A quick note: most of this story is set in the DT era with mentions of things that happened before that in the timeline. The story deals with two worlds. One world is the cannon universe, the other is an alternate universe where Tommy defeated the other Rangers and went on to become Prince of Evil. This prologue is set at around the time of Green with Evil to explain how the differences between the two worlds began.

This story will contain slash. It's a Jason/Tommy fic. There will also be mentions of Kira/Tori later. There will also be talk of torture, character death and other nastiness. This is Tommy with several years practice being evil! It's not going to be pleasant.

Prologue Part 1: Alone in Darkness

Jason sat alone in the corner of the cell. There was such feeble light that he could barely see his hand when he held it in front of his face. He hugged his legs to himself in an effort to keep warm, but it didn't stop him shivering on the cold, stone floor.

His entire body hurt to varying degrees. Mostly it was just aches, but there were harsher pains where Green Ranger had struck him with the sword of darkness.

He could have killed him. Jason had watched him strike down the other Rangers, watched their powers give out under the assault. He'd watched as Green Ranger stole their power coins and used his sword to destroy them. He'd watched as Green Ranger blasted the town hall into fragments, saying that Angel Grove would have no need to govern itself in the future.

But with all that strength, Green Ranger had let him live and brought him here.

Why?

The Rangers had lost their powers; they were no threat to Rita or anyone anymore. They'd been unable to stop the latest wave of monsters that had subdued their city and then moved on to the rest of the world. Was it just to gloat? Was it so that Rita and Green Ranger could brag about their victory? Was it so they could kill him more slowly?

There was a noise in the darkness.

"Who's there?" Jason asked. He got to his feet, ready to fight if necessary.

"Jason?" a voice asked. Jason recognised it and struggled briefly to work out who it was.

"Tommy?"

Prologue Part 2: Together in Darkness

Tommy had been crying since Green Ranger had sent him back to the cell. Jason didn't ask what had been done to him. Whatever it was must have been worse than the usual beatings.

Maybe Green Ranger had a new form of torture prepared. If so, it wouldn't be long before Jason learned all about it.

For now, he just hugged Tommy close and waited. He'd never figured out why Green Ranger would keep Tommy as a prisoner, or why he'd let the two of them comfort each other. He couldn't help feeling that it was all part of some greater, evil scheme, but still he held onto Tommy's presence like a drowning man clinging to a rope. He didn't think he'd have coped so long without Tommy and he knew the other teen felt the same.

"Thank you," Tommy said after a while, "for being here."

"I'm not going anywhere," Jason answered. Even if they weren't trapped in a doorless cell, he wouldn't leave Tommy like this.

Tommy shifted. In the gloom, Jason could just about make out Tommy's face in front of his. Then Tommy leant in and kissed him.

Prologue Part 3: Together in Lies

Jason had been hurt badly in the last session with Green Ranger. Tommy comforted him with kisses and gentle touches tracing over his skin. In the dark cell, on the stone floor, Jason had given himself to Tommy.

Afterwards, as they lay naked and shivering in each other's arms, Jason whispered in Tommy's ear, "I love you."

The post-orgasm haze was broken instantly. Tommy tensed and then pulled away from Jason. Unable to comprehend what had just gone wrong, Jason sat up, reaching out but finding empty air where Tommy had been. It was too dark to even make out his shape.

"No, you don't," Tommy said. There was a strain in his voice.

"Yes, I do," Jason answered. "I don't know what I'd have done without you here. You've been a friend and a comfort and you've helped me through this hell. I love you, Tommy."

"You don't even know me."

"I know enough."

"You don't know what I've done. Without me, you wouldn't even be here!"

Then Jason did see something in the darkness. He saw two points of green light that flashed for a moment and gave a frail illumination to the face that held them. Tommy's eyes glowed green.

"I'm the reason all this is happening!"

And then Tommy had vanished in a green flash of teleportation.

Prologue Part 4: Alone in Truth

Jason couldn't believe it. This was some new trick, some way for Green Ranger to torture him. There wasn't the slightest chance the Tommy could really be...

Tommy had been so kind and gentle with him in the lonely cell. Green Ranger had been brutal. There was no way the two could be the same.

He huddled against the wall of the cell, having found his clothes and pulled them on. No sense lying here naked. Now he just waited because sooner or later either Green Ranger or Tommy would appear and then he'd be able to find out. One way or the other.

An explosion shook the entire cell. Jason flung himself sideways, wrapping his arms around his head to protect it as rock and fire fell around him. When the noise and the vibrations had stopped, he pulled himself to his feet, blinking at the sudden brightness of a hole. A way out. A way into stone corridors beneath Rita's palace, but still a way out of the cell.

He ran, wondering how this had happened, wondering if the other former Rangers were somehow alive and had managed to orchestrate a rescue.

The floor beneath him shook again as another explosion happened somewhere in the palace. Jason kept running. He wasn't sure quite where to, but he wasn't going to stop now.

A figure emerged from a doorway in front of him. The dark, monkey-like face rose from gold armour and the familiar monster barred his way, holding up a sword.

"You won't escape so easily, powerless Ranger," Goldar said.

Jason dodged the first swing of the sword, but Goldar struck him with a punch that sent him spinning down the corridor to land painfully on the floor. He just made out a pair of feet arriving between Goldar and his victim and a voice commanded, "You won't hurt him again."

Prologue Part 5: Alone no More

Jason's realisation on waking up was that he was warm. The second that he was lying somewhere soft. The third that there was daylight visible through his eyelids.

He opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital room. Trini was sat by the bedside, smiling down on him when she saw he was awake. She told him that they'd been taking turns to sit by him since he'd been brought here. By Tommy.

As the rest of the gang arrived, they asked him what had happened to him. They wanted to know how he and Tommy had escaped from Rita's prison. They wanted to know how it came to be that Rita was dead and the earth was free again.

Jason told them he didn't know. He told them about being trapped in the cell with Tommy but he didn't say what had happened between them. He didn't tell them about the bond that had formed between them or Tommy's startling revelation. He told them about the explosions and confronting Goldar and said that was as much as he remembered. He didn't tell them that Green Ranger had stood in front of him and acted as his defender.

He told them he needed to speak to Tommy alone and they fetched him.

Tommy looked pale and tired. His hair had gotten quite a bit longer since the last time Jason had had enough light to see him and it was now tied back in a ponytail. He sat by Jason's bed and said nothing.

"Why did you save me?" Jason asked.

"Because I love you," Tommy answered. "When you said those words, I knew you didn't mean them, couldn't mean them, because the person you thought you loved was just an act. But I wanted them to be true so badly. I wanted to be someone you could say that to without it just being a lie. I wanted so much to be the person I pretended to be, the person I used to be, that it broke Rita's hold over me."

"You killed Rita?"

"Yes. Goldar and some of her monsters got away but Rita's dead. The earth is free." Tommy stood he didn't meet Jason's eye. "After all I've done, I understand if you never want to see me again."

Jason looked up and saw someone who had risked everything in turning against his mistress. Tommy had had the world at his feet and he'd lain it aside, for Jason.

"Tommy," he said, "I love you."

Prologue Part 6: Green Ranger's Return

When the ship first appeared and the moon palace was rebuilt, people assumed it was Rita, that she hadn't really been destroyed. Then Lord Zedd made his announcement, broadcasting to every TV and radio in the world that Dark Spectre, supreme ruler of evil, demanded that the earth surrender Green Ranger. Lord Zedd would take Green Ranger to pay the penalty for his betrayal and the death of Rita, or the earth would be destroyed.

"We have to do something," said Trini.

"We have lost are metamorphosis capabilities," said Billy, "and our endeavours would be sure to be ineffective against any such armada of monsters as Lord Zedd is capable of producing."

"Without our powers," said Kimberly, "he's sure to beat us."

"Precisely," was Billy's response.

"We can't just sit here and wait for the earth to be destroyed," said Zack, "It may be a hopeless cause, but we've got to try and fight anyway."

"Or we give him what he wants," said Tommy. He was sitting with the others in the youth centre. He'd been accepted into the group after his apparent escape with Jason. Neither of them had said what had really happened, but the others all knew that Tommy was now aware of their identities as former Rangers.

"Like that's going to happen," Zack said, "No one's seen the Green Ranger since Rita was defeated. Even if we do find him, somehow, we've got no chance to beating him without our powers."

"Maybe you won't have to beat him," Tommy said.

"Tommy, no," was all Jason said. But Tommy was already standing and turning towards the door. Jason caught his wrist and said, "Don't."

"I have to. You wouldn't even be in this situation if it weren't for me."

"What are you talking about?" asked Trini.

Tommy hesitated, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a large, gold coin. He showed it to the group and they understood, staring at the thing in horror and amazement.

"You don't have to find the Green Ranger," Tommy said, "because he's been right here all along." And then he turned and walked away. Jason found himself the focus of the other's stares.

"You knew!" said Zack, "Everything that bastard did and you'd sit there holding his hand! All this time, the guy we've hated, the guy who killed Zordon, was right by our side. And you said nothing."

Jason didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to respond, how to make them believe that it wasn't really Tommy. That the real Tommy, the guy he loved, had just walked out the door to hand himself over to Zedd.