Sanders Sides (power rangers au)

Chapter 35.

Virgil had only just gotten the text from Patton when a call came from Roman.

“Hello?”

There was a lot of wind coming from Roman’s end, but Virgil could still make out what the twin was saying. “Virgil, hey. Are you all still meeting at school?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Can we talk before?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. Can you meet me out behind the bleachers?”

“Sure.” Virgil said before the call dropped. Virgil looked at his phone again, before shaking off his thoughts and walking over to his mother’s office to poke his head in. “Mom?”

“Yes, Virgil?”

“I finished my homework.” He had not. “I’m gonna head to the library for a bit.”

“Okay. I’ll call you when it’s time to go.”

“Thanks mom.” Virgil said as he closed the door back and then darted outside and to the football field. He ran across it and back around the bleachers, where Roman was already waiting.

“Hey, I wouldn’t really come super close right now.” Roman said, looking a bit too bright for the time of day that it was.

“Hard to talk from the distance.” Virgil said, gesturing at the space between them. “Everything okay?”

“No.” Roman said. He was in a very nice looking suit, and he’d done up his hair to look more professional. There was cakey looking makeup on his cheek, where he'd tried to hide his bruise. Now the angry blacks and purples were showing through, although they weren’t as bad as they had been this morning. Virgil didn’t really like the way he looked then. Roman sat down on the ground, and Virgil watched as he seemed to dim.

“You sure I can’t come sit down?” He asked, as he snuck a few steps closer.

“Yeah, it’s fine now.” Roman said. “At least, I think.”

Virgil came over, sitting down on the loose gravel next to Roman. “So it didn’t go well I take it.”

“I told my mom.”

“Oh. I thought you weren’t gonna today.” Virgil said, before Roman turned to him. He had tears spilling over, and Virgil watched as they slowly turned to steam before they could reach his chin. Suddenly the distance made sense. Roman wiped his face, before telling Virgil about the day’s events. The Rose bitch, his mother telling him about his father, and Roman’s fall out with Remus earlier where he’d burnt a section of the grass. He even told Virgil how Roman had gotten here so fast, by using the excess heat to force him upwards.

There was a moment of pause as Virgil tried to understand before he asked, “Has your mom tried to call you yet?”

“No.”

“Well, maybe that’s not the worst thing.” Virgil said, standing up and extending his hand out to Roman as well. “Do you wanna go blow off some steam with the others? Or would you rather just you and I hang out by ourselves for a bit?”

“Blowing off steam sounds like the perfect medicine. That or screaming.”

“Well that can be arranged. Maybe not the screaming part.” Virgil smiled, and Roman grabbed his hand. He pulled Roman up, and they stood too close for just a second too long, feeling each other’s chests bump against each other with every inhale. They backed up quickly, both a bit flushed, before they walked into the school and up to where Patton had told Virgil to meet. He texted his more bubbly friend that he and Roman were waiting at the entrance to the library, and waited a couple minutes before an unkempt looking Patton waved them over.

“What happened to you?” Roman asked.

Patton looked down at himself before grinning “Long story. Why are you so dressed up, kiddo?”

“Long story.”

“So where are we going? I don’t think destroying a library will keep any of us out of detention.”

Patton giggled at Virgil’s joke. “No, come on, it’s so cool.” He grabbed Virgil’s hand and pulled him further to the back of the library. In a panic, Virgil grabbed Roman’s hand as well.

They were pulled to the very back corner, where Patton quickly texted Remus in the group chat that he was ‘ready with the others’. Then Virgil watched as a green spiraling portal grew into view, and Remus poked his head out.

“Roman?” He looked at his twin quizzically.

“Long story.”

Remus gave him a weird look, but didn’t push, instead waving all three of them to come in behind him. Patton grabbed ahold of Virgil’s hand again and pulled him through along with Roman. It felt like going through a jello-like water that made Virgil’s mind lose balance and sense of direction as he fell through and on top of Patton.

“Sorry!” Virgil jumped up to get off of Patton, only to be knocked back down by Roman stumbling through. They landed back in a pile on the floor.

“Sorry.” Roman groaned, moving off Virgil and offering him a hand up. Virgil accepted, and stood. Then turned to face their new environment.

Patton calling it ‘cool’ was an understatement. The place was as big as two gymnasiums sat side by side, but there was no echo. There were walls, but they looked like they were made of fabric, and they shifted like they were in the wind, and stretched upwards easily 40 or 50 meters. There was a small room set up on the far side from Virgil and the others. He could only see the beginnings of a door, but it was closed. The floor wasn’t a gym floor, but was hardwood nonetheless. There were different items lining the spaces around the main floor. A set of six chairs set up on one side. Along with a massive monitor of the whole city and nearby small towns with a color coded map of different dangers sitting to the left.

In the middle was an open space where Virgil could see Janus playing around with little bolts of lightning that came from his fingers. Logan was sitting in one of the aforementioned chairs, taking notes and making suggestions for Janus to try. Remus and Patton were watching Virgil and Roman’s wide eyes with excitement.

“So.” Remus said, opening his hands to the space behind him. “Whatcha think?