"Merrick!"

She wished they hadn't come back. In that moment, as she fell to her knees beside him, all she could think was no, no, this was all wrong, they should have stayed... they didn't belong to this time after all. He didn't belong here; he shouldn't be the victim of this terrible Time Force experiment, shouldn't be the one who had to pay for their mistakes.

"Princess Shayla?"

She recognized the voice, but she didn't spare it any attention. Merrick was still breathing, slowly and steadily, and that was the most important thing in her world right now. She desperately hoped that this time would be like all the others--unconscious only briefly, a few minutes at the most, and then awake and aware with nothing more than a hazy memory to show for the time he'd lost.

She didn't like him having to wake up that way. But if the alternative was him not waking up at all, then she would deal with the confusion. Just let him give her something to deal with.

"Wes." Jen's voice, now, and she didn't sound happy. "I don't suppose it would do me any good to confiscate this?"

There was a brief pause before Wes Collins replied, "Well, I'm willing to bet it doesn't work now that you've taken it through a time hole. So... no. I don't suppose it would."

"I thought you had agreed to destroy these."

"Yeah. When we don't need them anymore. That was the deal, Jen. We help Time Force, and Time Force makes sure we don't get killed doing it."

"By loaning you equipment, not teaching you how to build it!"

"You can't loan us enough equipment to keep everyone safe. We do what we have to, and we'll get rid of it when we're done. I told you that."

"Merrick," she whispered, trying to ignore the argument taking place behind her. "I need you here with me. Please don't leave me, not now..." She swallowed, admitting what had been in her heart for a long time. "Not ever."

He didn't stir. It was only to be expected, she thought, for he had been unresponsive for longer than this before. She looked over at the wolf spirit, but he had lapsed into quiescence again without Merrick there to prod him out of it. Lying there, head down between his paws and his crimson eyes closed, he looked no better than his chosen warrior.

She worried about them, but what could she do? They made their own way now. Together, often as not, but separate from her and often just as separate from the magical refuge that was the Animarium. She had wanted Merrick to be free. She should have know that "free" and "safe" would never be synonymous, not for him. Maybe not for anyone.

She looked down at Merrick again, blinking hard as her vision wavered. Tears pricked her eyelids, softening the cold lines of his uniform, and she laid her hand over the protector's emblem. It had always been his job to keep her safe. And if anyone asked if she wanted to be free of him, she would have said no.

She had never asked him.

"Princess Shayla," Jen said quietly. As the Time Force officer knelt down beside her, she nodded to Merrick. "How is he?"

"I don't know," she said helplessly. She pushed harder against the protector's emblem and blue sparkles consumed the ancient uniform, leaving his regular clothes in their wake. Nothing else about him changed. "I don't even know what's wrong."

"It's the wolf, isn't it?" Jen didn't look at all surprised to see Animus' magic here, in the present. "I know that your Rangers bond to their zords somehow..."

"No," she murmured. "Not physically, not the way Merrick is connected to the wolf. Even I didn't realize the connection between them was so deep."

She could hear the frown in Jen's voice. "This isn't normal, then?"

"What good does it do to have warriors so closely linked that the death of one means the death of the other?" she asked rhetorically. She shifted so that she could sit beside Merrick, to wait on his awakening. "All the Rangers share a bond with their animal spirits: a bond of friendship, and trust. A mutual respect. Not dependence."

Still crouching beside her, Jen put one hand on the ground to steady herself. "If it's not dependence, then...?"

"Merrick isn't like the other Rangers," she said softly. She looked up, certain this woman from the future wouldn't need her to tell the story. "He wasn't chosen by his wild zords," she explained, when Jen still didn't seem to understand. "He was cursed with them."

Jen blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

"Surely I've told you this story in the future?" She looked for any sign of recognition in Jen's face, but she found none. "You must know how Merrick came to be in this time."

"I assumed he slept," Jen said, frowning. "Here on the Animarium, with you."

Staring down at Merrick's face, his countenance peaceful now only in repose, she tried to imagine him succumbing to such a state voluntarily. He worked nights on purpose, she was sure--just another way of staving off the inevitable, of postponing the fear of oblivion just a little bit longer.

He must sleep. But she was sure he didn't do it willingly. Considering her own reluctance to close her eyes, she smiled a little, but it was a smile without happiness. Funny that they were more similar than ever despite all the time they spent apart.

"He chose to fight instead," she said aloud. "He always chose to fight. He saved Animaria... and he lost himself."

"He didn't stay with you," Jen surmised. "He joined the battle against the Orgs, four--three thousand years ago. But then... how is he still alive?"

She lowered her voice instinctively, no matter that Merrick showed no sign of awareness. "He called on the spirit of the wolf for the power to defeat Master Org," she murmured. "He was granted that power... and he gave his life in exchange."

She glanced at Jen, who was frowning down at Merrick now. Shayla followed her gaze, remembering the vision of things she had never seen. "The wolf took him and tried to rise to power in the Orgs' place. His friends were forced to entomb him, bound by the force of the moon for the intervening millennia, until someone who knew how to manipulate the locks found his prison and set him free."

Jen didn't say anything for a moment, but finally she asked, "Who?"

"Nayzor. One of the Org generals at the time." She stroked Merrick's hair gently, combing out the silver that had framed his face even before his journey through time. "We had no idea of the power he would release."

"He was still... evil, then," Jen guessed.

She nodded, torn between wanting Merrick to wake and hoping he couldn't hear them. "The wolf went by the name Zen-Aku. By the time he was released he remembered nothing of Merrick, and all he wanted was vengeance against the animal spirits' chosen warriors."

Jen was watching her now. "He didn't get it."

"He was still bound by the moon," she said with a sigh. "His power waxed and waned, and in the moon's absence we were able to communicate with Merrick. Animus and--Animus helped him remember, and showed us how to break the curse."

"Animus," Jen repeated, "and you? Did Zen-Aku recognize you?"

"No." She frowned, refusing to meet Jen's eyes. "Maybe. It... it was hard to tell."

There was a quiet moment, but mercifully, Jen decided to let it go. "So now," she said at last, "Merrick is still linked to the wolf somehow. More strongly than you'd realized?"

"I never expected this," she murmured. Her ring had caught in Merrick's hair, and she could only stare at it, wondering what to do. She couldn't bring herself to disentangle it. "I knew the wolf was ill, but I had no idea..."

"Shayla." Jen was the only one of the Rangers who used her name, and it got her attention now. "I've destabilized the time hole, and as long as no more spring up we'll be able to remove those shards as soon as it dissipates. But I can't guarantee the wolf's condition will improve once we do."

No. She lifted her gaze to Jen's, unable to form the words. Why not?

"The pieces of the crystal have been embedded for a long time," Jen said. Maybe knowing what she was thinking, maybe just continuing her explanation. "Exposure like this could permanently rewrite a human's temporal perception. I don't know what the effect is on a creature like the wild zords, but... if Merrick's symptoms are just the indirect effects?"

Jen paused, then shook her head once. "Well, it's not a good sign. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens when the shards are gone."

"The deer zord." She didn't realize she'd said it aloud until Jen gave her a strange look. "If the cause is gone..." She took a deep breath, hoping it was true. She'd never seen the deer try to cure someone's mind before. "The deer spirit can heal any of his companions."

Jen took that in stride. "This time hole should disappear within the hour. If you'll help me with the wolf, I'll be able to contain the crystal shards immediately, and the deer can go to work."

If she could get the deer to come. "The deer isn't speaking to me right now," she said, focusing all her attention on her fingers as she patiently freed her ring and folded her hands in her lap again. "I'll have to ask Alyssa to come with her animal crystals."

Jen just nodded. "Is there anything I can do for you--either of you," she added, with a glance at Merrick. "In the meantime?"

"May I--" She tried to smile. "May I borrow your cape for a while longer?"

Jen's face softened, and she smiled briefly in return. "Of course. In fact, keep it. It looks better on you, anyway."

Actually, she had thought the future's temporal guardian pulled off her millennia-old fashion with convincing grace. "No," she protested automatically. "I couldn't keep this."

"You can," Jen assured her. "Time Force provides my travel clothes, and frankly, they don't expect much of the stuff they loan to Rangers to come back. It might as well go to someone who appreciates it."

She knew when to acquiesce, so she smiled and thanked Jen for the kindness. She waited until the other woman got up and turned away to pull the cape off of her shoulders. Folding it carefully, she lifted Merrick's head just enough to slide the makeshift pillow underneath, then brushed his hair back once more before she reached for her necklace.

She kept waiting for him to open his eyes. The longer it took, the more she began to dread. What if this was the time they didn't open at all? What if this was the time when Merrick didn't wake up, coherent or otherwise, and even after the wolf was healed the secondhand effects of temporal distortion were too great for his warrior to overcome?

"Alyssa," she said, not taking her eyes off of Merrick. She could hear Jen conferring quietly with Wes behind her, their disagreement apparently put aside for the time being. She could see Moon's worried gaze from the shadows on Merrick's other side, the wolf hybrid sneaking forward now that Jen had left. But most of all she could feel Merrick's breathing, shallow but regular as he lay on the ground of the wolf's den.

"Hi, Princess," Cole's voice replied cheerfully. "Alyssa has parent-teacher conferences tonight, so we're routing all her calls through my growlphone. What do you need?"

She blinked. She hadn't even known that was possible, but she didn't let it distract her from her purpose. "The deer crystal," she told Cole. "I think the deer might be able to heal Merrick's zord."

"Can't you just ask the deer yourself?" Cole asked curiously. "You of all people shouldn't need a crystal, Princess."

She sighed to herself. Yes, her father would have liked Cole very much. He said exactly what was on his mind, and he did it in a way that made one feel that there was no other option but to reply in kind. "I'm afraid the deer isn't very happy with me right now," she admitted. "I don't have any other way of calling him here."

"I understand," Cole answered. The good thing about his unflinching honesty was that one also got the sense that the truth was never wrong, no matter what it was.

"But Princess," his voice added, "we don't have the deer crystal right now. Alyssa said she got the feeling he wasn't comfortable with the tiger, and the deer and the lion have never gotten along. So Danny's been taking care of the crystal for us."

That was rare, but not unheard of. Occasionally those chosen by the animal spirits found that one or another of their spirits could better serve someone else, if only temporarily, and the crystals could be passed from one hand to another. She had never heard of an animal spirit being "uncomfortable" with the person it chose, though.

"Thank you, Cole," she said aloud. "I will ask Danny to bring the crystal here, then."

"Is the wolf worse?" Cole wanted to know. "How's Merrick?"

"They're both worse," she said, looking down at Merrick's still form. "Jen is here with me now, and I'm hopeful that the deer can help."

It was only then that she remembered she had never told Cole about the wolf zord. Taylor, she thought. Trust Taylor to spread the word, quickly and thoroughly, with no inaccuracies. She was a military-trained gossip machine.

Her assumption was confirmed when Cole replied simply, "Taylor said Jen was on her way. Is there anything we can do to help?"

"You already have," she said with a small smile. "Thank you, Cole."

"Anytime, Princess."

She looked over her shoulder, finding Jen and Wes standing quietly together, shoulder to shoulder beside the wolf zord. They were studying the scanner Jen held and had trained on the time hole. Neither of them was saying anything, and she had to take that as a good sign.

Glancing back at Merrick, she sighed. She needed a good sign right now.

At least she had something to do. Danny picked up immediately, and that was a relief. He and Max were constantly turning their phones off for one reason or another, usually involving airports or security or one or the other of them being on a date. She wondered if Cole could teach them to reroute the signal the way he and Alyssa had, so that at least someone could reach them if it was necessary.

"I'm all right," she said, when Danny asked how she was. Polite to the last, that was the Bison Ranger. "But I'm afraid Merrick is very sick, and we think it has something to do with his animal spirit."

"Yeah, the trizerium pieces in the wolf zord's paw." Danny sounded sympathetic and understanding and worried all at once. "Cole told us about that. Did Jen get there yet?"

She had to smile. It wasn't just Taylor. The whole team was very efficient at distributing information. "Yes, she's here," she told Danny. "But she's not sure that removing the trizerium will be enough to heal the wolf. I thought the deer might be able to help."

"Oh, yeah!" Danny sounded enthusiastic. "That's a great idea! He can heal anyone!"

She loved the way Danny talked about the wild zords as though they were people. Even Cole didn't do that, and in many ways he related to them better than any of his teammates did. In this, though, Cole never forgot to separate the animal spirits from their human companions.

"Cole told me that you had the deer crystal," she prompted.

"Oh, right--um." Danny's tone was instantly sheepish. "Actually, Max took it away from me. Just a moment."

The growlphones didn't transmit a lot of environmental noise, but she could distinctly hear him calling for Max. She couldn't hear Max's reply. Danny's voice, on the other hand, was quiet but clear when he answered, "You're the one who said it was making me moody!"

Max must have come close enough for the phone to pick up, because this time she heard his response faintly. "Yeah, but with Taylor, who'd notice?"

Danny's voice was louder again, and she thought he'd probably uncovered the phone. "Um, Princess Shayla? Max says that Taylor has the deer crystal."

At that point, she considered protesting. The animal crystals shouldn't be passed around like... like Max's music, or the books Alyssa loaned to her friends. They chose the person they did for a reason. She wanted to remind the Rangers of this.

She wasn't going to start with Danny. With a silent sigh, she admitted that Danny usually did whatever the others told him. He wasn't the person to lecture, not about this. Besides... he hadn't even asked her what she needed it for.

So she thanked Danny and called Taylor instead. There was a very slight chance that Taylor was already back on the Animarium, but given the circumstances, she probably would have checked in before she went to bed. It seemed likely, then, that Taylor was still with Eric, and that one or both of them wouldn't be very happy about being disturbed.

Fortunately, she wasn't in much of a mood to care.

It took longer for Taylor to answer than it had taken Danny, but she did, and she sounded reasonably alert when she did so. "Taylor," she identified herself. As though anyone else would be picking up Taylor's growlphone.

"I want to use the deer crystal to summon the deer and ask him to heal the wolf spirit," she told Taylor. "I've already been assured that, although everyone else on the team seems to have had the deer crystal at some point, none of them have it now. Max believes it's in your possession. Is this true?"

She heard Taylor snort, and then there was a long pause. Just as she was about to ask again, she heard a man ask, "What's this?"

"It's a phone," Taylor's voice snapped. "Princess Shayla wants to know where the deer crystal is."

There was a shorter pause this time, and then, "Hello?"

She didn't bother trying to conceal her sigh. "Eric, please tell Taylor that I'm sorry to have interrupted your evening, but of the six people on this team, four don't have what I'm looking for and one is unconscious. So if she would just tell me where the deer crystal is, I could retrieve it and leave you to enjoy each other's company."

"The... deer crystal?" Eric didn't sound impressed by her impatience. "Little glass sphere thing with a deer shape inside it? Is that what you're talking about?"

"Yes." She was trying very hard to keep her voice steady. "The deer crystal. Taylor should have it.

"Actually," she added before he could answer, "Alyssa should have it." She was tired of trying, tired of worrying, tired of being alone in this. "The deer crystal was hers, but for some reason, she decided that it wasn't comfortable with her.

"There might," she continued irritably, "have been some small amount of logic in giving the crystal to the team leader for safekeeping, but instead it went to Danny, who let Max take it away from him and pass it on to Taylor. So I apologize if I'm bothering you, but if the deer had stayed with the person it chose then I wouldn't need to!"

"Why didn't it stay with the person it chose?" Eric wanted to know. For a moment she could only stare, wondering how he had so completely failed to get the message. But then Eric's voice said, "From what I understand that was you, Princess. Aren't you the one who gave the deer crystal to Alyssa?"

She opened her mouth, shocked, and she heard Taylor's voice demanding that he give her the phone. "Princess?" Taylor said a moment later. "The crystal's at Eric's place, under the bed, on the right side as you enter the room. It's in a navy blue duffel bag with a school crest on it. Outside zipper pocket, right next to the water bottle holder."

There was a bright flash of light. The last of Taylor's instructions were drowned out by Moon's howl, and she flinched as Merrick started to convulse. She leaned in to grab his arms, ignoring Taylor's sharp question, and suddenly Wes was there on the other side, pushing Moon out of the way and helping her with Merrick.

"We need to move him," Wes said urgently, having to shout over the sound of Moon's panic and the crackling sound coming from behind her. She couldn't turn to see what it was, she could only be grateful for Wes' strength as he restrained Merrick against his own body and shifted them both away from the time hole. She followed without question, snatching Jen's cape off the ground as she scrambled after them.

"Princess," Taylor's voice repeated. "What's happening? Are you all right?"

"She's fine," Wes gritted, pinning Merrick against the side of the den while she held his head and kept him from seizing right into a concussion. "The princess is fine, we're all fine, but we're having a little trouble with the trizerium and we could really use that deer zord about now."

She finally glanced over her shoulder, knowing that Taylor could hear Wes perfectly well, and her eyes widened. The time hole, which had been invisible, was now a swirling mass of indigo-edged blackness that was crackling with electricity. The electricity didn't seem to actually come in contact with anything, but that was small comfort as the time hole writhed inches from where they had just been.

"We're a long way from you right now," Taylor was saying. "I think I can probably walk to the Animarium from here, but it'll take a while to find a place to start from."

Merrick slumped, the awful stiffness pouring out of his body and leaving a limp frame in its wake. His skin was flushed and his breathing ragged, but he seemed so much less threatened that she almost cried in relief. Wes eased up slowly, settling back on his heels when Merrick showed no further sign of movement. He too looked back at the time hole, and at Jen, who was standing beside it without the slightest hint of worry as she frowned down at her scanner.

"How far is a long way?" Wes asked abruptly. He turned back, catching her eye, and she understood that he was talking to Taylor.

There was only the briefest hesitation before Taylor's voice replied, "Out of state."

Wes shook his head. "Forget it," he told the air. "I'll get the crystal. Eric, your spare key still where it always is?"

"Yes," Taylor answered for him. "Look, we're on our way. It's going to take us a while to get there, but we'll meet you on the Animarium."

"Taylor," she offered half-heartedly. "There's nothing you can do here."

"Well, it turns out I'd rather feel useless up there than out here," Taylor retorted. "We're coming back." And she hung up.

"Jen neutralized one of the trizerium shards," Wes told her. He must be used to Taylor's style of communication by now. "When one of the inactive ones started to interfere with the one that's causing that time hole, she thought it was the safest thing. That's probably what caused Merrick to react."

"Will that happen when she neutralizes the other two pieces?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know." He shot another look at the time hole. "She won't do it while I'm gone, anyway, since it looks like it may take all of us to handle this. I'll go get the deer crystal right now."

"Wes--" She wouldn't let go of Merrick, but she reached out with her voice as he stood. "When you come back... there's a knife on the table in the middle of the temple. Merrick's dagger. Would you bring it with you?"

He didn't ask. "Sure thing, Princess."

Wes stopped to confer briefly with Jen before he left, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Moon was leaning against her now, muzzle on her knee and resting against Merrick's shoulder as she found herself, once again, with his head in her lap and his worried pet beside her. Was this all she was good for in his life now? Holding him when he no longer had the strength to push her away?

"Shayla?" Jen's voice was gentle as she crouched down beside them, scanner still in hand as she rested one knee on the ground and looked Merrick over. "How's he doing?"

She shook her head, the answer no better than it had been the last time Jen asked. "I don't know," she said with a sigh. "I wish I did, but I don't. I had hoped that he would wake up before now."

"Maybe better that he doesn't," Jen said quietly, sitting down and resting her head against the wall for a moment. "The temporal stress on his mind is less when he's not consciously fighting it."

She closed her eyes, bowing her head over Merrick's in dismay. "I wish I'd known that," she whispered.

"I wish my tracking grid had picked up those shards before your wolf zord did," Jen answered. "But it didn't, and you didn't, and we can't change what's already happened."

"Can't we?" she murmured, not opening her eyes. "Can't you? Isn't that what you do?"

"That's pretty much the opposite of my job description, actually." Jen didn't sound upset, just matter-of-fact. "Time Force exists to regulate and minimize disruption of the timestream wherever possible."

"And yet here you are," she said softly.

She'd thought Jen would be angry, but instead it sounded as though she'd shrugged. "We screwed up," she said. "We're trying to fix it."

She lifted her head then, a spark of curiosity brightening her fear and doubt. "Why?" she wanted to know. "Why do you try to fix it after the fact? Why don't you just go back and do it over again?"

There was no answer, and she looked over to find Jen smiling. "Do you know," she said conversationally, "you're the only person from this time who's ever asked me that? It's a basic question. It's one of the founding principles of Time Force: that the same person can't exist in the same time twice. But no one else from the twenty-first century has ever asked about it."

She tried to get her mind around that. "So... you can't travel back into your own history?" That didn't make any sense. "But we did. Merrick and I--we just did that."

"I said it was one of the founding principles," Jen pointed out. "I didn't say it was true."

She didn't have any answer for that.

Finally, Jen relented. "I can't argue temporal mechanics with you," she warned. "I can tell you what I was taught, but I'm not a scientist. I get in that time ship and I go where the computer tells me to go, and when I'm done I go back and write my report. Then I go home to dinner and frankly, I don't think about it that much."

"I'm sure," she said quietly, "that whatever you were taught is far beyond me." She tried to smile back at Jen. "But I need something else to think about right now."

Jen put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. That was the only reassurance she offered, but somehow, it helped. So did her words.

"Time Force was founded on two principles," Jen said. "One is that everyone gets one chance to make a decision, and they can't be allowed or forced to do it again. The other is that any given awareness only exists once."

That made very little sense, but it was something else to listen to. Something other than the violent crackling of the time hole and Moon's hair-raising whine. Something other than her own thoughts and fears and self-recriminations.

"The first principle is a moral one, meaning that it's wrong for someone to go back in time and screw things up for everyone else," Jen was saying. "The second is a physical one. It basically says that it's impossible for a person to exist in the same time twice without their awareness being split between those different versions of themselves.

"There's a whole psychological debate," Jen added, "over what it means to be the same person, how long you can actually consider yourself the same individual you were yesterday, and what it is that makes people change. What it comes down to is that no one really knows. So travel to any point in your own past is prohibited."

Jen tilted her head to look over at her again. "That's one of the reasons your time hole excursion got priority on my desk this morning. You went back into your own past. Luckily, you and Merrick have changed a lot since the time you went back to."

She couldn't argue with that. Instead, she focused on the incongruity of Jen's words: "This morning?" she repeated.

Jen looked away. "Linear time parallels are just an illusion," she said sharply. She sounded angry all of a sudden, and Shayla couldn't imagine why. It had seemed an innocuous enough question.

"I'm sorry," Jen said, more softly. "Wes thinks that too. That when he wakes up at five twenty-five on a Monday morning here in 2004, somehow it's exactly the same time in my world--just a thousand years later. Like morning here is morning there. Like a year here is the same as a year there. Like where I am isn't a time at all," she finished with a sigh, "it's just another place."

She thought about Animaria, and all of the days that the time hole in front of them could have taken her to. She remembered Eric saying, "I've gone further back than that, Princess. You could be back in Animaria tomorrow." And she wondered, not for the first time, just when in her country's history she would go, if the choice were indeed hers.

"You could come back to us at any time," she said. Jen--the Jen sitting beside her right now--could go home to Time Force and return ten years in their future. Or fifty. "Fifty years from now," she murmured, struck by the thought, "we might see you later in your day today."

She heard Jen let out a controlled breath, almost a sigh, but not quite. Her reply, when it came, was very quiet. "I'm trying to prevent that."

She glanced over at her, and just like that, she recognized the expression on Jen's face. It was the same fear she felt right now, holding Merrick, wondering if he would ever open his eyes again. It was the fear of losing something--someone--she loved.

Jen caught her eye. "I come back as close to the time I left as I can," she said softly. "Because as soon as I interact with anyone, the times between my visits become off-limits for future travel.

"Time Force regulations," she added with a grimace. "It's fine, it's fair--it makes sense. As long as there isn't anyone in the past that you're trying to stay in contact with. Which there isn't supposed to be."

"Are you... not supposed to have friends in the past?" Shayla ventured.

Jen hesitated. "It's complicated," she said at last. "But basically... no. Not friends like the ones I have here."

She smoothed Merrick's hair back, ignoring Moon's pathetic gaze as she did so. "It would seem we both fell in love with very inconvenient men," she murmured

Jen surprised her by chuckling, but her tone wasn't happy when she spoke. "Yes," she said sadly. "We did, didn't we."

The time hole disappeared.

They looked at each other, and then Jen was on her feet and striding toward the wolf. "Wes," she muttered under her breath. "Where are you?"

Scanner held in front of her, she inspected the area of the time hole before turning back to the animal spirit. "Princess," she called over her shoulder. "I need to neutralize these shards as quickly as possible. The two active shards locked together, but now that the first time hole is gone they could open another one at any time."

Her hands tightened on Merrick's shoulders involuntarily. "Will that... will Merrick--?"

"I don't think so." Jen clearly understood what she was trying to ask. "I think it was the interference that affected the wolf before, and with the shards locked now that shouldn't be a problem.

"But," she added, turning to look at Shayla. "I don't know for sure. And I'm going to need your help to get the shards out of the wolf's paw either way."

She couldn't leave Merrick alone if there was a chance he would suffer another seizure-like episode. And Jen couldn't get to the crystal shards if she didn't make the wolf lift his paw. "Neutralized" didn't mean "contained," she knew that, and she also knew she was being asked to choose between Merrick and the wolf spirit.

"I can't," she told Jen. "I can't leave Merrick. I'll talk to the wolf from here and see if I can get him to help you."

Jen just nodded, not even bothering to protest. "I'm going to neutralize them now," she warned. As she turned back to the wolf, Shayla braced herself.

Nothing happened. Merrick continued to lie just as he was, breathing shallowly, with Moon's nose pressed against his skin. With one of her hands resting gently on his head and the other clutching his shirt collar just over his shoulder... she tried to make her fingers relax when she realized he was fine. Or at least, as close to fine as he had been before.

"Hey, delivery!" A welcome voice echoed from outside the wolf's den, and a moment later Wes was walking in with two very familiar objects in his hands. "What's our status?"

"Not dire enough to warrant calling you back," Jen replied, and there was a definite smile on her face as she swung around to face him. "The time hole's gone and the trizerium's been neutralized. I need Shayla to help me get it out of the wolf so I can get it contained."

"Right," Wes said. He was already heading for her, and he offered the deer crystal to her as he took Jen's former place at her side. When Moon growled at him, he set the dagger down hastily on the floor in front of him.

"Nice wolf," Wes told him, somewhat comically. "Good boy. Or girl. I'm not here to hurt anyone, okay?"

"Moon," she said, easing Merrick more fully onto the floor so that she might stand up. She replaced the cape behind his head before catching Wes' eye.

He nodded before she could say anything. "I'll stay with him while you help Jen," he promised. "Don't worry."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that," she said, bending to pick up Merrick's dagger. "But I appreciate the thought."

The wolf, as she had half-expected, didn't respond any better to her now than it had earlier in the day. She removed the wolf crystal from Merrick's dagger, but even having it in her hand didn't provoke any response. She and Jen finally had to give up. She put the deer crystal in the dagger instead, and with a final look at Merrick, she went outside to call the deer.

He came. Somewhat to her surprise, he came, since he knew who was calling whether she had the crystal or not. The only difference was that now he had to listen. He didn't have to obey--but he did.

His first attempt at healing was enough to make the wolf lift his head. Slowly, wearily, but that was more than he'd been able to do before and they tried again to get him to pick up his paw. After an indescribably disgusted look from the wolf, he did indeed deign to raise his paw far enough for Jen to reach the trizerium shards.

With the shards in containment, the deer's second attempt at healing the wolf was notably more successful. The wolf's eyes narrowed and he let out a growl that made Moon try to crawl behind Merrick--drawing the wolf's attention, and everyone else's as the giant silver head swung toward Merrick and Wes. She held her breath, but Merrick didn't move.

Wes looked over at her, confirming her fear with a shake of his head. Healing the wolf hadn't changed anything for Merrick. She came over to reclaim her place at his side, but she had no idea what to do now.

What was clear, though, was that the wolf wasn't happy to have them all in his den. Between the three of them, they managed to get Merrick back to the temple. The deer didn't linger, not even waiting for her thanks, which she would have given gladly no matter the outcome. She switched the crystals in Merrick's dagger as soon as she had a moment, wished the deer could turn its healing powers on humans as well, and settled in to wait.

Jen thought that Merrick might recover in his own time, now that he was no longer being affected by the wolf's exposure to trizerium. Wes agreed that this seemed possible, and he reminded her that Merrick was a Ranger, with all the enhanced healing and strength that came with it. Taylor and Eric showed up shortly after they had all arrived back at the temple, and demanded a full update.

So it was that Shayla was the only one in proximity to Merrick when his eyes opened. She was stroking his hair absently, watching the others argue over the circumstances and possible outcomes, and wondering if somehow going back in time again could reverse the effects of the wolf's illness. She gasped when a hand grabbed her wrist so tightly it hurt.

The grip relaxed almost instantly. "Merrick?" she whispered. Wide blue eyes stared up at her, and for a moment she was sure she had him back.

Then Moon growled, and the man in her arms sat up so quickly that he almost hit her as he scrambled away. His back stiff, he crouched on the stone for a long moment before flowing to his feet. "No," he said harshly. "No."

Four Rangers were converging on this space now. Taylor was coming toward her, the others a little behind as though they weren't sure they were welcome, and she had a bad feeling about this. She wanted to tell them to stay back, but she couldn't think of any reason to give.

"Merrick," she repeated, and even she heard the wariness in her voice.

"No." He met her gaze without flinching. "I'm sorry, Princess."

She wanted to close her eyes, wanted to shut out this vision of something gone so totally wrong, but his stare wouldn't let her. There was only one name for that expression. "Zen-Aku."

He gave a single, sharp nod.

Taylor was the first one to have a weapon in her hand, and that was all it took for the others to follow suit. The sound of four weapons powering up made her realize what could happen if she didn't stop this. "No!" she cried, on her feet before she knew what she meant to do.

The hasty denial didn't enlighten anyone, but Zen-Aku himself kept the situation from escalating. With a startled look at the Rangers and an oddly apologetic one for her, he held his hands out to the side and went down on one knee in front of her. "I am no threat to you," he told the ground. "This I swear."

The pain of seeing Merrick's bow performed by someone who had none of his mannerisms sliced through her tenuous composure. "Why?" she asked, feeling her voice tremble. "Why are you here?"

He tilted his head to the side as he sighed. It was a disturbingly familiar gesture, and she flinched. Few of his mannerisms, then. It was Taylor's voice that snapped, "Answer her!"

"I don't know," Zen-Aku ground out. He still didn't look up. "It is not my doing."

"Where's Merrick," she said, before Taylor could say anything else. She couldn't quite make it a question, not when she knew what the answer had to be. She could barely keep her voice steady enough to make it a sentence.

It might be Zen-Aku speaking, but it was Merrick's voice, and it softened noticeably when answering her. "I don't know," he repeated, still staring at the ground. She covered her mouth with her hand and turned away, hiding her too-bright eyes from a man who wasn't even looking at her.

"Is this because of that trizerium?" Taylor demanded. "Is he out of time somehow, or having some kind of flashback?"

"I know when I am," Zen-Aku said testily. "It's summer of the year you call 2004. Last month you left the Air Force, joined the Silver Guardians, and started seeing your former lover again. I assure you, I'm not some kind of temporal ghost."

Shayla's eyes widened. "How do you--" Turning, she found Taylor and Zen-Aku locked in some sort of staring contest that ended the moment he noticed her watching. Merrick's blue eyes could be every bit as intimidating as Zen-Aku's gold when he looked at her like that.

She tried again, willing him to look away. "How do you know that?"

He didn't look away, but his tone lost its irritable edge the moment he replied. "Merrick told me," he said simply.

"What!" Taylor had found her voice. "That's ridiculous! You are Merrick! Or you were," she added quickly. "Or he was you. Or--whatever."

Zen-Aku ignored the Eagle Ranger, instead speaking directly to Shayla. "It seems," he told her, "that my spirit is still bound to his. For what reason, I do not know. But I have traveled with him for years--helping him as I can, listening when I can not. He has told me a great deal about you."

"Great," Taylor declared. "Merrick's invisible stalker and confidant, all in one. So you waited until he was vulnerable and then you betrayed him by stealing his body?"

"Silence!" Zen-Aku roared. He was on his feet, and though Merrick's height wasn't really intimidating next to Taylor, his sheer volatility made him an imposing presence. "Allow the adults to have one conversation without your childish meddling!"

"Childish meddling!" Taylor looked outraged. Eric looked uneasy. Of course with him it was hard to tell, but Jen and Wes were exchanging glances that said they were ready to start firing if it became necessary.

"Listen, buddy," Taylor began, but Zen-Aku overrode her.

"You listen," he snarled. "Because here's an idea: everyone under a thousand, hold your tongue!"

"Stop it!" The words burst out of her. "This isn't helping! Merrick is gone and we don't know where or how and I don't care about these stupid arguments! So just--"

She ran out of things to say abruptly, painfully, her voice breaking and tears threatening all at once. She twisted her fingers together, and the ring on her left hand dug into her skin. The sharp stab of one reality against another seemed somehow appropriate.

"Just go away," she said, very quietly. Even she wasn't sure who she meant.

"Princess." It was Merrick's voice that broke the ensuing silence, but the tone was Zen-Aku's. "There are things I would say to you."

She didn't care anymore. "Say what you will."

There was a brief hesitation, and then he insisted, "Alone."

"Absolutely not," Taylor declared.

"Taylor." She folded her arms, staring past all of them at the fountain that still trickled happily over the stones. "Would you give us a moment, please?"

"What!" Taylor exclaimed. "You can't be serious, Princess."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zen-Aku tip his head back, lifting his gaze to the sky in silent appeal. It was such a strange gesture, so utterly foreign to Merrick's more controlled countenance, that it actually steadied her a little. "Yes," she told the fountain. "I'm perfectly serious."

Taylor hesitated longer than Zen-Aku had. Finally, though, she said, "Fine. We'll go up to the roof where we can keep an eye on you."

She didn't protest. She could hear them leaving, muttered words exchanged between Wes and Eric and a sharp "Shut up!" from Taylor that made one of the others laugh. When she lifted her head, though, she found Jen still standing there.

"I won't interfere." Jen forestalled her comment with a calm tone that didn't invite negotiation. "But you're my friend, and he's not who he looks like. I won't leave you alone with someone you can't react to objectively."

Again, she didn't argue. Zen-Aku had never shown any inclination to harm her, even before he knew who she was. She had come between him and the Rangers and he had turned away. She had told Jen that she didn't know whether he recognized her or not... but in her heart, she had always believed that he and Merrick were closer than either of them admitted.

That didn't mean she would have any mercy if the choice was one or the other.

"It's important to me that you believe I didn't do this on purpose," Zen-Aku said at last. He ignored Jen's presence completely, except for the fact that he didn't move. "I've followed Merrick for some time. I've never tried to take anything that was his."

Her fingers clenched on her arms, and she couldn't keep herself from saying it anymore than she could make herself look at him right now. "Except his soul."

"That was mine," Zen-Aku growled. "Those were the terms of the deal, Princess. My power for his soul. I didn't take anything he hadn't agreed to give."

"He was free of you!" she cried, lifting her gaze to the sky. "You can't have him back!"

There was a long moment of silence, and then Merrick's voice told her, "Neither of us has ever been truly free, Princess. Not since he put on that mask."

She stared up at the sky, still refusing to look at him. "What do you want?" she asked softly. She wasn't sure she could stand to hear the answer, but if he was holding Merrick hostage somehow then it was the only question that mattered.

His reply took her by surprise. "I want to apologize," he said gruffly. "For that. For being his jailer. For being here at all, now." A brief pause, and then he added more quietly, "For kidnapping you the first time we met."

She had to lower her head to swallow, looking toward him without meeting his eyes. "Why?" she whispered.

He must have heard her. "Because he responded to you. I wanted to know why. He's always held that incident against me... more than anything else, I think."

"I meant--" It was so unfathomable, that she was standing here talking to someone who looked exactly like Merrick about Merrick. "Why would you want to apologize?"

His voice sounded distant and troubled. "As I changed him, Princess, so has he changed me."

The sound of Jen's weapon arming made her turn in alarm. The woman from the future looked out of time herself, standing in the middle of the temple in a court dress with her firing arm braced against her wrist. But she wasn't aiming at Zen-Aku--her target seemed to be a boy on the other side of the clearing who looked like he had just wandered in off the streets of Turtle Cove.

"Hello," Kite said. Staring back at Jen, he remarked, "You're taller than I remembered."

Zen-Aku jerked away, stumbling backward before he caught himself and glared at the boy with apparent disgust. "Who are you?" he sneered.

Kite gave him an appraising glance. "Hello, Zen-Aku," he said in his child's voice. "Congratulations. You've finally earned the release you always sought."

She saw Jen glance at her, maybe looking for instruction, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the figure in front of her. His sneakers were as worn as ever, his old blue sweatshirt in disarray over top of his striped t-shirt and too-big jeans. There was no sign of the sunlit glow that had come out of nowhere to illuminate him the last time they'd stood face to face.

"The Rangers have proven themselves worthy," he had told her. "This fight belongs to them now. There is no need for me to return."

"Weren't you wearing a cape with that dress?" Kite was asking Jen. He paid no attention to her weapon, as though she wasn't even holding it. "Not that it doesn't look stunning either way," he added. "I'm just curious."

"Okay," Jen said, not moving. "I can't believe I'm agreeing with a vengeful three thousand year old wolf ghost about anything... but who are you?"

Shayla twined her fingers together and lowered her head, giving him the same approximation of a bow that Merrick had once given her. "Animus," she greeted the boy quietly.

She felt the incredulous look Jen tossed her way. "You're kidding me."

"Shayla, making a joke?" Kite sounded solemn and curious at the same time, which was probably what happened when a boy his age tried to sound politely amused. "This would be the first time."

She heard the others only moments before they burst into the clearing, Taylor coming to an abrupt halt as she took in the tableau. "Kite?" she gasped. She was flanked on either side by Eric and Wes, neither of whom seemed sure whether to draw their weapons or start asking questions.

Then Taylor shook her head, correcting herself with what was--for her--significantly more respect. "Animus? What are you doing here?"

Kite actually smiled at her. "Looking after my own," he said simply.

Zen-Aku staggered, putting a hand out to catch himself before he regained his balance. He stared around as though he had no idea where he was, and when his gaze came to rest on her she took an involuntary step forward. He looked very much like Merrick at that moment.

Then those blue eyes settled on Kite, and it wasn't an instinctive response. She would have sworn he thought about it first. Then, deliberately, he went to one knee and lowered his head.

"This is why you befriended me," he said, staring down at the ground. "Because of that night at the castle. You knew I would be controlled by the wolf."

"I knew you would bring the spirit of the wolf to my temple," Kite told him. "Rise, Merrick. You have more than made up for the evil you did as Zen-Aku."

She was already walking toward him, running as he got to his feet, giving him no chance to stop her before she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped her up in an unashamed hug, and she heard him whisper her name as his embrace tightened. Merrick was back. He was here and he was hers and she didn't doubt for a moment that he was well--Animus would have seen to that. As he had promised.

She heard exclamations behind her, the sound of another weapon arming, and felt Merrick stiffen all at once. He didn't let her go until she tried to step back, and then he kept a protective arm around her as she turned. Everyone was staring at the man beside Kite.

"Whoa!" It was Cole's voice, the Lion Ranger appearing behind Kite and the stranger at the temple entrance. "Take it easy, guys. What's going on?"

"There is no threat here," Kite told Jen, who was the only one still holding a weapon.

She pulled it back without question, but she kept her eyes on the stranger who towered over Kite. All of them towered over Kite, if it came to that, but the man who stood beside the boy was unfamiliar. Cole didn't seem troubled by his presence or surprised to see Kite as he strolled into the temple with utter confidence.

The deer crystal, she thought inconsequentially. The calls she had made about the deer crystal had alerted him, and now he was here to see what was happening. Cole liked to know everything that went on with the animal spirits.

"Who's this?" Cole asked curiously. "Hi Kite," he added, before anyone could answer. "Have I missed anything?"

"Hello, Cole." Kite nodded to the man beside him and said, "This is Zen-Aku. He has been given a form independent of Merrick's in return for the good he has done since they were cursed."

"Really?" Cole stopped where he was, considering the man in question. His clothes were black and his hair was shot through with silver, but otherwise there was no trace of the wolf in him now. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his dark eyes were wary but unafraid. He clearly had several decades on Merrick.

"Congratulations," Cole said at last, unintentionally echoing Kite. He held out his hand, nodding once. "Zen-Aku."

The older man hesitated, his gaze darting around the temple. The Silver Guardians had come forward to stand with Jen, who had made her weapon disappear while Shayla wasn't looking. Merrick put his free hand on her waist possessively, and the man's eyes lingered on them a little longer than the others. He glanced at Kite before looking back at Cole, and finally he held out his hand in return.

Cole clasped his hand firmly, ever the ambassador, and offered a small smile. "Good to see you again."

Zen-Aku let go of his hand. "Don't push it," he muttered, and his voice was low and gravelly and oddly familiar.

"Why now?" Merrick wanted to know. If Zen-Aku had really been following him for an indeterminate amount of time, then he didn't have to explain himself.

"Because he's been forgiven," Kite said simply. "And now is the right time."

There was a long moment of stillness. Then Zen-Aku turned and walked away. It took her a moment to realize what was happening, but Merrick saw it before she did.

"Hey," he called after the other man. "Where are you going?"

Zen-Aku paused, just inside the entrance to the temple. He didn't look back. "Still have to forgive myself," he told the door. "That kind of thing is better done alone."

He was gone before any of them could stop him.

It seemed his departure was meant to be bracketed by silence, because they mostly just stood and looked at each other. Was that it? The wolf was well, Merrick was here, and Zen-Aku was gone?

"So, this 'alone' thing," Merrick said at last. "Was I ever that bad?"

"No," she murmured reassuringly. "Of course not."

Cole and Taylor exchanged glances, and at the same time they both declared, "Yes."

She smiled when Merrick squeezed her shoulder. "Perhaps," she allowed. "Once or twice."

"A day," Taylor added.

"It's time for me to go," Kite announced. "It was good to see all of you again."

"Hey, why don't you stay?" Cole wanted to know. "Get some ice cream? My treat."

Only Cole, she thought, would offer Animus ice cream.

The boy's face broke into a grin, incongruous in his otherwise serious expression. "I wish I could," Kite replied. "I have other things to do now."

"Next time," Cole said easily. As though he already knew there would be a next time.

To her surprise--or maybe not--Kite just nodded. "Be well, Rangers," he told them. "Shayla." He put his hands in the pockets of his blue sweatshirt and headed toward the stairs, trudging solemnly across the temple floor without another word.

"Animus," Merrick called suddenly, and Kite turned back. "What made you forgive Zen-Aku now--today?"

Kite shook his head. "It wasn't my forgiveness he wanted," the boy said. He held Merrick's gaze easily, curiously, as he added, "It was yours."

He started up the stairs then, seemingly unaware of all their eyes on him. There was a place at the top of the stairs that was hidden from sight, and there he vanished. Although they watched for some time, they never saw him emerge onto the roof.