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“Kim?”“Don’t, please, Trini. Everything’ll be okay.”“Kim, I’m scared. I don’t want to die.”Kim smiled through tight lips as she pressed down hard on the wound. Blood wet her hands as well as the ground beneath her knees. She was really trying not to remember it was Trini’s blood. She was also trying not to remember that she was the one who caused it.“You’re not going to die.” Kim lied through shaky breaths, “I won’t let you.”“Kim?” Trini shuddered in the chilly air of the Pit. It smelled metallic. It smelled like blood. Trini’s blood. “Do you love me?”Kim stopped what she was doing. The pressure she was applying faltered and more liquid spilled from under her hands. Of course she loved Trini. She loved her more than words could ever say. Kim loved Trini more than she herself deserved to be loved in return.But they were friends. They were only friends. No matter how much Kim loved Trini, Trini didn’t love Kim. Not the way she wanted her to.“Of course.” Kim managed through gritted teeth. “You’re my best friend.”A small frown spread over Trini’s lips, “I love you, Kim.”“I know, T.” Kim leaned forward trying to plug the wound with her shirt. Nothing seemed to be helping. There was just so much blood.“No, Kim.” Trini reached out, brushing the hair back from Kim’s forehead tenderly, “I want you to know how much-”“Stop, Trini.” Kim forced out, “Stop talking like you’re dying. You’re okay. You’re okay.” she repeated. Trini would live and everything was going to be just fine.“Kim,” Trini groaned in pain, another shudder racking her tiny frame, “Kim, please.” she begged. Trini’s face was pale, her breathing shallow.“I’m gonna go find Alpha or one of the boys. You’re gonna live, Trin.” Kim moved to stand but Trini caught her wrist.“Don’t leave me.” she begged, her voice barely a whisper, “It’s so cold and lonely here. Don’t leave me, Kim.” tears were falling slowly down Trini’s blood streaked cheeks.“It’s alright, Trini.” Kim breathed kneeling back down. She moved Trini’s head to her lap and stroked her hair back, “I won’t leave. I promise.”“Kim,” Trini coughed weakly, blood pooling over her cracked lips, “Thank you.”Kim ground her teeth, her jaw clenched painfully as she tried not to cry, She needed to be strong. For Trini.“For what?” she forced a smile admiring the softness in Trini’s tired eyes, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time she would do so.“For protecting me.” Trini’s eyes were unfocused and glassy, blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. “For-” she gasped weakly, “For letting me love you.”Kim’s lungs burned as she screamed at herself internally. Even now, in this horrible twist of fate, Trini didn’t hate her.“What?” Kim frowned, “What do you mean?”Trini’s gaze shifted. It was unsettling how she couldn’t seem to find Kim, how she seemed to be staring right through her. “I-I’m,” she frowned again, “Kim?” Trini whispered.“I’m here, T.” Kim pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, “You’re not alone.”“I love you, Kim.” Trini found Kim’s hand with hers and squeezed with her last bit of energy.A strangled sob broke through Kim’s facade as she hugged Trini close, “I love you, too, Trini. So much.”It was only then that Trini finally relaxed, her face softened and a small smile spread over her lips.Kim left the Pit with the bow slung over her back. The bloody arrow was buried deep in the woods. She would have to tell the boys. But right now none of that mattered. Trini was dead. Trini was dead and it was all Kim’s fault. That’s all that mattered.
“Kim, Trini’s dead.” Jason stood on Kim’s doorstep the next night, his head hung low, his hair matted to his forehead by the rain, his eyes puffy and red. Kim didn’t say anything. Didn’t ask for details. Didn’t ask what Jason did with her body. Didn’t ask about the bright red gashes on his knuckles, nor the bruising on his cheek.Kim only nodded once and then closed the door in Jason’s face. She tried to go back to bed but every time she closed her eyes she saw Trini. She saw the arrow, she heard Trini’s gasp of surprise, and she felt the twang of the bowstring as it snapped back against her own hand.Kimberly killed Trini. It was her fault. It was all her fault. It was all her fault.She needed air. Kim was suffocating in her own room. Everywhere she looked Trini was there, standing in the corner, sitting on the edge of the bed, climbing in through the window. Whispering with fragile breaths, reaching for Kim with calloused hands, “I thought you loved me, Kim?”The smell of blood engulfed the room as Trini came closer, from every angle, taking Kim’s air, stealing her sanity.“I do, Trini-”“Then why’d you do it?” a crack of lightening illuminated Kim’s room and Trini was gone. Her voice remained, though, echoing off the walls of Kim’s empty house. “Kim?” Trini’s voice filled her head.Kim let out a broken sob as she covered her ears with her hands, “I’m sorry, Trini, please!” but nothing stopped the whispers. Trini was everywhere. Kim couldn’t escape her as long as she was surrounded by things that kept her alive.
Kim ran through the pouring rain, her feet slapping the soaked pavement as she escaped to nowhere in particular. She just needed to get away. She needed to leave Angel Grove, to forget about Trini, about the twang of the bowstring, and the soft thud of Trini’s body hitting the ground.Thunder crashed overhead as Kim found herself on her diving ledge. The ranger link was pinging painfully in the back of her head. The boys probably felt her. She could feel them nearby, searching for her.
“Whatever you do, Rangers,” Alpha said setting a pink bow and a set of arrows down next to an array of other individualized weapons, “Do not touch these weapons until Zordon and I have had a chance to decide on an appropriate approach to training.” They all turned to Zack, giving him a pointed glare.
“What?” he asked incredulously.
“We haven’t forgot about the last time you were told not to touch something, idiot.” Trini mumbled swatting him in the back of the head as he whined.
Kim’s eyes were locked on the bow.
She knew it was meant for her, aside from the obvious color pairing, just looking at it made the muscles in her hands and arms twitch in anticipation.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Trini’s voice was in her ear. Kim glanced up. The others were gone. It was just her and Trini, alone, with the weapons.
A sour taste settled in her mouth as a twinge of uncertainty shot through her chest. She ignored it.
“Possibly.” Kim grinned at Trini, wiggling her eyebrows in the way
she knew Trini found incredibly aggravating.
“Stop that,” Trini shoved her playfully, “And grab your weapon and meet me in the Pit if you’re so sure we’re on the same page.”
“Already on it.” Kim laughed as she picked up the bow. It was perfectly weighted in her hand, and it fit snugly against her body. It literally hummed in Kim’s hand. It was just as alive as her power coin, and maybe that made it more dangerous, but mostly it just
tempted
Kim even more.
“Wow, I’m impressed.” Trini called from the center of the Pit as Kim approached. She was standing, a dagger in each hand, still in her yellow sports bra from training.
Kim was secretly glad they weren’t wearing their armor.
“Princess is breaking the rules. Now that’s something I never thought I’d see.”
Kim stumbled slightly as she made her way down to the Pit, trying to ignore the hammering in her chest as she muttered, “Shut up.” her face already burning with embarrassment.
Trini was in front of her now, smirking in that infuriating way that made Kim feel like she was going to have a heart attack. She loved the boys more than anything, but it was Trini that made Kim feel like there was nothing better in the world than being a Power Ranger. It was Trini who made her feel like she could make amends for all her wrong doings. It was Trini who made her feel like the moon and the stars were something Trini had put in the sky just for her.
Some days Kim wondered who she would be without Trini. She had long moved past her denial days and she knew full well that she was in love. Trini made her happy, and Kim wished she could tell her that without messing up their friendship if Trini didn’t feel the same.
If Trini ever disappeared from her life, Kim was sure she’d die.
“What?” Trini frowned and Kim realized she’d been staring.
“Oh, nothing. Sorry.” Kim’s blush deepened as Trini gave her an odd look but let it pass without question.
“So, you wanna test these babies out?” Trini held up the shimmering yellow daggers. Kim would never admit it out loud, but there was something oddly enticing about Trini with daggers.
“Hell yeah!” Kim grinned, shouting for the system to raise a few putties and settling the bow flush to her cheek.
It felt so natural, blowing through putty after putty, arrow after arrow screaming through the air. They trained in near silence, the only noises were the occasional grunt of effort and a
flirty
quip from Trini every time Kim did something clumsy.
Kim would respond with
an equally flirty crack, hiding her grin behind a cloud of putty dust each time.
Finally, it came down to the last remaining putty. Kim locked her focus on it, losing Trini in her line of vision for a split second. It took that split second for everything to go to shit.
Suddenly everything was moving in slow motion. The putty collapsed into a pile of dust before Kim’s arrow could even touch it. Then Trini was grinning at her, her face covered in grime and sweat, her chest heaving as she gasped for breath. Her daggers were drawn.
Kim watched in helpless horror as the arrow flew through the cloud of putty dust before lodging itself in Trini’s ribcage.
She let out a startled, “Oh?” her eyes wide in surprise and she fell to the dirt. Kim’s hands trembled as she dropped the bow and ran to Trini’s side, shouting for Alpha.
In the end Alpha had already powered down for the night and the boys were already gone, too far to help. In the end it was just Trini and Kim, alone, with the bloodied weapons as Kim begged Trini not to die, and Trini begged Kim not to leave.In the end it all could have been avoided had Kim made sure she could see Trini before she shot, if she hadn’t been selfish in deciding not to wear her suit, if she had just listened to her gut in the first place and left the weapons alone.Trini was dead because of her. She had spent so many months worrying about losing Trini in battle when she herself had been the one to bring her worst fears to premonition.Kim stood on the edge of the diving cliff, her wet hair clinging to the sides of her face, tears mixing with rain as another flash of lightening illuminated the water below.“Kim!” a voice shouted over the storm. She turned to see a frightened Jason flanked by Billy and Zack who looked equally as scared. “Kim, what are you doing?” Jason called after her.“It’s my fault, Jase!” Kim strained to be heard over the rain, her feet finding the edge of the cliff on their own.“Kimberly? What are you talking about? Please be careful!” Billy took a step toward her and Kim shuffled back. Could a Power Ranger even drown?“Kim, it’s not your fault.” Jason said slowly, “We’re not sure what happened yet, but it is not your fault.”Kim shook her head, choking back a thick sob, “No, it is!” Kim said, back up so her heels were hanging in open air, “I shot her. It was my bow. It was my arrow. I’m sorry, Jason. I killed Trini.” Kim said and then she stepped back.As Kim hit the water she was overcome with a cold rush of suffocating silence. She let the air be ripped from her lungs as she willed herself to sink deeper. It was dark and lonely under the surface. The only light was a small orb of yellow floating just above her.Trini, Kim thought as she watched it grow larger.“Kim,” Trini’s face hovered above hers, her hands cupping Kim’s face as she smiled, “Don’t be sad, Kim. It’s all okay now.”Kim opened her mouth to answer, forgetting where she was for a moment, and was greeted with a rush of bitter tasting water.“I’m not angry, Kim. It wasn’t your fault. It was a really fucked up accident.” Trini’s eyes glowed brightly in the dark. It was comforting in a way. Kim could hardly feel the burning of her lungs as her need for air became desperate. She didn’t care either, if drowning meant she could see Trini again then that’s what she would do.Trini seemed to read her mind because she frowned, “I love you, Kim, more than you can ever understand. Which is why I can’t let you kill yourself. I love you, and I’ll never truly leave you. You understand that, right?” Kim nodded, “Good. Don’t forget about me, Princess.”Kim could feel Trini’s lips ghosting over her forehead as she burst through the water, gasping for air as she pulled herself onto dry ground and collapsed.The rain had stopped and the moon was glowing above her. It cast a yellow reflection over the water right where Kim had come up.“Never.” she breathed as she wiped the water from her face, closing her eyes as she waited for the boys to find her.