Camille hesitantly made her way back into the temple. She had to use the walls around her as leverage due to the ranger's attack on her. When she made it to the throne room, she saw Dai Shi going head-to-head with ten Rin Shi warriors. He stopped fighting them for a moment when he saw her enter.
"Camille, you're back. Where's Waspee? Did he finish off the rangers?" he asked in a scary tone.
Camille's throat felt dry as she began to speak. "Um…N-no—no." she stammered.
Dai Shi felt his eyes grow wide with anger. "And what happened to you?" he seethed at her.
"The rangers defeated me t-too." She said shakily.
Dai Shi didn't speak. All he did was let out a roar so intense that it shook the walls around them and defeated all ten Rin Shi that surrounded him.
"That's what I thought you'd say…" Camille said with a face full of fear. She knew that she was going to have to pay for both her and Waspee's action. Whether it be cleaning the entire temple with a toothbrush, or waiting on her master hand and foot. She gave a weak chuckle after he had his outburst.
As soon as the rangers made it back to JKP, they darted up the stairs. When they made it there, they saw Fran with a weird look on her face and she was surprisingly silent.
"Fran, Fran!" Lily shouted as she cleared the stairs. She ran over to Casey's beside and was shocked to see that he was still unconscious. "Casey?" she said with confusion as she grabbed his hand. "Casey, wake up. Waspee is gone." When she didn't get an answer, she felt panic fill her body. She quickly turned to RJ. "RJ…why isn't he waking up?" she asked shakily.
RJ got a concerned look on his face and ran to place two fingers against Casey's neck. He felt nothing. He felt his eyes grow wide.
"What? RJ, what is it?" Lily asked.
RJ just stared at Casey as he took a few steps back. "He's…gone." He said softly in disbelief.
"What?! You said if we defeated Waspee he'd be okay? Why isn't he okay?" Lily yelled frantically.
"I guess his Tiger spirit tried to fight off the effects of the venom, making it drain more of his life force than the others." RJ said sadly. He looked at Lily with horrified eyes. "Lily, I'm so sorry."
Lily's eyes began to flood with tears, her voice cracked as she spoke. "No! No, this isn't happening! I won't believe he's dead!" she cried.
Dominic looked over to see Fran crying softly, she knew before anyone that he was gone and was horrified herself. Dominic walked over to her and took her in his arms.
RJ ran his fingers through his hair. "There may be one way to save him." He said with hesitation.
Lily looked up at him quickly. "What? There is?" she asked.
"But there's no guarantee that it will work, Lily." RJ said weakly.
"But we have to try! We have to do whatever it takes! Please, RJ, tell me what we can do!" she pleaded as she ran over to him and grabbed his violet jacket.
"RJ sighed heavily. "Alright." He submitted patting her shoulders.
"Thank you, RJ." Lily spoke hugging him tightly.
"What do we have to do?" Theo asked stepping forward.
RJ walked over to Casey and looked down at him. "We…each have to contribute a part of our animal spirits to restore his animal spirit." RJ explained. He looked to his team. "Are you all up for that?" he asked.
"Well I know I'm in." Dominic said stepping forward.
"Me too." Theo added stepping up as well.
Lily walked over to them and gave them a look of gratitude. "I don't know how to thank you guys." She said looking at them.
Theo and Dominic nodded at her and she mustered up a smile.
"Let's do this then just…don't get your hopes up." RJ said sadly. Then he and the others all gathered around Casey's bedside. "All you have to do is close your eyes and call on your animal spirit." RJ explained and then he and his friends all placed their hands at their sides and began to summon their spirits. They each began to glow their ranger colors.
"Spirit of the Wolf." RJ said as a small violet wolf appeared above him.
"Spirit of the Jaguar." Theo called out while a blue jaguar hovered above.
"Spirit of the Rhino." Dominic said as a white rhino appeared above him.
"Spirit of the Cheetah." Lily called out with determination, with everything in her. Then a yellow cheetah spirit took its place above her.
There, around Casey, were the four animal spirits of his friends. The rangers instructed their spirits to flow into Casey. The Wolf, Jaguar, Rhino and Cheetah spirits all sank into his chest. He glowed as each spirit made its entrance.
Afterwards, the four rangers all opened their eyes expectantly to see if what they had done worked.
"Well, did we do it?" Dominic asked looking down at his friend.
A few moments passed by and nothing happened. RJ hung his head low. He really wished that he never mentioned this method. He knew that the chances of it working were very low, but he thought it was worth a try to protect Lily. But now she felt more pain than ever. She just looked down in horror at the Red Ranger, the ranger she loved and began to weep. She just looked at his face, trying to remember all of the good times they had shared. He may be gone, but at least they had that night—that one night.
She was floored when she saw his eyes begin to flicker until they slowly opened. "Casey?" she sniffled, looking at him in shock. The others turned when they heard her words and got huge smiles on their faces.
"Hey, Lily." He said weakly with a small smile.
Lily couldn't hold it in any longer, she had to hug him—and she did. "Oh, Casey! You're alive! I thought we lost you forever!" she cried.
"Hey, I'm the Red Ranger. I don't go down that easily. Especially when I have friends like the four of you." Casey said.
RJ walked up to him and gave him a fist bump. "You gave us quite a scare my man."
"Just trying to keep it interesting." Casey joked.
"Well, we're going to let you get some rest. And I'm sure you and Lily have a lot to talk about." Dominic said as he herded everyone downstairs. He looked over at Lily and winked. She winked back knowing that this was the moment she'd been waiting for and how Dominic was so kind as to let them have this moment.
"Hey, Lily…" Casey said taking her hand in his.
She looked over at him sweetly. "What is it?" she asked.
"I know that you've been through a lot these past couple days and I know I'm the cause. I…just wanted to say that I'm sorry for anything I may have put you through." He said.
"What're you talking about? You're the one who saved me. And I'm very grateful to have a hero like you by my side." She said brushing his hair back. "Just tell us if you have a problem from now on so we can help you—no matter what threats they make. We're a team, we'll figure out a solution." She said sweetly.
"Yeah. I know that now. Lily…" he began.
"Hmm?" she said looking at him, just so happy that he was all right.
"You know how I had something I wanted to tell you at the dance that night?" he asked. Lily nodded at him to answer. "Well…what I wanted to tell you is…that…I love you. And I've loved you pretty much since they day we became rangers." He admitted.
"Really? Wow." She said looking down at the bed.
"What's wrong?" he asked from her sudden change in expression.
"Nothing. I was going to tell you the same thing that night." She said turning and smiling at him. "You mean more to me than anyone and I'm just glad I get to be with you again."
"Me too." He said brushing her hair from her cheek.
Then Lily leaned down and kissed him. He held her close to him as long as he could.
The next day Casey felt well enough to get back to his JKP work. He was happy to be back in his old routine. He and Lily were preparing pizzas in the kitchen while the others handled the business in the dining room. Business was finally back to the way it used to be—crowded. The two were listening to the radio as they worked. Since Casey's hand was still covered in gauze, he mainly rolled out the pizza dough while Lily prepared everything else. When he looked over at her, he noticed that one of her arms had gauze on it like his.
"Lil, I've been meaning to ask you, what happened to your arm?" he asked.
Lily paused and looked at her arm. "Oh, it's nothing. I had a little run in with Camille the other day. I'm fine, after all I have you, she has to go home to Dai Shi everyday." She joked as she smiled at him.
Casey stopped rolling the pizza dough and looked sweetly at her. "Thanks for all you did for me, Lily. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
Lily looked back at him. "Neither would I." She said sweetly. After all, he was the one who saved her, and she was the one who saved him.
The two shared a romantic smile with one another for a few moments, and then a familiar song came on the radio. They noticed it right away because after all, it was their song. Casey wiped his hands off on his apron and made his way around the counter over to her.
He extended his hand to her like he did on the balcony that night. "How about we have that other dance now?" he said.
"What?" Lily asked in confusion.
"You told me that you wanted to dance with me again, right?" he asked with a sly smile.
"Yeah…but I told you that when you were unconscious." She said wide-eyed. "You heard me?"
Casey took both of her hands in his and looked into her eyes. "Lily, I don't know where I was that whole time, but I knew that you were there with me every step of the way. It's like I felt you there." He told her. "I knew I wasn't alone."
She moved closer into him. "And you never will be." She said.
Then the Red and Yellow rangers began to slow dance. They did that special waltz they did that night right there in the kitchen—in their uniforms, covered in flour, in each other's arms. It was their own little love story.
The EndA/N: I hope you all enjoyed this story; I worked very hard on it. Thanks to all of you who reviewed, and to anyone who put this on any of their alert lists. I love to hear from you all and enjoy reading your reviews. Thanks for reading it! ^_^