Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers, Saban does, if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here wishing I had a morpher too. Please read and review! Enjoy!

The sun beamed brightly down, its warmth comforting rather then scalding, gentle breezes rustling the tree leaves; a sharp contrast to the violent turmoil in the girl's chocolate brown pools. Shiny, long, black tresses blew around her, gently ruffled in all directions. Her intelligent eyes stared blankly out into the depthless sea, its crashing waves a mirror to her inner soul. People passed by without a second glance, thanks to the residue of Zordon's energy wave that scrambled people's memories. Nobody knew that the petit Asian curled vulnerably on the stone bench was the one and only Pink Space Ranger.

In her pink spaghetti-strap tank-top, white hoodie, and canvas khakis attire, Cassie Chan looked every inch the normal teenager, but another look at those blank eyes and impassive mien, there was a tangible air of pain and anguish, of wisdom beyond her years, and of regret. She folded her arms tightly around her legs and gripped her forearms until her knuckles turned white as she remembered what happened nearly 3 months ago. She remembered her agony as Psycho Pink drained her powers, her panic as the Pink Galaxy Ranger breached the sound barrier for her Savage Sword, and her own screams as she tried to stop a friend from sacrificing herself. Kendrix died right in front of her eyes, died because of her incompetence, and died trying to save her.

'It's all my fault, I should be in her place, I should be dead. If it weren't for me she would still be alive, she and Leo might've already gotten together. It's all my fault…all my fault…all mine. I shouldn't be here right now, what am I doing here? I should be back on the Astro Megaship…' Cassie closed her eyes against the tears she could feel threatening to spill. She wanted to lock herself away… where she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

"Cassie? You okay?" It was her best friend and the Yellow Space Ranger, Ashley Hammond. Ashley's honey-flecked eyes reflected her concern. Cassie didn't need her pity, nor did she want to add to Ashley's problems.

"I'm fine, Ash," she replied softly, forcing a tight smile. Ashley was oblivious to her effort, so wrapped up in her own life. After returning to KO-35 from Earth, hers and Andros' relationship had slowly taken a more obvious downhill turn. Dressed in jean shorts, a yellow tank top, and white tennis shoes with her chestnut locks twisted back and clipped at the base of her neck, she was the walking definition of beauty. Male attention towards her reassured her that she looked nothing less than exotic. She had too much to worry about to dig deeper into her best friend's toneless answer. She thought about what she could wear to turn Andros' head at the party tonight. The sound of TJ's voice jolted her out of her musings, "Earth to Ashley."

"I am on Earth," she retorted, vaguely irritated at the Blue Space Ranger's bad timing.

"Then bring your brain back from space," Carlos said, handing her an ice cream cone. The Black Space Ranger plopped down on the grass. TJ joined him – until he sat on some ice cream that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Andros, ice cream is meant to be smeared on the face, not on TJ's butt," Cassie scolded lightly, a hint of a sparkle back in her eyes to indicate her amusement. TJ mock-scowled.

"Sorry, but what's ice cream?" Andros quipped innocently. Cassie chuckled once. Reluctantly. The Red Space Ranger held out another ice cream cone, "I don't know what this is, but it's sweet, it'll cheer you up." Cassie didn't bother to correct him; he wouldn't understand, but for some strange reason she wanted to tell him it wasn't as simple as that, she didn't ever feel that way though. Andros knew she was still hurting, he knew how she felt. He sat on the other side of her, nudging her over lightly. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out.

"Are you coming with us to the party tonight, Cass?" She shook her head wearily.

"Why not, it'll be fun," Carlos added. She shook her head again, subdued.

"What party?" Andros asked; nobody said a word about to him before.

"One of Ashley's old friends is throwing a party tonight at her house," TJ answered. Andros frowned, "Oh, have fun then." Ashley turned her body to fully face him, "What are you talking about, I thought you agreed to come with me?" Andros sighed and looked away; Ashley had been trying to control him and picking fights lately, "You didn't tell me this earlier, Ashley, I told Alpha he could take the night off and I would work."

"Cassie's going to be on the Astro Megaship tonight, I'm sure she can handle the controls!" Ashley fired back. Cassie cut in before the Yellow Ranger lost her temper completely, "It's fine, Andros, you should go out with them, I can handle surveillance, if anything comes up you have your communicator." Ashley took on a haughty expression as if to say 'what do you have to say to that?' TJ and Carlos rolled their eyes at Ashley's childishness, "Ash, if Andros doesn't wanna go then leave him be."

"Stay out of this," she snapped angrily. Andros stood up and drew her away from the group, towards the railing by the sea. They got into a heated argument; Ashley, irrational and stubborn; Andros, calm and resigned. He knew this was long coming, in retrospect, he realized that he'd only thought he loved Ashley, her attractiveness was undeniable, but in concentrating on her physical appearance, he'd missed the apparent flaws in her personality, they couldn't suit. He also understood now that she wasn't drawn to him as himself, but as a female to a male. He didn't want to hurt her, but it seemed inevitable, "Ashley, I think we should break up." Her ineffectual rant cut off like a spigot, "What…"

"Things haven't been going well, and they're not gonna get better."

"We can work it out, what do you want me to do?! If you…"

"Ashley, we can't change the past, our getting involved was already a mistake."

"Don't be ridiculous, what we have is special, it's not a mistake, we can still make it work!" Ashley argued fervently, a slight edge creeping past her fury. Her cheeks were flushed and her manicured nails dug into her palms as her panic rose! He looked away tiredly, "Ashley, it was a mistake. A big one because you still have feelings for someone else." She fell silent and the guilt in her eyes; that was all he needed as confirmation. She stepped back from him, shaking her head confusedly, "I don't understand…No, you can't know…"

"I do know," there was no anger or bitterness in his voice, only calm matter-of-factness.

"And if I'm honest with myself, so do I," he added under his breath, a wistful note in his softened tone. Ashley didn't notice, he could tell she was trying to focus her guilt and direct it at him. Without another word, he turned on his heel and headed back towards the others.

He took Ashley's empty end of the bench at Cassie's feet, his dark, intelligent, toffee-colored orbs following her white sneakers up her canvas khakis to her lost expression with her chin resting on her knees. He'd long since stopped consciously counting the number of times he'd seen her on the simudeck, torturing herself with Kendrix's death over and over again, losing to Psycho Pink repeatedly like she did on Terra Venture. 587 times. That was just this month.

"Hey Teej, are you bringing Aisha tonight?" Carlos asked. TJ had started dating the Yellow Morphin Ranger a couple of weeks ago after running into her and Kimberly, the original Pink Ranger, at Jason's dojo. TJ shook his head; "Aisha had something planned with Kim tonight. What about you, are we finally gonna get to meet your mysterious girlfriend?" Carlos rolled his eyes, his head moving in a similar motion, "Man, I already told you, I'm not seeing anyone!"

"Uh-huh, I believe you," TJ replied condescendingly. Andros would have found the argument amusing if he hadn't been so worried about Cassie. She'd hardly smiled since they came back from Terra Venture and that worried him, his best friend hadn't been the same lively Cassie since they came back to Earth; he thought it would do her some good.

"Hey Cass, what do you think?" TJ asked, trying to bring a little life back into the girl he'd known since grade school and saw as a little sister. Cassie shrugged slowly, "I think Carlos just doesn't want us to embarrass him in front of her."

"Not you too," Carlos whined. He pretended to cast peeved glare in TJ's direction; as long as Cassie was teasing again, he didn't care that it was at his expense. Andros looked around; he saw families and couples lazing around under the shade of the trees. A little girl in a purple t-shirt and overalls ran ahead of her parents, a bundle of balloons trailed after, bobbing in the wind.

When the rangers teleported back to the Astro Megaship, Ashley immediately stormed off in a huff. Andros didn't bother changing out of his white t-shirt, red, button collar shirt and jeans, Cassie had dubbed them his school uniform, which he hadn't understood then, but now he realized she'd been making a crack at his too-serious-17-year-old complex. Cassie left for the simudeck, again. 588. TJ and Carlos went to check on the engines one last time before they headed back to their rooms to get ready for the party themselves. Andros went to the bridge and did a scan on Angel Grove out of habit. DECA's satellite zoned in on some kind of festival. Andros tilted his head slightly to one side and frowned, "Alpha, what is that?"

"That's a carnival, Andros," Alpha answered.

" Is a carnival similar to a festival back on KO-35?"

"Affirmative, Andros," DECA responded, "also called a fair, I have over three thousand…"

"Okay, DECA," Andros interrupted before DECA could drone on and muted her. He looked back at the viewing screen, "Odd, they're riding frozen animals being moved by some sort of revolving dish mechanism. Humans from Earth have the strangest fascinations."

"Ai-yai-yai-yai-yai, that is a Merry-Go-Round."

Andros said nothing, only continued watching the viewing screen.

A brilliant idea hit him, he didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a try. Maybe a little fun might cheer Cassie up. It took him a while to catch on, but then, everyone had their own strange quirks. He liked to watch alien movies from Earth, TJ and Carlos could clean out the food stock on a dare, Ashley would bang on whatever she could to make some sound when she thought it was too quiet, and Cassie, she liked to tease when things got tense. He missed her misplaced sense of humor.

Ashley was furious, he'd found out her secret, big deal, he was an insensitive pig to call her on it, and he had the gall to want to break up?! Well, she'd show him. Her room was now littered with clothes from her closet ranging from skimpy to downright indecent. She decided on the latter. A black mini leather mini-skirt and a sheer yellow tube-top that was nearly see-through and like a second skin that exposed too much of her body fulfilled her requirements. Painting her full lips a layer of shiny red gloss and lining her with a charcoal gray to create a smoky, sensual look; she applied a rich amount of blush to her well-defined cheekbones. Completing her outfit with a pair of black, three-inch stiletto boots that hugged her legs up to her knees, she was dressed to kill.

Cassie ignored the steady pounding in her head and the pain that wracked her abused body and charged at Psycho Pink for the nth time. And for the nth time, Psycho Pink laughed evilly and threw her back to the ground, sending Cassie's battered body sliding across the floor. The desert scene, Psycho Pink, and Kendrix disappeared. A hand appeared in front of her, she looked up and saw Andros. Her leader grasped her right hand firmly and pulled her to her feet. The wry look on his face suddenly made Cassie want to sink to the floor and cry her eyes out. That's exactly what happened. The tears poured out like two rivers. She felt Andros kneel next to her. His strong arms came around her shaking form.

"It's okay to cry, Cass. I know how much you've been hurting."

"No, you don't," Cassie sobbed.

"You forget that I've been 'in the same boat'. That is the right term isn't it?" Cassie choked on a laugh, "Ya, that's the right term."

"When Zhane…" He paused, grabbing for words, "I remember that day like it was yesterday. KO-35 was under heavy attack by Dark Specter. He sent down one of his monsters, and while I was securing some children, I made the mistake of turning my back on him. I heard Zhane shout and when I turned, I saw Zhane throwing himself into the monster's attack that was meant for me. Carrying him to the Astro Megaship and putting him in that cryogenic tube was the hardest thing I'd ever done, because deep in my heart I knew that he would probably die because of me. For the longest time I locked myself away and refused to say anything to anyone, all I wanted to do was curl up and die. After a while, I realized that that wouldn't do Zhane any justice and he wouldn't have wanted me to shut myself off, instead, I threw myself into finding Dark Specter's minions and destroying them. But from then on, I trusted no one, not even me.

"You taught me to trust again. When you faced Astronema so fearlessly and obstinately, the warrior in me found respect in you, the true me, found himself considering trusting again when you introduced yourself like a friend. You accepted so readily that there were other humans out there and that I wasn't ready to talk, wasn't ready for anything. It's okay to rely on people sometimes, even the strongest rock in the universe has its cracks. Cassie, you can talk to me, I'll understand. You trust me enough to cry in front of me; I'm your friend, and I'll always be here for you. As a leader, I don't want to lose a fine ranger. As a friend, I don't wanna lose the old Cassie." Cassie went limp in his embrace and cried harder, clenching fists of his shirt. Andros only held her tighter in response and let her vent.

Neither of them noticed a grimly relieved smile curve TJ's lips as he walked back to the bridge.