He watched the flames leap and flicker from one side of the fire to the other, more luminous with every passing moment. He had caught the subtle dimming of light as the lower edge of the sun's disc sank below the rim of the world, and he knew that twilight would soon be on them.

Cassie's homeworld turned faster than the planet on which he had been raised, and even there, dusk came and went quickly. Elisia's unending deserts met the sky in almost every direction, and once the sun began to disappear, the light did not linger long.

Here, with the sun setting over an alien ocean, the effect was similar. Except that nowhere on Elisia was there a body of water to rival this one, and he couldn't help feeling awed by the sight.

Whenever he could do so without being noticed, he turned his gaze away from the flames and looked out at the seemingly infinite expanse of ocean. Cassie had almost caught him staring when they first teleported down--her reminder to sit down had broken the spell, and he had turned away from the view and taken his place at her side.

She had tried to explain to him the principles of "marshmallow toasting", but he had been too easily distracted. Finally, she had taken his stick away, and he was grateful. He seemed to have no talent for the activity.

Now he shot covert glances at the ocean, its muted roar and ceaseless waves a wonder in and of themselves, and used the time in between to watch the others gathered around the campfire.

The initial push to make these "s'mores" seemed to have tapered off. He had eaten one, which as far as he was concerned fulfilled his social obligation to the event, and he was perfectly willing to forgo any repetitions of the experience.

The others had continued making them for a while longer, though apparently eating the ingredients separately also constituted "making a s'more". TJ and Carlos had fallen unusually quiet, once Ashley had stopped arguing with TJ about his habit of catching the marshmallows on fire. Carlos was poking at the fire, while beside him Ashley now occupied herself by playing with Andros' locket.

She had asked to see the necklace several minutes ago, and he had given it to her without question. Kerone had watched, and when Ashley looked up and asked if hers was exactly the same, the sorceress had handed hers over as well.

He had stared at her for some time after that, surprised by the act of trust and wondering if perhaps he had been wrong about her. His instinctive suspicion regarding the princess of evil was starting to fade a little--Cassie had trusted her ever since she found out that it was Astronema who helped him break the evilyzer spell, and he could see for himself that Zhane and Andros trusted her.

Ashley returned the necklace after a careful inspection, and Zhane had intercepted it. Kerone stiffened, but he only offered to fasten the clasp for her. Unlike Andros', her locket no longer hung on its original chain, and the new one wasn't long enough to slip over her head.

Again to his surprise, Kerone accepted Zhane's gesture. He supposed the fact that she seemed partial to Zhane wasn't necessarily a point in her favor, but it probably did mean that she was less likely to turn on them.

"Hey," Cassie murmured, leaning against his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"

He smiled, shooting another quick glance toward the ocean. "I have never seen so much water so close," he admitted quietly, and she turned her head to smile up at him. It might not have been *exactly* what was on his mind, but it hadn't been far from his thoughts all evening.

"Want to see it closer?" she offered.

"Could I?" He looked down the sandy shore of the small cove in which their campfire burned. "I would like that."

"Here here," TJ agreed, overhearing their conversation. "I'm going to go wash some of this sugar off my hands."

"Coming with you," Carlos said, setting down the stick he had been using to poke the fire.

Cassie just smiled indulgently, shifting a little as she prepared to stand up. She reached out to take his hand, and her fingers brushed the corner of his overshirt. He was glad she had made him bring it--as the sun sank, a seabreeze had sprung up, and he knew the air would feel chilly to his skin.

"What's this?" Cassie asked curiously. Before he knew what she meant, she had slid Carlos' old communicator out of his pocket.

"Zhane thought I should have some way to contact the rest of you," he said, glancing over at the Silver Ranger.

"I told him he could use it," Carlos added, already on his feet.

Cassie climbed to her feet, shaking her head as he stood as well. "Silly," she said with a smile, reaching for his hand again. "You're supposed to wear it on your wrist!"

He held his arm out patiently while she fastened the black and gold band around his left wrist, watching as she closed the clasp. The small mechanism had baffled him at first, and rather than taking the time to bother with it, he had simply put it in his pocket.

"There," Cassie said, twining her fingers through his and holding their clasped hands up for his inspection. "What do you think?"

She must have seen him glance at her morpher, for she held her right hand out in front of her as well. Her morpher was currently pretending to be a gold wristband, just like his except for the color of the stripes.

He smiled, catching her eye. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled back and let her right hand fall.

"Kerone," she added, turning back toward the fire. "If you want, you can wear my old communicator. I'll give it to you when we get back to the Megaship--it's not quite purple, but it's close."

Zhane laughed, displaying his own red-banded communicator. "Mine's not silver, but I like it." He caught Andros' eye, and they grinned at each other.

"Thank you," Kerone said, looking from Zhane to Cassie.

"Welcome," Cassie said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

Then she stepped out of her sandals and nudged them off to one side with her foot. "Let's go see the water," she declared, squeezing his hand.

***

As the others left, Ashley glanced back down at the locket in her hand. The sun was more than half gone, and the firelight caught the edges of the etched patterns and made them sparkle. Two young faces looked up at her from the pictures in that locket, and one of them was a face she knew very well--better than she should, in fact.

"Andros?" she asked finally. It was something she had wondered about for several days now, and she knew it would keep bothering her if she didn't ask. "You know when the Megaship went through that gateway?"

Andros nodded, and though she didn't look at him, she could feel his eyes on her.

"You said that... everyone got switched with their counterparts in that other dimension."

"Everyone who was awake," he said, his voice tinged with quiet amusement. "You and Carlos didn't, and Zhane says he doesn't remember *anything* from hypersleep."

Ashley was silent for a moment. Maybe it *was* crazy. If they had been switched with their doubles anyway, wouldn't Carlos and Zhane remember something too? Wouldn't *she* remember it in something more than dreams?

"Ash?" Andros prompted gently.

She sighed. "I don't know. I guess I was just wondering if we could have been in that other dimension too, without knowing it."

Andros didn't answer that right away. "Why?" he asked at last.

She looked up. Zhane was listening idly, and Andros' expression was curious. Kerone was watching Ashley's fingers fidget with the locket.

She sighed. "This is going to sound crazy."

"That's nothing new," Zhane joked, and she smiled a little.

"I've been having these dreams," she said, looking over at Andros. He didn't laugh, and Zhane made no further comment. "I see you, when you were younger. Sometimes at school, sometimes at the beach, sometimes places I don't remember when I wake up--but I always recognize them in the dream, and I'm always with you."

He shook his head slowly. "We weren't together," he said quietly. "In the other dimension, you weren't with me."

"You said you saw KO-35," she said, remembering her attempts to corner him about who he had been in that other dimension. He had never seemed to want to talk about it, and he had not told her much.

"Yeah," he said, swallowing. Glancing around, he added, "Zhane was there, and Kerone. We were all on KO-35 during Ranger training."

Catching her eye again, he continued, "It was like a dream. But the whole time, I had this sense of something missing. And when we came out of the gateway in our own dimension, I knew what it was--you weren't there.

"So," he said, trying to smile. "You couldn't be remembering the gateway trip, because if you were you would have been on KO-35 in my vision too."

"Another dimension," Kerone said softly, and Ashley glanced at her. She lifted her chin and straightened when Andros and Zhane turned to look at her too. In a stronger voice, she continued, "A ship that attempts to leave a gateway without the appropriate programming would rarely hit only one alternate dimension on its way out. It is entirely possible that you are remembering a different reality than Andros."

"How do you know about gateways?" Zhane asked, and she gave him an impatient look that Ashley recognized instantly.

She had to stifle a giggle at Zhane's startled expression--he must have identified it just as quickly. Kerone was staring at him with the same Look that Andros gave someone when he was particularly disgusted with something they had said or done.

"The Dark Fortress wasn't my first command," she said, as though he should have known that. "And before I was old enough, I watched Ecliptor. I probably know more about space travel than *you* do."

Zhane looked indignant, but Andros surprised them all by laughing. "You probably do," he agreed. "You'll have to teach us. So you think Ash might actually have seen this stuff?"

With a last look at Zhane, Kerone shrugged. "I would have expected time to be more of a constant than that--I'm surprised you were younger in this other dimension, but I don't doubt that it could exist."

Ashley frowned a little. "I wasn't younger," she said thoughtfully. "Neither were you, Andros; I just *remember* us being younger. Sometimes, when I dream, we're the same age we are here--but I always feel like I'm looking back."

"Maybe when you switched dimensions your double was doing something that made her remember events," Kerone suggested, seeming to forget her uncertainty in the face of a challenge. "Any accounts I've heard of ships hitting another dimension say that the people involved remember only what they were thinking about or doing at the time. They remember nothing about their backgrounds--unless it directly related to their double's activities at the time they switched."

"You think I was looking through a photo album?" Ashley asked, half joking.

Kerone didn't seem to notice her tone. "Maybe," she said seriously.

Ashley glanced at Andros. He was staring down at the locket she still held in her hands, and she followed his gaze. Two smiling faces looked back, silent and mysterious as she wondered about them.

***

It had taken some doing, but she had finally persuaded Saryn to take his shoes off. "You can't be on the beach without being barefoot," she had told him firmly. "It's just wrong."

Now he walked slowly along beside her, studying the water as it splashed around their feet. From time to time, he would look up and stare toward the horizon, as though he still couldn't comprehend the magnitude of the ocean they stood at the edge of.

They had left TJ and Carlos down the beach a ways, Carlos hunting for shells in the waning light and TJ trying to convince him to come with him on a climb out on the breakwater. The Black Ranger had adamantly refused, but TJ wasn't giving up that easily. Cassie wouldn't be surprised if she turned around and saw two shadows out there before the sun's last rays vanished from the sky.

"Your planet is very beautiful," Saryn said, breaking into her thoughts.

The slight edge of wistfulness in his voice caught her attention, and she glanced over at him. His hand in hers, he was once more staring at the little wave remnants that washed across the sand and played at their feet as they walked. The expression on his face was one that she hadn't seen since he told her about Lyris--one of controlled homesickness, a longing for something that had once been.

"Yes," she agreed, for lack of anything more comforting to say. Then she remembered something Aura had once told her, and she repeated it for him. "All free planets are beautiful."

She saw him swallow, and she added, "Elisia *will* be free again someday."

"It doesn't matter," he said stonily. He lifted his gaze to the horizon again. "I can't go back."

She squeezed his hand, feeling an indescribable sadness impinging on her mind. "No. But they're still with you--and you're not alone anymore."

The sadness ebbed a little, and he turned toward her. She paused, feeling cool sand swirl around her suddenly still feet. "No, I'm not," he agreed quietly, his eyes searching hers. "Thank you... for everything your team has done for me."

She smiled, squeezing his fingers again. "Our team," she corrected.

"Our team," he repeated, as though trying out the words. "Everything our team has done."

Leaning close enough to whisper the words in his ear, for it was the only way he would hear them over the sound of the surf, she said softly, "You're welcome."

***

He wouldn't have noticed it if he weren't staring out across the sea, following the sparkling trail of Earth's sun with his eyes, but the air darkened almost imperceptibly as the last slice of the sky's fiery disc slid down behind the horizon. At his side, he felt the girl he had seen so often after sunset shiver, and he looked over at her in concern.

"Thanks," Ashley said abruptly, threading her fingers through Andros' locket chain and holding it out to him.

Diverted, Zhane watched in amusement as Andros looked down and let her slip the chain over his head. "No problem," he said quietly, touching the locket automatically as it slid into place.

For another long moment, none of them spoke. The fire still crackled, and Andros' sister reached out and picked up Carlos' fire stick. She poked it idly into the flames, and they all watched as sparks rose into the twilight and vanished.

Then Zhane saw Andros turn his head toward Ashley. "Want to go for a walk?" he asked, making no movement.

She nodded, but continued to stare into the fire.

At last, she sighed and looked over at him with a smile. "Yeah, I do." She held out her hand, and he took it as they got to their feet.

*Stay out of trouble.* Andros' silent words did nothing to disturb the contemplative atmosphere that lingered around the fire, but when Zhane looked up, his friend caught his eye.

Andros' fond look and knowing smile as he tilted his head ever so slightly toward his sister made Zhane feel better. He didn't think anyone had missed the marshmallow incident earlier--he had offered Andros' sister a marshmallow when the bag was passed to him, and to his infinite surprise, she had taken a bite as he held it out to her.

She had giggled a little at his expression and snatched it away from him before he could say anything, and Ashley had demanded that he stop hogging the marshmallows. No one had said anything, and as his shock fell away he realized that the conversation continued as though nothing had happened.

But something *had*--she wasn't just another girl anymore. She wasn't even Andros' sister, or the former princess of evil. She was someone he suddenly wished he could touch.

He didn't know what made her different all of a sudden, but she was, and he wasn't sure exactly what to say to her. All he knew was that he wouldn't mind feeding her another marshmallow--and he needed to talk to Andros.

But Andros had seen that moment of truth, even if Zhane himself wasn't sure exactly what that truth was, and he had asked Ashley to go for a walk anyway. He was deliberately leaving the two of them alone by the fire.

Zhane smiled a little in return, hoping he didn't look too confused, and Andros turned away. He and Ashley wandered down toward the water, and silence descended once more around the fire.

Then a sparkle of violet caught Zhane's eye, and he looked over in time to see a light, long-sleeved, and distinctly Kerovan blouse appear around the girl's shoulders. She looked down as though not sure what she would see, and caught the sides of it to tug it closer around her.

"That must be useful," he said, a little surprised.

She shrugged, playing with one of the button-up sides. "I'm not used to clothes like this," she admitted.

"You look pretty in them," Zhane said, before he could stop himself.

She smiled, glancing up and catching his eye. "Thank you," she said simply.

After a moment, she added, "It's strange, to--to think about what I look like."

"Other than scary and intimidating?" he offered, then held his breath as he hoped she wouldn't take that the wrong way.

To his relief, she giggled a little. "Yes. Other than that."

She poked the fire again, and he watched the flames play around the stick. "Zhane?" she said, a minute later.

He looked up from the campfire. "Yeah?"

"You said before that I could do anything I wanted," she said, sounding just the slightest bit uncertain.

He nodded.

"But what if I do something that *you* don't want? I--I don't usually worry about that," she added, looking over at him. "But I am now."

He frowned. "What could you possibly do that *I* wouldn't like?"

She hesitated, then, before he knew what she was doing, she leaned over and kissed him quickly. Her hair brushed his cheek as she pulled away, and she tucked it behind her ear as she shot a sideways glance in his direction.

He could only stare as his mind tried to formulate some sort of coherent sentence. Something other than "do that again," preferably.

Finally, he repeated, "What could you possibly do that I wouldn't like?"

A smile broke over her features, and she looked down at her hands. Mind racing, Zhane tried to think of something else to say, but she beat him to it.

"Thanks for coming after me," she told him, playing with the fire stick. "When that monster came to take me back to the Dark Fortress."

"You're welcome," he said automatically. Then, on impulse, he added, "I'm glad you're here."

She looked up, the smile still on her face. "Me too." She gazed down toward the ocean, where their friends were vague shadows at the water's edge. Stars were starting to sparkle in the sky overhead, their light glittering in a way it did not from the Megaship's windows.

"I was thinking earlier, about whether I made the right choice when I left the Dark Fortress," she said abruptly.

He glanced toward her, her blond hair shimmering in the fading light and her long-sleeved shirt billowing gently behind her as the breeze drifted around them. "What did you decide?"

She turned her head toward him, the firelight playing across her features and making her expression readable even in the shadows. For as long as he had known her, a troubled look had lurked in the back of her gaze--a distressed expression that was now gone.

Her eyes were peaceful as she looked back at him, and her smile was genuine. "I did. It's nice to be free, Zhane."

***

***