Chapter 4 - Discovered

Warnings: Don't interpret this as yaoi. Please. Duo is still a potty mouth. So is Quatre (gasp!). A
semblance of tension for a little while. PG, I think.

* * *

Duo abruptly jerked awake with a shiver, looking around frantically. Weren't there OZ troops
coming from everywhere. . .?

A dream. It had been a dream. With a relieved sigh, Duo slumped into the sand, then shivered
again.

Hey. Weren't deserts supposed to be hot?

Shaking his head heavily, Duo struggled into a crosslegged position and looked around. When
had it gotten dark? Had he slept that long? Vaugely he recalled learning that deserts were cold at
night because neither the air nor the sand could retain the warmth that came from the sun each
day, resulting in extreme temperature swings. Shoot, Duo thought. I probably slept through
the best part of the day - the sunset. He chuckled a little and rubbed his arms before wincing from
pain and hunching over, trying to keep from throwing up what little water was in his system. If
there was any. Man, it was cold! At least he had warm clothes on.

Suddenly Duo thought of Heero, wearing that tanktop, and he snapped his head over to look -
and did a double take. Heero wasn't awake yet, but regardlessly, he was shivering. The Perfect
Soldier was shivering. Duo's eyes widened at that, then he crawled over to cover the boy up.
Couldn't have him dying of hypothermia or something like that. A shiver rocked Duo again
as he quaked from his feet to his neck, and he abruptly realized that even in his warm clothes, he
would freeze too. Great. One blanket and two frozen boys.

After covering Heero with the blanket, Duo crawled in next to him and found himself edging
closer and closer to the unconsious boy next to him, seeking more warmth. For some reason he
had odd thoughts about those 'blanket scenario' stories he'd read on the net before. Ick. Duo
pushed away.

However, there was no denying that it was colder when you didn't have a warm body right next to
you. Giving in to primal instincts and deciding that, after all, nobody would know, Duo pressed
himself to Heero, soaking in the heat, and felt Heero stop shivering under his touch. Duo smiled
slightly. It felt good to know that he could actually help the Perfect Soldier with something.
Slowly his eyelids drooped. Maybe it'd be okay if he just slept for a little while longer. . .

Something began humming. Duo's eyes sprang open and his ears perked up, trying to identify the
sound. It wasn't a Gundam . . . sounded like an Aries. Cursing under his breath, Duo crawled out
of the covers and stumbled to his feet, kicking up sand as he gripped the detonator and half-ran,
half-fell towards the Deathscythe Hell.
* * *

Quatre glanced at his watch. "It's 5:30 am, Trowa. I'm worried. Should we try to find them?"

Trowa seemed to weigh the odds, then nodded. "If either one of their Gundams are still intact,
we'll be able to find them."

Quatre smiled slightly, but it was a worried smile. "I hope they're still alive," he murmured before
typing in the command to begin the tracking system.

* * *

"This is Aries 204," announced the pilot of the mobile doll. "I've located something
out-of-the-ordinary in Sector 4-H. Please stand by; I'm going in to check it out."

"10-4, Aries 204."

* * *

Duo searched the darkened sky and saw a darker spot than the rest. It began to circle, and Duo
swore again, this time more profusely. It had to be the Aries, and it had to have seen his Gundam!
Luckily, it was coming down slowly, as if to verify. Hopefully it would come within range of the
explosion. Duo prayed hoarsely and flipped the safety off the detonator as he wondered whether
or not this would be the last five minutes of his life. It probably would be; he had to be well in
range of the explosion for the remote detonator to operate. "Forgive me Father, I have sinned so
much . . . "

* * *

Quatre actually swore at the laptop when it took longer than he expected for it to work. "Damn
you, load up!"

Trowa's eyebrow arched up. "Quatre?"

Quatre ducked his head and sighed. "Sorry. I'm just really uptight . . . what if they're dead?"

"They'll be fine. Heero's survived a Gundam explosion; not much'll kill him. And Duo's detonator
never even works."

That elicited a small chuckle from Quatre. "I hope it failed again, because we'll need the tracker to
find them."

* * *

"And finally, Lord, PLEASE let my detonator work!" Duo added at the end of his prayer, and
hoped God wouldn't count it as suicide, since that was a really major sin. Well, so much for
finding that pretty girl. Duo hoped Heero woke up at the explosion and stayed alive. Poor Quatre
would be devastated if both of them died.

The Aries continued to practically float down towards the Deathscythe on silent wings and
thrusters that hummed the way all thrusters did. Duo realized he was shaking a little and
commanded himself to stop. He was the God of Death! He couldn't be afraid of dying. It was
probably somewhere in the rulebooks of the supernatural.

Grimly he watched the Aries circle down towards his Gundam. Not too much farther to go. . .

* * *

"This is Aries 204. I've almost certainly got a Gundam here. Flying in to verify ID number."

"Nice work. Keep it up, 204."

* * *

"I've only got one signal coming in," Quatre said. "It looks like the Deathscythe's signature."
Quatre turned and looked up at Trowa, who was once again leaning over his shoulder. "You think
Heero self-destructed again?"

Trowa nodded. "It's the logical explaination. But I doubt he's dead for two reasons. First, Heero
doesn't die for practically *anything*." Trowa actually smirked ever-so-slightly. "Secondly, Duo
wouldn't let Heero die while he's within earshot."

"True, true," Quatre agreed. Then his eyes widened at the next part. "The Gundam is somewhere
in the Sahara desert!?"

* * *

"The Gundam appears to be deserted," the Aries announced. "I'm going to land and give it a
personal examination."

The radio relay director looked over to the sergant in the room, who gave a curt nod. "Wait'll we
tell the Lieutenant about this! Proceed, 204."

* * *

Trowa had moved to the other side of the room, pulling out paper maps to get a closer look at the
landscape as Quatre continued to call out better and better trackings. "Southern part of Egypt!
West of the Nile!" Quatre informed him.

Trowa shuffled the maps and located with ease the one showing the southwestern part of Egypt.
"Quatre, they're probably within miles of an OZ base. That area is an OZ stronghold!"

* * *

The Aries was landing, Duo realized. Was this great luck or what!? There was no way they'd get
clear of the explosion in time now.

"Dead MS walkin'," Duo muttered, lifting the detonator. He swallowed nervously, then smirked
as he determined that he was definitely *not* going to die scared. "Ore wa Shinigami," he
whispered, then depressed the trigger of the detonator. "Goodbye, Heero. Stay alive for . . . well,
everyone."

* * *

The Aries pilot abruptly stopped his decent and peered at the Gundam. "This is Aries 204. The
Gundam is showing activity."

The radio director tensed. "What sort of activity?"

"It seems to be lighting up . . . from the inside. . ."

The sergant jumped to his feet. "WHAT!?!" Running, or rather stumbling, forward, he yanked the
radio headphones off of the radio director. "GET OUT OF THERE! I repeat, GET OUT OF
THERE!" the sergant screamed. "Unless you want to witness a Gundam destruction - along with
your own!"

"Huh? Um, rodger that, thrusters full!" replied the Aries, but it was too late for him. The Gundam
exploded into brillant yellow flames, seeming to disentigrate in the blast as it flew to pieces. The
Aries was engulfed.

"Aries 204, come in! Aries 204!" the sergant gasped. But there was no response except static.
"We lost him," he sighed, pulling the headphones off. "Tell the Lieutenant we definitely have at
least one Gundam in the vicinity - and at least one pilot."

* * *

"The signal . . . it's . . . it's gone!" Quatre stared at the screen, still showing a large vicinity of
southern Egypt. "We lost it, and there's still a lot of ground to cover." Quatre's shoulders
slumped, and depression settled like a lump of stone in the bottom of his stomach. "Duo . . .
Heero . . ."

"Let's keep trying. Their Gundams are gone, but we don't know about the pilots themselves,"
Trowa deadpanned. "We can't let them fall into OZ hands, if they're indeed alive."

Quatre nodded dumbly. "R-right," he murmured. "I hope they're okay."
* * *

And that's yet another chapter! Yay! Now, *this* one was REALLY short! Lotsa action, though .
. . hope you're enjoying the story!

* * *