Summary: Andros has lost everything that ever meant something to him… did he?
Scarred
Chapter 6
Laura turned the key and opened the front door, stepping into the large hall of her house. Two pure white marble staircases curled around each side of the room, leading up to the second landing. Exotic plants were strategically placed around the room; in particular, two small palm trees standing on each side of the front door, effectively obscuring the burglar alarm from view.
The large doors to the parlour were partly open, letting the chatter of one of her mother's many tea parties stream into the hall. She smiled brightly and stepped in, nodding to all the ladies present.
"Hello, mom – I'm back home. I'll be in the library doing my homework if you need me." She told her mother sweetly.
"You'd better not be talking about the – ah – public library." Her mother reminded lightly, though there was a tone of warning underneath the motherly love.
"Of course not." Laura smiled. "Why would I go there if all the books I need are right here?"
"Good girl." She said approvingly before adding, "Stop by the kitchen, I'm sure cook won't mind fixing you something." Her mother told her.
"I will mom." Laura kissed her mother's cheek and left the room again.
On her way to the library on the second floor she stopped by the kitchen and continued on her way a few minutes later with a place of freshly baked mint cookies, a large slice of avocado pie and a tall class of tomato juice.
After about ten minutes of studying a maid came in and politely curtsied to Laura.
"The Mrs said to say she's taking you shopping in Palm Springs tomorrow for a new wardrobe. This one can be sold to the less fortunate." Giselle told her demurely.
"Thank you, could you pack it all up? I'm busy."
"Yes, Miss." She curtsied again and left the room.
That evening
Carlos was walking past the bridge to his room when the sounds coming from the bridge caught his attention: children's laughter. Coming to a hold, he carefully poked his head inside, startled at what he saw.
The viewing screen showed two children about a year apart in age- maybe five and six? The boy dressed in red was obviously a much younger Andros (considering the stripes in his hair). The girl in yellow he couldn't place - the original yellow ranger maybe? The two were playing some kind of game with a ball that was hovering in the air between them.
Suddenly the ball flew away and Andros got up to get it, the girl remaining in her crouched position waiting for him to return. Suddenly something came out of the bushes and grabbed her. The girl shrieked before screaming Andros's name.
The image shifted to young Andros picking up the collapsed ball, looking up at the screams of the girl. He looked around, obviously looking for her.
"Karone? Karone!" He yelled, looking around, toddling on chubby legs.
The image changed again after showing the creature hiding back into the bushes on the other side of the clearing. It now showed a field with a building in the back – a school, probably. Andros was there again, this time with five other children, his own age and wearing the same kind of jumpsuit in different colours, who were standing a small distance away. Andros looked rather depressed and it was obvious it pained the others to see him like that.
Suddenly the girl in yellow broke away and walked the few steps over to Andros, carefully wrapping her arms around him. She said something to him, though not loud enough to be caught on tape, but it seemed to work magic, because tears slowly started to roll down Andros's cheeks.
Then the viewing screen turned back to the normal view of the space outside. Carlos jumped when he heard Deca's voice.
"It is very late Andros, do you wish to continue the search?"
Only now did he notice Andros sitting on the bridge, rather in view of the door too. He didn't know how he could have been so stupid not to see him.
"Yes, I will never stop searching for my sister." He replied, a steely tone in his voice. "She might be all I've got left."
Carlos quickly walked on before Andros would see him.
"So Andros has a sister." Carlos mused softly as he keyed the door to his room open. "But who were the other…"
Suddenly it hit him, the colours of the children's jumpsuits, red, yellow, pink, blue, black and silver. They must have all been the future rangers of KO-35 – or, rather, the ones that should have been rangers. His stomach turned at the thought of Andros being the only one of them left on this ship.
"Deca?"
"Yes Carlos?"
"What happened to the rest of the Karovan rangers? Did Andros have a team before us?" He asked into the dark of his room.
"Yes, Andros had a team before." Deca replied, almost thoughtfully, sounding partly reluctant and partly happy to share this information.
"But what happened to them?" Carlos pressed.
"They perished on KO-35 two years ago." Deca told him reluctantly.
"No wonder Andros is the way he is." Carlos sighed. "Thanks Deca - and don't worry I won't tell anyone."
"Thank you." Deca answered before her eye blinked out.
As Carlos got into bed he didn't notice the planet visible from his room wasn't Earth.
The next morning
"Hey." Carlos greeted as he walked into holding bay. "No Laura or Andros?" He asked curiously, noticing the two empty seats.
"Laura's at home remember? Something about a shopping spree with her mom." Cassie laughed. "And I guess Andros is sleeping late."
Carlos shrugged and looked around the room again as he sat down with his breakfast. He frowned when he found something missing.
"Did either of you move the red Galaxy Gilder?" He inquired slowly.
"No, why would we do that?" TJ laughed, shaking his head.
"Deca, were are we and where's Andros?" Carlos looked up.
"We are currently orbiting KO-35." Deca replied, suspiciously not mentioning Andros.
"He's down there, isn't he?" Carlos groaned.
"The Dark Fortress has been spotted." Deca reported instead.
"That's it, I'm going after him." Carlos stated.
"Leave him at peace." Cassie sighed. "It's not doing anything."
"You don't get it. Andros has a sister!" Carlos exclaimed. "He was looking for her last night because she was taken when they were little. Maybe he thinks she returned to KO-35. It might be a trap."
"Then we'll all go." TJ decided.
"No, I'm going alone. Cassie does have a point you know, we need to give him some space."
With that Carlos left his two teammates shooting each other curious looks, before returning their attention to their breakfast, feeling like something was out of place.
A/N: Too be continued when I feel like it and have time, since I should be studying. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and I might be tempted to just skip studying and write instead.
This chapter is dedicated to Phantom Rogue for her help with finding yucky cookies and ickly pie.