The Red Ranger stepped away from Ashley and walked up the ramp, and Zhane turned to face him.

For an instant, the two just stood there, looking each other over. The setting sun cast a surreal glow over everything, framing the two warriors in the Megaship's main hatch and bathing them in a crimson radiance.

Then the moment was gone, as Andros held out his right arm in a movement that was immediately echoed by Zhane. Then it was left forearm to left forearm, and two more side blocks that Zhane also copied, looking like nothing so much as a little kid's secret handshake when it ended with their clasped hands.

But it made Andros laugh, and for a second, TJ saw the Red Ranger as he must once have been. The aloof leader was gone, and in his place stood a boy delighting in the presence of his best friend--a friend who had been gone for far too long.

"Have a good afternoon," Zhane told them lightly, waving as he turned to leave.

"You too," Ashley responded, and he smiled. Andros couldn't have found a better person to complement his own reserved personality.

*Once I was that person,* Zhane thought, unbidden.

Although he had told Andros he wanted to think, what he really wanted to do was forget. Forget that it had been two years since he had last sat in the sun like this, forget that everyone he knew had gone on with their lives while he hung in a timeless limbo... forget that Andros had grown up while he, for all intents and purposes, had died.

Zhane was seventeen now, but his fifteenth birthday had been only two months ago. Andros had been there, as always, and just as he was now--but subtly different. He had been *Zhane's* Andros then... was he now?

"He's told me about KO-35, and Rayven," Ashley said. "And even some about you--but nothing about your powers."

Zhane shrugged. "Maybe because he doesn't understand them. No one really does, I guess. I said I wanted to fight with him--actually, I think my exact words were, 'If you don't let me come with you, I'm stowing away.'

"So I went on my own--quest, I guess you could call it. That's the part I can't really explain. I had heard about this Power... Andros took the Megaship and we went together, but in the end I had to go seeking alone."

He shrugged again. "That's pretty much all I can tell you. Andros never said anything about my uniform, but I didn't choose it consciously--it just appeared that way."

"With the black bars instead of the colored ones?" Ashley asked, and he nodded. "I guess it makes sense, if there wasn't really a team then..."

"There was me and Andros," Zhane said quietly. "That was all we needed."

"Since the Delta Megaship exploded--" He blinked, looking away again. "Neither of us can hear him anymore."

"How do you know?" Phantom asked, an odd expression on his face. "If she says she does--do you not trust her?"

Zhane's head jerked up, and his eyes shone with unshed tears as he glared at Phantom. "You know how I know? I know because I've felt Andros in my mind since I was four years old. He has *never* disappeared the way he did last night, and I have never in my life been as alone as I am now!

"I am *tired* of you telling me I don't understand, Saryn!" A tear spilled down Zhane's cheek, and he brushed it away angrily. "I've loved Andros for as long as I can remember--longer than Ashley has, and certainly longer than you've loved Cassie! Just because I can't drop everything and take off across the galaxy looking for him doesn't mean I don't care!"

"Andros," Zhane said urgently, clasping his friend's hand in his and reaching for a medscanner with the other. "Come on, Andros; you have to wake up. You can't do this to me."

The medscanner had to be malfunctioning. He knew it was wrong; there was no way that flatline could be correct. They had sworn to stay together. Andros wouldn't leave him now. Not again. Not after everything that had happened...

He swallowed hard, feeling a tear slip down his cheek as he tried hastily to recalibrate the scanner. It had been set for Eltarans; that was the problem. Of course it wouldn't read right. It would be all right if only he could get the scanner to function properly, but his fingers couldn't remember which keys to press.

Finally he dropped the scanner and clasped his friend's wrist, pulling Andros off the bed and into his arms. "Please," he whispered, sinking to the floor with his best friend in his embrace. "*Please* don't leave me, you know I can't take that. You know it, Andros..."

Andros glared at him reflexively. "You're supposed to be on Eltare."

"Yeah, hello to you too," Zhane drawled. "Glad you missed me."

Andros sighed. Zhane's irresponsibility was at once charming and annoying. "We swore an oath to KO-35," he reminded his friend quietly.

"No," Zhane answered, surprising him. "You swore an oath to KO-35. I swore an oath to you."

Caught off guard, Andros could only stare at him. Wordlessly, Zhane offered his hand, and Andros clasped it without thinking. "We'll vow to fight as a team forever," the Silver Ranger reminded him.

"We call Andros 'Red Ranger' and you don't see him having an identity crisis, do you?"

A small laugh escaped at the thought, and Zhane grinned back at her. "You call him Castor," she accused, not willing to let that pass without retort. "If anyone's going to give him an identity crisis, it's you!"

Zhane's eyes widened. "How do you know about that?" he wanted to know, his grin fading a little.

"I heard you one night in the holding bay," she said, watching his expression curiously. She had always meant to ask one of them about it. "What does it mean?"

"It's..." He looked uncomfortable. "It's kind of a long story."

"You listened to mine," she reminded him.

"Well--" He hesitated. "Castor and Pollux were brothers, in a story his parents used to tell. Twins." Zhane shrugged self-consciously. "That's all."

"I used to wish for it, almost every night. Just to go back to what I knew, to be home again. At least there I knew who I was--how do you stay yourself when everything you knew is gone?"

Saryn turned his head a little, surprised by the Silver Ranger's reflective words. He shouldn't be; he had heard Andros' friend turn philosophical before... it was a part of himself that Zhane seemed determined to hide. "And now?" he prompted reluctantly.

"Can't," Zhane said, so easily that he wondered if the other was about to make a joke. "Too late. I've been here too long; I've changed. If I went back, it wouldn't be my world anymore. It would be the old me's world, and I'd be as lost there as the old me was when he showed up here."

Saryn sighed quietly, envying the other's calm acceptance of his fate. "Do you ever wish to go back anyway?" he couldn't help asking.

Zhane's answer surprised him. "Sure I do. Me and Andros were everything back then. We could finish each other's thoughts. Now whole days go by when I don't even see him. And when I do, it's 'Ashley this' and 'Ashley that' and 'Ashley and I are perfect.' If you tell him I said that, by the way," Zhane added, not missing a beat, "I'll kill you."

The other boy climbed out of bed, sunlight catching in tousled hair that had more white highlights than it used to. His pajamas were rumpled but his expression was solemn as he made his way over to Andros' bed. "Stand up," he said, taking Andros' arm as he obeyed.

Zhane led him over to the mirror on the back of the door and they gazed at their reflection for a moment: Zhane barefoot in the same silver clothes he had slept in and Andros wearing his Astro flightsuit and boots. For just a moment Zhane looked far older than he did, but then Andros blinked and the illusion vanished.

"Who are you?" Zhane asked at last.

Surprised, Andros answered without thinking. "The Red Ranger."

Zhane put a hand over his heart, covering up the Astro logo on Andros' flightsuit. "Who are you?" he repeated more quietly.

Andros studied his reflection, ignoring the impeccable uniform and neat ponytail. Instead he saw shadowed eyes and a worried expression, and a face that belonged to a person he thought he had left behind. It was the face of someone who had lost his entire world and was afraid it could still happen again.

He let his gaze slide toward Zhane's. "I'm your best friend," he said softly, well aware that the words had come out as a question.

"My home is with you," Zhane said steadily. "I told you that when I woke up. I never lost that, Andros."

"Until now?" He felt like they weren't really his words; he was just giving form to the thoughts hanging in the air between them. "Is that why you're so upset?" he asked, more quietly. "Because I'm ignoring everyone that matters?"

Zhane just shrugged, but the answer was there on his face. "It's up to you to decide who matters," he said at last, and the declaration sent chills up Andros' spine.

"You," he said fiercely. "You matter. Zhane..." He swallowed, but he owed his friend the truth. "I lost you once. I don't think I could do it again."

"Hell, Andros, you can't lose me." Zhane gave him a rueful grin, though whether for the choice of words or the sentiment it was hard to tell. "You know I'd follow you anywhere."

"Are you all right?" Carlos' voice sounded more puzzled than concerned, but it wasn't going away. He supposed he ought to lift his head off of his arms and reassure the Black Ranger, but it seemed like too much work. He was becoming very fond of this table and the orange shapes that played above it.

"Yes," he said, not moving. He heard the sound of footsteps, and the orange glow became a little darker. Carlos must be standing in his light. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" The concern was stronger this time, and he could practically feel the other Ranger hovering over him. "You don't look fine."

With a sigh, Zhane lifted his head and blinked up at the Black Ranger. "Well, I am. I'm more than fine, in fact. I'm peachy. How are you?"

Carlos frowned, but apparently decided not to press him. "I'm good, I guess. The Alliance wants to talk to the Earth Rangers. Where is everyone?"

"Don't know." Zhane clenched his fists and stacked them on top of each other before resting his chin on them, contemplating the table once more. In point of fact, he did know, but he didn't feel like being responsible for anyone else right now.

"Why not?" Carlos demanded, pulling out a stool from the other side of the table and sitting down. "Where's Andros?"

Zhane shrugged, reaching out to trace a pattern across the gleaming tabletop. "Don't know," he repeated. "He was gone when I woke up this morning. No message, no nothing. Not answering his communicator."

An odd look flickered across Astrea's face. "Do you remember playing Lunar Twist last night?"

He squinted up at the ceiling, letting his arm fall but keeping his hand in hers. "Maybe," he decided at last. "Sort of. With Ty?"

He felt her nod before he looked over at her. "With Ty," she agreed, the odd look still on her face. "Later I asked you what he was like, and do you know what you said?

"You said he wasn't Andros," she told him.

Zhane just looked at her, willing his face not to reveal anything.

"You were practically making out with Ty," she continued, studying him. "And all you could say about him was, 'he's not Andros.'"

He pulled his hand out of hers and sat up, staring at the opposite wall without seeing it. Nope, definitely not liking her conclusions. "I was drunk, Astrea. People say stupid things when they're drunk."

"He said he was taking your advice," Astrea said quietly. She knew it might not be the right thing to say, but she didn't know what else to tell him. "He said you told him to stop fighting the little battles and concentrate on the bigger ones, so that's what he was going to do. He said he knew you were tired of fighting the Council, and he wanted to make it so none of us had to anymore."

Zhane was staring at her. "He told you all of that and all he said to me is 'let's resign'? No offense, but since when do I rate lower on the 'pour your heart out' list than you?"

"I was there," she offered awkwardly, more uncomfortable with the way his words echoed her own than with his bluntness. She found herself searching for a defense to the argument she herself had made. "He just--"

"You were *there*!" Zhane didn't even wait for her to finish, and she bit her lip. Definitely not the right thing to say. "I was gone for one lousy night, and suddenly it's my fault that Andros doesn't talk to me? It's my fault that he gave up his morpher?"

He made a visible effort to contain himself, but his gaze burned into hers even through the comm screen. "Why do I bother?" he demanded. "Tell me that, Astrea! Why the hell do I bother?"

Andros gaped at her, broadsided by the reality his mind had been avoiding. It was no more pleasant head-on than it had been lurking in the shadows. "He's--he's sleeping with him?" he echoed, his voice cracking. "You... did you--break up?"

"No." Her tone was more impatient than anything else. "Why do people keep saying that?"

"But... Because he's cheating on you!" he burst out. "How can you still be together if he's sleeping with someone else!"

"He's not cheating on me." Now she sounded downright cross. "For him to cheat, he'd have to think I care who he sleeps with. If anything," Kerone added irritably, "he's cheating on you."

"Sounds like you have everyone you need," Zhane remarked, ignoring her hesitation. But when it came right down to it, could he let Andros go without him? His mind said yes, vehemently and somewhat bitterly, but his heart said no.

"Wait a minute," Ty interjected, the interruption tinged with uncertainty. "I know this isn't any of my business... but how safe is this? This quest you're talking about?"

"On a scale of one to ten?" He was staring at the floor. He didn't know when that had happened, but he didn't particularly feel like looking up, either. "It's maybe a zero."

"Zhane." There was a note of urgency in Ty's voice, so different from his usual calm indifference that it got Zhane's attention. Then he was down on one knee, directly in front of the bed so that Zhane couldn't help but meet his eyes.

"I've already lost one lover to a battle I had no control over," Ty told him, his voice carefully neutral. "I'd rather not go through that again, if it's all the same to you."

Zhane shifted where he sat, uncomfortably aware of Astrea's curious gaze on them. "It's not," he muttered, looking away. "It's not all the same to me; you know that. I don't want you to get hurt."

He felt Ty's fingers brush his chin, and he glanced back at him reluctantly. "Then don't go just because you think you don't have any reason to stay," Ty said quietly.

*Why can't he love me?* Andros protested sullenly. *He used to--* He suddenly realized who he was talking to, and he tried to stop that thought before it could be completed. But thoughts were harder to change than spoken words, and he knew she heard *--before he died.*

Ashley didn't even blink. *Did he love you before that?* she repeated. Her tone was gently curious, as though she sought confirmation of something she had already known.

When he didn't answer, she gave him a knowing look. *Are you sure he's the one who stopped?*

Several seconds later, he realized he was still staring at her, and his gaze shifted toward the driver's seat without conscious thought. Zhane was laughing at something Andros had missed, his expression open and easy for the first time in days, and the hover was racing the way it always did when he wasn't paying attention. He was finally starting to look his age, his body compensating for the time spent in hypersleep, and with an uncomfortable jolt Andros realized that Zhane and Tixe looked good together.

Yes, he reflected glumly, the two of them had changed. Both inside and out. He couldn't help but wonder how much. And... how come?