a/n: So this is turning into more of a story than I originally intended, but I guess the characters will run amok sometimes.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.

Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?

Stranded

Chapter Two: Questions

In the end, by the time the light was completely gone, they had found neither water nor shelter. Walking together side by side under the stars, trying to find a suitable location to camp for the night, she finally asked him again, "How did we get out here?"

He sighed. Resigned to the fact that the question wasn't simply going to go away, he began to explain, "When I kidnapped you this time, we were running a little behind schedule so I was already in my robot battle-suit ready to carry out my plan and Minion was already at the site."

"Why didn't Minion come get me like usual?" she asked, interrupting his story, but sounding like she was actually surprised at the deviation from the norm. He stopped and faced her before elaborating.

"That wasn't how this plan was supposed to work, Miss Ritchi. It was supposed to be so simple; I just had to bring you to him and call your boyfriend in tights so we could begin the battle. On the way out to the site, though, something went wrong with the suit and it flew up and way off course." He gestured mimicking a rocket takeoff. Her eyes got wide as she watched and listened. How the hell had she slept through something like that? What was in that spray? He continued and she narrowed her eyes a bit, making him squirm uncomfortably. "The catastrophic system failure didn't stop there. Not only was the suit completely out of my control and flying somewhere unknown, there was also a leak in the fuel line, so there was no way to calculate where it was going to land. It just kept going up and west for all I could tell from the instruments I could see. The speed had me somewhat incapacitated during our ascent."

"What do you mean?" she asked with more concern than she would have liked given the situation he'd gotten them into.

"Well, you were strapped in because you were unconscious and I didn't want to risk you moving around and uh –" he stopped himself in mid thought.

"Getting hurt?" she finished his thought for him and found herself offering him a small smile. "You didn't answer my question."

He harrumphed and said, "I was going to say getting in my way. Anyway, I was not tied down in any manner at the time of the incident, so I was thrown against the floor and not able to move more than a few millimeters because of the G-force from our ascent." She looked at him with concern on her face. He swallowed nervously, not understanding why she cared.

"We uh," he said sheepishly, "We almost left the atmosphere but the main engine died before we broke through. When we started to fall, I tried to fire the emergency booster, but that didn't work because by that point there was not enough fuel left to ignite it. We were in free fall and I realized then that we were going to crash and although I would most likely be severely injured, I would survive. I couldn't make the same guarantee for you, so I waited until we were low enough in the atmosphere to be able to breathe and then pulled the emergency eject lever. It shot us both out of the machine.

"We landed a little ways away from where you woke up. The jet pack I was using in our escape ran out of fuel just before we landed. I had to dehydrate it so I could carry it with me. I tried to carry you with me but I didn't want to dehydrate you, so I picked you up. I didn't make it very far that way, so I put you down and waited for you to wake up." He paused for a moment, then added solemnly, "I guess I used too much of the spray on you since you were unconscious for the entire ordeal. Although, I suppose it was probably better that way," his expression was thoughtful as he concluded his story. Then he looked away from her.

Her shocked expression wore off as she took in what he'd done. Sure it was his fault they were stranded out there, but he had made a point to save her life from a certain death in a horrible crash. "I guess, thank you."

This caused him to make eye contact with her. "For what? Stranding us out here? You don't need to thank me, Miss Ritchi, I don't deserve it."

"You did save my life."

"After I put it in danger."

"You've put my life in danger before; how was this any different?"

"This was completely different. You would have certainly died."

"But you could have easily saved just yourself and increased your chances for survival. So, why didn't you?"

"Because I didn't. Don't psychoanalyze me," he stated flatly, effectively putting an end to the conversation. They had been walking as they'd conversed and as they crested the next hill, a glimmer of moonlight revealed a mangled driftwood tree a the bottom of a ravine between two hills, that looked totally out of place in the location it occupied. She pointed at her discovery and saw that he was already looking that way.

They both walked toward the disfigured dead wood as quickly as their cold legs would allow. The piece of wood was smaller than the optical illusion of distance had made it look. It was little more than a large branch. "Well, it's better than nothing," he stated quietly. There was nothing around them he could see that would make enough kindling to create a fire for them. She was shivering by that point, the temperature having dropped below her comfort threshold. She sat down next to the branch and pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, each of her hands rubbing the bicep on the opposite arm in an effort to warm up. The shivering became more violent.

He sat down next to her and she felt the warmth radiating off of his skinny form. It was like a beacon, drawing her in and she found herself scooting closer to him to steal some of his heat. He noticed her maneuver and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Just c-c-cold, a l-little," she responded as a full-body shiver made her teeth chatter. "You're s-so warm."

The leather-clad villain immediately raised his arm and motioned for her to scoot closer. She complied readily, wanting more of the comforting warmth for herself. As she moved closer, he wrapped his arm and his cape around her. She snuggled against him, and her arms naturally wrapped themselves around his waist as her head rested against his chest. He held her close and answered her implied question, "I run a little hotter than a human does."

She felt her muscles start to relax from their tense shivering as the warmth of his body spread to engulf hers. His steady breathing and the comfort of being warm after so much shivering made her start to feel sleepy. She couldn't help herself as her eyes drooped closed. She fell asleep listening to the oddly comforting sound of his steady breathing and beating heart.

He sat there letting her absorb his own warmth and relishing in the fact that he was holding her, although he knew it was merely for the sake of the shared body heat. After a while, he heard her start to snore lightly and decided it was probably time for him to get some sleep as well.