Disclaimer: Not mine
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: This chapter's longer, and I just realized that both of the stories that I'm writing right now are going to be very long, so don't worry, there's plenty more. How come you get to control the zords? That's more not fair than me writing a short chapter. : )
GreenDayfan1: Andros doesn't love Ashley yet, he just doesn't hate her. They'll fall in love later. : )
Juzblue: Don't worry, this chapter's longer. : )
Jenny: Are my stories really predictable, or are you just good at guessing? : )
Chapter 8
The bridge
"Deca, set a course for . . . " Cassie's voice trailed off, and she glanced at Andros. "Andros?"
Andros sighed, and rotated in his seat to look at her. "What?"
"Aren't you supposed to do this part?" the pink ranger asked.
"You can do it," Andros said, not really listening. "It's not that hard. I'm sure that you can handle it, and if you can't, Deca can."
Cassie rolled her eyes at him, and shrugged, ignoring the insult.
"That's not what I meant," she said. "You haven't noticed that TJ and Carlos have been taking over your job for the past two weeks."
That was because Andros spent the major portion of the next two weeks concentrating only on avoiding Ashley as best he could. Now that he'd admitted that he didn't hate her, he was realizing that she didn't annoy him as much as he'd thought she did. And that bothered him, because he knew that once she stopped annoying him, he would start to care for her. He couldn't care for anyone, especially Ashley, because it would hurt too much to lose her. And Andros had lost everyone that had ever mattered to him, even those who hadn't died . . .
"There's an incoming transmission," Carlos said, glancing up at the scanners. "Do you want me to play it?"
"Where's it from?" Andros asked.
"It's from another ship," Carlos said, puzzled.
"But that can't be right," TJ said. "There's only two ships in this system, and Astronema doesn't like to chat."
"Where's it from?" Andros asked again, impatiently. "Deca?"
"The Vengence," Deca replied. If she had a mouth, she would have been frowning.
"The Vengence?" Andros repeated, dumbstruck. "No . . . "
"Shall I display the transmission?" Deca asked him.
"No," Andros said quickly. "At least, not yet."
The others were staring at him, and he groaned.
"Can you leave for awhile?" he asked, almost pleadingly. "Please?"
They all nodded, but before they could leave, the screen burst into life.
"Deca!" Andros cried angrily.
"Override," Deca said apologetically.
"Andros!"
He forced himself not to flinch.
"Hello, Mother," he said, barely managing to keep his tone even.
"Your father and I are coming to visit you."
"When?" Andros said, suppressing a sigh.
"We're right outside," his mother informed him. "Why have you been orbiting such a primitive planet? Who are those people with you?"
"I'll explain later," Andros said, sighing. This was going to be even more unpleasant than usual.
His mother's eyes narrowed. "What have you been keeping from me?"
"Deca, begin docking manuevers," Andros muttered reluctantly. "I'll be expecting you, Mother."
The instant the screen went black, Andros let his head fall forward into his hands. His mother only showed up whenever she was feeling particularly depressed about Karone, and to make herself feel better, she would scream at Andros for hours, drilling into his mind that it was all his fault. His mother had always loved Karone more, and after she was kidnapped, she'd made it clear that he was going to suffer dearly for letting his little sister get lost.
"Andros?" Ashley asked. "Are you okay?"
Andros lifted his head, and glared at her. She met his gaze, and held it until he looked away.
"All of you, go away!" he snapped. "I need to talk to my parents. Alone!"
"Sure," Ashley said softly. "We'll go."
Before they could, however, the doors slid open, and he stiffened, seeing his mother's spiteful face and his father's disappointed one. Both his parents entered slowly. The others stood, but Andros simply stayed where he was, his head bowed.
"Mother," he said, struggling to keep his voice even. "Father."
"Stand up!" his mother ordered in a clear, cold voice. "Who are these people?"
Andros didn't answer.
"Who are they?"
Andros stayed quiet, trying to think of an answer that she would accept. There were none.
"They're rangers," he muttered.
"I didn't hear you," his mother snapped. She took a step closer, and Andros flinched involuntarily.
"They're rangers, Mother," he said, a little louder. "From Earth."
"You gave the Astromorphers to four humans from Earth?" his mother repeated in a dangerously calm voice.
Andros nodded, staring at the floor.
"What's wrong with you?" she shrieked at him. "The Astromorphers were intended to be used only by Karovans."
She turned to face TJ, Ashley, Cassie, and Carlos, who were standing in a corner uncomfortably.
"We would like to be alone with our son," she snapped at them. "Leave!"
They left, and Andros watched, wishing that they wouldn't go.
"Have you found Karone yet?" his father wanted to know.
"No," Andros said, concentrating hard on the floor.
"You are worthless," his father spat. "You cost us our little girl."
"I was only six," Andros pleaded. "There was nothing that I could do."
The engine room
"Do the rest of you feel as bad as I do?" Ashley asked, looking around at her friends.
"Yeah," Cassie agreed. "We shouldn't have left."
"He told us to," TJ protested.
"That's only because he didn't want us there while he got screamed at," Ashley said softly.
TJ sighed. "That's a good point."
"What do we do now?" Carlos asked Ashley. "Do we just wait for them to leave?"
Ashley shook her head. "I don't know, but we can't just do nothing."
"Why do you feel so bad?" Carlos asked. "Andros is awful to you."
Ashley shrugged. "He's not as bad anymore," she said. "But the look on his face when they came in would have made me feel sorry for him even if I'd hated him."
The bridge
Andros resisted the urge to press his hands to his head in an effort to block out the voices that continued raging at him.
"Stop," he said. "Leave me alone!"
"Not until you accept responsibility for what you've done," his father said somberly.
His father took a step closer to him, and Andros flinched, the ghosts of long-healed wounds aching again. It had been years since anyone had even tried to hit him, but he couldn't forget.
"I'm sorry I lost Karone," Andros cried out finally. "I've always been!"
"Only because we made you sorry," his father said. "But this isn't even about Karone."
"Then why are you here?" Andros demanded. "I haven't seen you in a year and a half. What do you want?"
"This is about your other mistake," his mother said coldly.
Andros froze. "Arrow?" he asked.
"He's been attacking your people while you're orbiting Earth, doing nothing," his father shouted. "I thought that you could sink no lower."
"It's all your fault he's even alive!" his mother raged. "If you hadn't gotten in the way, he'd be dead and gone, and Karova would be safe."
Andros said nothing. On this point, he knew that his mother was right.
"Wait," his mother said slowly. "How many Earth-rangers are there?"
"Four," Andros said, stiffening.
"You gave away Karone's morpher?"
"Karone's not here to use it," Andros muttered, concentrating on not breaking down into tears while she was still here.
"Because of you!" she screamed at him. "You don't deserve to live. You should have been the one that was taken. Karone would have been a ranger, and you'd be dead, where you belong. It's all your fault, all of it. You couldn't save KO-35, you couldn't save your best friend, and you couldn't even keep your little sister in sight!"
She started over from the beginning, raging at him for a variety of things. Andros stopped listening, the tears that he had been holding back giving way to anger.
She's your mother, Andros told himself, clenching his teeth. She's your mother, no matter how much she hates you, don't kill her, don't kill her, don't kill her. . . He wished he could scream at her for once, telling her everything that she had ever done to him.
"Listen to me!" his mother snarled. "Listen to me, you-"
"Enough!"
Andros watched his mother's mouth drop open at being interrupted in mid-sentence. Slowly, he looked up to see Ashley standing in the doorway, her normally warm brown eyes ice cold. Standing behind her, with equally cold expressions, were TJ, Carlos, and Cassie.
"Leave me alone with my son," his mother ordered.
"No," Ashley said quietly. "We will not."
"Why are you defending him? You'll only end up dying to save his worthless life."
"He's only worthless to you," Ashley said sharply. "Leave him alone."
"You gave your sister's morpher to her?" his mother demanded, glaring at Andros with a burning hate that came from her soul. "Why? How could you do that?"
"Deca, teleport Andros' parents back to their ship," Ashley ordered.
"Shall I detach the Vengence?" Deca asked, as they vanished from the bridge.
"Immediately," Ashley said. "And accept no more transmissions from them."
Andros hadn't moved. He was still sitting stiffly in his seat, staring at the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ashley kneel by his side.
"Andros?" she said quietly. "Andros, look at me."
Andros shook his head. "Go away," he whispered, his throat tightening.
"Not until you look at me," Ashley said firmly.
Andros shook his head, knowing that if he looked into her warm eyes, he would start crying. It wasn't right. She'd defended him and he'd always been so awful to her.
He stood up abruptly, and left, not knowing where he was going, but he couldn't stay there. He heard someone following him, and knew immediately that it was Ashley. He ended up in his room, and Ashley stopped in the doorway.
"Please leave me alone," he managed to choke out it a toneless voice.
"I will," Ashley said gently. "If that's what you want. Are you going to be okay?"
Andros automatically nodded his head, but at the warmth in her voice, he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. It had been so long since anyone had cared for him.
Sinking down onto his bed, he curled up into the fetal position, sobbing. He felt Ashley lie down next to him, and he buried his face in her shoulder, clinging to her desperately.
"It's okay," Ashley whispered soothingly. "They're gone now."
"Go away," Andros whispered. "Far away. Before he kills you. All of you."
"Andros?" Ashley asked questioningly.
"It's all my fault," Andros muttered faintly. "I did this."
"Andros," Ashley said. "What happened?"
Andros sat up, stiffening when Ashley touched his shoulder gently.
He looked up at Ashley. "You don't have to be here with me."
"I want to be," Ashley said, surprised at how much she really did. "Andros, you can tell me anything."
"You wouldn't understand this," Andros muttered, looking away again.
Still, Ashley didn't go away, and Andros swallowed hard. He couldn't keep it inside anymore. He took a deep breath and started talking.
