This has been lurking in my mind for a while...I hope you like it!

Dino Charge: Reflections

Considering that a few days prior, the city had been under siege by a horde of reanimated monsters right after massive green lizards had attacked cities all over the world, the city of Amber Beach was oddly peaceful.

Even as ominous grey clouds floated in and covered the sky, threatening to storm, there was no more unease around the city. Despite the Power Rangers being gone, the city didn't seem to feel at threat any more, which meant they were able to start on repairs. After all, a lot had happened, and the city was in bad shape.

The peace; the contented atmosphere, only served to put Heckyl further on edge.

A lot had gone on over the last few days, and it was getting too much for someone who was attempting to adjust to a completely different life. So much so that he'd slipped out in the middle of the night to try and clear his head. Hours later, it was no better.

People wandered past in the park he'd stumbled across, not paying him any heed as he sat under a tree. He paid them no mind either, barely even aware of them.

Leaning his head back, Heckyl closed his eyes to try and make sense of his thoughts. The person he'd thought he was; the person he had been for so many years he'd lost track, was gone, leaving a lot of blurry memories and even more conflicted feelings.

Yes, splitting from Snide had freed him from the Dark Energem's hold, finally freeing his mind from the evil that had surrounded him for so long, but what exactly did that make him now? That thought made him smile bitterly. He had no idea. Imprisoned, jumping between himself and Snide. Free, jumping between himself and Snide, arguing on ways to get the Energems. Then suddenly free from Snide, and whole again, finally starting to remember his past.

His home.

Gone.

Sentai-6, destroyed by Lord Arcanon and leaving him the sole-survivor through some twist of fate. His beautiful world, reduced to ash and dust and then nothingness. Those were his clearest memories, at least for now.

Lord Arcanon arriving on the planet, warily greeted by those in charge. They'd been accompanied by the eldest of the Archivists who feared the outsider had come coveting the relics that they guarded from the rest of the worlds out there.

They'd been killed immediately. Arcanon then slaughtered everyone in his path to find the Dark Energem, and despite their own power, they were helpless to stop him. When the terrified civilians gave in and finally betrayed their own; telling him exactly where to go, they were killed too.

And he'd been just as powerless to save them, as well as those he'd sworn to serve. Gaius had all but shoved the box into his hands and told him to run. One of the youngest; the fastest and most promising, Heckyl had been the only one they believed might stand a chance in getting their most dangerous relic away from Arcanon.

And he'd failed.

Those were the most potent memories. The blood of his people, the bodies that piled up where Arcanon went in his hunt for his quarry. And in his failure Heckyl did what he had been told never to do.

His body was split in the most agonising way possible, host to two souls fighting for domination. Even when the trauma sealed his memories away, he knew he could never give complete control over to his darker half.

And once his planet was destroyed - something Arcanon took great pleasure in making him watch, Heckyl was thrown in a dark cell and set loose by Sledge only in the earlier days to do his bidding. Then, he was left to rot, forgetting about the people he'd lost.

Alone.

Heckyl quickly shook his head. Not alone. Definitely not alone. He had...whatever the Rangers were to him, and those close to them.

Guilt then reared its ugly head again. How arrogant to consider himself, what? Allies with the people he'd worked to kill for months? A hand went to his face and into his hair as he sighed. And how could they willingly work with him? How could they even consider trusting him, after everything? Especially considering that had been his original plan, to get in close and destroy them from the inside.

The guilt only grew at that thought. That was a whole other can of worms. He'd gotten close enough to them that they had let their guard down and given away their base, and while those memories had been erased, they still treated him with a lot more warmth, until he panicked and forced his plan ahead too fast.

Sure, they were treating him well now, but there were still some lingering tensions. How long did Heckyl have until they decided they couldn't trust him? After all, he barely trusted himself. There were too many gaps in his memories, not to mention his own uncertainty that the evil of the Dark Energem had fully left him. He still had no idea just who he truly was, and that scared him more than anything.

"Well, I can tell that you're going to fit in well here," Heckyl felt like his heart had jumped into his throat, and he moved quickly, hand lighting up with energy in a defensive reflex. He stiffened, seeing a familiar face as he took a seat beside him.

Minos snorted when he saw his movements, not looking very impressed. "You don't have to be so defensive. I don't have plans of fighting you right now," he shook his head, fixing the cap he wore.

"Right now?" Heckyl repeated, and to his irritation his voice cracked from lack of use. He flushed when Minos chuckled, not liking the idea of being made fun of.

"Yeah, right now," Minos confirmed, and passed him a bottle of water. "I hear you can put up a good fight. I only got to take on your angrier half, I wouldn't mind having a good match against you," he chuckled, and Heckyl arched an eyebrow.

"So sure I'm still on the opposing side?" he asked, tense and ready for a fight. Minos snorted again.

"Not at all. You got a lot to learn, kid," the man shook his head. Heckyl frowned.

"What do you want?" he asked, now even more on edge than before. Despite Snide's best efforts, Heckyl had remained aware while Minos easily beat him, both in technique and pure strength. He was a painful reminder of both that memory, and the fact that he was still weak.

"You up and disappear in the night, you think your absence isn't gonna be noticed?" Minos rolled his eyes.

"And you got tasked with tracking me down?" Heckyl watched him carefully. Minos snorted again, almost bull-like in nature.

"As much as they would like to think they can boss me around, no," Minos dismissed, sounding almost offended by his words. "I offered to track you down," he repeated the words with amusement, which earned him more confusion and less frustration.

"To get a good match?" Heckyl repeated Minos' words, and let out a yelp when a sharp hand hit him over the back of the head.

"No wonder Teddie likes you. Snarky brats, the pair of you," the man muttered as Heckyl rubbed the back of his head, glaring at him. He felt his face warm at the comment, embarrassed. "Look, Heckyl, what I'm trying to say is, well, I had a feeling I'd find you like this," Minos admitted. Heckyl's confusion returned.

"What are you talking about?" his voice was guarded. He didn't need this stranger pitying him. He'd gone off alone to avoid that.

"The peace makes me uneasy too, sometimes," Heckyl went rigid at Minos' quiet words. "Out of place, out of time, it's hard to adjust to being thrown into a completely different way of life, with no idea what you're going to do, or who you even are any more," he stared at the man who spoke like he was pulling the thoughts from Heckyl's head. Minos didn't look at him, staring out ahead with an impassive expression. "Wondering if those who've taken you under their wing will stick by you, or if the distrust will win out and you'll be left alone," Minos continued quietly. "It's-"

"Stop it," Heckyl snarled, and the energy that constantly bubbled under his skin lit up in his hand again, twirling around his fingers. Minos finally looked at him, and after a moment, chuckled low.

"Yeah, I'd have picked a fight too, when I first had those thoughts," he said, looking away. The energy immediately vanished, along with Heckyl's will to fight.

"You mean, you…"

"Kid, I spent 10,000 years on my own, searching for a way to destroy my enemies," Minos' tone was grim. Heckyl's head tilted a little. He didn't look very old at all - younger than Ari and her friends, but older than the Rangers. "Ten thousand years wandering both this world and the magical realm. Never staying anywhere long enough for them to catch on that I wanted to watch everything burn. My family were dead, and I was cursed never to rejoin them," he shook his head, eyes haunted.

"What happened?" Heckyl asked before realising just how fascinated he was by Minos' tale.

"I was part of an Order, trained to hone my animal spirit to aid me in battle. I lost my family, and turned on them. I was led to believe they were the killers. I followed Dai Shi as his right-hand man, with my sister. And when he inevitably lost, as the bad guys tend to," Minos chuckled to himself at that. "My sister sealed herself in his temple, only to awaken when he returned. And I started looking for a way to destroy Pai Zhuq and everything they stood for.

"When Dai Shi did return, the Power Rangers appeared to stop him. RJ, Ari and the others…" Heckyl bit back his comments, somewhat startled to know that Ari had been part of the team to fight the powerful man sat beside him. "They helped me see the truth. And when I accepted that truth, they let me join their team," Minos smiled softly as he thought about it. "It took them a long time to fully accept me as a member of the team, but hell, I stuck it out and I guess earned their trust," he shrugged.

"And you think by telling me this, everything will be okay?" Heckyl snapped, still feeling too defensive; too vulnerable, to really accept what Minos was saying. He couldn't accept it. The idea that he could be accepted placed a weight on his chest and made it harder to breathe.

"I'm telling you this, idiot, so you know that you're not alone," Minos rolled his eyes. "I didn't move on alone. I wanted to, gods, I didn't want to be with them. But there's something about Rangers that makes them irritatingly positive. Whether you like it or not, they're not going to leave you to sulk about it alone," he told him, amused by his own words as he thought about his own adjustment.

"I'm not-"

"Whatever, kid," Minos cut him off. "Just know that you're not alone in any of this. You got the Rangers, and the rest of them. Jeremy seems to trust you too, and since he's family, I have to stick with his decision," Heckyl frowned at his words.

"He's family? How deep do you all go?" he complained, resting his head in his hand.

Family. While he'd not had much of that to speak of - the Archivists being the closest thing he'd had - it was just another thing he'd lost out on.

"It doesn't go away. The loss," Minos sighed, seeing his anger and frustration grow. "But it gets easier. Especially if you let others get close again," his words sounded almost like a promise, but Heckyl didn't reply, refusing to let himself hope. Minos groaned, running a hand through his hair. "You know I almost killed Ari multiple times? I also stole Xander's Animal Spirit. He almost lost his magic because of it," he commented.

"Oh, we're on to comparing failed attempts?" Heckyl rolled his eyes, and gave another undignified yelp when Minos slapped his head again. "Stop doing that," he growled, eyes dark as he glared at him.

"I'll stop when you stop being a brat. I was telling you that, because I did all those terrible things, and they still accepted me. But then again, it's a family trait to adopt the bad guys," Minos snorted, and Heckyl was reminded of Xander's comment. "There's one other point you're forgetting. Ryan," Heckyl's eyes widened a little at the mention of the young man who'd briefly been even more overwhelmed that he had been.

He'd meant what he said. He wanted to help Ryan. Knowing that both he and Ryan had gone through the same things he had with the Dark Energem, it was somewhat reassuring. Heckyl bit back a curse as he realised that Minos had actually helped, and judging from the smirk the man now wore, he knew it too. He looked away, scowling.

"Right," he muttered, and flinched when Minos patted his shoulder.

"You ready to head back, before-" Minos stopped as the first drops of rain started to fall. "That," he looked up as the rain began to fall. "Seems about right," he commented, moving his hat to face it forwards instead, shielding his eyes from some of the raindrops. Hearing a laugh, he looked around to see Heckyl with his face pointed towards the sky, eyes closed.

"There's something pleasant about the rain," he considered. Minos shook his head with a smile.

"Yeah, there is," he had to agree as Heckyl got to his feet. "Come on kid, let's get back," he suggested. Heckyl took a deep breath, and finally turned to the Master.

"Right," he nodded.

This was fun, and pretty different for me to try out.

Let me know what you think!

Please review!