Radar had managed to keep on the path, keeping to the high ground, each slip down from the rise confronting him with a chill that egged him in the right direction. He focused on trying to put one foot ahead of the other, and keeping his footing solid on the increasingly rocky terrain.

Coming to the top of a rise, he turned around, scanning the distance with eyes screwed up, upper lip curved tensely and mouth open slightly, just starting to breathe more heavily than normal. Indeed he saw, there in the valley, a blur of green light in the middle of the darkness. "Oh!" he cried out, and turned away. His foot, trying to take the next step forward, caught after about two inches, hard, on a rock, and he yelped as he took a tumble down into the mouth of the cave.

Radar landed with very little grace and even less dignity, rolling harshly down a jagged slope before his body found a flat surface to come to rest on. But for all the scrapes and emerging bruises, Radar was fine. So to speak. He chuckled wanly to himself, a weak sound, something like the braying of a horse.

"Hawkeye's fine," Radar assured himself, grunting as he straightened himself to lie out on his back, lifting an arm to rest his head on.

"Hawkeye's just fine." He nodded, the atmosphere of the cave seeming comfortable and familiar, light and airy despite the inky darkness.

"Just fine..." his voice trailed off, his eyes shut as he let his thoughts sink inward. He propped his foot up on a stalagmite, and crossed the other ankle over it, then stretched his other arm up to join the first, making a cradle into which they could seep down and snuggle.

After all, why shouldn't Hawkeye be fine? Hawkeye'd get through sniper fire and shelling, this war, World War Three, and maybe even a family weekend with great-aunt Tabitha without getting a hair out of place. The world is just full of glamour, and what person knows it better than Hawkeye? Even in a war zone, he knows just what rocks to look under to find and pluck each stray smile he can. What could'a been wrong with him, there, in the post-op? He wasn't being himself. Could he have been... sick, or, broken, or... something? Well, it must'a been a blessing that Radar was there to help him, to-- to show him where it was again, to help him use it again. What's it they say? You never really know what you got, until it's gone. Well... now Hawkeye knows, again... yeah, all thanks to Radar...

He nearly wept as he kept running lines of comforting untruth through his mind.

"Radar?"

His eyes opened, and he turned his neck to see the silhouettes of Father Mulcahy, Bantelhopp and Qotenmatch in the mouth of the cave.

~