I do not own Black Lagoon or any of its characters.

Chapter 1 - Ashes

Chang stood at the end of the dock as the black Mercedes drove up. Balalaika and Sergeant Boris stepped out and walked slowly toward him. As Balalaika stopped in front of him she looked into his eyes and asked, "All of them?" Chang nodded, "Fisherman found them. They contacted us as soon as they took the Lagoon in tow. I waited on calling you until I confirmed it personally."

As they turned and started down the dock, Balalaika noticed Chang's man Biu talking to four men at the other end. The men bowed to Biu and then turned toward Chang and Balalaika and bowed deeply to them. They climbed aboard a small trawler and cast off as Biu walked up the pier.

"You handled the fishermen?" Chang asked. Biu nodded to Balalaika and Boris then said, "Yes Da Ge, I compensated them for their trouble and thanked them for their time. They wanted both of you to know they were sorry they had to bring this to you." "Good," Chang nodded and said, "You and Boris stay here, we are going to go aboard for a while." Biu nodded and stepped to Boris's side.

Chang stepped across to the deck of the pt boat and held his hand out to Balalaika. She took it and stepped across herself. Their fingers stayed intertwined for a moment and he squeezed her hand before he walked forward toward the pilot house.

Balalaika looked around the deck at the bullet holes, shredded wood and fittings. "This looks like .50 cal." she said as she looked closer at the damage. "That's what I thought also but I figured you would know for sure." said Chang. Walking forward, behind him she stopped at the shields that used to enclose the cockpit of the old boat before Dutch moved all the controls inside the pilothouse. "That's the weapon that little assassin girl used." She said looking at a heavy rifle with a dolly tied to its barrel, lying on the deck. Chang nodded, "Apparently Rock had learned to use it for covering fire. Revy told me about it after he did it the first time. She was surprised he actually picked up a gun but was proud of him for doing it also. She said he claimed he never shot 'at' people, just in their general direction to make them stay down till they could get away." Balalaika nodded, "That sounds so like him." she said.

She stared down at Rock sitting in the cockpit with his back next to the pilothouse doorway, his trademark white shirt, a mass of bloody red. Lying across his lap was Revy, face down and covered in blood with her arms around his chest, one cutlass pistol still in her hand. Balalaika sucked in a breath before asking Chang, "Did she…?" Chang shook his head, "No, from what I can tell it looks like she dragged herself up to him at the end of it all and died there." Balalaika nodded again as she stepped down into the pilothouse.

The inside was a shambles of splintered wood, metal and glass. Dutch sat in his control chair slumped slightly to one side. Balalaika walked over to him and put her hand on his head. "Oh Dutchy." she said with a huskiness to her voice that had not been there a moment before. Daylight lit his face as she leaned forward and looked out the holes in the front of the pilothouse.

"I figured you would know more about what did this." Chang said. She nodded, "40 mm maybe, that or something close. Someone was playing with some very big toys." She looked at Chang with questions in her eyes but he shook his head. "No I don't know who they were fighting but I intend to find out. Look at Dutch's left hand." She glanced down to see Dutch still had a grip on the torpedo launching controls. She looked back up at Chang. "The two forwards ones have been fired. The fishermen said there were signs that a fair sized ship went down where they found the boat. Said there was wreckage all over the place like something blew up." Chang hung his head, "Mexican standoff, I guess. Dutch got the ones that got them."

"Where's Benny?" She asked. "He's down below in the computer room." Chang said as he open the hatch that led below. She climbed down and went forward with Chang following her. She stopped at the door and looked down at Benny lying among the wreckage of the electronics he loved so much, a torn picture of Jane lying near him.

She saw a hole about the size of a pineapple in the port side of the boat and one about 3 feet across in the starboard side. The ceiling, deck, bulkheads and anything inside the cabin was full of holes about the size of her thumb.

"Shell came in there," she pointed out to Chang, "and then when it got to the starboard side it exploded. She looked down again at Benny's body noting his back was a mass of blood and gore. "It was so fast, I wonder if he even felt anything." she said. She turned to Chang and asked, "Is it sinking?" she asked noting water washing back and forth on the deck. He shook his head, "No it does not seem to be. There is some water but I think it came in through the hole in the right side while they were still under power. It's a wonder this old boat held together." "Dutch always said his girl was tough, I guess she was tougher then we thought." Balalaika said as she turned her back on the wreckage.

Balalaika climbed back to the main deck and walked to the stern of the boat. She opened the hatch to the engine room and looked inside. "I had them looked at," Chang said, "they are in running order, but either they were shut down or they shut off when Dutch's control board got shredded. There does not seem to be much damage back here."

Balalaika nodded as she took out one of her cigars and cut the tip off. Chang lit it for her as she watched a white van that said U.G. Pork pull up near the end of the dock. She took a couple of draws as three familiar figures got out, one of them in white doctors scrubs, and walked to where Boris and Biu were standing.

"Are you making plans?" she asked as she nodded towards the trio. Chang shook his head, "Not really, I thought if you agree we would go over to their office and look around. Dutch may have left some instructions just in case something like this ever happened. I called Sawyer because they need to be gotten out of the heat. She will handle it, however we tell her." Balalaika nodded and said, "Give me a minute or two and then we will go." Chang nodded and said, "Alright, I'll talk to Sawyer in the meantime."

Balalaika stood on the stern and watched as Chang spoke with the others. She looked out into the harbor as the sun began to slowly set in the West. "I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.*" she said to herself as the western sky began to turn a golden red color.

A/N: My friend who helps edit my stories cursed me and walked away after she started reading this. I don't care for stories that kill off the main characters but I got this in my head and to get ride of it I had to get it out.

Oh, after getting a drink and threatening to shoot me my friend came back and finished the edit. Hmm, sounds like someone we know don't it?

* "Sea-Fever" - John Masefield

Music list: Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright

Knocking on Heavens Door – Bob Dylan