Sanders Sides (power rangers au)

Chapter 26.

Roman had been asleep, his phone having been taken by his mother after their fight earlier. His dreams were filled with that place again. In his dreams, Roman ran through the halls, passing poster by stupid poster, looking for the others. He was back in his suit again, holding his sword in his hand as he turned corners with the grace of a baby giraffe. Every so often he would slip on the carpet, landing in a heap on the floor before scrambling to get back up. Roman didn't call out for the others, but he really wasn't sure why. Instead, he continued to run silently down endless corridors while feeling the tight grip of panic in his chest.

Eventually, Roman turned and saw a set of ornate double doors ahead of him. He slowed from a run to a walk, easing forwards as he gripped his sword tighter. Roman slowly crept forwards, his hand reaching up to push open the door. Suddenly, the door opened, and Roman pulled his sword up to his chest to prepare himself as he saw the beginnings of a spider leg tap into view. Roman held his breath, and watched as the creature moved its legs outside the door. This one looked different. Roman remembered Janus describing the one he'd seen from the caves. It used one of its four upper spider arms to hold the door open as a woman walked out. She looked exactly like the statue from the caves and the computer, although she walked with a bigger struggle than Roman would have imagined, and she leaned more on her staff to walk with. Roman held his sword close, convinced that they would see him at any moment, but instead, they seemed to look straight through him. The woman more focused on berating her monster henchmen to pay much attention to him anyways. They walked down the hall, Roman following behind closely.

"I was under the impression that you and your brother were indestructible. However a single arrow was all it took?" The woman reprimanded.

The monster shriveled away from her slightly. "No, mistress. My brother always had a soft spot on his back. The pink ranger must have just-"

"Don't you go around throwing the name 'Ranger'. They are children. They are supposed to be under control."

"But mistress, that was-"

"I am the Dragon Witch." The woman's voice boomed, and shook Roman's bones and teeth. "I know whose responsibility it was to do what. These are children. They should not be an issue." She cleared her voice, and paused her walk. "I will have a word with the human representative. However, I cannot risk losing you as well. Tell the creation chamber to begin preparations for the monsters."

"Yes mistress."

The monster began to walk away, before the woman- Dragon Witch- spoke again. "Wait."

Roman held his breath as the woman turned around, and looked straight at him. "We have a sleeping visitor. Hello Red."

Roman quickly moved his sword to be in front of him, but the witch just thrust a hand in front of her, and Roman was blasted backwards. She walked over to him, before leaning down to look at his face. "It's rude to eavesdrop, you know." She lifted her free hand up, and touched Roman's collarbone with a gentleness that only made his heart beat faster, before she pushed down on him. A searing pain spread from her push on his shoulder. It shouldn't have hurt, but it made Roman see red.

Then he shot up from his bed with a scream, breathing heavily. Roman quickly pulled the covers off of him, and noticed he had sweat through his shirt. He quickly pulled off his top, noticing how tender his shoulder was, before he went to his mirror in a hurry. On the top of his collarbone was a small symbol burned into his skin. It had the shape of a "J", but with a line cut diagonally through it, and another small set of parallel lines through the diagonal. It was tender to the touch, and there was an angry red of skin surrounding it.

Roman quickly tossed on a new shirt, and quietly opened his door and went across the hall of their home to his brother's room, before barging in. "Remus, I- Remus?" Roman spoke, seeing his brother's bed empty and no sign that he was there. Roman froze, thinking for a moment, before checking Remus's window, but it was still locked. Frustrated at his brother, Roman walked back to his room and changed into clothes that he could bare to be seen in. Then he sucked in a breath, and began to sneak his way downstairs. The stairs creaked gently under his weight, but Roman had lived in this house his whole life, and had been running after Remus for most of it. Roman knew where to step.

Quickly getting down the stairs and over to their kitchen, Roman saw his phone on the kitchen island. He snagged it, before texting his mom that he was "going to head to school early and prep for an upcoming exam and study business strategies like he'd promised last night. Last night. Roman tried to shake the thoughts from their argument from his head, trying to stay focused on finding his brother. However, as he walked out of their house and waited for his phone to turn on, the events played clear as a bell.

Roman hadn't wanted to lie to his mom, but he knew she was easier on him than Remus, so Roman had pretended that he had made a prank on the new principal and that his brother was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wasn't sure that their mom believed him, but Roman could really only hope. She had said some pretty hurtful things, including that "he would never get anywhere in life on that goddamn stage", and that she had "wished she could get through his thick skull that it was his duty to prepare the company for his future." Roman wanted to make his mom and brother happy and proud. That was why he had even said that he wanted to take over in the first place. Remus could spend his life with whoever he wanted. He could be an author, an artist, whatever he wanted. All Roman had to do was be the good little son in the meantime. It still hurt. His mother had been trying to set him up with someone who she thought would be good for the company, but Roman didn't know why he couldn't connect with any of the girls.

Roman's phone finally turned on, and he was grateful for the distraction. He had a couple of missed calls from Remus, and a load of new texts from the group chat. He opened his missed calls first, and heard Remus's panicked voice on the other end. Then he opened the texts and saw the messages from the group. He quickly called his brother.

"Roman?"

Roman breathed a sigh of relief. "Remus! You're okay! Where are you? I just got your call?"

"Roman, can you make it to the park?"

"Like, with the others? Not for a while."

Remus paused for a moment. "Okay." Then there was silence.

"Remus? Remus?" Roman called, before his brother popped into existence right in front of him, grabbed Roman by the arm, and then suddenly they were in the park. Roman staring at the others. "What the fuck?"