Disclaimer: Not mine

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Yeah, it's sad. :P

Juzblue: I know it's sad. Aria was my favorite, too. : (

DizneeDol: I know. This is soon enough, right?

Piper xox Leo: Technically, they were engaged. He was just checking to see if they still were. But at least I didn't make them live without each other.

Jenny: Again, you guessed it ALL! At least there's nothing else left for you to guess. Were you the one who wanted Zhane to cry:P

Chapter 25: Goodbye

Andros cradled Ashley in his arms as she cried herself to sleep, and then climbed out of bed with painstaking slowness, not wanting to wake her. Drawing the covers back up over her, he crept out of the room, knowing that sleep would never come for him tonight.

Unsurprisingly, he saw Justin wandering around dazedly, the loss of his twin not having sunk in quite yet. Andros tried to say something to his brother, but Justin just stared at him blankly, so he moved on, and found himself talking with Zhane instead.

The silver ranger was sitting on the floor of the engine room. Andros saw tears glistening in his eyes, and realized that he had never seen his friend cry before now. He dropped to the floor beside him, laying a hand on his arm for a second.

"How are you?" Zhane asked hoarsely, wiping his eyes. "How's Ashley?"

"Sleeping," Andros said, sighing. "She's the lucky one. I just keep thinking... Aria would still be alive if..."

"This wasn't your fault," Zhane said, and Andros realized that he hadn't told anyone what Aria had done. He couldn't tell Ashley, not anymore, or she'd blame herself for the rest of her life. Andros swallowed and found himself telling Zhane the whole story, leaving out only the part where he had found Zhane and Karone's children. When he was done, Zhane stared at him, mumbling, "Wow."

"You and Aria were pretty close, weren't you?" Andros said suddenly, rubbing his tired eyes with the heel of his palm. There was something he had to know, and Zhane might be the only person with the answer.

"Yeah," Zhane admitted. "She was the first person like me I ever met, except she was crazier, and most of the stuff she did wasn't just for the hell of it."

"Do you think she came back knowing that she was going to die?"

"I think she knew there was a huge possibility of death," Zhane said after a very long pause. "And I don't think that it would have made any difference to either of them. But no, I don't think Aria came back intending to die. She just did what I would have done, or what any of us would have done."

"Thanks," Andros said, breathing a little more easily. He wasn't sure he believed Zhane, but for some reason, hearing from someone that Aria hadn't planned her death made it hurt a little less.

"We owe her," Zhane said suddenly. "Not just this, I mean before, the old team."

"I know," Andros said softly. "I owe her Ashley twice now."

"Twice?"

"Yeah." Andros nodded and sighed sadly. "She just kept pushing me towards her until something finally happened."

Zhane laughed, the sound strangely not out of place. "I always wondered how that happened."

Andros's faint smile faded as he said, "And now this..."

"You can't possibly blame yourself for this," Zhane said increduously. "Aria did what Aria wanted. Always."

"But she died for us, Zhane," Andros said. "So that we could live."

"And someday we'll be able to accept that," Zhane said. "Until then..."

His voice trailed off and the two sat side by side in silence for a long time. Then Andros took a deep breath, and climbed slowly to his feet.

"Hey, are you sure you want to do that?" Zhane asked, scrambling up when he saw where his friend was headed. "You don't have to, you know."

"I think I do," Andros answered quietly, punching in the access code for the cryogenic healing chamber where Zhane had lain for two years. Aria was here now, and Cathan too, their bodies kept cold until they could be buried back on Earth.

"She doesn't look dead," Zhane mused, coming in behind him. "She looks like she's asleep."

Andros nodded. Aria looked as if she was simply taking a nap, not gone forever, but then again she didn't. Aria would never have slept on her back with her hands clasped over her stomach. Aria would have slept sprawled over on her side, one arm buried under her pillow, and the other arm ready to tug the blanket up over her face should the lights suddenly turn on when she wasn't ready to get up. The position looked more natural for Cathan, the somber Phantom who had, in the end, killed his sister.

Zhane seemed to know what he was thinking, and clapped him on the shoulder. "He was worth it to her."

"I know," Andros whispered. "But she was so strong, it doesn't seem right..."

"But what about this does?" Zhane countered. He yawned. "I might as well try to sleep. Night, man."

"Night," Andros echoed. He placed on hand over his sister's heart, whispering, "Goodbye, Aria."

He turned to go, resisting the impulse to keep talking. It was stupid, really, Aria was long gone, and what was left of her was a shell. Andros walked slowly down to his and Ashley's room, where she was still asleep. Deca had assured him that she would be fine, as long as she was kept calm for the remainder of her pregnancy.

Ashley stirred as he crawled back into bed. "Where did you go?"

"To say goodbye," Andros whispered, pulling her into his arms as tears welled up in her eyes again.

"She didn't change the past to die," Ashley said softly. Andros pulled back to look at her in wonder as she continued. "She just wouldn't live without him."

"How did you know about that?"

"When I was... dying, I guess, I felt you bringing me back," Ashley explained. "I saw you, and I knew everything that you'd ever done. Most of it faded right when I opened my eyes, but I remember that part."

"I love you, Ash," Andros whispered, tears springing to his eyes. "I let you die, and -"

"Shh," Ashley whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"I love you," Andros whispered again, silently thanking his sister. "I love you, and I love Zoe and Wyatt, and I'm so sorry."

"It's all right," Ashley said, her face wet with tears. "I know you do. You didn't kill me, and you didn't kill Aria. Aria didn't mean to die. She would have, so that we all could live, and she did in the end, but she died for love."

"I needed to hear that," Andros said a moment later, kissing the side of her head. "Thank you. Are you going to be all right?"

Ashley nodded shakily, and dried her eyes with the hem of the sheet. "Aria was my best friend, and I hate to have to say goodbye to her, but I'll be fine, eventually."

Andros nodded, and lay down beside her. Sleep came to him before Ashley, and she lay awake, her hands resting on her stomach, and the children inside, wondering just how she was supposed to say goodbye to the one person that she knew she owed her life and everything in it a hundred times over.