Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me.
Author's Notes: Chapter Two, ready for you. Prompt, eh? I aim to please. Thanks for the initial feedback;) Enjoy the story!!
****
Your Wildest Dreams
by Kristen Elizabeth
****
"Duo?" The woman lying in the bed next to him shifted onto her side to see her boyfriend better. "Are you awake?"
"Sort of," he replied, frowning. "I had a really fucked up dream."
Hilde Schbeiker ran her fingers up and down the length of his bare arm. "Do you want to talk about it, sweetie?"
He hesitated for another second. "You and I were going at it…"
"Oh, you make it sound so romantic."
Duo was too caught up in the memory of his dream to notice her tone. "And then I looked over…and Heero was standing there."
Hilde's nose crinkled. "Watching us?!"
"No, not really. He was staring past us. And he was all…bruised and cut up. I looked to see what he was looking at, you know." Duo stopped.
"What was it?"
"Relena." Duo scrubbed his hands down his face. "It was like…he wanted me to see her. I don't know." He glanced over at the naked pixie lying against his side. "What do you think it means, babe?"
She lifted an eyebrow at him. "I'm supposed to get inside that brain of yours and figure things out? I don't think so."
"Yeah," he agreed. After another moment, Duo shook his head against the pillow. "I can't shake this feeling that something's…wrong."
Hilde sat up over him. "Do you want to contact him and make sure everything is all right?"
"What would I say? 'I had a dream about you, Yuy, and I need to make sure you're not dead'?"
"You'd be amazed how often the truth actually works, Duo."
He climbed out of bed rather abruptly and reached for his jeans. After pulling them on and zipping up, he looked back at her. "I'll try to get through to her, how's that?"
Hilde lifted her slender shoulder. "Whatever makes you feel better, sweetie."
Duo walked backwards to the door of their bedroom, pointing at her as he went. "Stay right there. Soon as I clear this up, I'm coming back to have my way with you."
"Well, aren't I just the luckiest little girl in the solar system." She gave him a coy little smile.
He pulled the door open. "Prettiest, too."
Their communicator wasn't the most reliable piece of equipment, but it managed to hold on long enough for him to reach the mansion Relena called home. After a few minutes of weeding through the security codes Heero had installed, Duo found himself being greeted by Relena's old and trusted butler, Paygan.
"Mr. Maxwell, good afternoon."
"Hey there." He combed his hair through his bangs, trying to make himself a little more presentable in front of the formally dressed man. "Listen, I was just wondering…I mean…if Relena is there, can I talk to her?"
Worry made the old man's wrinkled face even more so. "Perhaps you have not seen the news, Mr. Maxwell," Paygan said, his voice unnaturally grave.
Duo swallowed. "No. Not yet."
"The jet taking Miss Relena from the Victoria Base to Egypt never reached Cairo. Attempts to establish communication with the pilot have failed. Miss Relena…is missing."
"Holy fuck." His large hand covered his mouth. "And…was Heero on the plane, too?"
Paygan nodded. "I am sorry to be the bearer of such troubling news."
Duo acknowledged the communication being shut down, but he was busy reaching for the television's remote control and flipping stations until he found the L2 News Network.
"…are no last known coordinates for the Foreign Minister's jet, but it is known that the plane took off from the Victoria Base at approximately 1700 hours yesterday evening, heading on a northeasterly route to Cairo. Search parties are being dispatched to the former republics of Zaire and Tanzania, but civil unrest in these territories, as well as harsh weather conditions and the dangers of the local fauna will make rescue operations extremely difficult. And the likelihood of finding the missing jet, slim. Once again, if you've just joined us, Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft, along with three others, including one Preventer, are missing after a presumed plane crash in Africa. Network News will have continuing updates of this story throughout the day. Now, back to…"
"Duo?"
He whipped around. Hilde stood in the doorway to the bedroom, wrapped in a sheet. Her delicate face was whiter than the material. "Oh my god…Relena…and Heero."
The apartment was silent until Duo threw the remote control against the wall. It broke apart, sending batteries and plastic flying. Tears sprung up in Hilde's eyes as her boyfriend began to pace back and forth. "They've already written them off as dead," Duo fumed. "They'll do a half-assed search mission, but only because it's Relena. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't even bother. It's fucking unbelievable!!"
"Africa, Duo." Hilde took a step towards him. "I suppose they figure…well…how long can anyone survive there? If they survived the crash at all…"
"There's a million things that could have happened, Hilde. And it's not like the whole country is the land before time. There are villages and even cities." He stopped. "Don't forget, babe. If she's…alive, she's probably with Heero. And it would take a lot more than some lions and snakes to get rid of that man."
She licked her lower lip. "If he's alive, too."
Duo froze for a second, before making a flying leap for the communicator. "There's only one way to find out."
"Duo?"
He turned the communicator back on, eternally grateful to whatever higher power existed when it flared to life. "Number…number…" He tapped the side of his head several times. "What's the goddamn number?!"
"Duo, who are you calling?"
"Ah!" Suddenly remembering it, Duo typed madly for a second. When he was done, he looked over at her. "Reinforcements, babe." He looked back at the screen just as a man's scowling face filled it. "Wufei! Great to see you, been too long, looking good, okay, enough crap. You've heard the news. You know what's going on. Now, tell me…how quick can you get all of us to Africa?"
****
Heero spotted the first crocodile just before dawn. He didn't say anything, not wanting to alarm the woman curled up in the closest corner of the twenty-five foot yellow rubber raft. She deserved one last chance at peaceful, uninterrupted sleep before the reality of their situation set in. But Heero had been keeping his flashlight trained on the water for hours, searching for the reflection of eyes near them. Crocodiles were his biggest worry, but depending on how deep the water was, there was also the risk of the extremely territorial hippo. African waters were not friendly to humans.
He couldn't quite remember if it would hypnotize the croc or not, but he kept the light trained on it as it hovered on the surface, only three or four feet from the raft. "You just stay right where you are," he muttered. "I'd rather not waste a bullet on you."
"Waste a bullet on who?" Relena asked as she woke up. She blinked several times. "Heero?"
"Stay still," he ordered her. "We've got an unwelcome visitor."
She nodded tightly; her fear tasted bitter in the back of her throat. "Will we make it to shore?"
"I'm not even sure there is a shore. We might not be in a river, but a marsh." Heero watched the crocodile for any signs of movement. "We'll know more when the sun comes up."
"Okay," Relena whispered.
There was no more conversation because there was nothing for them to say. At least, nothing either of them were willing to say out loud. Relena touched her forehead; the blood there had congealed into a sticky mess; she didn't even want to know how bad she looked. She couldn't see much in the pre-dawn darkness, but Heero seemed to have escaped the crash with just cuts and bruises. Unless he was hiding a more serious wound. He wasn't above it.
As time crept by, reds and pinks appeared on the horizon, like the most vivid watercolor portrait come to life. With her arms wrapped around her knees, Relena watched the dawn blossom. There were no buildings to get in the way of it, no smog to conceal its colors. "It's so beautiful," she whispered.
For Heero, the more light that appeared, the more he could see just how desperate their situation was. The crocodile seemed to be staying where it was, but it had been joined by two or three of its friends. He took a breath and allowed himself one small look around the raft.
They weren't moving with a current, so whatever body of water they'd landed in was a standing one. It looked to be some sort of water hole, half covered in brush and probably no deeper than the plane had been tall. In fact, when he looked over his shoulder, he could see the jet's back wing peeking up from the surface. That was something, at least. If people came this way on a search party, they might be able to spot it.
But that was a very big "might."
"Here's what we're going to do, Relena," Heero began in a low voice. "Feel around behind you on the edge of the raft. Do you feel a pocket of some sort?"
Relena did as he asked and nodded. "I found a zipper."
"There should be a collapsible paddle in there." A moment later, she pulled out a hunk of folded metal. "All right. Get it ready. I'm going to ease us over to that strip of dry land." Heero pointed to a spot several yards away where the grass and brush were the thickest. "Once we're there, I'll…" He stopped when he saw that her shoulders had started to tremble. "Relena?" He followed her gaze out over the water, to the spot where the crocodiles basked. "I have a gun, Relena." Heero hesitated. "I won't let anything happen to you."
She looked back at him. "You never do." Shaking her head, Relena set about unfolding the paddle. When it was ready, she handed it to him.
By the time they had paddled their way over to the brush, the sun was completely up. It beat down on them like an abusive spouse, and they were sweaty within minutes. Relena's face was sticky with freshly moistened blood; she rubbed at her wound, but only succeeded in smearing the blood onto the back of her hand.
"We're almost there," Heero said, breathing heavily from the effort of moving the raft without attracting much attention to them. "I get out first, in case there's something worse in the bush. If anything happens to me, use the paddle and push out back to…"
"Nothing's going to happen to you," she told him quietly, but firmly. "Heero, if I'm out here alone, I'm going to die. It's as simple as that."
He jerked his head to get his soaked bangs out of his eyes. "Well, I wasn't going to go down without a fight."
Relena had to smile. "Was that a bit of humor there? It's too early for heatstroke…"
"You wouldn't go down without a fight either." He let a moment settle between them before he returned to his task. Soon, Relena felt the far end of the raft hit something solid.
Careful not to rock the raft too much, Heero handed her the paddle and crept on all fours across the yellow rubber surface. When he reached the end of it, he pulled his gun out of his holster. Taking a moment to breathe, he jumped off the raft and onto dry land.
"Heero?"
"Shh." With a soldier's trained eye, he examined the brush around him. As it nearly reached the level of his chest, it was a difficult task. The hand that held his gun was extended out in front of him; he used it to part the shrubbery and peer beyond it.
"The water ends here," he reported a second later, and it was hard for him to keep the joy out of his voice. "It looks like we landed on a savanna."
Relena couldn't help but wonder if that was preferable. Savannas mean lions, leopards, wild boars, not to mention snakes, bugs, and little to no shade. But she smiled, because it seemed to please Heero.
He held out his hand to her, indicating that she should join him on the shore. She secured the strap of her carry-on over her shoulder, and grabbed hold of the trash bag full of supplies. "Toss it to me," he told her, and when she did and he had caught it, he gestured to her again. "Come on."
She crawled down the length of the raft exactly as he had, feeling more and more secure the closer she got to him. He'd always been a source of safety, but now he was more like a lifeline. Her last lifeline. When she reached the edge, Relena swung one leg over the side and extended her hand, reaching for his.
The crocodile leaped from the water without any warning, pointed jaws open to reveal broken rows of teeth. Relena heard the splash, Heero shouting her name, her own scream, the sound of a single bullet breaking the silence of the African morning.
And then all she could do was feel. Heero's arms around her, her feet dragging as she was pulled away from the water. There wasn't any pain; she hadn't been bitten. Brush scraped against the sleeves of her sweater as they ran, stumbling much of the way.
They emerged from the brush, but kept going, putting as much distance between them and the water hole as possible. It seemed like a lifetime to Relena before the world stopped spinning. At the firstsigns of Heero slowing down, Relena's legs gave out from underneath her and she dropped to the brown grass.
Heero joined her, breathing heavily. His gun was still in his hand; for the first time in his life, he was grateful to the men who had turned him into an assassin. Had his bullet not gone exactly where he wanted it to, Relena might have been seriously wounded. Or even killed.
"Relena." He reached for her. "Look at me, Relena."
"We're going to die!" She buried her face in her hands as her sobs surfaced, tearing through her slender body. "We're going to die, Heero!"
He grabbed her shoulders. "You keep thinking like that, and we will. Got it? Got it?!"
Relena lowered her hands; tears and blood dripped down her throat. "It's too much. I can't…I can't do it."
"I can't do it either." She stared at him, dumbfounded, and he continued, "But we can."
"Heero…"
"We left the raft behind; it's just as well, though. The crocs might tear it apart, but there will still be some that will catch a low flying aircraft's attention. We can't stay around waiting for that though."
The touching moment had passed almost as quickly as it had come. "What are we going to do?"
Heero looked around. The African savanna was grasslands flat, with only a very few trees dotting the landscape. But in the distance, he could see the dark triangles that indicated mountains. "We'll walk that way. Hopefully we'll find a road that will lead us to a village. If we're really lucky, they might have a communicator." He glanced back at her. "We saved the food and water. You've still got your toothpaste. The blanket will provide us shelter during the heat of the day. Really, Relena…we're already fairly lucky."
She blinked back the last few tears. "I suppose so."
"Don't cry anymore." His voice was almost tender. Relena held her breath, but released it when he continued, in a much harder tone, "You'll dehydrate yourself." He stood and helped her up. "If you have anything else useful in that bag of yours, now would be the time to tell me."
Wiping her cheeks, Relena let the carry-on slide off her shoulder. She unzipped it with trembling hands and pulled out a bottle of sunscreen.
"Good." Heero tilted his head up. The sun was gaining even more strength as it climbed across the sky. "We're going to need it."
****
To Be Continued
Author's Notes: Chapter Two, ready for you. Prompt, eh? I aim to please. Thanks for the initial feedback;) Enjoy the story!!
****
Your Wildest Dreams
by Kristen Elizabeth
****
"Duo?" The woman lying in the bed next to him shifted onto her side to see her boyfriend better. "Are you awake?"
"Sort of," he replied, frowning. "I had a really fucked up dream."
Hilde Schbeiker ran her fingers up and down the length of his bare arm. "Do you want to talk about it, sweetie?"
He hesitated for another second. "You and I were going at it…"
"Oh, you make it sound so romantic."
Duo was too caught up in the memory of his dream to notice her tone. "And then I looked over…and Heero was standing there."
Hilde's nose crinkled. "Watching us?!"
"No, not really. He was staring past us. And he was all…bruised and cut up. I looked to see what he was looking at, you know." Duo stopped.
"What was it?"
"Relena." Duo scrubbed his hands down his face. "It was like…he wanted me to see her. I don't know." He glanced over at the naked pixie lying against his side. "What do you think it means, babe?"
She lifted an eyebrow at him. "I'm supposed to get inside that brain of yours and figure things out? I don't think so."
"Yeah," he agreed. After another moment, Duo shook his head against the pillow. "I can't shake this feeling that something's…wrong."
Hilde sat up over him. "Do you want to contact him and make sure everything is all right?"
"What would I say? 'I had a dream about you, Yuy, and I need to make sure you're not dead'?"
"You'd be amazed how often the truth actually works, Duo."
He climbed out of bed rather abruptly and reached for his jeans. After pulling them on and zipping up, he looked back at her. "I'll try to get through to her, how's that?"
Hilde lifted her slender shoulder. "Whatever makes you feel better, sweetie."
Duo walked backwards to the door of their bedroom, pointing at her as he went. "Stay right there. Soon as I clear this up, I'm coming back to have my way with you."
"Well, aren't I just the luckiest little girl in the solar system." She gave him a coy little smile.
He pulled the door open. "Prettiest, too."
Their communicator wasn't the most reliable piece of equipment, but it managed to hold on long enough for him to reach the mansion Relena called home. After a few minutes of weeding through the security codes Heero had installed, Duo found himself being greeted by Relena's old and trusted butler, Paygan.
"Mr. Maxwell, good afternoon."
"Hey there." He combed his hair through his bangs, trying to make himself a little more presentable in front of the formally dressed man. "Listen, I was just wondering…I mean…if Relena is there, can I talk to her?"
Worry made the old man's wrinkled face even more so. "Perhaps you have not seen the news, Mr. Maxwell," Paygan said, his voice unnaturally grave.
Duo swallowed. "No. Not yet."
"The jet taking Miss Relena from the Victoria Base to Egypt never reached Cairo. Attempts to establish communication with the pilot have failed. Miss Relena…is missing."
"Holy fuck." His large hand covered his mouth. "And…was Heero on the plane, too?"
Paygan nodded. "I am sorry to be the bearer of such troubling news."
Duo acknowledged the communication being shut down, but he was busy reaching for the television's remote control and flipping stations until he found the L2 News Network.
"…are no last known coordinates for the Foreign Minister's jet, but it is known that the plane took off from the Victoria Base at approximately 1700 hours yesterday evening, heading on a northeasterly route to Cairo. Search parties are being dispatched to the former republics of Zaire and Tanzania, but civil unrest in these territories, as well as harsh weather conditions and the dangers of the local fauna will make rescue operations extremely difficult. And the likelihood of finding the missing jet, slim. Once again, if you've just joined us, Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft, along with three others, including one Preventer, are missing after a presumed plane crash in Africa. Network News will have continuing updates of this story throughout the day. Now, back to…"
"Duo?"
He whipped around. Hilde stood in the doorway to the bedroom, wrapped in a sheet. Her delicate face was whiter than the material. "Oh my god…Relena…and Heero."
The apartment was silent until Duo threw the remote control against the wall. It broke apart, sending batteries and plastic flying. Tears sprung up in Hilde's eyes as her boyfriend began to pace back and forth. "They've already written them off as dead," Duo fumed. "They'll do a half-assed search mission, but only because it's Relena. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't even bother. It's fucking unbelievable!!"
"Africa, Duo." Hilde took a step towards him. "I suppose they figure…well…how long can anyone survive there? If they survived the crash at all…"
"There's a million things that could have happened, Hilde. And it's not like the whole country is the land before time. There are villages and even cities." He stopped. "Don't forget, babe. If she's…alive, she's probably with Heero. And it would take a lot more than some lions and snakes to get rid of that man."
She licked her lower lip. "If he's alive, too."
Duo froze for a second, before making a flying leap for the communicator. "There's only one way to find out."
"Duo?"
He turned the communicator back on, eternally grateful to whatever higher power existed when it flared to life. "Number…number…" He tapped the side of his head several times. "What's the goddamn number?!"
"Duo, who are you calling?"
"Ah!" Suddenly remembering it, Duo typed madly for a second. When he was done, he looked over at her. "Reinforcements, babe." He looked back at the screen just as a man's scowling face filled it. "Wufei! Great to see you, been too long, looking good, okay, enough crap. You've heard the news. You know what's going on. Now, tell me…how quick can you get all of us to Africa?"
****
Heero spotted the first crocodile just before dawn. He didn't say anything, not wanting to alarm the woman curled up in the closest corner of the twenty-five foot yellow rubber raft. She deserved one last chance at peaceful, uninterrupted sleep before the reality of their situation set in. But Heero had been keeping his flashlight trained on the water for hours, searching for the reflection of eyes near them. Crocodiles were his biggest worry, but depending on how deep the water was, there was also the risk of the extremely territorial hippo. African waters were not friendly to humans.
He couldn't quite remember if it would hypnotize the croc or not, but he kept the light trained on it as it hovered on the surface, only three or four feet from the raft. "You just stay right where you are," he muttered. "I'd rather not waste a bullet on you."
"Waste a bullet on who?" Relena asked as she woke up. She blinked several times. "Heero?"
"Stay still," he ordered her. "We've got an unwelcome visitor."
She nodded tightly; her fear tasted bitter in the back of her throat. "Will we make it to shore?"
"I'm not even sure there is a shore. We might not be in a river, but a marsh." Heero watched the crocodile for any signs of movement. "We'll know more when the sun comes up."
"Okay," Relena whispered.
There was no more conversation because there was nothing for them to say. At least, nothing either of them were willing to say out loud. Relena touched her forehead; the blood there had congealed into a sticky mess; she didn't even want to know how bad she looked. She couldn't see much in the pre-dawn darkness, but Heero seemed to have escaped the crash with just cuts and bruises. Unless he was hiding a more serious wound. He wasn't above it.
As time crept by, reds and pinks appeared on the horizon, like the most vivid watercolor portrait come to life. With her arms wrapped around her knees, Relena watched the dawn blossom. There were no buildings to get in the way of it, no smog to conceal its colors. "It's so beautiful," she whispered.
For Heero, the more light that appeared, the more he could see just how desperate their situation was. The crocodile seemed to be staying where it was, but it had been joined by two or three of its friends. He took a breath and allowed himself one small look around the raft.
They weren't moving with a current, so whatever body of water they'd landed in was a standing one. It looked to be some sort of water hole, half covered in brush and probably no deeper than the plane had been tall. In fact, when he looked over his shoulder, he could see the jet's back wing peeking up from the surface. That was something, at least. If people came this way on a search party, they might be able to spot it.
But that was a very big "might."
"Here's what we're going to do, Relena," Heero began in a low voice. "Feel around behind you on the edge of the raft. Do you feel a pocket of some sort?"
Relena did as he asked and nodded. "I found a zipper."
"There should be a collapsible paddle in there." A moment later, she pulled out a hunk of folded metal. "All right. Get it ready. I'm going to ease us over to that strip of dry land." Heero pointed to a spot several yards away where the grass and brush were the thickest. "Once we're there, I'll…" He stopped when he saw that her shoulders had started to tremble. "Relena?" He followed her gaze out over the water, to the spot where the crocodiles basked. "I have a gun, Relena." Heero hesitated. "I won't let anything happen to you."
She looked back at him. "You never do." Shaking her head, Relena set about unfolding the paddle. When it was ready, she handed it to him.
By the time they had paddled their way over to the brush, the sun was completely up. It beat down on them like an abusive spouse, and they were sweaty within minutes. Relena's face was sticky with freshly moistened blood; she rubbed at her wound, but only succeeded in smearing the blood onto the back of her hand.
"We're almost there," Heero said, breathing heavily from the effort of moving the raft without attracting much attention to them. "I get out first, in case there's something worse in the bush. If anything happens to me, use the paddle and push out back to…"
"Nothing's going to happen to you," she told him quietly, but firmly. "Heero, if I'm out here alone, I'm going to die. It's as simple as that."
He jerked his head to get his soaked bangs out of his eyes. "Well, I wasn't going to go down without a fight."
Relena had to smile. "Was that a bit of humor there? It's too early for heatstroke…"
"You wouldn't go down without a fight either." He let a moment settle between them before he returned to his task. Soon, Relena felt the far end of the raft hit something solid.
Careful not to rock the raft too much, Heero handed her the paddle and crept on all fours across the yellow rubber surface. When he reached the end of it, he pulled his gun out of his holster. Taking a moment to breathe, he jumped off the raft and onto dry land.
"Heero?"
"Shh." With a soldier's trained eye, he examined the brush around him. As it nearly reached the level of his chest, it was a difficult task. The hand that held his gun was extended out in front of him; he used it to part the shrubbery and peer beyond it.
"The water ends here," he reported a second later, and it was hard for him to keep the joy out of his voice. "It looks like we landed on a savanna."
Relena couldn't help but wonder if that was preferable. Savannas mean lions, leopards, wild boars, not to mention snakes, bugs, and little to no shade. But she smiled, because it seemed to please Heero.
He held out his hand to her, indicating that she should join him on the shore. She secured the strap of her carry-on over her shoulder, and grabbed hold of the trash bag full of supplies. "Toss it to me," he told her, and when she did and he had caught it, he gestured to her again. "Come on."
She crawled down the length of the raft exactly as he had, feeling more and more secure the closer she got to him. He'd always been a source of safety, but now he was more like a lifeline. Her last lifeline. When she reached the edge, Relena swung one leg over the side and extended her hand, reaching for his.
The crocodile leaped from the water without any warning, pointed jaws open to reveal broken rows of teeth. Relena heard the splash, Heero shouting her name, her own scream, the sound of a single bullet breaking the silence of the African morning.
And then all she could do was feel. Heero's arms around her, her feet dragging as she was pulled away from the water. There wasn't any pain; she hadn't been bitten. Brush scraped against the sleeves of her sweater as they ran, stumbling much of the way.
They emerged from the brush, but kept going, putting as much distance between them and the water hole as possible. It seemed like a lifetime to Relena before the world stopped spinning. At the firstsigns of Heero slowing down, Relena's legs gave out from underneath her and she dropped to the brown grass.
Heero joined her, breathing heavily. His gun was still in his hand; for the first time in his life, he was grateful to the men who had turned him into an assassin. Had his bullet not gone exactly where he wanted it to, Relena might have been seriously wounded. Or even killed.
"Relena." He reached for her. "Look at me, Relena."
"We're going to die!" She buried her face in her hands as her sobs surfaced, tearing through her slender body. "We're going to die, Heero!"
He grabbed her shoulders. "You keep thinking like that, and we will. Got it? Got it?!"
Relena lowered her hands; tears and blood dripped down her throat. "It's too much. I can't…I can't do it."
"I can't do it either." She stared at him, dumbfounded, and he continued, "But we can."
"Heero…"
"We left the raft behind; it's just as well, though. The crocs might tear it apart, but there will still be some that will catch a low flying aircraft's attention. We can't stay around waiting for that though."
The touching moment had passed almost as quickly as it had come. "What are we going to do?"
Heero looked around. The African savanna was grasslands flat, with only a very few trees dotting the landscape. But in the distance, he could see the dark triangles that indicated mountains. "We'll walk that way. Hopefully we'll find a road that will lead us to a village. If we're really lucky, they might have a communicator." He glanced back at her. "We saved the food and water. You've still got your toothpaste. The blanket will provide us shelter during the heat of the day. Really, Relena…we're already fairly lucky."
She blinked back the last few tears. "I suppose so."
"Don't cry anymore." His voice was almost tender. Relena held her breath, but released it when he continued, in a much harder tone, "You'll dehydrate yourself." He stood and helped her up. "If you have anything else useful in that bag of yours, now would be the time to tell me."
Wiping her cheeks, Relena let the carry-on slide off her shoulder. She unzipped it with trembling hands and pulled out a bottle of sunscreen.
"Good." Heero tilted his head up. The sun was gaining even more strength as it climbed across the sky. "We're going to need it."
****
To Be Continued