Title: Fear

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Quatra + Trowa

Notes: Challenge 227. Baby Series 4 #139. Takes place at approximately the same time as Insignificant.

Spoilers: None

Warnings: Extended Length

Many thanks to ShenLong Deb for her work betaing this set of fics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the Characters from the series but the baby is mine.

Title: Fear

"Allah!"

Trowa could second that whispered heartfelt plea. The bomb shelter beneath the city hall was crowded with people from all walks of life, all of them huddled as tightly together as possible. It was freezing and the heat packs were struggling to cope with the frigid conditions. They only had so many of the heaters and they dared not use them all at once. Fuel was limited and though it was more than cold, everyone was warmly dressed and there was body heat being shared. At the present time togetherness was a necessity for survival.

They needed to save the remaining heaters and fuel for when the units in use failed, and they would fail. The fuel cells would last only so long and they had to hope it would be long enough for the storm to abate and for them to assess the damages and restore people to a more normal living environment.

Quatre had contributed all the resources he could gather to assist with surviving the storm. He wondered how they could simply call it a storm as it was very far from the storms that usually blew down from the north. This was exceptional weather, and at some time in the future, when the damage had been dealt with and people could begin to rebuild their lives, the scientists would offer up an explanation for the perfect storm that threatened to kill them.

Some of the scientists might even be hailed as heroes and awarded accolades for their research into the storm and for formulating a better method of predicting such events. They would come up with better ways to survive the catastrophe, but none of their science would help them here and now.

Had they lost lives despite their every effort to provide the amenities of life? Food, shelter and vital life sustaining heat. There was only so much that you could do and they had had only so much time in which to prepare. At least they had had some time to prepare, unlike those first hit by the storm.

Quatre flinched, his shoulder pressed to Trowa's back as the ground beneath them seemed to shift. A minuscule movement as the building was hit by high wind gusts and the constant barrage of huge hailstones, but it felt like an earthquake to people who were in fear of their lives. With the shift people seemed to compact closer together, an unconscious bid to receive comfort from the mere presence of another human being, even a total stranger. None of them were immune to it. Fear, real honest to god fear of the unknown, could turn the bravest individual into a whimpering idiot.

He was damnably close to giving in and doing a bit of whimpering of his own. Hail stones were never meant to be the size of basketballs or small boulders... though the latter, he was sure, was an exaggeration... At least he hoped it was. Wind driven hail stones of any size were dangerous, but oversized hail in the wind that currently punished Sanc... It was a recipe for disaster.

"We will need to coordinate what help we can. Milliardo will need all the help he can get, and you can be sure there will not be a great deal of it coming to Sanc."

Trowa glanced at Quatre. The blue eyes were wide and frightened, but they were granite hard too, his features set and determined. It took a lot to cower Quatre Winner.

"Sanc has as much right to outside help as any of the larger European countries affected by this storm."

"In a perfect world, yes, you are quite right, Trowa. Sanc does have as much right... But this is far from a perfect world. The less Milliardo has to beg for aid, the better. Certain powers beyond Sanc don't want him here and they will use whatever means they can to get to him. Punishing Sanc for accepting him, believe me, will not be beyond them."

End

Karina Robertson 2014