FicWad

Author's note: Well, I officially have a 'ship I like. So, here's a fic to go with it. Please Review. I like feeling loved, and it's been known to make me write faster. ;) I don't mind constructive critisism either.

Out in the Cold

"How could you let your power cell run down, Mahad! Don't you check your readings before you go flying off?!"

"It hasn't been six months yet!"

"Okay..." Dahlia faced Mahad across the cockpit of the Hyperion, "are you saying you haven't changed the power cells since you got the Hyperion..."

"Yeah... at pilot school we got taught you only need to check them every six months..."

"Did you think that maybe since the Hyperion hadn't been used for years that they just might have been in there for /more than six months/!?"

Mahad's eyes widened in realisation. "Yeah... well, I can't think of everything! I was flying! You weren't. Don't you think you would've noticed a little 'power cells low' light?"

"Urgh!!" Dahlia slammed her fists on the Hyperion's console.

"Hey! Careful!"

"Okay... we're stuck on a block of ice. We have no power to take off. Let's try the radio."

"Right..." Mahad poked his console. The radio crackled at him. "Hello? Can anyone hear me, come in..." He threw his hands in the air. "It's just static."

"Just great. I'll take a hand radio outside and see if I can get better reception." Dahlia grabbed the radio from her side and opened the hatch. A flurry of snow and ice rushed inside.

"Sure you can handle the weather?"

Dahlia glared back at him, shielding the snow from her face. "I'll be just fine. But keep some lights on. If the visibility gets to low I don't want to get lost."

Mahad snorted. "It's not snowing that much!"

"Just keep them on," growled Dahlia before slamming the hatch behind her.

Mahad kept watching her as she walked across the hull of the ship then jumped off the edge of the engine. He sighed and folded his arms, looking out the front window. The visibility was a little low. A part of him wanted to not have to sit in the ship like a kid and do nothing. But the last time they'd been stuck on an ice block together, and he'd stuck his head out he'd probably been the cause of Dahlia falling off the ship and into a ravine. Still, he had rescued her. And the situation they were in now wasn't as dangerous.

He flicked through the radio again. He couldn't even pick up a commercial channel, let alone contact Puerto Angel.

Mahad sighed and leaned back in his chair. He'd have to wait for Dahlia to return. "Boring..." he grumbled. He stared out the front window, watching the snow flurry across the front of the ship.

Fifteen minutes later, Dahlia wasn't back. "What's taking her so long..." Mahad wondered. He looked out the front window again. If he wasn't mistaken, the front of the Hyperion had been easier to see a few minutes ago. The weather was getting worse. He turned up the lights inside. Perhaps she was having trouble seeing them.

Two minutes later, he couldn't stay in his seat any longer.

"Dahlia!" he yelled out the open hatch. The wind blew his voice back at him. "What's taking her so long?" He stepped out of the cockpit and slammed the hatch. "Dahlia!" He checked behind him quickly. The ship would be easy to find again with the lights on. He walked to the edge of the engine and jumped off. "Dahl... oof!" And sunk up to his knees in a snow drift. "Ah... cold..." he grumbled, pulling himself out. He'd better find her quickly, it was freezing outside. He picked his way carefully through the snow, looking ahead for any sign of Dahlia.

**

"Hello? Hello!" Dahlia shook the radio again then paced up and down. "Can anyone hear me!!! Stupid... urgh!" She threw the device in the snow in exasperation. It simply sunk in. She walked over and picked it back up. "Maybe we'll have to wait for the weather to improve..." She didn't like that idea. If the Hyperion's power cell was really run down they might have trouble keeping even the heating running. They could probably turn off the lights and conserve power. She rolled her eyes. Mahad was sure to have something smart to say about that. So long as he kept to himself, she could deal with it.

Dahlia climbed on top of a rock nearby and shielded her eyes, looking in the direction where she'd come from. The Hyperion's lights were somewhere over there. Something moving through the snow caught her attention first.

"Dahlia!"

Dahlia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Mahad! I told you to stay in the Hyperion!" She jumped off the rock and walked towards him through the snow.

"You were taking too long! For all I know you could've been eaten by some snow beast! Like... a polar bear!"

"Mahad, they're extinct. I'm fine, alright! You needed to stay back and keep the lights on."

"I did! They can keep themselves on. Well, for fifteen minutes anyway..."

"What?"

"They turn off by themselves after fifteen minutes when the power's too low."

Dahlia just started at him.

"Relax! They'll still be on."

Dahlia ignored him, staring past him. "Then how come I can't see them..."

Mahad looked back over his shoulder. "You're not looking hard enough..."

"Well?"

"Maybe... I must've forgotten to reset them before I left..."

"Mahad!"

"Relax! Just relax! I just came from there! I can find my way back. We'll... ah, we'll follow my footprints..." He began retracing his steps.

Dahlia folded her arms and followed after him. She would've yelled at him for being stupid, but he had the only idea for getting back. Yelling at him would waste more time. Time in which his footprints would be covered by the rapidly falling snow.

Time they didn't have in the first place. Mahad stopped within twenty feet.

"Mahad...?"

"The snow's covered my footprints..."

"Do you remember where you came? Any landmarks?"

"No!"

"Urgh!"

"Well, do you?"

"Yeah, the Hyperion's lights. Oh, wait, they're not there anymore! Some idiot let them turn off!"

"I'm sorry, okay!"

"Alright. Fine. We need to find shelter somewhere."

"What about looking for the Hyperion?"

"If we don't know where it is, it's almost hopeless to try finding it. And it's cold. I think it's going to get colder. We don't want to be stuck in the open when it does."

Mahad sighed. "Alright."