Chapter 10: Telling the Team

Ashley had packed all of her stuff. She was changing clothes when, as she took off her yellow sweater, something fell to the ground. She leaned down to get it. It was the necklace Andros had given her, on her birthday.

She had promise herself she wouldn't cry. However, the moment she started staring at that necklace she couldn't control herself. All that had happened in the past two years came to her mind… all of a sudden. Become the Yellow Ranger had been her dream since she was a little girl. Now, that it had become real, she was leaving. "You cannot stay here Ashley. You'll be ruining your life. And Andros's life too. You can't do that…"

"Are you done?" – Cassie stepped in.

"Yeah. I already packed everything. Just need to say goodbye and then, I'm gone." – Ashley sighed.

"What do you want me to tell them?" – She asked.

"I don't know. I haven't thought of it. In fact, I never thought I would leave like this."

"You still can…"

Ashley cut her off – "No! I've made my decision. I can't live here anymore. This tension is killing me."

"Being away from Andros will kill you faster. You should try to settle things with him." – Cassie advised.

"Cassie please… don't make this even more difficult that already is" – Ashley begged.

"Okay. Sorry." – She hugged her again. "I'll miss you… so much!"

"I'll miss you too." – Ashley hugged her back. Tears kept coming down her cheeks – "Look, just tell them I had to leave and that, probably, I won't be coming back. Don't need to give details."

"What if..?"

Ashley saw that coming – "Don't worry. He will not ask. And if he does… don't say anything."

"Okay. I won't."

(Later That Day)

The Rangers were hanging out in the simudeck, playing pool. The team of Andros and Zhane, surprisingly, was winning. Despite that fact that he hadn't played it many times, Zhane was quite good. And Andros had learned how to play with Ashley. She had taught him all the great moves she knew. "She is really a Pro." – Andros thought. "I've been acting like an idiot… I MUST talk to her, as fast as possible"

"First you need to make the next move, so we can win… then you can talk to Ash. Like I told you days ago. You really are stubborn man!" – Once again, Zhane's voice entered his mind. He kept doing that in the past days, trying to convince him to solve things. He was right.

"Okay, let's finish this game." – Andros said.

That was the last move of the game, for two reasons. First, he hit the last ball. Second, Cassie entered the simulation with a weird looking on her face.

"Hey Cass. What happened?" – T.J. asked.

"I need to speak with you guys. It's important."

"You're worrying us… Is something wrong?" – Zhane questioned.

"Depends of the point of view" – She answered.

"Shoot!" – Carlos told her.

"Well, as you can see, Ashley's not here with me." – She started.

"And where is she?" – Andros asked, despite having a feeling he wouldn't like the answer.

Cassie took a deep breath before answering that. She looked at T.J., before looking at Carlos and Zhane. Finally she looked at Andros and answered his question – "Ashley left. She went back to her parents' house"

Andros world fell apart the moment those words come out of Cassie's mouth. "WHAT?" – He screamed.

"That's true. And she probably won't be coming back" – Cassie whispered. She was about to start crying again. T.J. approached her and put his arm around her shoulders – "It's alright. We're here."

Suddenly, they heard a noise. Andros had dropped the cue and had run out of the room. Zhane was about to follow him, but Carlos pulled his arm - "I think it's better to leave him alone now…" – he advised.

"You think?"

"Yeah"

"Maybe you're right… I'll be with him later." – Zhane agreed.

"And what are we going to do now? We have one element missing…"

"I don't know… I really don't know." – Cassie sighed.

"Don't worry Cassie. We will figure it out. I promise" – T.J. kissed her hair. He had made this promise, but he didn't know if they were going to figure out anything.

Meanwhile, Andros had gotten to his room, his refugee in the darkest hours.

"DECA, lock the doors, turn the lights off and do not allow anyone to get in here" – he ordered, breathless.

"Acknowledged."

After the doors were locked, he released all of his anger against himself. Once again, he had lost. First Karone, now Ashley.

He walked back and forward for almost half an hour. His entire body was shaking and it was as his heart had frozen once more. He passed his hand through his stripy hair. Then he started punching the wall in front of him. He punched out all the anger and the pain he had kept within. He felt something breaking and his wrist started to hurt him. He didn't care and continued to punch the wall, trying to get rid of all the sorrow he was feeling. A few minutes later, he realized it was useless. He had another wound added to the millions that had been bleeding all over the past years… and this one, like all the others, wouldn't heal anytime soon. His heart and soul had started living again the day he had met Ashley. And she had killed them one more time the moment she left.

"I should have talked to her earlier. I shouldn't have allowed her to leave this way… She didn't give me the chance to say goodbye. To tell her I love her, more than anything in this universe." – Andros slid through the wall and sat on the floor. Tears started to coming out of his eyes and, this time, he didn't try to stop them.

Later that night, a worried Silver Ranger approached his friend's room. "DECA unlock the doors, please."

As he entered the room, he got shocked with the vision in front of him. Andros had fallen asleep on the floor. The sweater sleeves were up and Zhane could see the bruise on his right wrist. "Oh Andros… what have you done?" – He whispered.

A/N: 10th Chapter! Hope you liked it! Review, please. This one is to the person who asked for updates! Love you )