Mommy Dearest Chapter 13

[solarbaby614]

Title: Mommy Dearest
Author: Solarbaby
Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.
Words: 1773
Summary: The search for Casey begins and Casey makes his decision known.
Spoilers: Nope.
Notes: Okay, I’m slowly making progress with this fic. I am determined to finished it before Christmas and the Raseyness will come into play again in the next few chapters.

Chapter 13


oOoOoOoOoOoOo

“Take away the light and all you have left is darkness.”
-Anonymous

“You think I’m supposed to be Prince of Darkness.” The idea was such the Casey couldn’t keep himself from laughing. Tyrlin looked affronted by this.

“You were Astronema’s heir.” The blue-skinned creature frowned at the man. “It is your rightful place.”

Tyrlin seemed obsessed with that phrase. “I agreed to be Astronema’s heir a long time ago, back when there was actually an empire, because my mother wanted it.” He shrugged and went back to playing with his sword. “I am over trying to please her.”
“Just think about it.” He eyed the sword wielder warily, approaching him. “The power. The prestige. The control.”

Control. That word perked Casey’s interest. It seemed that the creature had managed to hit the one thing that he wanted. That was something that had been missing in his life. Being forced off on Astronema when he was a kid then being for to protect humans? “I’m listening.”

A smile played on Tyrlin’s face. “You’ll have complete control over your life and the life of others. Never have to listen to what others say.”

Interest flickered over the tiger’s face. He looked at the sword, thoughtfully, genially brushing the red hit. The hilt flickered dark then bright in response, almost as if it was happy to be back with its master. “Okay,” He lifted the sword back up, watching the light glance off it with a grin, “I’m in.”

oOoOoOoOoOo

Silence echoed throughout the loft as they trudged in during the early morning. Lily, Theo, and RJ were followed by Master Swoop, sweeping into the loft. The silence had become a normal thing since he’d let them know that that Casey was his son.

A pale skinned RJ grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it. He paled slightly more, looking like he might get sick. It was immediately tossed aside, as he collapsed onto the couch. There was movement beside him and he turned to find Lily taking a seat beside him. “How?” His voice startled them as they turned to look at RJ.

Swoop sighed, gingerly taking a seat on one of the stools. “This story began a long time ago. Before I joined the Pai Zhuq, before the Pai Zhaq even existed. I lived during the time of the Ninjetti. Scorpina wasn’t always as she is now, from what I’ve been told. She had a temper and she could defend herself if need be, but she wasn’t a violent person. But one day, she attacked me. I don’t know why. She blinded me, almost killed me, but I barely survived. I was put in cryo-stasis to stop the bleeding, but no one woke me up til thousands of years later.” He picked at one of the table mats sitting there. “I don’t know how they could have survived. It’s been so long.”

Silence descended over them once again, each person lost in their own thoughts.

“We shouldn’t be here.”

“Theo?” Lily questioned.

Theo rubbed his face with his hands. “We should be here do nothing. We should be out there, trying to find him. Casey’s out there somewhere, hurt, and we’re not doing anything.”

“Theo is right.” Master Swoop stood up, watching the others. “There will be time to talk about this later.”

“You can fix him, right?” Lily got up, the man beside barely glancing up from his own hands. “That poison. You can stop it?”

Swoop nodded. “The antidote is exceedingly simple; it’s usually determining the poison that is the problem.”

“Good.” Lily’s voice was stronger, more sure. “We just need to find him, then.”

Swoop headed for the exit, followed by Lily and Theo. RJ continued to sit in his seat, his eyes blank.

“RJ?”

He looked up at Theo, who was standing at the edge of the stairs. Inside him, the wolf howled, missing the lost piece of his pack.

“Are you coming?”

He blinked, before slowly nodding and getting up.

With that, they once again left the loft, intent of finding their lost tiger.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Dai Shi growled as another newcomer entered his throne room. He leaned back against his throne, eying the silver-blue skinned man before him. Camille made a noise of curiosity from his left. He saw Scorpina and her youngest daughter look up from where they had been in deep conversation. Scorpina frowned before a look of recognition crossed her face, while Sorani merely dismissed the creature in favor of smirking at his neck. He bare stopped himself from rubbing the circle of bruises that he knew lined there.

The man seemed to take inventory of the room before his glance landed on the assassin. “Scorpina.” He nodded her way in respect.

Scorpina nodded back. “General Tyrlin. Far from your usual space, isn’t it?” Her voice was tightly controlled, almost as if she was stopping herself from going after him.

“I came to pay my respect to your son.” He smirked. “I was pleased to note how willing he was to returned to his rightful place.”

This had triggered Sorani’s interest and she finally focused on the man. “Rightful place?”

“What are you going on about now?” The distaste was obvious in Scorpina’s voice now.

“You should know.” Tyrlin said. “If I remember correctly, you were completely behind your son taking Astronema’s place one day.” He shrugged. “Well, that day has arrived.”

“You’re lying.” Scorpina denied, stepping forward. “Casey never liked the idea. I know he wouldn’t have chosen to step in her place.”

“I guess that proves just how much you don’t know about me.” A voice from the doorway called.

They all turned to find Casey lounging against an open door. In his left hand was a deadly looking sword that he was swinging back and forth, as if a toy. He stepped into the room, pointing the sword at Dai Shi as he did. A smirk crossed his face. “What I don’t get,” He turned to look at his mother, “is the fact that you knew I never wanted this yet you still signed me up. I agreed because you wanted to and now that I’ve stepped up to the plate you seem upset. Why is that?”

“What is going on?!” Dai Shi shot up off of his throne and stomped toward them. He had been left out of the loop for too long. Well no longer. This was his temple.

“Ah,” Tyrlin made a great sweeping gesture with mocking respect. “You must be the great Dai Shi I have heard so much about.” He sent Camille a predatory grin that had her shivering. “I’m am called General Tyrlin. I was a General of Dark Spector’s army.”

Camille looked startled. “Dark Spector?” She whispered. “What do we owe this honor?” Stepping up beside Dai Shi, her voice barely shook.

“As I’ve said before, I’ve come to pay my respects to my lord.” Tyrlin glanced at Dai Shi’s neck and gestured to Casey. “I see you’ve already had a run in with our new Prince of Darkness.”

“WHAT?” Dai Shi paled dramatically and Camille looked faint.

“Casey?”

He turned to look at his mother.

“Tell me that it’s not true.” She approached him, placing a hand on his arm. “Tell me you didn’t do this.”

“Why? Isn’t this what you wanted?” Casey mocked back at her.

“No.” Anger filled her face as she turned from him. “This isn’t what I wanted at all.” She turned and headed for the door. “Sorani!” Scorpina snapped.

Sorani looked between the two of them, wide-eyed, before scurrying off after her mother.

Something twinged inside of Casey as he watched the two leave. It took him a moment to figure out that it was sorrow he felt. That was a feeling he didn’t like and he pushed it aside as he twisted the ring on his finger.

He never noticed the look of superior triumph that graced Tyrlin’s face.

oOoOoOoOoOo

“What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?” Sorani muttered as she paced in her mother’s room. “Have to do something. Not Casey. Never Casey. Have to help him.” She look up at her older sister who was sitting on the bed, pale at what she had been told occurred. “Fix this.” She implored her older sister, desperately. “We can’t lose him.”

“We’re not going to lose him.” Scorpina tried to console her, only to have her youngest turn an furious look on her.

“You did this.” Sorani hissed at her. “You broke, Casey.”

Dallina shook her head. She never could have believed that her mother would have done something like this. Scorpina had always been the one to tell her to take care of her siblings. That she was the oldest and had to protect them. A job she couldn’t do if her mother pulled a stunt like this. “That brazza ring. What was it created to do exactly?”

“It was one of Rita’s creations. She created them to suppress the goodness of someone. It was supposed to give her control of her minions but they didn’t work and had to be scrapped. But this one wasn’t supposed to be that powerful. There were supposed to be restrictions.” Scorpina sighed as she sat down beside Dallina, who sent her a glare. “It’s all that damn general’s fault! He did this!”

“General Tyrlin?” Dallina asked. “What does he have to do with this?”

“He was the one who got it for me.” She replied, a dark look crossing her face. Hatred filled her as she thought about him. “I approached about it while I was on a job. He must have done something on it. Even after I had spells placed on it to weaken its effects.”

“So how do we get rid of it?” Sorani demanded of her mother.

“The only way that to stops its effects is to remove that ring.”

Sorani gave a snort. “That’s not going to happen. We need help.”

Dallina nodded. “But who? Aunt Rita?”

“When it Kalderon freezes over.” Scorpina snapped. There was no way she was going to ask that her for anything.

“She might be able to help. She was our godmother.”

“She’s a traitor.”

“Mom,” Dallina bite out, trying to hold in her temper. She didn’t want to go Rita either, but she would if it meant helping Casey. “There is no one else.”

“Not true.” They turned their attention to Sorani, who was tapping her bottom lips thoughtfully. “There is another.” She paused, frowning. “Well, other’s anyways.”

Confused looks settled on the two’s faces before realization struck it.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Oh, hell no. You want to ask the power rangers for help?”