A/N: I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the support and love I've received from you all since my mother's passing. I am still having a hard time dealing with it but I felt like I needed to come back to something of comfort for me to be able to heal and have some self-care. So, here is a chapter to thank you all and to help myself.

I have also taken a leave of absence from my school to give myself the time and space needed to deal with my grief. I am hoping this will allow me to work on my writing some more and to find some focus in my life.

In some good news, however, I am proud to say that our adoption has finally been finalized! Our son is now 100% legally ours. It's a bittersweet victory, given the loss of my mother who loved my son so much. During my time away, I was re-reading old fics I have posted and it was amazing to see just how much has changed since my first one.

Remember to tell those you love them while you can. And to tell those you don't need in your life to fuck off before they can make asses out of themselves at your funeral. :)

Thank you for reading and remember to review!

Ranger Slayer

Looking out the window of the factory, I saw the standing ruin of what was the Dragonzord. It had been there for a few weeks now, its tall structure looming over what remained of Angel Grove now. The dust had settled on its metal shoulders and head, a reminder that it hadn't moved since Drakkon had disappeared that day. I could still see him floating in front of it if I closed my eyes. It felt like a lifetime had passed since then, something that I wished had been true.

Turning, I looked back into the room. The makeshift bedroom he had set up for himself before he had attacked that day was still sitting here. The mattress lay in the same spot, red spots where my blood had dripped onto it were fading to a brown color. I thought of my back, the now healed scars there where he had carved his name into my flesh. I've done my best to keep it carved and out of sight of the others. The distrust between my old team and me was bad enough. I didn't want them to think I was now branded his pet forever. It was a horrible enough reminder for myself to know that I would need to live with it forever.

Walking over, I looked at the furniture. There were a couple of crates set up near the side of the bed. I fished through them, seeing if there was anything valuable there. Most I saw were maps and plans of Angel Grove or the Zords. He came with his research it seemed, hoping to make his attacks powerful enough and meaningful. There were notes upon notes in Finster's handwriting, telling me that he had been in contact with Finster more than the rat had told me. If I had known all of this, my ass wouldn't have come over here. I would still be over in the other world, waiting for Drakkon to come back. I wouldn't have assisted with all of this.

I walked out of the room and over to the staircase. I jogged up the steps and onto the roof. Walking over to the edge, I looked down. Tommy was still scoping out the buildings on the edge of the harbor, looking for anything useful he could use I supposed. With the sun close to setting, chances would be that he would set up camp here for the night. Taking a deep breath, I gazed out at the bay to my left. The sunlight danced across the surface. It reminded me of glitter with the amount it glistened and shimmered. For a brief moment, it was a beautiful moment in a broken world. That was something I hadn't seen in years and I had stopped appreciating something like this in well over a decade as well. It brought me back to days at the beach, sitting on the sand. Those simple times that everyone was fighting for again.

"Ironic, isn't it?" A voice said behind me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I turned. To no surprise, I saw Drakkon standing near the door. Glaring at him, I assumed a defensive stance. He made no move to attack though, just standing there with his arms crossed as he leaned against the doorway. "You were the last person I suspected to see here."

"I could say the same thing," I replied. "Come to dwell here in the shambles you've caused?"

"Something like that I suppose." Walking towards me, he stopped by the ledge. Gazing down, he could see where Tommy was walking from building to building. "I see you are on a babysitting mission. That's how little Zordon and Jason view your powers and abilities."

"What do you want?" I asked, not looking away from him. "Cause I'm not letting you anywhere near the kid."

"Lucky for him, I came to talk to you." He replied. "I feel we may have left things on the wrong foot."

"Oh? You mean the decades-long spell you have on me that controls my every thought and feeling?" I said in a sarcastic tone.

"With your attitude problem, I think you'd understand why I did it." He sighed, sticking his hands into the pockets of the black slacks he wore. "But yes."

"I have nothing to say to you. You might as well turn and head right back to our world."

"I have a proposition for you." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I want nothing from you," I said through gritted teeth.

"Kim, I understand your frustration. I would be too. But let's take a moment to think about how it could be beneficial for everyone involved." I moved to speak but my interest caught me off guard, preventing me from speaking.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I am willing to let Tommy and his merry band of Power Brats live peacefully in this world without me." He offered. I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him.

"In exchange for what?"

"You." He stated. "If you agree to join me again, I will let them all go. You will have free will and no spell to keep you there." I let out a laugh this time, giving him a look like he was crazy. How could he even be serious right now? Clearly, he was toying with me. It's always been his favorite this to do.

"You have to be out of your mind more than I thought," I said, shaking my head. "Why on Earth would I agree to that?"

"Because you love me." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. "And no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to forget me."

"You did leave a ten-story lawn ornament in the middle of town. Kinda hard to forget." I muttered, turning away from him. "What is the point anyways? So we can do the same thing all over again?" He looked at me, confusion on his face. "For a supreme ruler you claim to be, you're a bit dense." I crossed my arms and gazed out at the water again. "Why do you even want me there? I won't kill for you again. I won't do anything to help you win this war. Why would you want me to come back?"

"I think we both know why." He said, stepping towards me.

"No. No, we don't both know." I replied, shaking my head. Turning, I faced him again.

"Kimberly, you're important to me. Important to our cause. That's why I want you there. You are the whole reason I am who I am. You are the reason I choose to return to Rita. If it wasn't for you, Lord Drakkon would not exist."

"And there it is." I scoffed. "Ten years later and you still can't bring yourself to say it, can you? I'm starting to think the act of admitting it out loud just might kill you. To admit that you are the only person responsible for causing you to become Lord Drakkon. You were given an out. You took it and then turned right back to Rita like a scared little puppy. Lord Drakkon exists because Tommy Oliver of our world was a coward. And he still is."

"What do you want from me then?" He asked. "I will give you anything. I can give you any kind of life you want. I will travel the universe to make you happy. Just tell me what I need to do to prove it to you."

"Tell me," I replied, gazing up at him. "Tell me what I want to hear."

"Kim, I…" His voice trailed away and he turned his face from me. I smiled sadly, nodding.

"That's what I thought. You expect me to run off with you again and you can't even admit that you love me. I can see it on your face and I know it's inside of you. But you just can't bring yourself to say it out loud. Even after taking everything you could from me and begging me to come back, you still shut me out." I said, brushing by him. I stopped, looking over my shoulder at him. "What type of life is that?" I started walking towards the door.

"If you walk away from me, there's no coming back." He called out. I paused, holding the door knob in my hand. I gazed over at him and saw that for the first time in a long time, I could see he looked helpless and scared. I knew he loved me. Drakkon wasn't a very deep guy and kept his heart on the sleeve most of the time. He wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact he was facing emotions he didn't know how to handle. I thought about going back to him. To wrapping my arms around him and just being with him again. Going back to those things I missed.

"That's the idea," I said before slipping through the door.

It sounded like a warzone around us as the battle raged on. On the far side of the room, Tommy and Drakkon were going head to head. Blasts of energy came flying from Drakkon now and then, him hoping to catch Tommy off guard. Between them and us, Goldar and Silverback were fighting. Their gigantic swords clashed together with thundering noises that nearly shook the whole building. Everything was fuzzy to me, thanks to the amount of blood my body was oozing out from the stab wounds that Drakkon had inflicted on me before the Rangers had arrived.

"Hand me that gauze," William said, pointing to the bag on the ground. Trini reached in and grabbed something, handing it to him. "Kimberly, this will hurt. I apologize."

"It's okay," I murmured. He pressed something to my stomach and it didn't hurt. Not at all actually. This caused some alarm in the back of my mind but the swimming feeling in it caused the panic to subside quickly. William moved, putting something else on the wounds to secure the bandages in place. It was getting harder to breathe, my fingers and toes starting to feel cold. My eyes fluttered shut, willing me to drift off to sleep.

"Kimberly. Kimberly." Trini said, grabbing my hand. "Do not close your eyes. If you go to sleep, you aren't waking up. You need to stay with us, okay?" I nodded, lazily keeping my eyes open the best I could. It felt like I hadn't slept in months. Behind her, there was an energy building in the room. I saw streaks of green, pink, and white flying through the air. I didn't know where it could be coming from though. Drakkon's power was all silver. Where did the power source begin?

"I'm sorry," I said, weakly. "For trying to kill you."

"Water under the bridge now, right?" She said, smiling down at me. "You couldn't control what he made you do."

"I hate the things I did," I whispered. "I hate how weak I was. I should have fought harder."

"Look at all the good you've done since then. You managed to save that little boy and help this team reach new heights. You have more than a lifetime of things to be proud of." She gripped my hand in hers. "You are a true Power Ranger at heart, Kim. Don't forget that. It doesn't matter what Drakkon did to you or made you do. You have a pure heart."

"Jason…" I whispered, tears burning my eyes.

"I know." She said, nodding. "He made his own choices. You couldn't control him any more than the rest of us. I know."

"When I see him, I will let him know how you feel."

"Don't talk like that." She said, tears lining her eyes. "I was stupid and held a grudge for no reason. You need to stay here and keep fighting with us."

"Sure. Hand me a weapon. I'll be good to go." I smiled, letting out a small laugh. She laughed too, a tear slipping down her cheek. I winced, my body aching. "Though, I will admit my aim might be off a bit right now."

"It wasn't that great before." She said.

"We need to move her." The younger Jason said, running over to us. Behind him, I saw that Kimberly was on the broken platform where Zordon had always been. She was talking to a younger girl, pleading with her. I saw that the green, pink, and white energy was coming from the girl. It was pulsating around her, growing with brightness with each word Kim spoke to her.

"We can't. She isn't stable enough." William said.

"That doesn't matter right now. This whole place is going to go." Jason said. There was a roar behind us and I watched as Goldar was backhanded by Silverback. The ape fell backward, his sword clamoring to the ground with a loud noise. Silverback walked forward, a sick smile on his face as he looked down at his younger brother.

"You've always been worthless, baby brother." He said, shaking his head. "It's no wonder you were banished to a life of slavery as soon as father had the chance."

"At least I know enough to know I will never be him. You've been living in his shadow your entire life." Goldar said, wiping blood from the cut on his cheek. "You're just a hollow shell of his worst qualities."

"Oh, shit," Zack said above me. "He's gonna kill Goldar."

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," Jason said. "But we have to save him."

"What about the nuclear bomb that is Tommy and Kim's kid right now?" Zack asked. "She's ready to blow any second."

"He provided us with information to assist us in our mission," Billy said.

"Son of a bitch." Jason muttered under his breath. He turned to our group. "You guys get Kim and everyone else out. I'm going to save Goldar and get Tommy. Head back to the Command Center."

"Affirmative," Billy said. Jason stood, making his Power Sword appear again. Running forward, he slammed into Silverback's side. He didn't see Jason coming so he was blindsided. This caused him to stumble to his right a few feet. Next to me, Billy, William, and Zack moved around me. Careful of my wounded body, they lifted me off the ground. Between Zack and Billy, I watched as Goldar stood up and grabbed his sword. He used the distraction to his advantage, driving his sword up through the space between Silverback's body armor and his chest plate. Everyone paused as Silverback's eyes grew wide, blood gurgling from his mouth as Goldar twisted the blade into his brother. He yanked it back out of him, stepping back as Silverback dropped to his knees.

"I told you I would be your downfall," Goldar said, kicking his brother in the chest with his boot. Silverback fell backward, slumping to the ground in a massive heap. Turning, Goldar saw Jason who stood with his sword at the ready. "Thank you, Red Ranger. If you survive this, I owe you a debt. That is if you are cunning enough to get out of here with your life." Goldar smirked, his wings flapping. They made a loud clapping noise as he raised himself off the ground.

"Should have known," Zack muttered as Goldar flew out of the roof, the same way he had crashed in. Jason turned his sights on Drakkon and Tommy who were going blow for blow, both their weapons tossed to the side.

"Everything is going numb," I whispered, looking down at my body. I couldn't feel anything, my fingers and toes not moving when I told them to. The edges of my vision were beginning to fill with white.

"Kim? Kim!" Trini's voice said as she slapped my face. I could barely feel her touch and could just make out her face.

"It's okay," I whispered, doing my best to smile. "I'm okay."

"Kim! Wake up!" She called out as white filled my entire vision.