A/N : Timeline adjustment: two months after Ashley's departure. Otherwise
this story will go on forever. ( Thanks for all the reviews!
Chapter 12: No more goodbyes
Andros woke up having slept better than he had in two months. Karone however, didn't fare as well.
Andros was headed up to the weight room to work off some of his nervous energy. 'How am I going to tell Zhane, and Karone that I'm leaving?' he wondered as doubts started to creep in, but his heart wouldn't let them in. 'NO! I need Ashley, and I'm going to be with her.' He decided firmly, refusing to change his mind.
The former princess of evil had spent all night walking the halls of the mega ship contemplating her relationship with Zhane. They had never officially said anything about dating, and she didn't really know where they stood on that issue. She wondered what he was thinking. 'What if he does like Jamie?' her heart feared that question, but her mind demanded that she think about it anyway. 'I wish Ashley were here, she would tell me what to do.' Karone sighed as she thought about her friend, wondering how she was doing. She couldn't believe Andros had held out for two months. She knew he was stubborn, but still... Maybe she should say something to him; she couldn't let him make the biggest mistake of his life, could she? She was so involved in her thoughts; she didn't hear the lift open besides her.
As he stepped off the lift he was surprised to see another figure in the hallway. And especially more surprised when he discovered it was his sister.
Since she was here, he might as well tell her. "Karone, can we talk?" He asked nervously. Karone studied her brother's face. Gone was the tension and anger. All she saw was the peace and joy that radiated from his face. And she knew.
"You're leaving aren't you?" She replied rhetorically. Not that she could blame him, it was about time. He didn't seem too surprised that she knew. That has always had a special connection. "I have to..." he began, trying to convince her.
"I know." Karone whispered. "I don't want to leave you." He continued and she smiled at her older brother and grabbed his hand. Without thinking she replied simply, "you won't have to-I'm coming with you." She said to his amazement. He squeezed her hand in response.
"What are you doing up this early anyway?" He asked suddenly as they headed for breakfast.
"Well I never went to sleep actually." She admitted, causing Andros to stop in his tracks to look at her. He cringed when he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and how sad she seemed. She didn't flinch in spite of his examination.
"I'm sorry I haven't been here for you lately." He confessed, ashamed of his recent behavior. He shouldn't have let his feelings cloud his judgment.
"It's ok, I'm just glad you finally came to your senses." She said, breaking the awkwardness. He chuckled in response. "Me too."
"So what's going on?" he asked and waited patiently for her answer.
"Well, I was just wondering, do you think Zhane likes Jamie?" her question shocked him. He paused a minute before answering honestly, "no. He's just doing what I should have done, made her feel like part of the team." Karone nodded in reluctant agreement, but still said nothing.
Andros tried to reassure her. "Besides, he's crazy about you!" he exclaimed and Karone blushed. "You can tell by the way he looks at you. And he cares about what you think." She smiled at his statement.
"How did we get so lucky?" She asked incredulously. Andros threw his arm around her as they continued on to breakfast. "I don't know, but I'm so glad we did." He remarked truthfully.
"When are you going to tell the others?" She inquired seriously. "The sooner, the better I guess." Andros decided, wanting to delay the inevitable, but wanting to be with Ashley as soon as possible. Thoughts of her made him smile; he wondered how much she had changed in the last two months.
"When are you going to tell Zhane?" She refused to meet his eyes and Andros had to ask her another question. "Karone, are you sure about this? You don't have to leave you know."
"You're the only family I have. I just found you Andros; I'm not ready to lose you yet. Besides that baby is going to need an aunt to spoil it." He wasn't entirely convinced, but she was old enough to make her own decisions and didn't protest.
By the time Andros and Karone made it to the synthetron, the others were already gathered and eating breakfast. Karone watched as Zhane helped Jamie with her dishes, and she had to fight the urge to get jealous. Andros squeezed her hand in reassurance as the two sat down, wanting to get this over with.
"Nice of you to join us." Zhane commented as he and Jamie returned to their chairs. TJ, Carlos, and Cassie were still finishing breakfast.
Andros decides not to wait any longer. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately." He began. His serious tone of voice caused TJ and Carlos to pause from their eating to look at their leader.
"My whole life all I wanted to be was a ranger. And I never planned on stopping. But then I never planned on falling in love. Suddenly I realized that all of the things we were protecting was what I wanted-to be married and have a family. And this whole ranger thing is useless if I can't protect the one I love. When it comes down to it, Ashley's down there and I'm up here. And it sucks. I thought this would be the hardest decision I ever had to make, but it's really the easiest. The hardest decision I ever made was having to tell her goodbye. I'm tired of it. I'm not going to say goodbye ever again. I've decided to step down from the power rangers."
Zhane was relieved. "Thank God." He declared with a sigh as he went to hug his best friend.
"What about you Karone?" Jamie asked curiously. Zhane stopped in his tracks to gaze at the blonde haired Kerovian. He hadn't thought about the fact that she might leave too. He waited impatiently for her to reply. Zhane hoped she would stay with him, but he could understand her loyalty to her brother, no matter how much it hurt his heart.
"Wherever Andros goes, I go." She stated simply, slipping her arm around her brother in an affectionate gesture.
"Is this it?" Carlos demanded, breaking the quiet. "Is this the end of the Astro rangers?"
"Well if it is, this is a good time as any." TJ said realistically. Annoyingly so, thought Carlos.
"I mean school's over, and after summer we can go to college, pursue our dreams. We can't be rangers forever." The blue ranger continued reasonably.
"I know." Carlos agreed reluctantly. "I just wish we had finished the job you know? There is still evil to be reckoned with."
"There will always be evil to be reckoned with." Zhane surmised thoughtfully.
"And you have done an exemplary job. I am proud to call you rangers. You have protected many planets throughout multiple galaxies and rescued people who aren't even your own. You have sacrificed greatly for the cause of good." Deca announced proudly.
Andros stepped back into his leader role. "Just because I've decided to leave doesn't mean you all have to leave. Unless you want to that is. I just think we should all take some time and figure out what we all want." He advised them sensibly.
TJ thought Andros wise. "We don't want to make any decisions emotionally." He agreed thoughtfully. The rest of the team agreed to spend the rest of the day and would give Deca a final answer at 8 o'clock the next morning.
Cassie had to admit she was relieved. If Saryn couldn't be here with her, she would go there to him. She would have stayed if the whole team was, but now that at least three of them were gone, what was the point in staying? Ashley was her best friend, and she had left two months ago. 'I should have gone to visit her.' She thought sadly as she regretted that she had seemed too busy to do so.
TJ was also relieved. He would have died for the cause of good and to protect earth and it's civilians, but now that he had a chance to pursue his own dreams and be alive to tell about it, he was excited. He hadn't told the others but he had applied to colleges, optimistic that he would be able to go. Like Cassie he would have stayed, but there seemed to be a change of guard. And he was ok with it.
Carlos understood that they couldn't be rangers forever, but to have it suddenly end like this was something else entirely. He also imagined a huge final battle, going toe-to-toe with the enemy and destroying it. He had given everything up to be a ranger, so what was left to do back on earth?
Zhane seemed unusually despondent so Andros went to see if he could cheer up his friend. "What's the matter?" he questioned as he sat down on the silver ranger's bed. "I thought we had something." He muttered sadly.
"Who?" Andros asked in confusion. "Oh you and Karone?" He answered his own question. Zhane nodded. "I wish she had talked to me before deciding that's all."
"You've got it bad." Andros observed with slightly amused look on his face. Zhane glared at his best friend. "Like you should talk." His sarcasm didn't faze him at all. He remembered how stubborn he'd been whenever someone tried to talk to him about Ashley.
"You might not believe it, but I think she's jealous of how much time you've been spending with Jamie." He admitted to his clueless friend.
"Karone, jealous?" He repeated incredulously. Andros smiled. "I told her it was my fault, if I had been doing my job you wouldn't have spent so much time with Jamie."
"That's true." Zhane admitted cheerfully causing Andros to stare him down in disbelief. "Why don't you go talk to her?" He advised the silver ranger who gladly took his advice and hurried off to find Karone.
Karone was sitting in the observation deck, watching the stars for what might be the last time this close. 'I wonder what earth will be like?' she thought, not anxious, as she feared she would be. Soon thoughts of a platinum blonde boy consumed her. 'I thought we had something. Maybe I just read into things too much.' She sighed as she tried to pry her mind away from such depressing thoughts. Just as she was convinced she had done so, in walked the very object of many of her thoughts.
Zhane noticed how beautiful she looked as she sat still and smiled up at him. "Hey, I was wondering if we could talk." Karone couldn't believe it, he seemed nervous. "Sure." She replied kindly and waited for him to sit down.
"I don't know what's going to happen after you leave, and I don't know if I can leave, but I need to tell you something." He admitted, surprising her with his serious tone of voice. She waited for him to continue. "I know it sounds crazy, but somehow along the way I fell in love with you."
She stared at him in wonder as tears filled her eyes. She noticed that there were tears in his eyes too and gently laid a hand on his cheek to wipe them away. "Me too." She echoed back in a whisper. He finally let out the breath he had been holding. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I knew I had to before you left." She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"What do we do now?" he worried as he whispered into her hair, delighted in the smell of her strawberry shampoo.
"Come with me." She murmured suddenly as she pulled away to look at him and see his reaction.
"I don't know Karone, let me think about it." He decided finally letting go of her hands and made his way out of the room. She nodded, knowing he had to make the decision, not her. Before he left though, he walked back to her and placed a kiss on her forehead. He didn't linger though, and this time he headed out of the observation room.
"Can I really go with them?" Zhane debated for the hundredth time since leaving Karone, as he sat on the bridge that was familiar to him as anywhere else. For the first time in his life he was scared. He was scared that his whole life was wrapped up in Andros, and now Karone. He had always followed them, would now be any different? What would be like to have to get used to a whole new team? Again. Zhane wondered if he had the strength to do it all over again. He had found some of the most amazing friends he could imagine.
In Ashley he had found someone who was as carefree and easy going as he. She always listened when he needed a rational ear, and she loved everyone with an ease that he envied. She walked with confidence, and fought with confidence. She was as a trustworthy person as he had ever known. Her best characteristic though, he thought with a smile, is that she fell in love with Andros and changed him forever. And for that he was grateful. She had finally done what no one else, including him could do.
Cassie was as big a practical joker as he. The two of them often created havoc on the mega ship, driving Andros nuts. She had a gentle spirit and always sensed when someone else was in danger or just needed a friend to be there for them. She would give away everything she had to help you out. And she would go out of her way to do something for you. He could remember the times she had spent with him teaching him how to play basketball. Actually the funniest part was seeing the look on TJ's face when he finally beat him one-on-one.
The blue ranger was driven in everything did, almost to the point of perfection. It had annoyed Zhane at first, but then he realized it was TJ's attention to detail and preparation that had saved them all time and time again. There was not anything that he wouldn't try and he and Zhane had spent many hours in competition, trying to out do each other. But in the end, he knew there was no one else he would rather fight next to than TJ.
Only one remained. Carlos. From the moment he woke up after two years in a coma, he and the black ranger had hit it off. It was probably their sense of humor and out-going ness that drew them together. But it was Carlos loyalty that reminded him so much of himself. Just as Carlos was extremely loyal to the team, most of all Ashley, he was the same towards Andros. And when Andros and Ashley had finally gotten together and their relationships started to change, the two were there for each other to commiserate.
Zhane smiled at all the memories. If he was honest, he never had a great drive to be a power ranger. He was always driven to follow Andros, what would he do without his best friend? A sense of peace settled over him as he made up his mind.
"It's hard to find friends like those." Deca commented, jolting Zhane out of his revelry. The silver ranger looked up at the camera fondly. For once, he had to admit the computer was right. There would be no more goodbyes.
Chapter 12: No more goodbyes
Andros woke up having slept better than he had in two months. Karone however, didn't fare as well.
Andros was headed up to the weight room to work off some of his nervous energy. 'How am I going to tell Zhane, and Karone that I'm leaving?' he wondered as doubts started to creep in, but his heart wouldn't let them in. 'NO! I need Ashley, and I'm going to be with her.' He decided firmly, refusing to change his mind.
The former princess of evil had spent all night walking the halls of the mega ship contemplating her relationship with Zhane. They had never officially said anything about dating, and she didn't really know where they stood on that issue. She wondered what he was thinking. 'What if he does like Jamie?' her heart feared that question, but her mind demanded that she think about it anyway. 'I wish Ashley were here, she would tell me what to do.' Karone sighed as she thought about her friend, wondering how she was doing. She couldn't believe Andros had held out for two months. She knew he was stubborn, but still... Maybe she should say something to him; she couldn't let him make the biggest mistake of his life, could she? She was so involved in her thoughts; she didn't hear the lift open besides her.
As he stepped off the lift he was surprised to see another figure in the hallway. And especially more surprised when he discovered it was his sister.
Since she was here, he might as well tell her. "Karone, can we talk?" He asked nervously. Karone studied her brother's face. Gone was the tension and anger. All she saw was the peace and joy that radiated from his face. And she knew.
"You're leaving aren't you?" She replied rhetorically. Not that she could blame him, it was about time. He didn't seem too surprised that she knew. That has always had a special connection. "I have to..." he began, trying to convince her.
"I know." Karone whispered. "I don't want to leave you." He continued and she smiled at her older brother and grabbed his hand. Without thinking she replied simply, "you won't have to-I'm coming with you." She said to his amazement. He squeezed her hand in response.
"What are you doing up this early anyway?" He asked suddenly as they headed for breakfast.
"Well I never went to sleep actually." She admitted, causing Andros to stop in his tracks to look at her. He cringed when he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and how sad she seemed. She didn't flinch in spite of his examination.
"I'm sorry I haven't been here for you lately." He confessed, ashamed of his recent behavior. He shouldn't have let his feelings cloud his judgment.
"It's ok, I'm just glad you finally came to your senses." She said, breaking the awkwardness. He chuckled in response. "Me too."
"So what's going on?" he asked and waited patiently for her answer.
"Well, I was just wondering, do you think Zhane likes Jamie?" her question shocked him. He paused a minute before answering honestly, "no. He's just doing what I should have done, made her feel like part of the team." Karone nodded in reluctant agreement, but still said nothing.
Andros tried to reassure her. "Besides, he's crazy about you!" he exclaimed and Karone blushed. "You can tell by the way he looks at you. And he cares about what you think." She smiled at his statement.
"How did we get so lucky?" She asked incredulously. Andros threw his arm around her as they continued on to breakfast. "I don't know, but I'm so glad we did." He remarked truthfully.
"When are you going to tell the others?" She inquired seriously. "The sooner, the better I guess." Andros decided, wanting to delay the inevitable, but wanting to be with Ashley as soon as possible. Thoughts of her made him smile; he wondered how much she had changed in the last two months.
"When are you going to tell Zhane?" She refused to meet his eyes and Andros had to ask her another question. "Karone, are you sure about this? You don't have to leave you know."
"You're the only family I have. I just found you Andros; I'm not ready to lose you yet. Besides that baby is going to need an aunt to spoil it." He wasn't entirely convinced, but she was old enough to make her own decisions and didn't protest.
By the time Andros and Karone made it to the synthetron, the others were already gathered and eating breakfast. Karone watched as Zhane helped Jamie with her dishes, and she had to fight the urge to get jealous. Andros squeezed her hand in reassurance as the two sat down, wanting to get this over with.
"Nice of you to join us." Zhane commented as he and Jamie returned to their chairs. TJ, Carlos, and Cassie were still finishing breakfast.
Andros decides not to wait any longer. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately." He began. His serious tone of voice caused TJ and Carlos to pause from their eating to look at their leader.
"My whole life all I wanted to be was a ranger. And I never planned on stopping. But then I never planned on falling in love. Suddenly I realized that all of the things we were protecting was what I wanted-to be married and have a family. And this whole ranger thing is useless if I can't protect the one I love. When it comes down to it, Ashley's down there and I'm up here. And it sucks. I thought this would be the hardest decision I ever had to make, but it's really the easiest. The hardest decision I ever made was having to tell her goodbye. I'm tired of it. I'm not going to say goodbye ever again. I've decided to step down from the power rangers."
Zhane was relieved. "Thank God." He declared with a sigh as he went to hug his best friend.
"What about you Karone?" Jamie asked curiously. Zhane stopped in his tracks to gaze at the blonde haired Kerovian. He hadn't thought about the fact that she might leave too. He waited impatiently for her to reply. Zhane hoped she would stay with him, but he could understand her loyalty to her brother, no matter how much it hurt his heart.
"Wherever Andros goes, I go." She stated simply, slipping her arm around her brother in an affectionate gesture.
"Is this it?" Carlos demanded, breaking the quiet. "Is this the end of the Astro rangers?"
"Well if it is, this is a good time as any." TJ said realistically. Annoyingly so, thought Carlos.
"I mean school's over, and after summer we can go to college, pursue our dreams. We can't be rangers forever." The blue ranger continued reasonably.
"I know." Carlos agreed reluctantly. "I just wish we had finished the job you know? There is still evil to be reckoned with."
"There will always be evil to be reckoned with." Zhane surmised thoughtfully.
"And you have done an exemplary job. I am proud to call you rangers. You have protected many planets throughout multiple galaxies and rescued people who aren't even your own. You have sacrificed greatly for the cause of good." Deca announced proudly.
Andros stepped back into his leader role. "Just because I've decided to leave doesn't mean you all have to leave. Unless you want to that is. I just think we should all take some time and figure out what we all want." He advised them sensibly.
TJ thought Andros wise. "We don't want to make any decisions emotionally." He agreed thoughtfully. The rest of the team agreed to spend the rest of the day and would give Deca a final answer at 8 o'clock the next morning.
Cassie had to admit she was relieved. If Saryn couldn't be here with her, she would go there to him. She would have stayed if the whole team was, but now that at least three of them were gone, what was the point in staying? Ashley was her best friend, and she had left two months ago. 'I should have gone to visit her.' She thought sadly as she regretted that she had seemed too busy to do so.
TJ was also relieved. He would have died for the cause of good and to protect earth and it's civilians, but now that he had a chance to pursue his own dreams and be alive to tell about it, he was excited. He hadn't told the others but he had applied to colleges, optimistic that he would be able to go. Like Cassie he would have stayed, but there seemed to be a change of guard. And he was ok with it.
Carlos understood that they couldn't be rangers forever, but to have it suddenly end like this was something else entirely. He also imagined a huge final battle, going toe-to-toe with the enemy and destroying it. He had given everything up to be a ranger, so what was left to do back on earth?
Zhane seemed unusually despondent so Andros went to see if he could cheer up his friend. "What's the matter?" he questioned as he sat down on the silver ranger's bed. "I thought we had something." He muttered sadly.
"Who?" Andros asked in confusion. "Oh you and Karone?" He answered his own question. Zhane nodded. "I wish she had talked to me before deciding that's all."
"You've got it bad." Andros observed with slightly amused look on his face. Zhane glared at his best friend. "Like you should talk." His sarcasm didn't faze him at all. He remembered how stubborn he'd been whenever someone tried to talk to him about Ashley.
"You might not believe it, but I think she's jealous of how much time you've been spending with Jamie." He admitted to his clueless friend.
"Karone, jealous?" He repeated incredulously. Andros smiled. "I told her it was my fault, if I had been doing my job you wouldn't have spent so much time with Jamie."
"That's true." Zhane admitted cheerfully causing Andros to stare him down in disbelief. "Why don't you go talk to her?" He advised the silver ranger who gladly took his advice and hurried off to find Karone.
Karone was sitting in the observation deck, watching the stars for what might be the last time this close. 'I wonder what earth will be like?' she thought, not anxious, as she feared she would be. Soon thoughts of a platinum blonde boy consumed her. 'I thought we had something. Maybe I just read into things too much.' She sighed as she tried to pry her mind away from such depressing thoughts. Just as she was convinced she had done so, in walked the very object of many of her thoughts.
Zhane noticed how beautiful she looked as she sat still and smiled up at him. "Hey, I was wondering if we could talk." Karone couldn't believe it, he seemed nervous. "Sure." She replied kindly and waited for him to sit down.
"I don't know what's going to happen after you leave, and I don't know if I can leave, but I need to tell you something." He admitted, surprising her with his serious tone of voice. She waited for him to continue. "I know it sounds crazy, but somehow along the way I fell in love with you."
She stared at him in wonder as tears filled her eyes. She noticed that there were tears in his eyes too and gently laid a hand on his cheek to wipe them away. "Me too." She echoed back in a whisper. He finally let out the breath he had been holding. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I knew I had to before you left." She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"What do we do now?" he worried as he whispered into her hair, delighted in the smell of her strawberry shampoo.
"Come with me." She murmured suddenly as she pulled away to look at him and see his reaction.
"I don't know Karone, let me think about it." He decided finally letting go of her hands and made his way out of the room. She nodded, knowing he had to make the decision, not her. Before he left though, he walked back to her and placed a kiss on her forehead. He didn't linger though, and this time he headed out of the observation room.
"Can I really go with them?" Zhane debated for the hundredth time since leaving Karone, as he sat on the bridge that was familiar to him as anywhere else. For the first time in his life he was scared. He was scared that his whole life was wrapped up in Andros, and now Karone. He had always followed them, would now be any different? What would be like to have to get used to a whole new team? Again. Zhane wondered if he had the strength to do it all over again. He had found some of the most amazing friends he could imagine.
In Ashley he had found someone who was as carefree and easy going as he. She always listened when he needed a rational ear, and she loved everyone with an ease that he envied. She walked with confidence, and fought with confidence. She was as a trustworthy person as he had ever known. Her best characteristic though, he thought with a smile, is that she fell in love with Andros and changed him forever. And for that he was grateful. She had finally done what no one else, including him could do.
Cassie was as big a practical joker as he. The two of them often created havoc on the mega ship, driving Andros nuts. She had a gentle spirit and always sensed when someone else was in danger or just needed a friend to be there for them. She would give away everything she had to help you out. And she would go out of her way to do something for you. He could remember the times she had spent with him teaching him how to play basketball. Actually the funniest part was seeing the look on TJ's face when he finally beat him one-on-one.
The blue ranger was driven in everything did, almost to the point of perfection. It had annoyed Zhane at first, but then he realized it was TJ's attention to detail and preparation that had saved them all time and time again. There was not anything that he wouldn't try and he and Zhane had spent many hours in competition, trying to out do each other. But in the end, he knew there was no one else he would rather fight next to than TJ.
Only one remained. Carlos. From the moment he woke up after two years in a coma, he and the black ranger had hit it off. It was probably their sense of humor and out-going ness that drew them together. But it was Carlos loyalty that reminded him so much of himself. Just as Carlos was extremely loyal to the team, most of all Ashley, he was the same towards Andros. And when Andros and Ashley had finally gotten together and their relationships started to change, the two were there for each other to commiserate.
Zhane smiled at all the memories. If he was honest, he never had a great drive to be a power ranger. He was always driven to follow Andros, what would he do without his best friend? A sense of peace settled over him as he made up his mind.
"It's hard to find friends like those." Deca commented, jolting Zhane out of his revelry. The silver ranger looked up at the camera fondly. For once, he had to admit the computer was right. There would be no more goodbyes.