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Dimitri went out for a jog days after their meeting with Ducall: like he had whenever he started to think about his fallen comrade. He left in full uniform, despite not really needing to wear it again, and jogged around the lake until even he couldn't take it anymore. He stopped on the opposite end of the lake from the house, gasping for breath. The woods were beautiful out here; he was surrounded on all sides by beautiful things: trees, grass, flowers: everything. He took small joy in them however, still trying to cope with his friend's loss.

Compensation had come in and been deposited in Jamie's account; the money the military promised in case Josiah ever did die. Jamie found he couldn't bring himself to use any of it; depositing it all in a seperate account.

Dimitri sighed: Jmie was getting worse. He resolved that the fox needed to hear how Josiah died, and maybe he would take comfort in that fact that his lover was a hero. He took off the pack he carried with him and walked over with it to the pebbly beach surrounding the lake. He sat near the water, letting the waves softly lap at his feet. He pulled out a picture of his friend and two sandwhiches, unwrapping them both and setting them on the blanket. He set the picture on the pebbles beside him, facing the image of his friend toward the sunset.

"Hello my friend." Dimitri started, biting into his sandwhich. "This will be the hundredth meal I've had with you by the lake."

The image didn't move, didn't answer, just stared out over the water.

"We are going to sink you in the lake tomorrow, just like you asked. And... and I promise I wont feel sad anymore, just like you asked." A cold wind blew over Dimitri, and he shivered despite his thick fur. He set the second sandwhich beside the picture and stayed silent for a moment. "Turkey and cheese. Just like you like it." He said.

The picture didn't respond.

"I understand that you can't talk to me anymore, Josiah, but it still hurts when you don't answer." he chuckled, tears in his eye.

The picture stared out over the lake, still unmoving and making no sound.

Dimitri pulled out a slip of crumpled up white paper; Josiah's last will and testament. "I'm showing this to Jamie tomorrow, just like you said. One hundred and one days after I returned to the states." He refolded the paper and put it in his pocket. "And... And I'll tell him how you died, and give him your tags.

"You know, my friend," Dimitri started, finishing his last bite of sandwhich "I wanted to thank you for saving my life. For... for pulling me back before I charged headlong into that hail of gunfire. I still lost an eye though, you bastard." the tiger chuckled and looked at the picture, which depicted a smiling fox in full uniform simply looking at the camera. Such pictures were rare, as Josiah hated to be photographed. "I don't blame you though. The stupid rifleman was a lousy shot. He just got lucky is all. Besides, I got out a lot better than you did." he made an attempt to laugh, but it came out as a choked sob.

"Dammit..." Dimitri buried his face in his knees "Why did you have to do that you son of a bitch... Why couldn't you let the rook do it? He was faster... Shit... he was injured... he couldn't have." He cried for a few moments, but wiped the tears from his eye fairly quickly. He'd done his share of crying, and Josiah told him in the will specifically not to after a hundred days. That's as long as he wanted anyone to feel sad, otherwise he swore on God he would come back and kick the tiger's ass for letting anyone be sad. Dimitri smiled at the memory; bullets flying all around them, Josiah about to make a suicide run across a field of enemy fire; and the damn fox told him "Dont you let anyone be sad for more than a hundred days, you here me you fuckin' cyclops?" And he smiled and ran toward his objective. The statement was sarcastic, and the fox was smiling when he said it; but Dimitri had taken it to heart.

The tiger stood, picking up the other sandwhich an throwing it into the water, where it sank to the bottom. He picked up the picture and smiled back at it. "There you go, my friend. A soggy ass sandwhich." He put the picture in the backpack and zipped it up, slinging it over his shoulders and jogging back to the house.

***

When he arrived, he was greeted by Alto at the door. "You're back later than usual." The husky remarked.

"So I am. What's it to you?" the tiger sighed.

"Well maybe I got concerned?"

"T'was not needed."

Alto sipped the coffee he seemed to always have. "Well, you're back just in time for dinner, congratulations." He ushered the tiger upstairs. "C'mon, go get a shower, then you can come back down." The husky had adopted the role of mamma of the house after Jamie had started to seclude himself. He and Weylin practically had to force food down the fox's throat, though, otherwise Jamie wouldn't eat.

Dimitri walked up the stairs, shedding his jacket in the hallway and simply letting it drop. He entered the bathroom, well, his bathroom, and turned on the water, letting it run until it was nice and warm. He shed his clothes and stepped in, closing his eye enjoying the relaxing feeling sweeping over his body.

Suddenly he felt slender paws wrap around him, and rub his back. His first reaction was to tense up, but he relaxed quickly and opened his eye, smiling down at the beautiful bundle of fur in front of him. "Hello Weylin." He purred, nibbling the fennec's ears.

"Hey hunny." the slender fox murred.

"How is Jamie doing?"

"Well... I suppose he's getting better... a little."

Well, good news was good news. "How so?"

"He's getting the urge to cook and clean again. I think he's starting to recover."

"That is good I suppose, I am tired of mircowaved burritos and sandwhiches and pizza."

"Amen, reverend." Weylin giggled. "Although I am still very concerned, he won't eat and still barely sleeps. I can still hear him cry at night, Dimitri..." the little fennec looked sad, nuzzling his lover's chest. "I think he needs to hear-"

"I know. I will tell him tomorrow." He picked Weylin up and pressed him to the shower wall below the nozzle. "But for now... I want to enjoy my lover."

Weylin wrapped his legs around the tiger and smiled. "As you wish." he mewed and gasped as Dimitri entered him.

***

Dinner was an uncomfortable, boring affair. Like Dimitri had said; microwaved burritos, pizza, and sandwhiches. No one in the house was much of a cook, other than Jamie. Weylin took a plate of food up to the fox and made him eat, despite his protests.

Downstairs everyone hastily ate their food, not really wanting to taste it after more than three months of the stuff. After it was gone, severl dissatisfied furs climbed the stairs for bed. Weylin slept in Josiah's room, making sure the fox didn't do anyting rash.

Everyone slept peacefully enough, most of them adhering to Josiah's wish of only feeling sad for at most a hundred days. The fox had always wanted for his life to be celebrated, not his death mourned.

***

The next morning Dimitri gathered everyone downstairs and sat them on the couch, seating himself on the big footrest in the center of the room. He glanced at Jamie, who was staring at him through dull, foggy eyes.

"Okay, my friends." Dimitri started, taking a deep breath. "Today is the day Josiah told me to tell you how he died; on the hundred and first day after his death." He looked around but no one responded, all listening intently. "He also told me to make sure that all of you stopped feeling sad. He wanted his life to be celebrated, not his death mourned. That is what he wanted."

He took another breath and pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolding it and setting it next to him. From around his neck he took the fox's dogtags and set them next to the paper. "Jamie, these are for you after I finish." He sighed, shufflinf uncomfortably. It was hard for him to talk about what happened overseas; very, very hard. But it was the last wish of his friend.

"Okay. Here we go..."

***

Far over the blue ocean, in the sand and rocks of the middle east, the two soldiers and their squad sat still and ready in the back of a plane. They stood in full gear with parachutes on their backs, waiting for the green light.

The room they were all standing in was awash with red light, and shook every now and then when the plane encountered turbulence. Dimitri sat next to Josiah, as he always had, and patted his friend's shoulder. The fox smiled at him, returning the gesture "We'll be fine, it's just a bunch of insurgents in a bunker, we've done this before." He didn't sound too confident though; the cave network they were charged with clearing was vast and winding, with little light and no real cover, and the only indication that the insurgents were there was the bunker hewn from the rock. Six other planes followed behind the one they were in, and they were very close to their objective.

"Two minutes!" a crackly voice spoke over the intercom, and the Rangers all stood, checking their gear for the hundredth time just in case they missed anything.

"One minute!" They stood ready to run out the back of the plane when the order was given. The plane started to shake with small flak impacts, and from the small window to his right Dimitri could see it had already brought down a plane and the rangers it was carrying were bailing.

Dimitri could feel his friend's anger; there were twelve rangers on that plane, and only six bailed. He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, shaking him a little. The fox smiled at him; a hollow, unreal thing.

"Green light! Go go go!" The back of the plane opened and wind rushed into the chamber, and without hesitation they stood in single file and started to run out the back of the plane. Josiah had reached the back when the plane rocked violently, sending the fox spinning out of the plane in a random direction. Dimitri was knocked back, and the plane tipped nose forward and started to spin toward the earth, one of it's wings blown off.

The tiger was dizzying quickly, but hauled himself up and toward the back of the plane. More flak hit the aircraft and wrent it apart with help from the negative g-forces applying themselves to the doomed plane. He found himself hanging on for dear life on the tail-end of the plane as it hurtled to ground.

He ignored his instincts and let go, knowing he'd have a better chance if he tried to stabilize himself. He spread eagle to slow his fall and watched the plane, and with it all their ordinance, hit the ground and explode.

He pulled the chord on his pack and deployed his parachute, aiming for a flat-ish area a ways from the crash. His squad was separated across a stretch of land God-knew how huge and he worried that his friends were dead.

He hit the ground rough, rolling across the dirt and scattered rocks until his parachute snagged on something and pulled him to an abrupt halt. Pain shot through his body, and he tried to haul himself up, but was stopped by the parachute chords wrapped around his legs. He drew his knife and cut through them, taking off the spent chute-pack.

He checked his GPS; he was two miles away from the drop zone, and the plane had crashed a few hundred yards behind him. He decided to abandon the plane and move toward his objective, hoping to find his squad along the way.

Along the way he ran into Josiah, who revealed himself by hauling Dimitri behind a rock as a bullet flew past his head. He put a finger on his maw, signalling the tiger be quiet.

'Sniper' he mouthed, putting his helmet on the butt of his rifle and raising it above the rock.

A bullet, obviously of high caliber, blew the helmet clean off the gun. Josiah examined it, and a hole the size of a quarter examined him right back. "Damn..." he whispered. "Fifty Cal.?" he put the helmet back on, moving his goggles over the hole.

Dimitri sighed and relaxed against the rock "Where is he?" the tiger whispered.

Josiah pointed behind him "Ridge. Has the whole area covered." He thought for a moment "But we can flank him, if one of us serves as a distraction-" as he said that a blast sounded from the ridge. Both soldiers looked over the rock.

"King!" Dimitri called out.

"Pauper!" the reply was in english, and both soldiers sighed in relief.

"Adams is that you?"

"Johanson, sir." A black cat appeared on the top of the rock and smiled down at both of them.

"Get down here!" Josiah pulled the private down with them. "You have no idea if there are any others!"

"Actually, uh, sir..." Johanson looked sheepish. "I just took out the last one..."

Dimitri looked dumbfounded "How did you...?" Johanson held up his last grenade. "Ah."

"I love grenades, sir."

"I have noticed." Dimitri blew out and looked over the rock. "Did you find any others?"

"No sir."

"Well," Josiah sighed "Guess we'd better." He peeked around the rock with his weapon raised and started moving toward the ridge, followed by the two other rangers.

Along the way they found the bodies of two of their squad, and the scared wreck of the last one. Dimitri pulled the ranger up and shook him, taking the shocked rookie and slapped some sense into him. The rook followed from behind as they moved toward their objective; an anti-air battery on top of a bunker leading into the cave system. Johanson shouldered the RPG he found and hoped to God it wasn't a dud.

A mile and a half later, the group of rangers met up with another squad of six, making ten of them in all. They crept across the desert toward the bunker, stopping on a ridge nearby. Johanson aimed his rpg, waiting for the order. When he pulled the trigger all hell would break loose, and everyone wanted to be prepared.

They took their positions, and Dimitri nodded to Johanson "Now."

The black cat squeezed the trigger and the rocket flared to life, speeding at odd angles toward its target. The RPG connected with the gun and exploded, leaving it and it's operator nothing more than a pile of rubble.

And then it got interesting.

***

Dimitri paused his story. An hour had gone by already and he looked at everyone. "Do you all understand what is happening?"

He recieved several nods, but no one said anything. Alto was captivated at how the Rangers operated, how cold they seemed sometimes and how loving in others.

Jamie wiggled on the couch, leaning on Weylin. He'd been just as captivated as Alto "G-go on..." He mewed softly. Dimitri sighed and kept going with his story.

***

Insurgents poured from every opening in the bunker, dozens of them, and took positions in the valley below the ridge, instantly showering the Rangers with bullets. Three of the rangers didn't duck in time, catching bullets. One died instantly, taking a shot through the brain. One other had a bullet got hrough his throat, and he died slowly, writhing in agony until he bled to death. The third only took one to the kevlar, and fell back on the rocks, breaking his leg.

Josiah sighed and blindly fired over the ridge, not bothering to aim. "Dimitri!" he shouted over the sounds of battle "Grab two guys and take the left flank! Rook, your with me, we'll take the right!"

The fox disappeared and Dimitri grabbed two rough-looking guys and started moving left, dodging from cover to cover until they could see behind enemy cover. One of his guys lobbed a grenade in, panicking the insurgents, and the other two opened fire.

Several insurgents dropped to the ground dead, and Josiah and the rook had pulled a similiar routine. But the enemy was pushing toward them, despite all the covering fire from the ridge. Dimitri signalled the retreat, and saw his friend do the same. They pulled back on to the ridge, and started firing on the white-clad men running back to the rocks in front of the bunker. Josiah sighed, patting the rookie on the shoulder "Good work, Rook." he took a swig out of his canteen and nudged a hawk looking out over the battlefield with a sniper rifle, looking through the scope and taking out any stray terrorists if he could. "What do you see, Adrian?"

The hawk didnt look at him. "We took out maybe twenty of them." he fired his rifle "Twenty one. But there's still over a dozen left. Two rpg's included."

"Rpg-?" Josiah started as a terrorist stands and takes a pot shot at the ridge. The area in front of the hawk explodes, sending the sniper flying back.

"F-fuck!" The hawk hits the rock and covers his bleeding eyes "I cant fucking see!"

"Medic!" Dimitri rushed over and hauled a cheetah with a red cross on his arm toward the hawk. "Go see if he's fit to fight!"

The cheetah got the hawk to remove his hands, and he tsked. "Your fine, Adrian, you'll see just fine. But you're out of comission until I can get your face cleaned up."

"Well, do it..." Adrian sighed, his eyes swollen shut.

Josiah cursed, unpinning a grenade from his belt and lobbing it in the general direction of the terrorists. He was answered with a thudding boom and several screams. "Bastards..." He spat, lobbing another grenade, though that one didn't get anyone.

A Ranger peeked over the ridge and made a quick count "Roughly ten, sir" he sighed and counted the battle-ready rangers. "And six of us."

"We can do it." Josiah reassured him. "There used to be seven of us and over thirty of them." he laughed hollowly and crawled over to the two dead rangers, pulling off their dogtags and offering a quick prayer for their souls. He gave them to their squad leader, who added them to a rings with several tags hanging from his belt.

Josiah nodded to the lion. "God rest their souls, they fought well." The lion simply nodded.

The fox fingered his own similiar ring, with only four tags on it: the two he had discovered this mission, and one for the two previous ones. He sighed and relooped it around his belt.

"Well, there's only ten, what could go wrong?" he chuckled and looked at the clear blue sky.

The radio cackled and a staticky voice started to speak. "Whats the hold-p Foxt--t?"

"Command, this is Foxtrot; we've run into some trouble with insurgents, but the gun is down."

"G--d, We c-n send in the j-ts. Use your las-r po-nt-r to mark targets"

"What's he say?" Dimitri asked

"Use the laser pointer to mark targets." Josiah answered, picking up the hawk's rifle. He held it up and peeked over the rocks. "Suppressive fire!" he ordered.

Every able ranger started hailing the terrorists with bullets fired in random directions.

Luckily it provided the cover Josiah needed, and he lazed the area. A minute or two later a plane flew overead and bombed the area, wiping out the insurgents. Josiah sighed and leaned against the rocks, looking out at the ruined bunker. "Well... we need to get in there..."

The voice cackled over the radio again "New orders, F-xtrot, we n--d you to m-et up with Delta and c-ear out the town nearb-"

"Sir?"

"Do it, F-xtrot."

"Yes sir." Josiah sighed, releasing the radio. "that town is like, three miles away from where we deployed. Christ thats a hell of a walk..."

"Well, Let's get started." Dimitri hauled his friend up. "We don't have much time, da?"

"I suppose not... C'mon, let's go find delta." Then, turning to the lion "Sarge? Should we take point?"

"I can't leave my men here, and I cant defend them with only two of us."

"Alright. Rook, stay with them. Johanson, your with us." Jamie started off toward the deployment zone, followed by the tiger and black cat.

***

Dimitri paused again, letting the story sink in. "Well, getting to the deployment zone was uneventful. It was just a long, slow hike through the desert, but when we got there..."

***

The three rangers were pinned under hails of enemy fire, dodging bullets to try and get to cover. Johanson took one to the leg and Dimitri poked his head out from behind cover, dragging Johanson back. He felt strong arms pull him and Johanson back quicker, and Dimitri felt a sharp, intense pain in his eye. He covered it and screamed, suddenly unable to see. Josiah pulled out gauze and his knife. "Stop moving and let me see!" The tiger did and Josiah looked for a bullet, and found that it had only, luckily, grazed the eye. Dimitri would lose it, but he would live. He patched up his friend, covering his eye with gauze and surgical tape. "Just hold still, man, I've got you..."

He finished on Dimitri and handed the tiger a gun, and turned to patch up Johanson. It was a deep leg wound and the bullet bit into the bone; and Josiah had no experience in dealing with such things.

He settled for stopping the bleeding, and leaned against the rocks beside his injured friends.

"Ah Fuck!" Johanson cursed as a wave of bullets hit the rock he was leaning against.

"Dammit, is Delta even alive in there?" Josiah took a quick peek over the rock, and saw several guys hunkering down behind a large boulder. He didn't see much else though, having to get back down behind the rock as he heard the familiar sting of sand and rock thrown at his face; debris left over from when bullets start hitting the area close to your face. "What do you see, sir?" Johanson asked, laying his ears flat and growling, the pain in his leg getting to him as the adrenaline wore off.

"What's left of Delta. Five or six guys."

"Better than us." Dimitri observed "There's only three of us."

"Gee, thanks for the observation, Dimitri." Josiah dodged a playful, and painful, punch from the newly one-eyed tiger. He laughed, and it amazed him how he could laugh in a combat zone, bullets flying all around them, his two friends injured beyond usefulness in combat. He sighed, looking to both sides. "Well, hopefully the damn skinnies'll just run out of ammo and go home."

"They aren't skinnies, sir." Johanson winced and bit down on a ration bar. "They're 'cadas."

"Shit..." Dimitri groaned and lay his head back, careful not to jostle his eye too much. "Hey, don't we have air support?"

"Yeah, but good luck targeting anything, sir." Johanson thumbed the targeting laser looped around his wrist. "We can't go anywhere without being hit by a wall of bullets. The damn 'cadas are much better equipped for this than we are-"

Josiah stopped him, putting his hand over the cat's mouth "Oh shove it, Johanson. We all know that. But they have to reload sometime." He peeked quickly behind the rock at Delta, still pinned behind the rock. "Hey Johanson, you still got a rocket left?"

The cat, pushed the fox's hand away and pulled a salvaged rpg off his back. "Yes sir, but I think it's a dud."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's salvaged twice over." the cat examined the brown head of the rocket "Besides, it's probably been sitting in a cave for a few years. It looks old, sir."

"It'll have to do." Josiah took the rpg from the cat and peeked around at Delta again; despite being pinned down, they looked like they were doing relatively well; having not lost a man yet. He retreated behind the rock and took several quick, deep breaths. "Dimitri, I'm gonna do somethin' stupid."

"Josiah..." Dimitri looked at him, rather awkwardly, not yet used to only being able to see out of one eye. "What are you going to do...?"

"You'll see." The fox winked. "When I tell you to, I want you to run to Delta's position, okay?"

"Run?" Johanson chuckled. "I can't go anywhere, sir."

"Dimitri will help you, and you'll cover his blind side." Josiah huffed and took another peek over the rock. "Besides, I should be buying you anough time to get over there, and you can clearly mark a target there."

"Josiah, wait-"

"Naw, not anymore, man." The fox winked. "Besides, both of you are too useless to be good distractions." he laughed nervously.

"Josiah don't be foolish-"

"Listen here, you one-eyed lug," Josiah laughed and cut Dimitri off "I'm gonna distract them, and you're gonna run. That's an order."

The fox smiled. "Three."

Dimitri hauled Johanson up and leaned against the rock. "You better know what you're doing, fox."

"Two." Josiah readied the rpg and took another deep breath,

"Good luck, sir." Johanson gave a quick salute and readied his marklight.

"One." Josiah paused for a moment, and in that moment every second of every day he spent with Jamie; from the moment they met to the moment he waved goodbye and promised one last time that he would come home... He sighed, and remembered that last promise. "I'll come home...I promise Jamie, I'm not failing you now..."

"Go!" he yelled and stood up, firing the rpg at the enemy. Thankfully it wasn't a dud, and it exploded in the middle of a group of them. He dropped the rpg and raised his gun, firing his weapon in the general direction of the terrorists. He didn't hit anyone, but he pinned them down for a few seconds. He looked over to see Johanson and Dimitri settle behind the rock with Delta, and Johanson giving his marklight to a mamber of Delta squad; a battle-scarred cougar. He heard a faint voice, and saw Delta's leader wave him over, shouting "Suppressive fire!"

All of Delta that could began to wmty their clips into the ridge where the terrorists were dug in. Josiah hesistated for a moment, peeking out over the rock. He saw that most of the 'cadas were pinned, and thanked the Gods, sure in the fact that he was going to see Jamie again. This was his last mission; he and Dimitri were shipping out the next day.

What Dimitri saw next would be seared into his mind for the rest of his life. Josiah stood and began his run; using all his natural speed to alternate zig-zagging and beelining for Delta. Dimitri smiled; the fox was going to make it-

Just as the thought was finished, Delta had to reload, ducking behind the rock just as Josiah crossed the halfway point. He glanced briefly at the ridge.

The world seemed for a second to go in slow motion. A terrorist sniper raised his gun and aimed at Josiah, who was almost there...

"Slide you fucker slide!" Dimitri yelled.

The fox was about to do so, but the sniper fired his weapon, sending several streams of hot lead into Josiah's chest. The fox collapsed and rolled, just yards away from safety.

"No!" Dimitri lunged toward his fallen friend, but Johanson held him back "Sir! No!"

"Let me go Johanson! Let me go! Josiah!" He started to cry; tears streaming out of his good eye, and blood out the other. He struggled toward the limp form of his friend, even punching Johanson once to try and loosen his grip, but it only got two of Delta squad to help hold him down.

Seconds later, he heard the familiar scream of jets overhead, and out of the corner of his eye saw the terrorists' position, raining death on all of them.

Dimitri finally broke free and ran over to his fallen friend, collapsing beside the fox. He shook Josiah lightly, patting his friend's cheek. "C'mon, Josiah... wake up... wake the fuck up, man..."

The fox's eyes fluttered lightly, and opened just a bit. "Hey, cyclops..." he coughed, and blood leaked out the side of his mouth.

Dimitri chuckled "You're gonne be okay man..." he looked at the many holes riddling across the fox's chest. "Fuck..." he whispered.

"Don't kid yourself..." Josiah chuckled painfully and coughed, smiling slightly.

"Medic!" Dimitri shouted over at Delta squad, and a panther with a red cross on his helmet rushed over. After a quick look he patted the tiger shoulder and shook his head.

"He's gone, man... too much internal damage." The medic stood and left, leaving Dimitri alone with his friend for the last few minutes the fox was going to live.

Josiah coughed, and a spurt of blood blew out the corner of his maw. "Well, big fella, not gonna wave me off?" He chuckles, and then coughs painfully. "Dammit..."

"Shit, Josiah..." Dimitri sobbed "W-why didn't you stay where you were?"

"Someone had to come make sure those -cough-... shit... Delta g-guys didn't f-fuck up..." The tiger could tell it was getting worse; getting harder for Josiah to speak...

"Sh... Don't talk, man..."

"N-no... I have... things to s-say." The fox clasped his friends hand, a hard, pained glint in his eye. "D-don't talk... listen... I... Tell Jamie, I love him... T-tell Alto... don' be s-sad, he'll f-find someone..." he coughed and sputtered, blood pouring freely from his mouth. "A-allen... Cody... Love forever... you listenin'?"

Dimitri had pressed his forhead to his friend's. "Y-yeah... Im listening..."

"Y-you better hold onto Weylin..." he smiled, a peaceful look on his face despite the intense pain he was experiencing. "L-listen here... cyclops... don' you let n-no one b-be sad for me..." his eyes fogged over "f-for... hundred days... Give him my tags... tell him this, when h-he's ready." The fox coughed and closed his eyes, resting his head against the dirt. "Protect... Jamie..." he whispered, before falling silent.

"No..." Dimitri rocked his friend's body back and forth "N-no... you can't die you son of a bitch... you live through everything..." He closed his eyes tightly and bit back further tears. My father in heaven, hallowed be thy name... thy kingdom come... thy will be done... He paused in his prayer. Just... save a place for my friend, okay, man?

The tiger felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Johanson, supported by Delta's medic. "C'mon, sir." he reached down and unhooked the loop of dogtags from around the fox's belt, handing it to the siberian, who held it like it was the most important thing in the world. "We have to radio for transport. No way we're completing this one with just us."

Dimitri nodded, taking off his fallen comrade's tags and looping them onto the ring of wire, tears falling silently from his one good eye.

He sat there, staring at his friend and making a silent vow to make sure his last wish was achieved, even if he died doing it.

***

Dimitri held his head in his hands, the tags laid out next to Josiah's picture. He'd started crying again, even after he vowed not to; but it was so hard to relive... even if he was only relating the tale.

Weylin sat next to him, hugging the tiger as close as he could, tears staining his own cheeks. "Oh my God, baby..." he whispered, pulling Dimitri into a light kiss.

Around the room Alto was curled up on the edge of the couch on the far corner, hugging his knees and trying to hold back the angry, bitter tears that had been plaguing him since the story started. Allen held Cody; the wolf burying his face in the collie's chest. The collie was having trouble hiding his on tears, and squeezed Cody lovingly, never wanting to let go. Jamie looked at Dimitri, then around the room. "I..." he met Dimitri's one-eyed gaze. "I..." his lower lip began to tremble and he started to cry all over again, standing up and simply leaving to his room.

Weylin made to go after him, but was pulled down by strong, white-furred hands. "Niet. He must be left alone right now..."

The white fennec looked down angrily at his lover "Alone? Alone? After all that?" he shook his boyfriend's hand off "Lemme go! I need to comfort him...."

"Niet. Leave him be. It's what he needs."

"How do you know! You battle-hardened-"

"Shut up, Weylin!" Dimitri roared, standing up to his full height "I Know better than any of you that Jamie needs to be alone!" He saw the tears brewing anew in Weylin's eyes "I... I'm sorry." He turned away. "I didn't mean to yell." he felt Weylin's soft, small hands wrap around him, and the fenned embraced him, tears flowing down his cheeks.

"O-okay... I'll leave him a-alone..."

"Weylin..." Dimitri hugged the boy back, picking him up and pulling him into a loving kiss. "Come on, we have things to dscuss." He cradled the white fennec in his arms like a babe and walked upstairs to their room.

Allen nodded to Alto, and led his wolf upstairs.

Alto was left alone to his thoughts, and held his head in his hands. "N-no..." It astonished him, angered him, that someone he thought to be invincible simply died: gone, in the blink of an eye. Dimitri explained during the story that the fox's last fight only lasted about five minutes, and it had taken him nearly two more to bleed to death.

Seven minutes.

Just seven minutes.

And he was dead.

Alto stood and kicked a bean bag chair, took a big swig of Allen's whiskey in the fridge and had a good cough, and felt a little better. He found himself wishing he'd met someone, found himself believing that if Josiah was his and not Jamie's then the fox wouldn't have died. He growled, and resolved to go to town and get drunk, and maybe he would feel better... He stood up and left, Allen's whiskey in one hand.

***

On the coffee table, aside from everything else were two bottles, each with a red bow wrapped around it's neck; one of a quality Irish whiskey, the other of imported Vodka. They were Jamie and Weylin's 'welcome home, for good' gifts to their heroic soldier boys. And now they stood lonely, cold, staring at each other as the sun set behind them, sweating their tears onto the old wood.