AN: See, I told ya I'd be back… eventually. You now have my permission to burn me at the stake. You probably don't believe me anymore, but it's my goal now to have a (short) chapter every couple of days.

Disclaimer: Don't own it. There. *is burned at the stake*

He still wasn't sure. Lelouch kept running it over in his head. It was necessary, but wouldn't it be better to save his Geass for Ohgi until later? No, no. It had to be done.

As he was thinking this, the five of them had made their way to the entrance of the cave. Light poured in softly from the outside, covering the ground. It was morning.

Lelouch had almost made up his mind when Diethard said, "Looks like the snow's stopped."

"It appears it has," Lelouch responded in his most Zero-like voice. He had to regain his status as a leader after that humiliating night. He was just happy C.C. wasn't there to witness it. He'd never live it down then. Oh god. He'd be buying pizza for the rest of his life.

"Come," he continued, "let's look for the others."

They nodded and together they left the cave.

It honestly wasn't much better out there. All they could see was white. Maybe a few faint outlines of something in the distance, but it was miles away. The snow had covered any tracks that may have been remaining from the night before.

Lelouch held back a sigh. He was struggling for an idea of what to do. Of course he couldn't tell them that. What to do… Come on! He was a genius! How could he not have an idea?

They wandered aimlessly for a few, what, hours? And wandering aimlessly just led to, well, wandering around aimlessly. They were originally looking for the meeting point, but that seemed to be getting them nowhere.

"Ahhh! It's freakn' cold out here!" Tamaki shouted. They were probably warmer inside the cave.

And then Lelouch smelled something wonderful. Smoke.

Civilization! Or at least a…tundra…fire? Either way, it would lead them somewhere. He was willing to run into the Britannian army at this point.

Looking around, he saw the smoke rising from somewhere in the distance. "Over there," he said simply. The others saw and started to walk in that direction.

As they got closer, Lelouch began to see what it was. Turns out, it was the factory, still smoking after all this time.

Tamaki sighed. "And…we're back where we started."

"At least we're not in that cave anymore. Being in that Britannian base made me uncomfortable," Diethard said, rubbing his arm.

They split up and looked around. There wasn't much left, really. Charred remains of wall lay here and there. Only a portion of the building was left standing. Lelouch's boots crunched on the torn up concrete. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't figured out why the explosion occurred in the first place.

Glancing around the remains, with a body here and there, he couldn't see any obvious evidence. Just when he was about to go find the others, he spotted an abandoned knightmare. It was laying on its front, with the cockpit smashed open. And on the back were the remnants of a bomb.

That wasn't the strange part though.

It was one of theirs.