Chapter 3: Painful Memories

Andros was sitting on the bridge looking at his wedding ring when Ashley came on the bridge. "Hey, Andros," she greeted.

"Oh hey, Ash," he answered.

Ashley was sitting next to him and started typing things into the computer. She caught a glimpse of the ring. "Andros…why is that ring so important to you?" She asked. Andros let out a sigh and looked over at her.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked.

"Yeah, if you want to tell me that is."

Andros looked at his ring and let out a sigh. "On KO-35, we're matched to someone we are to marry when we turn fifteen," he started. Ashley was in disbelief. "I was matched to Adora, daughter of Alastair. He just happened to be my father's best friend and his wife was my mother's. So really Adora and I grew up together. We became Rangers together, she was the Yellow Ranger. Well, I was about four months older than her. So, the day I turned fifteen we planned and the day after she turned fifteen we were married," he explained.

"What happened to her?" She asked.

Andros bit his lip as he thought of that day. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he stood up. "We…we were ordered to protect KO-35 from Dark Specter's army. We followed our orders, but Kinwon ordered for us to get out of there after one of our friends was struck down. Adora didn't hear the order, she was trying to get people out of a building. I tried to order her to get to the ship and…she promised she would be right there after she got those people to their escape ships. So, I went without her," he explained. Andros found himself playing with his ring.

"Then what?" She asked.

Andros closed his eyes as he thought about it. "Umm…minutes after I left KO-35, it seemed like hours but it was only a matter of moments. Kinwon contacted me and told me the worse case scenario. The building that Adora was in blew up. Everyone but her made it out. The only thing that they gave me was her ring and…" he trailed off.

"And her morpher," Ashley finished.

"Yeah," he answered.

Ashley stood up. "Andros, I'm so sorry," she mourned. Andros let out a shaky sigh.

"I never got the chance to tell her that I did love her. I never got the chance," he confessed.

Ashley stroked his hair. "I'm sure she knew," she answered. Andros looked over at her.

"You look just like her, Ashley," he confessed.

Ashley looked at him in shock. "What?" She asked.

"You look just like Adora," he replied.

Ashley stepped back and started playing with her morpher. "Is that why you gave me the Yellow Ranger morpher? Because I look like Adora?" She asked.

"No, I gave you the morpher because I saw that you were a Yellow Ranger once before," he replied.

Ashley let out a sigh. "Andros…I'm truly sorry about what happened to Adora," she told him.

"Yeah…yeah me too," he answered.

They suddenly felt very awkward around each other and Andros quickly left the room.

That night, Andros removed his space jacket and boots. He fell back on the bed and closed his eyes. Soon, he was in a deep sleep.

(Dream)

Andros was sitting in the park thinking about the talk he had with his parents about marrying Adora. "I'm not ready," he murmured.

"You're not alone," a voice agreed.

Andros looked over to see Adora standing there. "I'm not ready to do this either," she told him. She sat next to him and let out a sigh. "I mean you're my best friend," she added.

"Yeah, but we have our duties to the colony," he pointed out.

"You have your duties to the colony, you're the emperor's son."

"I know…but this has been our custom for centuries."

Adora nodded her head slowly and Andros held her hand. "We can make this work. I mean, I know things will never be the same between us, but we can make it work," he told her. Adora looked down at their clasped hands and nodded. "I know it's going to sound weird since I know your answer, but Adora will you marry me?" He asked. Adora laughed.

"Of course I will," she replied.

Andros laughed with her and hugged her. Adora hugged him back with a sigh. "We can make this work," he murmured.

"I know," she answered.

(End Dream)

Andros woke up and let out a sigh. "Adora," he whispered.

Ashley came into the mess area looking completely exhausted. "Whoa! Ash you okay?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night," Ashley replied.

"Everything okay?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, yeah. A weird dream kept me up," she assured them.

Ashley walked over to the synthetron to get something to eat when she bumped into Andros. "Oh, sorry," she apologized.

"My fault," he answered.

Andros grabbed his breakfast and went off to the bridge. Ashley looked over at Carlos to see that he had his knife up in the air and acting like he was having a hard time cutting something. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Trying to cut the tension," he replied.

"Yeah, what was all that?" Cassie asked.

"Nothing," she replied.

Ashley sat down and she thought about what Andros had told her yesterday and thought about her dream.