Disclaimer: The concepts and characters from Power Rangers (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers Turbo) belong to Saban, who probably has no idea I’m borrowing them. The concept of the Tomorrow People belongs to Roger Damon Price, along with Nickelodeon, Thames Television, Tetra Films, and so on.
Notes: “The Song My Father Sang” is part of the “Opposites Attract” universe of stories. It is a second-generation story, in this case a second generation of Rangers, and it is set around 2024. It does deal with issues related to the Tomorrow People, but, like “But Keep The Old”, is set more in the Rangers’ end of things.
Many, many thanks to Mandi Ohlin for betareading, Michele Mason for betareading and for making me think about Rocky’s offspring it the first place, and Julia H. for her own inspiring second generation Rangers, Gavin, Nisha, Olivia, Corry, Raph, and Jared. I hope I’ve done half as good a job with mine, Julia. :)
Note to PR fans: This story shares a couple of things with Ellen Brand’s “Family Ties”. However, I did not read that story until after I started posting this one, so any similarities are purely coincidental.
“A La Puerta Del Cielo” (At The Gates of Heaven) is a traditional song from Spain. The translation used in this story is by Eleanor Chroman, although I took the liberty of adding a word and changing a bit of punctuation.
The Song My Father Sang
by EstiRose
“Hey, wanna join me for a game of baseball?” Teresa asked the young man walking beside her.
He wrinkled his nose. “No, thanks. Baseball isn’t really my thing.”
“Hmmfh. You’re the one who’s the son of a major-league pitcher. I would’ve thought that you would grow up loving baseball.”
“Yeah, well you grew up with a teleporting Dad. That doesn’t mean you’re into teleporting.”
“Teleporting is different. Not everyone can…” Teresa trailed off as the device on her wrist beeped. Her friend looked at her.
“Forrest here,” the young man said.
“Forrest, Teresa, you’ve gotta get to the Power Room immediately! Regina’s launched her latest monster on Angel Grove.”
“We’re on it,” Forrest said. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Teresa replied.
They disappeared in flashes of Blue and Yellow light.
“What is going on?” Forrest asked as he and Teresa materialized. The rest of the team were at various consoles. He stepped out of the way as Ian nearly crashed into him.
Lucas answered, a grim expression on his face. “Regina’s got a nasty one this time. The Pillorator.”
“It’s chaining up citizens everywhere,” Cecelia reported.
“We’ve got to stop it before anything worse happens,” Lucas responded. “It’s Morphing Time!”
Lucas shot another ray at the monster while the others cleared out the chained-up citizenry littering the park. It wouldn’t do them much good if they destroyed the local citizens while dealing with the monster.
A shot from the side indicated that Teresa had finished clearing her portion of the park and had joined him. A quick glance indicated that her bow was at the ready. He didn’t worry much about her aim. She could outshoot any of them, even him. That’s why she’d switched weapons with Cecelia.
The rest of the group joined in, and the monster was nearly defeated. Until, of course, Regina had him enlarged.
“They’re getting tougher,” Lucas said as he downed his chocolate-cappuchino shake. “We’ve got to be prepared better next time. The Pillorator did a lot of damage to the MegaZord.”
“Face it,” Cecelia replied, sipping her own shake, “We don’t really have the training. Even with what the suits give us, we still are barely managing. Except for maybe Teresa.”
“It’s not exactly a walk in the clouds, even for me,” Teresa replied. “Besides, that’s why we’re all learning martial arts, Cece.”
“Hey, you’re Ms. Perfect Athlete. Why should you have any problems?” Cecelia asked.
Lucas caught the bitter tone in her voice, and moved to stop the impending argument.
Teresa beat him to it. “I’m not perfect, Cece. You should know me better than that.”
“You try to be,” Cecelia insisted.
“Cece,” Lucas said, “It’s Teresa’s choice to do what she does. If she’s got an interest in sports, than that’s her right.”
Cecelia looked unmollified, but dropped the conversation, and just frowned at Teresa. At that point, one of their classmates stopped at their table. “Heyay, Terri, aren’t you supposed to be at archery practice?”
Teresa withdrew her organizer from her bag, activated it, and thumbed through it. Lucas saw her eyes widen. “Yeah, thanks Jed. All, I need to go.”
“You’re welcome,” Jed said, and hurried off.
“One of those days when you wish you could?” Forrest inquired, a mischievous smile on his face.
Teresa paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. “Nah. Tempting, but not worth the price.”
She walked away at a fast pace. The rest of the team watched her go, and then Forrest spoke. “She’s really not trying to beat all of us out. She really is just interested in athletics.”
Cecelia shrugged. “I know. It’s just that I feel so clumsy next to her. She may not be trying for that, but sometimes it seems like it.”
“She told Dad once that she got into all her sports because they let her be alone,” Ian said.
“How do you get to be alone when you’re part of a team?” Cecelia asked.
“I don’t know,” Ian replied. “She didn’t elaborate.”
“Maybe you should talk to her, Cece,” Lucas said. “You won’t get to know her unless you do.”
“Believe me, there’s a lot going on with her than what’s obvious,” Forrest added. “You know the old saying, ‘you can’t understand someone unless you’ve walked a mile in their shoes’? Well, that applies here.”
“You all think that I’m being an idiot in all this, don’t you?” Cecelia asked.
Lucas put his hand on her shoulder. It probably wouldn’t make much difference, but maybe it would make Cecelia hear him. “We’re just saying that you shouldn’t judge her until you understand why she does what she does.”
Cecelia tilted her head, as if thinking. “Well, since you guys won’t let me up until I do so, I guess I’ll have to.”
Ian spoke up. “We’re not forcing you to do anything, Cecelia. It’s just, well, that Teresa has her own reasons for doing what she does.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to her,” Cecelia replied.
Teresa frowned as she saw Cecelia approaching. The other girl had never done so before, and had shown no inclinations of doing so even after they became Rangers. Oh, they got along, but only superficially. Cecelia might trust her to watch her back in combat, but they weren’t friends, by a longshot.
Which meant, of course, that Lucas was probably behind Cecelia’s presence. Certainly he wasn’t beyond lecturing her about such things. She didn’t mind Cecelia coming to her, but she would have preferred that the girl come on her own, without prompting by Lucas.
“Hi,” Cecelia said. Her greeting and posture were awkward. Teresa knew for certain that this wasn’t her own idea. She made a mental note to talk about it to Lucas later. If he didn’t go and make her feel guilty.
She smiled and tried to put her teammate at ease. “Hi. Let me guess, you got a lecture from Lucas about being patient and trying to understand me?”
Cecelia blinked. “How could you tell?” she asked.
“I’ve seen the expression before. It’s what happens when Lucas browbeats someone into discussion. Don’t worry. He does that to everyone.”
“It wasn’t just Lucas. It was Forrest and Ian as well.”
Lucas must have been particularly impressive, or Ian and Forrest had both been feeling gallant. “I suppose we better do something about that.”
“Yeah, could you please tell me about yourself or whatever so that I don’t have to hear about it again?”
Teresa laughed. “I’ll tell you all about myself. And then I’ll have a word with the guys.”
Cecelia’s expression lightened and she stopped looking so awkward. “Great! So, what do you say, I buy you a drink and you explain some stuff to me? It would be great to have a scoop on the guys.”
Teresa broke out in a grin. “You got it.”
As they turned to leave, they were attacked.
“You think those two will really talk?” Ian asked. “I mean, Cecelia’s stubborn, Teresa’s stubborn. They’re probably just standing there glaring at each other.”
“Teresa knows enough to talk,” Forrest replied, smiling a little. “She knows that we’ll just inflict her with Lucas until she does.”
Their communicators beeped. “Uh, oh,” Ian said quietly. The three moved off to a deserted hallway. Lucas activated his communicator.
“This is Lucas.”
“Yo, Lucas, Cecelia and Teresa are being attacked.”
“Right,” Lucas said. He wondered if he should have really pushed Cecelia into talking to Teresa. Then he realized it didn’t matter. They were two convenient targets. The bad guys probably would have attacked if it had been him there with Teresa. “It’s Morphing Time!”
The two girls had found themselves with an unexpected foe. Oh, Teresa reflected, Regina’s henchmen, moulded on the putties of old, weren’t so bad, but the silver things with the shutter-type things on their chest weren’t as easy to beat.
“Finally,” Cecelia muttered as the guys teleported in. Teresa was happy for the help too. Until they got the handle on the shutter-things, they needed to be together.
The guys looked mildly startled when they confronted their opponents, but soon leaped into the fray.
“What were those things?” Lucas asked after the five arrived in the Command Center. Ian had moved over to one of the computer panels, no doubt in order to study the battle.
“I don’t know,” Cecelia said. “At least you missed the part with the gas.”
“Gas?” Lucas asked. “What gas?”
“Those things tried to gas us - I caught a whiff, and it made me kinda dizzy. That’s when we morphed,” Teresa said. “Whatever those things are, they wanted us alive.”
“Rangers, would there be some reason why they attacked Teresa and Cecelia with the gas and not the rest of you?”
Ian looked up. “I can think of two things right away,” he said. “One, they abandoned the gas when they saw it wasn’t affecting them, or two, they were intending to kidnap Cece and Teresa, but we got in the way.”
“In case that’s what’s going on, we’d better not leave them alone,” Lucas said, already planning out the assignments. He heard someone clearing their throat.
It was Teresa. “We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much.”
Lucas sighed inwardly. Teresa could be so stubborn about such things. He hadn’t meant to imply that they couldn’t take care of themselves, he was just worried about them. “I know you can. But maybe having other people will scare them off until we find out who we are facing,” he said. “And we can’t afford to have our team down one or two members if Regina attacks again. It’s not impugning your fighting ability. I just want to be careful. Please?”
He threw his best pleading look at Teresa, knowing she’d give in. Sometimes practicality and puppy dog eyes were a very effective combination.
Her shoulders sagged, and he knew he’d won. “Okay,” she said. “But only for a few days.”
“I don’t think it’ll be more than that,” Lucas replied. “There are three of us and two of you. We can swap.”
“Besides,” Forrest added, “It’s not like it’ll be to onerous or weird. We do hang around a lot together.”
“Then it’s settled,” Cecelia said. “Teresa, you want to discuss what we were going to discuss later?”
Lucas thought they were referring to the talk that he had sent Cecelia and Teresa to have together, until he caught Teresa’s giggle. “You bet,” she said.
He had no idea what they met. He caught Forrest’s eye. The other boy shrugged.
Teresa outpaced Forrest on their walk to school. She normally didn’t do that unless she forgot and speeded up her stride, but she was feeling vindictive. Forrest had acted a bit too overprotective last night for her own taste.
“Teresa, wait up!” Forrest yelled to her. By that time, he was a good meter and a half behind her. She stopped, figuring that she might as well. Forrest was her friend. She turned around to wait for him. Suddenly, a set of figures popped up out of the blue. Regina’s forces and the unknown shutter things. Teresa tensed, automatically going into a fighting position. She could see Forrest do the same.
Regina’s forces swarmed around them. There were at least ten of her normal soldiers, with two of the shutter things. Teresa didn’t stop to count. She just fought. Finally, however, two of the soldiers grabbed her arms, allowing the shutter-thing to gas her.
Teresa woke up with a splitting headache and an aching body. She felt like a ton of lead bricks had been dumped on her body. She opened her eyes to find herself in a metal room. A groan came from the right, and Teresa concentrated on turning her head to find out what was going on.
It was Cecelia, not looking much better than she felt. Cecelia’s blond hair obscured her face, but she could tell that Cecelia didn’t feel well. Must have been the effects of the gas. Really nasty stuff.
She pushed herself up and propped herself against a nearby wall. “Cecelia?” she asked.
Cecelia groaned. “What hit me?”
“I imagine the same thing that happened to me,” Teresa said dryly. “Those things with the gas jets.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember,” Cecelia said. “They had to get me in the Bathroom. Lucas couldn’t get in because I had locked the door, which is what I always do. At least I was dressed!”
Lucas, Teresa thought, was going to not be very happy. “I think they may have gassed Forrest. But I think that this was after they’d gotten me.”
“So, what’re we gonna do?” Cecelia asked. Teresa gazed around the room. She couldn’t see any exits, and besides, she doubted she could move very far.
“How about having that talk Lucas wanted us to have?” she suggested. Probably dumb, but it would keep their minds occupied. Yeah, it would give information to their unknown enemy, but Teresa didn’t think that really sensitive topics would come up.
Two of the shutter-things materialized in the room. “You will come with us,” one of them said flatly, reaching over to handle Cecelia. Its companion had its arms around Teresa’s shoulders and was lifting her up. She attempted to resist, but was still too weak.
Lucas banged his fist into the console and looked up just in time to see Ian wince. “Sorry Ian,” he said. “I just can’t believe this happened!”
“It’s not your fault,” Ian said, but Lucas noticed that he was staying out of arms’ reach. That hurt Lucas. He took a deep breath.
“I was on the other side of the door! I should have been able to save her. I was lucky that Mr. and Mrs. Oliver didn’t find out she’d been kidnapped.”
“It’s not like they would have fainted, Lucas,” Ian said. “Use your mind. Cecelia’s parents are former Rangers. They’ve handled much, much worse than this.”
Lucas turned and saw Forrest sit up on the diagnostic bed. He rushed over to his teammate’s side, Ian following behind. “Forrest? You all right?”
“I will be,” the Blue Ranger said. “Did you get the liscence plate of that snowmobile?”
“You got gassed, Forrest. They gassed you and Teresa, and kidnapped her. Then they got Cece and gassed her,” Ian replied.
“I hope for their sakes that they didn’t gas Teresa heavily when they got her,” Forrest said.
“Why?” Lucas asked. He could swear that Forrest was starting to smile.
“Because she’s going to hecka ticked when she wakes up,” Forrest replied.
Teresa and Cecelia were dropped to the floor in a rather posh hall. Cecelia blinked, hoping to wake up. She was hoping that everything was a dream, and knew it wasn’t.
A man sat down in the chair in the middle of the room, in front of the rug where she and Teresa had been dropped. She couldn’t describe him as handsome, but he wasn’t ugly. He was dressed in a rather ostentatious uniform, of the type that the meglomaniacs in cartoon shows seemed to prefer. He was trying to look kindly but failing. His features were too demonic. “I am Malgrath, lord of seven galaxies. I am looking for a wife, and have chosen you two for your fighting skills. In order to choose between the two of you, you will fight each other. The winner will become my wife, the loser, my servant.”
“And what if we don’t want to join your household?” Teresa said, with a touch of annoyance.
Malgrath shrugged. “You don’t have a choice. You are but women, and Regina assured me that she’d take care of any that would otherwise have a say in the matter.”
“You’d be surprised,” Teresa said, sounding unusually calm. Cecelia didn’t know if Teresa’s sudden change of attitude was good or bad.
Malgrath waved a hand. “I understand your loyalty to your own. Still, I will soon prove that I am the greater man,” he said. He clapped his hands together, and then two humanoid servants appeared with goblets. He accepted one, and waved the two over. “Shall we toast, then? To a new relationship, hopefully rewarding to all.”
Cecelia looked at her drink and took a careful sip. The taste was slightly cinnamon-like, kind of spiced apple cider, but only with a little apple in it. Teresa was just staring at it distrustfully. Malgrath seemed amused. “You might want to drink that, if you plan to regain your strength.”
Teresa glared at him, but took a long drink. He chuckled. Cecelia continued to sip.
Malgrath said, “That’s it. I like your attitude. You’ll need it in the arena. Guards! Take them to the arena preperation room.”
Cecelia and Teresa were taken away.
As the three male members of the Rangers continued to look for how to rescue Teresa and Cecelia, the alarms started up. The three groaned. “At least she’s predictable,” Forrest said.
“Right. Alpha?” Lucas asked.
“Yo, yo, yo, look at the viewer,” Alpha replied.
“Looks like somebody left their garbage out a bit long,” Ian said, wrinkling his nose. He stared at the image on the screen. Regina had probably just chosen a monster at random to go after the depleted team, but that random monster just happened to look like a pile of rotting garbage. He doubted it smelled much better. At least it looked like it wasn’t going to hurt to be missing their best shooter. Anybody could probably hit the thing. He looked over at Lucas.
Lucas had straightened up, an angry expression on his face. “As Forrest said, they’re hoping to take advantage of the fact that we’re missing Teresa and Cecelia. Let’s show them wrong. It’s Morphing Time!”
“Teresa?” Cecelia asked. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” Teresa said. “Either we’re regaining our strength on our own, or that was really an antidote to the gas.”
“I’m guessing the antidote,” Cecelia said.
Teresa smiled. “You’re better at chemistry than I am, so I’ll trust you on that one.”
“I guess,” Cecelia said. “How are we going to get out of here?”
Teresa shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t have a plan?” Cecelia asked, somewhat sharply.
Teresa sighed. She was getting a bit tired of Cecelia’s not understanding. “I’m not super-athlete or superbeing, you know. It takes time to think of things.”
“Sometimes it seems like you are,” Cecelia replied.
“I’m not. Did I tell you why I got into sports?” Teresa asked. It was probably an odd time to have Lucas’ “talk”, but it was a better time than any of the late. It would keep Cecelia’s mind off of the upcoming fight, and help her understand why things were like they were.
“No,” Cecelia said. Her eyes were full of questions.
“Well, it’s a long story. Do you know about my Dad?”
“Um, that he was a Ranger once and can teleport without any help, and that’s about it. Oh, and he served with both mom and dad.”
Teresa smiled. “Well, he can do a little bit more than teleport. That same gift makes him telepathic. He’s spent my whole lifetime plus in a community of telepaths.”
“So?” Cecelia asked.
“Well, to put it mildly, that’s quite a different culture to grow up in. I’ve been growing up here in Angel Grove, and also there, with them. With all of us children of Rangers, everyone tends to see me as the daughter of a Ranger. There, I’m my father’s daughter - a member of the community and potential telepath. Nobody really sees me as both. This got really bad when I first hit adolescence. That’s when I got involved in sports - I found out that I was good at them, plus they were a way to get away from everyone. I practice a lot because it both gives me a chance to be alone, and to be with people who don’t know a thing about my background or heritage, which is very refreshing. The people on the baseball team know I’m a good outfielder and hitter, and my friends on the archery team admire me for my skill. They don’t get up and personal with me, and I like it that way.”
Cecelia had her mouth slightly open. She shut it, and appeared to think. “But you’re still a good athlete!”
Teresa thought she could see the problem. “I practice because, as I said, it gives me time to be alone. It’s not because I’m trying to show people up, it’s because I like to. People don’t question it. I’m me. Everyone is happy.”
Cecelia sat there quietly. “I guess that’s what Lucas and the rest were trying to tell me, huh?”
“I think so,” Teresa said. At least they had that problem solved. Now, if she could only get Cecelia’s problems out of the way, which would save her from one of Lucas’ lectures. “Even they don’t understand, though. They think they do, but they don’t. Now how about you?”
“Huh?” Cecelia asked.
“You’re not the only one that Lucas thinks has problems getting along. So, how about you? What’s causing you problems?”
“With what?” Cecelia stretched her legs out.
“Whatever’s giving you problems with me being an athlete,” Teresa replied. “He gave me and Forrest a hard time about it when we had problems like that, and we were close friends, we thought.”
“Why would Forrest have problems?” Cecelia asked, a questioning look clear upon her face. “You two are buddy-buddy.”
Teresa smiled, thinking of that particular problem. “Not always. When I got into athletics, I got into baseball, and soon I was doing better than he was. Now, normally Forrest’s a pretty laid-back guy, but this was one of his private sore spots.”
“I didn’t know Forrest was chauvinistic!” Cecelia exclaimed. “I’ve never had any problems with him about me being female and being a Ranger.”
Teresa had to smile at that. “He’s not. Okay, not mostly. He had a few problems like that, but they were minor ones. He wasn’t having a problem with a woman being a better athlete than he was, it was that he was jealous about me being a better baseball player than he was.”
“I thought he was pretty good,” Cecelia murmured.
Teresa smiled wider. “He is, he just can’t see it. Anyway, Forrest thought he had to live up to his Dad’s reputation. You know his Dad is Theo Somerton, the baseball player? That’s what caused the problem, and looking back, I’m glad that Lucas stuck his nose in where it really didn’t belong.”
Cecelia giggled. “That sounds so funny, and so Lucas,” she responded. She looked at her fingernails. “Maybe I should talk to Forrest more often. It sounds like we have a ton in common.”
Teresa noticed the change in Cecelia’s mood. “Do you regret being a Ranger, knowing that you have a lot to live up to? I mean, with your Dad being the longest serving leader of the Rangers? I find it scary sometimes, and my Dad was never in command.”
Cecelia appeared to think. “I suppose so. It’s just kind of another daunting thing about Dad, I think.”
“Your dad is daunting to be around?” Teresa asked. She’d never really spent much time around Mr. Oliver, although her father had told her stories about him.
“Dad and Mum, well, they’re both athletes and I never did well in athletics at school. I was never interested. They should have switched you with me, they would have loved to have you as a daughter.”
Teresa tried to imagine herself as the daughter of Tom and Katherine Oliver and failed. “I wouldn’t be who I am if I was their daughter,” she said softly. “I would never have been driven into athletics if I didn’t have so many idiots to deal with.” She stretched nervously, hoping that what she said next was right and would help fix the problems they were having. “You’re right. I wouldn’t want to live up to their reputations either. And I can see why you’re having problems with me. As I said before, I’m not into athletics so that I can show people up, I’m there to stay sane.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Cecelia replied. “I jumped the gun.”
“Yeah,” Teresa said, but she still felt badly. She had to do something about her reputation. She pounded the wall in frustration. She really wanted to get out of there and talk to Lucas or Dad about it.
“What’s taking them so long?” Cecelia asked.
“Probably want to see if we strangle each other and make the choice easier,” Teresa replied. “Or maybe the idiot’s changing his mind.”
“Maybe we can teleport out of here,” Cecelia said brightly. “He left us our communicators.”
“Probably because the area’s shielded and they wouldn’t be of much use,” Teresa replied absently. “It’s times like these where I wish I could really teleport.”
“Like your Dad, huh?” Cecelia’s voice was sympathetic. “Look at it this way: it might happen and save us.”
Teresa felt a wave of gloom descend upon her. “Uh, not really. Dad didn’t start teleporting until after he left the Rangers. The theory is that being a Ranger blocked the process. If I wanted to find out, I’d have to leave the Rangers, and I don’t want to do that. Plus, I don’t know if I’ll ever have the powers. And if I do turn out to have the powers, my career as a Ranger is over. The price my Dad paid for being able to teleport was being unable to kill, and that ended him being a Ranger, too.”
“Ouch,” Cecelia replied. “So, you don’t want to teleport then.”
Teresa shrugged. “Maybe someday I’ll choose to place my power in safe hands, and then I might be a little bit less opposed to it. Right now, however, it’s not worth it.”
Cecelia didn’t respond. Teresa also fell quiet, until the guards came to take them into the arena.
Ian almost struck his fist into the console. Then he remembered it wouldn’t do him any good. He wondered if his father had ever hit the consoles before. His mother didn’t strike him as likely to do that.
He adjusted his jacket. It was a little bit too warm for it, really, but he liked it. Besides, it reminded him of why he was here. It had been Teresa’s idea. She’d declared if he wasn’t going to be loud himself, his clothes might as well be. He’d personally liked it. It made him look rebellious, and better, his parents had disapproved, saying it made him look like a gangster with his build. He thought he looked quite fine, thank you very much. If he was going to get his mother’s skin colour and his father’s looks, he was going to make the most of them.
He wondered if Teresa knew he’d had a crush on her since seventh grade. Probably not. She was too busy looking at Forrest and Lucas. Good thing Lucas didn’t know about his feelings towards Teresa, since he’d probably urge his friend to express them, and that wasn’t Ian’s way. Things would turn out okay. He existed despite his dad’s shyness.
“Anything?” Lucas asked.
“Not really,” Ian answered. “Wherever they are, they’re being shielded. They probably can’t teleport out, either.”
“Teresa can handle herself,” Forrest said. “We all know she can.”
Forrest’s declaration did not fool Ian, and he could tell that it didn’t fool Lucas, either. Despite the fact that Teresa could probably pound any of them into the ground, they all worried about her.
But, he reminded himself, she was as stubborn as a mule.
Suddenly, he wasn’t as worried about her.
Cecelia and Teresa were thrust into the arena. Cecelia lost her balance after a final push by her guard, and fell down in a heap. She noticed Teresa had recovered and remained on her feet. She felt a brief wave of envy and then reminded herself that this was a battle situation. She didn’t have time to worry about her agility compared to Teresa’s.
Malgrath was sitting on a small balcony with another of his kind, probably an adviser of some kind. She wondered what kind of fight it would be. They probably wouldn’t have them fighting one another as it had been made clear that neither of them really wanted to do that if the only privilege was marrying him. Maybe he’d give one or the other a potion to make them temporarily evil.
Six others of Malgrath’s kind filed into the arena, and she suddenly knew what Malgrath’s game plan was. She tensed, and saw Teresa do the same, falling into a battle stance.
Malgrath made a motion, and the battle began. Teresa hissed, “Back to back!”
She instinctively faced away from Teresa, knowing that the other girl was right behind her. This was good. They could defend themselves. She kicked at her first attacker, swept the second off his feet, and then knocked the first one into the third one. Behind her, she could hear Teresa fighting off her attackers and humming. Cecelia didn’t recognize the tune, but it really didn’t matter. Teresa seemed to be using the melody as rhythm while bashing attackers. She wondered why Teresa didn’t sing in battle. Or hum, for that matter.
Soon, the fight was over. Malgrath and his advisor talked to each other, and finally, Malgrath uttered a command to the advisor. The man bowed. Then, Malgrath suddenly bowed to them. It was only a slight bow, but it was a bow.
The guards then took them out of the arena and then took them into a room. The man who had been with Malgrath was there, as was a table full of food. The man bowed slightly, although more deeply than Malgrath had, and then offered them towel-like things. “Wash,” he said. “Sit. Your lord will attend shortly.”
Cecelia looked at Teresa. Teresa shrugged and took the towel-thing, starting to clean herself off. Cecelia decided that it was probably safe to do the same. Malgrath came in while they were both still wiping themselves off. He motioned them to chairs.
Again following Teresa’s lead, Cecelia sat down. Malgrath spoke. “You both did well, and I am honored by your fighting skills,” he said, as if they had chosen to fight. “However, I only need one wife, and I have chosen Teresa, who is the better fighter. However, Cecelia, you also have a warrior’s spirit. I will find you a good husband among the ranks of my warriors.”
Cecelia inwardly cringed, and wondered if the guy really thought he was doing them a favour. He did seem like a relatively nice guy for an evil alien, but a bit misguided. Malgrath turned to Teresa. “Now, I have something that I want to clarify before the wedding. You mentioned something about a possible genetic condition that might prevent you from being a warrior if it became active. I was startled to find that you fight despite that. I am sorry that you carry that gene. I could order my scientists to find the portion of your genetic code that would prevent you from being a warrior, yet retain the parts that would allow you the other benefits. Regina would surely allow me to stay on Earth long enough to find others with that condition and cure your problem.”
“I do not want to be cured, and you are certainly not going to abduct my people to ‘fix’ me!” Teresa declared. She stood up.
“You are their champion?” Malgrath asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Somebody has to be,” Teresa replied.
Malgrath nodded. “I will not fight you for them, then. You are about to be my wife. However, will you not reconsider, for any children that we might have?”
“From what I know of genetics,” Teresa said calmly, although she had started pacing around the room, “I don’t think our kids have anything to worry about. The worst that would happen would be that they’d carry it. I doubt you carry the mutation, as it seems to be a strictly human one. Besides, I don’t want it removed. I doubt I could fight as well if it were gone. Why are you even asking me this, anyway? It’s not like you’ve given me much choice so far.”
“I may have given you a bad impression, my lady,” he replied. “Apparently our customs are not yours. Kidnapping a bride is quite acceptable, but the bride is given many freedoms after her marriage. I’ve never found a bride I wanted among my own people, and was searching for one when Regina, who does occasional trade with my nation, notified me of the existence of the two of you, and suggested that either of you would make a good wife. All I had to do was take both of you away with me.”
Cecelia looked over at Teresa, who was still pacing around the floor. Malgrath had gotten up, no doubt thinking that her pacing was an odd human custom. Teresa looked at him. “And suppose I don’t want to marry you?”
Malgrath looked a bit puzzled. “But you have no choice,” he said. “But you don’t need to worry. I’m a honourable husband. I will otherwise respect your wishes and your judgment.”
Teresa sighed. “I see your viewpoint, but -“ she said, and then knocked one of the guards out. The other one leapt at her, and then they started fighting.
Cecelia decided to follow Teresa’s example, stood up, and punched Malgrath. It took a little doing, but then he was unconscious. His whatever, the person who had handed the towels, attacked her, and she handled him easily.
By that point, Teresa had tied the first guard up and was starting to tie the other. “You wanna go?” she asked.
Cecelia grinned. “You have to ask?”
They ran through the corridors, hoping they’d find someplace that they could teleport from. Every so often, they stopped and activated their communicators, hoping that they would find a clear space to contact their friends. Finally, they did. “This must be some sort of transporter room or something that they can’t shield,” Teresa said. “But anyway, I’m not getting fuzz.”
Cecelia tried her own communicator. “Alpha? Dimitria?”
Lucas’ voice responded. “Cecelia? Are you and Teresa all right?”
“We’re fine, Lucas, stop worrying,” Teresa responded, activating her own communicator. “However, we’ll be very happy to be back. Can you trace our signals and teleport us?”
“Sure thing, Teresa,” Alpha responded. A moment later, they were streaking towards Earth, and towards home.
Teresa watched in amusement as Lucas enveloped Cecelia in a crushing hug. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Cecelia shrugged. “There’s nothing you could have done.”
Lucas shook his head, but didn’t seem to want to debate it further. Instead, he hugged Teresa to him, very tightly. “Lucas, I need to breathe.”
“Sorry,” he said, and loosened his grip.
“You worry too much, Lucas Scott,” she said, grinning.
He grinned back, and then released her. “Maybe.”
“We’re both tough,” Cecelia added. “She’s right. You don’t need to worry.”
“You think he’ll come back? Try to kidnap you again?” Forrest asked.
“Not after what we did,” Teresa replied. “Besides, he turned out not to be such a bad guy. We’ll fill you in later.”
“Okay,” Forrest said, sounding somewhat reassured.
“I thought that you’d get out of that. You were too stubborn to stay kidnapped,” Ian said quietly.
Teresa had to smile. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ian,” she replied, and hugged him. When she released him, he looked simultaneously happy and embarrassed. Good old shy Ian.
Celia sighed. “Now, how are we going to explain missing school?”
A few days later, Cecelia was walking to the park with Teresa. Considering how many problems they’d had only a few days ago, they seemed to be getting along well, at least Cecelia thought so. Lucas seemed to think so too, because he hadn’t nagged either of them.
“How are things going? Obviously, your parents didn’t ground you,” Teresa said.
Cecelia laughed. “No, but it was rough going for a while. I took my communicator off, so they wouldn’t notice. They’d worry too much if they knew. So, I sat there for a better part of half an hour , listening to them lecture at me. I wouldn’t tell them why I’d not showed up at school, but I promised I wouldn’t do it again. That’s why I’m not grounded, but I think Mum and Dad are going to be keeping a close eye on me for a while. It’s probably not going to take them that long to figure out I’m a Ranger, though. How about you?”
Teresa shrugged. “Dad knows I’m a Ranger, so I just told him the truth. He didn’t seem too alarmed.”
“He knows?” Cecelia asked. “How could he know?”
“Some things just do not remain secret when you’re dealing with a community of telepaths. When I became a Ranger, and someone found out, it was big news. Dad’s a telepath, so he heard. He doesn’t have a problem with me being a Ranger.”
Cecelia whistled. “I wish I had your dad.”
Teresa just smiled.
Cecelia thought of something that she’d had meant to ask for the last few days, ever since they’d been on Malgrath’s ship. “By the way, I’ve never heard you sing or hum in battle before.”
Teresa shrugged. “I don’t, normally. But I was thinking of my Dad, and how mad I was to be there, and somehow I ended up humming it. It’s not really a fight song.”
“What is it? What is it called?” Cecelia asked. Her curiosity had been piqued. It certainly sounded like a fight song to her.
“It’s called ‘A La Puerta Del Cielo’. The English translation of it is ‘At The Gates of Heaven’. It’s a lullaby my dad used to sing me a lot when I was little, and he still sings sometimes when I’ve had a particularly bad day, because he knows I love hearing it. It goes something like this in English: ‘At the gates of heaven, they sell shoes for the angels, for the little angels who wander there barefoot.’ It’s an odd little song, but I like it.”
“You’re right,” Cecelia said, running the words through her mind. “It is an odd song. Did your dad have to sing it to you after you got back?”
Teresa shook her head. “No. I mean, that was kind of scary, but it wasn’t something I needed comforting for. That’s reserved for really bad days. The last time he sang it was right after we got our Ranger powers and Lucas decided to have a really big argument with one of my telepathic friends over me and my future. I didn’t like that too much.”
“What happened?” Cecelia asked. She wondered why Lucas would have that kind of argument.
“Well, I was waiting for Lucas, because we were going to work on a project together for school. One of my telepathic friends, Melissa, showed up to talk. We ended up having an argument about me being a Ranger. Y’see, most telepaths don’t understand violence and killing much at all, nor why someone would choose that instead of being a telepath. Lucas decided to show up in the middle of the argument, went into overprotective mode, and started arguing with her about the worth of being a Ranger. Neither of them was paying attention to me, and both of them had quite forgotten, or at least forgotten more than usual, that I wasn’t one or the other, but both. I excused myself and bolted out of the house. By the time I got back, I found a note from Lucas apologizing for what he’d done. I was still in a foul mood when Dad came home from work, so he ended up singing me to sleep.”
“I knew that Lucas could argue, but I didn’t know like that!” Cecelia exclaimed.
“He can do anything when he gets into over-protective mode, watch out,” Teresa said, sounding a bit sad. “He still has problems with my telepathic friends because of that argument. He’s kind of like Malgrath - he couldn’t quite understand that I wouldn’t be who I am if I wasn’t both.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about Malgrath anymore, hopefully,” Cecelia said, feeling a slight bit uncomfortable about the topic of conversation and switching it.
“I doubt it. And I hope not. We have far too much to worry about,” Teresa replied.
They kept on walking.
-The End
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