Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story so far! I was a little hesitant in writing this because I'm not up to date on all the military stuff, so I'm making this up as I go along. I hope I'm getting most of it right!

Author's Note 2: The chapters are going to become grimmer after this as more and more time passes.

Fallen Hero

Chapter 10

Red. The color of blood as it seeped from a wound. No, she couldn't think that. She had to believe that everything would be okay, that she wouldn't lose them to the redness the same way he had lost Keith and the same way she had lost her mothers. She had to refuse he would succumb to the redness that took over everything she touched.

Black. His escape from everything was the blackness that now consumed him. It was safe. Nothing could ever touch him there. Not pain, not those awful memories that caused this blackness… nothing. It was his one out from the world of pain. No color could break through the blackness. He was safe.

Which way is up?

I am so lost, so confused

Drowning in this sea of darkness,

I have lost the light,

I have lost my will to fight

Iraq

Time and Place Unknown

The door to the cell slid open and Lucas was thrown to his knees inside. It had been like this every day for the past three weeks since they had arrived here. One of them would be taken out of the cell once a day for an hour before being returned in extremely bad condition. None of them talked about what happened to them while they were out there. It was an unspoken agreement.

"You okay?"

Derek's faint voice came from the left corner of the cell. Rachel and Derek were sitting next to each other, both very concerned. They worried about him more then they worried about each other because he was still feeling the effects of the bullet wound.

"Yeah," Lucas answered, his voice breaking slightly. He picked himself off of the ground and limped over to where Derek and Rachel were sitting.

Rachel had survived the whole ordeal pretty much unscathed, aside from a handful of bruises and scratches along her arms. Derek hadn't been so lucky. His left arm hung at an awkward angle and he had deep cuts along his legs and face. Lucas had been the worse out of the three, even without the gunshot wound. He had huge welts down his back from where someone had taken a piece of rope and smacked it into him. His right ankle was sprained and he had done some damage to his recently healed arm. On top of that, Lucas was having problems breathing every time he came back.

"You sure?" Rachel pressed, scooting closer to him. Lucas winced as she gingerly placed an arm around his neck.

"Yeah," Lucas said, closing his eyes and swallowing hard. He put one hand against his aching chest and the other against his stomach. His heart twisted painfully in his chest once and then the longed for blackness washed over him.

The battle is over,

They have won,

I have lost my guiding light,

I have lost the will to fight

Tree Hill, North Carolina

Noon

The strains of the piano died away as Haley placed her head in her hands. This had been going on for the past three weeks since they had heard about Lucas. She tried to write a song and failed miserably and always ended up crying beside the piano. Sooner or later, Nathan or Jamie would show up and she would force herself to put on a happy face for them. It just wasn't worth it anymore. Her best friend was gone. There was nothing left in her.

"Haley?"

The voice was a familiar one, but not one she had been expecting. It was Peyton, who had just emerged from the shower. The blonde girl looked utterly defeated, as though she had gone missing instead of Lucas. She was a shell of her former self.

"Yeah, Peyton?"

"That song sounded really good," she said, hesitantly. Peyton looked torn between the decision to stay and listen to it or flee to the safety of her bedroom.

"Come, sit," Haley said, patting the piano bench in invitation for her friend to sit down.

"Hales, what's wrong?"

Peyton had always been too damn perceptive for her own good. She had always been able to read Haley like an open book, much like Lucas. Unfortunately, that was the last thing Haley wanted right now.

"The same thing that's wrong with you," Haley whispered, feeling the tears well up in the back of her eyes. "The same thing that's wrong with Nathan, Skills, Mouth, and everyone else that he was close to."

The tears were falling now. She let Peyton pull her in close and rested her head on her friend's shoulder. Peyton let her cry, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Hales, what are we going to do?" Peyton asked, feeling tears of her own sting the back of her eyes. "It's been nearly a month since Lucas disappeared. There has been no news of him. What if he doesn't make it? What if it's already too late?"

Haley pulled away from her friend, drying her face with the back of her hand.

"You can't think like that," she said. "If we do, Lucas might as well be dead anyways. He will make it, Peyton. I bet you anything that in another few weeks, he will be walking through that door. You'll see."

The world spins round and round,

Never stopping, never slowing,

Everything becomes a hazy blur,

Before the darkness washes over me again

Iraq

Time and Place Unknown

Rachel was the only one awake. Lucas had passed out from the pain and exhaustion three hours ago and Derek had fallen asleep for lack of better things to do. Still, Rachel stayed awake, watching Lucas breathe in and out. It comforted her to know that he was still alive and still fighting; that there was someone out there worth living for. Rachel knew that if it were her that was going through everything that Lucas was going through right now, she would have given up a long time ago. She probably would have let herself die in that first car accident so many years ago. But he still kept holding on, because he knew that there was someone out there still waiting for him to come home.

Watching him sleep, Rachel couldn't help but wish she had someone like Lucas in her life, someone who would fight against all odds to be with her, someone who would fight against everything to save her. Rachel wished she had her own hero, now more than ever, in this pit of despair.

"I'm not TV, you know," Lucas rasped, his voice no louder than Derek's breathing. Rachel started; she hadn't realized that he was awake. She blinked and looked back at him. He was looking at her with wide blue eyes that were full of pain and suffering, as well as a distant longing in them. Rachel had never seen such a heartbreaking gaze in her life.

"Why do you do it, Luke?" she asked quietly, inching closer to him so he wouldn't have to talk as loud.

"Do what?" Lucas asked, his voice softer than ever. He was in a lot of pain, that much was obvious. Rachel wished that there were something she could do for him.

"Fight so damn hard against everything," she said, trying to judge his reaction. "You have had a lot of bad things happen to you, yet you're still a good guy. I just want to know why you keep trying when everything else is against you. I don't think I've ever seen anyone try as hard as you do."

Lucas smiled slightly at her, or at least he attempted to. It came out looking more like a grimace, but at least he tried.

"What's there to gain by being a good person, you mean? I asked myself that once," he said, his blue eyes a million miles away. "It was right after I had my first heart attack. I had this vision while I was unconscious. I asked the person in my vision what there was to gain by being a good person. Haley was in the hospital at the time, too, because she saved Nathan's life from a loan shark. I asked if it was worth it. The person in my vision showed me things that I really didn't want to see, but it made me realize that I gained everything by being a good person. Peyton lives because I went back into that school for her, Haley and Nathan made it through those rough times because I pretty much told Nathan he was being an ass and needed to get over it, and they're a family now because I have to be the hero. A lot of bad things have happened to me, yes, but in the end, the things I love win out over the things that happen to me."

Rachel looked at him, feeling tears sting the back of her eyes. He didn't deserve any of this, but he was going through it because he wanted to help those he loved more then anything in the world, more than even himself. Rachel couldn't even begin to understand the struggle he had gone through to get to where he was now.

Footsteps came down the cellblock they were in. Lucas stiffened in alarm as they stopped right outside of their door. Rachel held her breath as the door slowly slid open. The man that had brought them here in the first place was standing there, a blank expression on his face.

"You, out," he ordered, pointing at Rachel.

Lucas placed a hand on Rachel's arm and slowly shook his head.

"You're not taking her," he said, his voice low, but extremely firm. There was a current of malice running through it as well.

"I have orders. I take her," the man said, glaring at Lucas. Lucas glared stonily back for a moment, before struggling to stand.

"Take me instead. Leave her," he said. The man looked at him, surprised, while Rachel tried to change Lucas's mind.

"Luke, no, don't do this. Please, just let it go. I'll be fine," she whispered. Lucas merely shook his head, while fighting to stay standing.

"We have orders to take her," the man repeated. "Not you."

"Well, you're just going to have to defy those orders, aren't you? Cause you aren't taking her," Lucas said, his voice stronger now. He seemed a little surer of himself.

"We take her," the man said stubbornly.

"No, you aren't," Lucas said, just as stubbornly.

He would have gone on, had it not been for the huge explosion right outside their cell.

The battle is over,

They have won,

I have lost my guiding light,

I have lost my will to fight

Evil cliffy, I know. But that's what I'm known for!! I'm sorry that there wasn't very much Peyton/Nathan/Haley in this chapter, but I really couldn't think of anything to write for them. Maybe more next chapter… maybe not…

The song lyrics are written by me! It's called 'The Battle Hath Come' and it's actually way longer than what I have written here. This is the end part of it. The other parts are less depressing.

Okay, so I'm going to cut it off here! Read and review, please!