But, the cold hard truth is, Tommy and I were never meant to work together as Power Rangers. It was clear as day to anyone watching, we just didn't mesh like I did with the others. He was always trying to prove something, and I always seemed to blow my stack when I realized that he was fucking up because of some unsaid competition with his supposed 'leader'.

I feel my head begin to pound as I go through the memories. Maybe being a Power Ranger was what led me to where I am. Zordon had once told me that I was a leader, a fighter. He said it flowed as freely throughout me as my own blood, and couldn't be taken away or silenced. He told me I was meant for something greater, something that meant more than just words. Maybe this is what he meant. I'm twenty three years old and have already been put up for my third promotion. I had to be good for something, at least they saw it that way.

"Alright men, ground out and get some sleep. We're out before the sun comes up tomorrow."

I hear my Sergeant's voice as we pull through the gate of our base and immediately comply. My mind still bogged down by distant memories. I don't know why they are clouding me all of the sudden, I rarely think of them anymore. Zack still sends me letters every now and then, I've got a few from Tommy. I have to compose myself thinking of the last time I wrote or spoke with Kimberly. She was upset the last time we spoke on the phone. I hadn't wrote her back in over three months and she called to scream at me for how worried she'd been. I didn't want to care. I didn't want to feel that surge of energy pulse through me when she said she missed me, or when she asked if I was ever going to visit her. I haven't talked to her since. I reach my room and undress, quickly hitting the showers before turning in for the night. I stare blankly at my small closet, willing myself to just go to sleep and leave those memories where they should be.

But my body doesn't comply.

I fling my legs over the bed and let them hit the floor with a thud, slowly pulling my body up and shuffling across the room. I don't know why I suddenly feel like reminiscing, it only hurts me when I do. I reach inside my closet all the same, pulling out the large Nike shoe box from the back. I sit on the floor in front of it, staring for a moment, before pulling the lid from the top. I want to throw it across the room when I see what's on top.

For my Knight,

Just a reminder of how much you mean to me and that I love you more than I could ever say.

Love,

Pinky

God, I hate those nicknames. What I hate even more is what the small sticky note is attached to. I pull it off and stick it to the side of the box, pulling the large frame out and glaring pointlessly at it. The frame holds my attention despite my best efforts to get rid of it, her bright and beautiful smile taunting me from behind the glass. She's in my lap, her arms draped around my neck with that wondrous gleam radiating off of her. I wonder if she looks the same. I wonder if I look the same. I remember the exact moment she gave this to me. The exact expression she had on her face, the exact outfit she was wearing. I wish those insignificant memories would just drift away, like all the others have. But something about her, even in thought, is so stubborn. Her memory, just like her, wont let me go. Personally, I don't find it fair. She made her choice, just like I made mine. Why couldn't she just live with it and move on? Why did she have to constantly try to suck me back in to what we had once upon a time? It was gone. Period. She'd made that very clear when she started drooling over the dark and mysterious Green Ranger.

I stare mercilessly at the slightly faded picture inside it's protective case, completely engulfed in what I'd forced myself to let go of. Jesus, why is this so strenuous? I'm a thousand miles away from them with no direct contact and nothing forcing me to think of that place or those people, why now?

As if on cue, a small buzz sounds from my nightstand, stirring my roommate.

"Are we supposed to have our cell phones on?" He mumbles through his pillow.

"yeah, yeah. I'm turnin' it off." I whisper.

I start to explain to him that my phone has, in fact, been off for the past two weeks. I made sure of it so that my mother would stop harassing me about coming home. She'd already guilt tripped me into Christmas this year, but apparently she couldn't wait. But I figure since I'd probably sound crazy seeing as it just went off, I'd leave it where it was.

I toss the box back in the closet carelessly, quietly moving to sit on the edge of my bed. I pull my cell out and notice the light coming from the front. That usually doesn't happen when a phone is off. I open it and a small message is typed in a recognizable font.

You're needed.

I didn't have to question who it was, I already knew. And before I could even blink, I felt the tingle of a transport device beginning to take me wherever it was they were stationed nowadays. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the whole situation, but I was pretty confident I no longer had a choice. All of my recent thoughts and jumbled memories were going to do nothing but complicate my visit with the people I knew would be there waiting. I haven't seen them in so long. Jesus, I've barely talked to them. I haven't been involved with anything Power Ranger related since... shit... since I was the Gold Ranger. I start to wonder what the hell they'd be dragging me into it for...

Great, I don't even have a shirt on.

a/n. right, so mostly just Jason's monologue in this one. But I had to establish where he stood with all the other Rangers and give an idea of what he'd been doing. Blah, blah. =) Next chap is still Jason's POV and will bring in some of the other Rangers. Hope you enjoyed. PLEASE review. =)