Disclaimer: If I haven't already said that it's mine, then it belongs to Saban or Disney or whoever I said it does.
Red Ranger Chick: And as if it wasn't torture enough for Andros to surrender, it gets even worse. :P
Mz. Daydream: If Ashley hadn't made him promise, Andros would have gotten himself killed last chapter. What do I do to them? Don't worry, I won't make you wait to find out.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Of course you and Jenny are safe. If I'd let the Overlords get you again, then I wouldn't be able to change time and stuff. :P
the-power-of-love: Thanks, here's more.
Jenny: Nope, Andros and Ashley aren't the Overlords, and you're not a boy... Marieke's still alive... You'd better be working on the next chapter for our story... :P
PinkRanger4Ever: Thanks, here's more, sorry for the wait.
Chapter 22
"They got them," Mira said, her voice stony. "They got all of them."
"We failed," Ciaran said dully.
"What do we do now?" Melanie asked.
"We keep fighting," Tempest said instantly. "We're not beaten yet."
"But how?" Matt wondered. "The Overlords have KO-35. There's no way we can go back down there and fight and come out alive."
"We're not beaten yet," Tempest repeated firmly. "There's a way out of this. We'll find it."
"We can help." The rangers spun around to see Zhane and Karone stumble onto the bridge, faces darkened with dirt and bruises, but relatively unharmed, as were their children.
"You're alive," Mira cried, jumping up. "We thought you were..."
"Dead?" Karone said with a twisted smile. "If I die, then who sends you back here?"
"Oh," Mira said with a slight grin. "We didn't think of that."
"I'm missing something here," Zhane said, giving his wife a knowing look. "What happened?"
"I'll explain in a minute," Karone said, turning to Ryan, who hadn't spoken a word since he had returned to the Megaship with Jenny. "Where are Andros and Ashley?"
"Captured," he finally answered. "The Overlords... they surrendered."
"They what?" Zhane exclaimed in total disbelief. "Andros surrendered?"
"Deca can replay the image if you'd care to see it," Damien said sharply.
Zhane backed off. "How do we rescue them? How do we rescue KO-35?"
"We don't know," Tempest admitted, hastily adding, "But we'll think of something."
"I think," Karone said, "that we'll need some help with this."
"Who's here to help us?" Damien challenged her. "There's no one."
"Maybe not here," Karone pointed out. "But the universe is larger than KO-35."
"We can't leave them," Melanie protested. "We can't just abandon all those people..."
"We'll be back," Karone promised her. "But this enemy is too much for the seven of you."
"Where are we going?" Tempest asked.
Karone smiled. "Everywhere."
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Andros kept his eyes downcast, unable to meet either the cold gazes of the hundreds watching him from the crowd or Ashley's sad brown eyes brimming with tears that she was just barely keeping in. He focused on his hands instead, glaring at the length of rope that lashed his wrists together.
For the second time, he was watching his people being made into slaves, unable to help them. The only difference between this time and the first was that he was among them.
"Andros."
He finally forced himself to look at Ashley. She was crying silently and had been for some time now, her tears staining her entire face. More than anything, Andros wanted to pull her into his arms the way he had done so many times before and simply hold her, silently reassuring her that everything was all right.
"The rest of them are almost gone."
"I know," Andros said, his mental voice heavy with pain. "Ashley, I'm so sorry."
"Stop it," Ashley screamed at him. He winced at the volume of her voice and looked down as Ashley continued, her voice much softer now. "Andros, we might never see each other again."
"I will see you again," Andros told her firmly. The idea that he might never see her again refused to register in his mind. Life without Ashley had long ago become unimaginable, and he wasn't sure how long he could last without her.
"Andros," she whispered, slowly inching her way closer to him. Carefully, making sure none of the soldiers saw, Andros reached for her hands. With their wrists bound the way they were, he could do little more than curl his fingers around hers, but it was better than nothing.
"Ashley, I love you," he choked out, the boulder in his stomach growing as he saw that the majority of the captives had already been sold off. He'd figured that he and Ashley would be the last ones to go, but the amount of time that it took to sell thirty people just couldn't be all that he had left with her.
"Then live," she said forcefully. "Andros, I know you. You'd rather be dead than a slave."
"I promised you I'd stay alive," Andros said. That oath was all that was keeping him alive, and they both knew it. If it wasn't for Ashley, Andros would have been dead long ago."Don't worry about me, Ash. I'll be all right somehow."
Ashley's already painful grip on his fingers increased. "Andros, I can't live without you. I can't live without our children."
"They're safe," Andros assured her. The only thing that gave him hope was knowing that his children were safe. "Don't worry about them, Ash. Don't worry about me. Take care of yourself."
Ashley looked up at him and nodded shakily. She was crying again, and at the sight of her tears, Andros felt tears spill out of his own eyes. Releasing her hands, Andros raised his bound arms up, lowering them over her neck, pulling Ashley into his arms the best he was able. She leaned into him, her face buried in his chest as he cried into her hair, terror finally surfacing and nearly overwhelming him.
Everytime he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but picture himself toiling endlessly for those that he had always despised, his spirit broken and his body just an empty shell. He didn't doubt that he would be beaten for little more than sport, and he wondered how much it was possible for him to bear.
Of the two of them, Ashley's spirit was by far the stronger, and Andros had a sickening suspicion that wherever she ended up, someone was going to put everything they had into destroying her, attempting to reduce her to nothing more than the mindless servant they meant her to be.
He wondered how he could have been selfish enough to force her to promise to live no matter what was done to her. His mind was suddenly filled with images of his wife being starved, tortured, raped, beaten, maimed... The list of horrors went on and on, growing increasingly more horrific, and he knew without a doubt that Ashley would rather die than let most of them happen to her.
It didn't matter to him that he'd promised Ashley to live no matter what was done to him in return for her own promise. It didn't matter to him that everything he'd just imagined happening to Ashley could just as easily happen to him. Reality finally hit him, and Andros realized that he was about to lose the one woman he'd ever loved. He would gladly have died for her, but whatever came next he couldn't protect her from.
Ashley clung to her husband as the front of his shirt grew wet with her tears, wondering how anyone could be cruel enough not only to let one person own another but to tear someone away from the ones they loved the most. She was terrified of what would happen to Andros and even more frightened of what would happen to herself, but more than anything else, Ashley was terrified of having to live thte rest of her life without Andros.