Author's Note:

Quick update for y'all before I head off for the weekend!

To my reviewers:

Darkmatterfangirl: Ha-ha, yeah, moving can be a pain and suck up all your time (and space!), that's for sure. Okay, yeah, in a few months ought to be good. :D Anyway, thank you so much! I was trying very hard to handle all this mature stuff properly—y'know, no heavy-handedness or anything like that. Regarding Warp's virginity, I do agree, and you have some valid points there, certainly. But I also wanted to try my hand at the consequences of a big mistake, especially as I know firsthand what emotional abuse is like. Glad you liked Erin's 'tude—as I said before, I really liked how she came out! Yeah, she was rather protective of Warp, wasn't she? Innit great? ;D Lol, feel free to beat up Shalli and give Warp a hug—go right ahead! xD Anyway, thanks for everything!

Ranger-Nova: Lol, maybe my chapters give you "sad feels" because they are sad? Just a thought… ;D Anyhoo, glad you liked both installments, and thanks, too, for the Mortality review!

==10. Betrayal==

Rating: T
Summary: He had to believe she was dead. That was just how it had to be.

Warnings: Rather tragic.
Word Count: 331

Warp was the traitor.

Not to Star Command, of course, as Zurg had gotten to him first, but to Buzz. Buzz had forgiven him for that, and so had Erin, but she had also never forgotten. Her husband had a dark side to him that went deeper than campy villainy served up with a side of ham and cheese. Every now and then she caught glimpses of that dark side, and it chilled her.

Not so much that Warp had it at all, but because… she saw herself in it. Looking into her husband's dark side was looking into the mirror that showed her her own.

Monsters are scary.

Monsters are scarier when they hide deep inside you.

Erin became a traitor.

Not to Star Command, of course—she was actually helping the Rangers more than before, though they didn't know it was her. Her betrayal was of her own marriage vows, of the man she loved most in all the galaxy.

She left him. She left him to believe that she was dead. The irony did not escape her.

She heard him shouting her name. That was when she truly betrayed him, because she squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back the tears, and willed herself not to hear, to walk away. She told herself that it was because she loved him. She was leaving him to protect him.

"Can you do one thing for me, Erin? Just one thing?" He stood before her empty grave, and she watched him. "Don't. Be. Dead. Please, don't be dead. Just… come back. Please. Just come back."

She had never seen him cry before, and it broke her heart.

But she needed to leave. What she had tried to talk herself into believing before, she knew for a certainty now. She was in danger, he was in danger, and for the time being, they had to be apart.

And he had to believe she was dead.

That was just how it had to be.

Author's Note:

This was a bit more general than I would have liked, but, oh well. My brain unfortunately refused to disclose details as to what exactly Erin was doing… Been having that problem lately with my brain. Which reminds me… can you tell that the writing of this story was forced? It was. I forced myself to write it. I've been forcing myself to write lately, because I just… don't want to write. Which is new for me and totally wrong.

Anyway… yes, to any Sherlockians out there, Erin's leaving Warp like that intentionally mirrors Reichenbach and the Great Hiatus. *winks* And this is my favorite line: "campy villainy served up with a side of ham and cheese." Not bad for forced writing. *grins*

Next Monday, "Answers"… well, it's all about depression. Really, the piece was written as self-therapy (after a conversation with a friend), but it also fits Erin's personality. Stay tuned!

Please review!