I'd like to thank Akasha for sticking with this story and me from the start.

Where are you, guys? Please, anyone who's reading this, even if you're not into reviews, just tell me that there's more than one person reading this story. The "Shadow Line" trilogy is going to be around here for a l-o-n-g time, so please, review?

- A very tired author.

5. Broken Hearted

"In the words of a broken heart

It's just emotion that's taken me over

Caught up in sorrow, lost in my soul"

"Emotion", "Destiny's Child"

"What were you thinking, man?" said TJ to Andros as soon as they settled in the kitchen. He never used his command tone on the red Ranger before, and he hoped it wouldn't backfire on him. "What were you thinking, attacking a team-mate?"

"He wasn't thinking, he went berserk," said Cassie curtly.

"I'm afraid she's right," sighed Andros. "I couldn't stand the way he pushed Ashley to the deck and then ignored me"

"I don't think he meant to push me so hard, and I doubt he even heard you, he was so distraught" said Ashley.

"None of this matters now. Zhane's taken over" said Andros.

"That look of his almost scared me", admitted Cassie, "Never saw anything like it before"

"It was very much like the look he had when he took that blow for me, two years ago," said Andros quietly, "He appointed himself Carlos's guardian"

"Is it the first time he becomes so protective over someone who isn't you?" asked TJ.

"Yes. He's been watching Carlos lately, but I can't say I saw it coming"

"Why won't he tell me what's wrong?" complained Ashley.

TJ and Cassie exchanged looks. Cassie set at Ashley's side.

"Ashley, will you answer a couple of question without getting mad at me?" asked Cassie.

"Yes"

"How long were you and Carlos friends?"

"For as long as I remember"

"Did you talk to each other?"

"About everything"

"How often?"

"All the time. We're best of friends"

TJ, who was watching Andros, saw something in his eyes like the shattering of glass, as he understood what Cassie was getting at.

"When was the last time you talked?"

"It was…"

"Be honest, Ashley"

Ashley's lip trembled. "I can't remember. You're not – you're not suggesting that…"

"He doesn't trust you anymore?" Cassie shook her head. "You hurt him pretty bad"

"Don't berate yourself" said TJ to Andros, who looked frighteningly young. This was no time for Andros to have self-doubts.

"I should have seen it," said Andros, "If not as a leader than as a friend. I failed on both roles"

"You're seventeen years old, for crying out loud", said Cassie tiredly. "You lived totally on your own for two years after losing your home, your family and the only friend you ever had. With everything that happened to you lately, it's one hell of a surprise that you managed to keep any of your wits about you at all"

"You didn't fail. Neither one of you" said TJ, addressing Ashley and Andros together, neatly ignoring the secret Cassie let slip. "Carlos could have said anything any time. Cassie or I could have said something – we saw what was happening"

"Why didn't you?" asked Ashley bitterly.

"We respected Carlos's choice. He just wanted you to be happy", said Cassie gently, pressing her friend's hand.

"Whatever is wrong with Carlos, it's not just that", continued TJ, "Something happened to him the last couple of days, and I don't think it had anything to do with the team"

"What are we going to do now?" said Andros.

"Muffins" said Cassie.

"What?" asked TJ.

"Zhane's taking care of Carlos. We should take care of ourselves"

"So you think we should be making muffins?"

"Cherry muffins" said Cassie, suddenly remembering the list Andros handed over to her.

"Sounds like a plan to me" said Ashley, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Gather all the bowls, I'll see if we have all the ingredients"

"Don't". TJ put his hand on Andros's arm as he made a movement to join the girls. "Two cooks is more than enough for a simple thing like muffins"

"So what are we going to do?"

"We, my friend", said TJ, a twinkle in his eye, "Are going to make chicken soup"

And so, when Zhane entered the mess an hour or so later, he was immediately presented with a steaming bowl of soup.

"Thanks, I needed that. He just fell asleep, not before I sneaked him half a dose of tranquilizer"

"That bad?" said Ashley.

"Worse" replied Zhane.

"So what the hell happened?" demanded TJ.

"Well, he didn't speak much, and what he did say wasn't very coherent, but I think I got it worked out". He lay down his spoon. "Lately, Carlos has been seeing a girl called Shiera. Saying he fell in love with her is not far-fetched. Yesterday, she didn't show up to a meeting they scheduled. Today, he recognized her as the green Ranger". With that, Zhane picked up his spoon and resumed eating.

Andros was the first to snap out of the shock. "Are you certain?" he asked.

"Positive"

"What are we going to do?" asked Cassie.

"Not pressure Carlos, for a start" said Zhane, "And research spells, too. The girl can't have been evil from the start or he would never have fell for her"

"Are you going back to him?" asked Andros.

"Yes, as soon as I finish another bowl of soup"

"Don't go before I'm back" said Cassie, getting up.

"Where are you going?"

"To bring something we're all going to need"

"And what would that be?" asked TJ.

"Candies" said Ashley.

"What?"

"You heard her", said Cassie. She left.

"It's the girls' way", explained Ashley to the boys. "When the world come tumbling down, get a candy"

"And it works?"

"You bet"

Waking up was painful. His head hurt. His body was aching all over. His fingers felt numb, and he couldn't move them. It took him forever to open his eyes.

He was lying on his bunk on board the Astro Mega Ship. Zhane was sitting in a chair across from him. He got up when he saw Carlos looking at him, and returned after a second with a glass in his hand. He kneeled down, and pressed the straw to Carlos's lips.

"Drink" he said. Carlos didn't drink.

"Not wanting to drink is a very natural feeling when you're dehydrated"

Carlos really wanted to say something nasty to Zhane, but his mouth was too dry. He took a few sips. The sweetened drink felt good in his mouth, so he drank more. Before he knew it, he finished the glass.

After three glasses of fluid, Carlos was able to speak.

"I'm hungry". He also felt strangely emptied and dizzy, but he wasn't going to say that.

"You should be. Sit". He helped Carlos up and handed him a packet of salty crackers.

"What time is it?"

"Well after midnight"

"My parents are going to be worried sick"

"Not really. The guys came up with a gadget to imitate your voice, and told your parents you're sleeping at TJ's"

"If our parents ever speak to each other, boy, we're in for a lot of trouble"

"Guess so. Hand some of those crackers, won't you?"

"You hungry too?"

"I'm always hungry"

Between them, the packet was gone quickly.

"Beginning to feel better?"

"Sort of". The dizziness was gone now, as well as the headache. His body was still sore though, and the emptiness was still there. Like I'm missing out on something. C'mon, sort this mess out. Then it was all back. "Oh hell" he muttered, not realizing he was voicing his thoughts. He put his head between his hands as the headache returned, twice as worse.

Zhane set next to him, saying nothing. He managed to issue comfort without moving or speaking.

"My head hurts" said Carlos after a while.

"I was expecting you to declare the end of the world"

"Don't you think it's overly dramatic?"

"Not really"

"It's more like a big lump of nothingness sitting in my chest"

"Like an oversized frost injury"

"And it's growing"

"And it hurts like nothing you ever felt before"

"Does it have a name?"

"It's called a broken heart"

Carlos was silent for a while after this. Not sure what to do, Zhane slowly put an arm around Carlos's shoulders, giving him a chance to break off. Carlos rested his head on Zhane's shoulder: the months-old burden of anger and loneliness, coupled with his pain over losing Shiera, left him beyond spent. Zhane's support was to him the only hint of light and warmth in an otherwise bleak darkness.

"Does your head still hurt?" asked Zhane. He could sense that most of the tension was gone from Carlos's muscles.

"It's worse"

"I've got just the medicine for that". He reached forward and grabbed a brown plastic bag from the bedside table. "How about some M&M's?"

The nightmares returned that night. They always did, whenever anything went wrong. They weren't as intense as they used to be though, and after having a bowl of morning cereals he was feeling like himself again. As he was walking through the condo with his first cup of coffee, he saw the red blinking light on the answering machine. He pressed "rewind". The tape rewinded and switched to "play" in no time. There was only one message.

"Déjà vu. Call me"

He put down his mug and stared at the machine. Déjà vu. A code phrase set years ago. Call me. He was needed at home. He went for his phonebook. Once a Ranger…

Andros raised his head from the control panel, startled, as Zhane slammed a dozen infopads right in front of him.

"It's 3 A.M." stated Andros, more sharply than he intended to.

"9,152 known ways to convert a person from good to evil. 10 to 87 cases a year. Well over 15,000 years of records. Not a single index of the above mentioned cases"

"The ship's library is far from being exhaustive"

"I've already sent queries to all known libraries, data banks, archives and indexing services. There are only two partial matches: the Eltarian archives have some incomplete records which totally ignore the last 10,000 years or so, and the Aquitians have some extensive profiles they won't share because it's classified medical information of people they helped recuperate"

"If such an index doesn't exist, maybe it's not necessary. Try narrowing the list of spells"

"I've done some preliminary testing. Best case scenario is some 800 possibilities"

"Maybe there's no index because there are no records"

"The Blue Centurions' Data Bank holds records of every single person who was involved in the war between Good and Evil since the Centurions were created, which was some 9,000 years ago. Problem is, they have the worst indexing service in the universe"

"Try the worst indexing service in history" frowned Andros. "Have you asked for Alpha's help? He's pretty good in data mining"

"That's as far as Alpha's help got me. You're the search genius, pal."

"It's really weird to hear you using Earth slang". Andros sighed. "Realigning the scanners can wait a few hours, I guess. Grab a chair – delay that. Get us coffee first"

"Don't" said Carlos upon entering the mess in the morning. "I know I look like hell". His eyes were puffy and red, he had a nasty looking bruise across his cheek and his lower lip looked as though visited by a vampire.

"Did I do that?" asked Andros.

Carlos dropped into a chair. "If you're referring to the bruise than yeah, guess so, but the lip is my own doing"

"We should get you through the infirmary before you go down to Earth"

"Guess so"

"Saved you the last muffins. There's some coffee left, too"

"Right". He gulped down two cups of coffee before turning to the muffins.

Andros got the distinct feeling that Carlos was wishing him away. It's not like I've never been hurt before. I've been to hell and back again, as Cassie kindly reminded me, but it looks like he went further than that. It's unnerving.

"Carlos?"

"Yeah?"

"I… I want to tell you something". Zhane will kill me for this. "Ashley was rather upset about your behavior yesterday, so Cassie explained to her… to us, why you had every reason to be angry with her". Carlos didn't make a sound, didn't even look at him. "There are three Rangers who'll be after my blood for bringing this up, but I want to say it. I need to. I'm sorry"

"I don't care"

Did we hurt you so badly? Or is it some other hurt speaking?

Carlos might have sensed the red Ranger's puzzlement, because he added: "Right now, I can't care"

This I can understand. "Ok"

Next time: "This is a matter for the princess's consideration"