Helm

-------#-------

Author's Notes

-------#-------

Sequel to Worst-Case Scenario, so, set after Strange Relations, also AU, duh. Set in Tommy's POV. More angst, and a bit o' humor, 'cause I'm nice like that, yay.

-------#-------

Miserable. That was really the only word to describe the way Kira looked, and felt. It was to be expected of course, she had just lost her boyfriend, the man she loved, and I really, really hate seeing her this way. She's curled up on the couch in my living room, staring listlessly at the wall, wearing one of Trent's white, button-down shirts over her yellow tank top, twisting the silver ring, studded with warm, yellow topaz around her finger. The promise ring Trent had given her. She never took it off as far as I could tell.

Ethan was in the lab with Hayley, monitoring Reefside, as usual, even though it had been relatively quiet since Trent's death only four days ago. His funeral would be four days from now, giving Anton his time to mourn the loss of his son. Conner was rummaging through my kitchen for anything he deemed edible, normally I wouldn't allow him to do that, but this was a special circumstance.

Conner came out of the kitchen, carrying a plate with two sandwiches, and settled himself next to Kira, offering her one of the sandwiches. She shook her head, sandy blonde hair framing her face. Conner sighed, pointing out that she needed to eat, but she just shook her head again. Narrowing my eyes, I put on my best teacher-you-better-listen-to-me voice, "Kira, Conner's right, you need to eat."

"I'm not hungry, Dr. O." Her voice only came out as a whisper, and I sighed.

"Kira-" Before I could say anything else, the alarm went off. Conner bolted off the couch, sandwich left forgotten, he gave a glance towards Kira, and then looked towards me. I was about to say we probably didn't have a choice but to bring her when she stood up, all but running towards the lab.

"Hayley, what's going on?" I question, taking my position over her shoulder, to look at the monitor.

"See for yourself." She indicated the screen.

"Son of a bitch." Conner hissed.

I didn't even bother to get on him about his language, as I snuck a glance at Kira. Her eyes were narrowed, and she looked like she was about to jump through the screen and strangle Zeltrax herself. "Kira…" I warned.

She turned her gaze towards me, and I fought back a grimace at the anger in her eyes, "I deserve this, Dr. O. He took everything from me, he took…he took Trent from me!"

I stepped closer to her, putting my hand on her shoulder, "I know Kira, I know you want to kill him for this, but you can't just do this yourself, you need the entire team, especially now."

We had all decided that it was best not to give Trent's gem to anyone else, at least not for now, though the others thought it was permanent, I was considering giving someone else Trent's gem at a later time. Only Hayley knew about this, and while she wasn't pleased about it, she knew it might have to come to that. I cared about Trent, understood what he had went through as the evil White Ranger, we had a bond, and part of me felt like it would be a dishonor to his memory if anybody bonded with his gem, but I couldn't let anybody else lose their life.

Kira blinked back tears, her lips pressed into a thin line, "Fine." She finally muttered, shrugging off my hand, and turning her back on me. I sighed, and took my place next to Ethan, as Conner started off, "Ready?"

"Ready!" We all replied, holding out our morphers.

"Dino Thunder, power-" The call was interrupted by a mind numbing, deafening scream. I automatically clamped my hands over my ears, black spots floating in my vision, before I blacked out.

-------#-------

When my eyes opened, I closed them just as quick, as sunlight burned through my eyelids. I slowly opened them again, and then blinked in confusion. I was on the beach, actually, all of us were, me in black swim trunks, Conner in red, Ethan in blue, and…Trent in white. What the hell is Trent doing here? And how the hell did we get here in the first place? Kira was grinning in her yellow bikini with Trent's head in her lap. Ethan was in the water trying to convince Conner to join him, who just scowled and shook his head. Hayley was smirking at the two, in her crimson one-piece, reading a book about physics or something of the sort.

"Dr. O, are you alright?" Kira asked, looking over at me in concern.

"Yeah, you look pretty weirded out." Trent agreed.

Of COURSE I was weirded out! Not like I can just go and say, "Oh, its no big deal, it's just, you're supposed to be dead, Trent, and we were just on our way to go murder your murderer, you understand." Yeah, like that would work out.

"I'm fine, you guys, just a little tired, grading a bunch of papers from high schoolers will do that to a person." I lied.

They both looked unconvinced, and I sighed, "I'm fine, really."

They exchanged glances and then nodded at me, returning to their conversation. "They're right, something is up with you; care to tell an old friend what it is?" Hayley had somehow put down her book and moved closer to me without me noticing.

I groaned, why wouldn't anybody leave me alone about this? "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." And it was true, who would believe it when proof that I was either wrong, or insane…or both, was staring me right in the face.

"Try me."

"It's kind of…no, a lot crazy." I warned.

"Tommy, please, after knowing you, nothing seems crazy anymore." She smirked.

I smirked in return, before sighing and telling her the entire story. Needless to say, she was left a little shell-shocked. "So, you're saying that in some alternate reality, or whatever you want to call it, Zeltrax killed Trent, and Kira was planning on murdering him in retribution?"

I nodded, waiting for her to say something like I was completely off my rocker, and she never wanted to see me ever again, even though Hayley wasn't like that at all. She nodded slowly, pursing her lips, "Maybe it really did happen."

See? Proof…wait, what? "Hayley, how could it have happened if Trent's right over there with Kira?" I indicated the couple frantically, glad they weren't paying any attention to me.

She shrugged, "You've gotta admit, stranger things have happened."

I just groaned, lying back on my beach towel. Great, I think I'd rather be crazy than go back to reality, with Trent dead, my Rangers mourning, and Kira broken and wanting to murder somebody, even if he did deserve it, and wasn't exactly human anymore.

"Dr. O?"

I raised myself up, staring at the wide, dark eyes of Trent. I gulp, "Yes, Trent?"

Kira was right next to him, hazel eyes watery, and she held on tight to him, "I die?" He whispered, and everything went dark.

-------#-------

I groaned, opening my eyes slowly, blinking rapidly as they watered. Okay, this was worst than the worse hangover I've ever had times ten and a half. I rolled over, starting to get up, when I noticed Conner, Ethan and Hayley all in the same position as me, and with Kira nowhere to be found…Aw, man, this can't be good.

"Close my eyes, and you're there, but I can't find you anywhere…" Kira's singing floated down the stairs, followed by the girl herself.

She sighed as she noticed me struggling to get up, vision still swimming. She placed something on the table, and then leaned down and helped me up, "Look, I'm sorry Dr. O."

"Wha? You did this?" I frowned; it made sense actually, where else could the scream have come from?

She nodded briefly, surveying the others, and then either decided they would be okay, or whatever she had brought in was vastly more important, because she nodded at the unconscious three, before turning to whatever she had placed on the table. I did my on survey of the others, and decided that they would just have to be okay. I should probably call 911, but then I'd have to explain what the hell happened, and since telling them Kira knocked us all out with her sonic scream was out of the question, I couldn't really think of a convincing lie, considering my head was still feeling like I had just given it a swirlie.

"What have you got there, Kira?" I questioned, flopping down in a chair, and shutting my eyes, because the light still hurt them.

"It's surprisingly nice, you know, I think I should keep it as like, a centerpiece for my dining room table or something. Heh, right, like that would go over well with my mom, I guess I can just tell her its part of a costume or something…" She sounded strangely gleeful, and I opened my eyes, and catching sight of what Kira held proudly in her arms, they widened considerably.

"Did you know he didn't have a head under this? I wonder how he talked…" She pursed her lips in thought, as I focused closely on what she held.

Zeltrax's helmet.

-------#-------