Blossom blinked awake first, reaching blindly for her friend. She smacked Buttercup by accident, a shout alerting her to where the girl lay.

"Buttercup. You okay?" Buttercup frowned, rubbing her sore head.

"I'll live. Where are we now? I can't see sh-" Blossom smacked her again to shut her up, taking in their new surroundings. It was dark, but a faint glow seemed to be coming from further ahead, so she wasn't completely blind if she really focused. But that faint glimmer didn't do much to penetrate where they were, so she could only vaguely see Buttercup's outline. Her glowing eyes were the only distinctive feature about her. Buttercup gestured at where she thought Blossom's hands were, rolling her eyes at the continued darkness.

"Light your hand on fire or something. We need to see so we can get out of here and try to find Bubbles." Blossom obliged her request, lighting her right hand on fire. The light was bright immediately in front of them, then progressively got less powerful further away from them. So they could see about ten steps in front of them. Blossom wanted to save her energy after using such a strong move earlier, so her fire was weaker than normal.

Buttercup squinted, sweeping her eyes in every direction.

"Is it supposed to be so...empty? Everywhere else at least had lava or something."

"I'm sure Him wasn't concerned about interior design when he made this place." Blossom walked forward, her hand still held high in front of her. Buttercup trailed her, absently rubbing the goosebumps rising on her arm.

The floor was solid rock, much like what they'd traversed on so far. The walls were made of the same material, boxing them in and herding them in a straight path. And as they continued forward, the light at the end of what they assumed was a hallway grew brighter. The walls progressively got lighter. The floor transitioned from solid rock to powdery snow that crunched under their feet. And the temperature dropped so subtly that they didn't realize they were freezing until it was too late. Hissing sounds sprang from the ground as Blossom walked, unconsciously regulating her body's temperature to combat the harsh environment. Buttercup wasn't so lucky, shivering by the time they reached the end of the path.

Her teeth chattered as they took in the sight before them. Ice covered the ground in spiraling patterns, covering a small lake. Around it on the bank, snow lay in heaps, undisturbed. Snow covered trees created an enchanting forest in a horseshoe shape around the lake. And in the middle, stood Boomer and Butch.

Blossom and Buttercup stood at the entrance to the sinister winter wonderland. Buttercup had huddled next to her friend to seek warmth, so Blossom had created a sort of aura that surrounded them both, protecting them from the cold. However, Blossom couldn't cast this unless Buttercup was near her, putting them at a disadvantage. The girls let loose twin sighs of relief when they saw the boys, though Blossom was disappointed Brick wasn't among them.

"Guys! Thank goodness. Where's Brick? We need to get him and Bubbles and get out of her." She smiled as she moved forward with her palms outstretched, preparing to grab their hands. What stopped her was an icicle whizzing past her head, cutting her cheek and ear in the process. Blossom's smile froze as she raised a hand to feel her now injured cheek. Buttercup blinked in disbelief, turning her head from Blossom's bleeding cheek to Boomer's angry frown.

"What the heck? Boomer, you know it's us right?" Two more icicles answered Buttercup's question. Boomer continued looking just as angry, and Butch was no better.

"This is all your fault. We should've died all those years ago, and yet you brought us back! For what? So we could be happy in this life?" He chuckled darkly, encasing his hands in ice. Butch wrapped his in thorn covered vines, preparing to attack.

"Do we look happy to you?!" He charged at them, swinging his arms to separate them. Blossom dodged left while Buttercup threw herself to the right to avoid him. Boomer ignored Buttercup in favor of taking on Blossom, every strike going for the kill. Blossom erected a flaming sphere around herself to buy time, biting her lip in frustration. Why does it always go like this? Where did it go wrong?!

"I did what I thought was best for us! We deserved to be happy, normal people!" Boomer scoffed, summoning thousands of razor sharp icicles and hurling them at her.

"You didn't ask any of us! You just decided to cast a reincarnation spell. And then you got to be blissfully ignorant in this life, while we remembered everything. I was sacrificed twice. Fully remembered my brother dying. Fully remembered all of us dying so we could be reborn here. And the only people who could understand that pain, the only person who could keep me sane, didn't know who I was. You did that. Because you selfishly wanted to live without powers you dragged the rest of us with you. Are you satisfied now? Was it fun for you once your memories came back, and realizing what you put us through?! I'll never forgive you! I'll kill you, so you can never do something like this again!" He increased the intensity of his icicle barrage, chipping away at her flaming sphere until he got through. Blossom grunted as she took hit after hit, disabling the sphere and raising the temperature of her body enough to melt the ice on impact.

And as Blossom and Boomer were locked in a deathmatch, so too were Buttercup and Butch. But Butch, having his full memories intact since the reincarnation, was much stronger than Buttercup. Both were suffering under the effects of Boomer's icy landscape as their bodies fought the effects of hypothermia. Buttercup was knocked to the ground, skidding along the snow. Butch followed her, shaking and bending the ground until it encased her legs.

"Butch stop! Attacking us doesn't even make sense!" He landed in front of her, grabbing her delicate chin in his hands. He leaned forward and kissed her, wrapping his other arm around her waist. When they came up for air, Buttercup was crying. But her tears froze on her cheeks long before they could fall.

"Butch..."

"I've missed you. More than you could ever understand. When I died...all I worried about was leaving you alone. But even as you cried for me, you were so beautiful." He kissed her forehead, moving so he fully embraced her.

"Every day was torture. We couldn't approach you haphazardly or the spell would come undone, and Blossom's attempt to give us a normal life would be for nothing. All our suffering at being unable to claim what was promised to be ours would be for nothing. But now...everything's ruined. We never should've tried to live like normal people." He held her tighter, kissing from her collarbone to right below her ear. He was so tender, so gentle, Buttercup knew something was wrong. She tried to break from his grasp, but he wouldn't let go.

"Butch. Let me go." He shook his head as branches rose around them, encircling them.

"It's alright Butters. It'll only hurt for a moment."

"Butch, don't-" One of the branches pierced her stomach, running clean through her. Buttercup coughed as blood began leaking from the corners of her mouth. Butch hadn't moved out of the way, so it pierced him too, poking ominously out his back. He grinned with bloodstained teeth, cupping her face gently. He shushed her, even as his heart throbbed at the betrayal shining in her eyes.

"This was the only way we could be happy. We were never meant to be here." Tears leaked but had nowhere to go as the life drained from them.

"I love you." He kissed her deeply with all the strength he could muster, his hand falling limply at his side before long.

Blossom, so absorbed in her own fight, didn't notice the suspicious silence until it was too late. She turned her head in their direction, freezing in midair when she saw the gut wrenching scene. Boomer also paused when she let loose a bone chilling scream, hurt and confusion playing out on his handsome face.

"What have you done Butch? This wasn't the plan!" He flew to his brother's side, ripping through the branches that encased them. Their heads had fallen forward with their eyes closed, as if they'd just fallen asleep together. The fight drained from Boomer in seconds, reducing him to a worn out husk near his brother's still warm corpse.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this...how could this happen again...Brick...I need Brick..." He continued mumbling to himself, his eyes vacant. Blossom choked on her own sobs as she crawled toward them, reaching from Buttercup's hands.

"Buttercup? Buttercup answer me. Stay with me! Buttercup! Butch!" Her friends stayed silent in the face of her cries. She destroyed the branches and snow around them as her powers spiraled out of control.

"Why did this happen again? It wasn't my fault. This shouldn't have happened! No...no...NO...NO!" The icy landscape began evaporating and melting. Boomer began to sweat as the temperature went from freezing to blazing. Blossom's hair whipped in the wind her powers created. Her eyes glowed an otherworldly pink. She swung her head to look at him, dismissing him without a second thought. Boomer was paralyzed. They had never seen any power to this extent besides a demon's, and an upper level one at that. Blossom chanted as the ground under her glowed in a magic circle. But before she left, she shot a beam of white hot fire through Boomer's chest, killing him instantly.