The next day was a tense one in the little temple. Too many people with too much unsaid among them were forced to share one tiny area. Serena and Rini remained asleep, dead to the world, and no one was willing to try and wake them. Darien and Helios sat in silent vigil over their respective princesses. Pluto had disappeared without saying anything to anyone after the battle. Some, like Ami and Zoicite, escaped outside to wait and talk in hushed whispers. Rei had locked herself in her meditation room and had not said a word to anyone. Jadeite was another who took himself outside, sitting on the front step, contemplating the rising sun. After taking stock of the temple's food supplies, Lita and Nephrite took a walk to the store to buy food for whenever people wanted to eat and Mina tagged along to make sure they got the right junk food, leaving Malachite pacing the floor, frowning at his own thoughts. Luna and Artemis sat on the roof of the temple, watching over their charges.

Rini woke before Serena. Darien watched her as she rose, helped to her feet by Helios. Cautiously, the pair moved into a far corner. They knew better than to leave Darien's sight.

"Are you alright?" Helios whispered as he supported Rini's slight weight. She seemed smaller this morning than her remembered her ever being. It was like her spirit, which even under the influence of the Wiseman's coercions, had given her such presence had been severely crushed and he was worried that it might even have been broken.

"Tired. Just tired." Rini replied softly, looking down at the well worn wooden floor of the temple.

After several moments of silence, Rini sighed, "We have to fix things."

"I don't know how much we can do here." Helios admitted, glancing around with a sad expression on his face.

"Not here. But back home. They need us there." Rini said.

"There is an entire war going on that the Queen and her entire Court are barely able to keep at a stalemate."

A small smile crossed Rini's face, a hint of her old smirk, "Then both sides will be too busy to stop us."

Helios looked at her, horrified for a second by the odds. In the future they would be completely on their own against the armies of the Dark Moon with no one to help them. They were already being hunted, fugitives. If they returned to the future, they would be in constant danger.

"Just us?" He asked quietly.

"Yep."

"Saving the entire Kingdom?"

"Yep."

"With impossible odds?"

"Yep." Rini smirked at him.

"Oh good. I was worried you wanted to do something stupid." Helios sighed, trying to fight the answering grin.

"Who? Me? I never do anything stupid." Rini said, lifting her nose in distain of such a thought.

"What about that time with the Ambassador from...?" Helios began innocently.

"That, my friend, was not stupid. It was brilliant. And you promised never to mention it again." Rini interrupted.

Helios sobered slightly, "Are you sure you want to do this? With me? I mean, we...well we kind of...while under the spell and I don't want you to think..."

Rini looked over at him, "Helios, I...I didn't love you because of some stupid spell. I loved you in spite of it."

Helios swallowed, stunned, "Oh. Um. Good. I mean, me too. I love you too."

Rini smiled softly at him, "Good."

Ami looked at the trees blowing softly in the wind and sighed. Beside her, Zoicite walked lost in his own thoughts. At the edge on the koi pond the pair stopped.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Ami asked, leaning against Zoicite.

"She has to be. There's a whole future she still has to live for." Zoicite answered, wrapping an arm around Ami's shoulders.

"I wonder if that future will happen, if what we've done has changed things." Ami said, watching the brightly colored fish.

"Nothing is set in stone. Our future is still in the works." Zoicite said.

With a deep breath he pulled away from Ami and took her by the shoulders, turning her to face him.

"Zoi?" She asked, see the fear in his eyes.

"I wanted to do this a long time ago, but then...well, things came up and I found out I wasn't who I thought I was and I needed to prove to myself that I still had a chance with you. I don't quite understand Ami why you put up with me but I'm not going to question it because if I've learned one thing after all this, it's that having you in my life is a necessity like air to breathe."

As he knelt down on one knee in front of her Ami gasped in shock, on hand flying to her mouth, "I want a chance to make a future with you. As long as you are with me, I know the future can't be all bad."

From his pocket he pulled out the ring, offering it to her, "Ami, will you marry me?"

Rei tried to focus but she could feel his presence right out side, sitting on the steps. Infuriating man! He managed to irritate her even when he wasn't in the room.

Frowning, she tried to quiet her thoughts once again. Retreating into her mind she began to feel her body relax as she walked old, familiar paths inside her mind. And then, there it was. That pressure just on the edge of her consciousness, drawing her attention to it like north drew the compass needle.

With a growl, Rei opened her eyes and stood up. With her temper boiling up inside of her she crossed the room and slammed open the door. She couldn't concentrate on her meditations, no matter how hard she tried. And she had been trying all morning! Years of training and focus so easily destroyed by one moron sitting quietly on her doorstep.

As she stormed onto the front step, Jadeite scrambled quickly to his feet and bowed formally, "Priestess."

Rei snarled at him, "Do you still know Kendo?"

"Yes, Priestess." Jadeite said carefully.

"Good. Grab some gear and join me in the practice ring." Rei ordered, heading towards the training area without looking to see if he was following.

"Yes, Prie..."

"And don't call me 'Priestess'!"

Mina hung back, watching Malachite and Lita walking through the store, discussing what to get. She knew better than to make herself a third wheel like this but she had to get out of the temple, give herself some time to figure out what to do about Malachite. She really wished that she could talk to someone. No, that wasn't true. She really wished she could talk to Serena. But Serena was still sleeping and nothing short of the destruction of the world at the hands of blue mutant frogs would convince Darien to wake her. Which Mina completely agreed with. Serena had driven herself to the very limits of her power and control. She deserved all the sleep they could give her.

Finally, as they were checking out, Mina decided that there was no point in trying to figure out what to say to Malachite. No matter how carefully she practiced any conversation beforehand, that man had never followed her script.

Maybe she should punch him again, she thought angrily.

Then a mischievous grin spread across her face as she had an even better thought.

On the roof of the temple, Artemis nudged Luna and pointed his nose at the scene by the pond. While they were too far away to hear what was being said, there wasn't much doubt as to why Zoicite was on one knee in front of Ami. And there wasn't much doubt about Ami's answer as she launched herself into the man's arms. Zoicite lifted her into the air and twirled her around, their joyous laughter reaching the cats.

Artemis smiled over at Luna, "Pay up love. I told you that boy would get around to it before this was all over."

Luna just grumbled something quietly about stupid, know it all males.

Lita bumped Nephlite out of the way with her shoulder so she could check the pot he had been assigned to stir.

Taking a spoon, she tasted it and glared at the man trying to look innocent, "You added garlic."

"Me?" He asked, feigned indignation in his voice.

"Who else? Brownies?" Lita growled.

"It needed garlic." Nephlite said.

"It was perfect." Lita said, folding her arms across her chest.

"'There are few foods that can't be made better by adding garlic of chocolate.' " Nephlite smiled charmingly at her, his boyish expression unrepentant.

Grumbling, Lita gathered all the spices that were in within reach of the pot and moved them out of Nephlite's reach before letting him stir again.

That evening Serena finally woke up. Darien helped her to her feet, standing beside her as she wobbled slightly.

"Hey." She coughed, clearing her throat when her voice emerged hoarse and scratchy.

"Are you okay?" Darien asked, letting her continue to lean against him.

"Just sore and tired. Really. The others?" Serena looked up at him worriedly.

"The Scouts are all around somewhere, along with my generals. Rei and Jadeite came in about a couple hours ago from beating on each other in the training ring." Darien answered with a small smile before he sobered up, "Rini and Helios are still here."

"We need to call everyone together. Talk about what we're going to do." Serena looked around, blinking owlishly at the room.

Darien pushed her lightly back down onto the bed, "In the morning. It can wait till morning."

Serena yawned as she tried to fight off sleep, "But I'm hungry."

Darien smiled down affectionately at her, "I'll grab you some food. I think there are leftovers from the dinner Lita made."

"Mmm. Lita food." Serena said, smiling drowsily at Darien.

Mina walked out of the temple, catching Darien raiding the kitchen. Considering how much food he was pulling out of the fridge the poor guy must have been starving. There was enough there to feed a small army.

Outside she looked around for her elusive prey. It was almost like he was avoiding her. Mina's smile would have done a soap opera villain proud as she carefully prowled around the building. Finally spotting a familiar head of white hair, Mina took a moment to carefully school her expression into one of grave seriousness.

"We have an appointment." Mina said softly, delighting in the slight jump Malachite gave as he turned around. He was a hard man to surprise and it was gratifying to know she still had the ability.

"Good evening Princess. What appointment are you referring to?" Malachite asked, turning and bowing slightly in an old courtly move.

"The one where I yell at you and get to pound you into the ground." Mina replied, keeping her tone even.

"Ah. Yes, that one. I assume you wish to do this now?" Malachite asked.

Mina cocked her head to the side and pretended to think for a moment, "No. Just reminding you that it will be happening at some point in the future."

Malachite blinked once at her, trying to grasp what she'd said, "Any specific time in the future, Princess?"

"Yes." Mina replied, proud that she was able to keep her expression serious, "But I think that I shall keep that information to myself. A free excuse to yell at someone should never be wasted."

Malachite stared at her in bemusement as if trying to tell if she was serious or not, "Then I shall await my lady's pleasure."

"Good." Mina said gaining her a raised eyebrow, "In the meantime, you can try and lessen the eventual butt kicking by doing some butt kissing. And I have just the thing." Mina finally gave in a little and allowed a small smile to bloom on her face and felt suitably rewarded by the look of worry that appeared in Malachite's eyes. "Malachite, I've got a business proposal for you."

AN: Okay, this is a lot late. You all should be thanking Mercurial, who repeatedly poked me to make me write and post as well as taking on the task of fixing all my errors. Without her, this would have been later. I even have the next chapter 75% written and may even get it posted today. Maybe. Not actually all that likely.

But, as I will be posting it soon, I am forgoing the usual responses to people till then.

As always, all errors were most likely cheerfully put in by me after my poor beta laboriously went through and removed them.