Blackness. And noise, so much noise. More than he ever thought his ears could endure, followed by a ringing in them so loud that nearly everything else was drowned out. Except the distant screaming which went on and on, until he realized that his throat was raw from it. Then he felt the sensation of wetness all over the left side of his body, starting from the top of his head and running all the way to the tips of his fingers. Fingers which he realized no longer really resembled fingers anymore.

And after the physical devastation came the emotional one. Her words were what was making his ears ring now, nearly as loudly as the IED explosion had. Just as the shrapnel from that device had ripped through his body, Milah's words had torn through his heart, leaving it mangled and bloody like his body had been. "I can't be seen with a cripple like you, and I don't want to have to take care of damaged goods." Then she was gone from the side of his hospital bed and from his life, off to find her next shining soldier.

Killian Jones had been warned by his friends and the guys in his unit that she only wanted the privilege and prestige of being with a military man. But he had been enamored with her from the beginning. Her beautiful smile, twinkling eyes and musical laugh had drawn him in and, despite hearing that she was no good for him over and over, he had fallen in love with her.

Now, as he looked at the bandage at the end of his left arm which hid the healing wound of the amputation, he wondered if the wound that she left would ever heal. He let his head sink back into the softness of the pillow and felt the hot tears running down the sides of his face into his ears, the ones on the left taking a detoured route through the stitches and scabs.

It wasn't as if she was in love with him. They had only been on three actual dates and had met for coffee a few times. They hadn't even taken their relationship to that more intimate stage. But hearing that Neal Cassidy had been killed by an IED still devastated her. He was a good guy, one of the best she had ever met, and although she wasn't in love with him, she did love things about him. He was sweet and attentive, funny and kind. She loved the way his whole face seemed to crinkle up when he smiled and laughed, which was often. He treated her with respect and really listened when she talked. She was hoping that he might be the one.

Emma Swan was the physical therapist for a buddy of Neal's who had torn some ligaments in his ankle during a training run. Neal had come to pick him up from a session one day and, while his buddy was changing back into his uniform, he'd struck up a conversation with the beautiful blonde therapist. He returned for the remainder of his friend's sessions, and on the day that Emma had signed the papers releasing the guy from therapy, Neal asked her to meet him for coffee that afternoon. That led to a few more meetings and then three dates before she kissed him and waved to him as the bus drove away, taking him to his point of departure for a nine month deployment. Which turned into an eternal one.