AN: This story was on my mind for quite some time now. Its first version, though, (well, the first few chapters) was lost with all the rest of the files I couldn't save when my computer crashed this past March.
The good news, however, is that they weren't any good and I am much happier with my current version :) even though it took me some six more months to start writing it again. It's been finished since October, but I postponed publishing it because some of the premises of this story are too similar (for my liking) to ideas used in two other stories published on the fandom this early Autumn.
I do hope you'll enjoy it, though. It is just long enough, even if I made the chapters short this time.
A big 'Thank You!" to Ina who helped by correcting it and offering her input on the story, and to Tekla for pointing out some important faults in my initial reasoning. Also, I am grateful to Lori for correcting the published chapters and finding those errors I had previously missed. Any remaining ones are my own fault.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, make no money off of this and only write and share for the fun of it. I do, however, own the idea for the story and the order in which the words are written, so its publishing on any other website without my approval is strictly forbidden.
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Diego de la Vega was worried. Not because of the Alcalde or some bandit roaming the Los Angeles area, but because of Victoria.
The young woman had been gone for most of the day at that point, having headed for San Pedro in the early morning, several hours before the earthquake. The one hitting the southern part of Alta California that day, had caused more damage than the ones they had had during the previous years. Among them, a crushed wall in the church, several destroyed farmhouses, and a fallen roof at the cuartel, all leading to around 15 injured and two dead.
With two pregnant women also entering into labor at about the same time, the Doctor and the midwife were greatly overwhelmed, so Diego was called in to lend a hand. As the tavern had not been severely affected – having made it through it with only some broken bottles and jars – and Victoria was far safer out in the open than in any closed premises, he chose to help those who needed him, hoping she'd soon return with her wagon.
In the late afternoon, though, as her wagon arrived at the pueblo without her in the driving seat, fearing something bad had befallen the woman he loved, Diego abandoned his patients in Felipe's care and, putting on his black clothes and mask, mounted Tornado, and went searching for her.
The November weather that year was quite chilly, and the wind which had been blowing for most of the day made everything several times worse. Had he not known the route she normally took to the port, his search would have been useless, especially with the night fast approaching. As things stood, however, Zorro found the innkeeper some 12 miles from Los Angeles, near the road, at the bottom of a sinkhole, half-buried in dirt. For a few moments, as he watched her from above, he feared she was dead, lying still as she was, some thirty feet below ground.
The tall caballero, though, was not the sort of person to let himself prey to despair before even making sure there was reason for it.
He, thus, secured a rope by his stallion's saddle horn, and was about to climb down to her when the earth started moving again, and, instead of a slow descent, he felt himself sliding downwards, as Tornado reared and hurried away, following his survival instinct.
Within seconds, Zorro found himself under two feet of dirt, at the bottom of the same sinkhole where Victoria was lying. And, as if that wasn't a bad enough predicament, rain also started falling hard just soon after.
With difficulty, using all his strength, he managed to climb his way back to the surface, then, after pausing for a while to breathe and let the water wash the mud away from his face and mask, he made his way towards Victoria.
She was still alive, although he could barely feel her pulse as her entire body felt cold. The earth she was half-buried in had saved her thus far by keeping her warm enough to survive. Even so, however, whether from the cold or as a result of the fall, she was unconscious, and he knew that waking her up was as essential as it was improbable.
"Victoria!" He called. "Victoria! Open your eyes! Please, open your eyes! Victoria!" Zorro slowly shook her, pressing her against himself in an effort to both help her get warm and check for injuries on her back. She neither uttered a word, nor opened her eyes, yet, to his relief, neither did he find any injury on her, not even a broken rib.
The rain kept falling, making him feel colder by the minute and completely soaking his clothes.
Hesitating for a few minutes, he took off his shirt, then did the same with the young woman's before covering her with his body in a desperate attempt to raise her temperature. To his surprise (and temporary embarrassment) it worked. A short while later – which, to him, seemed like an eternity – Victoria moaned softly, then opened her eyes to look at him.
He breathed a sigh of relief until the woman in his arms looked down and realized they were half-naked.
"Zorro?" She whispered, confused.
"I'm sorry. It was the only way I could think of to get you warm. You would have died. Forgive me, but I couldn't let you die." He answered.
She nodded and buried her head just below his neck, where she could breathe despite the water pouring down on her, embarrassed, yet guiltily enjoying the feeling of being half-naked under the man she loved and the heat emanating from him.
"Can you move?" He inquired.
"No. I can hardly feel my body. I am so cold." Victoria confessed with dread, her voice still very hoarse. "How do we get out of here?" She then asked him.
"I don't know yet. Tornado ran away when I fell in, and climbing up is hardly an option in this rain." He answered.
"You can do it. I'm sure you can." She tried to encourage him.
"Not without you. Not if it means leaving you here, prey to the elements." The man holding her replied. "I am not going anywhere, and we should conserve our body heat as much as possible until someone comes to rescue us."
"And if nobody comes? If you don't leave me, we will both die! Please, Zorro! You must save yourself! Do it for me... and for the people who still need you!" She uttered.
"Right now, you need me more than others, and I need you, as well, Victoria. My life is not worth living without you." He said sincerely. "Have faith, my love! Tornado will return with help."
She stared at his face half-covered by the black, soaked mask.
"I'm so cold!" She whispered again. "I don't think I can hold on for much longer."
He was also freezing, his body working hard to help him cope with the weather, as he was no longer able to stop himself from shivering.
"Just stay awake. Please! You need to stay awake. I'll find a way…" He promised her.
The next few hours, as he was hoping that Felipe would arrive with Tornado to help them, he whispered to her, encouraging her to imagine their life together, even though he knew that his own fight with the cold might soon be lost and their future together might never come to pass.
As the rain kept pouring, threatening to drown them in its fury, and the night engulfed them in darkness, making their rescue less and less probable, they became very much aware that their lives would end right there, at the bottom of that pit, their only consolation the fact that, at least, they'd die in each other's arms.
