A/N: This is me failing at anonymity. :D Originally posted as a fill for the prompt: 'Karone's search for Ecliptor after Zordon's death.' on the PR Anon Fic Meme on Livejournal.

Takes place between the end of Power Rangers in Space and the beginning of Lost Galaxy.

Searching
by Starlit Purple

It had taken a while for any of the memories to come back. Some of them would surface in nightmares, others would hit her suddenly, a flash of recollection triggered by something at random. Since most of them were—well none of them were good, she hated when they'd come, especially when she wasn't alone. No matter how much she'd try to hide her shock and horror of the memories, something would always give her away. A full body jerk, a gasp of breath, a spark on her fingertips... She could only imagine what kinds of faces she made.

She could remember her life from the time she had been kidnapped as a little girl up to when she joined her brother on the Megaship. Things went foggy from there. She vaguely remembered infiltrating the Dark Fortress, and then talking with Ecliptor, and then fighting with Ecliptor, and then... And then she was waking up on the pavement of another world with her brother crying over her.

In the days following Zordon's Wave—as they'd decided to call it—they'd gotten reports that many of her old allies had reformed. Some of them into what must have been their original human selves before they'd been corrupted by evil; others—monsters and followers—had been set free. But the ones who remained truly evil had been destroyed, leaving nothing but ashes in their wake.

Every time she asked Andros about what happened that day, his face would close up and his eyes would fill with guilt and sadness. He was always vague, even with his teammates, she'd noticed, and the most she'd been able to pull out of him was that she had been rewired to be evil and they'd fought when she discovered him on her ship. That was where he'd get vague on the details, and the look that would take over his face was enough to keep her questions at bay.

It had to have been hard for him, she knew. He probably tried to talk her down from whatever she was planning, and her programmed evil self likely retaliated by trying to destroy him. She figured the guilt, always lingering in his eyes now, was from being forced to defend himself against her.

...Could she have possibly been hurt? She didn't remember being injured when she woke up. In fact, other than the confusion and a bad headache, she'd felt more herself and much better than she had in a long time.

The day Karone decided to leave she'd woken up from a dream about her mentor and closest thing she'd had to family for much of her life. The question of his whereabouts sprung unbidden into her mind, and she decided she couldn't wait for the answers she needed anymore. He had to have survived the purifying wave, he was too good to her to just... That was a thought she couldn't finish. Ecliptor wasn't gone. He couldn't be. Wherever he was, he was just incapable of getting to her, or maybe he just didn't know where she was. Either way, it was time to go find him.

She fought the voice in the back of her mind that told her there might not be anything left to find. Good news or bad news, she had to find out.

She felt a pang of guilt about leaving without notice and without telling anyone, and the note she left her brother was probably less than fair. She hadn't left any clues as to where she was going. Though to be completely honest, she wasn't quite sure exactly where her search would lead her either. But she couldn't stay, and she couldn't tell Andros what she was doing. He'd just get that awful look in his eyes and proclaim that he was going with her.

She needed to get away. She loved her brother, and his teammates had been amazing and treated her like family. But she couldn't take the guilt her brother exuded, and the sympathetic looks from the rest of the team when she'd have a flash of memories were getting to be too much. She just wanted to go somewhere where no one knew about who she was, where no one knew her.

Her first stop had been the most obvious one: the Dark Fortress. It was the first she'd been on the ship that'd been her home for nearly as long as she could remember since the day she'd woken up on the ground in front of it. The piles of ash and sand had been mostly cleaned away and there was an eerie serenity about the empty ship that was oddly comforting to her.

Finding nothing, she'd commandeered a Velocifighter, altered and shielded from view by the magic she still possessed, and set out to look for the answers and inner peace she hoped to find.

Two years had gone by, and while she hadn't found Ecliptor, Karone had rediscovered her sense of identity. She still refused to believe what her travels had told her, that if she hadn't found him by now... No. He wasn't gone, she just hadn't been able to find him.

But she was happy, if a little lonely sometimes. Most of places she'd gone hadn't known of her past (thankfully), and it helped her to find who she was. She'd worked several odd jobs along the way to pay for food and a place to stay on the nights she tired of sleeping in her altered Velocifighter.

The night in particular found her working in an intergalactic restaurant that doubled as a bar at night. It paid for the small room upstairs with a bed just comfortable enough to make her stay a little longer than she normally did.

She hadn't paid much attention to the customers coming in that night—it was one of their busier nights and she'd taken and served so many orders and meals (and drinks, as the night went on) she barely knew what time it was.

When her boss ordered her to take a break, she wandered out on the upstairs balcony. The skies were clear tonight, and she leaned against the rail and let her gaze turn toward the stars. She'd been too lost in thought to notice the presence that joined her at the rail.

"Nice night tonight," a familiar voice greeted, and she smiled despite herself.

"Hi Zhane," she answered, unmoving.

He huffed a laugh and she could feel the rail vibrate as he tapped it idly before leaning on it. "Two years since you've seen me and that's all you have to say to an old friend?"

Now she turned, letting her eyes trail over him as she took him in. His hair was a bit longer than it had been, and his travel clothing gave him an overall scruffy appearance. She met his gaze and shook her head. "It hasn't really been two years for you though, has it?"

He smirked. "How long have you known?"

"That you were following me?" She countered and shrugged. "A while."

The silence stretched between them and, for a moment, she wondered what he must be thinking about her. But he merely stood there, watching her, waiting...

"I had to leave, you know," she whispered, turning back to the rail and studying the city stretched out below them.

She could feel the moment his eyes left her. He let out a soft sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "We would have helped you."

She smiled sadly. "I know. But I couldn't stay. The people there were either too nice or hated me for who I was; and the guilty looks and sympathy from all of you, and especially Andros..." She shook her head, trailing off. "I just couldn't take it, Zhane. I needed to get away, to find myself, to find-"

"To find Ecliptor," Zhane finished softly.

She felt her ponytail slide over he shoulder as she turned her head. She hadn't wanted to finish the sentence, as if saying his name out loud would make him...

She sighed and ducked her head in defeat. "I didn't find him."

"I know."

Something in his voice niggled at her and she raked her eyes over his face, scrutinizing him. "You know something."

Her words were calm, but her stomach was twisting.

Zhane sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair again, and there, when his eyes met hers, was that old look she'd hoped to get away from. "I don't actually know anything for sure. Andros never told me, but, as far as we knew, Ecliptor was on the Dark Fortress with you, and there was no one else when he carried you out of there."

She nodded, hearing the truth in what he was saying. "Then he's...he didn't make it." She could feel her eyes prickling and she squeezed them shut trying to keep the tears at bay.

She didn't shy away from the tentative hand on her arm, and when it tugged her forward, she moved with it. A sob escaped her resolve, and she tucked her head into Zhane's shoulder, letting the unshed tears spill freely.

"I didn't want it to be true," she whispered hoarsely, once the tears slowed.

"I know." The arms tightened momentarily around her back. "I'm sorry, Karone."

Out of nowhere, she laughed. Zhane let her go, a mix of surprise and worry covering his features as he looked at her.

"Ecliptor would call me an idiot for taking so long to accept this." She scoffed, a sardonic smile spreading on her face as she brushed a hand over her eyes. "He told me once that he was built to be evil."

"But he cared about you."

She nodded. "He raised me. He was-"

They both turned as the door opened behind them, and Karone was glad she'd mostly composed herself as Caroline poked her head out and smiled. "Figured you'd be out here, the boss was looking for y—Oh." She frowned, only then seeming to notice she wasn't alone on the balcony, and before Karone could respond, she continued, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything..."

"No, it's fine Caroline. I was just catching up with," she glanced over at Zhane and smiled warmly, "an old friend."

The smile he sent her said he'd caught the emphasis on his earlier words, and he nodded at the waitress in greeting.

"I really should get back in there," she told him apologetically, checking her watch. "My break was over several minutes ago and we're really busy tonight."

Zhane nodded, and she grabbed the door Caroline had already abandoned, before turning to look back at him. "I get off in a couple hours." She reached into her pocket and tossed him her keys. "I'm in 204 down the hall, wait for me there and we can catch up when I get back. I want to know what kind of trouble my brother's been getting himself into while I've been gone."

He laughed and pocketed the keys. "I'll be there."