Power Rangers: Ottoman Force (Book Two)

19: Rude Awakening

Adrian

Upon waking up, I was sore and pretty banged up. I was ok, but the more I remembered what happened after the fight, the angrier and more intensely sad I became. I realized that my little mind erasing spell had malfunctioned, and now I was back to remembering everything I was desperate to forget. I knew this was probably the cruelest thing to come from me, but I wanted to forget that I once had a brother. Troy was technically gone, resurrected and alive and kicking all over again, but he was gone. Chances were we no longer even carried the same blood or DNA, because biologically speaking, he had died.

Sitting on my bed and thinking about all the changes that have taken place in the last couple of years, I knew I had to figure out a way to defeat this evil and hope that one day I could walk away from this cursed life I was forced to live. I realized now that life – at least mines – was an endless array of sorrows and suffering. Perhaps as rangers we were all blessed, but as humans we were cursed. We were cursed to potentially losing those we loved and held dear, and the possibility of possibly never having a normal family life, or a complete family.

As hard as it would be, I knew I had to move on. I just hoped that Troy would just disappear and let me be.

To my utter dismay, he walked in. He looked normal, and didn't look any different than before, but he was no longer the same. Sadly, even his death did not manage to sever the bond that linked us, which was part of what was destroying me, because his very soul was intertwined with mines.

"What are you doing here?"

"So you remember me?" he looked iffy.

"Sadly, yes, I do. So what are you doing back here? Don't you have a new life to get back to?"

"I came back because of this threat we are all facing."

"What do you mean we? There is no 'we' here. There is just them and me. You did the one thing that I begged you not to do. I did not want to still be alive and grieving. But here it is, I'm here and you forced me to live this life."

"What was I supposed to do? I couldn't just let you die."

"It would have been better if you did."

"Have you thought about how guilty I would have felt if I had not saved you when I could have? I would be where you're at now, only worse, for not doing anything to save you" his eyes became red, filled with tears.

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right about that. He would have been the one in the position I was in, but worse, yet it still did not make it any easier for me. I still did not want to be where I was at.

"Maybe you're right. It was the reason why I casted that spell on myself. I wanted to forget, but it did not work, sadly."

"Actually, it did work. Even after you got knocked out and you briefly remembered, you woke up and you still didn't remember anything."

"Then how is it that I remember you all of a sudden?"

"I asked Freyja to give me a potion that would neutralize the effects of the potion that you took."

I was starting to boil in anger, until I remembered I could do it all over again, and this time make it stick. "Fine, I'll just whip up another potion and make it permanent."

"Actually, the potion she gave me not only neutralized the effects of the potion you made, it also made you immune to any mind erasing potions or techniques. Just a little insurance to be sure you don't try and so something stupid, again."

Ok, that totally pissed me off. I could not help myself, I slapped him hard with my right hand, and then slapped him even harder with my left hand on the other cheek. He looked at me with shock, unable to believe what I had just done.