A/N My Carnavals present to y'all this week. Carnaval is a Dutch / German holiday, and if ya wanna know what it's like, it's kinda like Halloween. People dress up, drink loads of beer and party for 4 days... And we get one week free from school
Well, maybe not the action you were hopin for I guess. But I hope ya like it. Enjoy!

8

"Luke?" Bo's whisper sounded loud in the silence of the tree. Seeing how his cousin was dozing of, he got worried. He knew that Luke was hurt, probably worse then he would let on. And he knew from experience, you couldn't let a person with injuries, especially head injuries, fall asleep on you.
So after looking down, seeing the wolves were getting restless, growling at each other and occasionally taking a bite at one another or the tree, he decided to keep his cousin up and talking.

"Luke" he said again, this time a little louder.

Luke felt himself being pulled from the darkness he was so willing to embrace. The annoying sound seemed to come from a source close to his ear, but it sounded much further, as if someone spoke through a long tube and pointed it at him.
He wanted to swat at the source, silently pleading for it ta just go away. The darkness was filling him, from his toes, through his chest, relieving him from the pain, leaving nothing but pleasurable numbness. The annoying sound however, wouldn't go away, buzzing in his ears as an unwanted fly on a hot summer day.
He could make out parts of words coming through the buzz in his ears.

"-Uke…. -ke up… no sleep-… Luke… -ome back… -lease…"

Unable to recognize the words, but sensing the pleading tone that filled them, he pushed away the darkness, just far enough to find out what was wrong…

When Bo saw his cousin crack open one eye, he could have jumped and gave a big yeehaw. The last few minutes he had tried to wake Luke, not succeeding and getting more worried every second it lasted. Grabbing on to Luke's left arm, he almost physically pulled him back to reality.

With one eye open, Luke blurrily saw the dark world around him, wondering why someone would wake him in the dead of night. Was something wrong? Uncle Jesse? Daisy? Bo? Something had to be wrong, or else he would have been asleep on his soft… Wait a minute, that rough and hard thing couldn't be his pillow. And was he sitting up? Who was jostling his arm?

Cracking open the other eye, this time completely banishing the darkness that had surrounded him until now, he saw his surroundings. Closest to him he saw the blonde curls of his young cousin, wet and sticking against his head as if he had just showered. But he didn't look so clean, mud caked his shirt, face and hair. And the look in his eyes wasn't as carefree as it normally was.

As he contemplated all these things, pain crept through the dark hole he had just left, settling itself in his chest again as if it was teasing him with his newfound discoveries. And in that second, Luke remembered…

"You back with me Luke?" Bo asked, seeing the clarity return to Luke's blue eyes.

Luke hissed at the pain one single breath gave him, but nodded, "Still with ya cuz."

Bo sighed, relief flooding through his veins. But, looking at his still weary cousin, he knew his task; keeping him awake until help arrived.

"Whatta you say we keep talking here, alright? Can't have you fallin asleep in a tree now, right?" he said, trying to keep his voice as light as possible, as if he hadn't just yanked his cousin back from the claws of darkness…

"I know", Luke nodded, he had seen it in the Marines. Guys falling asleep after being injured and never waking up again. An involuntary shiver ran up his spine when he thought back of that time.

Bo saw his cousin reflect back on his past and decided this was the best time to get something out of him, something he had wanted to know for a long time now.

"Why did ya go?"

Luke didn't need a further explanation, he had expected this question ages ago. But he knew Bo had been to young to understand his reasons.

Looking up at his little cousin, now taller than him, he saw the young man he had become since Luke had joined the Marines.

"Ya know I was drafted Bo, I had ta go," he returned, knowing this wasn't exactly what Bo had wanted to hear. And after seeing the frown on his face, he knew he was right.

"Yeah, but why did ya go?" he asked again, hoping Luke would understand what he meant.

Riding out a wave of pain, Luke focused on the thoughts flying through his head at lightning speed. Why did he go? Why did he leave everything behind to fight a war not even his?

"Because it was the right thing ta do, I guess," after a few silent moments he continued, "in a way, it didn't seem fair to me that if other sons were going, I was to stay with my family. I mean, look at the Robertson's. Their son Henry had already left when I was drafted. What made me so much better than him?"

The question seemed to drift in mid air for a moment, before Bo nodded slowly. "I understand Luke." Seeing the look of sadness in Luke's eyes, he decided to tell him something he had never told anyone. "Did ya know I always wished I could have gone with you at that time?" he said, seeing the look of shock pass through Luke's eyes.

Luke was stunned. He knew they had always been close, just like he knew how hard his leaving had been for Bo. But he had never known Bo had wanted to join him into the depths of Hell…

"No, if you knew what happened there, you wouldn't have wished that," he said while shaking his head furiously. Luke tried to ban those memories to the back of his head. But Bo wouldn't let him.

"Why Luke? What happened there that was so bad? You know, you never did tell us the details, just some of the pranks ya pulled with yur buddies."

"It was war Bo," Luke answered, as if it was the most logical reason he could think of.

"I know that cuz, but that don't tell me nothin 'bout why you were afraid of the dark for nearly two years after your return."

Luke heaved a rattled sigh, his mental pain now fighting for the upper hand with the physical pain. Seeing the predators still circling the tree, albeit a little further away now, he decided to just tell his cousin, he had a right to know.

"You knew that huh?" he asked, seeing Bo nod slowly.

"It was a little hard ta ignore, seeing ya put on the light dozens of times a night. Remember the time we was stuck in that old Indian-cave and I dropped my flashlight?"

Luke nodded, boy did he remember that. His fears had shown their ugly head when the cave went completely dark. The only thing he could think of, before completely freaking out, was grabbing on to his cousin.

"Ya grabbed my arm so tight I had bruises for weeks. But ya never said anything 'bout it. And after a while ya slept through the nights without puttin the lights on. So I kinda let it rest."

Luke watched his cousin talk about that time in his life and he almost felt the emotions he had felt back then surge back to life.

"Ya know, I wasn't actually afraid of the dark. I was more afraid of what I couldn't see. What was lurking in that darkness." Luke fell silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts so they would form a story.

"Somethin happened when I was there, in 'Nam. Well 'sides all the bodies and friends I had ta bury. I hope you'll never know how that feels cuz. Sendin your friends back, in pieces, seein the look they had in their eyes when you failed em…" he trailed of, thinking about all the friends he had lost in that jungle.

Bo saw how Luke mentally remembered each and every buddy he had to say goodbye to. But something Luke had said caused him to interrupt his cousins pondering.

"What happened Luke? Ya said somethin happened out there?"

And with that question, Luke felt like he was warped back to his Marine days, lying in the jungle, waiting for the enemy to attack…

So that was were he began his tale. The story about how is fear of darkness started…

Well, those boys sure know what ta do when they're up a tree, bein surrounded by wolves. But I think some talkin 'll do our Luke some good, he still don't look to fine to me…