Terri stumbled backwards, away from the spears, only to find another one jabbing painfully into her lower back. The demi-humans, seven in all, ranged in a loose circle around Terri, Hotaru, and Rei, and none of them looked particularly happy to see the three women.

Hotaru was tense. "This is not good."

One of the demi-humans, the one holding a spear to Rei's throat, suddenly let out a low growl. Rei smiled, but her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Try me."

The warning growl escalated to an angry hiss.

Without taking her eyes off the cat-man, Rei lifted a hand and touched her index finger to the leather binding the point to the wood. Smoke drifted upwards. Terri heard the other demi-humans growling. The point in her back pressed in harder.

"Rei-chan! Terri-chan! You're alive!" A blonde head shoved past two of the cat-men, and was quickly followed by a shoulder and then a body as Minako squeezed past the two very surprised demi-humans. She brushed the spears away irritably. "Put those things up, guys. They're my friends. My. Friends. Got it?" The two she had pushed aside shared a look.

Minako muttered, "For crying out loud..." Then she said something in a language that Terri had never heard before. But, whatever she said, it worked because the demi-humans backed away, even if they didn't relax.

Minako wasn't satisfied. Hands on her hips, she confronted the seven. "Can we please have a little privacy? I swear that they're not evil. Well, not very evil." Muttering amongst themselves, the demi-humans drew further back and hunkered down a short distance away, where they continued to watch Terri and the others warily.

Minako sighed. "I guess that'll have to do..."

Rei grabbed Minako's shoulders. "Minako-chan, you're awake! How did that happen?"

Minako grinned and patted Rei's hands. "I'm happy to see you, too." She pulled away from Rei's grasp and turned to the face all of them. "The Ku'dath," she said, gesturing to the demi-humans, "have a very talented shaman and he did a very good job of waking us up, although, personally, I was really enjoying my dream. But I'm guessing that the real reason we all woke up is because Mars is dead. Am I right?"

Terri winced; she had been trying to forget about that.

Her expression didn't go unnoticed. Minako's eyes lingered on her for a moment, before sliding over to Hotaru. "Hi, Hotaru. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has," Hotaru said. She smiled warmly. "Still keeping bad company, I see."

"Oh, you know me; trouble follows me where ever I go."

Hotaru eyed the Ku'dath. "So I see," she said dryly.

Rei said, "We need to talk, Minako-chan."

Minako nodded, but her attention wasn't on Rei. "We will, Rei-chan, but not right now. I want to spend a little quality time with Hotaru."

Rei frowned. "But-"

Hotaru took Rei's arm. "I bet you're dying to talk to Ami and Makoto, right Rei? So you go on ahead and Minako and I will catch up with you in a few minutes. I'm pretty sure that those two will be happy to listen to whatever it is you wanted to talk about."

"Not bloody likely," Rei muttered, but allowed herself to be pushed away.

Minako studied Terri in silence. Terri shifted uncomfortably beneath her intense gaze, but forced herself to meet Minako's eyes. Eventually, Minako sighed and folded her arms. "So... she told you."

Terri stiffened.

Minako broke off her stare as Hotaru rejoined them. Treating Terri as if she no longer existed, Minako said, "Let's go someplace more private, Hotaru."

Hotaru frowned and looked at Terri. "But, what about Ganabile-san?"

Minako shrugged and started to walk away. "What about her? She's a big girl. Let her take care of herself."

Hotaru was surprised. "Minako!"

Terri shook her head, cutting off Hotaru's protests. "It's okay, Hotaru. I wanted to be by myself anyway."

Hotaru sighed. "Yeah... well... don't stray to far."

Despite how she felt, Terri grinned. "Don't worry, Hotaru. I'm not going anywhere."

Hands on her hips, Rei looked around the cave. "You guys got a lot done while I was gone."

"We had help," Ami said. "For the most part, it was just Mako-chan and myself, but then the Ku'dath arrived and things progressed much faster. All of the main tunnels have been cleared of rock falls, and many of the smaller branches are nearly clear." She gestured about her with a wave of her hand. "Small caves, such as this one, are being set up for human use. I'm hoping that we can have the living areas completly finished by tonight."

Rei nodded. "I'm impressed." She looked at Ami. "So, who's room are we standing in?"

"Er... well, until we can finish determining how safe the lower levels of the volcano are, we can't afford the space required for every family to have their own living area. This means-"

Rei lifted a hand. "Yeah, yeah, everybody sleeps together, I get it, Ami-chan. Just tell me that the men and the women get separate baths." When Ami didn't say anything, Rei rounded on her, eyes widening. "Ami-chan?!"

Ami laughed. "I'm kidding, Rei-chan."

Rei sighed in relief, then glared at Ami. "Geez, Ami-chan, don't do that to me. I nearly had a heart attack."

"Funny. Modesty never bothered you before. Are you really the same Hino Rei that almost got her ass bitten off by a dragon?"

Rei turned. "And a warm 'Hello' to you, too, Mako-chan."

Lounging against the cave wall, Makoto snorted.

Rei leaned closer to Ami and whispered, "What's her problem?" To Rei's surprise, Ami suddenly blushed bright red. Looking at the ground, Ami mumbled something.

Rei frowned. "What?"

"Nothing! I didn't say anything, Rei-chan." Ami laughed nervously. She glanced quickly at Makoto, and flinched away from the tall woman's glower. "Not a thing. She's just cranky, that's all. You know how Mako-chan gets."

"Ami-chan, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to hide something from me."

"Hide?!" Ami squeaked. Shaking her head, she backed away. "Why would I be hiding anything, Rei-chan? I mean, what could I possibly want to hide from you, my friend?" She spun, and collided with Makoto, who had silently moved to block Ami's path. Ami yelped and stumbled backwards.

Makoto smiled, and Rei felt a cold tingle run down her spine. Makoto said softly, "Tell her."

Despite looking like a rabbit staring into a lion's mouth, Ami managed to stammer. "I-I t-t-thought you d-didn't want-"

Makoto's eyes narrowed dangerously, although her voice remained casual. "Go on, Ami-chan. Tell her. Tell Rei-chan what you did."

Minako and Hotaru chose that moment to walk into the cave. Minako said, "Great, you're all here. We need to-" She trailed off, surprised. Startled by the vehemence in Makoto's voice, Hotaru stopped as well.

Ami looked to Minako for support. "Minako-chan-"

"TELL. HER."

Rei had had enough. "Tell me what?!"

Minako looked as confused as Rei felt, then realization struck. "Oh! That." To Rei's further bafflement, Minako shrugged nonchalantly. "Mako-chan got married to one of the Ku'dath."

"She did WHAT?!" Rei and Hotaru shouted at the same time.

"Got herself hitched," Minako continued, in the same tone of voice. Striding forward, she whapped the seething Makoto on the back. "Yep, our little Mako-chan's finally decided to settle down with a man. A cat-man, but a man nonetheless." She sighed wistfully. "They grow up so fast!"

"I didn't decide anything," Makoto fairly roared. "I was forced into marrying it!"

Minako winced. "Could you be any louder?"

Rei's brain started working again. "Mako-chan... You're... I mean... What in all the hells happened while I was away?"

Leaning against Makoto, looking for all the world like she was trying not to laugh, Minako said, "Well, I was out of it for most of the time, but from my understanding there was this big fancy ceremony where the cat-guy said 'I do' and Mako-chan said 'I do' and bam! They were married."

Rei resisted the urge to throttle Minako. Barely. "Minako-chan, what happened before they got married. Why did she marry him... it... in the first place?"

"Oh, you wanna know that." Ignoring the threatening glare Makoto was giving her, Minako pointed to Ami. "Have her tell you. She's responsible."

"It was an accident," Ami said in a small voice.

Makoto snapped. "An accident? An accident?! Ami-chan, falling down a flight of stairs is an accident. Tripping over a rock is an accident. This was not an accident; it was a freakin' disaster!"

"Or a 'cat-tastrophe.'" Minako grinned broadly.

Makoto rounded on her. "Don't you dare start!" Minako, still smiling, lifted her hands in surrender and backed away.

Frustrated, Rei turned on Ami. "Ami-chan, please tell me what's going on?"

Staring down at the ground, Ami said quietly, "I made a deal with the Ku'dath."

Hotaru leaned forward. "What kind of deal?"

"Well, er, to shorten things quite a bit, in return for letting us stay in their winter den, they would get anything they wanted."

Minako was enjoying Makoto's anger. She said, "The thing is that Ami-chan, who barely understands the Ku'dath tongue, used the word 'alliance,' rather than 'deal' or even 'trade.'"

"Does it really matter?" Hotaru asked.

"Of course it matters!" Makoto snarled.

Minako leaned on Ami's shoulder and positively smirked. "In the Ku'dath tongue, 'alliance' has a different meaning than what we say it has. In their tongue, 'alliance' is the same as 'union.'

"Basically, Ami-chan proposed a marriage!"

Ami went several shades redder. "I didn't mean to do that."

Minako wasn't through. "So Ami-chan here suddenly blurts out that the Ku'dath can take any one of us and get hitched. Mako-chan agrees with her. And the next thing all of them know, Mako-chan's engaged to the Abrad́'s son!"

There was a tense silence, broken when Hotaru sniggered. Makoto glared at her. "You want your stay with us to be a pleasant one, right, Hotaru?" Hotaru bit her lip, but her shoulders kept shaking as she struggled not to laugh.

Rei looked at Makoto. "But, couldn't you just refuse? Or explain that it was a mistake?"

"We tried," Ami said. Makoto glowered and added, "Apparently, women, even if their not the same species, don't get a say in things. I'm stuck with the damn cat."

Rei bowed her head and massaged her forehead, the better to keep Makoto from knowing how close she was to guffawing. From this vantage she watched Ami and Hotaru both become extremely interested in the stone floor.

Makoto glared at them all. Then, turning on her heel, she stomped back over to the wall and stood against it, radiating fury. Pointedly ignoring Makoto, Minako beamed and said loudly, "So! I hear Crystal Tokyo's only got two Senshi lurking around. We gonna do anything about that?" Minako sat cross-legged on the ground and motioned for the others to do the same. Rei did so slowly, keeping one eye on the irate Makoto.

Hotaru met Rei's eyes. "I guess we could attack them."

Ami shook her head. "A direct attack would be suicide; we simply lack the resources and the manpower to do so effectively. Not to mention that we're hardly in a position to launch an attack so long as we are here at the D-point."

Hotaru frowned slightly. "What happened to the Tokyo Tower?"

Minako said, "Venus and Mercury attacked it."

"And they left quite a few Enforcers behind when they retreated," Ami added.

Minako looked at her, surprised. "How'd you find that out?"

Ami glanced at Rei, then down at her hands. "I have my ways."

"Huh. Really?"

"Really." Ami looked back up. "At any rate, it would be a waste of time for us to try and reclaim the Tokyo Tower, and even if we managed it Jupiter wouldn't let us stay there. She can reach out that distance."

"Then we don't let her know we're there," Makoto said as she joined the group. She crouched between Ami and Minako. "We sneak in and hit 'em when they're not looking."

Ami said, "That's a decent idea, and it's certainly better than rushing headlong into certain death. Of course, we wouldn't be able to take everyone, and I wouldn't recommend it even if we could."

Hotaru lifted a finger. "I think all of you are forgetting something very important: what the heck are you going to do once you're in there?"

Minako sat in thought, eyes closed. "Ami-chan," she said slowly, "Those old generators are still in place, right?"

"I belive so, Minako-chan. Why?"

Minako opened her eyes. "I have an idea."

When she didn't continue, Rei said, "Are you going to share this idea?"

"Hm... maybe." Minako stood and beckoned to Makoto and Ami. "When I get the kinks ironed out, I'll let you know about it."

"Minako-chan," Rei growled dangerously.

Minako winked. "You know I love you, right, Rei-chan?" Ami gave Rei a sympathetic smile before following Minako and Makoto.

After they left, Hotaru sidled over to the fuming Rei. "Wanna play cards?"

"Oh, that's it. I QUIT!"

Smiling to herself, Ami waved to the retreating Minako and Makoto. The duo were off to find the Abrad́, the chief of the Ku'dath, to see if he would agree to helping in Minako's plan. Her foolhardy, dangerous, risky, brilliant plan. There was even a good chance they could pull it off, too, provided that the other two necessary members decided to risk their necks. Minako and Makoto would take care of the demi- humans, leaving Terri to Ami.

After nearly an hour of searching, though, it quickly became apparent that no one knew where Terri had gone.

And then two boys bundled up for cold weather almost tackled her, and Ami nearly laughed at the simplicity of her answer. She followed the two boys as they hurried through a series of winding passageway. Three quick bends and short jump later she stood on a rocky ledge overlooking a half-built snow fort, blinking in the strong, if cloud- filtered light. The two boys were waddling through the snow towards the structure, where several more children of all ages were busy adding even more snow to the sprawling building.

Ami looked around, wondering how the children had gotten down to ground-level when she spotted a flash of grey. Walking to the edge of the ledge, Ami sat next to Terri. "I thought I might find you here."

Terri was absorbed in watching the kids build; she answered Ami with a distracted hum.

Ami examined Terri; the other woman wasn't wearing a jacket. "Aren't you cold?"

"Hm... what?" Terri looked at Ami, blinking. "Cold? Oh, uh... I... don't get cold." She looked away, shifting uncomfortably. "I mean, I can't feel it. I mean, I feel it but I don't-"

"I understand."

"Oh." They sat in a not quite easy silence, watching as the construction crew below them got into a massive snowball fight.

Terri sighed. "So what do I do now?"

"That's up to you, Terri-chan. You're free to do whatever you wish."

"Free?" Terri laughed harshly. "I haven't been 'free' since I first saw Minako at the University. I don't think I've had a choice in anything that's been going on since this whole mess started!" She stared accusingly at Ami. "Have I?"

Ami looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. She said gently, "It must be difficult for you."

Terri jerked back in surprise. Clearly, she hadn't expected Ami's reaction.

Ami closed her eyes. "I suppose you never thought something like this would happen; that one day you would wake up, and realize that you're no longer what you thought you were. And you try to convince yourself that what happened before was just a dream, some sort of sick twisted delusion that your subconscious mind dredged it because you were studying too hard the night before. Only..."

Magic lurked in the back of her mind, beckoning her. "Only it's still there. Stronger than ever and waiting to be used..." She could almost feel the gloves forming, softer than silk, stronger than steel, and stained red from the blood of countless people. Ami ruthlessly shoved the magic back into its confinement; power that great could drive a person to insanity.

Self-loathing hardened her voice. "Back then, it was easy: evil would come, we would destroy it. The same thing over and over again, year in and out. And it didn't help that we all knew that we would still be alive now, in this time. Even when we died- twice!- it didn't matter. We were arrogant in our victories, and why shouldn't we have been? We had defeated Galaxia, the most powerful foe in the universe, what force could possibly stop us?

"All it took one man. One half-crazed, pitiful man did what armies of evil could not. He took from us the only person we ever cared about, killed her in front of us, and not a single one of us were able to stop him." She looked up, let the full weight of her grief show in her eyes. "He destroyed us utterly, and we still haven't recovered."

"Ami..."

Ami lifted a hand to stop her. "Listen to me. When we discovered that Earth was going to freeze over, I did not care. I was perfectly content to let everyone die, but I had a promise to keep. We, Minako-chan, Rei-chan, Mako-chan and myself, we all swore an oath that, no matter what, we'd make Crystal Tokyo a reality. The Senshi have done just that, but not in the way we intended, not in the way she would have intended, and that's my reason for wanting them stopped. Not because they've done anything wrong, although they certainly have, but simply because I will not allow them to corrupt the dreams and wishes of the only innocent woman this world has ever had.

"So I will take care of this, the largest mistake of my life, and, so help me, if I have to find a way to do it without you, I will." Her eyes narrowed. "So don't you dare tell me you've had no choice in the matter. You've had more freedom in this situation than any one of us, only you're so wrapped up in your own self-pity that you don't even realize it."

Ignoring the shocked vulnerability on Terri's features, Ami leaned forward and said with every bit of intensity she could manage, "In one week, I'm either going to be in Crystal Tokyo celebrating, or I'm going to be dead. Whether or not you go with us will not guarantee our success, but it will make the likelihood of my surviving that much greater."

She stood abruptly, and turned away, so Terri wouldn't see her fight for control. When she spoke, her voice was calm. "I want you to think about things, Terri-chan. Really think, and don't justify. If you're going to go with us when we leave, then let it be because you truly want to go with us, not because you feel that somebody forced you into it." Feeling suddenly a lot older, Ami started for the tunnel, leaving the stunned and silent Terri to her thoughts.