Cataclysm (Tsukino Akume, Drama/Friendship)
Apparently massive sugar high not only leads to writing, but extremely emotional scenes. And I'm still trying to figure out where to go from here. Whoops? c.c;;;
Title/: Cataclysm
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Relationship/: Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, mentions of Cassie/Phantom
Rating/: K+
Warnings/: emotional trauma, mentally disturbed people, depression
Disclaimer/: If I owned the Power Rangers, this universe would exist. We would have known who the Phantom Ranger was - and it *would* have been a girl because I'm weird like that - and team snuggles would be mandatory every episode. As none of that is cannon, it's safe to assume that I don't.
Summary/: When Astronema was defeated, the Astro Rangers gave up more than their Powers. Reporters, fans, and long-lost relatives are coming out of the woodwork as the team struggles to adjust to it all. Bright Skies Universe.
Theme/: #49. Attack
Author's Notes/: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the combination of Mountain Dew Code Red and Ben&Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch is *lethal*. Also yummy. -Beams-
This ... was not where I was planning for this chapter to go. But I like it.
Love to lunaria_kitty for beta, and rosabelle for additional support. ♥
Whatever Cassie had been expecting when she, Ashley, and a reluctant T.J. teleported to Angel Grove Park - the 'neutral zone' as it had been dubbed - it wasn't this.
Rocky was whistling to himself and turning hot dogs on a grill. He glanced up as the pink sparkles cleared her vision, offering a bright smile. "Hey! I hope you guys are hungry!"
Cassie blinked.
He paused, frowning slightly. "None of you are vegetarians or anything, are you?"
"No ... " Ashley said slowly. "Um, Rocky, what are you doing?"
"Making lunch," he said cheerfully. "I thought that was obvious."
"Why?" T.J. asked warily. "I thought we were here for - "
"If you say the d-word, I'm not making you seconds," Rocky warned.
Cassie blinked again. "I'm ... sorry? I don't understand."
"This is not a 'diplomatic meeting'," he informed the grill as he turned the hotdogs again. "This is a gathering of friends to discuss a problem. We are not representatives of warring factions. So, we're having a barbeque at the lake and talking. Maybe going for a walk. The lake's pretty nice this time of year."
Cassie exchanged glances with Ashley.
T.J. seemed to be struggling for words. "Uh ... "
Rocky stopped, setting down the tongs and looking up at the three of them with a pained expression. "Zordon wouldn't have wanted that," he finished softly. For a moment his eyes seemed to water; then he blinked and went back to watching the grill.
"He's right."
Cassie glanced up to see Zack approaching them with a plate while Trini continued to set out places at the nearby picnic table. "Zordon would have hated to know any of us weren't getting along, no matter what the reason," Zack continued, looking solemn. "That's why we agreed to meet with you. Because fighting isn't what Zordon would have wanted."
The words were on the tip of her tongue, to ask how they could possibly know what Zordon had wanted, when it had been her team putting their lives on the line for the past eleven months trying to find him, her leader that had been the one to strike the final blow at Zordon's request. Her friend that had cried over what he had done, was *still* depressed and upset and hurting. How dare they bring what Zordon would have wanted into this?!
But T.J.'s hand was on her back, reminding her why they were there, and she took a deep breath instead.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" she asked instead, managing a smile that looked at least half-way sincere.
Lunch was awkward. Rocky had made a point to sit between her and T.J., forcing Ashley opposite her with Trini between Ashley and Zack. They made small talk, about the food, the nice day, Ashley's outfit. She found herself wishing she'd brought Jetson as a moodbreaker again, at the same time as she wished they'd never come at all.
What were they *doing* here? Why were they even bothering? It was obvious that no one wanted to be here. Why were they trying so hard to make peace when it was so clear that none of them were ready to make the first move?
Needless to say, she jumped when Rocky laughed abruptly.
"What is it?" T.J. asked, eyeing him warily.
Rocky shook his head, looking down at his plate with a humorless smile. "Just thinking about how ridiculous this all is. I mean, seriously. This is perfect picnic weather? Really?" He shot Ashley a look, his smile widening a little. It faded after a moment, and he sighed. "I just ... I don't know. Rangers have always been family. It was never supposed to be this hard to talk to each other."
Cassie blinked for a moment, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat as her eyes burned. "But we don't know each other," she pointed out quietly. "The only reason we know any of you is because of Justin. The six of us have never met. The only thing we have in common is that we're all Rangers."
No one missed the way Rocky flinched at Justin's name, or how Zack winced and Trini looked pained.
T.J.'s eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with Justin?" he demanded, his voice booking no room for argument.
There was a long sigh. "Justin's dad left him at the Shelter when he was eleven years old," Rocky said at last. He was still staring at his plate, and his eyes seemed haunted. "His mom had just died, and his dad bailed on him. He felt like he'd been abandoned. It took me months to get him to open up to me, to start to trust me. And then right after he became a Ranger, I started college and he was busy saving the world. I wasn't around for him anymore. The other guys were there for a few months, but then they retired and started working and trying to build their own lives outside of Rangering. Tommy was always traveling, Kat wasn't even in the country anymore. And then there was you guys, but you had to leave to go into space."
The lump in her throat was back, and she suddenly felt cold. "'I think about you guys all the time'," she murmured, remembering. "'Wonder if you're okay'." Had she actually told him they were fine?
T.J. looked like he was going to be sick. Ashley had tears in her eyes. "He thought we abandoned him too, didn't he?" she asked. She swallowed hard. "That's why he's been acting so weird."
Rocky nodded, looking sympathetic. "It's not anyone's fault," he said with surprising gentleness. "Things just happened. But to a twelve-year-old kid with abandonment issues? Yeah. He thought you did. But he's also smart enough to know it's not because you wanted to, which makes it even worse. Because his head's telling him one thing, but his heart's telling him another."
"How do you know?" T.J. asked hoarsely. Of all of them, he'd always felt the most responsible for Justin. She didn't know if it was because he'd been their leader, or because of Justin's age. While he never really talked about them very often, she knew he had a younger brother just a little older than Justin. He waved a hand vaguely. "How do you know ... any of this?"
Rocky sighed, reaching up to run a hand over his head. "Well, for one I've known Justin for about two years now," he pointed out. "But there's also the whole thing with the Zeo and Turbo Powers. I saw things in his head he didn't want me to know. I can't say much more than that because I don't want to invade Justin's privacy, but I think you guys need to understand or it'll never get any better for him. Like I said, it's not just that he's mad about being left behind. It's because he knows there was no other way it could have happened, and he can't change that. Because he *knows* he shouldn't feel the way he does. But he's still thirteen years old. He's not a kid anymore, but in some ways he is."
There was a long moment of silence before at last Trini sighed. "You have to understand something," she began slowly. "We - Zack and I that is - don't really know Justin, either. Not the way Rocky does. Not even the way Tommy, Adam, Kat, and Tanya do. But that doesn't matter. He's still a Ranger. Just like the six of you. For us, Rangers have always been family. And it's ... it's hard when we can't talk to each other anymore."
"The six of us that Zordon chose first were tight," Zack put in quietly. "When me, Trini, and Jase left the team, it changed things. So for us, knowing that we're not always there for each other is just ... wrong. We're a team. We're supposed to have each other's backs."
Cassie felt her fists clench, and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming at him. *They* hadn't been the ones to turn away from each other. Why were they lecturing *her* team, when it was the rest of them that had turned against them?
She started slightly as a hand touched hers, and looked up to see Trini watching her with a surprisingly soft expression. "Say it, Cassie," she said quietly. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not going to help any of us work this out unless you say it."
She closed her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath in an effort to calm herself down. It didn't help.
"You're always lecturing us," she said abruptly, her voice tight and full of anger. She knew she was accusing them, which was the one thing she, Ashley, and T.J. had all agreed *not* to do, but she couldn't help it. There were too many feelings bottled up inside of her screaming to get out, and she was so tired of trying to hold everything in. "You're always talking about how much Zordon means to all of you, and how important your relationship to each other is, and how much you've done, and ... and it's just - sickening!" she burst out at last. "You never stop to listen to *us*, about what *we've* been through, what *we* know. Just because you're older than us or because you were Rangers first doesn't mean anything! It just means we're different. That doesn't make you better than us!"
The sudden silence was deafening.
"You accused Andros without even asking," Ashley said suddenly, her voice barely a whisper. One of the tears she'd been fighting finally slipped free, and she brushed it away impatiently. "You never stopped to ask any of us how *he* felt about what he did. You just assumed ... " She stopped, swallowing again as her voice cracked.
"Did you know we lost the Power Chamber?" T.J. spoke up. His voice was almost casual, but his fists were clenched on top of the table. "Divatox won. We lost the Zords. We - " He stopped suddenly, shuddering, and Cassie closed her eyes, knowing what he was about to say.
"We were in the Power Chamber when the Piranatrons invaded," he managed finally, ignoring Trini's sharp gasp. "We watched them coming in. We were ... we were still inside when it exploded. I don't know how we survived but ... " He trailed off, shaking his head. "We went after Zordon because Dimitria was gone and we didn't have anyone else to tell us what to do. We tried to save him because there was nothing else left. And we found Andros, fighting alone. Zhane woke up from a coma to join us, and we still lost. *Again*." He stopped, taking another breath to try and calm himself. He was still shaking. "When Astronema asked for the Power Rangers to give themselves up, we spent an entire night trying to figure out what we were going to do. We sacrificed *everything* we had, again, to try and protect Earth. To try and save Zordon." He stopped again, and his voice came out low and harsh. "Where were you?"
Ashley was crying now, sniffling quietly. Cassie was biting her lip so hard she was surprised she wasn't bleeding yet. T.J. went silent, looking away from them all to stare into the distance. His hands were still shaking.
"I was in New York."
She looked up to see Zack watching them all, his face expressionless. "I was using a morpher that wasn't strong enough to protect me, but I used it anyway because I couldn't just stand there and watch. Trini was in London, with Kat." He gestured to her. "Kim was in France. Aisha was in Cairo." He leaned forward, staring at them intently. "We were still here. Maybe we weren't right next to you, but that doesn't mean we weren't fighting."
"Then why are we fighting with each other now?" Ashley whispered.
Silence.
"You never asked what happened, you know." Cassie wasn't sure what made her say it. She was staring at Trini, because right now she was fighting the urge to break Zack's nose and she didn't even want to know where Rocky had been anymore. Trini stared back, tears in her eyes even as her expression remained solemn. "With Andros," she clarified, and pretended not to notice Zack turning to look at her. "You never asked what he did or why. You just assumed ... " She stopped, trying not to picture Andros' expression when he'd told them that he destroyed Zordon and failed. She swallowed hard, taking a shaky breath. "This was a bad idea," she said finally, moving to stand. "We shouldn't have come."
Rocky caught her arm. "Cassie - "
She told herself later it was reflex, but deep down she knew she was lying. The moment his hand touched her, something inside of her snapped. The feeling of his jaw beneath her fist was satisfying in a way ranting at Trini or punching the wall in the Glider Bay would never be.
The sob that broke out was unexpected, though.
Ashley was beside her before she even registered the other girl moving, arms around her shoulders and hugging tightly. She could hear Ashley whispering in her ear, trying to calm her down, but she didn't remember burying her face against her shoulder and trying to breathe. Her chest felt tight, and her head was screaming and everything was wrong and she just wanted it to stop. She wanted to be an ordinary teenager who'd never had to save the world, never had to watch her brother turn away from her, never had to explain to her family why she didn't hate them. Never had to see one of her best friends, someone she saw as family, break down in tears because he'd been forced to destroy his own friend. She wanted to be someone who'd never seen the stars, only to be trapped on Earth with people who hated her for not doing enough or wanted to know all her secrets or didn't want to know her at all.
"I'm so tired," she choked out. "I'm so tired, Ash."
"I know." The other girl's voice was full of tears, and she could feel a hand stroking her hair. "I know."
Dimly she thought she heard the sound of voices, but they weren't the people who mattered and she didn't care what they had to say anymore. She knew Ashley was holding her, and that at one point T.J.'s hand was on her shoulder, and then she could feel the tingling sensation that came with teleporting. There were more voices, people who mattered now, and she could hear Zhane murmuring that everything would be okay, and Carlos trying to tell her not to cry, and Andros asking if she needed anything. She vaguely remembered Karone's arm around her, helping her walk, and the sound of her and Ashley talking softly above her head as she fell asleep.
But it didn't matter if she knew what they were saying now. They were there, and she knew she was safe.
Title/: Cataclysm
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Relationship/: Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, mentions of Cassie/Phantom
Rating/: K+
Warnings/: emotional trauma, mentally disturbed people, depression
Disclaimer/: If I owned the Power Rangers, this universe would exist. We would have known who the Phantom Ranger was - and it *would* have been a girl because I'm weird like that - and team snuggles would be mandatory every episode. As none of that is cannon, it's safe to assume that I don't.
Summary/: When Astronema was defeated, the Astro Rangers gave up more than their Powers. Reporters, fans, and long-lost relatives are coming out of the woodwork as the team struggles to adjust to it all. Bright Skies Universe.
Theme/: #49. Attack
Author's Notes/: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the combination of Mountain Dew Code Red and Ben&Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch is *lethal*. Also yummy. -Beams-
This ... was not where I was planning for this chapter to go. But I like it.
Love to lunaria_kitty for beta, and rosabelle for additional support. ♥
Whatever Cassie had been expecting when she, Ashley, and a reluctant T.J. teleported to Angel Grove Park - the 'neutral zone' as it had been dubbed - it wasn't this.
Rocky was whistling to himself and turning hot dogs on a grill. He glanced up as the pink sparkles cleared her vision, offering a bright smile. "Hey! I hope you guys are hungry!"
Cassie blinked.
He paused, frowning slightly. "None of you are vegetarians or anything, are you?"
"No ... " Ashley said slowly. "Um, Rocky, what are you doing?"
"Making lunch," he said cheerfully. "I thought that was obvious."
"Why?" T.J. asked warily. "I thought we were here for - "
"If you say the d-word, I'm not making you seconds," Rocky warned.
Cassie blinked again. "I'm ... sorry? I don't understand."
"This is not a 'diplomatic meeting'," he informed the grill as he turned the hotdogs again. "This is a gathering of friends to discuss a problem. We are not representatives of warring factions. So, we're having a barbeque at the lake and talking. Maybe going for a walk. The lake's pretty nice this time of year."
Cassie exchanged glances with Ashley.
T.J. seemed to be struggling for words. "Uh ... "
Rocky stopped, setting down the tongs and looking up at the three of them with a pained expression. "Zordon wouldn't have wanted that," he finished softly. For a moment his eyes seemed to water; then he blinked and went back to watching the grill.
"He's right."
Cassie glanced up to see Zack approaching them with a plate while Trini continued to set out places at the nearby picnic table. "Zordon would have hated to know any of us weren't getting along, no matter what the reason," Zack continued, looking solemn. "That's why we agreed to meet with you. Because fighting isn't what Zordon would have wanted."
The words were on the tip of her tongue, to ask how they could possibly know what Zordon had wanted, when it had been her team putting their lives on the line for the past eleven months trying to find him, her leader that had been the one to strike the final blow at Zordon's request. Her friend that had cried over what he had done, was *still* depressed and upset and hurting. How dare they bring what Zordon would have wanted into this?!
But T.J.'s hand was on her back, reminding her why they were there, and she took a deep breath instead.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" she asked instead, managing a smile that looked at least half-way sincere.
Lunch was awkward. Rocky had made a point to sit between her and T.J., forcing Ashley opposite her with Trini between Ashley and Zack. They made small talk, about the food, the nice day, Ashley's outfit. She found herself wishing she'd brought Jetson as a moodbreaker again, at the same time as she wished they'd never come at all.
What were they *doing* here? Why were they even bothering? It was obvious that no one wanted to be here. Why were they trying so hard to make peace when it was so clear that none of them were ready to make the first move?
Needless to say, she jumped when Rocky laughed abruptly.
"What is it?" T.J. asked, eyeing him warily.
Rocky shook his head, looking down at his plate with a humorless smile. "Just thinking about how ridiculous this all is. I mean, seriously. This is perfect picnic weather? Really?" He shot Ashley a look, his smile widening a little. It faded after a moment, and he sighed. "I just ... I don't know. Rangers have always been family. It was never supposed to be this hard to talk to each other."
Cassie blinked for a moment, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat as her eyes burned. "But we don't know each other," she pointed out quietly. "The only reason we know any of you is because of Justin. The six of us have never met. The only thing we have in common is that we're all Rangers."
No one missed the way Rocky flinched at Justin's name, or how Zack winced and Trini looked pained.
T.J.'s eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with Justin?" he demanded, his voice booking no room for argument.
There was a long sigh. "Justin's dad left him at the Shelter when he was eleven years old," Rocky said at last. He was still staring at his plate, and his eyes seemed haunted. "His mom had just died, and his dad bailed on him. He felt like he'd been abandoned. It took me months to get him to open up to me, to start to trust me. And then right after he became a Ranger, I started college and he was busy saving the world. I wasn't around for him anymore. The other guys were there for a few months, but then they retired and started working and trying to build their own lives outside of Rangering. Tommy was always traveling, Kat wasn't even in the country anymore. And then there was you guys, but you had to leave to go into space."
The lump in her throat was back, and she suddenly felt cold. "'I think about you guys all the time'," she murmured, remembering. "'Wonder if you're okay'." Had she actually told him they were fine?
T.J. looked like he was going to be sick. Ashley had tears in her eyes. "He thought we abandoned him too, didn't he?" she asked. She swallowed hard. "That's why he's been acting so weird."
Rocky nodded, looking sympathetic. "It's not anyone's fault," he said with surprising gentleness. "Things just happened. But to a twelve-year-old kid with abandonment issues? Yeah. He thought you did. But he's also smart enough to know it's not because you wanted to, which makes it even worse. Because his head's telling him one thing, but his heart's telling him another."
"How do you know?" T.J. asked hoarsely. Of all of them, he'd always felt the most responsible for Justin. She didn't know if it was because he'd been their leader, or because of Justin's age. While he never really talked about them very often, she knew he had a younger brother just a little older than Justin. He waved a hand vaguely. "How do you know ... any of this?"
Rocky sighed, reaching up to run a hand over his head. "Well, for one I've known Justin for about two years now," he pointed out. "But there's also the whole thing with the Zeo and Turbo Powers. I saw things in his head he didn't want me to know. I can't say much more than that because I don't want to invade Justin's privacy, but I think you guys need to understand or it'll never get any better for him. Like I said, it's not just that he's mad about being left behind. It's because he knows there was no other way it could have happened, and he can't change that. Because he *knows* he shouldn't feel the way he does. But he's still thirteen years old. He's not a kid anymore, but in some ways he is."
There was a long moment of silence before at last Trini sighed. "You have to understand something," she began slowly. "We - Zack and I that is - don't really know Justin, either. Not the way Rocky does. Not even the way Tommy, Adam, Kat, and Tanya do. But that doesn't matter. He's still a Ranger. Just like the six of you. For us, Rangers have always been family. And it's ... it's hard when we can't talk to each other anymore."
"The six of us that Zordon chose first were tight," Zack put in quietly. "When me, Trini, and Jase left the team, it changed things. So for us, knowing that we're not always there for each other is just ... wrong. We're a team. We're supposed to have each other's backs."
Cassie felt her fists clench, and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming at him. *They* hadn't been the ones to turn away from each other. Why were they lecturing *her* team, when it was the rest of them that had turned against them?
She started slightly as a hand touched hers, and looked up to see Trini watching her with a surprisingly soft expression. "Say it, Cassie," she said quietly. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not going to help any of us work this out unless you say it."
She closed her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath in an effort to calm herself down. It didn't help.
"You're always lecturing us," she said abruptly, her voice tight and full of anger. She knew she was accusing them, which was the one thing she, Ashley, and T.J. had all agreed *not* to do, but she couldn't help it. There were too many feelings bottled up inside of her screaming to get out, and she was so tired of trying to hold everything in. "You're always talking about how much Zordon means to all of you, and how important your relationship to each other is, and how much you've done, and ... and it's just - sickening!" she burst out at last. "You never stop to listen to *us*, about what *we've* been through, what *we* know. Just because you're older than us or because you were Rangers first doesn't mean anything! It just means we're different. That doesn't make you better than us!"
The sudden silence was deafening.
"You accused Andros without even asking," Ashley said suddenly, her voice barely a whisper. One of the tears she'd been fighting finally slipped free, and she brushed it away impatiently. "You never stopped to ask any of us how *he* felt about what he did. You just assumed ... " She stopped, swallowing again as her voice cracked.
"Did you know we lost the Power Chamber?" T.J. spoke up. His voice was almost casual, but his fists were clenched on top of the table. "Divatox won. We lost the Zords. We - " He stopped suddenly, shuddering, and Cassie closed her eyes, knowing what he was about to say.
"We were in the Power Chamber when the Piranatrons invaded," he managed finally, ignoring Trini's sharp gasp. "We watched them coming in. We were ... we were still inside when it exploded. I don't know how we survived but ... " He trailed off, shaking his head. "We went after Zordon because Dimitria was gone and we didn't have anyone else to tell us what to do. We tried to save him because there was nothing else left. And we found Andros, fighting alone. Zhane woke up from a coma to join us, and we still lost. *Again*." He stopped, taking another breath to try and calm himself. He was still shaking. "When Astronema asked for the Power Rangers to give themselves up, we spent an entire night trying to figure out what we were going to do. We sacrificed *everything* we had, again, to try and protect Earth. To try and save Zordon." He stopped again, and his voice came out low and harsh. "Where were you?"
Ashley was crying now, sniffling quietly. Cassie was biting her lip so hard she was surprised she wasn't bleeding yet. T.J. went silent, looking away from them all to stare into the distance. His hands were still shaking.
"I was in New York."
She looked up to see Zack watching them all, his face expressionless. "I was using a morpher that wasn't strong enough to protect me, but I used it anyway because I couldn't just stand there and watch. Trini was in London, with Kat." He gestured to her. "Kim was in France. Aisha was in Cairo." He leaned forward, staring at them intently. "We were still here. Maybe we weren't right next to you, but that doesn't mean we weren't fighting."
"Then why are we fighting with each other now?" Ashley whispered.
Silence.
"You never asked what happened, you know." Cassie wasn't sure what made her say it. She was staring at Trini, because right now she was fighting the urge to break Zack's nose and she didn't even want to know where Rocky had been anymore. Trini stared back, tears in her eyes even as her expression remained solemn. "With Andros," she clarified, and pretended not to notice Zack turning to look at her. "You never asked what he did or why. You just assumed ... " She stopped, trying not to picture Andros' expression when he'd told them that he destroyed Zordon and failed. She swallowed hard, taking a shaky breath. "This was a bad idea," she said finally, moving to stand. "We shouldn't have come."
Rocky caught her arm. "Cassie - "
She told herself later it was reflex, but deep down she knew she was lying. The moment his hand touched her, something inside of her snapped. The feeling of his jaw beneath her fist was satisfying in a way ranting at Trini or punching the wall in the Glider Bay would never be.
The sob that broke out was unexpected, though.
Ashley was beside her before she even registered the other girl moving, arms around her shoulders and hugging tightly. She could hear Ashley whispering in her ear, trying to calm her down, but she didn't remember burying her face against her shoulder and trying to breathe. Her chest felt tight, and her head was screaming and everything was wrong and she just wanted it to stop. She wanted to be an ordinary teenager who'd never had to save the world, never had to watch her brother turn away from her, never had to explain to her family why she didn't hate them. Never had to see one of her best friends, someone she saw as family, break down in tears because he'd been forced to destroy his own friend. She wanted to be someone who'd never seen the stars, only to be trapped on Earth with people who hated her for not doing enough or wanted to know all her secrets or didn't want to know her at all.
"I'm so tired," she choked out. "I'm so tired, Ash."
"I know." The other girl's voice was full of tears, and she could feel a hand stroking her hair. "I know."
Dimly she thought she heard the sound of voices, but they weren't the people who mattered and she didn't care what they had to say anymore. She knew Ashley was holding her, and that at one point T.J.'s hand was on her shoulder, and then she could feel the tingling sensation that came with teleporting. There were more voices, people who mattered now, and she could hear Zhane murmuring that everything would be okay, and Carlos trying to tell her not to cry, and Andros asking if she needed anything. She vaguely remembered Karone's arm around her, helping her walk, and the sound of her and Ashley talking softly above her head as she fell asleep.
But it didn't matter if she knew what they were saying now. They were there, and she knew she was safe.