Work Text:
you're the anchor that i tie to my heart
bring me some hope
by wandering into my mind
something to hold onto
morning, noon day, or night
— bastille, the anchor
-:-
Alternate dimensions are nothing new when you’re a power ranger, but this one unsettles Tanya more than most. On the surface, it looks and feels like Angel Grove – the perpetual sunshine, the laughter of the juice bar, the hustle and bustle and energy of the streets. Always something happening, in this town.
It feels like home – but she knows it’s not. She’d landed on her knees in the park, tossed from her usual dimension by some machine or the other, her suit fading away instantly and her morphers refusing to materialize when she shakes her wrists. Her powers aren’t working. And something – something is off.
She notices it first when the tree next to the lake doesn’t have all of its usual scratches from monster battles. There are some, enough for her to not think twice about it, but it’s definitely missing marks that she remembers, personally. But maybe those battles hadn’t happened in this world.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, until she gets to the juice bar, and can’t find anyone. It’s not quiet, by any means, there are plenty of teenagers – some she even recognizes from school – milling about, training, laughing, drinking smoothies – but none of her friends. The absence claws at her, surprising in how vicious the emptiness is. She hadn’t realized how much they had ingrained themselves into her life until they suddenly weren’t there.
“Hey, Ernie,” she says slowly, turning to face him behind the counter. He gives her a strange look, one that says ‘why are you talking to me?’ and ‘who are you?’ and she feels an abrupt spark of sadness curling up inside her heart. The TV blares boring news about politics and the weather. “Have you heard of the power rangers?”
Ernie snorts. “Who hasn’t heard of the power rangers, kid?” he says, and Tanya feels a bit of the weight on her shoulders, the heavy suspicion, the instinct for trouble, lighten, just a little. At least until Ernie’s next words.
“We still have that zord memorial out in the desert,” he tells her. “To remember them. If you’re new here, you should go check it out.”
Tanya stares at him, uncomprehending. “To… to remember them?”
“Yeah,” Ernie says, a quiet sigh on his lips. “Since they lost that battle against Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. Didn’t you watch it on TV? It was huge, took out half the city. But we’ve been rebuilding, moving on. I dunno if they died or what, but they must have lost their powers, because we’ve never seen them since.”
Her heart is pounding in alarm. “Wait, so – then Rita and Zedd – where are they?” Did she land in a world where Rita and Zedd won? Where the power rangers lost? Where Earth was under control of evil forces?
Ernie frowns at her. “How would I know?” he says. “Something must’ve happened to them, maybe the power rangers gave their lives to destroy them. But we haven’t heard hide nor head of any evil villains trying to conquer Earth. It’s like everything just disappeared. Like the power rangers were never even here.”
Tanya pulls away from the counter, mind spinning. Ernie goes back to washing dishes, not noticing her inner turmoil. The juice bar suddenly seems stuffy, suffocating, pulling in tight around her. She can’t breathe, everything is wrong, everyone is gone, what if everyone is dead – she needs to get out of here.
Halfway out of the juice bar, her sneakers hitting the cement too hard, she ends up lost in the parking lot, no car, no way to get anywhere, no idea where she is or why she’s here, until she sees her.
Tall, blonde, and beautiful – even when she’s not wearing pink, Tanya can recognize Kat anywhere. She’s standing next to her car, eyeing the juice bar like she wants to go in, but can’t. She’s wearing neutral colors – a black and white dress, brown leather jacket, black boots. No pink anywhere. The sight hurts more than she’d expected it to.
Before she can stop herself, her feet are moving, heading towards Kat – other Kat, wrong Kat, not her Kat – of their own free will. Kat looks up from her phone when she hears Tanya coming, her brow furrowing in confusion, a general air of ‘don’t talk to me’ stiffening her frame. She wonders if this Kat is a ballerina still.
“Hi,” she says, stumbling over the word, uncertain and awkward in a way she never would be with the real Kat. “Hi – Kat, right?”
Kat still looks suspicious. “How do you know my name?”
Tanya’s heart sinks. Kat doesn’t recognize her. They’re not friends here, they may never have met here, maybe Tanya doesn’t even live in Angel Grove anymore. “You don’t know me?” she asks, voice unsteady.
Kat looks her up and down. “Should I?” she asks, almost disdainfully. Like Tanya is beneath her notice. Part of her feels like it must be a protective act – there’s no way Kat, in any world, in any dimension, would ever behave this way – but the other part can feel herself being crushed under the shiny heel of imposter Kat’s black boots.
“No,” she says, sighing. “I guess not.” Tanya turns to go, but something stops her, maybe the memory of who Kat really is, her Kat, her best friend, someone she loves, who loves her, too, and she looks back. “Do you know where the power rangers memorial is?”
Kat’s face hardens even more, if possible. “Why are you asking me?” she asks, annoyed now. But there’s a layer of defensiveness to her voice that hadn’t been there before, and Tanya remembers, too late, that Kat had been there before Zeo, had helped the original rangers, had fought the originals. Had been under Rita’s control, and if this is a world where the power rangers lost –
“Just wondering,” she replies, faking a smile. “I need to go there, but I don’t have a car.”
“Why do you need to go there?” Kat asks, curiosity tinging the annoyance. It’s an opening, so Tanya takes it. There’s a part of this Kat that must be the same as her Kat, a part of this girl that’s still Tanya’s best friend or future best friend, somewhere within her. There has to be.
“This is going to sound crazy, but I’m actually a power ranger.”
Kat’s eyes narrow. “The power rangers are gone,” she says, an edge creeping into her voice. “You’re either a liar or delusional, which one is it?” The words are harsh, too much to be coming out of Kat’s mouth, too out of place. This whole world is out of place, like someone snuck into Tanya’s house and moved the furniture five inches to the left while she was sleeping.
“I promise, I’m telling the truth,” she says carefully, watching Kat’s reactions. She shows none except disbelief. “I just come from another world – one where they weren’t defeated. And I need to get back home, my friends – the power rangers – they need me.”
“Another world?” Kat asks skeptically. “What, you mean like an alternate dimension?”
“Yes,” Tanya says, and the fact that Kat isn’t automatically throwing out the suggestion means maybe she has a shot at convincing her, maybe this Kat knows something, too. “I think it’s one of the Machine Empire’s plots, and there’s no one around here I can talk to about it except…” She trails off, knowing immediately she’d given too much away.
“Except me,” Kat finishes, her voice going soft for a moment, only a moment. She goes back to defensiveness and suspicion a moment later. “Why me? Am I – do you know me?”
Tanya bites her lip, debating. “Well, yes” she admits. “You – you’re my best friend, back home. You’re the pink power ranger.”
Kat’s eyes widen, too fast and too much for her to control her reaction. “What do you mean I’m the pink power ranger? What happened to – ” She stops, cutting herself off, too late.
“Kim?” Tanya suggests gently. Kat stares at her, a million emotions flickering across her face all at once, none of them good. “She retired, Kat, she went to Florida to compete in the Pan-Global Games, and she gave you her power coin before she left. She trusted you.”
“Why would she trust me?” Kat breathes, her fingers curling around the bracelet on her wrist so hard, Tanya’s afraid it’ll snap. “Why would she – you’re lying.”
“How am I lying?” she demands. “You believed me before – ”
“I don’t believe you because Kimberly is dead,” Kat hisses. The words are a slap in the face; Tanya physically recoils. “She’s dead and I killed her.”
“No, you didn’t,” Tanya says, moving one careful step forward, reaching out for her even though she knows this Kat won’t let her touch her. “There’s no way you did.” In no universe is Katherine Hillard a murderer, she knows this if nothing else.
Kat’s gaze drops to the cement beneath them. “I may as well have,” she murmurs. “How do you know that I didn’t? I’m not the pink power ranger. You don’t know me here.”
“I know my Kat,” Tanya says. “It wasn’t your fault, what you did under Rita’s control – ”
Kat whips her head up to glare at her. “You don’t know what I did.”
“Can you tell me?” Tanya asks.
She lets go of the bracelet, mouth twisting. “Well, the power rangers are gone, so I think that answers your question.”
“But you’re not under Rita’s spell anymore,” Tanya points out.
Kat snorts. “Because Rita’s dead, too. Or, not dead, just trapped somewhere in space again. I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t there for it. I’m not a power ranger, and I never will be.”
Tanya takes a deep, shuddering breath before asking, “Is everyone else dead?”
Kat raises an eyebrow. “No. Adam’s around. He hates me. Aisha’s alive, but she’s not here anymore. Neither is Billy. The other three gave their lives to stop her – to stop me. What do you think broke the spell?”
In one world, Kim fell off a balance beam and Kat broke the spell. In this world, in this horrible, horrible world, Kim died and Kat broke the spell. It feels like her heart’s been crushed by a metal compactor, but Tanya ignores the panic, the denial, the pain of knowing that Tommy and Rocky are gone, to tell her, “Adam doesn’t hate you. He could never hate you.”
Kat narrows her eyes at her. “He does hate me, and he has every right to. You don’t know him here, you don’t know me.”
“Adam isn’t capable of hate,” Tanya says firmly. “If you just talk to him – ”
“No,” Kat says, voice hard. She squeezes her eyes shut, then opens them to sigh. “Just – just get in the car. I’ll take you to that stupid memorial.”
“What, really?” Tanya asks, surprised.
“It’ll get you home, right?” Kat says, pulling out her keys and swinging them around her finger. “Better for me.”
She’s lying, but Tanya lets her, sliding into the passenger seat of the car that isn’t quite the one she remembers from home, but it’s close enough. Kat settles in and starts the engine, determinedly ignoring Tanya’s gaze on her. She pulls out of the parking lot and is halfway down the street before she breaks the silence.
“Tell me about her.” It’s a request, phrased like an order, but her voice goes unnaturally soft at the end of it, like she’s expecting to be denied.
Tanya blinks. “About who?”
Kat drums her fingers on the steering wheel. “Her. Me. The other me. Your Kat. What’s she – what’s she like?”
“Oh,” Tanya says, looking out the windshield. “Well, she’s my best friend. She’s – she’s the greatest person in the world. She took me in and let me stay with her when I came over to replace Aisha. She’s a ballerina – ” Kat twitches at that, but doesn’t say anything, so Tanya continues. “And she’s kind and beautiful and strong… she’s the best person I know.”
Kat exhales. “Sounds nice.” The proceeding silence is awkward for a beat too long, until she adds, “I don’t – I don’t really do ballet anymore.”
Of course she doesn’t. Tanya eyes her carefully before saying, “You should,” simply. Kat glances at her, and then away again. “She’s an amazing dancer. I bet you are, too.”
Kat doesn’t reply. “You must be missing her.”
“A lot,” Tanya confirms, but doesn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying anything more. “So, you never met me here?”
“Nope,” Kat says. “Guess you never moved here. You got Aisha’s powers over there?”
“Not exactly, when I took her place, we got new powers from the Zeo crystal. So we’re the Zeo Rangers now,” Tanya explains, fingers ghosting over her wrist where her morphers were, back home. “We fight the Machine Empire.”
“Never heard of them,” Kat says, though she doesn’t specify which one she’s referring to. She’s past the city now, driving into the desert. “You’d think, with the power rangers being gone here, that more evil villains would have tried to take over.”
Tanya tilts her head in thought. “Honestly? I wouldn’t be surprised if they got scared away by what happened to Rita or Zedd, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up one day in the future… or soon.”
Kat snorts. “What would we do? There’s no more power rangers. No more power. I don’t think Adam would ever – ”
“Adam would fight,” Tanya says, breaking her off with absolute certainty. “And so would you.”
Kat stares ahead, steely-eyed, but Tanya can see her defenses wavering. “You don’t know that.”
“I do know that,” Tanya says softly. “If Zordon’s still around, he will call you to fight, and you will. I know you will.”
Kat stops the car in the middle of the desert, with a very tacky-looking shrine ahead of her. “You must really love your Kat, to believe I could be capable of that sort of strength.”
Tanya wants to reach over and take her hand, but she restrains herself. “I love her more than anything,” she tells her softly. “And I know if you met your Tanya… she would believe in you just as much.”
One corner of Kat’s mouth quirks. “If I ever meet her,” she says, but she seems almost grateful. “Come on, there’s the shrine. I don’t think you’ll find anything here but…”
Outside of the car, Tanya can feel the buzz of energy, the hum beneath her skin that lets her know when she’s near the Power Chamber, the memory of teleportation simmering in her bones. “Don’t worry,” she says with a smile. “I think I’ll find what I’m looking for here.”
“Good,” Kat says, leaning against the trunk of her car, although it’s hard to tell if she’s being sarcastic or not. “Then I guess I’ll just…leave.”
“Kat,” Tanya says quickly, catching her hands before she can move away. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
Kat stares down at their interlinked hands, then back up at Tanya. Something familiar dances over her face, an emotion that would be easy to place on her Kat. “Yeah, whatever,” she says, too casual to really be the Kat that she loves, but her voice is shaky. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“Me, too,” Tanya says, squeezing her hands. “And Kat – I just want you to know that – Kim would never blame you. Never, ever. And neither would Tommy, or Rocky, or any of the others. You weren’t yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”
Kat doesn’t meet her eyes, just pulls away silently, but at least she doesn’t try to refute the point. “Maybe I’ll see you around,” she tosses over her shoulder as she walks back to the front of the car.
Tanya manages a smile. “I hope you do, Kat.”
Her car disappears over the horizon, a flash of silver beneath the big blue sky, so much like home and yet so not. Tanya turns and begins the journey to discovering the Power Chamber, wherever it may lie, knowing in her heart that it has to be here somewhere. This place isn’t so different from her home that the power doesn’t still run in her veins.
And, if she knows anything about Katherine Hillard – and she does, she knows that it runs in her veins, too. She only hopes that this Kat will know it the way her Kat does, will believe that she can be the best thing to ever happen to somebody, somebody like Tanya, one day.