“This can’t be true— it can’t be.” Kira denied as she stared at Tommy’s ghostly white face. “Obviously it can’t be, I mean, you’re here Tommy, you’re alive, you’re all right.”

The glassy stare in Tommy’s eyes gave away everything as he glanced down and fixed his eyes on the carpet. “No, Kira, I’m not all right. In fact, I haven’t been ‘all right’ in a while, ever since Billy was killed— ever since then I’ve felt, well . . .  I don’t know how to explain it really.”

“You feel empty, sick, yet you come off as healthy. Every other night you wake up from a nightmare, peoples voices in your head saying things— things that don’t make sense. You wake up in a cold sweat after feeling like you’ve . . . faded away.” Alex spoke softly, and swallowed. “I’ve felt the same way, Tommy— I know what you are going through. A brush with death will do that to a person.”

Curiosity began to invade the Black Ranger’s mind. He looked to Alex and asked, “What does this mean?”

Alex’s voice became increasingly stern. “It means that we’ve over-extended our welcome here. Look.” He sat down at the desk and turned the monitor, which displayed two digital graphs. “Here is what history recorded as the proper line of events, each event carefully detailed. This is how the current timeline should look.” He clicked a button on the bottom of the corner and the graph changed dramatically as jagged bumps and spikes overtook the screen.

“This is what the timeline looks like now, starting with Billy’s death. Normally in situations like this, it’ll somehow balance out, but not this time.”

Vida shook her head. “But Jen not dying, that was a good thing, right? I mean she’s alive and well. Not to mention we’re closer to catching Kane now that we’ve scared him.”

“We haven’t scared him, Vida, just greatly pissed him off.” Cole said. “If he’s like any other criminal, he’s waiting in hiding to plan his final move. When he strikes next, he’s going to hit hard, right where it hurts.”

Alex turned to the monitor again. “Billy’s death isn’t the only thing that’s out of whack here. Tommy’s death and Jen’s death were supposed to happen hand in hand . . . That’s the reason that Jen should have died in her first encounter with Kane. There’s a connection somehow, but I still haven’t been able to make it.”

Nick bit his lip. “So everything we’ve done, having Jen and Tommy live, Billy’s death, saving Dave’s life, getting Madison back and defeating Kane, that’s all made everything worse?” Trip gave him a nervous look.

Eric sighed. “There’s more, Alex, more than what you’re saying.”

A disturbing look flashed over Alex’s face as he nodded. “The effects have already begun to take effect. The future is shifting faster than we thought, and not just our time, but everything past this point. If we don’t act soon and end this battle, the present will begin to shift as well. Friends, careers, lives will be altered and this time, we won’t be able to change it.”

Conner glanced at Kira. “You mean the lives we live will change?”

“Everything will change, Conner. If we don’t act, time itself will change drastically,” Alex said heavily and looked at Lucas, Katie and Trip. “Beginning with us, Jen and Dave.”

Katie jumped out of her seat. “What do you mean beginning with us?” she asked, a tinge of annoyance echoed in her question.

“We’re not from this time period, Katie, we’re from the future, we are the future, and if we don’t get this straightened out we won’t make it past next week without disappearing completely from the timeline. Everything we have, everything we own, everyone we loved will be gone, erased from history. Our families, our careers, our goddamn lives will no longer exist. We’ll either be someone else or no one at all.” Alex stared at her speechless face.

“So you know the future then, don’t you, Alex?” Madison asked quietly. “You know what’s going to happen to all our lives, who will live and who will die after this shift happens.” She gave Alex a hard stare as he turned his eyes away.

“Is there a way to prevent it?” Kira asked.

Alex whispered quietly. “We can’t prevent it, but make the best of what happens. Unfortunately, this new future has already been written. It started when Jen made it through the night. Now it’s just a matter of the past adjusting to fit it. Everything that happens from here on will be based on this new future, and we have no way of stopping it.” The commander paused and swallowed hard. “In the final battle, two of us will die. Don’t ask me who.” He looked down just as Jen and Wes came in, and stood in the doorway amazed at what they just heard. “If you’ll excuse me.”

A silent fear circled the room as each Ranger stared at the floor, hoping to avoid eye contact with their team members. It was hard to believe that in a few days, two of them will not be sitting here; instead they’ll be lying in a wooden coffin going six feet under, and Alex knew who it was. Maybe he would tell them so they could prepare for the worst.

“I—” Tommy began, his voice just above a whisper. “I’ll be back.” He rose and stepped gingerly out of the room, and walked out the door. They heard the engine start and Tommy’s car slowly back out of the driveway.

“It’s not fair, you know?” Vida’s voice matched the Black Ranger’s. “We save lives, and yet we lose ours. It’s not fair.” Chip placed his arm around her shoulders as she gently leaned into it and closed her eyes.

Trip sighed. “It’s not the first time Alex has told us we were going to die.” His eyes opened wider. “We’ve escaped death once before, do you think we can do it again?”

“I hope so, Trip. If not, I’ll never see my boys again, if everything is still the same.” Katie wiped a tear from her eye.

Xander sighed as well. “What are the chances, Trip, that we can make it out of this alive, I mean all of us, including Tommy and Jen?” Trip shrugged.

“If Jen dies—” Kira began, “I can’t imagine the impact it’ll have on her son. I mean, he almost lost her once, I would hate for him to lose her again— and for good. And Tommy—”

Cole interjected. “How do we know it’s even Jen and Tommy?”

Conner turned to his fellow Red Ranger. “Did you hear what Alex said? Jen was supposed to die and Tommy,” he swallowed hard, “is supposed to be in the ground, not Billy. And if the timeline is going to adjust, I think it’ll choose the same two Rangers, which means Jen and Tommy’s death.”

Madison cocked her head. “I don’t know, Conner, but something in Alex’s voice— it sounded like he was going to be one of the two to . . . you know.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time he died, in a sense,” Lucas said.

Alyssa cocked her head in thought. “And yet he still survived because the timeline shifted— so what are the chances that, assuming it is Jen and Tommy, they can cheat death a second time as well?”

Trip shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, but whatever they may be, we’re going to need a miracle to pull that off.”

A small smile came Chip’s face. “Well, we’re Power Rangers, right? Miracles are what we do.” A light-hearted chuckle filled the room and disappeared just as quickly as it came.

--

Jen stood quietly on the balcony as she stared off over the veranda. She watched the baseball go back and forth across the yard, into Dave’s mitt then back to Wes’s as the sun set behind them and encasing them in an orange aura. For a second, just one second she wished she could forget about the fighting that lay ahead and freeze frame that picture— such a perfect moment with no Time Force, no battles, no evil, no death, and no worries— just a single picture that she could call perfection. Her boys, the two most important men in the world— how could she think of separating them again?

“You know, there was something Wes always had that I didn’t,” came a voice from behind her. Jen turned to see a mirror image of her boyfriend standing by the door. Slowly Alex walked towards her and rested his hands on the rocky rail.

Jen cocked her head. “A bendable backbone and a sense of humor?”

Alex playfully nudged her. “You’re quite the comedian, Jennifer.” He remained silent for a few more moments and followed her eyes. “Dave would have found out at some point— that I wasn’t his biological father, you know that.” Jen nodded and turned her eyes back to where Wes was showing Dave another method of throwing the ball. “I’m just sorry it had to be like this.”

Jen swallowed hard. “Me too. I never had my father in most of my life and swore I wouldn’t let the same thing happen to my kids— and now look what happened.”

“You’re a great mother, Jennifer— and I say that because when I look at Dave, I see every ounce of you. The way he walks, the way he handles himself, he’s all you Jen.” Alex sighed as Dave laughed off into the distance.

Another hard lump began to form in her throat. “I— I don’t want to return to the future, Alex, whatever future that may be.”

He lowered in head. “Jen, we’ve been through this a thousand times, you can’t stay in the past. The time line—”

“Forget the time line, Alex!” Jen threw up her hands. “It’s messed up already, and besides, two people are going to die and—” Jen paused and sighed. “If I have to say good bye once more,” She closed her eyes as a tear fell down from her face. “I won’t be able to, not again. And, every time I look at Dave— he’s beginning to look more like Wes every day. How can I live my life knowing that I’ve taken away one of the greatest things that’s happened to me and my son? Look at them, Alex, can you picture them apart?”

His eyes glanced down to where Dave and Wes were rolling around in the grass, smiles on their faces. That was the one thing Alex could never have . . . a relationship with his son— no, he quickly corrected himself— with Wes’ son. Hearing the sorrow in Jen’s voice made it worse, this feeling of being the bad guy. Alex sighed and bowed his head.

“Jen, believe me, if there was anything I could do to let you stay, I would, but after this battle there won’t be anything left for you to stay for.”

She raised her head slowly. “What do you mean?” Alex gave her no answer. “What do you mean?” she asked again, more forcefully, but Alex kept his mouth shut. “Damn it, Alex, just tell—”

“Wes is going to die!” He shouted loudly, silencing her. She stared at him in disbelief, her eyes turned glossy as she began to shake and take in dry breaths or air.

“Wes will die,” Alex whispered, then closed his eyes and held his breath. “ . . . and so will Dave . . .”

--