Dying Star (Power Rangers SPD - Bridge Carson)

~ ALNITAK ~

Astrid fell to the floor while watching the scene in front of her. Her mother placed her into the dumpster. She looked around for a bit, the quickly ran away, not knowing at all of what was going to happen next.

"I'm not going to let you get what you want. And I know it's not true."

"Believe what you want. But I'll get it one way or another. And I'll do anything I have to. And that includes killing your friends, if they get in my way that is."

~

She went to feel her heart right after she woke up. There wasn't any pain, nor had her heart rate risen. She let out a sigh. She was glad for it, not because there wasn't pain, but because it didn't catch Bridge's attention.

She laid back down and rested her arm over her eyes. She came to her realization that what she had wasn't a dream or a premonition, that was a message. The dream she had the other week was definitely the premonition. Astrid seeing herself in a prison while being attached to a tube and wires. That was real. Gruumm suddenly appearing from the darkness, that was real.

Gruumm was somehow going to take her. But only time could tell when that would happen. As for now, she'd have to do everything she could to stop it.

Blood. Her blood. Everything he said, there was no way it was true. Yet it somehow made sense. From her speed to her energy. And she quickly realized that the tube from her dreams was sucking the blood out of her.

In a panic, Astrid jumped out of her bed and quickly, but quietly made her way to the lab. She stared at Bridge's door as she walked past his room. Would he be angry if she hid this to herself? Most definitely. But she needed to keep everyone safe. And in order to do that, she couldn't tell this to anyone. As Gruumm had said, he'd do anything to get what he wanted.

The doors to the lab opened up for her and she quickly sped over to the engine. Her breathing was heavy. She thought back to what Gruumm had said. She wanted to prove it wrong. But how?

Astrid looked around the room. None of the tools on the table seemed sharp enough. She looked around the lab some more for something. Fortunately, she did find something. The sharpest thing in the room was the pencil compass.

She held it up to her own hand. Her hands were shaking, her breathing still heavy. She grabbed a clean rag and put it in her mouth. She took one last breath and held it in as she slowly made a deep cut on her palm. The pain wasn't as bad as she thought, but it definitely stung.

Blood was dripping from her hand and onto the floor. She took whatever blood she could and put it into the engine motor. Nothing seemed to happen. Astrid let out a sigh of relief when seeing nothing. She sat down on the chair and leaned her head back.

She lifted her right hand and eyed her monitor. It hadn't gone up during all this time thankfully. She looked down at her left hand. It was completely covered in blood. And it still stung.

Astrid planned to wash it off, but she was way too tired from the stress she just endured. She closed her eyes, dropped her hand back down, and let the blood drip to the floor. She just needed a bit of rest.

Light began to shine in her face. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the engine slowly glowing. She stood up in a panic. "No. No. No. No. No. No. No."

It was getting brighter and brighter. At this point, it was already looking just like Sam's engine. Her heart dropped as it continued to glow. She wanted to stop it, but she didn't know how. She was too much in a panic trying to find a way to stop it, she forgot about her bloody hand that was touching everything.

The sound of the doors opening frightened her. She turned around and saw Sam standing there. Thankfully it wasn't one of the others, but this was still bad. "I see you found out. But how?" He asked.

Astrid didn't say anything. Sam noticed her heavy breathing. He looked around and saw the blood on the floor, then his eyes moved to her bloody hand. "Hey, I think you hurt yourself." He said.

Astrid ran over and tried pushing him out the room. "Just forget what you saw and go back to bed. It's nothing."

"Hey, what's the deal? What happened?"

"Nothing you need to know. Nor does anybody else. Forget what you saw and just-"

"It's your blood, isn't it? Your blood is what was used to power up that engine?" He asked. He took a closer look at the setting around him. There was blood everywhere. On the floor, the table, all over the engine. And it was glowing. It was finally at its full power.

Astrid let out an annoyed sigh. She pulled him into the room and locked the doors so that no one else could come in. "You can't let anyone else know about this." She said.

She grabbed a white sheet and used it to cover the engine. Unfortunately, it still lit up under the sheet. She grabbed two more sheets and covered it up. Still a bit of light, but it wasn't that noticeable. She pushed the table to the corner where it was hidden by everything else. "How is that possible?" He asked.

Astrid sat down on the chair while holding her bloody hand. There was no point in lying, but there was no way she could tell him the whole truth. In the end, he'd end up telling the others. Even now if she did, but she'd have to convince him not to.

"I had a dream. I was somehow in Gruumm's prison, and he was using my blood. I don't know what for, but I knew it was bad. I ended up waking up and rushing here. That's how I found out."

Now she had to wait for the day to face Gruumm in person. She didn't want that. It frightened her.

"You can't tell anyone about this. Not Cruger. Not Kat. No one" She sternly.

"I'm sorry, but I have to. It's for your own safety. We need to keep you somewhere safe."

"We'll I don't care about my safety. Because if Gruumm already knows, there's nothing we can do to stop him. It's you guys that I need to protect. With how Gruumm is, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt you all just to get to me. So until this whole situation calms down, not a word comes out about this."

She grabbed a clean rag wrapped it around her bloody hand. She grabbed another and started cleaning the blood all over the place. "This stays between you and me. Got it?"

Sam stood silently as she cleaned off everything she could. She worked fast. And seeing her speed now, it all made sense as to why it could have been her blood.

"Got it." He muttered. As much as he wanted to tell the others, he knew she was right. If this information were to get out, it'd be chaos.

Running away from her problems, that's what she was good at. She did her best to get rid of all the evidence. She took another sheet and covered the engine again. Thankfully it wasn't as bright. As for the cut on her hand, she'd have to figure out a lie to tell everyone.

Coming up with a lie wasn't difficult, trying to convince them was the bigger problem.

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