Author's Note:

Personally I would like to thank everyone for reviewing my story. It keeps me motivated to continue.

I would also like to thank everyone who voted on my poll. It is still up and anyone wishing to vote may do so.

To all you who have been patiently waiting, here is their first meeting.

Another thing: Every time a language other than English will be Italics or be told beforehand when the group is conversing or in at the beginning of the chapter. I can translate and write the languages given enough time but it's very difficult to do so and I'm not a professional interpreter so things may or may not be off.

Chapter 7: First Encounters

The sound of laughter echoed through my mind. Of all the times we shared. All the times me and my friends did the impossible. Most would say that what we did was impossible, yet we did it. On a weekly basis.

I felt a pang of sadness chorus throughout my thoughts. Lepolo was dead and he was going stay that way. I couldn't even cry. For some reasons my eyes refused to do so almost as if my tear ducts had been permanently removed.

Then my senses returned. The first thing I saw was a scorching hot light before my vision became foggy again.

At first my vision was foggy and unclear and my senses stayed that way. Eventually my other senses partly returned. My hearing was pitched and painful but it was still there. I could smell burnt flesh and the cold, dead steel. Shouting occurred in the distance. All I could make out at the moment were a few words; awake, sleep, sedative.

That was all I knew and I was glad. I had been taught never to ask questions and I still lived by that. It lessened the pain of my life. It also lessened the trauma. After all how can you tell what is traumatizing when you've been accustomed to it your entire life. It was this reason why I didn't even weakly resist the drug, joyful that I could return to the bliss ignorance of the unconsciousness before my reality would eventually come crashing down.

The dream that I had was pleasant. It was filled with me, kadokechi and the Birds of Prey building a house. Probably one of the most fun activities we would ever have. Kadokechi was laughing and telling us to hurry up. Remo was teasing Guiche about his crush and Lepolo was still alive. In fact he was trying to get everyone else to sing. God he loved singing. Lepolo liked doing that. Singing.

But then I remembered that he was dead. Soon the dream turned into a nightmare. Lepolo was dead, Kadocheki was running trying to get us out of their running from someone armed with an AK-47. He was trying to get us to safety. Away from the violence. Away from everything.

Then the house started burning down. The scene flashed so quickly. I was now standing over the dead bodies of my friends. Ediz was shot dead, dying with a smile, like he had promised us he would.

I couldn't help but cry. Make it stop. Make it stop, make it stop. I didn't want anyone to die.

A nuclear weapon went off and I woke up.

My vision cleared instantly as I found myself in a hospital room. Where was I? I remembered a brief flash of light as the nuclear bomb went off. That meant I was still in France. But the bigger question was how I survived. I was a kilometre away from the middle of the blast at the very least. How am I not dead? A blast of those proportions should have fractured my skeleton and burnt my entire skin from the force killing me. Even if that hadn't the radiation alone would have crippled me. No matter how much training you have a mercenary is still a human. He can be killed.

Trying to move my fingers and toes, crippling jolts of pain stream through my body. I can literally feel the burns now. I attempt to move my body but fail to do so again. The pain stops me. It seems that even breathing is difficult.

I can literally feel shards of glass pierced my lungs as I attempt to breath in and unholy fire when I try to breathe out. Like I said, not the best situation. I can't even move my body meaning that my nerves have been completely fried from the heat at the moment.

Even so I can get a good glance and my body through the reflection of the metal lights and the screen. Even if the details are non-existent I can tell three things. My body is a charcoal colour at the moment. The other thing I notice and feel is the lack of muscle I have at the moment. The large amount of lean, strong and compact muscle is gone. I'm literally a thin skeleton with swelled, black skin.

Finally I noticed that I was surrounded by dozens of tubes connected to my body bringing what seemed to be nutrients and painkillers. A few more seemed to be taking away waste. I wouldn't know since I can't get a good glance at myself in the sorry state I am in.

Once again I have to ask how am I alive?

Before I could answer that question I winced, from the slight shaking of the bed. Even a little movement seems to cause terrific amounts of pain for me.

The tapping of heels signals the entrance of female personnel. I concentrate, for the first time, on the sounds around me. What I receive is a flood of movement that assaults my ears nearly causing me to cry out in pain if I could. Instead all I do is whimper. Fuck this is just the beginning of a long torturous process. This is what happens from being near a nuclear bomb and for me it's probably about to get much worse.

I can feeling an oncoming fever and headache.

Nevertheless I've endured being shot, stabbed and beaten. Hearing through sensitive ears is still possible for me even with a rising headache and fever, albeit barely. I had to be careful. Any loud noise would destroy whatever recovery I've made. Once I again I have to ask, how did I survive?

The frantic shouts of doctors chorusing in French, the cries and moans of patients and the sombre, tearful sobs of many, many families reverberated through my skull. I immediately lose concentration.

So many people have died. Yes I've killed people. I've seen people die in large numbers. Even so I've never seen them die in the thousands, heard their screams and cries as they lost hope. For the first time I cursed my sensitive hearing. The very hearing I just recovered. I lose all concentration and am rewarded with the comfortable silence.

Never before have had I felt so pleased. Even if my skin burns, I can't move, by body is in pain and my senses are non-existent, I couldn't have been happier. I didn't want to hear the screams of people as they died. Not yet. I wasn't ready for this. Whenever I killed someone in the past I always made it quick. Bullets, knives and fast reacting poisons were what I had always used.

I never used anything that would torture my victim unless it was completely necessary. Unless there was no choice. It was small mercy I could give them but it was enough. In this dog eat dog world that was the best anyone could expect from me.

I feel movement around the corner. I'm not alone. Taking a deep breath I steady myself. Should I make my presence known and risk the wrath of an unknown opponent. Or should I make my presence known in hopes of gaining some information, an unknown ally or what not.

On the other hand the more common possibility is that the person is another hospital patient.

It was a decision I had to make.

I grunted. It was the most I could do with most of my muscles the way they were at the moment.

Immediately the person woke up. I could immediately tell from that they were the only one awake at the moment. I took one sniff at the air, taking in my surroundings. Immediately I recognized the smell of burnt flesh. There seemed to be two people dead in this room. The situation must be horrible if the staff can't find the time to actually dispose of the bodies. There might be more people in the room but at the moment I couldn't tell. All I knew was the person was the only one awake.

The slight limp form of a girl came into my field of vision.

If I were a normal boy, I would have considered her cute. Her Dark blue eyes greeted me expectantly with hope before it disappeared in a cloud of despair. Her silvery blonde hair was ruffled and unkempt at the moment. Her skin was as pale as marble accepts for botches of first degree burns. Judging from her facial expression I would guess that she was around eleven maybe twelve. At the moment she seemed to be wearing a hospital gown and that only added to her current state. All in all she looked … miserable.

"Bonjour?" she asked me in French.

Deciding to return to the favour I answered back in French, "Hello. Can you tell me where I am?"

"Tu as dans la hospital," she replied or simply, "You are in the hospital."

"Where are we exactly?" I asked, "I don't remember being picked up.

The girl simply shrugged morosely before stating ,"I don't know. All I heard was hearing the staff barge in and strap you into your bed before leaving. They seemed very busy and I was … preoccupied."

I notice the tear lines on your face and decided to investigate. Why was she here anyways? Unlike the rest of the people, from what I could judge, Fleur didn't seem incredibly injured. Perhaps there was more to the story.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you Miss …" I cut off having not learnt the name of the girl.

"Fleur Delacour," she introduced before sitting back on her bed. I could feel it squeaking from the pressure before she finished,

"She's in a better place"

"I'm sorry about your sister Fleur,"

"It's okay. Gabrielle always wanted to be an angel. Now she is," sobbed Fleur obviously remembering something. It was certainly a happy moment with her sister before she died. I allowed her to grieve a little before I answered

"I just want to say … I understand how you feel at the moment"

At that she looked up. Her eyes turned bloodshot. For a moment I believed that her skin turned reptilian. Briefly she glared at me with utmost hate before walking back to my bed.

"Really," she whispered quietly so that only I could hear, "Really"

She continued sarcastically. We were now nose to nose. I could see my reflection in her Dark blue eyes as she stared down on me.

"Really? What do you know about Gabrielle. You don't even know me. You don't even know what I've lost. A sister. That's what you idiot. That's what. What do you know. What do you know about losing someone. What do you know about loss!" she screamed at me before crying her eyes out.

I just lay there contemplating what she had said.

What did I know about loss? Did I really want to know about that? I know what sacrifice means having given up my childhood to fulfil Kadokechi's dreams. It was all I had. It was all my brothers had. We knew what we were getting into. We knew that we sacrificing each other for the dream of a man who technically abused us. But what else did we have? Each one of us had seen Humanity at its worse and Kadokechi was nowhere near that.

But what did I know about loss? Loss was a choice made for me. Like the choice fate made when I was kidnapped. Like the fate's choice to leave me at the Dursleys. But now with Lepoplo's death I can't help but feel … empty. It's like a part of me is missing somewhere out there in the world and I can't find it. I can reach it. It's just drifting. So what did I know about loss. I just got my first, bitter taste of it today.

"Because I lost my brother today as well. That is if it is still today," I whispered

Fleur straightened up and face paling as if she had been slapped. Her expression of raw hatred vanished now replaced with a look of regret and shame. At least that's what I thought it was as she quickly hugged me.

"I'm sorry," she cried holding me tightly. Her tails dug into my flesh. I felt like screaming in pain. The monitors flared and the tubes connected to me swung for an instant before steading themselves.

It hurt a lot.

"Fleur," I pleaded. The girl ignored me as she continued to cry her eyes out. I could literally see the gears working in her mind. But I needed to get her off my body. It was becoming really painful.

"Fleur!" I yelled not getting much attention before I roared, "Fleur GET OFF ME!"

That immediately got her out of her depression. At the very least she let go of my body before crying her eyes out and returning to her bed.

Her sobs could be heard the entire night.

I lay there for a good portion of the night simply listening to the slow patter of the black murky rain and footsteps of the hospital staff. It was better than nothing. And I was willing to take anything to distract me from my feeling of … loss.

(Meanwhile on a more cellular Level)

The cells in Harry's body had been abused greatly from the blast. Many organs had barely survived. What he didn't know was a portion of is lung had been completely destroyed; his bones shattered and his muscles barely function. At the beginning of the explosion location of his eyes were merely holes in his skull. But slowly over the course of the night and with the proper nutrients, his body began to heal. It was slow but there was progress that would increase exponentially in the next few days as his muscles stitched themselves back together, nerve endings replicated and last but not least his bones began a steady process of healing into something much, much stronger.

Even if it had caused him great pain the nuclear blast had been a blessing in disguise. They didn't just make him physically stronger. The allowed the drugs he had taken to increase their effects on his body.

Author's Note: Don't worry everything will work out in the end. But I do have to warn you. There are no fairy tale and prince charming.