"What the hell was that?" Carlos demanded, voice sharp with adrenaline and confusion.
"I think they call it an ambush," Zhane replied, his own tone vaguely amused.
Andros kept his back to them, because he knew Zhane was grinning, jazzed by the fight, and he knew if he saw it he was going to be seriously tempted to beat the crap out of his oldest friend.
"Yeah, but why?" TJ asked. "Kind of a lot of trouble to go to, just so they can take off after five minutes of fighting."
Cassie laughed. "Maybe they ambushed the wrong people."
"Not recognize we're Rangers?" Zhane exclaimed in mock fury. "We ought to go after them and finish what they started. Right, Andros?"
Andros continued to ignore him. A moment later he felt a pebble bounce off his back, then Zhane was leaning over his shoulder, demanding in his ear, "Right, Andros?"
He shoved the Silver Ranger away with a growl and stalked away, ignoring the team's questions. Why couldn't they see it? Whether they had been the intended victims of the ambush or not, nobody laid an ambush for any good reason. Just the fact that there'd been an ambush meant something was wrong; the universe was supposed to be at peace, damn it!
He didn't want to consider that Zordon's death might have been in vain.
He didn't want to feel like more of a murderer than he already did.
Breaking into a run, he bolted into the forest which had so successfully hidden their ambushers, the startled voices of the others rapidly fading into silence.
He nearly pitched over the edge of the cliff before he saw it, saving himself by literally throwing himself to the ground, his body aching as it absorbed the momentum of his headlong run. He lay there for a moment, wheezing, staring out across the ocean without really seeing it, and only distantly concerned with the fact that he had no clue where he was.
Eventually, both his lungs and his brain started working properly again, and he sat up, brushing hair out of his eyes so he could watch a pod of dolphins-or something similar-playing in the water a short distance from the cliffs. The girls are probably worried, he thought, and the guys probably think I'm nuts. He considered a moment, then decided they all probably thought he was nuts. But they didn't really know what had happened at the end of the war. They knew Zordon had sacrificed himself...but they didn't really know. And they wouldn't understand.
How could they? He didn't understand, either.
Commotion below drew his attention outward, and he looked down to see the dolphins scattering. A second later, a serpentine head broke the surface, blood-tinged water dripping from the massive jaws in testament that at least one member of the pod hadn't been fast enough.
With a curse, Andros turned his back on the sight, only to be confronted by Zhane scrambling up the sloped path toward him.
"Damn, you don't make things easy," Zhane grumbled.
"Go away."
"What is your problem?"
"You mean besides being a murderer?"
"Are you nuts?" Zhane demanded. "You aren't a murderer, unless you bored someone to death."
"I killed Zordon."
"You did what you had to do...what Zordon wanted."
"It was all for nothing. Zordon's energy was supposed to destroy evil!" Andros exploded. "The universe was supposed to finally be at peace."
"And it is."
"But it's starting over again." Andros paced restlessly along the edge of the cliff. "The ambush..."
"So some people are still crooks. And I'm sure there are still bullies, and somewhere, someone has probably kicked a puppy by now. Big deal."
Shooting Zhane a sideways glare, Andros demanded, "How can you say that?"
"Because I don't think Zordon's intention was ever to brainwash everyone. People are still going to be people, and some of them are going to be assholes. It's sentient nature."
"But..."
"You had to do it, man."
"It didn't do any good!"
"It didn't do any good," Zhane muttered under his breath. For a moment he was quiet, then he slapped Andros on the back of the head. "You are nuts!"
Glaring at his friend and rubbing his stinging scalp, Andros said, "This isn't what was supposed to happen."
"How do you know?"
"Because Zordon sacrificing himself should have changed things."
"Did you somehow miss the Machine Empire turning to scrap?" Zhane demanded. "And the dusting of some very unpleasant monsters?"
"No." Andros glared sullenly for a moment, then turned back to the edge of the cliff and sat down, glaring at the ocean spread beneath them. It was peaceful and beautiful...and it was a lie. Just like what Zordon had told him in those last minutes.
"Hear anything from Zedd and Rita lately?"
"No."
"Divatox?"
Andros sighed in annoyance. "No."
"But you don't think those are important changes."
"They're important."
"Buuuuut...?"
"I expected-" Andros closed his eyes, suddenly tired. "More."
"You wanted the universe to be paradise." There was a moment's silence, then he heard Zhane move to sit beside him. "Maybe you just aren't realizing what you and Zordon gave us," the Silver Ranger said, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "You're so busy looking at what's still wrong, you're missing the point."
"Then what's the point?"
"For the first time in millennia-maybe the first time ever-good has the upper hand. Yeah, there are still jerks, and we Rangers are probably still needed, but maybe the worlds can make some progress now that we aren't just holding our own, you know? And even though things aren't perfect, maybe we can help make sure they never get that bad again."
"Maybe."
"Besides, it'd be boring if everyone agreed. Paradise isn't what it's cracked up to be."
Andros sighed. "Should things not being as bad really be enough, though?"
"I'll bet it was enough for Zordon. Heck, it'd probably be enough for him just knowing that Karone's okay."
Andros couldn't help a smile at that, and a lightening of his mood at the memory of finding his sister not only alive, but free of the brainwashing which had made her Astronema. "Maybe," he conceded.
Zhane elbowed him. "Wanna know just how okay she is?" he asked, and when Andros looked at him, he was leering.
"Don't you touch my sister," he warned, not entirely joking.
"Too late."
Zhane knew him too well; the Silver Ranger was on his feet and running before Andros could grab him. "I'm going to wring your neck!"
"Gotta catch me first!"
With a growl, Andros sprinted after him. The universe might not qualify as paradise, but it definitely wasn't boring.
Maybe it was enough, after all.
