The Terran Rangers/Final Fantasy VII by Heather Ray (summer beach reads txt) 📕

"Whatcha thinking?" Zack whispered, his soft voice gaining the attention of the pensive young woman. Aisha looked up to meet his gaze, and tried her best to smile.

But she couldn't.

"I...I don't know," she confessed with a sigh, turning her weary eyes from her walking companion to the silent streets of her neighborhood. "Everything, I guess."

She took a deep breath, shoving her hands in her jeans pockets. "I don't believe I almost... died. I had no idea what was happening. I fainted from dizziness in the Youth Center! And that might have been the last time I was conscious!"

She sniffled quietly. "I know being a Power Ranger puts my life in jeopardy, but I guess the notion of actually dying wasn't real to me before. It's so hard to conceive. I wouldn't have gotten a chance to say goodbye to anyone. It was so...sudden."

Zack grimaced. He didn't want to mention it to her, but her slow decay was anything but sudden. She wasted away at a painfully slow pace, only intensifying the feelings of anxiety and helplessness that her friends endured.

Still, there was no use in letting her know how much pain her predicament had caused.

"And...I don't believe Adam took the Power back," Aisha continued.

"Yeah, but I understand where he's coming from now," Zack admitted, taking a deep breath of the night air. "Having that Zeo shard really becomes part of who we are. Even without mine, I was recognized as having the Power. And I felt so... ncomplete without the crystal, like it left a hole where it used to be. Weird, huh?"

Aisha gazed at her friend with a neutral expression. "I don't feel that way at all. It feels more like...a thorn removed."

Zack glanced at her worriedly. "If the Zeo shard had caused you pain, you shouldn't have kept it, Aisha."

She shrugged in reply. "It wasn't that bad. It was just...an uncomfortable feeling. Certainly not soothing and refreshing like the rest of you. I guess I'm really not destined to be a Terran Ranger."

Zack reached over, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Don't give it another thought."

Aisha smiled in gratitude, leaning closer to him. "Thanks for everything you did, Zack. I know I wouldn't have made it without your help."

His eyes remained fixed on her. "Hey, for you, Aisha...anything."

Aisha felt the warmth in Zack's gaze, and relished the feeling of his arm around her, keeping her safe and warm. Yet, she couldn't really figure out what it meant. She took a few moments to reflect upon it as the Campbell household came into view.

"Boy, this is going to be bad," Aisha groaned, pulling her hand out of her pocket to glance at her watch. "It's four in the morning! My parents probably called the police already."

"Well, at least your dad knows you're a Power Ranger," Zack pointed out. "My folks are gonna kill me!"

Aisha nodded, as the pair came to a stop at the threshold. "Well, I suppose. Still, I won't tell him about my brush with death. He'd never let me out of the house again."

Zack glanced at the window beside the front door, noting the lights were on. "Do you want me to come in with you?" he offered.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Besides, you've got your own parents to deal with." She smiled in amusement. "See you tomorrow...if I'm not grounded 'til Doomsday, that is."

Aisha turned towards the door, yet surprisingly, arm remained on her shoulder. Aisha turned her head back to Zack, gazing at him questioningly.

She noticed Zack biting his lip nervously.

"Say, Aisha," he said quietly, his hands flying to his pockets and his eyes darting away from hers to just about anything else, "uh...remember that dance club I mentioned earlier?"

Aisha couldn't help but frown slightly. "You mean the one you want to ask Angela to?"

Zack nodded faintly, finally lifting his gaze to meet hers. "Yeah, that one."

"What about it?"

"Do you think that...maybe...you'd be...um..." Zack's eyes widened in panic. He was so nervous, he could barely speak. He was never so inarticulate with Angela.

Strangely enough, the queasy feeling in his stomach felt...good.

"Zack," Aisha interrupted, her eyebrow arching, "are you trying to ask me out?"

Zack's lips stretched into a self-conscious grin. "Yeah...and doing a terrible job, I might add."

Aisha responded with a wide, dazzling smile. "Actually, you're doing pretty well." She winked at him. "I'd love to."

Her smile fell into a grimace as she glanced at her front door again. "Provided my parents ever let me see the light of day again!"

For the first time that harrowing day, a smile crossed the stony face of the Omniversal Majestrix.

"All is well," she said, glancing up from the large sphere showing Angel Grove. One Angel Grove, on one planet Earth...in one of an infinite array of universes.

"For now," said another woman, who was seated at a desk just before the globe. Her gray eyes remained focused on the stone tablet lying on her desk, as she continued to etch into the surface with a magical stylus the events she had witnessed.

"Yes, Destine," Roma conceded, stepping away from the globe. For a moment, her wandering gaze swept the large chamber, regarding the numerous white marble shelves, all reaching to infinity, each with many stone slabs placed neatly in order. The Great Library, where all of history was forever stored, was truly an amazing sight...even for Roma herself. "For now, the Multiverse is safe."

Destine glanced up as she heard the footsteps of the Majestrix grow further from her. "Roma?" she called.

"Yes?" was the reply, as Roma turned around.

Destine fumbled slightly under the intense gaze of one of the most powerful beings in the Multiverse. "I...I realize it isn't my place to dictate, but...as the keeper of the Tablets of Destiny, you know I must record everything that has happened. That includes your...interview with Adam Park."

Roma twitched her eyebrows, creating the effect of a conservative shrug of indifference. "I am aware of that. Although I did promise not to interfere, it became a necessity. The Terran Rangers must remain intact, and if it is in my power to keep it so, then I shall."

"Which is why you interfered before, helping send Kimberly Hart and Zachary Taylor back to their world."

"Exactly," Roma responded, turning around, "The Terran Rangers are too instrumental to the coming battle for me to allow their fates to be governed solely by chance." Her face became solemn, although her expression was hidden from her companion. "The time is drawing near...and the Dark One is preparing to make his move."

To Be Concluded In...

The Terran Ranger Saga Volume 6:

Children of the Stars

Harvard University
March 2025
9:30 a.m. EST

The sound of music disturbed the peaceful silence within a small but cozy apartment on the Harvard campus in Massachusetts. The lone young man hid his face under his cotton blankets and moaned quietly.

"Snooze," he muttered weakly, his voice muffled slightly by the thick sheets. The alarm didn't respond to his voice command.

Oh, I forgot,

he reflected, grudgingly poking his head from beneath the warmth of his blankets, I deactivated the Snooze command when I 'snoozed'

all morning last week, and missed my Business French class...

The young man sat up, and rubbed the sleep from his vibrant aqua-blue eyes. He weakly climbed out of bed, and stretched his arms and back as a morning routine. He then steadied himself on his weary feet, and slowly walked to the bathroom.

"Shower," he commanded. "Pre-programmed water temperature."

The shower in the bathroom obeyed, and the young man undressed and stood under the warm water, soaking his curly caramel hair and sun-bronzed skin. Once he was done showering, another voice command stopped the flow of water, and a drawer from behind him automatically pulled out from the wall, revealing a thick bath towel. He dried off his hair, wrapped the towel around his body, and stared at himself in the mirror over the bathroom sink.

"I look half-dead," he said to his reflection. He took out a battery operated razor, and shaved off the overnight stubble on his face. Then, he brushed his teeth, wrapped himself in a bath robe, and stepped out of the bathroom back into his bedroom.

"Any messages?" he asked aloud, digging through his dresser for something to wear.

"One recorded message,"

said a voice from his personal computer on the large oak desk. "Time recorded: 8:22 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Sender: Regina Drew."

"Play," he commanded, pulling his head through a classic red and white Harvard sweatshirt. He tucked the bottom into his indigo denim jeans, and took a seat at his computer. At the click of a button, the blank screen converted into the image of a beautiful African-American young woman, with a long, dark ponytail and twinkling hazel eyes. She was wearing a wetsuit and a life jacket. The scene behind her was a set of breath-taking cliffs.

^Mornin', Tony!^

she greeted warmly. ^As you can see, it's me, Regina. I'm at the Grand Canyon, and I can't talk long, because I'm about to go white-water rafting! Too bad you couldn't come with me, but I'll see you soon. I'll be getting back to campus tonight. I'll call you when I get in.^

The girl then blew a kiss at the camera, and the screen went blank. Anthony Monroe smiled to himself, as he glanced away from the computer screen to the computerized photograph