Disclaimer: Buena Vista and Power Rangers are intertwined, although Saban created it. Just like while they created the Phantom Ranger, I came up with the idea of Shadow/Tar'yn. lol Story two in this trilogy, after "The Shadow and the Light".

Shadows Swept Away By ZeoViolet Teaser: Sequal to "The Shadow and The Light." The Phantom Ranger discovers forgiveness isn't as easy as it seems.

He came awake suddenly, awareness jerking through him as sharply as it almost always did. And, as usual, it was a few minutes before his alarm was due to start howling.

He only started a moment at the feel of another warm body pressing against his own. The memory of last night came flooding back, and he smiled.

*Cassie.*

Cassie, the one soothing balm in his life, his light and his guide out of the world that had been his own shadowed realm for so long.

Last night, despite the constant danger in their lives, she had managed to slip away from her duties and her life for awhile, and come to his. Both had relished the complete feeling of being whole while they could, and it was a foreboding thought that soon, they would have to return to the dangerous universe that awaited them.

He stifled a sigh as he ran his fingers through her midnight hair, hair that still managed to shine with the light she posessed, for all it's darkness. Neither of them really liked having to see each other on a basis like they had been doing, but keeping up a more constant relationship was impossible, with all the danger in their lives. Cassie and her friends had just finished fighting off the Psycho Rangers, and he had almost been killed facing off with the woman he called his mother *yet again*.

It had taken her friends awhile, he knew, to figure out that she had been meeting him on the sly whenever it was possible. It had also probably surprised them to learn she knew his real identity, but as far as he knew, she had never breathed a word of who he truly was.

She could not, not yet, not when there was so much at stake. He was always reminded that having her in his life, on any level, placed her in the extremes of incredible danger. It was too dangerous, and it would possibly even be more so if word got back to his....that woman who spawned him, that he was alive, and a Power Ranger who was defeating her at every opprotunity.

He almost jumped at the sudden shriek of the alarm, and beside him, Cassie squirmed uncomfortably.

"Turn that thing off, please," she mumbled, almost incoherantly. From their bond, he could sense that, despite the calm tone, she was about to sit up and either start cursing or throw something at the computer console.

In other words, typical Cassie.

A faint chuckle escaped his lips as he clapped his hands--once. He looked back down at her to see her pretty face contort charmingly in sleepy surprise, and she blinked up at him.

"That was all you had to do? Remind me to do that next time."

"So you won't destory my computer?" he asked with a wry grin as she yawned and stretched, her nightgown riding high on her legs and rather temptingly low on her arms. With her all sleepy and cute like that, it was awfully hard *not* to stare, and even harder not to gather her in his arms and let the universe slide away again.

"I wish," she mumbled, seeing the heated look in his green eyes and unconsciously returning it with one of her own. "If only we had the time. But I have to get back soon, lest the others wonder if something happened to us. At least they *know*, now, that I have been meeting you on the sly."

"I wonder why they did not really protest your departures," he answered, watching her stumble out of his bed and reach for her clothes to change.

"They understand," she said quietly. "Especially Ashley and Andros. And, I think, Zhane."

"Zhane?" he repeated as he pulled on his own dark tunic. "Your Silver Ranger?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, pulling on her shirt. "I recently discovered that he's besotted with Astronema, of all people. I think he envys my slipping out to meet you when I can."

He frowned. "But Astronema's evil. How can he be....besotted for her?"

"She feels...felt, the same way," Cassie corrected herself. "I think they tried a date once, but it ended in disaster. Then Zhane was gone while Astronema defected to our side, and now, with her cybernetic implants, she shows nothing but her hideously evil side. Both Zhane and Andros are devastated, as you might guess."

She was surprised to see envy in *Tar'yn's* glance, and his smile was a bit sickly. "At least....she has it in her to turn to the side of light," he whispered.

Cassie's glance became a mixture of worry and sympathy. "I hope," she began, "I hope you haven't not considered the idea that maybe...just maybe, what Andros managed to do with Karone, you could somehow do with your mother."

"It's impossible," he said shortly, and she blinked at his bitter tone. "With somone as evil as *her*....it's just not possible. She'd die before she saw my way of thinking."

Cassie's heart melted at the torture in his deep green gaze. She sighed as she enfolded him within her embrace, and she felt him tremble slightly. "You'll never forgive her, will you?" she dared to ask. "Is it within your power to forgive her...love her, despite who she is?"

"She's Divatox, I doubt she can really feel love," he said bitterly, as a hard lump came into his throat. "She is my mother, but do I even love her? Sometimes....it's hard to tell. Except for you, Cassie, I don't know who I am. Don't you know....don't you know you are my main reason for living?"

She suddenly turned his head so she could kiss him, stopping the flow of words before his bitterness turned to his buried anger at his own mother. Desperately, he leaned into it for a moment as her lips intoxicated his senses...but he felt compelled to continue.

"You are everything to me, Cassie," he stumbled, breaking contact and gasping breathlessly. "I don't know where Divatox even came from. She was adopted into her family. I don't know who her people were....I don't even know who my father is. I only know he's Eltaran. You are the first person I could love...and that I could really trust."

"You are not Shadow, remember that!" she reminded him with a soft smile, even as her heart ached for him. "You are Tar'yn, the Phantom Ranger, and despite the shadows of your past, you have the brightest soul I know. I love you, and that is what matters to me...not who you might have assoicated with in the past."

"How do I ever deserve somebody like you?" he asked softly, as he held her to him, feeling the thumping of her heart against his own chest, beating in time with his own. "I thank the heavens every day for sending you into my life, Cassie."

"Are you reading my mind?" she asked with a smile. "I was just thinking the same about you." Something flitted across her features, and she pulled back to look up at him.

"But, after so many years, Andros managed to pull Astronema to the good side, perhaps you should not give up complete hope," she said softly. "I have learned that miracles can happen, after all."

"Perhaps," he said softly. "But Cassie, I hate to say this....I don't know if I can forgive her. Too much has happened between us."

"She's you're mother," Cassie admonished quietly. "Like it or not, she did give you life. And she did raise you, and I don't think it was completely out of a sense of duty. Just...at least search your heart for the matter....please?"

He sighed. Stubborn Cassie. "All right. I'll try."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

****

After Cassie had gone, he sighed, feeling the renewed pain of not having her sweet soul at his side. Their life was filled with uncertainties, and he knew that, each and every time they parted, it could be the last. But until this portion of the universe was free of danger, he could never reveal himself.

He bit his lip as he opened his bedside drawer and drew out one of the very few things in his possession that could possibly show his blood ties with that woman called Divatox.

It was a photograph of them both, one of the few times she had ever truly smiled at him, and taken at one of the rare times he had ever had an inkling of *any* deeper emotions she posessed outside of the shell of evil greed.

At least with the covering of the Phantom Ranger, nobody ever questioned his strong resemblence to this evil space pirate.

*How could I ever forgive her for what she has done to me? Do I--have I ever loved her at all? She gave me life....am I so hardened I feel absolutely nothing for her?*

His thoughts did not take into account the sudden lump in his throat, or the longing he felt every time he looked at that picture. He only identified the feeling as a need buried so deeply within his heart, he doubted he could ever find the source, or a way to quench it.

*After all I've fought on the side of light, am I truly that cold towards my own flesh and blood?*

He shuddered and put the photo away before he could consider it any more. He just couldn't.

****

Was this the end?

Was this how he was fated to die--at the hand of King Mondo and company?

He groaned in pain as he, along with the Blue Centurion, were flung this way and that, being beaten mercilessly by cogs. Nearby, he heard King Mondo order their destruction, followed by his mechanically evil laugh.

When sudden images of his past life began to float before his eyes, he suddenly felt a feeling of dread hit the pit of his stomach.

*If my life is flashing before my eyes, then it must truly be the end. Oh, Cassie!*

Even as he fought, images flooded him, his mother Divatox ranting and yelling at him, urging him to be more brutal in his early days, calling him an accidental pregancy, and her final, stinging words to his back as he turned from her to join the side of light.

Followed by images of the lonely melennia that followed, and how he had never really seen the light until he had met Cassie...and how he had almost denied himself the chance to finally love, and be loved, at last.

*Cassie, my love, I am sorry this had to happen, I had to die on you. Please, forgive me.*

For the Phantom Ranger had never before been so certain his life was about to end, until that moment.

Then, weakly, he looked up to see a blinding flash fill the sky, hurling straight towards them.

****

Divatox nearly shrieked as the wave of searing heat flashed in her direction. She knew somehow that the blindingly white wave meant her doom, for the goodness radiating from it was almost sickening.

She turned and ran.

pBut it was too fast for her. She shrieked as the wave overwhelmed her, and she was certain her soul was going to depart her body any moment.

This was not to be. In one instant, in that one fiery burst of light, she felt herself change. All the built-up evil, fed to her since her babyhood days, melted away and her heart was purified by that searing heat. Of course, she would remember everything, but a new psyche took over, a psyche she had been born with, the one that had been so suppressed throuhout her life she had lost almost all awareness of it's existence, except for her rare bursts of compassion.

The new Divatox that came to the fore was one that radiated light, and whose heart was no longer clouded by the shadows of evil.

The person she should have been all along.

In that one burst of blinding light

, that was all it took. Her clothes, identifying her as her evil persona. also changed to a white gown, and her hair tumbled loose, completeing the transformation. The wave passed through her, leaving the new, purified Divatox kneeling on the ground in stunned confusion...and a realization that she was not dead.

"I'm...alive!" She got up, seeing how she was wearing pure white, and looked around her. Strangely, all the little piles of dust that had once been her army-- the sight did not bother her as she laughed aloud in joy.

"Alive!" Her delighted cry echoed in the wind of this particular island on Aquitar, and she did not care that the Aquitian Rangers were staring at her. Her soul was finally free to soar, as her evilness had never allowed her to do.

Delphine instantly realized what had happened. The wave of goodness and light that had just swept them all must have seen something in Divatox to spare her life, only removing the built-up evil in her soul, that should never have been there in the first place. Somehow she sensed that if Divatox had been completely evil, she would never have survived.

"Are you all right?" she demorphed and came over to the woman, who was standing there, shivering. Althought Divatox was smiling, sudden tears were on her face, and her lips trembled.

"I...am okay," she whispered faintly. "I....I never thought it was possible that simple, pure light could feel so good. I was evil for so long, and...." her smile faded. "And I have done much more harm to you and everyone I've met, more than I could ever repay in kindness."

"I don't think you would have been spared if, at the very core of you, you weren't good to begin with," said Delphine carefully, then bowed in the gesture of Aquitians. "Welcome back to the side of light...Divatox. Or...is that your true name?"

"It's the only one I really remember...I was adopted by my evil family, so I don't know where I come from. My other name...." Divatox thought. "I think it was....it was never used.....Serenity. And no wonder."

Delphine's eyes narrowed, and she peered at Divatox suddenly. "You don't know who your bloodborn family is?"

"I don't remember."

Someone's face came to Delphine's mind, and she was tempted to brush it away. It was impossible. But this woman....Divatox had a face.....like a certain woman from Inquiris Delphine knew.

"I think you've had quite a shock," said Delphine quietly. "Why don't you stay with us for awhile? At least until you can get your affairs in order and start to rebuild your life."

"Why would you do this?" asked Divatox with trembling lips. "I have been so cruel to you in the past. Just because I've changed...does not completely erase what I've done. I...remember everything. I...don't really deserve to be treated kindly."

"That is the way of the Dark Side, to be so cruel," said Delphine matter-of- factly. "It is much different on the side of light, where you belong. I hold no grudge against you. Now...will you come?"

Delphine was too choked to say anything as she nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. she suddenly felt dizzy, overwhelmed by the emotional impact, and she was glad to be going.

****

So he wasn't dead. Phantom stumbled to his feet along with the Bule Centurion, and they looked around them in astonishment. Gods, there was nothing but dust piles...everywhere on the plains of the now-freed Eltare.

Only one other trembling figure was in sight, and it was a very badly shaken Prince Sprocket. Out of all the evil that had been in the Machine Empire, it seemed only he was spared...probably because he was a child, constructed or no. He was still young enough to have a heart buried within all those gears that made him up.

Although the boy had been purified, he was shaken by the fact his parents were no more, and he was completely alone.

"I want my momma!" he wailed in fright and confusion as he started to cry. The Blue Centurion stumbled over to the boy as Phantom just stood there, shaken by a new thought.

If one evil person had managed to survive the wave...could she have....?

No, it was impossible. She had been too cruel, too evil....hadn't she been?

He wasn't sure, and he was not sure he wanted to find out.

Now he only hoped Cassie had survived Astronema's onslaught.

"SSSPPPRROOOCCKKKEEETT!!!" came an echoing cry as two figures came running over the horizon. All three living occupants of the plain gawked in surprise as Prince Gasket and Princess Archarina stumbled towards them.

They had also lived, having been purified and evil no longer.

"G-gasket?" the trembling little prince gasped as his broher hurried towards him. "You're alive! I thought everybody was dead!"

"Archarina and I survived....thank gods you did too!" the elder brother gasped as he reached his mechanical sibling and, kneeling, hugged him gratefully, no trace of sibling rivalry present. "Seems our folks didn't."

"I want my momma!" wailed Sprocket again. "Why didn't they live, Gasket? Were they too evil? We don't even have an empire to fight over anymore. It's gone."

"So what?" gasped Gasket. "The important thing is my own brother still lives. I heard that Zedd and Rita did, also, on Triforia. But they changed, too, like we did. It was Zordon's wave. But...no word on what happened on Earth."

It made Phantom's heart flop in fear. If Cassie was dead, he was going to join her. It wasn't worth it to be left behind again, alone.

And if Zordon had indeed died for such a cause, then the local Universe had been cleansed of evil. Perhaps...perhaps he could at last safely put aside the Phantom Ranger phenomenon, and live a normal life.

He only stayed long enough to make sure that Gasket, Archarina, and Sprocket were safely on their way to Gasket's planet, which was intact. They had nothing more to fear of the Machine Empire or the likes of Zedd and Rita, which meant his journey could at last be over.

If Cassie was alive. If not...

****

Thank gods she was. She looked sore, bruised, but from what he could tell from orbit, she was alive. And he had never felt relief so enormous.

And there was no way he could get to her, not while she was in the middle of a media frenzy.

The identity of Earth's Rangers had just been exposed to the public for all to see.

He settled down for a wait, impatient, waiting to catch her while she was at least relatively alone. There had been as yet no word on Divatox's survival, and he was jumpy. At least he seemed to have no lingering reason...or want....to continue hiding behind the mask of the Phantom Ranger.

****

"Genetic scan complete," announced the computer sweetly as Delphine finished inputing all the information.

"Understood," said Delphine as she looked over the information. Divatox sat there mutely, looking through her. It was obivious the poor woman had a lot on her mind...although Delphine did not know it was about the one person Divatox knew for certain she had blood ties to.

"Divatox," said Dephine quietly, laying a hand on her arm. The woman jumped.

"I am sorry if I startled you," whispered Delphine. "The scans are complete, and the results are back. They have identified which race you come from."

Divatox blinked. "Then...where am I from?"

"It seems..." Delphine murmured as she glanced at the readouts. "It seems you come from the world of Inquiris, Divatox."

Divatox raised an eyebrow. "Inquiris?"

"Haven't you ever felt your curiosity get the better of you...or the impluse to ask questions?" asked Delphine. "It is their genetic trademark. Your next step should be to try and find if you have any family left."

"Family," snorted Divatox bitterly. "I don't deserve to find my family...they wouldn't accept me.....not even my son."

"You're son?" Delphine raised an eyebrow. "You have a son?"

"'Had' is a better term," said Divatox bitterly. "I don't know if he lived. It..." Everything seemed to hit Divatox all at once. "Oh, gods..." she turned from Delphine, tears streaming down her face. "It...it was so long ago....but I miss him still!"

She did not object when Delphine gently slid her arms around her. "What happened?" the White Ranger asked softly.

"It...it was eons ago," stumbled Divatox. "My son....I had gotten pregnant accidentally, by an Eltaran drifter. I had him anyway, taught him to follow in my footsteps for the next century. I had always been evil, it was all I had ever known, so I taught him what I knew. But he saw the light...and I didn't. We....we parted with bitter words as he left to join those I called the enemy...and I never heard from him again." She sobbed into Delphine's shoulder. "I...I never told him how much I loved him, how much he meant to me...I didn't know how. I...I knew that I did....but I did not know how to tell him. Now...I'll never get the chance."

"Cross that bridge when you come to it," said Delphine softly. "He may be alive yet. What's his name?"

"Shadow," she whispered. "But even if he is alive....he won't forgive me, I just know it. We haven't spoken in eons...literally." She could not stop trembling. "I am such a fool, Delphine. I don't deserve all this...all you've done for me."

Her tears, once unleashed, did not stop easily. Delphine held her for a long time as feelings that had been buried for so long overwhelmed her, rocking her with wave after wave of pain, and memories of her son took control of her mind. It was a long time before she regained control of herself.

****

At last, Cassie was alone. Well, still with her group, but otherwise alone. He felt safe in approaching them as they hung out on the fringes of Angel Grove, so they could at last be alone.

Andros was busy talking to Karone, and not paying much attention to anything else at the moment. Ashely felt she could not blame him, but she felt akin to what Cassie was feeling...she knew that the latter was worried about Phantom, and whether he had survived.

"You okay?" asked Ashley, slipping an arm around her comfortingly. "I know you're worried..."

"I am just scared..." Cassie whispered. "The Machine Empire was pretty powerful, you know...what if he was..."

"What's that?" interrupted Ashley, as nearby, a swirl of red came into view. Cassie blinked in surprise as the Phantom Ranger materialized out of the red flash. He turned and looked at her for a moment, then she was shocked to hear him quietly cross his wrists and announce, "Power Down."

*Everyone* stared in surprise at the boy that stood in the Phantom Ranger's place, at last seeing the person behind the mask, a handsome boy with dark hair, green eyes, and a face that seemed somehow familiar, despite the fact they had never seen him unmorphed before.

Cassie's mouth opened slightly, and then shut as his unique green gaze caught hers, and he smiled faintly, making her understand that his secret need no longer be kept.

"Tar'yn!" she cried joyfully, her legs suddenly moving as she ran towards him, laughing happily as he caught her in his arms and swung her around once before pulling her towards him and kissing her, with complete disregard to her gaping friends. He reveled in her closeness, and felt peace as her very presence soothed the turbulence in his soul.

"Oh, they're *definetly* lovers," Andros heard TJ mutter with a grin. "Whoever he is, anyway. I guess he no longer needs to keep it a secret."

"I guess not," Andros chuckled, then turned to see Karone go pale. He recalled the possible reason why...the last time she had seen the Phantom Ranger, she had tried to destroy him.

"Guys," said Cassie as she pulled the shy boy foward. "I guess he has decided to relinquish his anonymity....this is Tar'yn, the Phantom Ranger."

Andros smiled a greeting. "Welcome back," he said evenly. "Glad you came through the mess in one piece."

Tar'yn smiled. "So am I," he said as he looked down at Cassie, hugging her to him, his eyes soft. "I came back because of her."

"You're welcome here anytime," said Andros easily. "Although we are leaving in a couple of days for KO-35. I have to help my people resettle on our colony."

Something flickered across Tar'yn's face, and he looked helplessly at Cassie. She read his worried glance, and mentally sent the words, *They might as well know. I doubt if they will hold it against you, they accepted Karone.*

For the first time, Tar'yn noted the blonde girl hanging shyly behind Zhane, and recognized her as the same villanness who had tried to kill him the last time they had met. Her eyes were no longer cold with hatred, and he understood she had also survived the purge. If they could accept her as one of them, then perhaps....

"There is something he must tell you," Cassie started. "Tar'yn is the son of someone who used to be our enemy for a long time....she was...."

"Divatox!" whispered Karone, then she blushed a furious red. "I--I am sorry, Tar'yn." Her hazel eyes lowered in acute embarrassment.

"It is all right, Ast--Karone," he said. "I do not doubt you know, because you knew my mother well..."

"I knew who she was," whispered Karone. "I had also heard through the grapevine that she had a son who defected to the side of good and disappeared....though she herself never spoke of you. But you look too much like her for there to be any doubt."

Tar'yn nodded slowly. "Does--does this change your opinion of me?" he had to ask. They had been his friends when he had been an unknown ranger, it might change upon learning of his blood ties.

Andros blinked. "Why, no," he said. "Why would you think that?"

Everyone nodded in agreement with the Red Ranger's simple statement.

"You were good, right?" asked practical Carlos. Tar'yn nodded. "Then that's what matters."

Suddenly, Tar'yn realized how foolish he had been to underestimate the mercy and compassion of people such as these. He really *had* been out of touch with the real universe for too long.

****

Divatox had to smile at the irony. It was so ironic it was sickening. Her only living relative--so far--was a twin, and that twin had been her worst enemy.

But looking at the picture of Dmitria, and looking into a mirror, it was impossible to deny the obvious truth. She was Dmitria's long-lost twin sister, according to Inquiris's genetic records. If Dmitria was still alive, she would naturally be informed of this discovery by Inquiris's government.

*As if she would accept the mythical *evil twin* saga," she mused silently. If Dmitria voluntarily came looking for her, she would accept it. If she was not wanted, she would not force herself onto her relatives. She would find a way to live her own life. They did not deserve to be burdened with someone like she had been, just for the sake of family.

*But what of my son?* she had made inquiries, and had found nothing. When he had disappeared, he had literally disappeared. He could have been dead for eons, and she had no idea what had happened to him.

*I wish we could meet once more, at least,* she thought desperately, as tears filled her eyes yet again. *My son, I never, ever thought to say those three simple words...I love you. Please,* she begged to any diety that might be listening, *Let me see him one more time...even if it's just for a few minutes. I must say I am sorry...and tell him how much I love him.*

****

"No!" exploded Tar'yn. "Cassie, I cannot! Too much time has passed, she has done the unforgiveable. I cannot face her....I don't even think I love her. Much less forgive her."

"We accepted *you*, didn't we?" Cassie shot at him. "I did not care that she was your mother. She was seen alive on Aquitar, Tar'yn, and she has been purged. She's not evil any longer."

His shocked, hurt look tore at her heart, and she regretted her harsh words instantly.

"I'm sorry," she murmured ferverently, hugging him hard. "I had no right to throw that in your face. Just give her a chance, Tar'yn....please?"

"I will consider it," he sighed, closing his eyes and trying to drive away the sting of long-buried tears and pain. "Cassie...I cannot promise anything else. I just cannot, I am sorry."

"I understand," she whispered, her lips pressing gently against his forehead. "It is all I can ask."

"And it is all I can give on that subject," he answered. "Whatever else I can give belongs soely to you, Cassie. You are my world....possibly more than she could ever be."

****

Damn,but why did it hurt so much to even consider trying to approach...*her*, again? Every time the thought crossed his mind, all he could see was her belittling him, or flinging her hatred-filled words at his back the last time he had seen her.

It made him feel sick.

Again, Tar'yn drew out the photo he had often considered destroying, but never had. It was only then, seeing her smile on of her rare, unhinged smiles, did any doubt tug at him, and that bitter aching longing fill him, an emotion that made him consider that perhaps, maybe he *should* see her again, at least for a few minutes....he could always leave if it proved too much.

*Why can't I decide?*

Cassie, bless her, had stopped prodding him after that first little episode, leaving him alone to think, to try to bring himself to reveal his identity to the woman he had loathed throughout the eons for her cruelty....and she had, not knowing it was him, tried to kill him numerous times....he could not deny he held it against her.

*They accepted both you and Karone,* his tired mind reminded himself. *You must at least try.*

His hand had crumpled the photo as he gritted his teeth, but he forced himself to open his eyes and smooth out the picture again, and staring at the almost-innocent smile on Divatox's face, his resolve melted, and he was overcome suddenly by a wave of emotion he had fought to deny for eons as two lone tears stole down his face and anguish filled his senses.

*You are right, Cassie. I will try.*

****

She had to get out. Out into the open. Staying underwater all day and night was getting to her, and she needed some air.

She found herself wandering the windswept plains of one of Aquitar's small landmasses. The wind whistled in her ears and blew her hair every-which- way.

*I truly am alone.*

Strangely, she felt lonlier here than down in Aquitar's underwater structure. She might be free, but she was alone.

Her final words to her son echoed omniously in her head, and it made her heart lurch. *You will never love, and you will die of lonliness and dispair.*

*Little did I know I was pronouncing my own sentence!* Her mind cried. "Oh, Shadow, my son, I am so sorry!" she wailed aloud, as her tears started again. Here, there as nobody to overhear her cries, as only the wind carried the sound of her sobs across an empty land.

****

Almost empty. Tar'yn materialized in the hills next to the plains where he had tracked his mother's readings. This was his first unmorphed glimpse of her in eons, and the sight of her was different indeed.

It was unexpected to see her dressed entirely in white, her hair loose. She had never dressed that way before, that he could recall. She was no longer heniously dressed. She looked...beautiful, like somebody he could never have dared to expect to see.

Upon seeing her, he had expected to feel nothing but cold hatred. But she was kneeling on the ground, crying, and his heart gave the sharpest lurch he had felt in ages. That feeling, of pain and *love*--for he could now identify it--, welled in him with such force his knees nearly buckled.

"Shadow, my son, I am so sorry!" he heard her sob softly. "If only I could tell you how much I love you...."

He gritted his teeth against the sudden wave of pain that shot into his stomach with an almost deadly force. The shadows of his past overwhelmed him once more, and the evil sneer that he had often seen in her eyes was nothing like what he saw in this woman's compassionate dark gaze.

He felt suddenly dizzy, and he dimly remembered to reach for his teleporter button before his tears started to fall.

Cassie, who was in his ship and had come with him, looked up to see Tar'yn completely white-faced and shaking so badly she thought he was going to faint. But the tears streaking his face told her it was another matter, and she let him clasp her fiercely to his heart, feel him shuddering with heaving, silent sobs of a pain he could no longer fight to suppress, an old ghost she was determined would haunt him for the last time.

For a long time, all he could do was cry. The pain was so overwhelming, he dimly wondered if he would feel anything else again as he cried for what he had loved and lost, and for what might have been.

"I saw her," he choked when the intensity of his sobs slowed slightly. "I saw her there...she's not evil. I can't hate her, Cassie, I know that now. I just can't."

"Then don't," she murmured, touching his wet face with her fingertips as her dark eyes locked with his green ones. "You must talk to her, Tar'yn. Clear up all the bitterness and distrust....try and start again. You can do it...I know you can."

He nodded shakily. "I love you, Cassie," he whispered, hugging her closer. "Thank you...for being there for me. Thank you for understanding when I feared none would."

"That is a part of love, sticking together and having forgiveness and compassion," she murmured as he kissed her forehead gently. "I know you would do the same for me if our positions were reversed."

His lips quivered as he nodded, knowing suddenly that his former shadows had not returned to haunt him in the form of his mother....the glow in his heart had instead brightened to give him the strength he needed to bring her back from the world of shadows that had once held them both captive.

And Cassie....Cassie was that glow, and he knew this for certain.

****

For some reason, he felt compelled to morph before he teleported back down, and he was glad Cassie's hand was resting posessively on his elbow when they shimmered into existence on the planet below.

Divatox had thought she had exhausted all her tears as she stood up to leave. She felt numb, and wondered if she would feel anything again.

"She *has* changed, in ways I would never have expected," whispered Cassie from where she and Tar'yn had ducked behind a boulder. "Go to her, Tar'yn. I think, subconsciously, she is waiting for you."

Divatox suddenly got the sense she was not alone, and she turned abruptly, on guard.

She was much astonished to see the Phantom Ranger, of all people, standing there, arms folded and with a stiff posture...as if he was trying to control something...or himself.

"Why...are you here?" she whispered, and felt a tingle of fear. "Have you...come to seek revenge? If so, kill me now...I am alone."

"I...have not come to kill you," she heard him say softly. "It is time some truths were let to light, Divatox, about my past and yours."

Her brow furrowed. "What....do you mean?" she asked, still fearful.

To her surprise, he crossed his wrists and gave a quiet command to power down.

A shimmering wave of red, and suddenly, there was a boy standing before her, a young man straight from both her dreams and her nightmares, with her black hair and her face etched into his features, and a series of turbulent emotions in his too-familiar eyes.

"Oh...." was all she could say as she felt as if she had been physically punched. "Gods....Shadow?"

Just a faint nod.

The horror of it all hit her then. Her son! He was alive....but the Phantom Ranger! Without knowing it....she had tried to kill him more times than she could count! He had been under her nose all this time....why approach her now?

He could see the horrified comprehension in her eyes, to suddenly realize that her enemy had been her own son all along.

"Tar'yn....?" it was a plea, in a strained voice that begged him for compassion, though she doubted if he had it, until her eyes met his again when, of his own violation, he stepped closer.

Seldom had she used his real name, only in the very few times she had been tender with him in the past had she succumbed to using it. He knew how scared she must be, seeing him now and figuring that he hated her with all his heart.

Which was untrue.

When he reached out and touched her face gently, and she saw the forgiveness in his eyes, did she dare to have any hope. A strangled sob escaped her lips, and she did not stop him from pulling her to his hard frame.

She could feel him shuddering as his arms closed about her, symbolically sealing something she had thought forever lost between them.

"My son," She cried quietly. "Can you forgive me at all for what I have done?"

"Yes," she heard him breathe. "Oh, Mother, I am...glad you survived."

"Then you don't hate me for what I was?" she stammered. "I was so cruel, I was no mother to you..."

"I don't....I thought I did..." he admitted. "But seeing you as you are now...I knew I never could."

"But you....are the Phantom Ranger...just to think how many times I nearly killed you...."

"Would you have cared if you had known it was me?"

He heard her sharp, inhaled gasp. "Shadow, that's not a fair question. It might not have seemed like it, but I love you, I always did. I just...just didn't know how to show it. I am so, so sorry."

"I forgive you," he said quietly, looking into her dark eyes. "I know you could not have been completely evil, not when I heard the purge spared your life. Few got a second chance, mother, and I hope that this time...we can start over and do it right."

Her eyes widened. "Then...you want this? You will have me with you...and be seen with me?"

"I think...." he smiled, and she saw her own face in his again. "I think there is nothing I'd like more."

Cassie chose that exact moment to speak up. "It's a Kodak moment."

Divatox blinked in surprise, and looked in astonishment from her son to the Pink Ranger. It only took her a moment to realize the meaning of their shared, tender looks.

"You...and her...ah?" She said to her son, jerking her head in Cassie's direction. Tar'yn nodded, and she relaxed slightly.

"Then I see you are in good hands."

"Let's go back to Earth," suggested Tar'yn. "I have been staying with the Rangers there."

"After that, I want to go to inquiris," said Divatox. "You see, son, I have discovered who my family was there...."

Aquitar's main sun shone brightly overhead as the three occupants of the plain shimmered out of existence, leaving nothing but the windwept land without a shadow in sight, for the shadows had been swept away.