Startled, Mia stumbled backward, her hand immediately cupping her inflicted cheek. She would have fallen if Mai did not grab onto her wrist.
"Mayumi!" Daisuke's angry voice appeared on the scene as if he had always been there.
"Mia?" Jayden noticed how Mai was holding onto Mia and assumed that she felt ill. Worried, he came to her side.
"Kaa-san..?" Mia was still stunned, especially since so many people appeared before her at once.
"Kaa-san??" Jayden's eyes widened as he looked at the mystery woman then Mia, noticing the resemblance.
"Are you okay?" Mai asked Mia. "It looked like it hurt."
"Mayumi, you must not leave." Daisuke noticed her beginning to wheel away.
"You got hurt?" Jayden just realized after seeing how red Mia's face was once she lifted her hand off of it.
"Wait!" Mia called out as Mayumi wheeled further.
Mayumi stopped and turned her chair around, glaring into Mia's watery eyes, identical to her own.
"Why?" Mia demanded a reason for the sudden attack but was only met with a spiteful glare.
Mayumi turned and wheeled away.
"Could you get some ice?" Daisuke asked Mai. She immediately scurried off, leaving him alone with the two flabbergasted rangers.
"I'm sorry Mia, I d-" Daisuke began, until he was startled by her tears. He sighed before taking a hold of her hands. "Your mother doesn't handle her emotions well. She doesn't know how. She shouldn't have taken it out on you."
Mia nodded and sniffled, with tears racing down both of her eyes. Still she was speechless.
Jayden frowned, picking up on what just happened between the mother and daughter. He placed his hand on Mia's shoulder.
"Daisuke san, we saw that a part of the house collapsed." Jayden mentioned as they moved towards a different room. "Did anyone get hurt?"
"Thankfully, no one was hurt in the accident. Lauren and Kevin did a great job at protecting everyone as we had some issues controlling Terry."
~~~
*Flashback to after Ch 99 at the Watanabe House*
"You've been here for some time, Ms. Shiba." Mai peered into Terry's room to find Lauren's face buried in a book.
It was a book she had read many times throughout her childhood, all about the workings of symbol power.
It was filled with things she and the rangers already knew. But she read it attentively, unaware of how it gave her a bittersweet feeling of nostalgia. The same feeling as watching an old show or visiting a place from childhood.
"It's just Lauren." Lauren didn't care for honorifics.
"Oh.. Pardon me, L.. Lauren." A nervous smile plumped Mai's freckled cheeks. "Would you like anything? Food? Water?"
"No," Lauren spoke before she considered her needs.
"Oh..." Mai's long brunette braid followed her as she turned away, only to think about how she was told to make sure Lauren ate.
"Are you sure?" Mai's voice came back as Lauren delved into her book. Now she was crouching right before Lauren, observing her usually pale face.
"I'll bring you something to eat." Mai got up only to realize she couldn't stand. Something she couldn't understand was keeping her down.
"Are you okay?" Lauren rested her book and kneeled beside her, realizing she didn't know the name of the distressed servant.
All of a sudden, a groan came from Terry's direction, escalating into desperate cries.
"Terry?" Lauren approached him, only to be pulled into his grasp.
Immediately, Lauren yanked her body away from him and grabbed his shoulder, prepared to secure his neck if needed.
Then looking into his eyes, she did not expect her heart to break. It was as if she could hear him screaming for help through his teary, silver eyes.
It was then she understood that he wasn't trying to hurt her.
Lauren immediately loosened her grip around his shoulders, allowing him to clench onto her as he shrieked and gasped.
Then Kevin charged into the room, assessing the situation.
"He's in pain." Lauren felt lost, confronted by her own confusion about what to do.
"Are you alright?" Kevin asked as he noticed Mai crouching on the floor, seeming to be struggle but completely motionless.
"I can't move!" Mai mumbled through her closed lips.
Kevin and Lauren looked at each other, thinking the same reason as to why.
"Maybe my swordfish zord could help him?" Kevin whipped it out.
But it didn't work and Terry continued to cry, gripping onto Lauren's black sweater.
"Is there anything else we can do?" Kevin urgently asked Lauren, hoping she would have some sort of answer.
"The light zord?" She suggested.
"The others took it with them." Kevin informed her.
"I'll try using my own symbol power then.. hold him." Lauren passed Terry over.
"Are you sure? You nearly died when trying to seal Xandred. And you just used a crazy amount of symbol power taking back the tiger zord." Kevin worried. "This isn't sustainable at all."
Ignoring Kev, Lauren concentrated on drawing a soothing symbol. The symbol floated towards Terry, then was absorbed by his heart.
Little by little, Terry began to calm down until he fell asleep.
"Oop-" Mai was suddenly freed by whatever restricted her from moving, and pressed her palms against the floor to avoid face planting.
"Are you okay, Lauren?" Kevin put away his swordfish zord.
"I'm okay. I just need to sit down." Lauren searched for Kevin's hands, which were extended out to her.
As Lauren stumbled towards him, Kevin caught her in a hug.
"You can't do these symbols anymore. It's not healthy." Kevin nagged.
"I know." Lauren's response was the last thing Kevin expected her to say. He almost didn't recognize her voice for a moment.
Typically, Lauren pushed past her limits with no regard for her body's limits. She never worried about her health in the long run, because to her, there was no long run.
But now, there was something she desired, beyond the samurai and Xandred stuff. And with that came a spark of hope, no matter how tiny.
And it hit her... Could I save myself?
A loopy feeling took hold of her, tingling at her fingertips and toes, making her vision swirl. Was it the excitement or plain dizziness?
"I'll take you back to your room. We'll have to do a lot of thinking later." Kevin scooped her up and carried her off, taking one last look at Terry.
"I'll be right back." Kevin told Mai. "Can you watch him..."
"Mai." She bowed her head to him.
"Thank you Mai." Kevin took off with Lauren.