The Hope (Power Rangers: Dark Wings)

Tommy came out of his memories to find his four students and close friend in shock. Conner was gripping his soccer ball so hard he was afraid it would explode while Trent was extremely pale. Kira and Hayley both had tears in their eyes and Ethan was staring down at his closed laptop blankly. He swallowed. He'd never told Hayley the full story, how hard it had been, how painful. Telling these four; well, he hoped they learned something.

"But…what happened after that? Did Kimberly survive?" Conner demanded and Tommy was slightly surprised to find him staring at him intently. Tommy expression remained neutral though his eyes flickered to the back and saw Jason standing in the shadows. He'd called and told Jason he'd planned on telling the kids the whole story last night and Tommy had known Jason would be coming by. Raising an eyebrow, the former red and gold ranger disappeared upstairs before the others saw him.

"Jason regained consciousness a few hours later in the Power Chamber—Lerigot came and assured us that he was himself again and Maligore's flames were gone forever. Jason eventually learned to live with what had happened, but he never forgave himself," Tommy explained, smiling sadly at Kira and Hayley's tears.

"We all decided to pass on the powers—staying Rangers after that was just too hard, emotionally as well as physically. I passed on the power to TJ and went to college. Kat ended up in London dancing and Tanya and Zack left for LA—he wanted to choreograph and she wanted to sing. Adam stayed in Angel Grove and he and Rocky opened up the dojo. David went back to the reservation after giving a high school freshman named Fred Kellman the Blue Turbo powers.

"Rocky ended up leaving the dojo after a few years to become a fire-fighter, which paid better. Billy remained behind as the technical support for the new rangers and he and Rocky ended up moving in together. When Rocky's mother died 2 years after graduation, they took in Rocky's siblings. Rocky and Billy have three kids, with Aisha, Trini, and Kat as the surrogate mothers. Last I heard, Rocky's youngest sister Maria is preparing to graduate high school.

"Trini left for Stanford and was a year from graduating with two degrees when she was killed in a car accident--" he was interrupted by Conner, who was staring at him impatiently.

"What about Kimberly and Jason?" he demanded. Tommy glared at him but gave up when he saw Ethan, Kira, and, especially Trent, were looking at him hopefully. He sighed.

"Jason left a week after he was freed; I later found out he had returned to the moon with Trey of Triforia. He destroyed the entire place and, using the last vestiges of the magic he had from Jareth, he encased Scorpina and Tyr in stone and tore apart the magic that allows people to live safely in that area of the moon. It'll take centuries before anyone can fill that area with enough spells to rebuild. The area where Serpenterra was buried was the only place left untouched, ironically enough.

"As for Kim…the ice dagger tore a hole in her heart that we couldn't repair. If she had stabbed herself anywhere but there, she would still have destroyed Khetala forever but she hadn't known that and she had wanted to make sure Khetala would never come back," he explained and Kira sniffled while the boys sat back in shock.

"I was so sure..." Conner murmured. A few hours later, Tommy was alone, training having ended soon after he had told them about the worst six months of his life. As he slowly turned off all the lights upstairs, he walked down to the Lab. Moving to a section of the right wall, he gently pushed the lining in and the wall slowly slid apart to reveal a room that Hayley knew was there but had never been in.

Stepping in, he was vaguely aware of the wall sliding back into place as he took in the suits recovered from the destroyed Power Chamber. Standing in front of the Pink Morphin Ranger, he opened the glass and pressed a small button on the inside of the door. The case slid back, revealing a room that only he, Billy, and Jason knew was there. In the center, a single spotlight illuminating it was a six feet long coffin shaped box. Standing next to it was Jason who had come in through the entrance from Tommy's bedroom. Tommy stepped forward and tenderly placed a hand on the glass surface. Underneath, her face perfectly preserved, was Kimberly. He felt tears come to his eyes as he remembered what had happened after Rita and Zedd had teleported inside the Power Chamber with the former villains.

Kim, near death, had apologized to them for not being able to stop herself before. As they all cried and told her it hadn't been her fault, Delphine had teleported in. Rita and Zedd, despite their hatred of Jareth and Khetala, offered to repair her heart as much as they could. They're healing was enough so that she was able to survive being teleported away to Aquitar with Delphine.

They'd found out later that the white ranger had convinced King Pontus to place the young human woman in a cyro tank. Eventually, Kimberly, still frozen, had been returned to Earth. She'd stayed at the power Chamber for a few weeks before being moved to the basement of Rocky and Billy's house. When Rocky's mother had died and he'd had to take his brothers and sisters in, she'd been moved to Jason's house. Jason had kept her up until a few weeks before Tommy had started teaching at Reefside.

It would take years before the tank could fix her injuries, if she would be healed at all. They all knew there was a chance she would never revive. But they all kept hope that one day she'd wake up and life would be brighter. For Jason and Tommy, that hope was enough.