"Flint don't do it! That won't solve anything! You'll only make its child go through what Claus and Lucas had to!"

The seething man looked down at the knife in his hand, then back at the Drago, or what was left of it. He clenched his fist tighter around the handle of the knife, wanting nothing more than to finish off the damned creature. But he knew Alec was right, and slowly lowered the hand down to his side, looking down at the knife once more before slackening his grip on it, letting it fall to the ground. The usually stoic Flint fell to a knee, all the emotions that had fueling his rage moments ago now flooding him with sadness. This isn't how Hinawa would have wanted it. He'd mutilated this scared confused creature, more machine than Drago at this point. He hung his head low as a baby Drago crept from behind a rock formation, trying in vain to tend to its mother's wounds. Alec knelt beside Flint, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll find Claus, don't worry" Alec tried to reassure, not entirely believing the words he said. He and Flint sat solemnly like this, watching the young Drago mourn over its parent, nestling hopefully up to it, but to no avail.

A mustachioed man limped through the rocky terrain of the Drago Plateau, wiping his brow. He didn't see Flint and Alec anywhere, and considered turning back. He sat down on a large rock for a moment to ponder his options. If he hadn't found the pair of men by now, he doubted he would period, and there was no point in continuing a fruitless search. However, he winced a bit imagining the chastising he would receive from his old man if he were to come back so soon. Maybe he should kick around the forest for a bit, stall for time? Duster sighed, picking himself back up to resume looking for Alec and Flint. Flint had always been there for him and his father, and the man felt he owed him his help at the very least. No sooner had he resumed walking though when a colossal roar cut through the air, seemingly from the top of the plateau. Duster chided himself silently for not thinking to walk up the mountain path rather, than take the low road. Whatever made that noise, he hoped Flint and Alec weren't anywhere near it. Averting his gaze from the top of the plateau from where the sound had come he noticed a pair of legs sticking out from behind a rock formation, bloodied badly and missing a shoe. Duster ran over to them quickly, unfettered by his ankle. His eyes widened at the sight: Claus, very badly bleeding in multiple places, and his right arm bent in an a very awkward way. Shit Duster swore to himself, desperately trying to figure out how best to handle the situation. The boy was clearly badly injured and grabbing him and running back to Tazmily could just exacerbate that. However, he almost certainly wouldn't make it in the time it would take Duster to get to Tazmily and return with medical attention. An injured Claus was better than a dead one though, and taking him back was the necessary course of action.

"Of all the people to find him, it's the cripple" Duster thought somewhat wistfully to himself, pulling his shirt up over his head to use as a tourniquet of sorts, to hopefully preserve the boy as long as possible. Duster swaddled the child with his shirt, being as delicate with his arm as possible, without any sort of reaction from the boy. He scooped the boy up tenderly, glancing once more back up at the cliffside, where the roar of Drago's had been providing the soundtrack to the cruel sight Duster had come across.

"Flint, if you're up there, be careful friend"he said quietly to himself, turning away to begin sprinting back to the Village, trying not to jostle the injured boy too badly.

Alec walked with Flint back to Tazmily, partly because he knew Lucas would need all the support he could get in this time of vulnerability, and partially because he had no idea how Flint would respond without Alec there to check him. The last thing Lucas needed was to lose his father to a jail cell so soon after losing both his mother and his twin. The two walked dejectedly, neither exchanging any words. However, the silence was broken with a shout from up ahead of them, near the outskirts of the village.

"Flint!" Thomas yelled, waving his arms frantically. Flint, previously looking down at his boots, looked up, startled by the panic in Thomas's voice. "It's Claus! We found him!" Flint's eyes widened, and the normally reserved and stoic man began sprinting towards the village, losing his hat as he ran. Alec couldn't possibly keep up with the far younger man and picked up Flint's hat from the ground before running more slowly to the village. Flint burst into the door of Wess's residence, where he had been directed to by Thomas. Claus was laid out on the bed on the main floor, bandaged extensively, and his twin brother crying next to him beside the bed. Flint quickly joined Lucas beside him, looking over his son.

"Flint, glad you're here" Duster said, pacing his hand on the older man's shoulder. "I found Claus pretty badly beaten up in the Plateau and got him back here as quick as I could". Flint didn't respond for a few seconds, still looking at the son he thought he'd lost. Finally, what Duster said registered, and he looked up at him.

"Is he.."

"Yes, he's going to be okay" Wess interjected. "It's a damn good thing Duster got him here when he did, much longer and he would have bled out easily, he's cut up real bad"

Flint extended his hand to Duster for a handshake, but decided against it, instead pulling him in for a hug, much to Duster's surprise.

"Duster… thank you" was all he could muster, choked up. Duster nodded in reply, motioning to Claus's arm.

"I think it's fair to say his arm is pretty much useless right now, nearly shattered from the look of it. God knows if he'll ever get back any function, but we can hope."

Flint nodded, turning away from Wess and Duster to watch Claus sleep, while his brother prayed quietly next to him.

Duster accompanied Flint home that night, carrying a sleeping Lucas while Flint carried his other son gingerly. Flint looked over at the taller man, tears welling up in his eyes once more.

"I know I've said it already Duster, but I truly can't thank you enough for what you've done for me today". Duster motioned for Flint to stop with his free hand, but the gesture was ignored. "No, I'm serious son. If there's ever anything I can do for you, anything at all, please tell me you'll let me know".

"It was nothing Flint," Duster replied in a hushed voice, as to not wake the sleeping boys. "But I'll be sure to let you know if anything does come up".

Arriving at the house, Duster nudged the door open with his bad foot, letting Flint go in first before following him over to the bed the boys usually shared. Flint laid Claus in the bed, carefully as to not cause him any pain, and pulled a light blanket over him. Duster followed suit, covering up Lucas in Flint's bed before making his leave. Flint pulled the rocking chair from by the fireplace over to the two beds, sure he wasn't going to sleep a lick that night. He watched both his boys breathing gently, thanking God that through all the hardship they'd endured over the last several days, he still had both his precious sons, the most valuable gifts his late wife had ever given him. As the sun rose so too did his little boys; first Lucas, then a bewildered and pained Claus much later. They would get through this. They had to.

Thanks for reading. The following chapter will skip to where the majority of the story takes place, as well as be significantly meatier than this chapter was. I felt I needed this chapter to preface it with this to explain why Claus was injured in this particular story. Ciao!