Fractured Fates (S.P.D./inSpace Crossover/Power Rangers, prompt 16 ~ photograph)
I have come to the conclusion that my adopted nephew is MiniSky. He sulks, he broods, he somewhat demands to be paid attention to while giving us the silent treatment and only looks adorable in the process, and he even has the Boo-Boo Lip. Seriously. I couldn't get the image of him pouting at me out of my head for hours.
Which I suppose makes it all the more convenient that I'm his R.J. - to a point.
This train of thought has absolutely nothing to do with the following chapter.
Title: Fractured Fates
Author: Tsukino Akume
Relationship: Zhane/Sky Tate, Jack Landors/Syd Drew
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, because I probably wouldn't have done this to it even if I did. This is all purplestripe66's fault.
Warning: Character with depression/health issues
Summary: When Andros put Zhane into cryogenic stasis, he didn't wake up until he was completely healed - twenty-four years later. Zhane finds a new team, and S.P.D. tries to deal with the aftermath.
List of 22: 16 ~ photograph
Author's Notes: Lots of angst ahead. I wanted Zhane's reunion with Andros to be emotional, and I think I got it.
On a side note for those who are confused, I'm going off the thought that the invasion on KO-35 wasn't something that happened overnight.
Whatever he'd thought he'd find when he came here, he didn't think this was it.
It was a two story house, with green grass and a fence around it that apparently kept in the large animal running around. Yellow, with white wood around the windows and framing the porch, and a painfully red front door. There was some sort of metal contraption just behind the house that looked like it was made for climbing, and some sort of cooking thing nearby. A bench on the front porch, facing out towards the street.
They'd said he married the Yellow Ranger, didn't they? Apparently she'd managed to domesticate the unchangeable Andros in the process.
He'd been watching the place for roughly two days now, and he was still amazed that Andros hadn't come out to confront him yet. His friend must be getting slow in his old age. Old age. Was Andros really nearly seventy years old? They were about twenty when they received their morphers. Man ... where did the time go?
Was *he* really that old? Maybe he'd have to start using Earth years after all. According to *them*, he was only eighteen. Still older than B - than them, but only by a few months.
Andros had aged well, he'd noticed. He laughed a lot. Left his hair down. The first night he'd sat outside, just in front of the bench on the porch, and let a young woman who far looked too much like him play with it. Another woman had joined them, leaning against Andros' side and talking softly to him. It was disgustingly perfect, really.
And he had no place in it.
He'd stayed another day because he was curious, because he couldn't seem to drag himself away. He'd ignored the messages on his Digimorpher, setting it to cloak mode to keep Kat away for at least a little while. He didn't want S.P.D. right now. He didn't want their rules, their demands, their accusations. He didn't want their structure.
He wanted an easy and tight friendship with the closest thing he had to a brother. He wanted long nights studying at the academy, sparring sessions that left him completely exhausted, and falling asleep to the sound of his best friend's breathing. He wanted dark nights filled with fear and terror, never knowing what was out there, planning to take them down in their sleep - just that his partner was beside him. He missed fighting for his life in battles so loud he couldn't hear clearly for days, getting glimpses of that red uniform every so often out of the corner of his eye.
And he wanted it back.
All the drama, all the pain and fighting ... He'd endure all of it, just to have his life back. To have Andros back.
He leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree he was sitting in with a pained sigh. Why did he wake up? Why couldn't he have gone out in that battle, down in a blaze of glory protecting his teammate? There was no better way to go, no other way he'd *wanted* to end his life.
But his life hadn't ended. He'd lingered on, and now he was wandering around like some sort of rogue spirit. He didn't have anything worth fighting for anymore. The only thing he could do now was join the fight against Grumm, but he wasn't sure anymore if he even had the strength to do that.
He let out another long sigh. He still didn't want to go back to S.P.D., but waiting here for Andros to ... notice him, call out to him, do ... *something*. He didn't even know what he wanted from him now. And whatever it was, sitting in this tree wasn't going to accomplish anything. Brooding like this wasn't like him, and if he did it for too much longer, he'd have to strangle himself.
He dropped down quietly, stopping to close his eyes and rub his forehead in irritation as he tried to think of what to do now. If he went back into the city, he'd have a better chance of keeping an eye out for any criminal activity. He'd have to find somewhere to sleep, but it wasn't like he hadn't been forced to camp out with what was available before.
"So how long are you planning to wait outside?"
He spun around, S.P.D. blaster held out in front of him.
But Andros just watched him, tilting his head, waiting. A small, faint smile slipped across his face. "You know that's only going to fire at the ground, right?" he pointed out.
His eyes flickered briefly to his blaster. He had extended his arm completely on instinct, forgetting that it wasn't his Silverizer he was holding, or even a standard Kerovian model. Stupid S.P.D. Didn't even know how to make a decent weapon.
Andros' expression softened slightly, his eyes sympathetic. "The war is over, Zhane," he said quietly. "KO-35 is free, and Dark Specter is gone. You don't have to fight anymore." He paused, his forehead creasing into a worried frown that he knew all too well. "How long are you planning to wait outside?" he asked again.
His hand shook. It took a moment to force himself to lower the blaster, and even then he wasn't sure if he'd done it on his own, or it had been Andros' gentle hand forcing his down. His eyes burned as he stared into brown eyes that were so familiar and so wrong all at once. It was Andros, but it wasn't. *His* Andros, the one he'd known since he was a child, was gone.
*Everything* he'd known was gone.
He didn't remember moving forward, or seeing Andros step toward him. All he knew was that his arms were around his old friend, and he was sobbing hysterically into his shoulder. And that Andros was holding him painfully tight, while his shoulder was starting to feel wet.
****
"Would you like anything to drink?" Ashley asked, giving him a sweet smile. She was pretty; the moment Andros had introduced them and she'd given him a bright smile and a hug he hadn't seen coming, he'd known why his friend had married her.
"No, that's - " He paused, blinking as he found a glass of water pressed firmly into his hand. "Thanks," he finished wryly. He shot Andros an amused look and found it returned.
The familiar gesture was comforting and painful all at once, and he looked down at his glass, forcing a smile. "So, uh. How long have you two been married?"
"Twenty years now." the expression on Andros' face was disgustingly content. He smiled up at his wife, reaching up to place his hand on hers where it rested on his shoulder. "I can't believe she still puts up with me."
"I can't either," he muttered under his breath.
Ashley burst into giggles, while Andros gave him another irritated look. "It's been hard," she confessed, eyes sparkling mischievously. "But I've managed."
Andros glanced between the two of them, scowling. "You know, I always knew this would happen if you two met. I was really hoping I was wrong."
Ashley gave him another one of those smiles. "Sorry, sweetie. We can't help it - you're just so much fun to tease." She squeezed Andros' shoulder briefly, turning to take a frame from a shelf and offer it to Zhane. "That's our daughter, Marinda," she explained. "She's going to Newtech University this fall."
The girl he was looking at was Ashley, through and through. Her striped hair came from Andros, but the warmth of her eyes and smile were definitely from her mother. Each picture the frame flickered through showed her smiling and laughing. "You must be so proud - she doesn't look a thing like Andros," he told her solemnly, dodging Andros' kick to his shin as he handed the frame back.
Ashley giggled again. "We get that a lot," she admitted. "Carlos used to tease me about letting my genes smother Andros'."
He tilted his head, his answering smile a little strange. "Carlos?"
She blinked, startled, and then looked slightly horrified. "Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you knew everyone. Carlos is our Black Ranger."
"T.J. is Blue, Cassie is Pink, Ash is Yellow, and Ko-lin is the Phantom Ranger," Andros explained.
"Phantom Ranger?" he repeated, feeling like a broken record. He also felt slightly guilty; he'd been so focused on figuring out his own life, he hadn't looked into Andros' at all.
"Our Sixth." The look Andros gave him now was measured and seemed to see right through him. "Apparently she'd been helping out Ash's team back when they were the Turbo Rangers, and she joined us after they left their planet and met me."
"More like ambushed you," Ashley teased, nudging him lightly. "You hated us all for ages."
"I didn't hate you," he protested. "I just didn't know you. And you were ... strange."
"Uh huh."
Zhane watched them with a growing sense of ache. They were so at ease with each other, so casual. Andros really had moved on a long time ago, hadn't he? Ashley and his team had helped him do that.
And they had a Sixth Ranger.
One of the things they'd first learned at the Eltarian Ranger Collegiate was about team dynamics. Every Ranger team, no matter what Colors their morphers had, had a place for each Ranger in that team. The leader, the caretaker, the brain, the strength, the healer, the heart ... there were a lot of names. But each team - the most successful ones, anyway - also had a Sixth. Someone who existed as a part of the team, outside the team. The Sixth was there to protect the others, to give them an extra boost of strength right when they needed it most.
He'd always been told he was the Sixth Kerova Ranger. It hadn't mattered that it was just him and Andros - it was still *their* team, and his job was to keep Andros safe. It was what he'd always done.
But ... he wasn't Andros' Sixth? He wasn't ... He didn't have ....
"Zhane?!"
There was a hand on his arm. "Zhane, look at me," someone ordered.
He forced himself to look up, wondering why his chest hurt so much. Was the Power still being stubborn? It had taken *days* for the ache in his shoulder to die down. Maybe this was part of that? But then why was everything blurry ... ?
There was something cold on his face, and people hovering above him with anxious looks on their faces. "Zhane?" he heard someone call.
He blinked slowly. What was he .... ? "Where am I?" he forced out.
The faces exchanged looks. "I'm getting a doctor," the woman declared.
"No," he managed, reaching for her blindly. "I'm fine. Really."
"Zhane, you need to get looked at," another voice insisted. This one was familiar.
He frowned, trying to place it. " ... Andros?" he mumbled. No ... that couldn't be right. Andros was still holed up in his quarters over that big exam, wasn't he? Wait ... or was he on patrol?
"I can't remember," he murmured. "I ... where ... What's going on?"
"Zhane?" It was that voice again. "Zhane, look at me. *Please*."
Whoever it was, they sounded really worried about him. He opened his eyes and squinted up at the man again. "Oh. There you are, Andros," he said fuzzily. He pushed himself up, rubbing at his eyes and holding his head in his hands. Man, his head hurt. What was he doing again?
Something about Andros. His wife. There was a picture ...
Wow, did he really tell Cruger that Andros was his team leader to his face? That was gonna hurt later. There was no way the big dog was just gonna let that go. Let alone his team.
He winced. "Man, I gotta apologize to Jack," he muttered. Just because it was true didn't mean Jack had needed to hear it. That was more than just slightly cruel.
... Wait, was his morpher beeping?
He blinked at it for a moment before at last answering. "This is Zhane."
"Zhane, we need you. An extremely dangerous criminal has escaped from prison, and we have every reason to believe he'll come after Sky and the other Rangers," Kat said shortly.
His eyes widened, then narrowed. "What would he want with Sky?"
There was a pause. "Mirloc is the one who took out Sky's father. He may want to finish what he started."
His fists clenched. "Not if I can help it," he growled. "I'm on my way, Kat."
Andros caught his arm as he stood. "Zhane - "
He looked back at him and paused as their eyes met. "I have to go," he said quietly.
Andros swallowed. "I know. Just ... be careful, all right?"
He smiled a little. "Who, me?"
Andros scowled and raised an arm. He mirrored him, and the series of movements made him laugh, because they were so familiar it was like no time had passed at all. It was only when he looked up into brown eyes with light wrinkles around them, and a face softened by age, that he remembered it had.
"We'll vow to fight as a team forever," he whispered, his heart clenching.
Andros' hands tightened on his. "Forever," he echoed solemnly.
"Zhane?" Andros added as he turned toward the door.
He glanced back over his shoulder. "Yeah?"
"Every Ranger has a team," Andros reminded him softly, his eyes serious. "But no one ever said there only had to be one."
He smiled as his eyes burned again and headed out the door, because if he didn't, he'd cry.
Which I suppose makes it all the more convenient that I'm his R.J. - to a point.
This train of thought has absolutely nothing to do with the following chapter.
Title: Fractured Fates
Author: Tsukino Akume
Relationship: Zhane/Sky Tate, Jack Landors/Syd Drew
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, because I probably wouldn't have done this to it even if I did. This is all purplestripe66's fault.
Warning: Character with depression/health issues
Summary: When Andros put Zhane into cryogenic stasis, he didn't wake up until he was completely healed - twenty-four years later. Zhane finds a new team, and S.P.D. tries to deal with the aftermath.
List of 22: 16 ~ photograph
Author's Notes: Lots of angst ahead. I wanted Zhane's reunion with Andros to be emotional, and I think I got it.
On a side note for those who are confused, I'm going off the thought that the invasion on KO-35 wasn't something that happened overnight.
Whatever he'd thought he'd find when he came here, he didn't think this was it.
It was a two story house, with green grass and a fence around it that apparently kept in the large animal running around. Yellow, with white wood around the windows and framing the porch, and a painfully red front door. There was some sort of metal contraption just behind the house that looked like it was made for climbing, and some sort of cooking thing nearby. A bench on the front porch, facing out towards the street.
They'd said he married the Yellow Ranger, didn't they? Apparently she'd managed to domesticate the unchangeable Andros in the process.
He'd been watching the place for roughly two days now, and he was still amazed that Andros hadn't come out to confront him yet. His friend must be getting slow in his old age. Old age. Was Andros really nearly seventy years old? They were about twenty when they received their morphers. Man ... where did the time go?
Was *he* really that old? Maybe he'd have to start using Earth years after all. According to *them*, he was only eighteen. Still older than B - than them, but only by a few months.
Andros had aged well, he'd noticed. He laughed a lot. Left his hair down. The first night he'd sat outside, just in front of the bench on the porch, and let a young woman who far looked too much like him play with it. Another woman had joined them, leaning against Andros' side and talking softly to him. It was disgustingly perfect, really.
And he had no place in it.
He'd stayed another day because he was curious, because he couldn't seem to drag himself away. He'd ignored the messages on his Digimorpher, setting it to cloak mode to keep Kat away for at least a little while. He didn't want S.P.D. right now. He didn't want their rules, their demands, their accusations. He didn't want their structure.
He wanted an easy and tight friendship with the closest thing he had to a brother. He wanted long nights studying at the academy, sparring sessions that left him completely exhausted, and falling asleep to the sound of his best friend's breathing. He wanted dark nights filled with fear and terror, never knowing what was out there, planning to take them down in their sleep - just that his partner was beside him. He missed fighting for his life in battles so loud he couldn't hear clearly for days, getting glimpses of that red uniform every so often out of the corner of his eye.
And he wanted it back.
All the drama, all the pain and fighting ... He'd endure all of it, just to have his life back. To have Andros back.
He leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree he was sitting in with a pained sigh. Why did he wake up? Why couldn't he have gone out in that battle, down in a blaze of glory protecting his teammate? There was no better way to go, no other way he'd *wanted* to end his life.
But his life hadn't ended. He'd lingered on, and now he was wandering around like some sort of rogue spirit. He didn't have anything worth fighting for anymore. The only thing he could do now was join the fight against Grumm, but he wasn't sure anymore if he even had the strength to do that.
He let out another long sigh. He still didn't want to go back to S.P.D., but waiting here for Andros to ... notice him, call out to him, do ... *something*. He didn't even know what he wanted from him now. And whatever it was, sitting in this tree wasn't going to accomplish anything. Brooding like this wasn't like him, and if he did it for too much longer, he'd have to strangle himself.
He dropped down quietly, stopping to close his eyes and rub his forehead in irritation as he tried to think of what to do now. If he went back into the city, he'd have a better chance of keeping an eye out for any criminal activity. He'd have to find somewhere to sleep, but it wasn't like he hadn't been forced to camp out with what was available before.
"So how long are you planning to wait outside?"
He spun around, S.P.D. blaster held out in front of him.
But Andros just watched him, tilting his head, waiting. A small, faint smile slipped across his face. "You know that's only going to fire at the ground, right?" he pointed out.
His eyes flickered briefly to his blaster. He had extended his arm completely on instinct, forgetting that it wasn't his Silverizer he was holding, or even a standard Kerovian model. Stupid S.P.D. Didn't even know how to make a decent weapon.
Andros' expression softened slightly, his eyes sympathetic. "The war is over, Zhane," he said quietly. "KO-35 is free, and Dark Specter is gone. You don't have to fight anymore." He paused, his forehead creasing into a worried frown that he knew all too well. "How long are you planning to wait outside?" he asked again.
His hand shook. It took a moment to force himself to lower the blaster, and even then he wasn't sure if he'd done it on his own, or it had been Andros' gentle hand forcing his down. His eyes burned as he stared into brown eyes that were so familiar and so wrong all at once. It was Andros, but it wasn't. *His* Andros, the one he'd known since he was a child, was gone.
*Everything* he'd known was gone.
He didn't remember moving forward, or seeing Andros step toward him. All he knew was that his arms were around his old friend, and he was sobbing hysterically into his shoulder. And that Andros was holding him painfully tight, while his shoulder was starting to feel wet.
****
"Would you like anything to drink?" Ashley asked, giving him a sweet smile. She was pretty; the moment Andros had introduced them and she'd given him a bright smile and a hug he hadn't seen coming, he'd known why his friend had married her.
"No, that's - " He paused, blinking as he found a glass of water pressed firmly into his hand. "Thanks," he finished wryly. He shot Andros an amused look and found it returned.
The familiar gesture was comforting and painful all at once, and he looked down at his glass, forcing a smile. "So, uh. How long have you two been married?"
"Twenty years now." the expression on Andros' face was disgustingly content. He smiled up at his wife, reaching up to place his hand on hers where it rested on his shoulder. "I can't believe she still puts up with me."
"I can't either," he muttered under his breath.
Ashley burst into giggles, while Andros gave him another irritated look. "It's been hard," she confessed, eyes sparkling mischievously. "But I've managed."
Andros glanced between the two of them, scowling. "You know, I always knew this would happen if you two met. I was really hoping I was wrong."
Ashley gave him another one of those smiles. "Sorry, sweetie. We can't help it - you're just so much fun to tease." She squeezed Andros' shoulder briefly, turning to take a frame from a shelf and offer it to Zhane. "That's our daughter, Marinda," she explained. "She's going to Newtech University this fall."
The girl he was looking at was Ashley, through and through. Her striped hair came from Andros, but the warmth of her eyes and smile were definitely from her mother. Each picture the frame flickered through showed her smiling and laughing. "You must be so proud - she doesn't look a thing like Andros," he told her solemnly, dodging Andros' kick to his shin as he handed the frame back.
Ashley giggled again. "We get that a lot," she admitted. "Carlos used to tease me about letting my genes smother Andros'."
He tilted his head, his answering smile a little strange. "Carlos?"
She blinked, startled, and then looked slightly horrified. "Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you knew everyone. Carlos is our Black Ranger."
"T.J. is Blue, Cassie is Pink, Ash is Yellow, and Ko-lin is the Phantom Ranger," Andros explained.
"Phantom Ranger?" he repeated, feeling like a broken record. He also felt slightly guilty; he'd been so focused on figuring out his own life, he hadn't looked into Andros' at all.
"Our Sixth." The look Andros gave him now was measured and seemed to see right through him. "Apparently she'd been helping out Ash's team back when they were the Turbo Rangers, and she joined us after they left their planet and met me."
"More like ambushed you," Ashley teased, nudging him lightly. "You hated us all for ages."
"I didn't hate you," he protested. "I just didn't know you. And you were ... strange."
"Uh huh."
Zhane watched them with a growing sense of ache. They were so at ease with each other, so casual. Andros really had moved on a long time ago, hadn't he? Ashley and his team had helped him do that.
And they had a Sixth Ranger.
One of the things they'd first learned at the Eltarian Ranger Collegiate was about team dynamics. Every Ranger team, no matter what Colors their morphers had, had a place for each Ranger in that team. The leader, the caretaker, the brain, the strength, the healer, the heart ... there were a lot of names. But each team - the most successful ones, anyway - also had a Sixth. Someone who existed as a part of the team, outside the team. The Sixth was there to protect the others, to give them an extra boost of strength right when they needed it most.
He'd always been told he was the Sixth Kerova Ranger. It hadn't mattered that it was just him and Andros - it was still *their* team, and his job was to keep Andros safe. It was what he'd always done.
But ... he wasn't Andros' Sixth? He wasn't ... He didn't have ....
"Zhane?!"
There was a hand on his arm. "Zhane, look at me," someone ordered.
He forced himself to look up, wondering why his chest hurt so much. Was the Power still being stubborn? It had taken *days* for the ache in his shoulder to die down. Maybe this was part of that? But then why was everything blurry ... ?
There was something cold on his face, and people hovering above him with anxious looks on their faces. "Zhane?" he heard someone call.
He blinked slowly. What was he .... ? "Where am I?" he forced out.
The faces exchanged looks. "I'm getting a doctor," the woman declared.
"No," he managed, reaching for her blindly. "I'm fine. Really."
"Zhane, you need to get looked at," another voice insisted. This one was familiar.
He frowned, trying to place it. " ... Andros?" he mumbled. No ... that couldn't be right. Andros was still holed up in his quarters over that big exam, wasn't he? Wait ... or was he on patrol?
"I can't remember," he murmured. "I ... where ... What's going on?"
"Zhane?" It was that voice again. "Zhane, look at me. *Please*."
Whoever it was, they sounded really worried about him. He opened his eyes and squinted up at the man again. "Oh. There you are, Andros," he said fuzzily. He pushed himself up, rubbing at his eyes and holding his head in his hands. Man, his head hurt. What was he doing again?
Something about Andros. His wife. There was a picture ...
Wow, did he really tell Cruger that Andros was his team leader to his face? That was gonna hurt later. There was no way the big dog was just gonna let that go. Let alone his team.
He winced. "Man, I gotta apologize to Jack," he muttered. Just because it was true didn't mean Jack had needed to hear it. That was more than just slightly cruel.
... Wait, was his morpher beeping?
He blinked at it for a moment before at last answering. "This is Zhane."
"Zhane, we need you. An extremely dangerous criminal has escaped from prison, and we have every reason to believe he'll come after Sky and the other Rangers," Kat said shortly.
His eyes widened, then narrowed. "What would he want with Sky?"
There was a pause. "Mirloc is the one who took out Sky's father. He may want to finish what he started."
His fists clenched. "Not if I can help it," he growled. "I'm on my way, Kat."
Andros caught his arm as he stood. "Zhane - "
He looked back at him and paused as their eyes met. "I have to go," he said quietly.
Andros swallowed. "I know. Just ... be careful, all right?"
He smiled a little. "Who, me?"
Andros scowled and raised an arm. He mirrored him, and the series of movements made him laugh, because they were so familiar it was like no time had passed at all. It was only when he looked up into brown eyes with light wrinkles around them, and a face softened by age, that he remembered it had.
"We'll vow to fight as a team forever," he whispered, his heart clenching.
Andros' hands tightened on his. "Forever," he echoed solemnly.
"Zhane?" Andros added as he turned toward the door.
He glanced back over his shoulder. "Yeah?"
"Every Ranger has a team," Andros reminded him softly, his eyes serious. "But no one ever said there only had to be one."
He smiled as his eyes burned again and headed out the door, because if he didn't, he'd cry.