Broken Road (a RiDe and TaNi love story)

Chapter 13

Dedicated to Kosmic1Kreator for being the inspiration for this chapter. ❤️ ya! 😉😊
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In the morning, Richtofen was first to wake, as per usual.  The bows were tucked safely in his bag on his left and Dempsey was on his right, softly snoring, gently wrapped in his arms.  The embrace was warm and the German had no desire to leave it, but it was necessary.

"Tank, vake up," he whispered, cupping his cheek.  Dempsey slowly began to wake with a soft yawn, gently pulling away to rub his eyes.

"Eddie, what's goin' on?" he mumbled.

"Nozing, but ve need to vake Nikolai before leaving."

The American sighed and nodded, slowly getting up with Richtofen.  The couple stretched for a minute, waking themselves up, before trying to wake the Russian.  Nothing seemed to work for a while, it was as if he was in a coma.

Nikolai looked around, seeing nothing but darkness, a frown on his face.  It was strange.  Not even five minutes ago, he was dreaming of Takeo.  The Russian slowly turned around, jumping back when seeing someone new.

The man had on a black fedora with a red strip around it, a black suit, red vest, and white shirt with leather gloves.  His mustache met up with his slightly long beard and he also had some sideburns.  His brown eyes with flecks of onyx almost sparkled in the darkness, making Nikolai take a step back.

"Tell me...do you desire the power to protect your cherry blossom~?" he inquired, a playful glint dancing in his eyes.  The Russian gulped, blushing a touch when seeing Takeo standing a few feet away to his right.

"D-da, Nikolai does," he hesitantly nodded, holding a hand out.  Takeo smiled and sauntered over, taking a hold of Nikolai's hand, gently nuzzling his cheek.

"Then join me," the figure spoke, regaining Nikolai's attention, "and I will give you the power you seek~"

Nikolai looked to Takeo when noticing something was off about him.  He was being awfully affectionate in front of this mysterious figure.  This wasn't how he would imagine Takeo, even in a dream.

"You are lying to Nikolai, using fake Takeo to lure me into trap!" he exclaimed, trying to force himself awake.

"Nikolai!"

The Russian jolted upward on the bed with a soft pant, sweat dripping from his brow.

"Damn, Nik, thought you weren't gonna wake up," Dempsey sighed, leaning back.  Nikolai looked over to see Richtofen holding his forehead with a soft groan of pain.

"D-did Nikolai do that?" the Russian gulped, feeling awful for hurting the German.  Dempsey nodded, holding his love close, kissing his forehead.

"Eddie'll be fine, he's tough!" he grinned, nuzzling noses and making Richtofen blush lightly.

"Tankie!"

Nikolai nearly snorted when hearing the nickname and seeing Dempsey's indignant blush.  The couple was soon teasing and poking fun at each other, only stopping when Nikolai laughed loudly at them.

"You two are like old married couple!" the Russian chortled, grinning at their embarrassed looks.

Before anything else could be said, a soft whine was heard close by.  By this time, Takeo had awoken, glaring at the three of them.

"Be a rittle quieter next time," he grumbled, yawning and rubbing his eyes.  Nikolai gently helped Takeo to sit up as Dempsey grabbed his RPK, hearing the Russian say something along the lines of "lucky bastard" when seeing the gun.

The American hesitantly walked out with Richtofen close behind holding his wunderwaffle he had gained when at the Giant.  They looked to the left, seeing a puppy hellhound next to the stairs, whining in pain.  Going against his better judgment, Dempsey gently picked up the puppy, seeing a wound on the paw—a large gash that prevented it from walking.

"Eddie!  It's hurt!" Dempsey gasped, petting it's head.

"Tank, it could kill you!" hissed Richtofen, gulping in worry.

"But it's just a pup, c'mon!"

"Zhere's no such zhing as 'just a pup'."

Richtofen stared into Dempsey's eyes for a while.  It was as if they were having a silent conversation about the dangers of holding this hellhound pup.  Hearing the puppy whine brokenly tore their gazes away from each other.

The German sighed and walked over with his medical bag in hand, gently working to stitch the wound.  Dempsey kept the pup's attention and grinned as it licked him, laughing softly, the flames soon turning a royal blue when the wound was stitched up.

The German gasped when a dog whistle suddenly appeared around Dempsey's neck with a flash of blue light.  His eyes were wide, as were the marine's.

"Whoa.  What the hell is this?" he mumbled and took the whistle in his free hand.  The pup barked quietly and pawed the whistle, seemingly grinning.

Taking the hint, Dempsey hesitantly blew the whistle, seeing an army of thirty hellhounds with the same royal blue flames appeared before them.  Richtofen squeaked, quickly hiding in Dempsey's chest, the pup licking his cheek to reassure him.

"It's damn cool, but we need a name for ya, little pup~" the American cooed, kissing Richtofen and the puppy's heads.

"Vhat about flame?" Richtofen suggested.  Dempsey wrinkled his nose and shook his head, thinking for a while.

"Inflamare," he suddenly spoke, grinning, "you're inflamare."

The pup yipped happily, nuzzling between Dempsey and Richtofen's chest.  He finally had a home and loving people to care for him.