Part three of Requiem for a Rising Star. Sorry for the hiatus, but I had to go on sick leave for tons of reasons. But now I'm back, and I hope you like this chapter as compensation for my temporary break from writing. Also, thanks for all who reviewed in my absence. It was greatly appreciated and uplifting to get the messages.

Note that I am posting this really early in the morning with corticosteroids screwing with my brain. Please inform me of any mistakes, no matter how small. Thanks again.


"I refuse to believe that you can't let me take a quick look at my own team member's file. You let me review every other Black Cat's to make sure they had the proper skills, so why not this one?"

The sergeant absently rolled a pen across the table between his fingers. "Yes. Yes, I have. We have never had any positions, other than those in X-Unit, which have suffered so many subsequent casualties. However, there is very little to his report that SFSG and Redbird have declassified. Unless you want some college grades and the results of a recent fitness exam, I don't have anything else to give you." There's nothing else I can give you, he wanted to say, but kept his thoughts to himself. While he certainly wanted Doud and his MI6 affiliations out of his camp, that wasn't an option available to him at this point.

Tiger deliberated, understanding that X-Unit was trusted by many agencies to keep their operations under wraps but frustrated that he wasn't going to get his information the easy way. "I'll take what I can get."

He pulled open the unlabelled drawer and pulled out the smallest file in the section marked in orange. Rather than do the obvious and put the unit letters on their corresponding files, the sergeant had taken to memorizing them by color. That way if someone decided to sneak into his office, it would take them longer to locate an individual file, especially since he took care not to label them with their active code names. Checking that 'Jonathan Doud' was the listed name, and not another one put carelessly in the wrong area, he dumped the manila file in front of the soldier. "You can read over this, but it can't leave the room."

And yet half an hour later as he was shutting the door behind him, he still didn't think that much useful knowledge had been gleaned from it. It was as the sergeant had said. There was the usual stuff, a rather depressing family history, and an impressive military record that lacked in any detail at all. The mention of a PTSD case was the central case of his worries, tied in with the mention of a limp. If those weren't reasons to put a man out of action before he could damage either himself, or his team, further, then he didn't know what was. Just because he hadn't noticed Bunny's limp didn't mean it wasn't a bad one; only that he hid it well. As for the PTSD, he would have to bring this up before it came back to bite them in the collective rear end. The classified files would have to be addressed at a later time as well.

Until then, he had an appealing seven hours of sleeping ahead of him. D-Unit's commander covered a yawn as he trudged through the fresh layer of mud to his cabin, taking care to avoid the newly-formed puddles. They looked shallow until you got a leg stuck up to the knee. It had happened before, and it would undoubtedly happen again. As he opened the door to his cabin, his thoughts were solely on his lumpy bed…

Only to find two semi-conscious bodies being watched over by an irate Crow. When the dark-haired soldier heard the door creak open on rusted hinges, he immediately put his hands up and declared, "It wasn't me," as Tiger crossed his arms.

"Then please, illuminate me as to what exactly is going on before I come to any other conclusions." This was very quickly flying downhill.

Jaguar, clutching his stomach with a grimace and sporting a nicely blackened eye, protested in favor of Crow. "Wait a second, Tigger, it really was just a misunderstanding." Tiger restrained himself from completing the murder of his teammate, but it was a near thing.

"Misunderst—"

"No, he's right. It was my fault." They turned to look at Bunny, who was huddled against his bunk keeping pressure on his knee. A cut on his lip bled sluggishly. "I mistook him for someone else. Misunderstanding."

"I have to feel seriously sorry for that someone else. That was one mean kidney jab."

Tiger's eyes flashed. "So you managed to get injured all by yourself." He narrowed his eyes as Crow looked at the opposite wall and Bunny flushed.

"It's just a sprain. Twisted my knee when I stumbled over a bunk."

"Your lip's bleeding."

His face fell as he touched a finger to his lip to confirm the statement. "Uhh…"

The glare returned to Crow. "Any more explaining you'd like to do?"

"All I did was make sure you didn't return to find any corpses in here. Jag here had his ass handed to him and he'd look worse if I hadn't pulled Bunny off."

It was Jaguar's turn to look indignant. "Hey! I was doing just fine on my own."

Tiger looked down at Bunny. The young soldier wouldn't meet his eyes, even when the unit commander instructed Crow to take Jaguar to the infirmary despite Jaguar's protests. In fact, he wouldn't look up even after his two teammate's had left and Tiger pulled a first-aid kit out from beneath his bed.

"The sergeant let me look at your file," he said as he pulled a roll of athletic gauze from the white box. That got a quick glance up, but not much otherwise. "Sort of a short read. Redbird doesn't like anyone else know what he's up to in the Middle East. Apparently, the SFSG felt the same way." He watched for a reaction, but all he got was relief. Bunny had something important in those records, something that was being kept under wraps. "Why didn't you mention that you had PTSD?"

The soldier stiffened up, and it wasn't from the pain in his knee. "They put that in there?"

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Umm…" he rolled up the leg of his cargo pants so Tiger could apply the bandaging, "I was under the impression that it would be kept between my doctor and I."

For a second, Tiger forgot completely about their awkward conversation as he saw what had created the limp that temporarily removed Bunny from service. The damage wasn't just bad; it was extraordinarily so. "What kind of gunfight did you get into in Kandahar again?"

"A short one. I was the only one injured, just for being in the wrong place. Gopher might have been hit by a stray round, but we got everything under control fairly quickly."

The wound he was looking at, despite months of strenuous rehabilitation, was not a simple gunshot wound. "This was a kneecapping, Bunny."

His questioning gaze was met with a blank look. "Sorry, a what?"

"A kneecapping. It's where someone fires at your kneecap from point blank range. A method of torture that's been banned by most places."

"Oh. Yeah, that's…sort of what happened." The young soldier's voice got so quiet that he had to listen hard to distinguish the words as Bunny fiddled with the collar of his shirt. "The man who shot me in the chest, when he moved to shoot Redbird, who was running active counterintelligence against his group, I kicked him down. He shot me in the knee so I couldn't do that again."

"I take it that incident is related to your PTSD."

"The doctor I saw, he said it would probably have this effect. But I didn't mean to lash out at Jaguar." He sat up suddenly, throwing off Tiger's work on his knee, a look in his eyes so bright that looking too closely might have blinded him and his words clearly audible. "That's never happened before. If I'd known, I would have been more careful. But it wasn't Jaguar's fault. Crow did the right thing."

"And that would be?"

The passion was replaced with wariness. "You won't mention what happened? To Crow or the sergeant?"

"If he did the right thing, then I don't see why it should be brought up."

"He kicked me in the knee and held me down, but he was right. All I could think of was Kandahar and Jaguar could have been seriously injured. I…I don't even know what I was doing."

"I won't mention this to anyone." Oh he was going to be having a chat with Crow later, and it would not be over tea and biscuits. "What do you think set it off?"

"I was tired and getting ready to hop in bed. He tapped my shoulder to ask about something. It took me by surprise, and when I turned around…his eyes…they're the same as the man who shot me. Dark brown with flecks of black and amber, calm, collected, and laughing. It set something off, and when I came back to myself, Crow had me pinned to the floor and was yelling something at me. I probably got the bloodied lip from struggling while he tried to hold me still."

Tiger leaned back as he taped off the last of the wrapping. "You've done this before, so you understand that I can't risk half my team to keep you."

"Mmhmm."

"Good. Just needed to clear the air. Keeping that in consideration, the greatest risk we actually face in D-Unit is staying on Crow's good side. Ever since the Black Cat thing started up, he's been down and moody. They must have been close, because he wasn't like this before that time. Not until Iguana replaced him. But as long as you don't die on us, the rumors about the Black Cat position will cool down and maybe it'll keep this team together. So, don't kill any allies and don't get killed." He stood up and brushed off his knees. "That's two commands. Can you do that?" A hand was offered down to a wide-eyed Bunny. "I figure you're new to some of these things, so we can build our way up from that."

The half-smile that was slowly becoming familiar to him returned to the young soldier's face. "Yes, sir."


"Can you show me how you did that again?"

"The kidney jab?"

"Yeah, that one. It was really cool how you immobilized me with one hit."

"Oh, Redbird showed me that one. It's really easy."

Tiger was standing by the wall of the secluded training mat. Most days, you could walk into the long building and see multiple sets of partners sparring against each other, the body bags or waiting their turn over to the side. With the extended rest period they had while recruiters did their worst to the candidates, many units were lazing around and recuperating. All of them, except the shorter half of D-Unit.

In their sleeveless white tees and black shorts, Jaguar's bruised and blackened eye and the bandages encasing Bunny's knee stood out starkly despite their mutual inattention to the fact. Despite being the unit medic, Jaguar wasn't all too concerned with giving wounds time to heal or worrying about long-term effects. Bunny, the only health conscious one on the mat, was lightly throwing hits at nerve centers, demonstrating how exactly they felt and how to counter them without mutilating yourself in the process.

Crow padded silently over to stand beside Tiger, who took no notice of the sniper until he let out a soft snort. "Does he really think we'll ever need that?"

Tiger chose not to let that distract his focus. "Crow, I've been meaning to speak with you about last night."

"And I've already said that I didn't do anything."

"I have evidence to the contrary. You assaulted a fellow teammate."

"I was helping Jaguar. That…kid was going to strangle him if I didn't stop it. I just gave him a kick to get him off and held him down." Tiger's brows furrowed. "I'm not making things up."

"No, that fits with what Bunny said. I'm telling you this, because he didn't want you to receive any repercussions for what he thought were justly taken actions. These aren't the first actions you've taken against a teammate, but if you want to stay in SAS, they will be the last."

Gritting his teeth, Crow nodded. "I'll play nice, but it doesn't change the fact that that kid isn't who you think he is. He's trying to deceive all of us. Trying, and doing a helluva job."

"I respect your opinion, but there will be no personal vendettas on this team. I will not have you taking pot shots at a soldier just because he's another Black Cat."

"It's not bec—"

"Really? Because this has happened with you and every replacement since Cat. A few heated conversations that escalate into fights in the mess hall. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were asking for retirement."

"I'm not," he growled.

"You're not what?"

They both looked…well, down…to see a pair of large brown eyes staring back up at them. Further behind him, Jaguar was just emerging from the training mat with a towel over his head, and his black eye looking even darker.

Crow narrowed his eyes, but wisely refrained from handing out any remarks in front of Tiger. "I'm not going to murder insignificant little toy soldiers in their sleep." He glanced sideways at his commander before leaving.

"Is it because I'm replacing Cat?"

Tiger just shook his head. "I don't think he's ever really been right since Cat. It's not that he doesn't like you, he's just a little lonely."

Bunny nodded, and turned back to run after Crow.

"Wai—," he changed his mind and let him go. Tiger's target changed. "Jaguar. Your eye gets any blacker, and it'll turn into a black hole."

"I doubt that, Tigger." He avoided the boot, but didn't have the reflexes to duck for the second one. The blow took him to the forehead, conveniently above his bruised eye. "Oww! You could've aimed for my knee!"

"Yeah, well, can't particularly aim with combat boots. Besides, I'd like to see a black hole close up."


"Crow!"

It took three calls before the sniper acknowledged the soldier trailing him. "What do you want?"

Bunny stopped in front of him, almost uncomfortably close. Crow was tempted to take a step or two back just to put distance between them.

"Your brother. He wouldn't want you to be like this, you know."

"The hell do you know about Xion?" Without thinking, he took that step backwards.

The kid found the stump of a long-dead tree by the side of the path and made himself comfortable. "A lot more than you realize. In fact, probably more than you do."

"Now wait a second, runt. I don't care who you are, but that gives you no right to dredge up the past."

"Friendly fire, right? Not even an honorable way to leave the field. Just a miscalculation. One of those accidents they'll cover up and hide from the media. He got a medal in there too. Depressing circumstances really."

"Shut up!"

"That was who Cat really was, so why didn't you tell anyone else? They'd probably understand."

"It's none of your business, so fuck off."

"Except you weren't there when he died, when he was gunned down. You saw someone get shot a whole lot of times," he pushed on aimlessly, "but you never got a good look at his face. Not when the paramedics dragged him away. Not when he lived for a couple moments on oxygen in the ambulance. Not even when you were at his funeral. Your own brother, and they had the casket closed."

Crow scuffed his boots along the ground, violently sending a rock off the dirt path. "Bloody conjecture, the bunch of it. What's it to you, anyway?"

"Me? I just want to put some old skeletons to rest. Especially this Black Cat seat. It isn't good for business when the newbies get here, and the idea of bad luck scares them off before the war."

"Yeah? So what's your end in this? Disproving bad luck?"

"Bad luck? There's no luck involved in this." Bunny peeled off one of his boots and shook out a load of dust and dirt. "I'm here to flush out the guy killing off your new recruits." He peeked inside the footwear before dumping it on the ground and sliding his foot back in, brushed himself off, and stood up. "And I'm sticking my head into your business because you know more than you're letting on, and I want to know why."


"Wolf. You're back from holiday?"

Tiger wasn't expecting such a negative reaction from the most jubilant unit in SAS. K-Unit had been one of the last groups to arrive. That could have been attributed to the ice packs and sling on Snake, but it also could have been a general reluctance to return to 'Hell.' The latter was looking less and less likely as this conversation proceeded. "More than ready to be back," Wolf replied while the rest of his team cringed. He raised an eyebrow. "Have to say that I agree. We might actually have found a viable person to fill in Dolphin's spot."

"Oh reeeeally," commented the ever-sarcastic Eagle as he picked himself up from the ground. "How much did you bribe this one with?"

"Actually, we had ourselves a volunteer. Bloody good one on top of that. Bunny might outlive all the rest of us."

That, of course, got Eagle to nearly choke to death laughing. "Bunny? Who the hell gave that poor guy his name?"

"Well at least you have someone to balance the comedy out in your unit," Wolf said with a forced straight face, as the only one not catching the giggles. Yet.

He rolled his eyes. Kindergartners. "I've heard all the jokes, guys. Grow up. He's been in SAS a year already." Tiger happened to catch a glimpse of Bunny at that moment. It wasn't hard. With his child-like frame and skittish demeanor around strangers, the neon blinking sign above his head said 'I'm lost'. As it started to pour, the sky going dark with clouds, he waved to get the soldier's attention. "He gets lost so easily that I'm impressed he can find the cabin every night. Bunny!"

The cap-encased head perked up in response to his name. He pushed through the small throng to jog over to K-Unit's cabin. "Could you point me to the shooting range again?"

"Right over that way," he said, pointing in the indicated direction. "Just follow the sounds of gunfire. Jaguar's headed there too. If you catch sight of him, go where he goes."

"Thanks, Tigger."

Their damn medic was rubbing off on him. Just to keep things even, he whacked him over the head. The small gesture of recognition between them was enough to make even Bunny smirk.

"Bunny," they both looked over at Wolf, who was in turn looking quite ominously at the young soldier, "how'd you get the bad leg?" Not only their commander, but Eagle and Falcon were now taking curious glances as well.

"I was with X-Unit in Kandahar up until four months ago." Bunny responded in his usual low tone. "Been stuck in rehab pretty much since"

Tiger put a hand heavily on the soldier's shoulder, careful to make sure that Bunny had seen it before it landed. He still felt the flinch, nonetheless. "He's lucky he kept the leg at all, much less survived the gunfight. Nice bundle of scars to go with it. X-Unit's taking in someone else, so we snatched Bunny from them."

Wolf seemed unusually pale, while Eagle simply whistled his admiration. "You are either the bravest guy I've met, or the stupidest. At least you guys aren't in Kandahar this time around."

"Don't scare him into running off on us." Bunny was tensed up at the drawn out encounter with K-Unit, so he pointed out his destination again before shooing him in the right direction. Snake and Bunny passed each other as K-Unit's medic returned to the porch minus the wraps on his arm, and some look was instantaneously exchanged between them.

"Did Eagle put something in my water this morning," he frowned, directing the question at Wolf, "or was that—?"

"Bunny. That was D-Unit's newest addition, Bunny."

That got a lot of confusion from Snake, but judging from the expressions from the entire team, it was a shared mix of confusion. When he finally regained the ability to speak, it was simply, "Oh. New recruit, huh."

Tiger got the distinct and portentous feeling that this incident would be only the second or third in a long string of events to occur around Bunny.

Maybe the Black Cat seat was jinxed after all.

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A/N: Oh god, I am so sorry for the gigantanormous wait that you wonderful reviewers and readers had to suffer through. I started this over two weeks ago, and since then…well, that infection has tied in with some of my other, more permanent issues, just to screw with me. So now I'm on a horrible diet (meat, fish, rice and carrots…oh yes, and water of course) and a new loooooong list of corticosteroids, booster packs, antibiotics, you name it. So just imagine all of the side effects that six new drugs, on top of my extensive regular rounds, can do to a single person… It sucks. Really it does.

So while my body adjusts to the new rounds of medication, and the uber-restrictive diet, my posts are going to be far in between. I can't do anything about this. I still have school, people, and a birthday quickly approaching in which I will not be allowed to eat cake. Or ice cream. Or even those little, chocolate-covered cookies. *depression* My life sucks...but you could make it better by reviewing! I can't promise a faster update, but I can do my damnedest to try.

Note: Thanks to wolfern and a couple anonymous others for correcting my grammar issues and spelling mistakes! Love you guys!

Thanks so so so so much to all my reviewers, once again. You guys make it this much more appealing to wrack my brain for ideas rather than sitting around all fall break. Every single review makes this worthwhile!