Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.
TrueRomantic: It's always so cute when they defend each other. :D And Kale's not going to get any better.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: How about if I just keep writing all the fun parts and you can read them months ahead of everyone else:P We really do need to bug Bea... And when you stop talking to me, I just kinda assume AIM was being stupid again. :P
Jessica01: I ended up skipping that battle. The story is going to be long enough already. He'll be their leader again by the end of this story.
Maresia Eterna: I love to separate them too, but I can never seem to do anything but let them be happy at the end. And I just couldn't resist that lovers moment. :D
hmmart: Here's more.
Mz. Daydream: Kadri was Lyra. Nope, Kale's not likable, is he? Hehe... I almost made him and Ben the same person, they seemed so much alike. :D And I'm supposed to bug you... WRITE! NOW:P
Jenny: I didn't change anything, I swear! Besides Saving Angel, this is the only story I haven't messed with. :P But let me try to make it less confusing... Kadri came first. Then she and Cosmos killed off half the rangers and she became Lyra. Zeah came later. That gets explained here, if you can get anything out of Andros's babbling... Kadri/Lyra stole Andros's morpher, so it's not that he refuses to fight. Kinda wish that's what it was now, but by that point, I'd already written whatever chapter it was that Zhane and Ashley talked. And yes, the blue scrolly bar shrunk. :P
Chapter 20
Ashley teleported herself back onto the Megaship with a weary sigh. The sound was echoed by the other rangers, all of whom were as exhausted as she. The battle had taken longer than anyone had expected, and now, an hour later, it was all they could do to keep themselves on their feet.
"I need a nap," Cassie announced, stretching her arms above her head and wincing slightly. "Or a long, hot shower."
"I'm with you on the nap thing, Cass," TJ agreed with a poorly hidden yawn. "Carlos?"
"I'm going home," the black ranger announced with a grin. "I'll be fine as soon as I have some dinner."
"Food does sounds good," Cassie admitted. "Think your mom would mind if I tagged along?"
"Nah," Carlos said. "I think she's trying to marry me off to either you or Ash."
Cassie grinned. "I'll marry you as long as she's our cook. Coming, Ash?"
Ashley shook her head and yawned. "I could use a nap."
"Sleep sounds good," Karone agreed, her voice subdued to Ashley's ears. Zhane must have noticed as well, for his arms were around her just a moment later.
"Let's get you into bed, then," he murmured, stroking her hair. "See you guys later."
Ashley stared after Zhane and Karone, hesitating a moment. Her mind was made up just a second later, and she ran after them, catching up just as Zhane keyed open the Megalift.
"Hey," she said quietly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure," Karone agreed, leaning back against the bulkhead. "What about?"
"Right before Lyra attacked, there was a call over the comm," Ashley said. "It was your brother, Karone."
The blond girl groaned quietly, closing her eyes. "Andros talked to him, didn't he?"
"Yeah."
"I told Andros I'd talk to him," she burst out angrily. "I told him I'd do it!" The fury left her voice as she sighed, replaced by sadness a moment later. "How bad was it?"
Ashley hesitated, unable to help the feeling that she was somehow betraying Andros as she said, "Kale blames him for this."
"That's no less than expected," Zhane muttered. "What else did he say?"
"He's coming here," Ashley remembered suddenly. "He said tonight."
"He's what?" Karone exclaimed, her head snapping up. "Why?"
"He said he wants to say goodbye to his parents," she said, doubting that Karone would buy that for an instant.
"More like he wants to torture Andros," Karone muttered half to herself. "I'll kill him if he tries anything, I swear. Kale might be my brother, but Andros is the only family I've got left."
Ashley nodded. "Deca, where is Andros, anyway?"
"Andros is on the Observatory," Deca reported.
Ashley hesitated. "I'm not trying to pry or anything, but... shouldn't one of you go talk to him?"
"It wouldn't do any good," Karone said softly. "He only listens to you."
"But--"
"It's true, Ash," Zhane told her quietly. "Andros trusts you."
"But he doesn't even know me," she protested. "He's your brother, your best friend."
"Maybe so," Karone said sadly, "but he doesn't listen to us when we tell him he has nothing to blame himself for. He listens to you."
"Does he?"
"Yes," Zhane said firmly. "He hid in his room for months after KO-35 was abandoned. We were two rangers short because of Lyra and he thought it was his fault. I don't know what you did to him, but it's been less than a day and he's not hiding right now."
"So you think it'd help if I talked to him?"
"Yeah," Karone said. "I think it would."
"I will, then," she decided. "You look exhausted, Karone."
"I am," Karone sighed. "Think Deca has a pill that'll let me sleep straight through Kale's visit?"
"Come on," Zhane said gently. "You need some sleep."
---
Andros gazed up into the heavens, completely blind to the beauty that surrounded him. Zeah had tried to open his eyes more times than he could remember, but never once had he stared out at the stars and seen their beauty burning brightly. He could only see the darkness of space that surrounded them.
"You can't just see the darkness," she'd insisted over and over again. "It's not good for you, Andros."
He couldn't remember how he'd replied, but he suspected he'd snapped at her and stormed off. He wished now that he hadn't. He wished now that he had tried, just once, to see what she wanted to show him. He wished now that he could hold her in his arms one last time, but she was long gone now, and there was no going back.
"Andros?"
He didn't tear his gaze away from the stars as Ashley's voice sounded near the doorway. "What do you want?"
"Can I come in?" she asked quietly.
"Yes," he said quietly. "If you want."
He rolled onto his side as she knelt down alongside the old couch pushed up against the one solid wall in the room. He could hold her gaze for only a moment before forcing himself to look away, but he could feel her eyes on him.
"Who are you thinking about?"
Andros didn't bother to wonder how she knew. From the beginning, she'd been able to read him with no more difficulty than she breathed. It still frightened him to think he had become that open, but somehow, he found it comforting now.
"Zeah," he whispered.
"Zhane didn't tell me about her," she said slowly. "Who was she?"
"She was Zyanya's younger sister," he said, choosing the simplest explanation he could. "After KO-35 was abandoned, she was our yellow ranger."
"Andros..." Ashley hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "If you don't want to talk about her, don't, but... if you do, I'm not going anywhere."
Throat suddenly too tight to speak, Andros could only nod. Reaching out to take one of her hands in both of his, he sat and tugged her arm until she sat next to him.
"Don't go," he managed to tell her. "I--I want to."
"I'm not going anywhere," she repeated, the hand trapped between his squeezing his fingers gently. "What was she like?"
Andros caught himself just before blurting out, "You." Instead, he paused and thought for a moment, settling for mumbling, "I don't know."
"You said you loved her," Ashley said, her voice soft and gentle. "Were you bondmates?"
"I thought we were," he said tonelessly. "Until she died and I didn't... If I'd known, I--I--I wouldn't have..."
He stopped to swallow hard. "I wouldn't have killed her if I'd known," he whispered, his voice breaking. "If I'd known what it was like to live without her, I would have brought her back with me. I wouldn't have just left her body like that..."
"Andros?"
His eyes met hers for just the briefest second, but it was enough. The anguish and complete self-hatred in his eyes told her everything she needed to know. She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it, suddenly seeing his words in a different light.
"You really did kill her," she breathed. Her heart went out to him as he nodded miserably, a few tears trickling down his cheeks. He nearly crushed her as she pulled him into a hug, and she let him, giving him the time to compose himself enough to speak. She hugged him back hard, never for a second even considering that he'd killed the girl he'd loved in cold blood.
"I didn't want to," he whispered, rubbing at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. "But Cosmos and Lyra... I told her not to go, but she wouldn't listen and then she disappeared... It was my fault, all of it. She knew I wanted my morpher back, and she said she'd find it for me, but they caught her, and then..."
Ashley shifted position on the couch, holding him closer as he struggled to continue. "She fought them until the end," he choked out around the lump in his throat. "But it wasn't enough. They... they broke almost every bone in her body, but she didn't die. She wouldn't die. They couldn't kill her, so they left her for dead. They knew I'd find her."
He shook his head and paused to swallow hard. "She was dying," he said, his voice emotionless once again. "She was dying so slowly, and she asked me to--to..."
"To end it," Ashley finshed for him, carefully avoiding the word "kill."
His head bobbed up and then down just once. He raised his head just enough to let his haunted eyes meet hers. Cautiously, Ashley reached up and dried his tears. He wasn't crying any longer, his pain running too deep for tears.
"I didn't want to," he said softly. "But she was hurt so badly I thought she might die if I touched her, and I couldn't just abandon her and make her die alone..."
"It was what she wanted," Ashley murmured, knowing that her words wouldn't make any difference. "If you hadn't--"
"No," he whispered. "I still killed her, Ashley."
Ashley sighed, not knowing what else she could say. Andros pulled out of her arms and stood, turning back to her a moment later to say shakily, "I never told Zhane and Karone that I killed her..."
"I won't tell them," she promised him, adding quietly, "I think you should. They won't blame you, Andros. They won't hate you."
"You don't know that," he said uncertainly, turning from her again. Ashley sighed and stood as well, wrapping her arms around him tight in one more hug. She didn't need to be told Andros hadn't felt a moment's worth of peace since Zeah's death, and at that moment, she didn't think there was anything she wouldn't do to grant him one.
