His fingers dug into the dirt as he clung to the wall of earth, keeping himself from plummeting down into the bowels of the Abyss. Tightening his grip he prepared himself to pull himself a little higher to the surface. The dirt shifted and his hand slipped. Panicked, his hands scrambled for a grip, his feet tried to gain a foothold, anything to keep him up longer.
Gaining a hold he let go of the breath he wasn�t aware that he was holding. His forehead pressed to the cool ground of the earth as he calmed his nerves. He looked up, seeing what he needed to climb to get out, and then he looked down the depths at a darkness that he knew was just waiting to envelop his soul and seep into his heart. Steeling himself he took a deep breath as he began to climb, each handhold, each foothold bringing him closer to freedom.
He chanced a look over his shoulder to the depths below, the heat pressing him forward, bringing him closer to his goal. The ground shifted once again, and his hands held tight to their grip, hope filling his mind. A hope that all was not lost, a hope that this nightmare would end, a hope that he would get out, all filling him as he took another breath and began the climb once more.
�Blake!�
He heard Tori calling his name, and he looked up at the distance between him and the surface. There was no way that she could help him, even if she wanted to, when he was as deep as he was into the Abyss. Did he want to let her know that he was still here? Even when there was little that she could do to help him?
�Blake,� he heard again, this time more panicked, more scared, more . . . pained. Had he ever heard her sound like that? That had to have been the most scared that he had ever heard her, he mused as he reached higher for his next hold. Blake didn�t know if he could stand to hear that tone in her voice again.
�Tor,� he called back, hoping that she�d hear him. �Tor, I�m here,� he shouted up as he readjusted his feet, preparing to get high enough so that she could be in his reach, or would it be he that was in her reach?
�Blake!� He looked up to see her smiling down on him, relief evident on her features. Though the recent tears she had shed were evident on her face, she had never looked more beautiful to him.
�I�m sorry,� she said as she watched him climb closer. Her hand stretched down to him, waiting for him to take it. Angry words forgotten, his safety now was all that appeared to matter to her.
�I�m sorry too,� he said as he tried to reach up and grab her hand, but the ground shifted again, and he clung to the wall, hoping that nothing would shake loose. Once steady, he looked up at her. �What is it?� he asked noticing her change in expression.
�You have to hurry,� she answered looking past him at something he couldn�t see.
�What is it?�
�The Abyss. It�s closing. You have to climb faster,� she replied as she extended her hand once again. He reached up, trying to grasp her hand, but it was still out of his reach. He went to try and secure another handhold, pulling himself up closer to her. Going for her hand again he stretched as she did, hoping that his hand would reach hers.
He looked on as she scooted closer to lean down farther to him. Their hands met, and she gripped his wrist as he did to hers. He used his other hand to help her pull him out. The seconds dragged on as he made his way out from within the Abyss. No words were spoken, but none were needed. What they needed to say could be said with a single look exchanged between them.
Blake emerged from the chasm and straight into her embrace as the Abyss continued to close behind them. He held her, melted into her, letting her presence soothe his worn nerves as he tried to let the experience roll away, but it wouldn�t leave. He knew it. This would be something he would never be able to forget. No matter how much he wanted to, it would constantly plague him. That thought continued to whirl around him as he held tighter to her. He closed his eyes, just letting himself feel her warmth soak into him. Tori�his lifeline.
�What is going on here?�
�Cam!�
�Cousin!�
�Uh, class dismissed.�
�Hi, cousin, we were just . . . Umm . . .�
�You were just . . .�
�Well, you see, Dustin was teaching a class in the fountain, but then Ninja interrupted and well, this kinda happened.�
�Dustin was teaching a class in the fountain.�
�Yeah, uh, I can explain that.�
�I hope someone can because I still don�t know what it is that was going on here.�
�Dustin was covering Tori�s class so she could spend time with Blake. The rest happened because we were just having a little fun.�
�Yeah. We were just havin� fun.�
�Fun?�
�Yeah. Some fun.�
Shane splashed some water at Cam in order to illustrate his point that they were just having some fun, but he straightened once he saw Cam move to take off his glasses. Shane didn�t know if that was because they were going to be in serious trouble or if Cam was simply going to clean the water off his glasses.
�You were just having some fun,� Cam started, his tone telling Shane that they were in for a huge lecture. �You mean like this?�
Water sprayed in Shane�s direction, and Shane stood still in complete shock. Cam had just splashed him?
�Nice shot, cousin,� Kapri said, clearly impressed by her cousin. A spray of water coming in her direction answered her. Looking in Shane�s direction, a smile spread across her face as the two of them went straight for Cam. �It�s so on now.�
Laughter and barking continued to spread across the campus as Marah, Dustin, and Ninja joined Cam. Water splashed and sprayed in every direction as the five friends shot water at each other, laughing the entire time, while a dog delightedly jumped around them.
With Blake�s arm around her shoulders, pulling her gently into an embrace, the soft, quiet rhythm of his heart beating under her hand, she closed her eyes. His fingers continued to comb through her hair and a soft smile played on her lips. After the eventful afternoon that they just had, the quiet contentment of this moment was much needed as well as much appreciated.
Having Tori beside him soothed his fears, banishing the cold that had descended around his heart. He idly played with her hair, the soft, silky strands falling between his fingers. His thoughts jumped from topic to topic, but thoughts of Tori were never too far away. She had given him so much without thinking, but he never thought that his not being in Blue Bay Harbor mattered so much to her. He knew that it upset her. It upset him too. There were times he wondered if he really wanted to do what he was doing because he missed being with her and Hunter. And it wasn�t just her and Hunter, but his friends too.
She curled closer to him and he held her tighter. They both needed to find comfort in the other�s presence, to know that what had happened was nothing more than a bad memory, that it hadn�t changed how they felt about each other. They needed to know that the evil energy emanating from the Abyss hadn�t damaged their relationship, hadn�t ruined their friendship.
�Hey,� he whispered, his breath tickling the top of her head. �You okay?�
�Yeah. You?�
�I�m okay. You know I didn�t really mean what I said, right?�
�I know,� she said quietly.
�And you?�
�You know I couldn�t hate you. I get mad at you some times, but I don�t hate you.�
Neither of them spoke above a whisper. It was almost as though each of them felt that if they spoke too loud, the sheer volume of their voice would start things all over again. They knew that they didn�t really mean what they had said. But it helped to hear it. The reinforcement helped to get over the sting of what had just happened.
He brushed his lips across her forehead in a soft kiss. The gentle pressure made Tori smile. That simple action acted like a healing balm on the wounds inflicted from the fight they had just endured. All the battles that they had gone through as Rangers, all the evil space aliens that they had fought, all the skirmishes against kelzaks, none of that had left Tori as shaken as she was now. Not even the last fight that had happened at the Abyss had affected her as much as this one did.
What Tori did not know was that Blake felt the same as she did. The battle at the Abyss last year paled in comparison to this last one. At least it did concerning how much it affected each of them mentally and emotionally.
�Hey,� he said softly, slowly rousing her. �Are you hungry? We can head back and go to Wick�s if you want?�
She thought about that for a moment. �Yeah,� she said. �We can call the others if you want to hang out with everyone like old times,� she suggested.
�Maybe later,� he said getting up. �I just want to spend some time with you,� he spoke softly with a smile, pulling her up.
Soft butterfly wings fluttered within her at his words. He still had the ability to give her butterflies. She dusted herself off, brushing any blades of grass that were still stuck on her pants away.
�Hey, Tor?�
�Yeah?� She answered, turning to him.
The look on his face made her throat constrict. She could tell that there was something he wanted to say to her. It looked like something he had been meaning to say to her for a while now but hadn�t.
�There�s somethin�, somethin� I want to tell you.�
She swallowed and tucked her hair behind her ear. �Yeah,� she said tentatively. They had been going out for months, and things were getting pretty serious. She had a feeling where things were headed, and she had a feeling she knew where this was going, what he was about to say. She knew that she loved him, but she didn�t want to be the first one to say it. It was pretty likely that he felt the same, that he reciprocated the feelings, but she was still scared to put herself out there. Besides, what was keeping him from making the first move and saying it?
�I�ve been meaning to tell you this, but . . .�
He trailed off and she let him take his time. If he was going to tell her that he loved her, really tell her, she didn�t want to force him or pressure him in the least. So she just stood there beside him in the grass beside where the once open Abyss was.
�I,� he began. At that single word, that single letter, a smile spread across her face. She wished she could see his face, but he was too busy looking at the grass, or his feet, or hers. He would have to look at her eventually, and until then, she would stand beside him, giving him all the time he needed.
�I like your shoes.�
Her smile fell as soon as she heard that. And she forced one back as he looked at her.
�Oh,� she said, trying to pull her thoughts together as it felt like the world she was holding came crashing down around her. �Umm, thanks,� she said. Her words were heavy with disappointment. At that moment, she was the most upset she had been all day. Was she setting herself up to be let down? Was her wish too unrealistic to be completed? She didn�t think so.
After that, she was even more certain that maybe he wasn�t where she was. Maybe he didn�t love her as much as she loved him. Maybe he just liked her a lot and wasn�t going to say something he didn�t mean. Whatever it was, she was still trying to hide her disappointment and upset.
�So we should get going, right?� she asked.
�Yeah. The sun�ll start setting soon.�
She started walking back to the track, and he stood there, knowing that he had done the wrong thing. He had wanted to tell her, but when he had opened his mouth the wrong words came out. �I like your shoes� came out instead of �I love you.� There was nothing that he could do once he had said that. He couldn�t just blurt out �I love you� after saying what he did. That would just make things worse, and after the day they had just had, worse was not something he wanted.
So he just followed her, jogging to catch up and cover the ground that she had walked while he was standing there. He just hoped that she wasn�t as mad as she was earlier. She probably wasn�t. That was probably an effect of the negative energy from the Abyss. He cast a backwards glance towards the Abyss after that thought, just to make sure that it was still closed and everything was still okay. Seeing that it was, he turned back to Tori and tried to think of a way to make up for what he had just done.
The Abyss did look to be closed and sealed like nothing had changed after he said that, but like many things the look of the Abyss was deceiving. Small cracks had formed along the soil the length of the Abyss beneath the cover of the grass. With Tori and Blake gone, taking their ninja energies with them, there was no longer anything the Abyss could use to move or open itself any more. That, however, did not change what had happened. It had begun. The cracks were small, but it was a start. All it would take was a matter of time and determination. If something wanted to find its way out of the Abyss, it would be up to them to find a way to make it happen. Now, it was that much closer, that much easier, for the once closed Abyss to be blown open from a force within.
Catch a NEW episode of Power Rangers Ninja Storm next week!!