Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's note: None of you see what's coming, I feel so powerful -- and so bad... This chapter's a bit longer and a lot happens in it, more than last chapter.

AH/AY: Yeah, they are in love, isn't it cute? I feel bad that I already read your new chapter before you get to read mine.

Mz. Daydream: Yup, it's her, or is it? BWAHAHAHAHA! Yes it is. But does it matter?

jenny: Imagine Ashley, then imagine Astronema, then imagine what Ashley would do with Astronema's wardrobe. There's Celestia.

Phantom Rogue: I keep telling you people that I'm updating daily, or trying to.

Enjoy all!

Chapter 4: Confession

Celestia had taken on human form. She did not want to be on her ship and knew she wouldn't be missed for a few hours at least. She had gone down to Angel Grove Park, her favorite place on Earth. She didn't know why she liked it so much, but she had decided early on in the invasion to leave it standing, she couldn't bear to let it be destroyed.

She was alone, most people having retreated to their homes after her last attack. She slowly walked along the paths, twirling a yellow daisy in her hands.

"I knew you'd come here," a voice said.

Celestia turned to find the unmorphed Red Ranger sitting on a park bench. "What do you want?" she spat.

"To talk," he said, and when he looked at her she couldn't say no. He tapped the seat next to him and she obediently sat down.

"It's not supposed to be this way," he said after a few minutes.

"What way?"

"We're not supposed to be fighting, not like this anyway."

"How should we be fighting?" Celestia asked, sincerely intrigued by the turn the conversation had taken.

"We're supposed to be on the same side, and I'm supposed to hate you and- and I don't know…."

"After all you said to me this morning, you'd hate me if we were on the same side?" Celestia asked, suddenly very happy that Dark Specter had forbidden her from ever dating a boy.

"No," Andros cried, jumping to his feet. "I changed things! Before, you were a Ranger and Karone was kidnapped and Jeff didn't have any powers and I didn't have to put up with Justin and--you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"None," Celestia said.

Andros kneeled down in front of her. "You know Jeff, the Infinity Ranger?"

"Yes."

"He's your brother. You were kidnapped when you were seven and his search for you led him to become a Ranger. Before I made a wish to change things none of that ever happened, it was my sister, Karone, who was kidnapped and turned into the princess of evil. That's how I know you can be good, because the way things used to be, you were the Yellow Ranger."

"And you hated me."

"You're not listening," Andros said, rising to his feet.

"Yes, I am. You hated me in this reality only you can remember, and now that I'm on the other side, now that I'm unavailable, you want me."

"That is not the point!"

"I know that's not what you mean to be the point, but that's the point to me." She sighed and stood. "What do you plan to do about all of this?"

"I don't know."

"I think you should tell your team, one of them will probably have an idea." With that she walked away.

"Don't you even care?"

"About what?" she asked, barely bothering to turn.

"That you were kidnapped, that you're Infinity's sister."

"Yes, but that's your problem now, isn't it?"

Andros was strangely quiet for the next few weeks, always hesitant in battle and never calling for extra practice sessions. He was always being nice to Karone, as if she would break if he wasn't careful, and avoided Jeff at all costs, including a strange incident where he ran into the girls' bathroom. Eventually his sister and best friend decided it was time to confront him about his strange behavior.

"What is going on, Andros?" Zhane asked. "You've never acted like this before."

"Nothing," Andros said, trying to leave the bridge.

"That's it," Karone said, pushing her brother back into his chair. "DECA, call the rest of the Rangers in here."

When everyone else was assembled Karone turned back to her brother. "Whatever is going on is affecting the way you lead this team and we deserve to know what it is."

Andros was silent for a minute, weighing his options, in the end he decided on the truth.

"When we first arrived on Earth, I asked DECA to let me see all of her files relating to the planet. One of them was something I had written when I was seven years old."

"But we had never even heard of Earth then," Karone said.

"Let me finish," Andros said gently. "I didn't manage to read much, I didn't even get to the part about Earth in fact, but I knew what was written was important. I had forgotten what was written in the message you see, and something about the magic that allowed it to be written wouldn't let me read it without some discomfort. In the end, I asked DECA to help me revive the memories that the message related.

"Just over twelve years ago I made a wish, a wish that changed history. Because of the gravity of the wish it turned back time, allowing me to relive my life from the moment of change rather than just giving me memories of what would have been and erasing the old ones."

"I'm confused," Justin said, "but what did you change?"

Andros sighed and turned to Karone. "In the original version of reality you were kidnapped when we were children. As far as I can tell from what's going on in this reality you became Astronema, the princess of evil."

"What!"

Andros ignored his sister's outburst and turned to Jeff. "Also in that reality, you weren't a Ranger. You never needed to become one because your sister was never kidnapped by a monster."

"Is that all?" Cassie asked, giving Jeff a chance to process.

"Not quite," Andros said. "In the original version of things Ashley was the Yellow Turbo and Space Rangers."

"So," Jeff said after a moment of shocked silence, "you're saying that because of your wish, whoever originally kidnapped Karone, kidnapped Ashley instead and Ashley has become Celestia?"

"Yes."

"How do you know Celestia is Ashley?"

"Well, she looks like the Ashley I remember, and-"

"And what?" Carlos asked.

"I think she's my Fet-na."

"What!" Jeff cried, jumping to his feet.

"The night after Karone was supposed to by kidnapped I woke up with this horrible feeling that something wasn't right, that something was lost."

"You think it was her being brainwashed, the delicate link you had with her was being broken," Phantom said.

"Yes," Andros sighed. "Every time I've faced her in battle here I can't seem to shake the feeling that I shouldn't be fighting her, that I should be protecting her."

"Was it like that before?" Jeff asked, searching for a reason not to go into over-protective big brother mode.

"No, I hated her before."

"It's the different reality," Zhane said. "There, you must have been scared of ever getting close to someone because they'd get hurt like Karone and I did. I did get hurt there, right?" Andros nodded. "Good, well, not good, but- you know what I mean! Anyway, you didn't want to get too close to her so you pushed her away. Here, you have no reason to think you'll hurt those you love and you've subconsciously been searching for her your entire life, so now that you've found her you're not willing to let a silly thing like being mortal enemies get in your way."

Everyone looked at Zhane in shocked silence.

"What? I know things!"

"Well," T.J. said, "this is confusing."

"Is there any way to return our memories of that world?" Carlos asked.

"It is highly doubtful," DECA said. "Since Andros made the wish it stands to reason that he would be the only one who remembered the way things were."

"I have a question," Karone said. "Is she worse than me?"

"What?" Andros asked.

"Is Ashley a worse evil princess than I was?"

"Yes, she is much worse. I can't believe I ever thought she was a sub par Ranger."

"We should tell her this," Zhane said. "If she knows how things could have been-"

"She'll never believe us," Cassie said, "she'll just think we're trying to trick her."

"I already told her," Andros said. He held up a hand to stop all the questions the others wanted to ask. "I'm not sure whether she believed me or was annoyed with me or both, but she didn't try to kill me."

"That's a plus," Zhane said.

"Can we make another wish?" Phantom asked.

"That's a great idea!" Carlos cried. "You can make another wish."

"How did you make the wish before?" Justin asked.

"We were on Vega Three, and there was this woman…. She said she could grant any wish."

"DECA," Karone said, "set a course for Vega Three. What are you going to wish for?"

"I don't know," Andros said. "I'll have to be more careful this time."

Author's Note: Astronema was totally evil and horrible to fight. You can pick your reason why Andros says Ashley's worse: Andros just hates fighting the women he loves, Astronema was Karovan so she still had some small connection to the family she lost, Astronema has the locket so she still thinks there's hope out there, Andros just doesn't remember things well, or anything else you can think up. Review!