Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I think I did kill his pride... made it want to die, anyway. :D I can't help it, he's so cute! And he's even cuter when Ashley's with him! And remind me to show you something... and to ask you something...

CSIMel: You'll never get an Andros of your own; too many people want him already. :(

Funky In Fishnet: Well, things get resolved. Not really in such a good way, but they get resolved.

Maresia Eterna: Someone will kick Kale's butt sooner or later.

Jenny: He wasn't a jerk from the day he was born, just from the day Andros got to be red ranger and he didn't. :P

TrueRomantic: I love how she keeps saving him too! But she can't do that forever. :(

hmmart: This one's not quite so speedy. :P

the-power-of-love: Thanks, here's more.

Chapter 22

The box was a small one, no more than four inches wide. It was made of a sturdy wood, etched with the ancient Karovan symbols for peace and hope. Andros studied it with an odd sense of detatchment, tracing the carved lines with a fingertip. The wood was cool and smooth against his skin, though it grew warm from his touch as he traced the hope sign continuously.

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and he sighed. The walk was too heavy to be Ashley or Karone's, and he knew Zhane wasn't leaving Karone's side. He glanced up just as Kale appeared in the doorway, his ever-present smirk firmly in place.

"What do you want?" Andros demanded, his fingers tightening over the box involuntarily.

"To talk to you," Kale said coolly, his expression making it clear he didn't wish to talk to Andros any more than Andros wished to talk to him. "About Mom and Dad."

"Fine," Andros relented sullenly, settling back against the couch. "Talk."

Kale rolled his eyes, but when he entered the Observatory, his expression was almost amused. "Where's Ashley?"

"I don't know." Andros shrugged as calmly as he could. "I thought you wanted to talk about Mom and Dad."

"I did." Kale glanced towards the couch where Andros sat, and to his brother's enormous relief decided to remain standing. "They'd want to be buried on KO-35."

Andros nodded his agreement. "They would."

"But that doesn't seem to an option, does it?" Kale continued. "If you return to the Karova system, you might as well be flagging down Dark Spectre. And I'm sure you don't want more blood on your hands."

Andros clenched his jaw, but kept his voice even. "Get to the point."

"We'll have to figure something else out," Kale said with a shrug. "That's it."

Andros nodded and glared down at his lap. "Fine."

"That's Mom's, isn't it?" Kale asked suddenly, his gaze landing on the box Andros held clutched in his hands.

Andros said nothing and held the box closer to him instinctively. He wasn't sure why, exactly, just that it felt wrong not to. When Kale smirked, Andros flushed, knowing that he had noticed.

"Yes," he mumbled finally. "It was."

"What's in it?"

"Nothing," Andros said stiffly. "It was empty when I opened it."

"You're already digging through her stuff?" Kale asked, his voice incredulous, though Andros knew all he wanted was to provoke a reaction from him. "She's been gone, what, three days?"

"Karone and I were looking through their things, yes," he said with a calmness he didn't feel. "We'd have to sooner or later."

"And you did it without me?" Kale demanded. "What, did you want to take everything worth having or something?"

"Stop talking like that," Andros burst out. "They're really dead. This isn't a joke!"

"I know they're really dead," Kale snapped. He smirked again and added, "Because you let them die."

"Stop it," he cried, setting the box down on the couch as he moved to stand on his feet. "You could at least stop laughing."

"I'm not," Kale said coldly, his features hardening. "There's nothing funny about you killing your own parents."

"I didn't--"

"You did," Kale snapped, silencing his weak protest. "You've killed them and every other Karovan who has died in this war, because none of this would have ever happened if you hadn't believed every lie Kadri ever told you! Lyra was completely at your mercy, and you were too blind to see it. If you had, none of this would have happened. You would have been able to save Zyanya and Kir and Renn, and KO-35 wouldn't have fallen a month later!"

"I wasn't the only one she fooled," Andros managed to say. He'd clenched his fists, and his muscles were completely taut, but he could still feel himself trembling. "The other rangers and Kin Won, and the committee that chose us didn't know either."

"Maybe not," Kale agreed, smirking. "But none of those people were sharing a bed with her, were they?"

Andros lowered his head as his face reddened, hearing the truth of Kale's words. He and Kadri had been nearly inseperable for two years. He should have seen something, even just once, to make him wonder... But he had never noticed anything but the way her dark eyes laughed when she did and the spill of her fiery hair across her shoulders. As he'd grown older, he'd noticed how sweet her lips tasted against his own and how right it had seemed just to hold her to him, but never once had she ever done anything to make him doubt her.

"She was a good actress," he said finally, willing his voice not to waver. "She never let herself slip."

"So you were sharing a bed with her, then," Kale said, not bothering to hide his grin. "That really does make you a traitor."

"Only once," Andros mumbled, his head still bowed.

"How does it feel," his brother asked, "to know that you've slept with the person who's killed everyone else you've loved? Were you thinking about that while you broke Zeah's neck with your bare hands? Were you thinking about that while you watched Mom and Dad die? Will you be thinking of that the next time Lyra kills? Because I will be."

Kale's eyes glinted with triumph as the blood slowly drained from Andros's face, leaving him pale and shaken. Swallowing, he raised his head carefully, flinching at the hatred he saw etched into his brother's face and eyes.

"I--"

"Lyra has attacked in Angel Grove," Deca interrupted. "I have alerted the other rangers."

"I'm curious, Deca," Kale drawled, grinning in Andros's direction. "Why do you tell Andros when someone attacks? Do you expect him to do anything about it?"

"I am programmed to alert the rangers when there is a disturbance," Deca replied calmly.

"Andros isn't a ranger," Kale objected.

"He retains ranger status," Deca informed him.

"Well, I think I've wasted enough time for one afternoon," Kale announced, stretching his arms over his head. "I'll see you later, brother."

Andros just stared as Kale strode away, frozen in place as his brother's footsteps echoed through the corridor. With a defeated groan, he slowly sank back down onto the couch, Kale's taunting words ringing in his ears. He knew Kale had only wanted to provoke a reaction from him, but that didn't keep him from believing what had been said.

He had trusted so blindly, they all had, and this was the price he had to pay. He had to live with knowing that he was to blame for everything. The deaths of his teammates and friends, his parents, his people, it all was because he had been too much of a fool to see what had been right in front of his own eyes.

His face colored as he remembered the one night he had spent with Kadri. She had been his first, and afterward, he'd lain awake nearly all night, holding her as she slept peacefully beside him. The moment his eyes had opened the next morning, he'd found how she'd betrayed him, and now he wished more than anything that he hadn't given her the satisfaction of knowing how deeply he'd loved her.

Andros let out a long breath and stood, feeling an intense need to retreat to the safe darkness of his room. He couldn't face anyone now, especially not Ashley, and he had a hunch that she would come looking for him the moment the battle was over.

The small box he had dropped onto the couch earlier caught his eye as he stood. Andros glared at the hope sign, but retrieved it anyway, knowing that Karone would want it and he wasn't about to let Kale have it. He knew his brother couldn't care less about his parents, and he wondered suddenly if they had known. He truly hoped they hadn't; Adya and Kieran had loved their children, and had deserved far more than any of them had given in return.

He left the Observatory as quickly as he could, hoping to make it back to his room without running into Kale. His brother seemed to have had enough of him for one afternoon and the corridors were clear. Relieved, Andros walked as quickly as he could without running, his mind a blur of faces. He could see his parents, Kadri and Lyra, Kale, Kir and Renn and Zyanya, Ashley, Zeah... Just outside of his door, Andros stopped cold, running his brother's taunting words through his head another time.

"Deca," he asked quietly, "where's Kale?"

"He is in his guestroom," Deca replied immediately. "Do you wish to speak with him?"

"No," Andros said quickly. "I was just wondering. Deca, could you... If he does anything... I mean--"

"You wish for me to keep him under constant supervision?"

"Yeah," he said slowly, locking the door behind him as he entered his room. "Can you also keep him from being alone with any of the rangers?"

"I can certainly try," Deca replied. "But may I ask why you feel this is necessary?"

Andros knelt beside his bunk, his hand feeling about for the blaster he had hidden there years before, when he had still been a ranger. His fingers closed around the handle and he pulled it out of hiding, his fingers resting on the trigger as he sat stiffly on his bed. With a sigh, he glanced up at Deca.

"Because not even Ashley knows how I killed Zeah," he told her, his voice wavering slightly. "And somehow he does."