A/N: Before we begin, dear "ttt"! I'm happy that you decided to review, but please note that I can't really answer you if you don't have an account! :)

Part Three: Path of Lies

Prologue

December 11th, 2039. Camp Nest, Magneville area, 28 kilometres south-southeast of Cherbourg, Normandy.

Despite her earlier concerns, Daweryn had to admit that this time, High Command managed to find quite a nice place for them to rest. The camp was near a lake, with a large forest on the other side of the lake, and the sea was just half an hour of flight away. The 18th Special Recon arrived here a week ago, by now, everyone was settled in and used whatever means possible to fill all their free time. Active duty was performed in four-dragon rotations, so eight Furies could always rest for a week. And rest they did, after almost four years of nearly uninterrupted frontline service, everyone loved the idea that now for a change, they don't have to do anything at all. Except for the four dragons on duty, but even their job was the occasional patrol and keeping an eye on the others, preventing any collateral damage during relaxation.

On her way to the main barracks which used to be a boarding house before the war, Daweryn spotted four Furies playing a slightly altered version of football with a few servicemen from the 11th Air Manoeuvre Brigade. The dragon team couldn't have a goalkeeper because all he would have to do is raise his wings and the whole goal is covered. In exchange, the Furies were allowed to use all legs and tail to play, but touching the soldiers was forbidden, the friendliest push coming from a four hundred kilo dragon could cause some serious injuries.

Daweryn stopped to watch the game for a few minutes, then continued her casual walk towards the barracks. Entering the main building, she went up the stairs to the first floor, then turned right to the end of the hallway. The last room's door was open; the sounds of soft thuds and merry whistling were audible from a distance. Reaching the doorway, Daweryn sat down and peeked into the room. She saw Walther showing his back to her as he stood at his bed, doubling up clothes and placing them into travel bag.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked.

Walther looked at her, and gave a lenient smile.

"Of course not. What happened?"

"The usual. Julyran caught Lark and Kiddo stealing 'D' units of issue from the provisions storehouse." Daweryn reported with a hint of boredom in her voice.

"Unit 'D'? The ones with the sardines in oil?"

"Yep."

"Oh that's great." Walther sighed "The welfare officer's going to tear his hair out. Or mine. We need to... where's Lohengrin, by the way?"

"That's the other thing I wanted to mention." Daweryn said "The boss told me that he's off duty for this week, and he wants to go somewhere around the hills..."

"So he's off relaxing somewhere? That's not bad, he deserves it."

"Umm... without a doubt, yeah, but just recently the storage keeper said he's missing some..."

"Not again." Walther cried out, covering his face with his palms.

"Some alcohol."

Walther took a sharp breath, then started to talk strictly.

"First things first. I'll speak with the welfare officer and assign those two sneak thieves for kitchen service. After carrying buckets of slop around for a week, they'll think twice before putting my arse on the line again."

"Rog'." Daweryn nodded.

"Secondly... how much booze are we missing exactly?"

The Night Fury swallowed tensely before answering the question.

"Two hundred and forty litres of beer and twenty litres of brandy."

"WHAT?!"

"Oh, and we're also missing approximately five square metres of camouflage net."

"Well, that explains how the clever bastard got away with seven barrels of spirit but... Goodness gracious, when did hedisappear?!" Walther asked desperately.

"Yesterday morning."

"Holy sh- Okay." Walther sighed. "Who's on duty with you?"

"Julyran, Nel, and Spryt."

"Round up the two thieves and take them to the welfare officer, by the time you get there I'll have their penalty arranged. After that, keep an eye out, while I get a jeep and go after Lohengrin. God help us all if the Military Police finds him first!"

"Got it!" Daweryn jump onto fours, and hurried towards the stairs.

In the meantime, Walther stepped to the phone and dialled a number.

"Hallo? Sergeant Delacroix? Yeah, I may have an explanation for the missing cans and alcohol... I need to speak with you in person. Okay, five minutes. Okay. No... But... Hey! Okay, in the mess hall in five minutes, alright? Thanks."

He put down the phone, and sighed in resignation.

"Jules!"

"No."

"But...Jules!"

"No!"

"C'mon buddy, don't you have a heart?"

"Shut up, Lark." Julyran huffed, and nudged the other Night Fury to keep going forward.

"We're done for!" Dieter whined.

"Shut up Kiddo, this is all your fault!" Lark scolded the younger dragon.

"What?! The whole idea was yours in the first place!"came the angry riposte.

"Both of you shut up!" Penelope cut in, swishing her tail angrily. "Lark, you'll get what you deserve for stealing food again and refusing to understand that you're not funny all the time. Dieter, you'll get what you deserve for being stupid enough to believe this idiot."

"Someone, note my objection regarding that comment on my mental state!" Lark chimed.

Julyran and Penelope just shook their heads, as they escorted the two guilty Furies towards the mess hall. As they turned left at a corner, they spotted Walther and the welfare officer waiting for them.

"Oh, kitchen duty?" Lark asked hopefully, ears perking up "Sure as hell beats digging latrines..."

"There you are!" the welfare officer snapped angrily "Are these two the ones who broke into the depot?"

"They are." Walther nodded "And they are very sorry for doing that."

"Hey, I didn't say that!" Lark protested.

"But I agree." Dieter said.

"Aw, Kiddo, you're no fun."

Penelope, having enough of Lark's antics, stepped ahead of him, and slapped him on the nose with a forepaw. The Night Fury let out a pained yowl, and cowered down in front of her, rubbing his nose with both forelegs.

"What was that?" the welfare officer asked, giving a confused look at Walther.

"Erm... The flight lieutenant is dissatisfied with the behaviour of her subordinate." Walther explained, giving a warning glance at Penelope.

"Understandably." the officer frowned. "Do they understand me?"

"Every word you say." Walther confirmed.

"Good." the officer nodded "Follow me, you scaly thieves, now you'll learn the beauties of food production!"

"Why does this sound terrible?" Dieter whined as he and Lark followed the officer inside the building. Nel, Jules and Walther remained outside. The human crossed his arms and gave an expecting look at the spot where the dragons disappeared.

"Wait for it... wait for it..."

In all of a sudden, a desperate cry boomed out from the building.

"HOOLY CRAP!"

The two dragons and the human bust out laughing, and began to walk away.

"I have to say I pity the Kid a bit." Julyran commented a few moments later.

"It's a good lesson, next time he will show more caution towards Lark's fantastic ideas." Walther thought out loud. "Now that this is settled, please return to your posts."

"Copy that." Julyran said, and took off almost immediately. Penelope decided to wait a bit as she followed Walther to the garage. Walther gave her a few seconds, but as he saw she's having trouble beginning the conversation, he asked away first.

"Something on your mind, Nel?"

"Yeah." she began hesitantly "I heard that... Boss kinda... disappeared."

"I'm afraid so." Walther sighed.

"Along with enough booze to knock himself out for a week."

"Pretty much."

While they were talking, Walther approached the guard post, showed his papers and began to go towards the nearest Humvee.

"Walt?"

"Yes?" Walther asked back, looking at the dragoness.

"You think he's alright?" she asked in a concerned tone.

Walther opened the car's door and sat behind the wheel.

"You mean, do I know if he's drinking because he has problems?"

Nel just looked at him and slowly nodded.

Walther gave a weary sigh.

"Which one of us doesn't have problems, Nel? He's just dealing with the pressure in his own way." he stopped to start up the engine, then closed the door. The Night Fury walked went closer the Humvee and looked through the driver side window.

"Do you know where to find him?" she asked quietly.

"He mentioned a place he found along the riverbank. That's my best shot. I have my radio with me, if I can't find him, I'll call you up and we'll figure out something, okay? If I don't call you, everything's fine."

"I'll ask Mac to get my headset." Nel nodded, and stepped back from the car. Walther stepped on the pedal, and the car slowly rolled out from the garage, through the camp and down the dirt road.

The Humvee shook badly on the bumpy and snowy road. Walther mumbled a few unsophisticated words about dragons and alcohol, then made a sharp turn off the road to the countryside, heading towards the river Merderet. Luckily, the winter wasn't too harsh so far, the snow wasn't deep yet, so the heavy vehicle could take the abuse.

After like twenty minutes of cross-country driving, he finally came to a stop. He got out of the Humvee, and proceeded downhill towards a certain wreath of the river. Halfway there, he began to hear weird singing.

"...just thiiink about your woeful lad (hic) whereeever your fate may taaaaake..."

After a mighty facepalm, Walther stopped and called out.

"Lohengrin? Are you there?"

"... so heeear out my blue melody..."

"Lohengrin?"

"... and reeeemember your loooove... Eh... What?"

Walther walked a few dozen metres, and behind some bushes, at the bottom of a depression, he found a certain Night Fury weltering and hugging a wooden barrel with his forelegs. The dragon took a look at the human standing above him, and as recognition slowly crept into his foggy mind, he lifted his head from the crumpled camouflage net to address him.

"Walt?"

"Hope I'm not interrupting..."

"Naah, I just tasted this... apple thing... how's it called again..."

"Calvados." Walther helped him out, and sat down beside the dragon.

"Yeah! That." He gulped down a few mouthfuls, then asked:

"I... I suppose there's a reason why you're out here..."

"Think hard enough, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Lohengrin stared into his eyes silently for a few seconds, leaning closer to him, then spoke up in a very serious tone:

"You need a drink?" he asked, offering the barrel between his paws.

"Gah! Lohen!"

"Bwhahaha, you should've seen your face!" Lohengrin laughed. "Alright, I'm serious from now."

"Are you?" Walther frowned.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me, I've been in worse condition." the Fury stopped for a moment to think, then went on with a chatting tone "Okay, maybe not, but I'm far from being totally KO."

"That's good to hear." Walther said "The others are worried about you. Especially Nel."

"What a sweet little girl." the dragon grinned "I'm afraid she's fallen for me like a blind horse into a ravine."

"Oh. That can complicate things."

"Well, I have to figure out a gentle enough way to tell her that I'm not his dragon." Lohengrin explained "I don't want to offend her but I just don't feel the same way as she does. Mostly because I'm already mated to the most beautiful dragoness of the world." he became silent, eyes losing focus as his glare wandered into the distance.

"I still think you should try to visit your family while we're in reserve." Walther commented.

"Are you really trying to ruin my mood?"

"No, I'm just not entirely blind, y'know. I see how much you're longing to see them again."

"Walt." Lohengrin sighed "We've been through this before. You have no idea how much I had to force myself to leave in the first place. If I go to the place where I think they are now, I won't be able to leave my love and my son again. Dragon feelings work slightly differently than human ones, but I told you that before."

"Right, I remember. I trust you're wise enough to know what's best for everyone."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Lohengrin murmured and lifted the barrel to his mouth again.

"So, why are you out here?" Walther asked straight "Is it because things got pretty rough at the Seine?"

"No." Lohengrin shook his head "At least, not entirely. I know I was very close to biting the dust back there, but what already happened doesn't bother me nearly as much as what's still ahead of us."

"What do you mean?"

"I... I'm afraid." Lohengrin whispered. "I can play the mighty leader for anyone, but I'm trembling inside, and it's just getting worse by the week, Walt. I don't want to die not knowing where my daughter is, or if she is at least safe. And we are going to try to siege the greatest fortress ever seen since the War against the Great Darkness. We are going to bite off more than we can chew, and it'll suffocate us. They still have hundreds of thousands of fanatic and brainwashed grunts to throw at us. And you yourself said that nobody managed to successfully invade that damned island for over a thousand years. This war is a monster feasting on blood, and we've been lucky so far. But I'm not sure our luck will hold."

As he heard his friend's concerns, Walther stayed silent for a minute or two, before attempting to answer.

"Look, Lohen" he began "I know it offers little comfort but all of us are afraid of the future. Every soldier has to face uncertainty at times. But think about how far we've come. We are part of the largest fighting force humanity has ever mustered. And we've managed to beat back the armies of evil, despite at times, things looking grim. We kicked the bastards out of the continent, and slowly but surely, the UN is gaining the upper hand everywhere. I am sure that we will have victory, and we will build a better world for both dragons and humans after it."

"Sounds good." Lohengrin sighed, sounding less tense that before.

"And hey" Walter smiled at him, placing a hand on the dragon's broad shoulder "We both know that if someone pisses you off, you're unstoppable."

"Yeah." he grinned.

"You'll tear them into pieces!"

"YEAH!"

"You'll show them who's boss!"

The Night Fury let out a tree-shaking roar, then threw his forelegs around the humans frame, pulling him on his chest and covering his face with long, slobbery, fish-flavoured and alcohol-scented licks.

"Gah, stop it! It's disgusting!" Walther protested between laughs.

The dragon finally let him go, so he could sit up and readjust his wet and creasy uniform.

"My clothes, ruined." Walther grumped.

"Washing machine!" Lohengrin chimed.

"It doesn't wash out, y'know." Walther shook his head, but he couldn't resist smiling again.

"Oh come on, just have a drink already!"

"I don't want to drink from a barrel."

"Oh, I can help you with that!" Lohengrin smiled secretively, and began to wallow around "Now where did I put it... Here!"

He moved his left wing and reached for a spot on the ground with a foreleg, and used his claws to lift and hand over a tin mug to his surprised friend.

"How did this..."

"I figured you're gonna come after me eventually, I just didn't expect you to take so long." Lohengrin stated with a victorious grin.

"You're awesome." Walther chuckled, and dipped the mug into the brandy. "Y'know" he said after tasting the drink "if someone would have told me that at one day I was going to sit on the beach of a French river, drinking Calvados with my best friend who's a Night Fury, I'd have said that they were crazy."

"Life does crazy things." Lohengrin chuckled too "Remember the day we first met?"

"Of course I do!" Walther burst out laughing "I was never so scared in my entire life!"

"Well yeah..." Lohengrin joined his laughter "Y'know... if I think about it, I'm glad I didn't blow you up that day."

"I'm glad too." Walther grinned as he reached to scratch a spot behind Lohengrin's ear, earning a contented purr from the huge Night Fury "Even if you came pretty close to it..."

A/N: Let us go forward together! New part, new chapter, new adventures and new dragons to know! Who's with me? :D

As always, ask/comment/review:

I

I

I

V