Disclaimer: Not mine

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I love having Ashley pregnant with Andros' kids... or not his kids... just pregnant in general. :P

Arwennicole: Yeah, I don't like her parents either. For some reason, I don't write likable parents. I love Lion and Tiger. :P

the-power-of-love: Good, you hate her parents too. :P

Melissa: I think most people notice by three months, but I really don't know. I think at three months it's possible to not notice, but it's probably the absolute latest. Okay, ask more questions next time, and I'll act like I know the answers. :P

DizneeDol: I'm going to make you wait. :P But don't worry, it's a pretty short story.

JakiBlue: Yeah, this version's going to be pretty different. I'm glad you liked the first draft, and I hope you like this one too. :P

Chapter 6

KO-35

"Zhane," Karone shouted, pounding on his door. "Wake up!"

She heard some sleepy mutters coming from the other side of the door, and was just about to pound on it even louder when it opened. Zhane stared at her for a second with glazed eyes before blinking and managing to make himself look semi-conscious.

"What?" he asked groggily. "Did you find something?"

Karone shook her head. "Something's wrong. The Megaship's on her way back, Deca sent us a transmission saying that Ashley requested us to be teleported to the Megaship as soon as we're in range. We won't be coming back anytime soon."

"That doesn't sound good," Zhane muttered, wincing inwardly. "How long until they get back to Karova?"

"They were fifteen minutes away from the system when the transmission came in," Karone said. "That was about five minutes ago."

"Do we need to bring anything?" Zhane asked, fully awake now.

Karone shook her head. "Not unless you want to. We've still got clothes on the Megaship, and there's plenty of weapons there, too."

"Lemme get dressed," Zhane said, closing his door again. Karone heard doors opening and being slammed shut, and a few things flying through the air. Five minutes later, Zhane reappeared, dressed in his black and silver flight suit. "Okay, I'm ready."

Karone's communicator beeped, and as she answered it, Zhane dived back into his room to search for his.

"Deca, is that you?"

"No, it's me," came Ashley's voice. "Are you guys ready?"

"Yes," Zhane shouted from his room, emerging again with his morpher in his hand. "Are you all right?"

"I'll explain later," Ashley said. "Deca, initiate teleportation sequence."

The Megaship

"Are you all right?" Zhane demanded as Ashley threw her arms around both him and Karone. "What happened on Earth?"

Ashley sighed heavily. "I'll give you the short version. Wherever Andros is, he's being tortured, and I feel whatever they're doing to him, and my parents disowned me because I'm pregnant with his baby."

Zhane blinked. "You're pregnant?"

Ashley nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "If I never see him again..."

"Don't say that," Karone said, alarmed, as Ashley started to cry. "Don't you give up, Ash."

Ashley took a deep breath, swallowing hard as she tried to control herself. "We have to find him," she said. "I heard his voice, you guys. He's still alive."

"We'll find him," Zhane assured her. "Did he tell you where he was?"

Ashley shook her head. "All I heard was 'Ashley, please save me.' Then I think I fainted, and I woke up in a hospital bed."

"Wait," Zhane said slowly. "When you say you feel what they're doing to him, do you mean that you just know that they're doing something, or that you feel the same thing he does?"

"I feel the same thing he does," Ashley said. "He's in so much pain... I don't think we have that much more time."

"How often?" Karone asked. "How often have you felt it?"

Ashley paused to think about it. "The first time was yesterday morning, and then twice on the way back."

"Twice in twelve hours?" Karone repeated. "That can't be good."

Ashley shook her head, tears slowly trickling out of her eyes. "I wish I could just take it all away from him somehow."

She sank down into Andros' old seat, burying her face in her hands. Zhane and Karone looked at each other, unspoken worry in their eyes. Ashley had never given up hope before, no matter how bad things had become.

"Ashley," Zhane sighed, touching her shoulder. "Snap out of it. Come on, Ash, we need your help."

"How am I supposed to help you?" Ashley whispered, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. "I can't go out and fight."

"You don't need to," Zhane said quietly. "You know where he is."

Far, far away

He wasn't going to be able to stand it for much longer. Even something as simple as breathing sent white-hot pain shooting through him, and his chest constricted, leaving him gasping for breath.

Andros clenched his teeth together before attempting to roll over, determined not to give them the satisfaction of hearing him cry out in pain. The temperature seemed to have dropped several degrees, and the floor was freezing cold beneath him, but it wasn't worth the effort it took to crawl across the small room to the cot.

Closing his eyes again, he tried to think of something other than the pain. It was difficult, but eventually his mind settled on Ashley, as it always did. The smallest hint of a smile appeared on his lips. He'd spoken to her, he'd really heard her voice. It didn't matter that it was her mental voice instead of her verbal voice. Hearing her only made his desire to see her again grow, and he was determined that he would.

He had to see her again, even if it was just for a second. He had to tell her how much he loved her. If he had to die, he couldn't without at least saying goodbye to her.

The door to his cell opened, and Andros moaned as the light hit his eyes, his head immediately beginning to pound. He was tempted to bring one hand up to cover his eyes, but in the end, it wasn't worth the effort and pain it would cost him. He would only be dragged away anyway.

He saw one of the guards motion impatiently for him to stand up. Andros strained to move even a small muscle, and the result was that his body screamed in pain and refused to move even an inch.

He couldn't see their faces, but there was something different about his two guards this time. There was something in the way that they moved that sent fear coursing through them. They walked a little faster, their strides more meaningful as they pulled him along, now supporting him completely.

Andros felt his fear grow, finally settling somewhere deep in the pit of his stomach. Whatever happened now, it would be different than what had happened before. Andros swallowed hard. There was only one thing more that they could do to him.

They were going to kill him now.

The Megaship

"What do you mean?" Ashley demanded, growing hysterical. "Zhane, tell me! How do I know where he is?"

"Whoa, Ash, calm down," the silver ranger said quickly, grasping her by the arms. "Breathe, all right?"

Ashley nodded, obediantly taking several deep breaths. "Zhane, what do you mean? Where's Andros? How do I know?"

Zhane looked helplessly at Karone, who nodded and took over explaining. "If you really feel what Andros does," she said softly, "then your soul is the other half of his. Your heart knows where he is, Ash, if you trust yourself enough to listen to it."

"I... what?" Ashley stared from one to the other, clearly confused. "But how do I -"

"Deca, bring up a star chart," Zhane ordered. "Look at the map, Ash. Where do you think he is?"

"I... I don't know," Ashley cried helplessly, looking at the dozens upon dozens of systems that made up the known universe. "How do we know he's even in one of these places?"

"You know, Ash," Zhane repeated. He gave her a long look, and she finally nodded, turning back to look at the maps.

She stared at it until her eyes grew blurry, but nothing changed. There was no moment of clarity, no startling revelation. There was only her, a desperate young woman, staring blanky at the universe, pinning all of her hopes on a hopeless task.

"Andros," she whispered. "Where are you?"

Ashley closed her eyes, her head falling forward into her hands once more in a gesture of complete and utter despair. There was no way she could do this. There was no way she could find him.

"Ash?"

"Andros!" she cried, her eyes snapping open. "Where are you? Please, don't leave me again!"

"I'm sorry, Ash," he said quietly. "I think they're going to kill me now."

"No!" she screamed at him."Andros, no, please don't die. I love you."

She was sobbing hard as she heard him reply distantly, "I love you too, Ashley. I -"

Then came the wave of now almost familiar agony, tearing through her as Andros' voice vanished and became a scream. Ashley could hear herself screaming along with him as she fell out of her seat and tumbled to the floor, writhing in pain. It didn't end this time, and grew stronger and stronger, until Ashley had no doubts that it had been meant to kill him.

It ended abruptly, as it always did, and Ashley closed her eyes, trying to get any sense of Andros, anything that would tell her he was still alive, anything that would tell her where he was.

"Andros!" she shouted desperately. "Answer me, please. Don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Andros!"

"Ash?"

It was only a whisper, and she was afraid to believe it was real, for fear that he'd be gone.

"Ashley?"

This time, she couldn't deny she'd heard it, and burst into tears of relief, her hands clutching at Zhane and Karone who had knelt down beside her several minutes before.

"Andros, what's going on?" she cried. "Where are you?"

"I don't know where I am," he cried out, frustration and fear evident in his tone. "I've tried to figure it out over and over again, and I just can't."

"We'll find you, I promise," Ashley told him, knowing well that it was one that they were unlikely to keep, at least while he was still alive, but she felt that she had to say it, to do anything to lessen his pain. "Andros, what are they doing to you?"

"They want to kill me," Andros said, his mental voice dull. "I almost wish that they would. It hurts so much, Ash. I can't move. I can barely breathe. I wish I could kill myself, so they couldn't use me."

"Use you for what?" Ashley asked, praying to whoever might be listening that he wouldn't die before she could get to him. "Andros, tell me whatever you know, please."

"They want to kill me, but they need me for something," Andros told her. "I don't know what, but something just went wrong. I'm not strong enough for what they want, I think."

"Andros -"

"I love you, Ash," Andros told her, cutting her off, and a moment later, he was gone from her mind.

"No!" Ashley shrieked. "Andros, come back!"

"What did he say?" Zhane asked gently, as he and Karone pulled her into a sitting position. "Ash..."

"He has no idea where he is," Ashley said, wiping her eyes. "They want to use him for something, and they need to kill him. They were about to kill him just now, but something went wrong..."

Her voice trailed off, and Karone grasped her shoulder hard, afraid that she might faint as her face grew white. "What's wrong?"

Ashley shook her head. "It's nothing, but for a second, I thought... never mind."

"No, tell us, Ash," Zhane pleaded. "It could be important."

"I just... if they were going to kill him just now, shouldn't it hurt more than when they were just torturing him?"

"It hurt less?" Karone asked.

Ashley nodded her head slowly. "The first one I felt, that one was much more painful."

"What do you think it means?"

"I think... I think the farther away from him I am, the less I feel of it," Ashley said hesitantly. "I think we've been looking in the wrong places. I think I know where he is."

Elsewhere

Andros felt his eyes filling with tears as Ashley was torn away from him yet again. It wasn't fair, he thought sadly. His life had been a living hell for eleven years, from the time his sister had vanished to the time he met the four powerless Turbo rangers and accepted them onto his team.

Ashley had changed him, and he didn't doubt that she'd saved him countless times as well, but he'd never thanked her for it, never even mentioned it. He'd told her that he loved her several times a day, but love didn't even begin to describe the depth of his feelings for her. He'd taken her for granted, and now he might have to wait until another lifetime to see her again.

He was jolted from his thoughts as he heard voices talking, and he forced himself to listen. Next time, he'd have something to tell Ashley. He could help her save him.

"... not enough strength in him alone, Master," the old man was saying plantively. "You can kill him if you like, but it will not revive-"

This time, there was an answer that Andros could hear, and the voice that was speaking branded itself into his mind.

"Then how can we do this?"

"You need another donor, Master," the old man said smoothly.

"Then find me one, Arcanus," the voice demanded.

"I already have," Arcanus said, laughing darkly. "A most perfect one, too."

"Who?"

"It's a surprise, Master," Arcanus said. "But you need another relic for another donor."

"I've already given you his sword," the voice snarled. "What else do you need?"

"Something else that was his," Arcanus said.

"A grain of sand. Would that do?"

Andros went cold. Suddenly, unexplicably, he knew what his purpose here was for. He was going to be used to revive Ecliptor.