A day had gone by since Zhane had nearly killed Andros. Tension was still high on the ship. Zhane was trying to avoid everyone. He figured no confrontation was a good thing right now. He had overheard Karone telling TJ that she'd sent down the robot rangers for a few hours, hoping to drain more of Dark Specter's powers. He was presently sitting in his room when there was a knock on the door. He was about to open his mouth when he decided maybe if he said nothing they'd leave him alone.
"Zhane, open up," Andros called.
"What's he doing out of the infirmary?" Zhane murmured to himself. He got up and opened the door.
"What are you doing?" he asked his friend.
"Just came to see how you were," Andros answered.
"Maybe I did more damage than I thought. Come on, you need to go back to the infirmary," Zhane insisted, starting to usher his friend back that way.
"You know…if Ashley sees me talking to you, she is going to go postal on me," Zhane murmured as they reached the infirmary. Andros just smirked as Zhane forced him to lay down on the bed. Zhane started to head back to his room, not really in any mood to talk with Andros. He was still guilt ridden nearly killing him a day ago.
"Wait a sec," Andros said sitting back up.
Zhane slowly turned around.
"What?" he asked.
"You know we're ok, right?" Andros asked.
"I guess," Zhane muttered with a shrug.
"There's nothing to guess about, Zhane. It's in the past. We're cool," Andros pressed.
"Let's just hope you say that when you're back to full strength," his best friend remarked. Andros just sighed at Zhane. "You still can't remember anything from yesterday can you?" Zhane said sadly.
"Not really…" Andros admitted and Zhane sighed.
"Won't be so keen on seeing me if you remember what happened," Zhane mused.
"Everyting will be fine," Andros assured Zhane. He just shrugged again and headed back towards his room. He was halfway there when he heard a very loud, very excited scream.
"We're almost there!" Karone shouted. He slowed his pace, staying out of sight.
"Only ten percent more to drain," she said excitedly.
Zhane wanted to go down and congratulate her, but didn't want to ruin her clearly happy mood. He headed back for his room, just really wanting to be alone. No such luck, he nearly ran into Ashley. "Sorry," he murmured, and attempted to walk away, but Ashley stopped him. She didn't look as pissed as she was the day before, so Zhane stayed, seeing what she wanted.
"Look…Zhane," she said softly. "I know you are really guilty about yesterday…and me yelling at you didn't help, and I wanted to apologize,"
"Don't apologize, I deserve to have everyone angry with me. I nearly killed Andros…and yet he is acting like nothing happened," Zhane snapped.
"Well he doesn't remember...maybe that's a good thing?" Ashley offered half-heartedly.
"I guess. I sort of wish he did. Then I could just deal with him wanting to strangle me," Zhane sighed.
"Did you hear Karone's news?" Ashley asked.
"Who didn't hear it? She screamed loud enough for half the star system to hear," he said with a small chuckle.
"She wasn't that loud," Ashley giggled, glad to see Zhane at least look slightly normal.
"Loud enough," he said with a shrug.
"I was going to say something to her but I figured she'd just blow me off," Zhane explained.
"She'll forgive you," Ashley tried to assure him. Deep down she wasn't all that sure herself.
"Thanks," he muttered, heading past her to continue on his way back to his room. Ashley sighed as she watched Zhane walk away. She walked over to Karone and gave her a big smile.
"Congrats," Ashley said with a grin seeing how happy Karone was.
"Thanks," Karone said. She looked at Ashley strangely, "Ok…what is going on with you? Dark Specter is almost dead!" she said happily.
"I know... and believe me I'm really happy about that," Ashley answered.
"It's just...well never mind. I don't want to upset you," she sighed.
"No, really, Ash. What's bugging you?" Karone probed.
"I just feel bad for treating Zhane like dirt yesterday. I mean...he is really sorry. I think he'd rather spend the rest of his life locked in his room than face us after what happened. But Andros seems to forgive me...of course with temporary memory loss I guess that makes sense," Ashley rambled.
"If you're asking me to forgive him, I can't. I finally know what Andros felt when I got kidnapped. He lost me. And now I know that feeling. And it scares me to death," Karone stated firmly.
"I know it's scary. We all are scared. But do you think you can eventually find it in your heart to forgive him?" Ashley begged. She hated to see Zhane so hurt.
"We'll see," Karone answered, heading off towards the bridge. Ashley shook her head, heading towards the Infirmary. She opened the door and pulled up a chair next to Andros.
"Hey Ashley," Andros said giving her a smile. Once he saw a serious look in her eyes, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"Um…I dunno if I should be telling you this, but I am going to anyway," Ashley said after a moment. "Zhane is really depressed…and it is more than nearly killing you yesterday…it was Karone…she is refusing to forgive him,"
"Why wouldn't she want to forgive him? I thought she liked him," Andros asked. Ashley sighed. Well at least he remembered something.
"Because she almost lost you. She's really scared and honestly I can kind of see why she doesn't want to reconcile just yet. You're still pretty weak and I think until you get better she's going to stay scared," Ashley admitted.
"She doesn't have to be scared…" Andros sighed. "I am alive…and I am getting strong again…"
"You were terrified for her when she went back to the Dark Fortress….and she is very much like you when it comes to protecting the only other family she has ever known," Ashley reminded him.
"I wish I could talk to her. Do you think maybe you could convince her to come see me?" he asked.
"I don't know. I can try. But I think she's still shaken," Ashley answered. She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips before heading out again. She was on a mission. She headed for Karone's quarters, knocking on the door.
"I'm busy," Karone called out.
"Karone, come on. Open up... please?" Ashley called.
"If it is about me apologizing to Zhane…" Karone sighed angrily, opening her door.
"I was just going to tell you that Andros wanted to talk to you," Ashley said putting her hands up.
"About…." Karone pressed on. Ashley nearly let out a sigh of frustration, but managed to stop herself.
"He just wants to talk to you, I don't know about what,"
Karone looked at her friend for a minute before answering. Did she really want to talk to Andros right now?
"Ok..." she finally mumbled, slipping from her room. Ashley tried to give her a reassuring smile but it came out looking more like a grimace. Karone slowly made her way down the corridor towards the Infirmary. She knocked a couple of times. She was about to open her mouth to speak when the doors slid open and she caught Andros slip back under the covers. She shot him a weird look.
"Ashley's have a fit if she knew I got out of bed," he said, patting the bed next to him. She bit her lip as she joined him.
"She said you wanted to talk?" Karone offered after a minute or two of silence.
"How are you holding up?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Tired I guess. What about you?" she answered.
"I'm healing," he told her, giving her a smile. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a couple minutes, and Karone started to fidget a little.
"Andros…please tell me you didn't want to talk about Zhane…" Karone let out after a minute. Seeing the look on Andros's face, she knew it was about Zhane. "Andros…I am not forgiving him. He nearly killed you…"
"Karone, he didn't. Shouldn't that be what matters?" Andros protested.
"You're just saying that because you don't remember," Karone grumbled, shrugging her brother's arm off.
"Why does everyone keep making that such a big deal," Andros complained.
"Andros…I did not like the feeling that came when I saw the pool of blood around you…I got really scared," Karone started, tears entering her eyes. "And the last thing I said to you was calling you an asshole before Zhane kicked you upside your head…"
Andros tried to wrap his arm around his clearly distressed sister, but she shrugged him off. "And you are acting like you and Zhane were just…sparring or something!" she said her voice getting louder. "It wasn't nothing…so please stop acting like it was nothing at all!"
"Karone, I swear Zhane and I are fine. We've put it behind us," Andros assured her.
"No...you only think you're fine. Just wait until it all comes back, you won't be so keen to act like nothing happened," his sister shouted back.
"So I am not going to forgive him and nothing you say will convince me otherwise," she spat with a note of finality in her voice.
"Karone…" Andros sighed. "I have been trying to remember what happened yesterday…and I have managed to get bits and pieces. If I seem to recall correctly…I hurt you right before the fight started. Not sure how, but I remember Zhane taking you back to the infirmary. Zhane really cares about you Karone…" Andros sighed.
"You didn't mean to. It was an accident. Everyone just overreacted," Karone whispered, eyes cast downwards.
"Then if it was an accident, why can't you forgive him?" Andros asked.
"Because I just can't," Karone snapped, standing and walking out of the room. Andros hoped that Karone would calm down and forgive Zhane soon. He could tell she liked him as much as he liked her.
Karone sighed angrily as she stalked away from the infirmary. Two people telling her she should forgive Zhane for nearly killing her older brother. She nearly crashed into Zhane who was coming out of the Mess Hall.
"Sorry," Zhane mumbled, and tried to walk away from her, clearly seeing how angry she looked already.
Karone glared at him but then thought about what Andros had said about Zhane. He'd stood up for her. He cared about her. Zhane continued to move away from her.
"Wait," Karone sighed. Zhane stopped dead in his tracks. He would have turned around to face her but he was afraid she'd try and punch him.
"I said I was sorry for bumping into you," he muttered, not wanting to be here right now. Karone put a hand on his shoulder, and gently turned him around. She bit her lip trying to decide what she should say. Deep down she had wanted to forgive Zhane for what had happened.
Instead of saying anything she just pulled a very surprised Zhane in for a hug.
Zhane wasn't sure what to do. He slowly wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. He didn't know what to say. He didn't want to take it as an apology for fear she'd accuse of misinterpreting the gesture.
"You ok?" he whispered softly. She didn't answer. She just pressed her head against his shoulder, holding on tightly.
"I know you hate me right now. Believe me, I hate me too," he murmured. Karone pulled away a little and wiped at her eyes.
"I don't hate you Zhane…" Karone whispered.
"I don't see why not. I almost killed your brother…my best friend…" Zhane said turning away from her.
"You didn't mean to...I realize that now. I just...I thought he was going to die. I thought I was going to lose him," Karone stammered, fighting back tears.
"I can't imagine what was going through your mind," Zhane breathed.
"But he's going to be ok...and if we're going to defeat Dark Specter and save Zordon... then we need to be a team. And team mates forgive each other," she added.
"So does this mean you forgive me?" he asked, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.
"Only if you forgive yourself first," she answered, trying to hide a smile.
"I can try," he breathed. Karone finally let out the smile she had been hiding, and gave him a kiss on the lips.
"Good," Karone said wrapping her arms around his neck.