Zhane's eyes opened up, and he smiled at the woman in his arms. Zhane's fingers made patterns on her shoulder. He was glad that he and Karone were ok now; he hated when they got into fights. As his fingers continued to make patterns on her shoulder, she murmured something incoherently, and buried her head into Zhane's neck. He let his lips brush against her forehead, and Karone finally stirred. "Zhane..." Karone murmured.
"Morning," Zhane whispered. Karone smiled and nuzzled his neck lightly. "Are...we ok?" Zhane asked. He wanted to be sure that they were ok, and instantly his fears were alleviated as Karone kissed him softly on the lips.
"Yeah..we're ok," Karone breathed. He grinned, and kissed Karone again. Karone felt Zhane tighten his arms around her.
"You getting hungry?" Zhane questioned after a couple minutes.
"I want to cuddle for a little while longer..." Karone murmured shyly. Zhane grinned at her, and kissed her sweetly on the lips.
"Whatever you want Karone," Zhane breathed, rubbing his forehead against hers. Karone laid a hand on his chest, lightly brushing his scars again. He looked at her, a questioning glance was shining in his eyes. "You know I would jump in front of those lightening bolts again to save you..." Karone kissed his scars, and he jumped slightly.
"Love you Zhane," Karone whispered.
"Love you too," Zhane murmured, running his hand softly through her hair. "Karone..." he murmured quietly. She looked up at Zhane, "I don't want to fight again..."
"Me neither," Karone agreed. "Can we please not fight about my brother anymore?" Karone questioned in a small voice. Zhane sucked in a breath. He knew that his girlfriend would be a little sensitive about Andros, but he knew what she was asking was fair.
"Ok," Zhane murmured softly.
Not far away, the Dark Fortress idled, it's invisiblity shields in place. Celestra sat in the throne-like chair in the central command room, looking very bored. The bandage around her stomach is visible through her outfit.
"My Princess," a cronie calls to her.
"What? I'm thinking," she snapped, glaring at the robot.
"We have received word from Dark Specter that the Rangers must be eliminated and soon. Zordon grows weaker but we do not want to risk them finding him," he relayed.
"Tell him to get off my case. I'll get to it when I get to it," she growled, waving her hand at him to dismiss him. She did need to get rid of the rangers; maybe the key to that was Demios' little sister. He seemed to have a very weak spot for her, and Celestra could use that to her advantage. No matter what, it seemed like the purple ranger trusted her estranged brother. If she could somehow destroy the unnatural trust between them, she could break apart the team, and kill them all one by one. The thought of committing murder again. The main target she would go after would be Demios. He caused her so much hell, and it is payback time.
She looked around and smiled deviously. This was going to prove an interesting experiment.
Back on the Megaship, Andros sat on the bridge, staring out at the space around the ship. He was trying not to dwell on what had happened. He knew he wouldn't be of any use to anyone if he was distracted. "Andros..." Ashley's voice came out. He turned around and saw her with a look of worry plastered on her face. "You ok?" Ashley asked, wrapping a hand around one of his. He nodded his head distractedly.
"You talk with the others?" Andros asked, taking the spotlight off of him for the moment. Ashley looked a little guilty; she hadn't talked to any of them yet. They were her closest friends, but she was starting to feel like a stranger to them. "Ashley...why not?" he questioned. Ashley shrugged her shoulders, not really knowing why she hasn't attempted to talk to them. "Ash...you don't want to lose them as friends...plus if we aren't all strong as a team, we are going to be open to an attack from Celestra," Zhane walked onto the bridge, and saw them talking.
"Is this a bad time?" Zhane asked.
"No..." Ashley said before Andros could say anything. It looked like Zhane wanted to say something, and Ashley noticed. "I am going to go see if I can find Cassie," Ashley said, taking the opportunity to leave.
"What's up?" Andros questioned.
Zhane took a deep breath, hands shoved in his pockets.
"I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry I've been a jerk lately," he mumbled. Andros looked at him in confusion.
"Uh...am I missing something here?" he asked. Zhane shook his head.
"I...Karone and I sort of had a fight the other day...well about you and...well...I just want to say that...I trust you," Zhane rambled. Andros raised an eyebrow.
"You fought over me? Do I want to know why?" he asked.
"You know why," Zhane answered a little too sharply. Andros immediately understood.
"You reacted no differently than the others," Andros murmured.
"But...I shouldn't act like a complete asshole about it...we were friends once," Zhane said, finally sitting down.
Andros smiles to himself.
"We were, weren't we," he mumbles mostly to himself.
"I promised Karone that she and I wouldn't fight about you anymore...I just..." Zhane trailed off.
"What?" Andros prompted. Zhane takes a breath.
"Some of the stuff you do...sometimes...I just can't stop thinking we're all next," Zhane admitted.
"I know what I did to your friends is unforgivable. I don't ever expect you to show me any forgiveness for that," Andros said.
"I don't deserve that forgiveness," he added. Zhane looked at Andros; he looked truly guilty for what he had done. Demios wouldn't have cared about what he had done, but this was Andros.
"It really wasn't you," Zhane told him.
"The thing is...at some level, yeah it was me. And still is. It's always going to be there, no matter how many good things I do," Andros retorted.
"I guess I never thought about it that way. I never really made myself think about it from your perspective. You didn't ask to be kidnapped," Zhane said.
"I'm glad you were there for Karone while I was gone," Andros blurted.
"No problem," Zhane said, thinking about to the night before.
"She worries about you all the time," he added.
"I know. I guess...she found me and she doesn't want to lose me again," Andros sighed. Zhane nodded his head.
"What was she like?" Zhane blurted before he could stop himself.
"What?" Andros asked in confusion.
"Uh...Celestra...you know when you..." Zhane beat around what he really wanted to say.
"I really don't want to talk about it," Andros replied.
"Oh come on, guy to guy," Zhane prodded. He wasn't really sure why he wanted to know. Maybe it was a guy thing?
"I don't really know what's she's like. When it happened she was eleven. I was thirteen. I remembered she screamed a lot," Andros answered in monotone. "Why did you want to know?" he questioned after a moment. Even if Zhane and Andros were best friends, that would be a little awkward telling your best friend that you are having sex with his sister.
"Just curious," Zhane murmured distractedly. Andros didn't quite believe what Zhane was saying.
"That's not true. Spill. Why did you want to know," Andros pressed. Zhane let out a sigh.
"I...well...Karone and I...sort of...slept together last night," Zhane answered. Andros' eyes widened.
"You slept with my sister? Are you nuts!" he shot.
"Are you serious?" Zhane growled back at him. "You with your harem!? It wasn't just mindless sex," Zhane stated. Andros opened his mouth to retort angrily, but then closed it again. "You are such a hypocrite," Zhane shot.
Andros took a couple deep breaths to make sure he didn't overreact to this.
"You're right. I am," he said.
"What? Did...did you just agree with me?" Zhane asked.
"Yeah...I did. You're right. I never treated any of those women as more than objects. You care about Karone. I should be thankful that she has someone like you," Andros replied.
"Thanks..." Zhane murmured.
"But if you ever hurt her, you will have to deal with me," Andros threatened, and Zhane knew that Andros would hold up that threat.
"I won't hurt Karone, I promise," Zhane promised. Andros nodded his head, and felt himself calm down.
"So what do you think is going through Celestra's mind? What's her next move?" Zhane asked.
"She's wounded but I'm pretty sure that won't stop her. She's a stubborn as I am. But how she'll execute whatever her next move is. I can only guess," Andros replied.
Karone was in the kitchen waiting for Zhane to come back. She was glad that Zhane went to go apologize to Andros. This was a slow beginning of the team finally learning to try and forgive Andros. As the minutes passed by, Karone felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Something was going on, and it wasn't anything good.
She was about to go in search of Zhane when she felt a strange sensation all around her. With a 'zip' sound she disappeared. The next thing she knew, Karone found herself sitting in an empty room that was most certainly not the Megaship. Karone stood to her feet, and then felt fear chilling to the bone as she heard, "Well well well," Celestra's rang out. Karone turned and saw Celestra with a murderous glare in her eyes...
