Disclaimer: Not mine

TrueRomantic: That's one for Andros... That would be really sweet. I was leaning towards Arrow, but now I'm starting to change my mind.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Another one for Andros... You don't need to reread Part 1 to understand Part 2. The first couple of chapters might be mentioned in Part 2, that's all. That said, reread it all:P

Sailorjlita: Another for Andros...

Juzblue: Antother for Andros... Their world is pretty messed up. They can't trust anyone, so they had to think up this plan to get Andros to be their red ranger.

DizneeDol: Another for Andros... It's okay that you didn't review:P

JDPhoenix: Another for Andros... I don't think you'll need to do anything that drastic as long as I do what you guys decided.. :P

Jenny: Another for Andros... I hate doing the dishes. It's okay that you didn't write a long review. I just needed you to vote. :P

A/N: Okay, wow, you guys all agreed on something! You all want Andros to be Angel's father. I'll think about that..

Chapter 10

Ashley moaned when the lights came on, and kept her eyes shut tight. Several minutes later, she swallowed, and looked up, unable to keep relief from flooding her face when she saw that it was Killian, not Arrow.

Killian laughed softly, and Ashley glared back at him. "What do you want?"

"Arrow wished for me to wake you," he said.

"Then you can leave now," Ashley snapped, her voice much stronger than she felt. "Don't worry, I won't fall asleep before he shows up."

"You fear him," Killian said, his eyes narrowing, but his voice was curious. "You can try to hide it, but you fear him. Why did you agree to stay?"

"You know why," Ashley said dully. She'd had a different version of this conversation every night for the last two and a half weeks. "So he wouldn't kill Andros."

"He means that much to you?" Killian challenged her.

"If he didn't, would I be here right now?"

"Yes," Killian answered instantly. "Unless Arrow had killed you. I'm curious. You don't truly expect to be rescued, do you?"

Ashley drew her knees up to her chin and looked away. The ring around her head was giving her a headache. It rubbed against her skull whenever she moved, and whenever she tried to sleep, it put too much pressure on her head.

"Andros will keep trying," she said, staring at the floor, willing herself not to cry, as she did every time she said his name. "I know him. He won't stop until he rescues me."

"Or dies," Killian finished for her. Ashley glared at him, and he laughed. "If he was strong enough to fight Arrow, you wouldn't be here in the first place, Yellow Ranger."

"He is strong enough," Ashley said firmly, raising her eyes to his.

"You need to believe that he's strong," Killian told her. "You need to believe that he'll rescue you. But he's weak, and he'll never get in here to you. And even if he did, he'd take one look at you and leave you here."

"I love him," Ashley snapped. "And he loves me."

"Love is unimportant," Killian retorted. "Why should he still want you?"

Ashley looked away again, lowering her eyes. In her heart, she knew that whatever Killian and Arrow told her was meant to crush her, to break her spirit, but that didn't doubts from springing up in her mind.

If Andros saw her now, a part of her was saying, then he'd laugh at her and leave. He wouldn't want her after this. He shouldn't want her after this. She wasn't worth anything anymore.

The rest of her argued back, and the small part of her would quiet temporarily, but never truly go away, and she knew that it never would, at least not until she saw Andros again.

Killian laughed at her. "You know I'm telling you the truth."

Ashley shook her head stubbornly. Killian would continue taunting her until she broke down and cried, but she refused to cry, because then Killian would leave, and Arrow would come.

"I am," Killain insisted calmly. "Your precious Andros, the one who you did all this for, and did it willingly, he won't want you anymore. No one will want you."

"Andros loves me," Ashley said. "He'll want me."

"You sound so sure of yourself, Yellow Ranger," Killian said. "But even if he does want you at first, he'll change his mind later."

Ashley didn't say anything, wishing that he would just go away, and everything could be over faster. She rested her chin on top of her knees, trying to block out the sound of his voice, but it was impossible.

"He'll want someone pure," Killian was saying. "And what happens if you carry Arrow's child? Do you really think he'd raise a child that wasn't his? Do you really think you mean that much to him?"

"Go away!" Ashley wailed, tears finally leaking out of her eyes. She brushed them away angrily. It was at this point that Ashley always cracked. She knew Andros loved her, but she couldn't believe that he loved her enough to raise an evil overlord's child as his own.

The door slammed shut, and Ashley was alone, but she knew that it wouldn't be for long. Sure enough, less than a minute later, Arrow entered the room, and Ashley felt sick as he started towards her.

Halfway there, he stopped, staring intently at the wall, his eyes narrowed. "Did you hear something?" he demanded.

"N-no," Ashley muttered, her eyes fixed on the floor. She wondered why he continued staring at the wall. There was nothing there. There was nothing on any of the walls, besides cracked and peeling gray paint.

Arrow cast one more glance at the wall before crossing the room in two strides. He grabbed her by the wrists with one hand while he forced her down onto the cot with the other. Ashley closed her eyes, searching for somewhere in her mind where she could hide until he left.

Suddenly, Arrow stood up and released her, cursing loudly as there was a series of explosions from somewhere out in the hall. Ashley sat up, some wild hope springing up within her. Arrow shoved her down hard as he stormed over to the door. He slammed it shut behind him, and Ashley curled up, hoping that whoever was out there killed him.

"Ashley."

Her eyes flew open as a familiar voice spoke her name, a hand clamping down over her mouth before she could form a reply. Andros held a finger to his lips as he tugged on her arm. Ashley nodded her head dazedly, her eyes widening as she saw that a section of the wall was now hanging open. Andros shoved her in front of him, and Ashley found herself staring at a black ranger in the seconds before the door in the wall swung shut.

"This way," the voice inside the helmet hissed. "Silently."

The passageway was barely wide enough for one person, and Andros pushed Ashley in front of him, one of his hands finding hers, squeezing her fingers hard. They ran as quickly as they dared in the near darkness. Suddenly the ranger in front of her stopped, and Ashley could see that there was a wall in front of him.

"Alana says the hall is clear." He spoke in a deep, low voice. "She lured them to the other side of the palace, but it won't be long before Arrow realizes what happened. Follow me, and whatever you do, don't stop."

Ashley nodded, and they took off sprinting as the black ranger threw open the wall. They passed through several corridors, doubling back on themselves a number of times. They saw or heard no one, and after a few minutes they stopped again. The black ranger opened up another passageway, and they stepped in quickly. They went along a little ways before they stopped.

"Alana will be here in a few minutes," the black ranger said to them. "She'll have got them. You two stay here."

As he moved ahead of them, Andros turned to Ashley, burying his face in her hair as she started shaking uncontrollably.

"Don't cry," he muttered in her ear, holding her safe in his arms. "Not yet."

Ashley nodded her head against him, still shaking. "Andros," she whispered. There was so much that she wanted to say to him, but knew that if she did, she would break down and cry, and they weren't safe yet. Instead, she swallowed hard, and asked, "How do we get out of here?"

"We're going to try to sneak out the way Blaze got us in here," Andros told her, his grip on her still strong. "Blaze is the black ranger up there. Alana's the pink ranger. She was the one distracting them in the hall."

"Tell her she had good timing," Ashley whispered, shivering as she remembered how close Arrow had been to having her another time.

"I intend to," Andros replied, his voice wavering slightly, and Ashley realized that they had seen, or at least heard, everything that had happened in that room. She burrowed her face deeper into his neck as he whispered, "Hold still."

She felt him place both hands on the sides of her head, gently tugging loose the ring that had cut off Ashley's telepathy. Andros dropped it silently to the ground as Ashley tightened her arms around him, feeling his presence in the back of her mind, soothing her without meaning to.

"We can't get out the same way," Blaze said grimly, a pink ranger following him as he returned.

"Arrow went there first," Alana said, panting slightly from her run. "It's a good thing we decided to come here first."

"So how do we get out?" Andros asked, readjusting his hold on Ashley.

"I got these," Alana said, laughing silently as she held up her hands. "Blaze thought we might be needing them."

"What are they?" Andros asked.

"Keys," Alana replied vaguely, handing him the two small oblong metal objects. "Of a sort."

"Dimensional keys," Blaze elaborated. He hesitated. "Would you be willing to continue the fight in your own dimension?"

"Yes," Ashley replied instantly before Andros even had his mouth open. "I hate this place."

"So do I," Andros muttered. Now it was his turn to hesitate. "Would you be willing to come with us?"

"You'd want us to?" There was a hint of suspicion in Alana's voice. "Why?"

"Because we'll need you," Ashley said. "And because you want to."

She felt Andros's arms tighten around her for an instant as the two rangers spoke in hushed and worried tones.

"Trust is something we rely on in our world," Andros told them quietly. "We won't trap you."

"Alana?" Blaze asked softly. "What do you say?"

The pink ranger groaned quietly. "I'm not staying here alone with Calan."

"How do we open a mirror?" Andros asked them.

"You have to fit the keys together right." Alana was already fiddling with them. "But you need more space than we've got here."

"We can't use the hallways," Blaze protested. "That's suicide."

"So was this whole idea," Alana responded. "It only takes a few seconds."

"And you can guarantee us we'll end up back where we came from?" Andros asked, not wanting to repeat this misadventure somewhere else.

"These keys are programmed only for travel from our dimension to yours," Alana responded. "We can't take the keys with us, and we wouldn't be able to get back if we wanted to."

"Then it's a good thing that we don't want to."

"I've got it," Alana shouted in a whisperer. "Let's go."

Blaze threw open the wall again as they stepped out into the hallway. Alana threw the keys to the floor and a moment later a silver mirror had appeared. Andros's grip on Ashley was painfully tight as they stepped through together, but he might as well not have been holding her at all. As they fell through, they were ripped apart, and Ashley saw only darkness as she fell.