Disclaimer: Not mine

Juzblue: Yay, an extra cookie! It's okay, the servers seem to always be overloaded. :)

Piper xox Leo: Thanks, and here's more. The story's only about half done, so there's lots more:P

Arwennicole: Nope, not a nightmare this time. Ashley was just having nice, normal dreams. It's so much fun writing Zhane and Karone, glad you liked it. :P

the-power-of-love: Thanks, here's another chapter, hope you like it!. :)

Melissa: Guess it didn't quite work after all... Complain to them or something. If I ever actually killed the person who I tricked people into believing was going to die, that wouldn't be very fun for me now, would it? I say AH/AY because I know how to spell yellow... not that Jenny doesn't... let's move on, shall we? Good. Of course Andros loves his kids. And Zhane is surprisingly good with kids, considering he's a big baby. If you can't guess my story, then I did something right! Yay:P

Jenny: I'll respond to the first half with "HAHA!" then the middle half with "Okay, then," and the half about AH/AY with "You have a death wish, and if I could, I'd just have you die in my story instead of someone else, because you're going to die anyway." :D

DizneeDol: Okay, I'll update soon. Here's some more:P

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Yay, you named it after me! Don't kill anyone with your car. :P

Aka-chan2: If you're reading this, part 2 of Mirror, Mirror will be up as soon as I'm done with this one, probably a few more weeks. :P

Chapter 13: Black Light is Still Light

Aria's room

"Aria."

"Omigod, Cathan!" Aria gasped, whirling around. "You have got to stop doing that!"

"It has never been my intention to frighten you," he said, standing in the doorway. "May I enter?"

"Of couse you can," Aria said, her heart still pounding. "Just next time, knock, or make some kind of a noise. Stop sneaking around like some sort of... ghost."

Cathan's lips twitched into a smile. "Ghost?" he repeated. "I do not merit a higher form of specter?"

Aria shrugged, but she was smiling as well. "There are several words I could have used," she said, her tone implying that several of them he wouldn't care to hear. "Deca, can you leave us alone?... Thanks."

"May I speak to you?" Cathan inquired.

"Only if you stop talking like that," Aria said, folding her arms across her chest. "You sound like you've actually spent the last few years on Eltar, instead of everywhere else."

"If it means that much to you," Cathan said, dropping his tediously formal manner. "Happy?"

"Thank you," Aria said vehemently. "Sorry... I got used to you the other way."

"I understand," Cathan said. "I could say the same thing about you."

"The difference is, this is me," Aria said softly.

"I know," Cathan said. He sighed inwardly at the uneasy tension that settled over them. "What's wrong?"

"I'm trying to keep the people I love alive, Cathan! We've only fought one battle. Who knows how many more there will be? We're no closer to stopping him now than we were in the first place."

Silently, Cathan reached out to her, letting her pour out her feelings.

"I thought I could do this," Aria whispered, letting him embrace her. "And I can. It's just so overwhelming, having to do this again. Why did you have to go and put me in charge of them?"

"Eltar-"

"You could have lied. You did before."

"Three lives were lost because of me," Cathan reminded her softly, still holding her. "I have learned. This time, I have done everything as Eltar wishes it to be done."

Aria shook her head against him. "Wouldn't it have been enough to know?"

"I was not willing to take that chance," he said. "Neither were you, at the time."

"I'm still not," she whispered. "But I can't help feeling that they should know."

"We talked about this, Aria," Cathan reminded her.

"I know we did," Aria groaned. "But we did nothing when we should have."

"If I could have, I would have done it," Cathan said, defensiveness creeping into his tone.

"I'm not blaming you, Cath," Aria said sharply. "I understand why it's not supposed to be done... I've seen why it's not supposed to be done, but when I stop to think about it, we really screwed them over."

"Aria, stop," Cathan said. "When it comes to blaming yourself for things that you have no control of, you're worse than your brother."

"Andros is-" Aria began sharply, only to be cut off.

"It's not a fault, Aria," Cathan said hurridly. "We were friends once, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Aria said. She paused. "Remind me again why you won't tell him who you are then."

Cathan sighed. "It's easier," he said finally. "It's not that I don't trust any of you, but if it leaked somehow who I was, then I would bring too much unwelcome danger to everyone and everything that I care about."

"So... you like being able to disappear at any given moment, not caring about the people that you leave behind? Is that it?"

"Aria," Cathan said quietly, a warning note in his voice. "If you insist on having this conversation, I will say some things that you will not want to hear."

Hurt flashed through Aria's hazel eyes as she realized what he meant. "That's different, and you know it, Cathan!" she snapped. "I left because I wasn't welcome, not because I was too selfish to-"

"No, you left because you couldn't own up to the fact that you got yourself into something that wasn't a joke," Cathan retorted. "Life isn't a game, Aria. Rangers should know that."

"You don't fucking think I know that?" Aria shouted furiously.

"When was the last time you took something seriously?" he demanded, the fury blazing in his gray eyes matching the rage in hers. "Maybe you should look around you, and see the people that you will hurt if you don't accept that this is real."

"Maybe I do know that it's real," she shot back.

"Then don't call me selfish when-"

"I'm calling you selfish because you are," Aria snapped. "I wasn't the one who refused to fight when there were people dying all around me! I wasn't the one who handed Eltar to Samael by running away! Again!"

"You know why I can't fight," Cathan shouted. "It's too dangerous for you. For all of you. If he manages to control me-"

"Then don't let him!" Aria shouted at him. "Stop hiding in your righteous self-pity and help us beat him! We need the power of all eight crystals, and you know it."

"But black light is-"

"Black light is still light," Aria screamed. "It's still light, Cathan, and you could have been white if you'd wanted to be. But you didn't want to be!"

"Black light is tainted," Cathan insisted.

"I hate Eltar!" Aria shouted. "Them and their stupid superstitions. Do you know anything about light, Cathan?"

"I know that black light is tainted, and the one who weilds the power of it-"

"Black light is the absence of all color," Aria said, her tone suddenly calm again. "White light is the combination of all colors. White light is the tainted one, if there's even such a thing as tainted light. Light can't be corrupted. People can."

"The Light Rangers-"

"-are still people," Aria said. "And people can be used. People can be manipulated, and that's what Samael did with the first Light Rangers. There is nothing wrong with the Light, only with the people that Eltar willingly handed the Light to."

Cathan shook his head. "No. Eltar wouldn't give the power to anyone who would misuse it."

"They don't know everything," Aria snapped. "They just think they do, and that's where it all went wrong."

"You're the one who's wrong, Aria," Cathan said, before storming out of her room.

"Love you too," Aria muttered bitterly. Not even bothering to change, she threw herself down onto her bed, and fell asleep, still fuming.