Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.
Notes: I LIVE! Um, semester from *hell*, general lack of inspiration, random personal issues. I whine plenty on my LiveJournal if you're interested in hearing all about it; check the homepage link in my profile. Anyway, I'm back for now, and I really hope I'll update sooner. We're getting closer to the end, and this story has gone on for almost two and a half years. Thank you all for waiting so long for this chapter, and for sticking around to see how this story ends. Also, I've pretty much ignored any email alerts regarding new stories/updates/etc. since August, so if you or someone else wrote something you think I should read, don't feel bad pointing me towards it. Self pimp away! :)
Chapter 38
And she had been so close, too. Astronema fumed silently as she stared awhile longer at the viewing screen. The Rangers were only now beginning to pick themselves up. Another five minutes, and they wouldn't be.
She had to remind herself that it wasn't only the Rangers she was after this time.
"Astronema," Ecliptor said quietly, "Dark Spectre wishes to speak with you."
Her frown deepened. "Has he noticed?"
"Do not keep him waiting, Princess," was all that he would say.
Astronema sighed. "Keep the Psychos busy," she ordered him. "I'll deal with them later."
She knew they were growing impatient. She was still confident in her ability to control them, though, and should they test her, well... She smiled. Psycho Red was their leader; without him, they would be firmly under her command.
She would almost be sorry to destroy him. He hated the Red Ranger with such a passion. He would gladly put Andros through every torture imaginable should he have the chance. After what he'd done, lying, tricking her, Astronema wished that she could allow it.
And maybe she would, someday, once Dark Spectre was drained of his powers. Once she stood tall and proud, empress of this universe. Once the Rangers knelt before her, beaten and broken and begging for mercy...
Astronema sighed wistfully.
"Dark Spectre," she said, watching the view screen through lowered eyes. "The Rangers grow weak."
"As do I," he snarled. "The traitor drains me of my powers!"
"But how?" Slowly, she raised her head. He looked just the same, as hideous as he always did. "And who?"
"I have my suspicions," he said. "I've been watching him closely."
A he, then. She hoped her face betrayed no relief. "Darkonda?" she ventured. Oh, but that would be perfect.
"It is not your concern!" he growled. "You're to worry about the Rangers."
"Yes, Dark Spectre," she murmured. "The Psycho Rangers toy with them. Soon I'll order them in for the kill."
Her nerves were more rattled than she cared to admit by the time Dark Spectre ended the call. She could only hope that she had masked it well and that he hadn't noticed.
"Ecliptor," she called. She knew he was listening. "We need a battle plan."
"It would be unwise to send the Psychos out again so soon," he said.
"Yes," she muttered. As much as she hoped it was Darkonda that Dark Spectre suspected, she wouldn't take it for granted. He could be watching her. Likely, he was. "We need something... something that makes it clear to Dark Spectre that I am all he needs."
"This could be risky, princess," he cautioned her.
She brushed it off. "It already is."
Ecliptor was silent for a moment. "You have a plan?"
She hoped so. "Get Darkonda back here." As much as it pained her to have him around, he would be well worth it in the end. "I have a job for him."
"In the official records, they're listed as deceased."
Arietis nodded in agreement, wary of what direction Tan would take this conversation in. "They are."
His teammate sighed. "I spoke to them only briefly on the comm. How are they?"
"Probably as well as can be expected," Arietis told him. "But I'll have Deca send you as much of their medical information as she can."
"They've reunited with their family?"
"I believe the reunion is in progress," Arietis said slowly. He didn't elaborate.
Tan nodded slowly. "I'll want to speak with them, when they're able."
He'd half expected Tan to cite urgency and demand to speak with them now. Arietis found himself relaxing some. "Of course. I'll have them contact you in the next few days."
"Sooner would be better," Tan said. "I'd prefer to speak with them tonight, if possible."
"I'll ask them." If he saw them, but he didn't add that part.
"Thank you." Tan smiled thinly. "It never occurred to me that they could have survived," he admitted. "Someone should have contacted Viton."
"If I remember correctly, neither Eltare nor KO-35 was in a position to do so," Arietis said. "Eiran and Val were called back because Dark Spectre had attacked Eltare."
"Of which I am too well aware," Tan said. He sighed. "I'm not faulting anyone in particular. Mistakes were made all around; I acknowledge that."
Arietis let out a deep breath. That was more than he'd expected. He took a risk. "What are you thinking?"
"The Council will want to be informed of this," Tan said. "Or what remains of them."
The Council of Eltare was a remnant now of what it had once been. Headed by the Eltaran team and comprised of Ranger teams from across the universe, very few still remained. Even fewer remained intact.
"Would you like me to contact them?"
"I can do it," Tan said. "You have enough to do. Cia and I can manage this one task."
"What do you expect the Council will wish to do?"
"I couldn't say." That was probably what displeased him the most. "I suppose we'll do nothing, but they'll want to be informed."
Arietis let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and tried not to let it show. Tan still had some sense, at least. "Yes, they will." He hesitated. "Should we wait for that, to let Val and Eiran come forward in their own time? They've lived through a nightmare."
"I'm not contesting that," Tan said. "But if Darkonda knows who they are and where to find them, we all must be prepared. We've received word that Astronema's called him--and several others, at that--to the Dark Fortress."
"Because of this?" Arietis asked sharply.
"Our source was unclear," Tan admitted. "I don't suppose any good will come of this meeting, regardless of the cause for it."
That, at least, he could agree with wholeheartedly. "We'll find out soon enough," he said darkly. "Though if she sends out her Psycho Rangers again--"
"Psycho Rangers?" Tan frowned at him.
"Ah... the Rangers are holding their own," Arietis assured him. They were still fighting, he reasoned. That counted for something.
"I'm glad to hear it," Tan said. He didn't look mollified, but it was enough for now. "I'm sure you have other duties to attend to."
"I'll be in touch with you soon," Arietis said. He hesitated, and then asked quickly before he could change his mind. "Do you have any intentions of challenging Andros's right to hold the Astromorpher?"
He was almost certain Tan's surprise was genuine. "The thought hadn't crossed my mind."
Andros grit his teeth as Zhane cleaned the cut on his arm. He could have done it himself. He would have preferred to do it himself, but Zhane had pushed him down onto the bed and pulled the cloth from his hand.
Zhane gripped his elbow when Andros tried to pull his arm away. "You're lucky, you know."
He did know. Psycho Red hadn't meant to just wound him with that blow. If Ashley hadn't tackled him... He wouldn't be walking away with just a scratch.
His eyes strayed to Ashley. She watched him from her perch on the second bed, smiling faintly when he met her eyes. She didn't speak, though, and he didn't know what to say.
"There," Zhane said. He set the cloth down, and Andros finally lowered his arm. "Just need to bandage it."
"I'll do it," Ashley said softly. Andros swallowed when he found her stare unwavering. "I want to talk to you."
"Should I--"
"Yeah," he muttered out loud. "We'll be fine."
He saw Ashley look at him oddly.
"If you're sure," Zhane said finally. He touched Andros's shoulder on his way out, and Andros tried not to sigh at the silent encouragement.
"Did Zhane... say something to you?" Ashley said slowly. She was still watching him. "It looked like you were answering him."
"He did." Andros frowned suddenly. Hadn't he ever told her?
"You can talk to him and no one else can hear?" Ashley slid off the bed and crossed the short distance between them in two steps, reaching for the cloth that Zhane had left behind. She pressed it to his arm again, and he winced at the sting. "Is that a Karovan thing?"
"It's more of an Eltaran thing," he said. "Most Karovans can do it, too, but selectively. I can only hear Zhane. And Karone, too, before--" He stopped, blinking when his eyes suddenly stung. He'd never thought to see if he could still hear her once he'd finally found her.
"Just the people you love the most?" Ashley pressed a clean cloth to his arm now, drying his skin before she applied the bandage. "Is that how it works?"
"For me, yes," he said, still thinking of Karone. Would she still be there if he reached out now?
"And me?"
He blinked at her, not sure that he'd heard right. "What?"
"I mean, I guess I'm Karovan too--aren't I?"
"Ashley, I--" He stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes. "Ash..."
Without thinking, he reached for her. Ashley buried her face into his shoulder, clinging to him as she cried. He felt her nails digging into his arms and her tears on his bare skin, but he held her without saying a word. He didn't know what to tell her, not when nothing he said could change anything for her.
"They lied to me," she whispered finally. "Everyone lied to me, and they thought it was to protect me."
"I'm sorry, Ash," he said quietly. She sniffed and he hugged her harder. Her hair was soft and smooth beneath his fingers, and he stroked it gently. "I..." He didn't know how to finish.
She let out a slow, shaky breath, her arms still tight around his neck. "Andros?"
"Yes?"
"Did you know?"
Startled, he let her go."What?"
"Was there ever... anything... did you ever think that I could be Karovan?" She met his eyes searchingly, her face wet with tears. "Anything that ever made you wonder?"
"Never," he said. "I never would have questioned your being from Earth."
She scrubbed her face with her sleeve, and he thought that he'd probably given her the wrong answer. "I wouldn't have, either," she muttered finally. "I've never--never felt that I didn't belong."
Ashley pushed his arm away this time when he reached out for her, shaking her head. "I--I just... and they tried to kill you!"
"I know." He sighed. He wouldn't have told her that if he'd ever thought... or he would have explained it better, at the very least. He understood why. He didn't especially like it, and he wasn't exactly eager to socialize with them now, but he understood. She didn't. "It wasn't personal, if it helps."
"Why would it help?" she demanded. "My father shouldn't have been willing to kill a child."
"To protect his child, and the future of KO-35." Andros shifted awkwardly, uncomfortable explaining Val's reasoning.
"I..." Ashley bit her lip. Her eyes widened suddenly. "Jonathan was supposed to be the Red Ranger."
"Yes," Andros agreed. He looked at his morpher, frowning, and felt his stomach twist almost painfully at the reminder that it wasn't supposed to be his. "He's never worn the morpher."
"So... what happens now?" Ashley asked him. "It is yours, isn't it?"
"Yes."
He thought so.
He hoped so.
"I should talk to him," Ashley said, cutting into his thoughts. "To both of them. I just..." She laughed suddenly, bitterly. "I have no idea what to say."
"You don't," he said. "Unless you want to. Deca will find them for you if you do."
"No." She shook her head, stopping him. "I mean... I don't know. I should, but... I think I need to go... think about this."
Andros just nodded, and watched her walk away.
