To follow my own star
Set me free
Can't you see
We are who we are
THE END
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The silence that had reigned for the last few hours in the hallways of the MegaShip was broken by the echoed sounds of raised voices. Andros and Ashley were arguing. They were walking hand-in-hand, holding on to each other tightly as they bickered good-naturedly, but they were arguing nonetheless.
Their Monopoly game had ended rather abruptly when Ashley caught Andros telekinetically swiping money from the Bank. It seemed that the concepts of real estate, finances, and all their complexities differed greatly between Earth and KO-35. Ashley's frustrated attempts to explain it to Andros had amused Zhane immensely while he had been eavesdropping. He also found it interesting the new rules that Ashley had invented for the game.
'Passing Go' not only earned you the traditional $200, but also the other player had to declare their love for you. After Andros had finally managed to say it out loud the first time, each time after that was easier and more heartfelt.
'Getting Out Of Jail' was another matter all together. Ashley's new rule for this event involved an elaborate physical demonstration of the previously mentioned love. Ashley could have been a career criminal considering how hard she tried to go to jail. It was during some of those numerous displays of affection that Zhane had been laughingly mentally cheering his friend on. It was also when Carlos almost walked in on them.
The other Rangers knew better than to play Monopoly with Ashley, as competitive as she was. Only Andros was brave enough to attempt a game, and Ashley liked it that way. So everyone always gave them as much privacy as possible, which was probably a good thing considering Ashley's newly invented rules.
After she had caught Andros in the middle of his bank heist, the game had broken up and they had decided to see what the others were up to. When they reached Deck 5, they reluctantly let go of each other's hands near Cassie's room. Andros was going on further down the hall to Zhane's room. Just the separation of a few minutes mattered so much, for it reminded them of how close they came to being separated forever. He kissed her softly and walked backwards down the hall so he could still see her.
"Turn around and watch where you're going," Ashley giggled. Andros grinned and finally turned around, disappearing around the curved hallway.
Still giggling she walked to Cassie's door and knocked. When Cassie didn't answer, Ashley immediately decided a prank was in order. Just a few days ago, Cassie had pranked Ashley by coming in her room while she slept and stealing all her uniforms. 'Paybacks are hell,' Ashley thought mischievously, as she looked around the empty hall and hit the control pad to enter Cassie's room. She snuck in, trying to make as little noise as possible. She wasn't sure what she was going to do yet, but she would think of something.
She saw Cassie, asleep on her bed, bundled up in several blankets. The chair that normally sat by the side wall was pulled up next to the bed. Ashley barely noticed its new placement till she walked past it and screamed. She had glanced at the chair casually, only because it was in her way and she would have tripped over it if she hadn't. It was the fact that someone was sitting in the chair that had caught her off guard.
There was a young man sitting there, hunched over, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. He had longish hair and was dressed all in black. He seemed to blend perfectly into the shadows, at home in the dark unseen. He obviously was not used to being snuck up on, for he jumped at Ashley's startled cry. Even as he leapt to his feet, he was immediately enveloped in a light so crimson and dark it was black.
Andros, AstroBlaster drawn, arrived at the door just then in response to Ashley's scream of surprise. He saw only the fading effects of the morphing energy's light as the Phantom Ranger now stood before them.
Phantom had morphed when he carried Cassie to the medical bay, some part of him still tremendously uncomfortable with others seeing him. When they had arrived back in her room, he had demorphed again while they spoke briefly. Cassie had made no mention of how she felt about him, or what she wanted from him. She had fallen asleep quickly, leaving Phantom to sit and wonder in the darkness. Deep in thought, he had never heard Ashley knock, let alone come in. And now he was suddenly confronted by four Rangers as TJ and Carlos joined Andros and Ashley, DECA having informed them of a disturbance.
Down the hall in the girl's room, she and Zhane were awoken by Ashley's cry.
"Shall we see what's going on?" she asked him, smiling as she scooted off his lap and stood.
"I suppose," Zhane sighed, reluctant to leave their comfortable positions, and accepted her hand up.
"Phantom?" Ashley asked amazed. "What are you doing here?"
"He arrived a few hours ago," TJ answered, a hard look set on his face.
"Why didn't anyone tell us?" Andros asked, finally lowering his AstroBlaster.
"Like any of us were going to interrupt you two!" Carlos grinned, causing Andros to turn bright red in embarrassment. Ashley looked away innocently giggling.
Everyone began talking at once, asking Phantom what he was doing there, teasing Andros about Ashley and his Monopoly game, just generally being loud and obnoxious. They were acting like teenagers for once, teenagers who didn't have to worry about saving the galaxy before breakfast everyday. Phantom made a valiant attempt to get everyone to be quiet and leave, but to no avail. Out in the hall, Zhane's voice could be heard clearly as he approached the room and jokingly shouted, "Do you mind keeping it down? Some of us were trying to sleep!"
"Yes, I was!" Cassie responded icily. The Rangers suddenly went quiet as they turned to look at her standing there beside her bed, obviously not well, and not even slightly amused by the events. "What are all of you doing in my room?!" she shouted, as she started to move toward them shakily. "Get out! Just get out now! Why can't you just leave us alone?! I--," her words trailed off as she passed out. Phantom was there to catch her, as if at her side was the only place he had ever been. Her knees had barely buckled when he had her in his arms, placing her back in her bed.
"Cassie!" Ashley shouted as she and the others rushed forward.
"Let's get her to the medical bay," Andros ordered, moving toward her.
"No," Phantom said calmly, standing in front of the bed, blocking their way.
"Phantom, she's sick. Alpha needs to look--"
"We have been there already and your droid has treated her. She has a strain of an Earth flu. She will be fine, but she wanted to come here to rest," Phantom said, his determination to carry out her wishes clear in his voice.
Ashley looked down at Cassie as Phantom pulled the blankets back up around her. Cassie seemed to be okay and Phantom didn't look to be leaving any time soon. Andros looked up at Ashley when she put her hand on his arm. She cocked her head toward the door, meaning to leave Phantom and Cassie alone. They started walking toward the door, Carlos following.
TJ lingered in the room, his business there unfinished. He cast Phantom one last glance, then started for the door saying, "I'm going to ask Alpha to check on her. She should be where her condition can be monitored."
"This is what she wants," Phantom said again, turning toward TJ.
"And would you always do whatever Cassie asked of you, Phantom?" TJ stopped his exit to turn and glare at Phantom.
"Of course," he responded, not backing down from TJ's challenge.
"Even if she tells you to leave and never return? Would you do that for her, Phantom?" TJ asked. The others froze and looked back at the scene, surprised at the audacity of TJ's question.
Phantom's stance never wavered. He met TJ's eyes though the other could not see the gesture, or the painful tears that threatened to fall from Saryn's usually calm blue eyes. His voice was barely above a whisper as he said, "Whatever she asks, I will do."
Satisfied for the moment with that concession, TJ walked out the door. The others quickly followed and the door shut behind them. Phantom sank into the chair, his head once again his hands. He heard a slight movement on the bed and looked up hopefully. Cassie was waking up, her sleepy eyes looking around for him. He instantly demorphed and took her hand. She saw him then and fell back to sleep, leaving Phantom alone again in the dark, wondering about their future.
As the door slid shut behind them, Andros looked around the hall, certain he had heard Zhane earlier, though his best friend had never entered into Cassie's room.
"Hey guys, are the fireworks over?" Zhane grinned. Andros saw his sister and Zhane standing just a few paces down the hall and started toward them. His approach slowed as he started to take in the details of the situation. His sister and Zhane were holding hands and standing quite close. Andros noticed that his sister looked tired, far more tired than she had earlier, and according to Zhane they had been sleeping.
Somewhere behind him Carlos was asking TJ how he could have asked Phantom a question like that. He knew Ashley was beside him, talking to him, but he couldn't quite concentrate on her words. He was preoccupied with seeing his sister with Zhane for some reason.
"Karone? Are you--," he stopped as he saw her flinch and he heard Zhane in his mind.
*Andros, don't...,* Zhane had a strange look on his face. He shook his head and motioned with his eyes to the girl standing beside him.
*What's wrong?* Andros asked, now more worried then before.
The girl looked from Zhane to Andros and started to laugh, which caused both of them to look at her concerned. "Stop talking about me," she said. "When we were kids, I could always tell when you two were talking about ditching me so you could go play. That I can remember." She smiled at her brother and said, "I'm fine Andros, but we need to talk."
Zhane gave her a look before he could stop himself. She had asked him not to leave her. She looked up at him, knowing what he was thinking. *I'll be okay. I want to talk to him alone. Besides, you'll only be a thought away, right?*
*Of course. I'll always be right here.* He almost kissed her then, but reconsidered. Maybe he should wait until after she had talked to Andros about everything. He still didn't know how Andros would feel about the fact that he was in love with his little sister. Not that whatever Andros said could change his feelings for her, or hers for him. But he remembered how Andros had reacted when he had heard that they had tried to date. He hadn't seemed against the idea, but he hadn't seemed thrilled by it either. Zhane decided to be conscious of Andros' feelings and wait. He gave her hand a squeeze before letting go. He clapped Andros on the back, smiling at the confused look on his best friend's face. She took Andros' arm and led him off down the hallway.
Ashley had been watching the exchange curiously, and now she looked questioningly at Zhane. Carlos and TJ had stopped arguing about Phantom long enough to see the exchange also, and they too were looking to Zhane for answers. He gave them a knowing grin and started off down the hall in the opposite direction, whistling innocently.
"Zhane! You stop right there and tell us what's going on!" Ashley called after him.
"I think I'm hungry. Anyone for some food?" he asked, totally ignoring her demand and starting toward the hangar bay and the synthetron.
"Zhane!" Ashley shouted. She stopped before she could go any further in her tirade against the cocky Silver Ranger when TJ put his hand on her arm.
"Come on," he said. "I'm hungry too. Let's go with him and maybe we can get some answers out of him there."
"Can we beat it out of him?" she asked sweetly, still mad at Zhane's infuriating nature.
"Only if it comes to that," Carlos grinned as he and the others started after the Silver Ranger.
Andros and his sister's meandering walk led them back to the observatory. The Monopoly game and board were still spread out on the floor. The pillows and cushions from the couch were on the floor also, thrown here and there, looking like discarded ammunition from a pillow fight.
The girl pulled a cushion over to sit on and leaned back against the couch. Andros watched her and then did the same, sitting on the other side of the board. He looked at her as she stared out into the vastness of space. He had no idea what she could possibly want to talk to him about. Part of him wondered if it was Zhane. Zhane had admitted to him about his attempted date with Astronema. And Andros knew that Zhane had truly cared for her, judging from how depressed he had been after it had failed.
It had never occurred to Andros that they would try to rekindle the relationship now that she was free from Dark Spectre. But when he thought about it, he was glad. Sure, he should have been uneasy at the idea of his little sister with Zhane, knowing what an incorrigible flirt Zhane was. But at the same time he realized that he did know Zhane. He knew the side of him that most people didn't see. Zhane had always done everything possible to protect Andros from pain, whether physical, emotional or whatever.
It had been Zhane who had put aside his own feelings for Astronema, and tried to get through to Andros time and again. Like when they two had gone to rescue her after she had been reprogrammed; if not for Zhane, Andros would have kept on fighting to get near her, and he probably would have died right there. Zhane ignored his own pain and loss, and convinced Andros that they had to go or die... that they would have another chance to bring his sister back to them. Andros trusted Zhane with his life. So couldn't he trust him with his sister's heart?
He looked at her again, deciding that he couldn't take the silence much longer. "Karone, I--"
"Andros," she said, cutting him off, a slightly pained expression on her face.
"What's going on?" he asked, clearly confused. "That's the second time someone has stopped me, and all I've said is your name."
"Well," she faltered, finally looking at him, "it might be because that's not my name."
For Andros, everything seemed to stop. He could only stare at her, fear rooting him where he was. Myriad possibilities, all bad, ran through his mind, as to the meaning of her statement. No please, he thought, not again. I just got her back. She can't still be Astronema! I can't go through this again!
She saw the fear bordering on terror spilling across Andros' face. "No, no, not that. It's okay!" she said, catching on a little late to how what she said must have sounded to him. She reached out, laying her hand on his arm and trying to smile. "I just mean, well...I'm not the sister you remember... and I can't be."
He just looked at her uncomprehending. "You're Karone, my sister. If you know that, then how can you be someone else?"
She pulled her hand back and turned away from him, looking again to the stars. "It just isn't that simple Andros. I wish it was, but it's not."
"Why isn't it?" he asked. He sincerely didn't understand why there was a problem. And she knew he wasn't just being stubborn about it. She knew how stubborn her brother could be. She had vague memories that returned from time to time of their childhood and how headstrong he had been then. And Zhane had told her what Andros had been like since she had been reprogrammed. He had refused to listen to anyone, or to even fathom the suggestion that she wouldn't come back, that he couldn't somehow find a way to save her from her other life, her evil side.
She knew she had to try to explain it to him. But it wouldn't be easy. "Andros, you remember growing up better than I do. You know what our life was like. We were happy. We were innocent children with bright futures ahead of us." She turned away from the window, sitting sideways and pulling one leg close to her. She began to play with the game pieces in front of her, fidgeting and trying to continue her explanation and avoid his gaze at the same time.
He patiently waited for her to go on. "I'm not the same person I was then. She had such high hopes and dreams for the future. There were things she wanted to be that I can't be now. As children we were chosen to become Power Rangers. You've fulfilled your destiny and became the Red Ranger. I could never become the Yellow Ranger now." She caught his reaction to the mention of her color, the color now worn by his girlfriend.
"No, it's not about Ashley," she reassured quickly when she saw that look on his face. "I could never be jealous of her. She's earned the right to be a Ranger... they all have." She was stacking the game pieces on top of each other, starting with the top hat on the thimble.
"You've had so much taken from you, including your chance at the Power. Don't you think you've earned that right also?" Andros asked, almost daring her to disagree.
She glanced up at him, then back at the pieces, setting the top hatted-thimble on the dog. "Whether they were taken from me or I gave them up doesn't matter. But I do know that my work for the side of good was short and unsuccessful."
"That wasn't your fault," he started, but she interrupted.
"But that doesn't change what I know." She set the top hatted-thimbled dog in the wheelbarrow. "I know now that I wasn't meant to be a Ranger. I spent so much of my life as Astronema. My goal then was to rule it all. Every universe, every galaxy, they were all mine to do with as I pleased. And now I'm not Astronema anymore either. I don't know who I'm supposed to be, or what I'm supposed to do. See what I mean?" she asked, glancing up at him again. "It's just not that simple. Karone, Ranger or Queen of Evil, I don't know who I am, but it's not any of those."
"What exactly does all this mean then? Are you staying with us, at least till you figure things out?" Andros asked hopefully, trying to draw her gaze back as her eyes returned to the game board. He didn't want her to do something she didn't want to, but now that she was finally back, he didn't want her to go anywhere. He hated himself for the selfish thoughts, but he wanted to enjoy having his sister back with him, at least for a little while.
She smiled, but didn't look up. "Andros, I'm not going anywhere. I just have a lot of thinking to do, some soul-searching, I guess." She set the top hatted-thimbled dog in a wheelbarrow on the racecar, and laughed as it all came crashing down. "I need to figure out who I am and where I fit in the grand scheme of things."
"Most people don't know where they belong," he stated in a teasing way.
"Yeah, but 'most people' at least have a name," she teased back. "And some even have an idea of where to start looking for themselves."
"What? Why don't you know where to start?" he asked. "Just because you aren't a Ranger, doesn't mean you can't be a great space adventurer, like me." He joked and flashed a big smile in a blatant attempt to cheer her up. She just threw the Community Chest cards at him.
"I am still a pretty mean sorceress, so don't mess with me!" she smirked and ducked as hotels telekinetically flew past her head. "You always did have lousy aim."
"Hey!" he shouted, quite indignant, but he couldn't help grinning as it finally dawned on him that he had achieved his near lifelong dream, the goal he had set for himself at such a young age. His sister was back! She was here, alive, sitting just two feet away, engaging him in a small telekinetic battle with the tiny cardboard properties. Whatever name she chose to go by, he didn't care. As far as he was concerned, she was the sister he remembered. She was kind, caring, fun loving, and so full of life. He was content just to have her there, no matter what name she used.
"Hey," he said again, as he batted Baltic Avenue and St. James Place away. "So 'Sis', what are we supposed to call you in the meantime? Or shall we just resort to 'Hey you'?"
The Chance cards came flying at him almost immediately. "I'm sure you'll think of something 'creative'," she giggled and her aim was true as the cards smacked him in the head.
He laughed and snatched up a pile of the cards in his hand, ready to throw them back at her, manually if he had to. "Okay, got it. Wait for a name." He was just stalling now. He wanted to catch her off-guard to tease her one more time. "Now about Zhane... ," and he left the sentence hanging, as he tried to keep a mock stern look on his face, and failed miserably as he saw her expression. Hers was a smug look of satisfaction.
"Zhane," she said simply, "is not a topic open for discussion." She grinned, thinking, I knew he noticed, I just wondered when he would bring it up.
"Oh, is that so?" Andros continued, smiling and seeing how far he could push her.
"Yes, that's so. The concept of Zhane and myself as a couple is just something you'll have to learn to deal with, dear brother," she picked up the dice and rolled a perfect seven.
"Well, if that's the case... ," he paused dramatically, but she didn't take the bait. She just smiled at him; she knew he had been teasing all along. "I'm really happy for you both. You know that."
"Yes, I do." Suddenly she scooted around the board to hug him. He blinked in surprise, but hugged her back, waiting to see what she was about to say. "Thank you Andros," she whispered.
"For what?"
"For everything. For never giving up on me, even when I gave you every reason to."
Andros shrugged and said, "You're my sister." It was such a simple declaration, as if that one fact was reason enough for him to turn entire galaxies upside down searching for her. She pulled away then, and he saw the smile on her face, a truly happy look of someone at peace, someone who wasn't worried about the future anymore. And he now knew that feeling too.
"Come on," she said, "let's find the others."
"Why?" he asked, standing up. He glanced around casually at the mess, and promptly decided to leave it as a lost cause. "What's up?"
"Because we're home." And she pointed out the large observatory window at the blue-green planet they were approaching.
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