Disclaimer: Not mine

Juzblue: Yay, I fooled someone! Will Ashley die again? Not telling. :P

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I do tell you a lot of things that turn out to not be true. But you still believe it all. :P

DizneeDol: I fooled someone else! Sorry for the long wait. I had no idea what to do next, and then my computer died on me.. :P

Jenny: Okay, so after I finish this story, Mirror, Mirror, Follow the Stars and our co-write you're going to kill me:( But I've got another really, really good story that I wanna write! Can you wait until I finish that one? Then we'll 'talk.' But it's a really, really good story, and you can't kill me until I finish it. Okay? Good. :P

the-power-of-love: Thanks, here's more. :P

JakiBlue: Thanks. So you got the rest of the story now? There were a few chapters in there that wouldn't have made much sense until the last one... Yeah, Aria did give Andros a little hint there. :P

Piper xox Leo: Andros' nightmares were real life, and then Aria, with a little help, turned back time seven years to redo everything that went wrong. The dreams was Andros remembering some of the stuff that happened in those seven years, because Aria didn't exactly tell him that she was bringing him back in time with her. :P

GreenDayfan1: It's okay, don't worry about it. Of course I'm going to have fun with the cliffies. :P

Ghostwriter: Thanks. I didn't finish Twist of Fate that long ago, I don't think. Glad you like it. :P

Chapter 20: The Past Can Be Changed

"Rangers to the bridge," Deca announced. Andros stared at her eye blankly for several seconds before he obeyed numbly. He didn't much care what happened now, as long as he could keep Ashley alive.

Ashley was already on the bridge when he arrived, and wordlessly, he wrapped his arms around her, feeling tears stinging his eyes, tears that he didn't dare shed. Ashley let him hold her, silently asking him what was wrong, and receiving no answer.

"Andros," Aria said gently. Andros tightened his grip on Ashley and ignored his sister until the remaining rangers had arrived. Then only reluctantly did he let go of her, and kept one arm securely around her waist.

"What's going on?" Zhane asked, glancing at Andros and Ashley out of the corner of his eye. Aria met Zhane's eye warningly, and shook her head slightly. He shrugged, and let her speak.

"Deca has picked up Samael's signal," she said, sounding as calm as she always was, only the constant motion of her hands and the glances she kept shooting at Andros betraying her uneasiness. "He is heading to Onyx."

"Why Onyx?" Gabriel asked.

"He's got both an army and a power source there," Aria said. "The more he kills, the stronger he grows. Half of Onyx will fight him, the other, weaker half will join him."

"So we're supposed to fight both Samael and Onyx?" Justin said. "How the hell do we do that?"

Aria hesitated. "I don't know."

"How can you not know?" Andros narrowed his eyes at his sister, who stared back at him cooly.

"Samael also wishes to make some changes," she responded after a long pause. Aria sighed, and continued, "We'll go to Onyx."

"So we can all die?" Andros challenged. He saw the eyes of the other rangers widen slightly, and Ashley gave him a long, searching look. He looked away, and saw that Cathan had narrowed his eyes at Aria. She shrugged.

"There is never any guarantee that we will all live," she reminded them all quietly. "There never was. Deca, set a course for Onyx."

"Aria, may I speak with you alone?" Cathan asked quietly.

"Fine," Aria agreed heavily. On her way out of the bridge, she caught Andros by the elbow. "You come too."

"Have you done what I think you have?" Cathan demanded of her, and Aria's eyes narrowed.

"He guessed," she said coldly. "You were the one who didn't bother to alter his memory."

"No one else has remembered."

"No one else was alive."

"Stop it," Andros snapped, glaring at them both. "Just stop it. I don't want to hear this. I want to know why you didn't think I needed to know that Ashley died, that she was going to die."

Cathan sighed. "The first time around, I made many mistakes. This team ran itself the way it did when you were the Astro Rangers, but you - we all forgot to take into account that things had changed. This was a different enemy, and the team itself was greatly changed."

"Tell me what happened," Andros said, glaring at Cathan now. "I'm not letting her die."

"Neither am I." Aria spoke very quietly, but her voice carried to them both. "I am letting no one die this time, at least not before me."

The determination in her tone calmed Andros enough for the anger to melt away and reveal the terrible sadness that it had been masking. He closed his eyes and tried not to see Ashley lying so cold and still.

"Please, just tell me something."

Cathan looked at Aria, who shrugged. He sighed, and said, "Last time, I did not do what I should have done. I did not fight with you, as was needed."

"You're the eighth ranger?" Andros narrowed his eyes at Cathan. "Doesn't that make you the -"

"The Light?" Cathan smiled bitterly, and gestured to his black clothing. "I suppose it does, but I have always identified more with the darkness than the light."

"Who are you?"

Cathan looked startled. "What do you mean?"

"Why do I know you?" Andros met Cathan's anxious gray eyes with his hazel ones, and held the gaze until Cathan looked away. Aria was avoiding both their eyes, offering neither one of them anything.

"Because we have fought together," Cathan said finally. Andros exhaled, and this time, his anger was anger in its own right, anger at being abandoned by one of their own.

"Why-"

"Why didn't I tell you?" Cathan finished for him. His eyes flickered to Aria. "I am not sure."

Andros waited for Aria to say something, but his sister kept quiet for once. "What happens now?"

"We go to Onyx," Aria said. "I'll go down alone, and assess the situation. If we need to fight, then I'll call for you."

"You are not going down alone," Andros and Cathan said together. Aria glared at them both.

"If I say I'm going down there alone, then I'm going down there alone."

"Please, Aria."

The white ranger gave Cathan a long look, and groaned. "Fine."

"You won't be morphed, will you?" Andros asked.

Aria paused to think about it, and a slight hint of a smile formed on her face. "I've got a better idea."

"This will be our last battle," Cathan said, and Aria's smile vanished. Andros looked at him, his face hardening.

"So if Ashley survives this, then she'll be safe?"

"As far as I can tell," Aria said. "If it helps any, she should have died two days ago. The past can be changed, no matter what anyone says."

"I can't lose her, Aria."

"I know," she said softly. "Deca, have the others meet us on the Simudeck."