Notes: THIS IS IT Y'ALL. WE HAVE AT LAST ARRIVED AT THE END. omg. I never thought this day would come, but this is actually more or less the ending I've had in mind all this time. I hope you enjoy. ;) Thank you all for your comments through the years. I love you all.
Chapter 46
Andros had forgotten the precise smell of his home until he encountered it again, his lungs filling with Karovan air for the first time in years. He froze on the walkway, that first breath nearly sending him to his knees as grief and memory assaulted him, twin knives twisting in his heart.
Karone's laughter as he chased her through the park—
The warmth of his mother's embrace—
Darkdonda, always there haunting him—
His own desperation to be more than what Darkonda had made him—
Zhane, his only friend—
"Andros?"
He'd closed his eyes. Andros forced them open, looked into Ashley's concerned face, and nodded. "Fine," he said tightly, and breathed again. The air was colder here than on Earth (although, apparently, not all of Earth was warm) and sweeter, missing the undertones of exhaust and pollution that he'd smelled so often in Angel Grove.
Ashley slid her arm through his, tugging gently. He followed her, heart pounding in his chest as he took in the sight of the city he'd been born in. It looked exactly as it did in his memory. The tall gray buildings, so many of them constructed in haste as others had been destroyed. The park where his life had been destroyed, still standing but the trees bearing scars and the grass wild and overgown.
"So this is KO-35," Ashley said quietly.
"Yeah." Andros took his first step off of the Megaship, his boots sinking into the earth. It was muddy, just a little. It must've rained the day before.
Though its people had abandoned it, KO-35 had just… continued. Time moved forward even if there was no one to witness it. It was a strange thought.
"Will you show me?"
Nothing was familiar to her. Ashley followed Andros from site to site, listening fondly as he showed her place after place with an excitement he rarely displayed. He was so enthralled at returning home that she thought he'd forgotten that this was, technically, her home too, but privately she was relieved. It was still much easier to think of KO-35 as Andros's planet.
"It's beautiful here," she told him, as they strolled through the park. "So… quiet."
"This is where we were," Andros said quietly. "Me and Karone."
"When Darkonda took you?"
He nodded.
Silently, she slid her arms around him. She felt him relax in her embrace, lowering his chin so that it touched her shoulder. Ashley squeezed him tight, wishing there was more she could do for him than quietly comfort. She knew how deeply it cut him, the time he and Karone had lost. The chance to know their parents.
Who might they have been, in another life?
Andros slipped out of her arms and looked away, clearing his throat. "Will your family be coming here?"
"Um… to visit, I think, once things are… settled." Ashley bit her lip as she looked around, searching the deepest recesses of her mind for anything that looked familiar and again finding none. "After that… we didn't talk much about it."
"What about you?" Andros asked quietly.
"Are you... asking me to move here?"
He shrugged.
"Andros." She grabbed his hand. "Are you?"
"This is my home," he said. "It was yours once too. Maybe it could be again."
"I don't remember anything," she said. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he said. He didn't let go of her hand. "Most of my memories are from after I made it back."
She'd never thought about what would wait for them after the battles were over—partly because until now, the battles never were over. Rangers moved on, eventually, but evil endured.
"I never thought about this," she confessed. "I never thought you'd be able to go home."
"Neither did I."
He shouldn't look so sad, not today. Ashley swallowed hard, looking at her fingers still entwined with his, and forced herself to smile. "You're not done yet, you know," she said, amazing herself with her ability to sound playful. "I know there's more to see."
He walked her all over the city until night fell, talking until his throat was dry. When they returned to the Megaship for the night, his feet were aching. Andros watched as Ashley sat on his bed and kicked off her boots, flexing her own feet.
"Here," he said. He took hold of one of her feet and drew it into his lap, carefully removing her sock before pressing his thumbs into the ball of her foot.
"Mmm." Ashley made a happy sigh and lay back against his pillows, eyes closed. "You can do that all night."
Andros smiled and pulled her other foot into his lap, repeating the process. He said nothing and neither did she, until she opened her eyes and looked at him thoughtfully. "We're being silly."
"We… are?"
"Keep doing that." Ashley waved her toes at him. He laughed and complied. "And yeah, we are."
"How?"
"All of this—" She waved her hand in the air. "Moping. Like, we defeated Dark Spectre, but we can't figure out how we can be together?"
Andros paused, his hands still cupping her ankle. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you have a spaceship," Ashley said, laughing. "We could go back and forth between Earth and KO-35. Or maybe we'll want to stay in one place. I don't know. I just… I think we could figure it out, don't you?"
She made it sound so simple.
"Is that really what you'd want?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "Not until we try—but I want to try. After everything we've been through, I think we're owed the right to do what we want, a little bit."
Andros wasn't sure that he agreed, until he looked back and counted the losses in his life. He couldn't bear the thought of adding her to them.
"Okay," he agreed softly.
"Good." Ashley wiggled her fingers in his direction. "You want a turn?"
She made him turn around and rose up on her knees behind him, leaning forward to drape herself across his shoulders. He smiled, his hands covering hers. Instead of the massage he'd expected she kissed his ear, nipping at his earlobe and making him jump. She laughed then, her breath hot against his skin in a way that made desire surge through him—only for it to fade when she tugged his shirt high enough to see what was beneath it and gasp.
"Oh," he said.
"Oh?" Ashley smacked his arm indignantly. "Andros."
"It looks worse than it is," he said truthfully, but he allowed her to peel his shirt the rest of the way off to examine him.
He twisted around to face her, letting her see the bruises Darkonda had left on his ribs.
Her face was sad.
"I was so worried," she said, lightly tracing the fading bruises across his torso. "When Darkonda took you, I thought…"
"I know." He closed his eyes, letting himself enjoy the feel of her hands on him. "I can't believe he's gone."
Everything on the Dark Fortress had happened so fast. He remembered the sound of glass shattering, and being enveloped in warmth and light. When he'd opened his eyes again, his powers were gone and so was Darkonda, his oldest enemy reduced to a pile of sand before him.
It was liberating, and yet… he wasn't sure he knew who he was, without his powers. Without someone to fight.
"Hey." Ashley's lips touched his bare shoulder, startling him. "He can't hurt you anymore."
"I know." Andros swallowed. It was a strange thought for someone who'd spent his life looking over his shoulder for his past to come claim him.
"These really don't hurt?"
He shook his head.
Ashley traced one of the thin scars on his chest, then leaned forward and kissed him, her mouth hot against his. "I love you," she said. "I'm so glad you're okay."
He didn't know how she could manage to kiss him and speak so coherently at the same time. When he was this close to her, all he was aware of was her. He could barely remember what words were, much less make emotional declarations like that.
"I—yeah—" he stuttered between kisses.
She pulled away, maybe to say something else, and he reached out to cup her face in his hands, holding her to him. Then he kissed her again, slowly, drawing her lip into his mouth the way he knew she liked and was rewarded by feeling her moan.
It was… nice, knowing that she wanted him. Andros still didn't understand how she could possibly, but dwelling on that now would distract him from undressing her. She was naked when she crawled back into his lap, her bare skin burning where she touched him.
"You're beautiful," he said hoarsely. It was a wholly inadequate word, but it made her smile.
"You think?"
He nodded, drinking in the sight of her. She was exquisite, not only her body but her everything.
He traced the curve of her breast with a fingertip and watched her eyes slide shut.
"I—" She inhaled when he brushed his thumb over her nipple, then exhaled a quiet little moan that made him ache for her. She made a soft "ohh" when he did it again, and gripped his wrists, pushing herself into his hands.
They hadn't really taken the time to do this the way they were doing now. Their first time had been fueled by nervous excitement, and the other times by a need for comfort amongst the stress of battle and the reappearance of Ashley's family. There was nothing tonight to stop them from savoring the moment.
"Is this okay?" Ashley said, scoring her nails across the scars on his back. Andros shuddered. She laughed softly and did it again, deeper this time. He groaned, feeling the blood pounding in his ears. He hadn't realized that the scars that had plagued him for so long could be a source of pleasure too.
"Yeah," he managed. "That's okay."
He kissed her again, felt her shiver in his arms.
She slid out of his arms and reached to undo his belt.
Her fingers curled around him and he thrust forward against her hands, feeling pinpricks of heat roll across his body. She stroked him until he was full and aching, and then she lay down beside him and smiled up at him. He needed no further encouragement.
Andros sank into her and she arched upwards to meet him.
After, they lay sleepily together side by side, Ashley cuddled close to his side. He held her protectively, stroking her hair, savoring her warmth, and knew in his heart that she was right. All this time, he'd been fighting to go back home—but home was no longer only the place.
Someday, he would find the words to tell her that. Someday, he would kneel before her and take her hands in his, and find within himself the courage to ask her, "Will you spend your life with me?"
