Disclaimer: The Power Rangers belong to Saban, it was Adri's idea to shoot Ashley down, and the title is dialogue from a previous story. What can I say, I'm not that original.
by Starhawk
Zhane was going to be upset. She shouldn't have taken the shuttle. She knew she had left the Megaship at a disadvantage if it had to fight in anything other than a space battle. At it was already disadvantaged enough, with two--three of its Rangers, now, missing.
On top of that, she had stuck Zhane with the job of getting Cassie to Earth. He not only been left to convince Saryn that his plan had a chance of working, but to eventually convince Astronema that it was the right thing to do as well.
She sighed, not envying him that task. She was sorry he had been left with it, for she knew he was hurting over Andros just as much as she was. But if she had tried to tell him what she was going to do, he would have found a way to stop her.
*He wouldn't even have to do anything,* she thought, staring without seeing at the control panel in front of her. *He could just tell me what we both know--that Andros couldn't have survived, and it's all in my mind--and I'd have to listen to him.*
It was true, after all. She knew it as well as Zhane did. But what she felt was an entirely different matter--she *felt* that Andros was alive, somewhere, and when she ignored facts, the feeling grew strong enough that she couldn't go on without knowing.
*Facts suck,* she though, not for the first time. She didn't want anything that told her Andros was dead, and she was determined to put them aside. She was going to follow this feeling, which told her something she was much more willing to listen to, until it faded or she found what she was looking for--whichever came first.
She had always imagined what it would be like to fall in love. To *really* fall in love, to be utterly and uncontrollably head over heels for someone else. She had even thought she had experienced it a couple of times, but the initial intensity had always faded, leaving her restless and dissatisfied.
The moment she had seen the Red Astro Ranger, she had felt a strange fascination, a desire to know about the person he was. But until he demorphed, it had only been the curiosity of someone who had never been off her own planet wondering about an alien ship and its unearthly occupant.
She had never expected to see someone human when his Ranger uniform vanished into crimson sparkles, revealing a teenage boy standing before them. But when she did…
Ashley couldn't help a tiny smile. The eerie not-light of hyperspace gave the shuttle's cockpit a washed-out tint as she traced the outline of the pilot's console. When she *did* see Andros, she couldn't deny the purely physical attraction she'd felt.
Andros wasn't the type she'd always gone for, back on Earth. She'd always been drawn to the tall, dark ones, same as Cassie--though she liked less mystery and more openness. Friendliness and easy smile had been a plus, and she had been firmly against the rebel look. No punk hair or spiked jackets for her.
Andros's hair was certainly--different, and he wasn't much taller than her, even when he stopped slouching. He had been neither friendly nor open, and he hadn't smiled at them once that first day. But her first reaction had been a sudden and uncharacteristic stare that had continued for several seconds before she realized what she was doing.
Her next had been dismay. Just what she needed, a crush on a Ranger who clearly wanted nothing to do with them and whom they would probably never see again, if he had his way. But identifying the feeling as a crush had not made it go away, and she had wanted nothing more than to melt that stoic façade and see what lay behind it.
The first time he had smiled, she had caught her breath and committed herself to making that expression appear on his face again, preferably as often as possible. And then she had caught him showing off for her--she had been the first one to find out about his telekinesis, not because it was a secret, but because he didn't bother to use it around anyone but her.
Her smile faded as she remembered all those times he had tried to teach her. He had been right when she said she wasn't concentrating hard enough--how could she, with him so close by and wearing a look of endearing focus whenever he used his own talent? But he had never lost patience with her, and it had been during one of those practice sessions that she had suddenly realized what she was feeling wasn't just a crush anymore.
He had told her to stop trying so hard, and she had just made a face at him. "Easy for you to say," she remembered telling him. "You can do it!"
"So can you," he said calmly. "It just takes practice."
She sighed. "Why do you keep trying, Andros?" she asked suddenly.
"Because you asked," he said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. He must have sensed her discouragement, for he added, "We can stop anytime you want."
She shook her head without hesitation. "No. I want to learn."
But she realized, as he turned away, that she didn't so much want to learn as she wanted him to teach her. Telekinesis had its own appeal, of course, but she didn't care enough for it to be worth this kind of time and frustration. What *was* worth it was having Andros' undivided attention and steady presence.
He was no longer just a crush. He wasn't such a mystery anymore; she knew him and how he reacted, and she had seen him angry, sad, amused, and on rare occasions, happy. And through all those moods, she only wanted to be with him, laugh when he smiled and stay with him when he cried.
He wouldn't let her, of course. These times when they practiced telekinesis were almost the only times she got to be alone with him, and he kept *everyone* at a distance. But she had known then, as he went to retrieve the tool they'd been practicing on, that her feelings weren't going to fade just because he wouldn't let her get close.
So she would keep meeting him for practice. She would keep trying to draw him into their group, and she would keep finding excuses to be with him, until he gave her some clear sign one way or the other.
*He never did,* she thought now, watching the hyperrush readout as the auto navigation systems carried her toward Andros' last known location. He never said anything, never did anything that *had* to mean something any more or less than a team friendship. And finally she had had to know.
She hadn't planned it, but she had been thinking about confronting him for some time. She'd even considered asking him out, just to see what he would say, but in the end it had been simpler than that. She had kissed him, and he had had to choose--just friends, or something more.
She had never been happier than that fleeting moment on the Bridge, later that day, when he had leaned forward and tentatively kissed *her*.
That had been her first real indication that he felt something for her, and she had pursued it eagerly. Despite his self-consciousness, he had finally started to let her into his life, even his heart, and she had suddenly found herself where she'd tried to be so many times before… completely and unashamedly in love.
The nav comp that had been installed on the modified shuttle chimed, and she reached slowly for the controls to bring the vessel out of hyperrush. She almost didn't want to see the emptiness that would greet her, though she knew the place where the Delta Megaship had exploded would look no different from any other area of space.
As the bizarre glow of hyperspace faded, the blackness of deep space became visible through the shuttle's forward window. An irrational cold gripped her heart as she stared out at the vast nothingness. Andros had been all alone out here when…
She frowned, fiercely determined *not* to finish that thought. She set the shuttle's rather limited scanners to search for any sign of anomalous reading, but she didn't expect to find anything. If DECA hadn't picked anything up when the Megaship had come this way, the shuttle certainly wouldn't. But she had to check before she went on, just to make sure.
The scanner readout chimed, and her heart leaped. They had found *something*--but as she skimmed the readout her excitement turned to dread as quickly as it had come. The Megaship had never fought this "Darkonda", at least not while she was on board, but DECA had identified his battleship and KERI had sent all the data the Delta Megaship had collected before it was destroyed.
The readings in front of her now matched those KERI had detected just after the Delta Megaship disappeared from their scanners.
The shuttle couldn't fight, but it could run, and that was exactly what Ashley did. The coordinates of Irini's only habitable moon were already programmed into the nav comp, and she threw the little vessel into hyperspace without a second thought. Thinking would only slow her reaction time, and she couldn't afford that right now.
Hyperspace wrapped the shuttle up in its protective embrace, but she did not relax. After all, Andros had been in hyperspace. Darkonda must have some way to knock ships back into realspace--she could only hope the shuttle was too small to make an easy target.
Someone must have been looking out for her, because seconds later the auto nav system yanked her back into realspace of its own accord, dumping speed as fast as the shuttle could do it and screaming toward Irini's largest moon. She turned the limited scanner array toward the surface, searching for any sign of a recent crash-landing.
With the scanners turned on the moon she had no warning when Darkonda came out of hyperrush behind her, but considering the shuttle's limited defenses, it wouldn't have helped anyway. She *saw* the lasers streak past her before she knew the battleship had arrived, and the shuttle was just swinging into orbit when one of the energy blasts clipped its starboard thruster.
She felt the pilot's controls start to lag, and she knew she was in trouble. She almost missed the scanners' chime as the impact of a second laser caught the shuttle's rear shields and overloaded them with a single shot. *Damn…*
Distantly, she knew the shuttle was going down. But her gaze leaped across the panels to the scanner readout, showing a large concentration of metal in an impact crater about thirty degrees off her current trajectory. Pushing the port thruster as far as it would go, she managed to skew the shuttle's degenerative orbit in the appropriate direction, and the sudden change kept the next few laser blasts from reaching her.
Then the shuttle's heat shield began to glow as the atmosphere flared up around her, and she knew that landing in one piece had just become her primary goal. She doubted Darkonda's battleship could maneuver in an atmosphere, and the shuttle's course was probably too erratic to follow by now anyway. He might even break off his attack entirely, assuming she wouldn't survive the impact.
*Now there's a cheery thought,* she thought, working feverishly to keep the shuttle at such an angle that it was braking hard--but not so hard the heat shield overloaded and fried the craft before it ever reached the ground.
She kept the nose up as high as possible, but it wasn't working. She knew she was still going far too fast to survive the landing, and she hesitated only a half-second before firing the modified port thruster again. The action would wreak havoc on the local atmosphere, but it was that or vaporize on impact, and she knew which one she would choose.
As the thruster fired in reverse, the shuttle spun out of her control, the one side slowing while the starboard side tried to keep accelerating. Ashley gave up on the nav controls and reached for her morpher, praying it would be enough.
"Let's Rocket!" she yelled, knowing she had only seconds before she found out. As her Ranger uniform sparkled into place around her, she felt the shuttle's wing graze something and the forward window filled with trees.
Then she was slammed against the console, the breath knocked out of her as the shuttle fell below the treeline. Her last thought before darkness claimed her was that if the trees were slowing her down this quickly, she couldn't have been going as fast as she thought…
***
The silence was louder than the roar of re-entry had been, and Ashley flinched as consciousness yanked her back into the waking world. Still morphed, the Power was urging her to get up, to assess the situation and be ready to fight if she had to. But as she tried to pull herself up, off the console and out of her chair, her foot caught on something hard.
She winced, tugging harder, but the forward end of the cockpit had crushed the front of the pilot's station and she couldn't see through the tangle of metal that had trapped her ankle. Frustrated, she gave up and drew her astroblaster, vaporizing the metal with a single shot.
Her foot came free abruptly, the intense heat of the weapon's blast barely registering through her uniform. Letting the uniform disappear in flicker of light, she flexed her foot, testing it. Her ankle moved without complaint, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Standing, her eyes went immediately to the scanners. By some miracle, the atmosphere was clear for as far as the scanners could reach--either *none* of Darkonda's ships were equipped for atmospheric maneuvering, or he was searching too far away for the scanners to detect. Or, if she was really lucky, he had written her off as killed in the crash, but she wasn't going to count on that.
She reached for the comm controls, but the crackle of static and the lack of a carrier signal told her that it was a lost cause. *Andros?* she thought desperately, searching for some sign that she wasn't alone here.
There was no answer, and she called up the location of the metallic concentration she'd detected from orbit. Three kilometers due west--she'd overshot, but she was far closer than she'd been able to hope when she'd felt the shuttle spiraling out of control.
*Andros,* she called again, trying hard not to think. She didn't want to consider what that metal blip on the scanners could be. She knew what she wanted to find, and she knew she was going to look. But if she let any kind of rational thought enter her mind, she wouldn't be able to hang onto the hope that would make her do it.
*At least I'll know,* she reminded herself. If that *was* some remnant of the Delta Megaship that the shuttle's scanners were detecting, she would most likely find it burned beyond recognition--but she had to see for herself. She had to *know*.
She forced herself to stop thinking, gathering up what emergency supplies the shuttle had been equipped with and shoving them into one of the backpacks stowed in the rear living compartment. She was here, in the one place Andros had told her to look for him, and she was not only stranded but completely cut off from the rest of the universe. She had no reason *not* to head for the source of the anomalous readings, nowhere to go but toward the one thing that could possibly offer her peace of mind.
Slinging the pack over her shoulder, she downloaded the shuttle's scans of the planet's surface into a handheld scanner and turned away from the console. The shuttle would be the first place Darkonda looked, *if* he looked, and assuming he could locate it. She had somewhere else to be, and she stepped out of the airlock and into the humid jungle air without a backward glance.
***
The metal hulk was visible through the trees from several hundred meters away, and she paused in her headlong rush through the undergrowth to stare. She could catch glimpses of the characteristic black coating that had covered the Delta Megaship, and it might have been her imagination, but she thought she saw the yellow and red markings that had adorned the ship's top side.
*Please let it be--* She firmly stamped out that thought, reminding herself not to think, not to feel. It might be the Delta Megaship. It might not be. She continued to push her way through the vegetation until she broke through the last barriers between her and the metallic concentration her handheld scanner had led her to.
The distorted wreckage poked out of the ground at an odd angle, buried in an impact crater several meters deep. The Astro Rangers' colored logo was clearly visible along the leading edge, pitted and scraped but unmistakable nonetheless.
Ashley stared at it, feeling nothing but the glimmer of recognition. This twisted metal giant had once been a part of the Delta Megaship's forward hull, but how it had survived to crash here, she had no idea.
One thing was clear, though: the landing had not been easy. The impact crater extended backwards a good hundred meters, and a huge swath had been cut through the surrounding vegetation. Even if someone had been onboard, had survived the core breach and the re-entry, she didn't see how they could have lived through the crash.
She found herself walking forward anyway, scrambling up the incline of rubble that lined the leading edge of the crater. The metal hull loomed over her, and she reached out slowly, laying her hand against the hard surface. *Andros' tomb.*
The words came out of nowhere, intruding on her mind and beating against the numbness she was trying so hard to hold onto. She felt a single tear slide down her cheek, and she wiped it away impatiently. She had to get inside.
Stepping back a little, she surveyed the imposing edifice in front of her. The Astro Rangers' logo was at least a meter above her head, and although it appeared to be overlaid across the same dark, shadowy finish that had covered the rest of the ship, the hull below it was a distinctly paler grey.
The more she looked, the more convinced she was that the odd shape of the hulk in front of her was not due only to battle scarring or distortion caused by impact with the moon's surface. It was almost as though this part of the ship had actually broken away from the rest, somehow released to find its way here.
And if it had been intended to do that… She started walking along the edge of the metal wreckage, knowing that any escape was incomplete without a way *out* of the escape pod. And where someone could get out, she could get in.
She found what she was looking for just beyond and below the black Astro bar. A sealed airlock, with a metal plate beside it that she pulled open without hesitation. There was a keypad underneath, and she just stared at it for a moment, wondering how she was supposed to know what sequence to enter.
Then she saw the tiny embedded scanner at the top, and she pulled her morpher off and held it up to the mechanism. A violet light emerged, flickering green as it scanned her morpher. The airlock started to cycle, and she stepped inside as soon as it rolled open.
It occurred to her as the door slid shut behind her that if the next one failed to open, she would be effectively trapped. But it didn't seem to matter that much, and she felt no relief when the second door opened for her.
Stepping out, she blinked in the almost non-existent lighting. It was the Bridge, she realized suddenly, glancing around as she tried to orient herself. The airlock she had come through was near the point where the forward hull met the port side of the ship, an exit she had never thought much about but had assumed led to an escape pod.
*The whole Bridge was an escape pod,* she realized distantly, staring around her. Somehow it must have detached--
Her mind froze. She couldn't think, suddenly forgot even to breathe as the shadow slumped over the pilot's console leaped into the foreground of her vision. "No," she whispered. "No, please…"
But her legs carried her forward, and she could see Andros' blond-streaked brown hair falling across his arms as they pillowed his head on the console. From where she stood he looked for all the world as though he had simply fallen asleep, but as she got closer, she could see the unnatural paleness of his skin even in the dim lighting.
She tried to stop herself, knowing she should remember him the way she had always known him. She didn't want to see what injuries he had sustained, didn't want to know how hurt he had been before--
But she couldn't help it. Some trick of the shadows, or maybe only a figment of her imagination, made her think she could actually see him breathing shallowly in the darkened room, and she was drawn inevitably closer. She felt her own breath come faster, and she reached out tentatively to touch him.
She jerked her hand back almost instantly, wondering if her imagination could truly make her think his skin had felt warm to the touch. She extended her hand again, seeing it shaking but unable to do anything about it, and laid her fingers gently against his cheek.
His skin was warm. She fumbled frantically for his hand, wrapping her fingers around his wrist and holding her breath. "Andros?" she whispered, disbelieving.
The beat that pulsed beneath her fingers failed to convince her, and she laid her hand over his chest. "Andros," she whispered again, feeling another tear roll down her cheek. "Andros, tell me I'm not dreaming; I'm not. Please, Andros…"
She saw his head move a little then, tilting to the side, and she brushed his hair away from his face. "Andros?" she asked, voice trembling.
His breath escaped in a sigh, and she could see him struggling to push himself away from the console. Swallowing hard, she grasped his shoulders gently and helped him sit up, resting against the back of his chair with his eyes still closed. "Ash?" he murmured.
Her throat was too tight to let her speak any more, and she could only lay her hand against his face once more, praying she had not found him only to watch him leave her again. *He *can't* die,* she thought fiercely, leaving her other hand over his heart as though she could keep him with her by not turning away.
*Andros,* she thought carefully, trying to think clearly enough to communicate in the only way she still could. *Tell me what's wrong.*
She saw him try to open his eyes, then wince, letting them slide shut again. "My…" His breathing was still too shallow, and she could see him struggling to get the words out. "My head--hurts…"
*Where?* If there was any visible sign, the lighting was too dim for her to make it out, and she ran her fingers across his scalp gently, trying to find out where he'd been hit.
As her fingers caressed his forehead, he flinched away, and she paused. With the lightest touch she could manage, she traced what had to be a nasty bruise over his right eye, and he moaned.
"Stay here," she whispered, blinking tears out of her eyes. He muttered something she couldn't make out as she turned away, trying desperately to remember where she'd seen the emergency aid kits the last time she'd been onboard.
Shrugging out of her backpack, she dropped it on the floor without a second thought. She found one of the emergency kits at the rear of the Bridge, buried behind a panel that would have been clearly labeled had she had more light to see by. There was a flashlight with it, and she flipped it on immediately, the sudden illumination stinging her eyes in the pervasive darkness.
She sniffled, annoyed to realize she was crying. She couldn't cry. She didn't have time to cry; Andros needed her. Andros was alive…
She stifled a sob, clutching the flashlight harder as she stumbled back to his side. Fumbling with the catch that held the kit shut, she tried to make her hands stop shaking. She knew what she was doing, but if she didn't calm down it wouldn't matter.
Glancing over at Andros, sudden fear stabbed at her heart as she realized he must have fallen back asleep. His expression was still pained, but he looked too relaxed, and he didn't react when the flashlight's beam played across his face.
"Andros," she whispered, trying not to choke over his name. Reaching out to grab his shoulder, she shook him gently. "Andros--wake up."
His head rolled to the side, but he mumbled something and she leaned closer to hear. "Ash," he whispered again, and she bit her lip.
"Yeah," she murmured, laying her hand against his cheek. "I'm here, Andros. It's--" She swallowed. "It's going to be okay."
"Ash… don't leave me," he muttered, and she caught her breath. She had never expected to hear him say those dream words out loud, in person.
"I won't," she promised, as she had then. "Come on, Andros, try and stay awake. You're going to be okay."
"If--if you're here," she heard him whisper, and those stupid tears just kept sliding down her face. Scrubbing at her cheeks with the sleeve of her uniform, she pulled her other hand away from his face and reached for the emergency kit.
Even with the flashlight, it was harder than it should have been to locate the concussion patches. She managed, finally, and couldn't help remembering the time he had gotten them all together and shown them how to use everything in these kits. She remembered trying not to be jealous when he demonstrated everything on Cassie, not even looking at Ashley unless she asked him a direct question.
"Andros," she murmured, trying to keep him awake as much as anything. "Remember last month--when you showed us how to use the emergency kits?"
Pulling the sterile wrapper off of the patch, she brushed his hair away from his forehead as carefully as she could. His eyes were still closed, but he flinched when she turned the flashlight full on his face for a moment. "Sorry," she whispered, tilting it away. "Hold still…"
"Yeah," he muttered, as she positioned the concussion patch over his skin. He cried out as she pressed it down, as gently as she could, and she winced. Before she could apologize again, though, he added with some difficulty, "I--I remember."
Dropping the wrapper back in the kit, she snapped the cover shut. "Used Cassie," he whispered. "As--an example."
"Yeah," she said, a little relieved. If he could remember that much, he was far more coherent than she'd thought. If she could just keep him awake now, it would keep the swelling caused by the concussion from getting any worse, and the patch she'd applied should reduce whatever had already occurred.
"Had to," he said, still struggling to speak. "Couldn't--" He tried to open his eyes once more, wincing in the flashlight-brightened dimness, but he managed to keep them open this time. "Couldn't get that… close to you."
She paused, automatically wiping her cheeks again. "What?"
"I--" He was trying to sit up, she realized, and she jumped forward to either stop or help him, whichever he seemed more likely to accept. "Might--have… kissed you."
"Andros?" she murmured worriedly, not sure how lucid he was after all. What if he had sustained more injuries than just a concussion?
He let her help him sit a little straighter, and met her gaze with surprisingly clear eyes. "Don't cry," he whispered, staring at her tearstained face. "Please… don't."
She shook her head, impatient with her own tears. "You said…" She hesitated, sniffling a little. "You said you didn't know what kissing meant, on Earth."
His hand jerked, trembling as it fumbled for hers, and she grabbed for it desperately, entwining his fingers with her own as though there was nothing more to life. "Didn't matter," he said softly. "I--" His fingers tightened on hers abruptly. "Wanted to… anyway."
She leaned forward slowly, and it occurred to her suddenly that if this was a dream, now would be when she woke up. But her lips brushed his, and she saw him close his eyes. *I love you,* she told him silently, thanking anyone who might be listening for keeping him alive until she could find him.
An urgent beeping broke into the moment, and she pulled away quickly. She reached for the scanner she'd brought with her, realizing as she did so that Andros' fingers were still tangled through hers and he wasn't letting go.
Glancing over at him, she could see him squinting in her direction and his hand squeezed hers. "Don't let go…"
She nodded mutely, looking back at the scanner. Although the atmosphere read as clear now, the device had picked up an unknown ship at the limits of its range and had alerted her accordingly.
"Man," she muttered under her breath. "He doesn't give up, does he."
"Who?" Andros wanted to know, as she tried to open her backpack with one hand. Succeeding, she dropped the emergency kit inside and fastened the top quickly.
"We have to get out of here," she said, adrenaline kicking in once more. She didn't want to move Andros this soon, but it looked like they didn't have a choice. If her scanner was detecting ships, it wouldn't be long before the ships were detecting the remains of the Delta Megaship. And if anyone came to investigate… Andros wasn't in any condition to fight, and she couldn't hold them off alone.
She lifted her backpack, slipping the straps over both shoulders, and glanced around the Bridge. The shortest way back to the airlock would be--
"Ash?" Andros was definitely frowning now. "What… what's happening?"
"Can you walk?" she asked gently, taking their clasped hands and switching his grip to her other hand as she wrapped her arm around him.
"I--" He seemed to sense the urgency, letting her tug him out of the chair. "Maybe…"
She draped his other arm over her shoulders, hoping he was more capable than he seemed to think. "Just try," she whispered. "We don't have to go far."
That was blatantly untrue, but she hoped they would be able to take cover in the surrounding jungle and let him recover a little longer before they had to decide on a course of action. His fingers clenched on her shoulder, and his first steps were stumbling, but she caught his other arm too and kept him from falling.
As he clung to her, she let go briefly to reach for the flashlight. It illuminated a narrow path across the debris-littered floor, and she managed to steer Andros around most of it--he couldn't seem to focus enough to watch where he was going. *Or maybe,* she thought with dismay, remembering her own experience with a concussion, albeit far less serious than his, *he just can't see, period…*
They made it to the airlock without either of them falling, though, and she had the chance to find out without asking. Her morpher was around the arm supporting him, and she shot a covert look in his direction. "Andros, hold your morpher up to the keypad, please?"
He frowned, squinting first at the airlock and then, helplessly, at her. His one-word question confirmed her fears. "Where?"
She winced, reaching for his hand. "Give me your hand," she said quietly. He held it out, groping for hers in the darkness, and she caught it, holding his wrist up in front of the keypad's scanner. He didn't protest, and when the airlock cycled open, she helped him inside.
"Airlock?" he asked, and she gave him a worried look he probably couldn't see.
"Yeah," she told him, tugging gently to get him to pick up his feet and move through the second door. "We're outside now--can you tell?"
He started to nod, then inhaled sharply and she felt his fingers tighten on her arm. His free hand went to the side of his head, and she heard him stifle a moan.
"*Don't* move your head," she told him sternly. "I'll get you a pain reliever--can you hang on for just a few more minutes?"
"Yes," he breathed, his eyes shut tight.
She hesitated, but the muffled beep from her scanner convinced her. "All right--hang on to me, okay? We're going downhill, on loose dirt, and I don't want you to slip."
"Right," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
She didn't know how she got him away from the crash site, let alone through enough of the jungle undergrowth that she felt reasonably certain of their safety should Darkonda come for the Delta Megaship. If he could detect Power signatures, of course, no amount of distance would ensure their safety, but that was an ability usually limited to Rangers. The two of them were, at the very least, out of line-of-sight from the crash, and at best, far enough that their life signs would blend into those of the jungle around them.
"Andros?" she asked tentatively, seeing his eyes close again. "Sit down…"
He seemed to think that was a good idea, and she was hard-pressed to support him as he almost collapsed to the ground. But his back was straight as he leaned forward over his knees, pressing his hands to either side of his head, and she thought he hadn't so much fallen as dropped quickly on purpose.
"My head *hurts*," he muttered, not even trying to look up at her.
She dropped her backpack, fumbling with the emergency kit as she tugged it out. She was annoyed to realize her hands were trembling again, and she tried to still them as she sifted through the contents of the kit.
*Control yourself,* she thought, trying not to feel. Andros didn't need her breaking down on him; they had enough problems already. He took the pain reliever she passed him without question, and she watched him wince as swallowing prompted another wave of dizziness.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, while he waited for the pain to fade a little and she just stared. She couldn't take her eyes off of him--he had finally let go of her when they arrived in this tiny clearing, but now she found herself wishing he hadn't. His touch would give her *some* reassurance that he was real, that this wasn't just some bizarre dream.
But she couldn't move. If it *was* a dream, she didn't want to know--she would stay in this dream forever, if she could, just to think that Andros was alive.
*Even if Darkonda doesn't give up?* she wondered suddenly. But she knew the answer. She didn't want to live without Andros, and if it meant they had to keep running from evil, maybe never seeing the Megaship again, she would do it. She would choose a life with him, no matter how hard, over anything she had had when she thought he was dead.
"Ash?" Andros asked suddenly, and she blinked as she realized he was now staring back at her. Some of the pain was gone from his expression, but out here in the light she thought she could see the unfocused look of his eyes.
"Yeah?" she answered, moving a little closer to him. "Did that pain reliever help at all?"
She saw him almost nod, and then abort the gesture as it began. "At least--I can think now. Ash… the others aren't here with you, are they."
She bit her lip, then shook her head slowly. "We--we thought you were dead." Her voice broke on the last word, and she berated herself for the tears she felt threatening to escape once more.
"Ash…" He reached out, hand wavering as he couldn't quite find her, and she reached up to grasp his hand. He pulled, quite hard for someone she had thought dead up until a half an hour before, and she found herself wrapped in his tight embrace.
"It's okay," he whispered in her ear. "I'm not dead, and you're here, and we're together. That's all that really matters."
"But--" She tried desperately to hang onto the calm shell that had protected her since she started this crazy journey to find Andros. "But the shuttle crashed, and Darkonda's after us, and--"
She felt him stiffen. "Darkonda?"
"He shot at me," she said, hearing her voice tremble. "When I came to look for you…"
"Is he why the shuttle crashed?" Andros asked softly. She could hear the anger in his voice, quiet though it was, and she hugged him tighter instinctively.
"Yes," she admitted. "I couldn't control it after--"
"Shh," he interrupted, and she broke off abruptly as his hand started to stroke her hair. Tears started to well up in her eyes at the familiar gesture, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.
Andros held her while she cried, saying nothing, just rocking her back and forth. She cried for the loneliness that had descended on her the instant she had felt his mindtouch disappear the night before, and she cried for the despair that had settled over her when she tried to envision the rest of her life without him. She cried for the pain that had found its way into her soul at the sight of him, lying unmoving across the pilot's console of the ruined Delta Megaship.
"We're going to be all right, Ash," he murmured finally. "We're together now…"
She swallowed hard, trying to blink away the rest of her tears. "Don't leave me again," she whispered suddenly, fiercely, lifting one hand over his shoulder to rub her eyes. "Ever again, Andros, *ever*."
It was a promise she knew, logically, that he couldn't make, but her heart demanded she ask it of him anyway. She wasn't sure she could endure that heart-wrenching separation again, and she knew she never wanted to find out.
"I won't leave you," he said softly. "I promise."
She nodded a little, drawing back to look at him, remind herself that he was really there. "Never," she insisted, and he smiled a little.
"Never," he agreed, his voice quiet.
"Good," she sighed, oddly reassured. Looking around them, she took a deep breath. She was about to say something more practical when she felt him tense again. "What--"
He cut her off with a look. Tilting his head a little, he gestured upward. "Do you hear that?" he whispered, and she strained her ears to hear what he had noticed.
"Atmospheric fighters," he said after a moment, when she didn't answer. "They're gone now, but for a minute…"
"We'd better get moving," she said, letting go of him reluctantly. "We can't stay here forever anyway."
"The nearest settlement," he began, and she grabbed her scanner out of her backpack.
"Twenty kilometers," she interjected, and he gave her a startled look. "But it's only two to the nearest water source," she continued, feeling a little smug. "And that's a river, which eventually feeds into the settlement we're aiming for--I say go for that and follow it as far as we can."
He was just staring at her, one hand still in hers and their clasped hands in her lap. "You're not the only one who can have a plan, you know," she added, a little disconcerted by his gaze.
"My plan…" He hesitated, then gave her a rueful smile. "My plan pretty much consisted of--kissing you, and then asking you what the plan was."
Surprised, she looked at him for a moment, his words somehow transforming themselves from suggestion to undeniable urge in her mind. She found herself leaning forward, and his lips met hers as her eyes fluttered closed.
"I like--" She felt him kiss her again, gently. "Your plan better," she finished with a sigh.
"But see…" His fingers ran across her face. "Without your plan, it's incomplete." Softly, he added, "Like me without you," and she felt his mouth on hers once more.
This time, even she heard the hum of the fighters, and as he pulled away he breathed, "Time for--"
"My plan," she finished, grabbing her backpack and closing it quickly. Shrugging into it, she clipped the scanner to her belt and scrambled to her feet, reaching for Andros' other hand as she did so.
Somehow, he managed to grasp her fingers and she hauled him to his feet, stepping closer to him as he stumbled. Obviously, his vision was not improving, and she suspected he was still dizzy. What he really needed was rest and to not have to move around, but that wasn't an option.
Wrapping one arm firmly around him, she thought she could have enjoyed the closeness if the situation weren't so urgent. He took a deep breath and one step forward, and she followed suit. He seemed almost surprised when his feet found the ground without incident, and she squeezed the hand he had over her shoulders encouragingly.
He smiled a little, and they started, at a painstakingly slow walk, toward the river.
fin