Hilde giggled as the brisk breeze swept leaves past her upturned face. The world smelled green, green and fresh with growing things. I must be in the forest, she mused inwardly.
Sunlight slanted through the boughs of immense trees, and she danced through the sunbeams as she raced to the forest's edge. When she reached it, she stared over a vast savanna of waving grasses.
Where am I? There'd never be anything like this in one of the colonies, she thought. Am I on Earth? How did I get here?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the low growling of distant thunder. She raised her head, and gazed out to the horizon, where immense, dark clouds twisted and swarmed fitfully. It was about to storm. A gust of wind swept its fingers through her hair, and she inhaled deeply. The wind smelled tangy, sharp with ozone and water.
The thunder rumbled again, more insistently, and Hilde felt the first big, hard drops of rain hit her face. She turned her face upward, and opened her mouth. Even the rain tasted sweet.
The beatific scene of storm and grassland slowly disintegrated to darkness, fading into the far reaches of her subconscious memory. The blackness faded, and her eyelids fluttered. Colors blended together, then slowly rearranged themselves to form a face. A very battered face, but a familiar face nonetheless.
"Quatre..." Hilde was amazed at how hoarse her voice sounded. It was barely more than a croak. What had happened to her?
Awareness returned to her body at the same time as her memory. The shuttle...the shuttle crashed! She winced slightly as pain lanced through her body. But I'm not dead...don't they always say that death doesn't hurt this much? She moaned softly.
Quatre unclenched the cloth that had been nestled behind his fingers. The water she had tasted had been him squeezing the rag out into her mouth and over her face. He blotted at her forehead gently.
"You're finally awake," he said. He could not hide the relief in his voice.
"How long--" Hilde attempted to sit up, but was stopped by Quatre placing a hand on her chest.
"Don't exert yourself. You took a pretty bad knock to the head when we crashed. I'm afraid you might have a concussion, and I don't want you to make anything worse."
Hilde blinked slightly, and her vision swam. "Oooh..." she moaned. "I feel like shit."
Some of the tenseness eased out of Quatre's features, and he actually laughed. "Well, I'm not so worried any more, I guess." He blinked, surprised, as Hilde reached up to touch his face gently with one hand.
"Have you looked at yourself lately, Quatre? You're a mess."
"I've been taking care of you. And I wasn't hurt so badly. Just a few scratches."
Unconsciously, Hilde reached for her purse. It was usually at her side, but this time, it was gone. I must have lost it during the crash, she mused.
"What are you looking for?"
"A mirror. You really do have to see your face to believe it."
Quatre grinned. "I'll take your word for it. At least it isn't my face that's worth millions."
Hilde's mood immediately sobered. "Quatre...how long have I been out?"
"A few hours. Not long enough for too much concern. Like I said, you hit your head pretty hard."
Hilde managed to wiggle enough to prop herself up against the trunk of a tree. Well, at least I got the forest part right, she thought sourly. "What happened? Why did the shuttle crash?"
Quatre didn't say anything. Instead, he turned and stared at a point behind her. Hilde found herself following his line of vision, and gasped.
The shuttle was a tangled mess. The trees had bent over in subservience to the metal giant as it had landed, but had not gone down without a fight. A long, jagged scar, its edges scored with blackness that looked almost like carbon, had torn open the outer hull. By some small miracle, whatever had torn into the side of the shuttle had not breached the inner hull. Had it done that, no one would have survived.
"What on earth...What happened to the shuttle?!"
Quatre shook his head. "I'm not too sure," he started hesitantly, "but I think it was lightning."
"Lightning?!"
Quatre nodded. "I think we entered the atmosphere right into a storm."
"But wouldn't that have not made a difference until we descended into the cloud bank?"
Quatre shrugged. "I'm not sure. All I know is, something caused that damage, and lightning seems to make sense." He shrugged slightly at the skepticism on her face. "It could have been anything, I suppose. Since we didn't actually get a chance to see the shuttle getting hit, I can't tell for sure what hit us just by looking at it...but it looks like lightning to me."
Hilde glanced down at her shirtfront suddenly. "Would that explain why my clothes are all wet?"
Quatre nodded. "It was raining when I managed to drag us out of the wreckage. Though the lightning had moved on by the time we'd been grounded."
Another thought struck her. "What about the pilots...?"
Quatre shook his head gravely. "I think they were both taken by surprise when we were first struck. I don't think the pilot even knew what hit him."
"What about the co-pilot?"
"He hasn't woken up yet."
Something nagged at Hilde's conscious. "What do you mean, 'when we were first struck'?"
"Something else hit us, Hilde. There's another gaping hole through the wing."
"Something else? What else could have..." She trailed off slightly.
Quatre shook his head. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Maybe it was a bomb; maybe it was more lightning. I didn't take a very close look at the damage to the wing."
Hilde raised a hand to her forehead. "I can't believe this..." She struggled to her feet. Quatre remained where he sat, a concerned expression on his face. She braced herself against the tree, and managed a brave grin. "But that's not for us to worry about now, right? I mean, you've already called for help, I'm sure. We'll let the rescue team determine what the second crash was."
Quatre was silent. Hilde's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You did call for help...didn't you?"
Quatre heaved a heavy sigh. "How?" His voice was tired. "The communications equipment was completely shredded when we crashed. The comm box looks like a bird nested in it. There's no way we could use it to call for help."
Hilde threw up her hands in disgust, anger overcoming the sense of panic that was building at the edges of her consciousness. "What do you mean, 'there's no way we could use it'? Number one, you're a former Gundam pilot. Shouldn't you be able to jury-rig a comm unit out of a toaster and a pair of earmuffs? And number two, you're Quatre Raberba Winner. I find it very hard to believe that you, of all people, would go anywhere without at least five hundred people knowing where to find you."
At her last statement, Quatre's face fell, and he looked down at the ground.
"Don't tell me..."
Quatre heaved another heavy sigh. "I might as well be honest with you," he said quietly. "I was trying to travel incognito. I don't think anyone knows I was on that shuttle. For all they know, I am spending a quiet weekend at home. I was only supposed to be gone for a few days." He looked up, and Hilde could see the beginnings of guilt-induced panic in his eyes. "Nobody knows I was supposed to be on that shuttle!"
A small, insistent corner of her mind tried to convince Hilde that she should feel some compassion for her fellow crash survivor. But her anger at his apparent irresponsibility was much, much louder. She clenched her fists at her sides, and began taking in deep, long breaths. She screwed her eyes shut, and tried to convince herself that this was all just a very, very bad dream.
"Hilde..."
Her eyes snapped open, and she took in another deep breath.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T TELL ANYONE WHERE YOU WERE GOING!!!!!"
Her shrill voice reverberated through the trees, and was followed by the scuttling sounds of small animals hoofing it away from the area in terror. Quatre recoiled in shock. He had never seen Hilde this enraged.
"I can't believe you! What kind of idiot takes off without telling anyone where he was going? Don't answer that, I'm talking right now! Good grief! What is wrong with you?! Couldn't you have at least told one person? Just one? Just in case something like this happened? Oh, and don't give me that Quatre look, you little creep. I don't care what your excuse is! You always tell someone where you are going. No ifs, ands or buts about it! Got it??!!"
Hilde finally stopped to catch her breath, and took a good look at Quatre's face. His expression caused her to pull up short. He looked absolutely crushed.
"Hilde...I..."
Despite her contrition, she was not ready to admit that he had not committed a grievous crime. She pushed herself away from the tree violently, and stalked off into the forest.
"Hilde, wait! Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find a lake or stream or something," she huffed over her shoulder. "I don't care if we are lost in a stupid forest. I still want to wash up a little bit!" She could still hear his voice fading somewhat in the distance, but chose to ignore it. I just need a little time to cool off, she thought to herself morosely. I'm just mad because I feel so helpless...Oh, why did this have to happen to me??!
For a while, the only sounds were the harsh rasp of her breath and the snap-crash of the underbrush as she barged through the forest. Inwardly, she seethed. How could anyone be so irresponsible? Especially someone like Quatre. What happened to all those stories about how composed and well-put-together he was? Duo had always said the guy was like a 15-year-old elderly man, with the way he was so well-organized. What had happened in the years since the end of the Barton uprising? Had he begun to lose his touch? Was running a business so damn hard that--
Hilde suddenly drew up short with a gasp. A businessman...Winner Enterprises...Quatre is the executive director...he inherited the business from his father.
In other words, he is never alone.
Guilt washed over Hilde in a bitter-tasting cloud. Suddenly, she felt like a complete and utter clod. How could she have said those awful things to Quatre? It wasn't his fault the shuttle crashed. He had only been trying to get some time to himself.
She sank to her knees, trying to fight back tears. But still...but still...How were they ever going to get out of here? She had no idea where they were. She didn't know if anyone knew where they had crashed. What if they were never found?
She scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand, wincing as she brushed against the abrasions on her face. This was no time to be acting like this, she thought. The first thing I have to do is go back and apologize to Quatre. Then we can put our heads together and maybe think of a solution to this problem.
Hilde attempted to stand up, and her head swam. She reached out to catch herself on a tree trunk that seemed to loom close to her hand, only to whisk her hand through the mirage. The trunks multiplied as her vision wobbled, and the last thing she remembered was the smell of leaf-litter as she crashed to the ground.