Author's note: Welcome back dear readers! Read here my interpretation on how Billy, Murdock's dog, came to live.

Before you start, trigger warning: mention of death, near death experience, mentions and descriptions of torture.

Enjoy!

Murdock didn't know if he should be worried or frightened or just happy that he was the only one that could truly see Billy, his dog. He could not only see him, but also feel his soft fur and smelly breath. All the others couldn't and he didn't wanna explain to his friends that he could actually touch him and even if he tried they wouldn't be convinced. He knew that he was crazy and also that the others knew that he was crazy, but he himself couldn't explain how it was possible for him to see his long deceased dog right in front of him. Murdock wasn't so sure how the others would react if he told them that Billy was actually his deceased dog, so he just kept silent.

Still, Murdock loved Billy with all his heart just like he did when he was a child.

After his father passed away, his mother put him in the car one lovely summer morning. She drove him to his grandparents' house in the southern part of Texas. His mother left him there with just a suitcase containing his belongings (clothes and so on), and then she drove off and never returned. To this day, he doesn't know where she went or if she is still alive. He remembers seeing his mother's car getting smaller and smaller as she drove away, and he felt his grandfather's heavy hand on his shoulder.

Little Henry thought that his mother would return one day and asked regularly about her until his grandfather confessed to him that she wouldn't come back. He didn't hide the fact that she had abandoned him. He remembered feeling heartbroken, wondering if he had done something wrong to upset her. That's when Billy first arrived. He was one of two guard dogs. The other one was Bella, a Rottweiler. Billy was a golden retriever. Immediately, Murdock and Billy hit off; it just worked from the first second. Billy comforted him during the first weeks of his new life at his grandparents' farm. When he would cry, he would come and curl around his slender form and just sit there or he would try to lick his tears away, which ultimately made him laugh. Also, Billy was an excellent guard dog who chased off anything that came too close to the barn, but he was best at comforting Murdock when needed.

There was one incident when Murdock came down with a bad case of the flu. He lay in bed and was too weak to move even an inch; he felt miserable. His grandma tried her best to comfort him, but had pressing work to do that resulted in Murdock being mostly alone in his dark room. He was alone until his grandpa came in with Billy, who immediately jumped on his bed and cuddled close to him to try and warm him due to his heavy shivering from his fever. He'd been restless all day already, as his grandpa said, so he brought him inside.

Billy stayed by his side until he felt better after a week and could play with him again.

Then the saddes day for Murdock came, the day Billy died. Murdock was seventeen and Billy twelve, he died of old age in the arms of his best friend. It was truly one of his darkest days in life. It took him very long to accept his death and move on, but eventually the grief passed and he was happy again.

At the age of eighteen, Murdock decided to join the Air Force, his grandfather, also having been in the Air Force during WW2, wasn't so happy about his decision. He was scared to lose his only grandson too. It took a lot of convincing and promising to write every week for his grandparents to let him go. Like that he started his big journey. First flying with the Thunderbirds which was the best feeling he could imagine. Then he was ordered to go to war in Vietnam. When he wrote that to his grandparents, his grandpa was not so amused. Murdock still remebered his words : Be careful out there son. Don't break, keep fighting and come back home. Please son.

He knew that they were worried; he was too, but orders were orders.

At first everything went more or less smooth, but after two months, he crashed for the first time, they were shot down and taken prisoners. The VietCong knew immediatly that he was the pilot and treated him accordingly. They tortured him for days to no avail. He still remembered the feeling of water forcing it's way into his nose, how he would choke and try to turn his head only to be held in place, how he struggled with his bonds that wouldn't budge and the feeling of pure helplessness. The panic he felt thinking he would drown. The burning in his lungs. When that didn't bring him to talk they whipped him, hard. The sound of the whip going down on his back was burned in his brain. The seconds of anticipation before the whip made contact with his already bruised back. The feeling of warm blood flowing down his back and the horrible pain he felt, that went over his body like a shock wave and made him sweat and shiver.

But the worst thing was the whole atmosphere of the prison camp. Everywhere were men who were starved and injured. Six men in a cell meant for three, only skin and bones. With long hair and beards, a sad and lost look in their eyes with no hope of rescue or freedom ever again. Every night he would hear the crying and the moaning of his fellow comrades. He would smell the horrible mixture of blood, urine, feces and sweat, a combination that made everyone gag.

Lucid for the first time. He knew when he woke up that if he went to sleep, he would die. Knowing this filled him with sadness because he had promised his grandparents that he would come back; however, he just hurt so bad all over and he just wanted the pain and suffering to stop. He took one last look around to at least have a last image of the beautiful earth in his mind, even though the last thing he would see was a prison camp. He took one last breath and cherished the feeling of fresh air filling his lungs before closing his eyes, thinking it might be his last time.

Suddenly he felt a wet tongue on his cheek, confused he forced his eyes open squinting against the harsh light of the sun and again a wet tongue made contact with his too warm face, the cool wet tongue feeling like a blessing. He looked up to see…Billy standing over him tail wagging. He remembered thinking that he truly went nuts by seeing his deceased dog and even feeling his tongue on his face. Probably only his brain trying to keep him from dying, he thought. He didn't pay him anymore attention and closed his eyes again only to open them again after a few seconds due to the licking that got more desperate each time. He closed his eyes again and simply ignored the licking until he felt a nibble on his shoulder then sharp teeth biting into his skin. He flinched at the contact and is eyes flew open again. Billy still hasn't disappeard and even started barking. That's when he understood what was happening, Billy tried to keep him from closing his eyes, he was trying to keep him from dying. For some reason, he felt hope again and decided to fight against death trying to snatch him away. Billy doing everything he could to keep Murdock from closing his eyes.

Later the next day US soldiers stormed the camp and freed all of them and he was brought to a special clinic for trauma patients where he thankfully made a full recovery. Billy acompanied him all the way and beyond, always at his side.

That brought him back to this moment.

Murdock lay unconcious on the floor in a warehouse going up in flames. Face and him went inside not knowing that the enemy had wired the whole warehouse and they realized that a little too late.

Murdock was swimming in darkness not a sound to be heard and his brain for once completly silent when he felt sharp teeth going into his shoulder. His eyes shot open and he immediatly regretted that action because the bright light of the flames stung his eyes and worsened his headache even more. Then he heard excessive barking that sounded a lot louder than it actually was and felt like Hannibal shooting his gun empty as fast as possible. But he knew that barking anywhere, Billy. He opened his again this time fully and took in the scene. The flames were engulfing everything. Billy stood beside him barking and pulling at his jacket to get up. Turning his head to the right he saw Face lying face down on the concrete floor, also having been knocked out by the blast. Immediatly he was on high alert and got up on shaking legs swaying dangerously before he got his footing back. He willed his legs to move and all but stumbled over to face and tried to get his limbs working, but found it difficult to concentrate. Finally he managed to grap Face's arm and hurled him off the floor and over his shoulder, swaying at the sudden added weight before getting his balance back. Billy barcked again indicating that they should move. He started running like a madman following Billy blindly and just concentrated on running as stumbling was not the best idea. The smoke was burning his lungs and his eyes watered which made it diffcult for him to see clearly, but eventually he felt fresh air and knew they made it. Just then his legs crumbled under him and he fell on his knees trying to let Face glide off his shoulders onto the floor without hurting him further, then collapsed to his side and only breathed and cherished the fresh and crisp night air in his lungs with some interruptions of him coughing.

Then he heard screeching tires and quick footsteps coming his way and a familiar voice calling out :" Murdock ! Face ! Are you alright ?!" Hannibal coming to a stop next to him and dropping to his knees and shook his shoulder. Murdock opened his eyes to see the blurry figure of the Colonel looking at him with a worried look. He pushed himself up slowly and said : "I'm fine Hannibal".

Hannibal went to examine his headwound. Ah yes there was something like that.

"Dosen't look too bad", he murmured and went to shine a bright light to his eyes. Murdock flinched away and hissed at the pain.

"Sorry, but you definitly have a concussion. Can you walk ?", Hannibal asked while putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Figured and yes I can walk jus' fine", he croaked and made his move to get up. Finally he stood on his shaking legs, the Colonel supporting his weight.

"How is Face, BA ?", he heard the Colonel ask.

"Alright, knocked out, but nothing major", replied the big man.

"Alright, then let's move out", ordered Hannibal.

Billy always came to his aid when he was in distress. But of course for all the others his dog was invisible, but for him he was not and it was quite funny to tease BA about it too. If someday somebody would ask him what Billy was to him, he would say…a guardian angel.

Author's note: Another chapter finished, still a few to go! I hope you all liked it and feel free to review! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the rest! :)