Work Text:
It was one thing to be locked up in a cell for the holidays, it was another when you were free of evil but forced to stay in the safe house babysitting a fancy rock of death during the holidays.
Heckyl had been locked up in his room studying books and scrolls stacked as high as a zord. Zenowing had briefly mentioned the idea of visiting Earth for a few hours to see his team. Of course Heckyl declined rather quickly.
“I doubt they would be as happy to see me as they would you. Ex-Villain and all.” Heckyl groaned through a bite of his meal. Zenowing’s gaze hardened a fraction, his utensil lightly brushing his own dinner.
“Heckyl, you won’t know if they truly forgave you unless you see them.” Heckyl’s gaze dropped lower into his plate, hiding his eyes hoping Zenowing would abandon the attempt. The betrayed expressions of the team still lingered in his mind, how hurt they had all been, Kendall looking especially hurt when Shelby had revealed how far back his plan really went- his train of thought was stopped when Zenowing sighed, feathers dropped by a fraction.
“But if you wish to stay, I will not stop you.” The tension never quite left his shoulders, Zenowing or Heckyl.
The night was still, hushed by the weight of the words Zenowing had told him. And through the nightmares of Snide and Arcanon- He saw them, the team, how happy they all looked- but instead of Zenowing there, he saw himself. Tucked in the center laughing and talking with the others.
When his eyes snapped open and saw Zenowing burst through Heckyl’s door, adrenaline coursed its path through his body, surging static in his bones.
“Zenowing-?”
“I must leave for Earth, the team is in danger, promise me that you will stay here and guard the Dark Energem.” Zenowing rushed, feathers stuck up like a hissing cat. Heckyl sat up and was close to swinging his legs over the edge of the bed when Zenowing’s clawed hand landed heavily against his shoulder, keeping him from standing. Heckyl grew anxious with a twinge of anger in his brow and electric gaze.
“I can help you!” Heckyl pleaded, shoulders stiff from the weight of tension.
“No.” Zenowing rumbled. “You must stay and protect the Dark Energem. Promise me Heckyl.” Zenowing’s eyes tore through him. The weight of his hand grew by a fraction. Despite his stillness, Heckyl’s mind reeled with anger, his chest tightened from his own static building up. He wanted to protest, to leave with him- but Zenowing stood and had already leapt through the portal made when Heckyl declined an answer outside of hanging shoulders and dropping his head slightly.
Minutes stretched into hours, and when Heckyl was too anxious to fall under sleep’s trance that often laced itself with nightmares, he climbed out of his bed, its old wooden frame mimicking Heckyl’s groan with a lower pitch.
He dragged himself over to his desk littered with small books, papers, and too many gadgets that might have just grown from his desk.
Once the mahogany suit had been lifted off the back of his chair and shrugged onto a still very exhausted Hecky, he slumped into a chair in the common area and curled his arms around himself tighter, holding the warmth to his bones hoping it would stick, when it wouldn’t, he sparked the fireplace with his neon lightning. His foot tapped rapidly against the floor.
The Dark Energem buzzed with its storm dancing inside its cracked crystalline cage.
And Heckyl just stared at it.
“Stupid Earth, being in danger.” Heckyl grumbled, pulling his suit closer. “Stupid humans making me worried. Why am I worried?! I tried to kill them! Why do I even care about them?” His voice echoed across the common room halls. He slid his hand over his face, rubbing the sleep from the corners of his eyes and sighing heavily. How long could he figure out how to work the portal magic before Zenowing got back? Surely half of his gadgets could make a portal device. Years of listening to Wrench’s voice while working gave him some kind of idea of how to get an idea started. And If he couldn’t figure out portal mechanics yet- he could at least plug in Earth coordinates and then sea level and get to Amber beach, separate his energy from here to there? Right?
Heckyl began tinkering with his stuff, the jar with the Dark Energem on his desk bearing witness to his plan while he shocked himself. After an hour he made something that could zap his matter to make it seem like he didn’t exist, now the tricky part, reconstructing himself.
What started as a pen, a mug, then a rat he found in the cabinet- He was able to reconstruct matter with a very traumatized reconstructed rat. Kendall would definitely freak out if she saw this. A goofy smile spread across Heckyl’s face, now he really was like a kid on Christmas.
The Dino Bite cafe was filled with laughter, loud and obnoxious, but warm and covered in whip cream.
Heckyl landed on the floor between the kitchen and the back storage room. Landing on his front and rolled to face up. He groaned and felt around his body, he still had his suit, hair, pants, and his anxious static. He had left the dark Energem at the safehouse. He expected the lights off and everything cold and empty. But when he looked around the corner and saw half the team cleaning whipped cream off their faces and opening gifts from- Santa? He’s real? Then he saw Zenowing.
Tension crept its way up his body and settled around his shoulders.
“He didn't want me to come to a- party?” Heckyl whispered under his breath, barely a whisper. And when the words left his mouth his chest squeezed, like a dark force just clenched its evil jaws into his heart and the teeth tore him open from the inside.
Heckyl reached for his device to go home to his room like nothing happened- but he wasn’t holding it. It didn’t transfer with him.
“Dammit.” He hissed, he ran a shaking hand through his hair. “Zenowing’s gonna kill me.”
Like an alarm just went off to alert intruders- Zenowing caught Heckyl while he reached for some water. His gold eyes suddenly switched on him. And Heckyl had been caught in the cookie jar.
“Heckyl?!” Zenowing walked up to him, teeth slightly bared. His body hid Heckyl from the others, hopefully. “I told you to stay-” He started.
“I wanted to help, but it seems that you just wanted to get away from me to party with the rangers.” Heckyl crossed his arms, static building enough for his gaze on Zenowing to spark. Zenowing seemed taken back. Feathers sticking out more than they had earlier.
“Zenowing?” Keeper’s voice hummed behind them. Zenowing stood, allowing Keeper- and the other rangers- to see him. Heckyl’s chest might as well have collapsed, the static in his hands finally sparking softly when he rubbed them on his sleeves.
Tyler stepped up calmly, an awkward smile plastered on his face. Red flannel with flecks of whipped cream. Shelby was close behind Tyler as normal, she had a calmer smile, she was more trusting then the others the last time they saw each other. And Kendall? She was tucked closer to the back, unsure if she should step closer or stay back. He didn't blame her for staying behind them after the whole situation with Snide
“Hey Heckyl.”
“Tyler.” He responded flatly. Zenowing huffed.
“I left you to guard the Dark Energem while I was here.” Zenowing hissed.
“Zenowing, let him stay a little while. He means no harm.” Keeper said, resting a steady hand on Heckyl's shoulder and whacking Zenowing's shoulder lightly with his staff.
“Yeah! He missed the battle, he shouldn't miss the party!” Chase cheered, holding up a glass of hot chocolate. Zenowing groaned audibly, shrugging.
“Fine. One hour.” A weight lifted from Heckyl’s chest, temporary, but worth it.
Heckyl spent the next awkward few minutes by the bar table eating cookies like he had all the time in the world while he watched the Rangers act like they weren’t in charge of saving the whole world- they seemed normal, loud, but normal. The mug of hot chocolate next to him had dulled its warmth to what some would say as ‘to cold’. The cinnamon still swirled heavily around his nose, it gave an odd sense of comfort in his chest, it was dark, gloomy with strong whiffs of monsters- but the cinnamon still made his chest bloom with warmth and comfort.
”Heckyl.” A way to familiar voice yanked him out of the river of his mind. He snapped his attention to the stern voice. Standing in front of him was the spectacled, brilliant scientist he secretly admired. Kendall stood in her usual black jacket with a dark blue-purple shirt underneath. Glasses pushed high on the bridge of her nose and a crooked but well smile on her lips.
”Kendall!” Heckyl choked on his cookie, brushing the crumbs off his suit and shuffling to the silent offer for her to sit. She did. “So, how’s the team?” He asked awkwardly.
”We’re doing well, now that we can finally focus on our own lives. I run a zoo and not a museum now, I’ll have to get used to that.” Kendall said calmly.
“I thought you always ran a zoo.” He smirked. Kendall dipped her head with a light chuckle breaking through the surface. Tyler had gotten trapped under the mistletoe by Shelby, and everyone had cheered and laughed at the face he had made, almost as red as his flannel.
“They are my zoo, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Kendall added. They had retreated to just sitting at the bar with cookies and Heckyl had found the cinnamon frosting and loaded his plate with sugar, much to Kendall’s parent-like glare. Zenowing would have a nightmare taking care of him in the hangover.
After a few minutes Kendall’s brow crunched, lashes flicking against her face.
“How did you get here?” Kendall asked. Heckyl lit up, swallowing his strong bite.
“I might have built a matter reconstructor to teleport me from Sentai-6 to here.” His simple wording hit Kendall like a bus, her mouth was parted slightly and brows shot up.
Heckyl swallowed hard, static building in his arms again. Had he just impressed her? That was his goal- but he didn’t think it would actually work! She finally shook her head.
“Teleportation!?” Heckyl nodded. She continued. “That is incredible! You have to show me how you built it! It would make this so much easier in the future if we have to fight again!” Kendall exclaimed. A different warmth bloomed in his chest, and it wasn’t the cinnamon this time.
“Maybe once Zenowing ungrounds me- I also need to program it to teleport with me next time.” Kendall shifted closer, only by an inch, but he saw.
“I might be able to help you. And don’t fight Zenowing, he’s just trying to protect you.” Kendall got up when Ivan called her over for something. His chest squeezed when she left the words hanging in the air. His appetite dissipated when he saw Zenowing’s stern glare locked on him. It was only a matter of time before he would want to lock himself in his room and fall into the arms of his nightmares, at least there he could fight Snide and not Zenowing.
Laughter and the warm glow of lights stung across the cafe dulled to the low burn of the fireplace embers. The cool blue glow of the portal closed with a hiss of light, sighing in the last bit of sympathy to Heckyl as he faced Zenowing’s stern glare, his feathers ruffled with disapproval.
“I’ll just lock myself in the room.” Heckyl turned to leave for his room, to shed his keeper suit and toss it aside on his chair and leave it to rot.
“Heckyl, wait.” Zenowing’s voice seemed lighter despite the weight of dread around the room. Heckyl barely turned his head, expecting him to scowl and speak his punishment.
“I understand that you are new to everything being good, but you must listen now, for your safety, for your home’s safety, for your team’s.” Something switched in his brain, and Heckyl turned to face him fully now. Zenowing continued. “There will come a day when you will not have me, you may not even have your team, you must put the Energem’s safety, and the planet’s above your own, unless it comes down to life and death. I truly care for you Heckyl, and I am sorry about what Arcanon did to you. Remember that please.”
The words hung in the air with an almost foul sting at his chest. Static clinging to every inch of his ribs and neck, thick with that dread you knew was coming and you couldn’t avoid it.
Heckyl nodded, turning again to leave and drown in those words.
“Okay, Zenowing. I understand.” He only got a few steps this time before Zenowing stopped him again. And this time it was to hold out a small navy box with crimson strips and a gold bow.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a gift, I was told to give it to you when I got back.” Heckyl cautiously took the light box, and opened it. The inside was nothing fancy, but it had a framed photo inside, and an envelope. With a careful hand he lifted the frame from the festive box.
It was a photo of the team, all of them, happy and smiling, despite the battle worn terrain in the background.
“Open the letter.” Zenowing whispered. He did, and in scribbled handwriting and cinnamon dusted across the surface, were words from Tyler, Shelby, Ivan, maybe Chase? He had the worst handwriting out of everyone. And after a few he didn’t recognize- Kendall’s, light and well thought out, he had barely- if not never seen her handwriting, but It was unmistakingly Kendall. Static flew to his ears and face, hanging and drumming in his ribs, the cinnamon didn’t help.A smile crept its way onto his face before he could even register what he was doing, or the sting at his eyes.
“You didn’t have to-”
“It wasn’t me.” Zenowing interrupted. “Kendall handed it to me before you got there, said they wanted to give it to you personally, but weren't sure if you would accept it., or even if you wanted to come at all.” Heckyl stiffened.
He couldn’t speak, the static was different, not the usual anxiety or fear that built up, but something that wasn’t terrible.
Because he couldn’t think of words or bring himself to leave now- He stepped forward and hugged Zenowing, burying his face in his silver robes. Zenowing stiffened, unsure of the weight of the gesture from , but soon relaxed into the embrace.
“Thank you.” Heckyl murmured, muffled slightly, but there.
“Your welcome, young keeper.” Zenowing whispered, wrapping his wings loosely around Heckyl.
The door clicked shut, and the suit was laid against the back of his desk chair, the frame sat on his nightstand, close to his bed, just so he could have some semblance of comfort for a while, the letter was tucked neatly under the frame, all of their signatures visible for him to see. And even when the nightmares claimed his sleep, or Zenowing caught him tinkering with his teleportation device- the cinnamon helped.