Once a ranger always a ranger

Chapter 71 the vision continues

A few days later Jason and John ran into Decker and they were knocked out cold. Before Decker could hit them with an attack that would kill them Kaitlyn showed up and saved them. "You can get a fresh start. Listen, I know Serrator cursed you, but you can fight this." Kaitlyn said. "I tried to fight! I can't!" Decker said. They continued to fight. "Your story doesn't have to end like this." Kaitlyn said. "My story ended the moment Serrator had cursed me with a nighlok side!" Decker said. "What about Dayu? She was cured too, but got turned into one anyway. She saved you from the fire. But couldn't save you from Serrator!" Kaitlyn said. Decker knocked her down. "Kira, call Ariel! I could use some of her skills right about now!" Kaitlyn said. Before Decker could kill them Kaitlyn threw her sword which landed right through his heart. That's when Jason and John came to. Kira walked up to Kaitlyn. "I can't believe I just did that." Kaitlyn said. "You did what you had to do." Kira said. When they got back to the college I was talking to them. "Decker is back? I never saw that coming." I said. "Maybe, but he was there." Kaitlyn said. "You didn't have a choice." John said. "You're right." Kaitlyn said. "I bet Decker wanted you guys to start to doubt yourselves. That's what he wanted to do." I said. "You know, we all have secrets that we don't want others to know about." John said. That's when I got the vision again. "Ariel. Are you okay?" Kaitlyn asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said. The truth is, I'm actually not fine. But I can't let them know that. The next day I went to go see Ryan again. "Ryan. I'm sorry if I was out of line a few days ago. I think you're right. I think I probably should tell my family about the visions or whatever they are." I said. "I'm glad to hear that." Ryan said. "But I can't. At least not yet." I said. "Does it have anything to do with the nighloks rising again?" Ryan asked. "You heard?" I asked. "Yeah. With Decker's return it could mean that the nighloks are rising again." Ryan said. "He already tried to make everyone else doubt themselves. I'm worried about... who might be in the hood. In my vision, I'm worried about who might kill me." I said. "Who's gonna kill you?" Ryan asked. "The lord of the nighloks... Master Xandred." I said. The next morning I went to go talk to Virginia before class because it looked like something was bothering her. While I was doing that Lilly was talking to John. "So, you and Ariel. Any chance of a fairy-tale ending?" Lilly asked. "We're taking things slow." John said. "I have a good feeling about you and Ariel. Anyone can get a happy ending. They just have to believe that they can get a happy ending." Lilly said. The next day I went to go see Ryan again. "Hey Ariel, you want to sit down?" Ryan asked. "No." I said. "Last time you were here, you were worried about Master Xandred." Ryan said. "I don't want to talk about Master Xandred." I said. "But you want to talk about something. That's progress." Ryan said. "You know that I'm not a jealous person. But seeing Lilly today talking to her new boyfriend..." I said. "Made you jealous.

Because you're not happy?" Ryan asked. "No. Because I am happy, and I know it's going away! That vision of my future, my number is up. And everytime I think about it, then that thing happens, and... my mind's somewhere else." I said. "The mind has a profound effect on the body. Whenever I get nervous, I get really quiet." Ryan said. "I've been like that my whole life." I said before lying down on the couch. "Ariel. Is that a reason to stop striving for what you want? Any day I could walk out that door and I could get hit by a car, but that hasn't stopped me from walking out the door." Ryan said. "This is not about a car. It's very hard to keep this secret from my family. Like John and me, we should be living together. He wants to, I want to. John is waiting for me to ask him." I said. "So why don't you?" Ryan asked. "Because he wants a future and I can't give that to him. I feel like a villain instead of a hero. I fought for everybody else's happy endings, and then... I don't get mine." I said. "Ariel, maybe it's not about how you end things. Maybe it's about how you live them." Ryan said. Later that day we were looking for Virginia because she was going to do something bad, we just don't know what. We finally found her. "Virginia! What are you doing?" I asked. "Go away!" Virginia said pointing a gun at us. "We're your friends. Why are you threatening us?" I asked. "Look, I don't want to hurt you. There's just something I need to do just as soon as I figure out where my sister's hidden herself." Virginia said as she cocked the gun and pointed it at us again. "We can not let you hurt her." I said. "Hurt her? No, you've got it all wrong. I'm not trying to hurt Alue. I'm trying to help her." Virginia said. "Why?" John asked. "You did something bad. We've done a lot of bad things. A long time ago I told you if people saw you a certain way, you had to punch back and show them who you are. If you see yourself a certain way, punch back and see yourself differently. You can change. You can fix this. Whatever it is, I will help you." I said. "No, but that's the thing. You just said it. I have to throw the punch. That's why I came out here alone. You can't do it for me this time. Do you know how it feels when all of your happiness is a lie?" Virginia asked. "Yeah, I do." I said. My hand started to shake again. Virginia started to run away. "Ariel, stop her!" John said. "I can't. She has made her decision." I said. "It's okay." John said as he gave me a hug. "It's still happening. I thought Ryan was helping you." John said after he let go of me. "I thought so too." I said. Later that day John and I were hanging out in the dorm lounge. "Move in with me." I said. "What?" John asked. "Move in with me. I know everything in life is uncertain, but sometimes you have to walk out the door and hope there's not a car. I have a closet full of ranger colors. The only color I don't have is green. I could make some space for some green clothes." I said. "When you put it like that, I would love to move in with you." John said. Then we kissed each other. A few days later I went home for term break. In the morning my dad made me banana nut pancakes and bacon. My favorite thing for breakfast on the weekends. "Here you go." Michael said. "More pancakes. Usually, I'm lucky to get a lukewarm cup of coffee on your way to work." I said as a joke. "Can't a father cook for his daughter?" Michael asked as he started to clean up. "Sure. But I'm a power ranger, not a Romanian power lifter." I said. "Enjoy the breakfast." Michael said. "This is about John." I said. "No." Michael said. "Michael." Anna said. "Fine. It's about John." Michael said as he turned to face me. "With him moving in, things are gonna be different. We're not gonna see you as much." Michael said. "Just like now, since I'm in college. John being here is not gonna change anything. You can come cook me breakfast whenever you want. These leftovers, however, will probably last the next month or so." I said. "This is good. And things are getting back to normal." Anna said. Later that day my dad and I went out shopping.