Welcome to my second Lab Rats story. This one will be multi-chaptered, though I'm not sure how many chapters it will be. It's also really sad. The prologue is short, but subsequent chapters will be longer. It is obvious who's being talked about in the beginning (and not just because his name is on the character list). However, what the issue is, mayor may not be so clear. If you figure it out, I'll give you a shout-out in the next chapter. the story takes place after Taken. Anyway, on with the story.

Lab Rats:

Dragon

Prologue

There was nothing left. He had lost everything. Maybe he deserved it. Maybe he deserved to lose his life's works, everything he had accomplished. Good and bad. Perhaps, he needed to be knocked down a few pegs, pay for what he had done. Alone again. No one to back him up, to be there for him—especially because they simply wanted to be. But he was used to it. He had lost that privilege a long time ago. He had earned the 'nothing' that he now had. He deserved that.

But this? This thing that was now taking hold of him, taking him back. This monster that craved his life. Tearing and clawing at him. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to force its hideous face from his mind. This monster…this dragon he had battled head-on in his youth, that he believed he had defeated. No. He hadn't defeated it. It had only hid itself until the right time…the right time to return and take him. The dragon was back.

And this time, there was no one there to help him fight. He needed his family, his brother. The brother that had turned him away, that didn't want him.

He hadn't stopped crying since he had returned to his tiny, rundown, studio apartment. There was no television, no bed. Only a couch and coffee table in the main room; a pillow; some blankets; a few articles of clothing; a few necessities for the bathroom and some for the kitchen. He wouldn't have any food had his youngest suh—son not been bringing him some every week. He was more than grateful for that.

And of course, he had a phone. It was just a simple land line, but it was all he needed. He stared at it, laying there on the coffee table in front of him as his tears continued to fall. If he picked up that phone and called him, would his brother listen, or would he just hang up on him before he could finish speaking, before he could tell him? He reached for the phone, his hand shaking. Hesitating, he looked over at the photo sitting on the corner of the table. It was his favorite photo of him and his brother, taken before everything between them fell apart.

He turned back to the phone and taking a deep breath, picked it up and dialed his brother's number.

His tears began to fall harder as soon as he heard his brother's voice on the other end. "Donnie….Yeah, it—it's me….No, please, don't hang up…." There was a catch in his voice. He paused and took another deep breath. "I know I don't deserve anything, but I really need you….It's back, Donnie. The dragon's back."

xXx

So...yeah. There it is. The other side of the phone conversation will be in the next chapter. Take a deep breath. It's going to get sad-der. I hope you liked the prologue.