Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine!
Notes: This is one of my earliest works.please be gentle.
_italics_
/thoughts/
Chapter One
*****
Heero
*****
"We can't go on anymore!" Duo's voice came over the intercom. "The snow is too thick and I can't see anything! Now, you might be able to see through a brick wall, but I can't!" He complained, I knew he was talking about me when he said it and it made me mentally smile.
We had just destroyed an Oz base. Everyone had been separated, as if on purpose and most of the Oz soldiers had ganged up on what they thought was our weakest link. Sandrock.
"How you doing Quatre?" I asked over the intercom. He was beside me slightly, walking slowly behind Heavyarms through the snow.
"F-fine." He was shivering and cold. We were all cold. It wasn't that warm in the cockpits of the Gundams. "D-Duo's right H-Heero. I kn-now it doesn't happen v-very often, but I c-can't go on either." He sounded weak.
"Alright." I agreed. "We stop." We stopped, all of the five Gundams huddled in a circle.
"There should be a safe house at least a few miles from here." Wufei's voice was calm. "I think I'll check it out. We can't just stay out here and freeze, the Gundams will probably be buried with us inside."
"Be careful." I heard Duo's voice talking to Wufei. "We'd better all stay connected. Nobody go to sleep." Duo ordered.
There was instantly a yawn. "But I'm tired."
"Come on Cat, you can't go to sleep. Someone talk!" Coming from Mr. Talkative himself. I smiled smugly.
"What damage did you guys sustain?" Trowa asked.
"Minor." I replied. "You Duo?"
"Eh, nothing that can't be fixed.unless someone steals my parts again." He said bitterly, it was as if he was never going to get over that. If I wasn't so cold I might have laughed out loud. "Hey Q, what about you?"
"Nothing s-serious." Came the reply.
"Nothing serious? You can't even fly! Kid, they tried their best to destroy you!" Duo seemed surprised.
Quatre laughed weakly, "I'm still here, aren't I?"
"You battled well today Quatre. I'm proud of you." I said after switching to private so the other two couldn't hear. It wasn't that I didn't want them to, but I figured it was something only for the kid.
"Thanks Heero, it means a lot." He was shivering again.
"Hey Duo, you talk a lot." Trowa said suddenly and this time I did laugh out loud, along with Quatre.
"And that's supposed to mean." Duo wondered.
"Talk about something, tell everyone a story so we stay awake." Trowa suggested.
"Good idea." Duo began to tell us all a story.
******
Quatre
******
I listened to Duo's voice but it was getting harder to stay awake. I could hear Trowa and Heero agreeing every once in a while. Usually only getting a "Yeah" or a "Hn" in edgewise. I felt bad for lying to Heero, I just didn't want him or any of them to worry about me. Sandrock had taken major damage. There was a hole in the cockpit so the cold air was blowing in. Not to mention I had been hurt.
The viewing screen had somehow been cracked, I wasn't sure it would work but I wasn't going to worry about it. I was low on fuel so I shut the machine down, keeping the communication between me and the others open.
Quietly, I grabbed a set of headphones so as not to interrupt Duo, and turned on the radio. I always carried one. I needed to check the weather to see if it was ever going to stop snowing. It didn't feel like it. I must have had it too loud because I didn't hear the others calling to me.
There was a flash of light that blinded me as the viewing screen came on and all three of my friends were watching me, seeming to take sighs of relief.
"Why didn't you answer?" Heero demanded, he was frowning a bit. The tone of his voice made me feel small, and just after he had said that he was proud of me. I always screw up somehow.
"I didn't know you called." I shaded my eyes with my hand. The screen was too bright; "I didn't want to interrupt Duo so I was using headphones for the radio. I wanted to check the weather."
Trowa and Duo seemed satisfied, but Heero wasn't. "Next time tell us so you don't make us worry anymore than we have to." He said it as though they always had to worry about me, as if I was some little brat who couldn't do anything right. Well, compared to them I guess I was.
"Yes." I nodded and set down the headphones. The stations were blocked and all I could get was static, I soon gave up on that idea. I was so cold, but I didn't want to let on. I was still in the view of everyone. "The screen's too bright, I need to shut it off." I said.
"Alright, but talk." Heero demanded, actually it was more of a command. I almost felt like saying, "Yes Dad." But then figured I'd get shot so I kept my mouth shut. I just nodded and turned off the screen. I shivered as soon as the lights went off. But to my surprise a face appeared before me. It was Duo.
"Don't mind Heero Q, he hasn't slept for a while and you know how cranky he is when he doesn't catch his Z's." He said trying to make me feel better.
I smiled shyly, "Thanks Duo." I knew he worried about me too, I could feel it.
***
Duo
***
To me it had always seemed that the great Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, Mr. Suicidal himself had always had a stick up his ass. And every time he spoke to Quatre the stick seemed to grow two more feet. I knew Heero was bad with his feelings and I'm sure he didn't mean to sound like a total asshole to Q but he probably couldn't help it. He worried about Quatre. We all did.
I worried about everyone though, I knew I didn't need to. I mean I knew Heero could handle himself. The guy has blown himself up more than once and he's still around. Sometimes I wish he wasn't.and Trowa is a great soldier when it comes to combat, he could handle himself. Wu-man I didn't need to worry about. I'd seen him fight and that was all the proof I needed. And I, well, I was Shinigami, the God of Death, I could hold my own.
But Quatre was the only one out of the group that was actually still decent. I don't know how or why he ever got into fighting. He should have been growing up like a normal teenager, playing basketball and hitting the math books, instead of playing 'war' and hitting the bad guys.
Don't get me wrong, he's not a weak person, he just isn't the greatest fighter. He's too sensitive, something that doesn't really play a part in a pilots life, especially one of a Gundam pilot. If I was him I would have such a guilty conscious that I wouldn't be able to sleep at night!
My intercom went off. "There's a base about 150 miles from here." Wufei's voice came from the black speaker.
"Wufee! You always come through dude!" I laughed, happy to hear his voice.
"Unlike some people we know, huh Maxwell?" Wufei shot back and I just grinned.
"Alright, let's move out." Mr. Leader said as we began our journey to the safe house. It was pretty bad; the wind was blowing so hard that it nearly knocked my Gundam down! The snow was so high it was hard to move too. And forget about flying, I for one wasn't going to leave Quatre all by himself.
*****
Wufei
*****
I led the others to the safe house. It took us a while to get there because Sandrock was trudging behind the rest of us and the Winner boy wouldn't answer on the com and he had shut his viewing screen off.
Trowa had mentioned that at least he was following us, that he was still awake to pilot Sandrock. Yuy only cursed and swore under his breath, hoping that the boy would hear him, which was how he showed he cared. He had feelings for the young boy, which I didn't want to discuss.
"I checked the inside of the safe house." I mentioned. Heero didn't stop swearing, but Trowa and Duo replied.
"What's inside?" Duo asked. "I'm hoping blankets."
"Plenty of them, at least two for each, at least that's what it looked like. Plenty of food and dry firewood as well. There are only two beds though." I cringed, remembering the last time I had to share a bed with someone. "And this time I am _not_ sharing a bed with Maxwell! He snores, he drools and he talks in his sleep! Not to mention he never _stops_ talking." I said bitterly.
"Duo doesn't stop talking when he's awake." Trowa was slightly amused. "He doesn't stop moving either."
"That's another thing." I remembered about my past experience with Maxwell, "He rolls around on the bed all the time, he practically pushed me off once, then tried to flatten me when I wouldn't move!" That got a laugh from Trowa.
"God dammit!" Heero's voice suddenly rang through the COM.
"What's wrong now?" Duo wondered.
"Where's Sandrock?" Heero shot back.
I stopped Nataku. Sure enough there was no sign of Sandrock. Nobody moved as we stared into the icy wind. Finally Sandrock came into view. We had climbed over a hill and the Gundam had disappeared in a depression. We waited for the lumbering machine to catch up, then started forward again.
"I see the safe house!" Maxwell suddenly shouted, and let out a loud "Whoop!" sound.
*****
Trowa
*****
I smiled inwardly as we made it to the safe house. Duo was singing Christmas carols as we packed up our supplies. I was looking forward to getting warm and eating. After taking a breath, I opened the hatch and was immediately greeted by a harsh wind that tried to freeze me to my seat.
I was the first to the safe house and the first inside. I watched as the others stumbled in. There was only one problem. Only three had entered. I didn't say anything to the others; I just left the safe house, closing the door behind me. I blindly made my way to Sandrock. After climbing to the hatch my hands were thoroughly frozen.
I noticed the hole right away. It was letting all the cold air into the cockpit where the pilot was. I kicked the side of the door and the hatch opened. I looked down and found an unconscious body. I unstrapped the wounded blonde from his seat and pulled him from the cockpit. Blood had seeped through his clothing and I understood why he had turned his viewing screen off, so we couldn't see that he was wounded. He knew we worried.
There was too much blood to see where the wound was, and I noticed that he had lost so much of it that he had literally been lying in a pool of his own blood. As I lifted him from the seat I spotted it sitting where he had just been. His entire backside was soaked, along with most of his front. It dripped from his boot and onto the metal floor.
Quickly I dragged the lifeless body to the ground and made my way through the snow, back to the safe house. I kicked the door open for I had no hands to use. Duo was there right away and closed the door behind me. There was a fire made so I lay the dying pilot close to it. I didn't have to say anything. Heero was there beside the body. I knew about his feelings as well. I backed away and let him take over, he seemed to know what to do.
Notes: This is one of my earliest works.please be gentle.
_italics_
/thoughts/
Chapter One
*****
Heero
*****
"We can't go on anymore!" Duo's voice came over the intercom. "The snow is too thick and I can't see anything! Now, you might be able to see through a brick wall, but I can't!" He complained, I knew he was talking about me when he said it and it made me mentally smile.
We had just destroyed an Oz base. Everyone had been separated, as if on purpose and most of the Oz soldiers had ganged up on what they thought was our weakest link. Sandrock.
"How you doing Quatre?" I asked over the intercom. He was beside me slightly, walking slowly behind Heavyarms through the snow.
"F-fine." He was shivering and cold. We were all cold. It wasn't that warm in the cockpits of the Gundams. "D-Duo's right H-Heero. I kn-now it doesn't happen v-very often, but I c-can't go on either." He sounded weak.
"Alright." I agreed. "We stop." We stopped, all of the five Gundams huddled in a circle.
"There should be a safe house at least a few miles from here." Wufei's voice was calm. "I think I'll check it out. We can't just stay out here and freeze, the Gundams will probably be buried with us inside."
"Be careful." I heard Duo's voice talking to Wufei. "We'd better all stay connected. Nobody go to sleep." Duo ordered.
There was instantly a yawn. "But I'm tired."
"Come on Cat, you can't go to sleep. Someone talk!" Coming from Mr. Talkative himself. I smiled smugly.
"What damage did you guys sustain?" Trowa asked.
"Minor." I replied. "You Duo?"
"Eh, nothing that can't be fixed.unless someone steals my parts again." He said bitterly, it was as if he was never going to get over that. If I wasn't so cold I might have laughed out loud. "Hey Q, what about you?"
"Nothing s-serious." Came the reply.
"Nothing serious? You can't even fly! Kid, they tried their best to destroy you!" Duo seemed surprised.
Quatre laughed weakly, "I'm still here, aren't I?"
"You battled well today Quatre. I'm proud of you." I said after switching to private so the other two couldn't hear. It wasn't that I didn't want them to, but I figured it was something only for the kid.
"Thanks Heero, it means a lot." He was shivering again.
"Hey Duo, you talk a lot." Trowa said suddenly and this time I did laugh out loud, along with Quatre.
"And that's supposed to mean." Duo wondered.
"Talk about something, tell everyone a story so we stay awake." Trowa suggested.
"Good idea." Duo began to tell us all a story.
******
Quatre
******
I listened to Duo's voice but it was getting harder to stay awake. I could hear Trowa and Heero agreeing every once in a while. Usually only getting a "Yeah" or a "Hn" in edgewise. I felt bad for lying to Heero, I just didn't want him or any of them to worry about me. Sandrock had taken major damage. There was a hole in the cockpit so the cold air was blowing in. Not to mention I had been hurt.
The viewing screen had somehow been cracked, I wasn't sure it would work but I wasn't going to worry about it. I was low on fuel so I shut the machine down, keeping the communication between me and the others open.
Quietly, I grabbed a set of headphones so as not to interrupt Duo, and turned on the radio. I always carried one. I needed to check the weather to see if it was ever going to stop snowing. It didn't feel like it. I must have had it too loud because I didn't hear the others calling to me.
There was a flash of light that blinded me as the viewing screen came on and all three of my friends were watching me, seeming to take sighs of relief.
"Why didn't you answer?" Heero demanded, he was frowning a bit. The tone of his voice made me feel small, and just after he had said that he was proud of me. I always screw up somehow.
"I didn't know you called." I shaded my eyes with my hand. The screen was too bright; "I didn't want to interrupt Duo so I was using headphones for the radio. I wanted to check the weather."
Trowa and Duo seemed satisfied, but Heero wasn't. "Next time tell us so you don't make us worry anymore than we have to." He said it as though they always had to worry about me, as if I was some little brat who couldn't do anything right. Well, compared to them I guess I was.
"Yes." I nodded and set down the headphones. The stations were blocked and all I could get was static, I soon gave up on that idea. I was so cold, but I didn't want to let on. I was still in the view of everyone. "The screen's too bright, I need to shut it off." I said.
"Alright, but talk." Heero demanded, actually it was more of a command. I almost felt like saying, "Yes Dad." But then figured I'd get shot so I kept my mouth shut. I just nodded and turned off the screen. I shivered as soon as the lights went off. But to my surprise a face appeared before me. It was Duo.
"Don't mind Heero Q, he hasn't slept for a while and you know how cranky he is when he doesn't catch his Z's." He said trying to make me feel better.
I smiled shyly, "Thanks Duo." I knew he worried about me too, I could feel it.
***
Duo
***
To me it had always seemed that the great Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, Mr. Suicidal himself had always had a stick up his ass. And every time he spoke to Quatre the stick seemed to grow two more feet. I knew Heero was bad with his feelings and I'm sure he didn't mean to sound like a total asshole to Q but he probably couldn't help it. He worried about Quatre. We all did.
I worried about everyone though, I knew I didn't need to. I mean I knew Heero could handle himself. The guy has blown himself up more than once and he's still around. Sometimes I wish he wasn't.and Trowa is a great soldier when it comes to combat, he could handle himself. Wu-man I didn't need to worry about. I'd seen him fight and that was all the proof I needed. And I, well, I was Shinigami, the God of Death, I could hold my own.
But Quatre was the only one out of the group that was actually still decent. I don't know how or why he ever got into fighting. He should have been growing up like a normal teenager, playing basketball and hitting the math books, instead of playing 'war' and hitting the bad guys.
Don't get me wrong, he's not a weak person, he just isn't the greatest fighter. He's too sensitive, something that doesn't really play a part in a pilots life, especially one of a Gundam pilot. If I was him I would have such a guilty conscious that I wouldn't be able to sleep at night!
My intercom went off. "There's a base about 150 miles from here." Wufei's voice came from the black speaker.
"Wufee! You always come through dude!" I laughed, happy to hear his voice.
"Unlike some people we know, huh Maxwell?" Wufei shot back and I just grinned.
"Alright, let's move out." Mr. Leader said as we began our journey to the safe house. It was pretty bad; the wind was blowing so hard that it nearly knocked my Gundam down! The snow was so high it was hard to move too. And forget about flying, I for one wasn't going to leave Quatre all by himself.
*****
Wufei
*****
I led the others to the safe house. It took us a while to get there because Sandrock was trudging behind the rest of us and the Winner boy wouldn't answer on the com and he had shut his viewing screen off.
Trowa had mentioned that at least he was following us, that he was still awake to pilot Sandrock. Yuy only cursed and swore under his breath, hoping that the boy would hear him, which was how he showed he cared. He had feelings for the young boy, which I didn't want to discuss.
"I checked the inside of the safe house." I mentioned. Heero didn't stop swearing, but Trowa and Duo replied.
"What's inside?" Duo asked. "I'm hoping blankets."
"Plenty of them, at least two for each, at least that's what it looked like. Plenty of food and dry firewood as well. There are only two beds though." I cringed, remembering the last time I had to share a bed with someone. "And this time I am _not_ sharing a bed with Maxwell! He snores, he drools and he talks in his sleep! Not to mention he never _stops_ talking." I said bitterly.
"Duo doesn't stop talking when he's awake." Trowa was slightly amused. "He doesn't stop moving either."
"That's another thing." I remembered about my past experience with Maxwell, "He rolls around on the bed all the time, he practically pushed me off once, then tried to flatten me when I wouldn't move!" That got a laugh from Trowa.
"God dammit!" Heero's voice suddenly rang through the COM.
"What's wrong now?" Duo wondered.
"Where's Sandrock?" Heero shot back.
I stopped Nataku. Sure enough there was no sign of Sandrock. Nobody moved as we stared into the icy wind. Finally Sandrock came into view. We had climbed over a hill and the Gundam had disappeared in a depression. We waited for the lumbering machine to catch up, then started forward again.
"I see the safe house!" Maxwell suddenly shouted, and let out a loud "Whoop!" sound.
*****
Trowa
*****
I smiled inwardly as we made it to the safe house. Duo was singing Christmas carols as we packed up our supplies. I was looking forward to getting warm and eating. After taking a breath, I opened the hatch and was immediately greeted by a harsh wind that tried to freeze me to my seat.
I was the first to the safe house and the first inside. I watched as the others stumbled in. There was only one problem. Only three had entered. I didn't say anything to the others; I just left the safe house, closing the door behind me. I blindly made my way to Sandrock. After climbing to the hatch my hands were thoroughly frozen.
I noticed the hole right away. It was letting all the cold air into the cockpit where the pilot was. I kicked the side of the door and the hatch opened. I looked down and found an unconscious body. I unstrapped the wounded blonde from his seat and pulled him from the cockpit. Blood had seeped through his clothing and I understood why he had turned his viewing screen off, so we couldn't see that he was wounded. He knew we worried.
There was too much blood to see where the wound was, and I noticed that he had lost so much of it that he had literally been lying in a pool of his own blood. As I lifted him from the seat I spotted it sitting where he had just been. His entire backside was soaked, along with most of his front. It dripped from his boot and onto the metal floor.
Quickly I dragged the lifeless body to the ground and made my way through the snow, back to the safe house. I kicked the door open for I had no hands to use. Duo was there right away and closed the door behind me. There was a fire made so I lay the dying pilot close to it. I didn't have to say anything. Heero was there beside the body. I knew about his feelings as well. I backed away and let him take over, he seemed to know what to do.