****Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, Power Rangers in Space, any of these magnificent characters or names. Only thing I own is the computer I used to type it up with. *shh.. don't tell the Repo man.*
The story behind this.. erm.. story.. is one that's almost 5 years in the making. Variations on this same theme have been written by me for years, but this is the one I believe is the best.
It asks the question, one that I believe needed to be asked and answered; "What is going through Karone's head at the end of Countdown to Destruction part 2?" My own personal gripe was that she was so cavalier about leaving her old life behind... and most especially, it really made me angry that she could go on with a brand new life without a single look back at her sole companion, her guardian, and as she said herself "The only one she could ever trust", Ecliptor. Truthfully.. I brooded about that for years. I was angry... furious. Oftentimes, I exaggerated their relationship in my own fic series to compensate for the anger I felt.
But, before this turns into the opening monologue for a Lifetime movie, I would simply like to explain the PoV for this fic, and my intentions.
It's written from Karone's PoV. I tried to be fair, true to life. If you don't think I was either, I apologize. This is a great improvement on my older fics (anyone wanna see Karone punching Andros in the face when she finds out that he shattered Zordon's tube..??) but I'm by no means a professional writer.
My intentions are to have fun, reignite my own interests in the series, and write the best damn fic I can write! I believe it's a rather unique concept (ha... just like Kimberly and Tommy romance fics, ne?) and I have attempted to bring it to life in the most vibrant and intriguing way I can.
Additional note: I just realized that since April 13, this author's note has read the title of the infamous PRiS finale as "Countdown to Construction". What in the hell is that?? Some kind of Bob the Builder/PR crossover?! My sincere apologies. I should really get someone to beta-read these things. ::sweatdrops::
****
~~
Prologue: "Nothing"
***
It was... shall we say... a little strange. As far as I was concerned, no time had passed since that last vivid memory had etched itself into my consciousness. It seemed very simple at first; I went onto the Dark Fortress, when Dark Specter sent the asteroid toward earth. And.. then, only a minute later, I left the Dark fortress. Simple. Everything had gone right.
Surrounded by smiling faces. My brother. Andros. He was... was he crying? Why was he.. crying? The last time I saw him cry, we were little kids. He fell off the roof of the house.. such a little maniac back then. He made mom furious. Of course, she was crying, too. He didn't really hurt himself, but it was scary nonetheless. Little things like that were so scary back then, weren't they, Andros? But I don't understand why you're crying now... everything's okay, isn't it? Did we stop the asteroid??? Andros?
I was so confused. I had expected to come back to the Megaship.. but instead, I was outside someplace. I blinked a couple times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and then, I spoke. My voice didn't crack like I thought it would. "Andros?? What am I doing here?"
He smiled at that. What was he smiling about? Was that relief in his eyes? It filled his face like a wave.. of every emotion he was capable of. More than I'd ever seen before.
"It's... a long story." he whispered, voice cracking as he laughed a little bit. His eyes sort of raised above my head, and I turned around confusedly. With a short gasp, I found myself face to face with all the other rangers. All of whom looked ecstatic.
On closer inspection, every one of them also looked like the very asteroid I'd been going to stop had hit them head on. Ripped clothes, dirty faces, tired eyes that barely focused, but somehow were bursting with glee.
Now, I knew I'd missed something. That was obvious.. but something seemed very very wrong. People stood beyond the rangers, as far as I could see. Humans, all dressed in similarly dilapidated clothing. Humans who almost looked as confused as I did, but who also managed to keep a happy glaze in their half-dead eyes.
With all the joy around me, the rangers hugging me, and the foreign light of earth's sun blinding me everytime I attempted to look behind Andros, I made a feeble attempt to look happy. Foolishly, I also tried to pretend that everything was okay, just as it was before I returned to the Dark Fortress.
But the truth was, I felt a deep, burning dread inside my chest. It was rising upward, with every breath I took. It threatened to burst into my throat, forming the words.. a few words, simple ones...the last words I remembered speaking. Because the mood had so suddenly and so dramatically shifted from that of my last waking memory, I had to wonder..
If I spoke them again, would it shatter this blinding reverie, and bring me back to reality? Reality... which surely wasn't this. Not this... this eutopia of tired faces and cold metal under my body. Silence... surely the silence would return after my piercing scream? Surely that would be what I'd want! Silence. The very elements at my beck and call...
N..no..
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and Andros looked at me again. "Karone.. um.. there's.. something we have to take care of now. Now that you're.. okay." He smiled as he said it, and took my hand, trying to pull me to my feet.
That was another thing. What was I doing lying down? I'd managed to sit up, but I'd felt my hair on the cold metal floor upon my first moment of consciousness. Since I was outside, I assumed I must have been on.. some part of the Megaship. Perhaps.. it crashed? On earth.. and.. that would explain everybody's appearance.
I let Andros pull me to my feet, and then he all of the sudden pulled me to him in a crushing embrace. I gasped outwardly, my body stiff as a board. My ears were ringing, but in the distance I could hear what sounded like thunderous applause. Even the pink ranger... Cassie, was behind us, yelling and screaming and dancing.
Andros, his face buried in my shoulder, said to me quietly that he'd never let me go again as long as he lived. It sent chills down my spine.. not, though, because of his tender words and the happy thought of being with my family again.
It was almost as though his words were begging for forgiveness from me. I glanced upward, and saw at last a decent view of our wherabouts... we were standing on a docking ramp on what must have been the Megaship. What had to be the megaship.
Andros let me go a moment later, and he took my hand, a silent gesture for me to walk away from this docking ramp with him. I looked out at the monstrous crowd, and shook my head, smiling. It was all so weird. I all of a sudden couldn't wait to hear the entire sordid story. Knowing my brother, it'd be a good one... I imagined I probably wouldn't get the entire truth from him, so I'd have to ask... oh... maybe.. the Silver Ranger.
A blush flooded my cheeks at the thought, and I secretly giggled and looked down at the dock in embarrassment. Oh, Karone, what a thought, what a tho---
I blinked.
What... was that I saw?
Andros was still pulling me ahead, but I kept my gaze locked on the metal platform beneath me.
Red... I distinctly saw red.
Red... a very familiar shade of red.... oh no oh no... no no no...
I frowned as I continued walking, and what I saw on the platform slowly became an angular red and silver design.
This isn't it.. no no no no no, you aren't seeing that. No. This is the megaship.
I'd all but stopped. I felt the friction between my hand and Andros' as my hand flew out of his grasp.
You aren't seeing this.
"Karone?" Andros asked, turning around to face me.
I felt my pulse quicken and I slowly walked backwards to get the entire picture.. of an image I'd seen so many times I'd never forget it... yet it still seemed strangely foreign. As if I'd forgotten it.
Andros followed my gaze and saw it too.. he knew immediately what it was. We both knew.. for since we were children it was the crest of our family.
Etched into the lockets we both wore religiously, as a symbol of our love and the family who we loved more than life itself.
Etched onto the scepter I carried religiously, as a symbol of my power and those who had fallen before me, bleeding and dying, as I laughed.
Etched, burned, printed, shown in each and every corner of the fortress I lived on for the past year... as a symbol of...
No.
Despite my heart's denial, I slowly turned around, to find myself staring at an open doorway. A doorway which led to a darkened red room.
Andros quickly appeared behind me, grabbing my arm.
"Karone, please... don't go in there. Please."
I turned to look at him incredulously. "What do you mean, Andros?"
He looked at me with extreme seriousness in his eyes, and shook his head.
My gaze lingered into that doorway for what seemed like an eternity. But finally, I turned back to my brother, my eyes wide with what I hoped would come off as understanding.
He smiled. "I promise, I..."
"You... will tell me what's going on here, won't you?" I asked, my voice a whisper.
"I promise, Karone. I will tell you everything. Everything. I will tell you... everything."
He wouldn't tell me anything.
The story behind this.. erm.. story.. is one that's almost 5 years in the making. Variations on this same theme have been written by me for years, but this is the one I believe is the best.
It asks the question, one that I believe needed to be asked and answered; "What is going through Karone's head at the end of Countdown to Destruction part 2?" My own personal gripe was that she was so cavalier about leaving her old life behind... and most especially, it really made me angry that she could go on with a brand new life without a single look back at her sole companion, her guardian, and as she said herself "The only one she could ever trust", Ecliptor. Truthfully.. I brooded about that for years. I was angry... furious. Oftentimes, I exaggerated their relationship in my own fic series to compensate for the anger I felt.
But, before this turns into the opening monologue for a Lifetime movie, I would simply like to explain the PoV for this fic, and my intentions.
It's written from Karone's PoV. I tried to be fair, true to life. If you don't think I was either, I apologize. This is a great improvement on my older fics (anyone wanna see Karone punching Andros in the face when she finds out that he shattered Zordon's tube..??) but I'm by no means a professional writer.
My intentions are to have fun, reignite my own interests in the series, and write the best damn fic I can write! I believe it's a rather unique concept (ha... just like Kimberly and Tommy romance fics, ne?) and I have attempted to bring it to life in the most vibrant and intriguing way I can.
Additional note: I just realized that since April 13, this author's note has read the title of the infamous PRiS finale as "Countdown to Construction". What in the hell is that?? Some kind of Bob the Builder/PR crossover?! My sincere apologies. I should really get someone to beta-read these things. ::sweatdrops::
****
~~
Prologue: "Nothing"
***
It was... shall we say... a little strange. As far as I was concerned, no time had passed since that last vivid memory had etched itself into my consciousness. It seemed very simple at first; I went onto the Dark Fortress, when Dark Specter sent the asteroid toward earth. And.. then, only a minute later, I left the Dark fortress. Simple. Everything had gone right.
Surrounded by smiling faces. My brother. Andros. He was... was he crying? Why was he.. crying? The last time I saw him cry, we were little kids. He fell off the roof of the house.. such a little maniac back then. He made mom furious. Of course, she was crying, too. He didn't really hurt himself, but it was scary nonetheless. Little things like that were so scary back then, weren't they, Andros? But I don't understand why you're crying now... everything's okay, isn't it? Did we stop the asteroid??? Andros?
I was so confused. I had expected to come back to the Megaship.. but instead, I was outside someplace. I blinked a couple times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and then, I spoke. My voice didn't crack like I thought it would. "Andros?? What am I doing here?"
He smiled at that. What was he smiling about? Was that relief in his eyes? It filled his face like a wave.. of every emotion he was capable of. More than I'd ever seen before.
"It's... a long story." he whispered, voice cracking as he laughed a little bit. His eyes sort of raised above my head, and I turned around confusedly. With a short gasp, I found myself face to face with all the other rangers. All of whom looked ecstatic.
On closer inspection, every one of them also looked like the very asteroid I'd been going to stop had hit them head on. Ripped clothes, dirty faces, tired eyes that barely focused, but somehow were bursting with glee.
Now, I knew I'd missed something. That was obvious.. but something seemed very very wrong. People stood beyond the rangers, as far as I could see. Humans, all dressed in similarly dilapidated clothing. Humans who almost looked as confused as I did, but who also managed to keep a happy glaze in their half-dead eyes.
With all the joy around me, the rangers hugging me, and the foreign light of earth's sun blinding me everytime I attempted to look behind Andros, I made a feeble attempt to look happy. Foolishly, I also tried to pretend that everything was okay, just as it was before I returned to the Dark Fortress.
But the truth was, I felt a deep, burning dread inside my chest. It was rising upward, with every breath I took. It threatened to burst into my throat, forming the words.. a few words, simple ones...the last words I remembered speaking. Because the mood had so suddenly and so dramatically shifted from that of my last waking memory, I had to wonder..
If I spoke them again, would it shatter this blinding reverie, and bring me back to reality? Reality... which surely wasn't this. Not this... this eutopia of tired faces and cold metal under my body. Silence... surely the silence would return after my piercing scream? Surely that would be what I'd want! Silence. The very elements at my beck and call...
N..no..
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and Andros looked at me again. "Karone.. um.. there's.. something we have to take care of now. Now that you're.. okay." He smiled as he said it, and took my hand, trying to pull me to my feet.
That was another thing. What was I doing lying down? I'd managed to sit up, but I'd felt my hair on the cold metal floor upon my first moment of consciousness. Since I was outside, I assumed I must have been on.. some part of the Megaship. Perhaps.. it crashed? On earth.. and.. that would explain everybody's appearance.
I let Andros pull me to my feet, and then he all of the sudden pulled me to him in a crushing embrace. I gasped outwardly, my body stiff as a board. My ears were ringing, but in the distance I could hear what sounded like thunderous applause. Even the pink ranger... Cassie, was behind us, yelling and screaming and dancing.
Andros, his face buried in my shoulder, said to me quietly that he'd never let me go again as long as he lived. It sent chills down my spine.. not, though, because of his tender words and the happy thought of being with my family again.
It was almost as though his words were begging for forgiveness from me. I glanced upward, and saw at last a decent view of our wherabouts... we were standing on a docking ramp on what must have been the Megaship. What had to be the megaship.
Andros let me go a moment later, and he took my hand, a silent gesture for me to walk away from this docking ramp with him. I looked out at the monstrous crowd, and shook my head, smiling. It was all so weird. I all of a sudden couldn't wait to hear the entire sordid story. Knowing my brother, it'd be a good one... I imagined I probably wouldn't get the entire truth from him, so I'd have to ask... oh... maybe.. the Silver Ranger.
A blush flooded my cheeks at the thought, and I secretly giggled and looked down at the dock in embarrassment. Oh, Karone, what a thought, what a tho---
I blinked.
What... was that I saw?
Andros was still pulling me ahead, but I kept my gaze locked on the metal platform beneath me.
Red... I distinctly saw red.
Red... a very familiar shade of red.... oh no oh no... no no no...
I frowned as I continued walking, and what I saw on the platform slowly became an angular red and silver design.
This isn't it.. no no no no no, you aren't seeing that. No. This is the megaship.
I'd all but stopped. I felt the friction between my hand and Andros' as my hand flew out of his grasp.
You aren't seeing this.
"Karone?" Andros asked, turning around to face me.
I felt my pulse quicken and I slowly walked backwards to get the entire picture.. of an image I'd seen so many times I'd never forget it... yet it still seemed strangely foreign. As if I'd forgotten it.
Andros followed my gaze and saw it too.. he knew immediately what it was. We both knew.. for since we were children it was the crest of our family.
Etched into the lockets we both wore religiously, as a symbol of our love and the family who we loved more than life itself.
Etched onto the scepter I carried religiously, as a symbol of my power and those who had fallen before me, bleeding and dying, as I laughed.
Etched, burned, printed, shown in each and every corner of the fortress I lived on for the past year... as a symbol of...
No.
Despite my heart's denial, I slowly turned around, to find myself staring at an open doorway. A doorway which led to a darkened red room.
Andros quickly appeared behind me, grabbing my arm.
"Karone, please... don't go in there. Please."
I turned to look at him incredulously. "What do you mean, Andros?"
He looked at me with extreme seriousness in his eyes, and shook his head.
My gaze lingered into that doorway for what seemed like an eternity. But finally, I turned back to my brother, my eyes wide with what I hoped would come off as understanding.
He smiled. "I promise, I..."
"You... will tell me what's going on here, won't you?" I asked, my voice a whisper.
"I promise, Karone. I will tell you everything. Everything. I will tell you... everything."
He wouldn't tell me anything.