Summary Andros has lost everything that ever meant something to him… did he?
Scarred
Chapter 26
Cassie walked into the infirmary with a plate of breakfast. She made a face at the goo shuddering on the plate, kind of like a jelly pudding – only, jelly puddings tended to have some appetizing colour that wasn't nauseating purple.
"Hey, my favourite." Zhane noticed as he looked up when she walked in.
"Nathi said so." Cassie replied, poking it with a fork. "Look, why don't we go to KO-35 already and at least get their identities sorted out? Arranging those other IDs can't wait a little."
"I want to go down, but we can't leave Andros alone here." Zhane sighed in reply, putting a spoon full of goo into his mouth.
"I'll stay here with Andros if you want." Cassie offered willingly.
Zhane smiled gratefully at her but shook his head.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather be here when he wakes up. Why don't you take them to the Simudeck with the others and have TJ introduce them to basketball or something?" Zhane suggested warily.
"Are you sure? I could stay and keep you company."
"Positive, just bring me some food whenever you guys eat and I'll be just fine." Zhane assured her. "Really."
"Okay, but call if you need anything at all." Cassie pressed.
"Of course milady." Zhane told her with an award-winning smile that made Cassie giggle.
"Player." She told him as she left the infirmary again.
"Proud of it!" Zhane called after her.
Simudeck
"Okay… what's this?" Elias asked warily, looking at his surroundings sceptically.
"It's Angel Grove Park, on Earth. Angel Grove is our hometown." Cassie explained.
"And this particular spot." TJ grinned, spreading his arms. "Is a basketball court. This," he gestured at the orange ball, "is a basketball and it was per Zhane's suggesting that we teach you this game. So here we are."
"Laura doesn't do sports and she said she has better things to do." Carlos reported as he walked onto the Simudeck.
"Doesn't matter, now we have equal teams." TJ shrugged, turning back to the three Karovans. "Don't expect Laura to do anything that involves breaking a sweat when she doesn't get anything for it in return. Anyway, this ball basically goes over there."
As he sat this he shot the ball into the hoop without much effort.
"Do note that since Terrans don't do telekinesis, it's against the rules of the game." Cassie pointed out sweetly, getting a sour face in response from Nathi and Kobin almost immediately.
It took some time for the Karovans to get the hang of the game, but two hours later the six had teamed up under their own colours and were having the time of their lives in a 'my-colour-is-best' debate. Surprisingly they found they had a rather lot in common.
"We'll have to teach you some Karovan games later." Nathi laughed at Cassie as she shot the ball through the hoop yet again. "Maybe we could give you some pointers on your powers too."
"Ever heard of the Quadroblaster?" Kobin cut in as he picked the ball up from the ground.
"Never." TJ informed him as he stole the ball, passing it to Elias.
"We'll have to tell you all about it later. It's fun and blasts lots of monsters. Especially the explosions are rewarding." Elias grinned as he caught the ball and took a shot at the hoops, but it bounced of the rim. "Damn it."
Nathi quickly caught it and grinned at Elias.
"You never were good at aiming." She told him, sticking out her tongue.
The game was forgotten the moment Elias decided to seek revenge. This resulted into a strange game of monkey in the middle, except there were about six monkeys this time.
That night
Zhane had been lightly dozing when he was awoken by a hoarse cough.
" Andros?" He asked, jumping up.
Relieve rushed through him when he looked into the dull and drowsy hazel eyes of his best friend. Somehow he looked revolted to be alive, but Zhane didn't care.
"You don't know how relieved I am to see you awake. You gave us all quite a scare."
Andros was glaring now.
"Look, I know you probably wanted this all to end – but you're a fighter, Andros! You can't just give up just because things got a little harder." Zhane told him pointedly.
"I don't want to live knowing it was me who killed her." Andros whispered softly, looking away.
"Yeah, you were muttering something like that in your sleep during your fever." Zhane answered, his voice softer now. "What do you mean by that?"
"She was killed because of me!" Andros answered, his voice dropping even lower with a noticeable tremble. "Because I loved her she had to die. I killed her by loving her."
Zhane fell quiet and sat down on the bed next to his friend. He noticed Andros's shoulders were starting to shake and gently reached out, placing his hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay to cry you know." Zhane told him softly, feeling the bitter tears of grief and loss press against his eyes, but he needed to be strong right now.
Slowly, Andros turned his head to stare at his best friend. Tears glittered in his eyes, but they weren't falling.
"I… I can't." He muttered softly, despair clear in his voice. "I've… I've forgotten how to."
Zhane was stunned. He knew Andros was good at blocking out his emotions, but to lock them up so strongly that even he himself couldn't reach the hurt and pain anymore, it scared him to death. What the hell had become of his friend? What the hell had Dark Spector done?
A/N: Hope you liked it. Review!
This chapter is dedicated to Darkhonda just because she rocks.