a/n: little product of my procrastinating. There's like brief possibly graphic violence in the first 2 chapters as part of her nightmare
And she's about 7 or 8, the flashback is almost a year before the nightmare part. Thanks for reading!
She couldn't move. It was as if her feet were glued to the ground. All she could do is sob, scream, and plead. She physically couldn't turn her head away or close her eyes. "Please don't!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Andros! No! Andros!" Her yells intermingled with her brother's own terrified pleas and screams of terror.
The little girl could do nothing to stop the Red Ranger as he drilled his Spiral Saber into the chest of the innocent little boy, Karone's brother. It made a horrid sound she couldn't describe as his screams finally ended. She screamed and screamed, sobbing, still physically unable to turn away from her brother's mangled and bloody body.
She woke up with a small screech and started whimpering. She felt wetness on her cheeks and suddenly remembered what she had seen. Her whimpers turned into full-on crying.
Crying... why is someone crying... it's a child? "My child!" Ecliptor snapped himself back to reality as he rushed to Karone's room. Nightmares had been a regular thing when he first got her, mostly about a "monster," Darkonda, he knew. They subsided after several months, but resurfaced after she was told about her family's fate.
She told him a few things from the dreams, nasty, horrid things that no precious child should have to dream about or witness. And it was his fault, he knew, for having to tell her what happened.
"Karone!" Ecliptor called through the streets. Everywhere. He looked everywhere, calling her, asking people if they saw a "small blonde child anywhere." Only briefly did it cross his mind how foolish he must have looked.
But why does that matter? He just told her her whole family was massacred by the Power Rangers, who had apparently been her and her brother's heroes. And on top of that, it was a lie. A giant lie, one that he had to keep forever if he knew what was best for him and the girl.
"Karone, please, I need to know where you are!" He tried to think of anywhere she could be hiding, anywhere at all. She couldn't have gotten far, but he had no idea where she sped off to, sorrow clouding her judgement and tears clouding her eyes.
He tried to think of her home planet, KO-35. Was there anything here that reminded her of home? A lot, actually. "Maybe the lake..." And that's where she was. Curled up against a rock facing the glassy water, body shaking and shivering.
"Karone..." he said softly. How to handle human emotions...
She shook her head. "You lie. You lie. They're not dead." Her breath hitched every other word. "They're not dead."
She was right, but she didn't know it. "I'm sorry, child. I'm so sorry for what happened."
He sat down beside her and was surprised when she scrambled onto his lap, nestling herself as close as she could while more sobs shook her small frame. He didn't know what to do, but somehow instinctively he knew to hold her tightly, gently rocking her, smoothing the sweaty hair from her tear-stained face, whispering apologies.
He entered her room, seeing the poor child flushed and sweaty as she sniffled, reaching her arms out towards him. He sat down on her bed, letting her climb onto his lap as he gathered her into an embrace. "It's alright, Karone, it was a dream. I'm here now."
"It wasn't a dream," she told him, her speech stilted from her crying. "I know it happened." She felt him shaking his head. She nestled into her father as much as she could, trying to think about anything other than her nightmare.
One day, these dreams would fuel her anger, but now, it was only fear and sorrow, and what parent wants that for their child? Ecliptor wanted so much to tell her the truth, but he wouldn't. He couldn't. He never could. It would be easier when she was older, but now, she was just a terrified child tortured with mental images of a tragedy she didn't know was false.
"I'm sorry, Karone." I'm sorry I have to lie to you.
She can never know the truth.