On Fire (Power Rangers Samurai)

63 - Glass / Amends

"What are you doing?" With a glass of water in hand, Lauren peered over at Emily's work.

The yellow ranger was kneeling over a wedding dress that was laid over a cushion, which was in no way the ideal set up. But with steady hands, she carefully removed decorative parts of the dress.

"I'm altering the wedding dress Mia wore." Emily kept laser focus on the fabric in front of her and the needle between her fingers.

"You're changing the size? Isn't that difficult?" Lauren was quite impressed, especially since she didn't know Emily had such a talent.

Actually, she didn't know anything about Emily. And still, many of the other rangers.

But now that she was thinking of it, Emily was quite artistic. According to the others, she plays the flute beautifully and took to the art of the sword naturally.

"Not the size, just the design." Emily said, glancing at Lauren for a second.

"Your hair got a bit longer." Emily noticed.

"Oh. I wish I could cut it." Lauren didn't like it when her hair passed her shoulder.

"Mia's good at that." Emily also knew how to give haircuts, but she assumed that Lauren would prefer Mia. It was passing up a potential opportunity to bond, but yeah.

"I'll ask her." Lauren took a sip from her glass. "I guess I'll be wearing that dress soon."

To find and save the missing brides, the new plan was to have Lauren as a fake bride.

Even though Mia didn't encounter any moogers that could recognize her while wearing the wedding dress, it seemed best to alter it as a safety measure.

It would be troublesome if a nighlok somehow noticed that the dress on Lauren was the one Mia had worn before.

"How did you learn to change dresses?" Lauren asked.

"I learned from my sister. I'm definitely not a pro like her though." Emily got lost in thought and pricked her finger.

"Sorry." Lauren felt responsible for Emily pricking herself.

"It's okay. I guess you wouldn't know this, but my sister passed away recently..."

Lauren didn't know, and it was surprising.

"Doing the things I used to do with her makes me feel kind of empty..."

Emily's words hit Lauren very hard, causing her to lose focus on what was right in front of her. Her finger trembled, shaking her water.

"I wish I had more time with her. I'm not sure if moving on is possible, especially with this stupid power ranger thing." Emily mumbled the last part under her breath. "I'm kind of done with all of it."

Emily flinched when she heard the loud crash of glass hitting the floor.

"Lauren?" Emily immediately stood up to hold her hands as they were shaking. "Are you okay?"

She had dropped her glass of water, causing it to shatter and spill before her feet.

"Y-yeah..." Lauren looked at the glass on the floor, slightly saddened that she broke it.

She naively reached to pick the shards when Emily quickly tugged her wrist away. Though she may have been a little too rough since she followed her instincts.

"Just sit here," Emily wondered if anything she said had to do with Lauren feeling dizzy.

Emily ran through the words she said, trying to figure out what could've done it.

"I'll get someone to clean this up." Emily turned to leave.

"Wait," Lauren grabbed Emily's wrist before she could go. "Can I meet your sister?"

~~~

"Last year around this time, you would be trying out new cake recipes for Emily's birthday." Kevin picked up a wooden sword. "But I guess you both are arguing?"

Kevin reminisced on Mia making cake batter; an awful concoction of whole wheat flour, honey, heavy cream, and whatever else wasn't right for a cake.

"You speak as if I'm upset." Mia had been practicing her technique with a paper fan. "It's not really bad. Especially not as bad as you and Mike were."

"What really happened then? Did Emily do something?" Kevin asked, unconsciously suggesting that only Emily could have caused trouble between the two.

"We both said some things." Mia sighed.

"But usually you'd rush to make amends. It seems you haven't done it this time, so we assumed that you were really angry." Kevin persisted.

"...I assume that I'm easy to get along with. You could say I'm a bit of a peacemaker." Mia flattered herself in a downcast manner, lowering her fan and staring at the ground.

"I always rushed to make amends and made things easy, but what if I let Emily reach out to me first instead?"

Mia assumed it would be better for Emily this way. Maybe their resolution would be more satisfying.

"Do you really think she'll come around?" Kevin doubted it. "She's been immature in the past."

"She's different from all of us you know." Mia became defensive. "Emily would have lived a normal life. She had her childhood until her sister got sick. Then the weight of being a samurai while having an ill sister was dumped on her.

"Isn't it only natural that she's a bit more immature?... She was more cheerful and determined when we first became rangers. It's kinda sad." Mia's arguments made Kevin think.

"You're right." Kevin acknowledged it. This was another reminder that maybe he still lacked empathy.

~~~

"Antonio?" Jayden was all alone in the garden while the sky was pitch black, but somehow Antonio seemed to pinpoint his location.

"Oof." Antonio lowered himself to sit next to Jayden, crossing his legs. "Why aren't we sleeping?"

"I dunno." Jayden replied, looking at the starless sky. They sat in silence for a moment. "I'm a little worried."

"About the wedding?" Antonio asked.

"Lauren told me that one nighlok knows that she's the black ranger. What if this wedding thing is a trap to bring her out?"

"Well, I've seen that nighlok when I helped Lauren out of the other world." Antonio recalled. "I think you're overthinking it."

"Hmm, maybe." Jayden rubbed his temples with his fingers, trying to ease some of the tension he felt. 

"It doesn't help to stress out so much." Antonio punched him. "That's all you ever do."

"Ouch.." Jayden rubbed his forearm and returned to silence.

"You know, I'm worried too. I've tried what I could with the black box, but I can't hack it open. And everyone was counting on me..." Antonio picked at the grass.

"We'll just have to try other methods." Jayden patted Antonio's shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

"I know we'll need it to beat Master Xandred. So we have to unlock it soon." Antonio felt guilty for his inability. "But let's go back inside for now. It's late."

"I'll be in after a bit." Jayden shooed Antonio. 

"Might as well camp out here!" Antonio called out as he was making his way back into the house.