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11 Years Earlier

Baghdad,Iraq

Strike Force Talon

Firedrake's POV

"Let's go Firedrake!" Taro commanded before stepping into the Seahwak.

"No",I replied from behind him.

Taro stopped dead and turned to face me.

"What do you mean no?" He shouted,"If we kill this man we can live our lives free!"

"Taro",I replied slightly shaking my head,"I'm sick."

"What sick? HOW?" He yelled,I could tell he didn't understand.

A few weeks ago during a regular checkup,the Vet on the USS Enterprise had found I was infected with some kind of virus. He said that it eats at a dragon's insides until the host dies. He told me I had about two months,if I was lucky. It had already cost me the sight in my left eye. I locked my gaze with my friends,my blue eyes meeting his gold ones.

"This is my last mission!" I yelled at him.

"WHAT!?!" Taro screamed. "No you listen to me! Your getting on this Helo and your going home to you daughter. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!?!" Taro screamed.

I shook my head and placed my paw on his chest.

"Tell her that I love her!" I shouted before shoving him into the Seahawk,which immediately went airborne.

"FIREDRAKE!!" Taro yelled as they lifted off.

I watched him leave before turning to fight again. As I fired my SAW into the mass of Taliban,I got onto my com line.

"Good luck Taro",I said,leaving the mic on so he couldn't reply.

The bullets from the snipers were falling down on me like a rain from hell. Dust was being kicked up all around me and everything seemed to be in slow motion. My mind was taking in things before my eyes could process them. I kept fighting,despite the pain that I was in. After a few minutes,out of the corner of my bad eye,I noticed several insurgents flanking around me towards the nuke.

"Their flanking!" I shouted into the coms,but knowing no one heard me.

"Firedrake!" Taro called into the mic.

"Don't let them hit the nu...."

An insurgent pulled his pistol,pointing it straight at the warhead,there was no stopping him.

"Nina",I thought,"I love you." The insurgent pulled the trigger,and everything went white.

I came to what seemed like hours later,but I had no idea how long it was. I was laying on my left side,leaving my good eye free. There was a loud ring in my ears and my head ached from being hit with the shock wave. As my vision cleared up,I saw the sky. It was blood red,the giant,black mushroom cloud was towering over the entire area like something from the darkest abyss in hell. Thunder and lightning cracked overhead. Radio active dust was falling like snow. The entire area was covered in dbire,twisted rebar,broken concrete and the steel skeleton's of buildings were all that was there. I could see what used to be my Howitzer laying a few feet away from me,now little more than a smoldering,twisted pile of scrap. I glanced down at myself.

My body had been burned to charcoal. My scales had melted off of my flesh,which was now burned black and dark red. My tail was speared on a large piece of rebar and I could tell from the way my back leg was twisted that it was shattered.I could also tell that the horn on the bottom left side of my

muzzle had been torn off,along with the top right one. Many of the spikes on my neck,back and tail were either broken off near the base,or had been ripped out of me all together,leaving long holes where they'd once been. If I had wings,they'd be gone for sure. My vest had melted onto me,now little more than a burned,black lump. I began to check myself over mentally,waiting for the pain to start.

Soon it came,first it was just light,what what you might feel when you hold your paw under water that's just a little too hot. Gradually,it got much worse,going from feeling just a little too hot,to searing,to agonizing until I eventually felt like I was engulfed in flames. I was screaming and crying from the pain,begging for Cira to come to my side and comfortme,to tell me everything was going to be okay,but I knew that wasn't going to happen,no one was coming for me,not this time. I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth as the tears rolled down my burned cheeks. I had Cira,Taro,Shadow,Faline and Nina's faces seared into my head,causing my crying to increase. I lay there for what seemed like hours,crying from the hot,searing pain that plagued every inch of my body. It was a long time before the pain started to die down. It came to the point where I managed to stop crying. My eyes were stinging from the tears and I tried to move my paw to wipe them off,but it felt like it weighed ten thousand tons. As i lay there,my eyes begin to grow heavy and fear set in.

"Firedrake you stupid bastard",I told myself,"don't you dare close your eyes!"

I fought with everything I had to keep them open,but I was losing the fight.

"Don't you fuckin go to sleep!" I thought scolding myself,"you know full well you won't wake up!" It was a losing battle,slowly,but surely,my eyes were closing. That's when I heard footsteps.

My eyes were wide open now. The sounds of combat boots crunching over broken glass and mangled concrete grew closer and closer,until a human male walked around in front of me.

He seemed to be about six feet. He was dressed in long black pants and a field jacket,which was also black. The plate carrier that guarded his torso was desert tan,with several large LMG ammo pouches accompanied by a few frags and several small pistol pouches. He had a tan scarf wrapped around his head and a pair of blue sunglasses over his eyes. He had short,spiky black hair and a Marine symbol clung to his right shoulder,while the rank of Master Sargent clung to his left. He had a MK-48 General Purpose Machine Gun in his hand,which was decked out with a Trijjicon ACOG scope and a front grip and painted in desert camo. A B32R Automatic pistol hung in a holster on his leg.

I couldn't figure how he was here,even if the blast hadn't gotten him,the radiation should have. He walked a few feet in front of me,surveying his surroundings,when he turned and saw me laying there. He walked up to me,shouldered his weapon and then knelt down beside me.

"Who were you?" He asked himself taking my dog tags from around my neck.

"Firedrake Xalanth?",he asked looking at me."yeesh,there's a name". He pulled off his warp and sunglasses,allowing me to see his eyes. They were a bright green,with black slits and inhuman flecks of bright blue threaded into them.

"Destiny can be such a bitch huh Firedrake?" He asked shoving my tags into his vest,"you survived for a reason,let's find that reason shall we?"

The man walked over to my tail and with a grunt,pulled the rebar from it,causing me to yelp and grit my teeth.

"Yeah",the man said,"that hurts like shit."

He then walked back around and placed his hand on my muzzle and gently began petting me as he reached into his blowout kit,

"Hold still",he said pulling out a small needle,"this'l sting a bit.

He bit off the cap,spit it out and stuck the needle into my neck. The warm,nasty tasting liquid filled my throat and I began to slip out,as I did,I heard the man say.

"Your going to be okay."

I woke on a soft,fuzzy bed. I had a wool blanket made for dragon's over my back and I was actually quite comfortable. I could hear what sounded like a decent sized fan humming quietly close by and I felt....safe,content even. I kept my eyes closed,afraid that if I opened them,the feeling would vanish I would find myself back in Baghdad,buried under a pile of rubble. As I lay there,the sent of cooking meat began to fill my nose. I took the risk,and cracked open my good eye.

I was in a cave. What looked like Afghan tapestry was hanging from the walls,there was a small table up against one wall that held a small TV screen,a laptop and had a rifle resting on it,a Remington R5 from the looks of it. On another table up against the opposite wall,was a camping stove and a small metal canteen. In the middle of the room burned a small camp fire,the man who'd rescued me was sitting beside it roasting a rather large piece of meat. It's scent made my mouth water,I was starving. He looked at me and smiled,his green eyes glowing as they caught the fire's light.

"Glad to see your up Firedrake",the man said,"I' was starting to worry you might not wake up."

He stood and walked over to me,removing the blanket from my back and looking me over.

"Probably gonna have to change out your bandage's soon",he said sighing,"that's not gonna be fun."

I inspected the man more closely. Around his neck,I could see a pair of dog tags and just barely make out the words on them,

"Johnathan Alexander Mason,United States Marine Corps,6690234,AB-".

He pulled the warm blanket back over me and sat back down by the fire. Deciding to inspect myself,I turned to look at my back. My back and chest were warped with several large bandages,while my fore paws were covered tightly by smaller ones. My broken back leg was warped and in a splint and my missing horns had been reattached. Several,small

bandages covered my muzzle and my snout was loosely wrapped in gauze. I pulled the blanket further up my back and lay my bandaged tail over my snout as I placed my head between my paws.

"How,no why,am I alive?" I asked myself. "I shouldn't have survived that blast."

I was drifting off when John pulled the meat off the fire and placed it on a plate in front of me. I looked at the meat,then up at him. He smiled and pulled the gauze wrapping off of my snout so I could open my mouth.

"Need to eat something",he said tossing the gauze away,"been out for a few days now."

He pushed the plate towards me and I eagerly began eating,even licking the plate and my snout once I was done,I was so hungry. Once I was done,I slowly began to drift off. John walked over and placed his hand on my muzzle.

"Your going to be fine."

It was a few weeks before I recovered enough to stand on my own. John would change the bandages every day or so. No sooner had I recovered enough to stand and walk around,John vanished.