"Took you long enough."

Dean wasn't in the mood for Roman's half patronizing, half joking big brother attitude. He knew he was late but it hadn't been his fault.

"Don't. You know how much I hate that attitude of yours."

"No you don't. And I'm not having some attitude. Lighten up, I'm just messing with you", Roman put up his hands in the air in defence. "I just thought getting a mission would be a walk in the park. Get in, annoy Triple H, get the job description and get out."

"Well, for your information, I did do that. Only to be stuck with some shitty item collecting request. Some dude at the academy wanted some purple lizoid skins for some book cover."

"But there are still some monster hunting to get those."

"Pfft. Lizoids are weaklings, any rookie can handle them."

"Aren't they migrated during summer, though?" Roman asked, thinking. "They're up in the mountains this time of the year, having their spawns. They're quite aggressive now, so maybe it's not that surprising they're not sending the rookies."

"I guess. I think Triple H just wanna make a fool out of me, sending me on these lame missions. And as if I wanna do anyone in the academy a favour…"

"It's just a job."

Dean just huffed at that. Triple H knew how he felt about Rune Bearers. That's probably why he got this mission. Getting skin for some books about that stupid Magic. Triple H had always been like that; bugging him by placing him on missions for the academy…

"Did you get the mission card?"

Roman interrupted Dean's train of thoughts. Without a word he reached down behind the side of his belt, pulling out some quite manhandled piece of sturdier-than-normal paper.

Roman gave him a raised eyebrow but didn't comment on it. He took the card, inspecting it.

"7 pieces of high quality lizoid skin", he said. "Sounds like you have to take it easy on the hack and slash."

Dean gave him a glare. "You wanna do this mission on your own or what?"

"Dude, take it easy. It's just a mission."

"Pfft… at least I get to hunt some monsters. I hate it when they put us on picking flowers."

"It happened once. And it was for a very sick child. Remember the flesh eating plants surrounding those rare herbs?"

"Whatever. And you know, there was this stupid Rune Bearer brat that ran into me earlier!"

"I'm sure it was an accident."

"He probably waited around the corner just to annoy me. Stupid kid and his stupid hair."

Roman gave him a questioning frown. "You actually noticed his hair?"

"Well, duh~ He had this stupid two-toned look, definitely a stupid Rune Bearer. Trying to look all fancy because he has some stupid Runes on his body. I hope he has them somewhere awkward!"

His brother just sighed, shaking his head a little.

Seriously. Stupid Rune Bearer… It was enough that he had gotten this lame mission after having been paid less for their previous one. They had slayed quite a big pack of wargs and was about to report it, only to find out that it had been supposed to be worgs. Well, excuse him for being a fast reader. The skimming type… Okay, so he had just glanced at it but really, now that pack wasn't a problem anymore, so people should be happy about that. And now he got this crappy item gathering mission. In the mountains. Well, the mountains weren't that bad, he had always like the solitude of the mountains. But it was just the fact that he was going to fight monsters way under his capability. He had been taking down lizoids since he was seven for crying out loud.

Just because of that, he was going to leave the skinning of the bastards to Roman.

Unfortunately, it was like this; they didn't know what kind of missions they may get. It all depended on what people wanted or needed and they had to do what was offered.

They couldn't just go out and beat some monsters. Or they could, but they wouldn't get any reward for it. Dean went out regularly anyway, just to keep his abilities sharp and honed for one thing. It was quite alright now when he was a trained Hunter, compared to being a civilian. Dean still actually had some punishment going from such an incident. Triple H hadn't been too happy with Dean being out taking care of quite a lot of monsters during his training period. But really, how could he not be happy with Dean taking care of those monsters? Stupid Hunter and age rules… And now Dean was banned from the cafeteria at certain occasions.

"You ready to go?" Roman asked, once again taking Dean back to reality. He placed the mission card into his pouch he had on his leg.

Dean turned to him and then gave him a nod when realizing what he had said, or what he supposedly had said. "Let's just get this over with."

It wasn't far to the mountains, maybe a half day's walk but they wouldn't be able to get the mission done in one day. So they would walk to the mountains' foot and make a camp there before the evening fell over them completely and do the actual mission the next day.

As they walked, Roman took the most straight-on route while Dean made some zigzagging between the trees, looking for some prey. He just needed something to let out some steam on. Some monsters would be good for that.

"Don't wander off too far", he heard Roman say.

"I won't, mom."

Roman never stopped worrying about Dean, even though they had been hunting partners for so long. He should be used to how Dean worked, going around doing his own thing.

Had he ever gotten into trouble…? Well, he had maybe given Roman some grief; like when he got stung by some monstrous bees, giving him some really annoying rash on his arm. Roman hadn't been too happy having to mix together some ointment for him. Having been a ranger, he knew some basic herbal remedies, so that's another good thing about him.

And there was some other time where he had gotten himself stuck in some animal snare. That actually made Roman happy, that meant they could catch some poachers. Dean hadn't been too happy though because he had to hang there upside down for like two hours as some decoy for the poachers to show up. And Roman had knocked them into next week, all by himself, the bastard. Hadn't left anything for Dean.

Other times Roman just got worried in general, Dean thought. Like, if Dean had taken a detour. But he always stayed close enough. And even though he had gotten into trouble, he had never gotten lost. Not once. He knew these surroundings like the back of his hand.

A bit ahead of him, he could see a small pack of worgs lying in wait.

Worgs were a bigger species of the wargs. They were wolf-like monsters, but nastier looking with bigger claws and fangs than their animal version.

He smirked. How fortunate, he could get some double payback like that; both letting out some steam as well as beating the monsters he got paid less because of.

He took his sword from his back, not bothering to activate the stone. Every Hunter had this Rune stone embedded in their weapon. It really bugged him to have that thing inserted in his precious sword but it was the Guild's way of knowing they had beat the monsters and the required number of them. They just needed to activate the stone before the fight and then it registered the number of kills, and the type of monster until it was deactivated again. Then it was checked at the Guild as they made their report.

But for this, Dean didn't bother since they wouldn't count anyway. And the Guild didn't need to know his record.

He took a firm grip of the handle and instead of sneaking up on them he charged at them, battle cry, crazy eyes and all.

The first worg didn't stand a chance, it fell instantly. The other three didn't hesitate to attack him. Dean parried with ease and quickly slashed them, felling each and every one of them in one hit each, having put everything in every swing.

The battle was over before it even started. With the pack lying lifelessly around him, he just smiled, feeling relieved. That felt good. Battles always had this way of just lessen any pent up tension. Maybe it was the adrenaline that caused it; just releasing everything else and calming him as the rush went down again. It was like it was a way of having his emotions resetting.

He picked up some knocked out fangs as spoils. Maybe he could trade them for something good with some other Hunter.

Putting his sword back, he started go back towards the main road, meeting up with Roman. He was actually whistling.

"Seems you got yourself a battle?" his brother by choice said as Dean came out from the thicker greens of the wood.

"Yup."

Roman just smiled and gave Dean a small pat on his shoulder as they walked next to each other in peaceful silence.

The evening was very relaxed. Except the pack of worgs from before there didn't seem to be any more monsters around at the moment.

Not that it was reason for them to let their guard down of course. Just because they didn't see them didn't mean they weren't out there. So they always had one of them keeping watch during the night while the other tried to get some vital sleep.

Dean was always restless during his watch. Mostly because he was easily bored. Just sitting and waiting wasn't too much fun.

Sometimes he almost considered putting out their lantern just to attract some attention of the night dwelling monsters. That would give him some action.

But he wasn't stupid. Night Dwellers were nothing like your normal monsters, they weren't the type you'd seek out by yourself if you weren't suicidal. Even elite Hunters had been killed in battle with those light-avoiding obscurities.

Dean had had an encounter with something fang-y and vine-y during his training period. He didn't even know what it had looked like but he had left him in a very bad state, he had just barely managed to get away from it in one piece. It was the only time he had been forced to flee from a battle, but he probably hadn't been here if he hadn't gone against his principles. He had managed to take shelter and get back to the Guild later on, but it had been pure will. His injures had been very severe and he hadn't been able to train properly for two months after that.

He was a lot stronger and experienced now, but you didn't go into battle with a Night Dweller unprepared. And they weren't prepared for that kind of battle at this time.

But he really wanted such a mission sometime. To go out beating a Night Dweller. The ultimate proof of being an elite.

Next time he talked to Triple H, he would demand to have it. He knew they were ready for it. Their army of two.

Dean had always liked the view from the mountains; the forests from above… the vast fields and the horizon where sky met earth. And it was so peaceful, and everything just seemed lighter and clearer higher up.

The lizoids also seemed to like it here. As soon as it became a little rockier they started to see the dog sized chubby lizards. They almost looked like balls with legs and a reptile snout and tail. But they weren't cute or appealing in any way. They were full of pointy scales and had a lot of teeth. And it looked like their eyes were placed in their nostrils. Their purple colour was probably the only aesthetic appeal to be honest.

Guess that was why they wanted to make goods out of them. But it must be a pain to make it ready to use, considering all the pointy stuff going on. But that wasn't Dean's problem.

He just was in for the battle. Maybe he was lucky they got the mission during their spawning. Dean smiled at the thought.

"Don't get too cocky", Roman warned him. "Remember they're spawning and they're more aggressive."

"I know. And that means even these weaklings may put up some fight", Dean said without turning to look at him. He observed the nearest monsters. "Seven was it?"

"That's what on the card."

It was a group of nine individuals before them. No spawns though, just a group of mostly males, by the looks of it.

It was weird. Even though they were monsters and attacking people unprovoked, he still felt bad felling young monsters. Logically, it would have been better to kill off pregnant females and their spawn. He knew some Hunters that specialized on that but he just couldn't. If they didn't engage in an already ongoing battle; then it was just last man standing. By choice, he just wasn't able to strike first when it came to those types of monsters. He may have been a Hunter, taking down monsters for a living, but he wasn't a monster himself.

Dean brought out his sword, putting a hand on the Rune stone to activate it. There was this unpleasant jolting feeling in his hands every time he did that. He really hated having to do that, just having that sensation through his body. It was like a charge creeping and crawling up his arm, down his spine and stomach. He tried to shake that feeling off as he looked at the pack again.

"There are nine of them. If I go around, taking them on from those rocks on the right you can-" Roman began but Dean has already started a full frontal assault.

"… just charge through…" the larger Hunter finished with a sigh and activated his own Rune to join him.

Dean made sure to beat them down with blunt force, because yeah, they needed those frigging hides as intact as possible. It was as expected an aggressive fight. The lizoids bit and clawed at them, especially Dean who had a habit to be in the center of attention. The lizoids protected their pack to the last one, cooperating for as long as they still had allies. But finally the last one was felled by Roman and his lethal spear.

Dean looked around. There wasn't anyone left.

He smiled, just now feeling some liquid trailing down his face. He touched his face just to confirm the type. Sweat, goo or blood. He looked at his hand. Blood.

Heh, pretty good fight then.

"You okay?" Roman asked, coming up to him.

"Yeah, just got some cut on my head." He looked as his hand.

"You look terrible."

"Thanks."

The Magic warrior just shook his head. "Lemme just scout the area to make sure we aren't ambushed, and I'll look at it to see how bad it is."

Dean just grinned and laughed, sticking his tongue out.

While Roman looked around for other monsters, Dean looked over the rest of his body. He may be reckless but he wasn't dumb. As true as it was that he didn't care about his well being in battle, he still made sure to patch himself up afterwards, if it was needed, but mostly it was just small cuts and he didn't bother. But he knew he had to look after his wounds to be able to live and fight another day.

He looked at his arms, hands and legs. His finger had a cut but it just looked bad because yeah, it was his finger and blood usually just oozed from there, how the small the cut may have been. Some scratches on his arms.

Nah, he was fine.

"We're clear, we're the only ones here for the time being", Roman reported as he returned to Dean. "Now, let me take a look."

"I'm fine."

"You know I'm still checking you. Half of your face is covered in blood after all."

"Forehead cuts bleed a lot."

"I know."

"It's not even painful."

"Doesn't matter." Roman took their water bottle and ripped a piece of a rag they had for situations like these. He poured some of the bottles contents on it and without saying anything more about it he pushed Dean's bloodied hair out of his face and started cleaning.

Dean just sat there in silence, not complaining or anything. It was better just letting Roman do his thing.

"It's a cut on the side of your forehead. Kinda long but not deep."

"Told you. Nothing to worry about."

"Your skin is still open there, leaving your body vulnerable. It still has to be cleaned out."

Dean only rolled his eyes at that. It wasn't like it was something he could argue against.

"Hold this", Roman ordered after he was finished cleaning and Dean placed his hand over the fabric, holding it in place.

"I think we may have some Tinc leaves left", Roman said, turning to his backpack.

"That's not necessary. Just leave them for some major injury."

"You're having quite a rash. I'm not taking any chances when I have remedy available."

Dean just sighed. He could barely feel he had a cut there, so he didn't get what the fuss was about. Then he remembered that lizoid fangs could have a numbing poison. So maybe that was why he didn't feel anything in particular. Not that he was going to mention it to Roman, letting him have right.

"How about you?" he asked instead, nodding towards Roman's left hand. There were some angry red marks there.

"It's just bruised. It never left a wound. Don't try to sneak yourself out of this so easily."

Roman gave him a small smile before going back to look after those leaves. He found what he was looking for and crushed up the leaves before taking a little more water to mix it together to some gooey mass. It stung some as he covered Dean's wound with it and wrapped the ripped fabric around his head.

"There ya go."

Dean still felt it was unnecessary. It probably just would have closed up by itself.

"Get those hides now so we can go back home again", he just said.

"I intend to. You're way too crude at what you do."

"I'm just efficient."

Roman just smiled again.

Roman and his smiles… Dean figured he used those smiles in both understanding and not quite wanting to agree with him but still accepting the end of the conversation. It was a complicated smile like that. But it was very Roman.

While his brother took care of the real mission, Dean started strolling around the area. He wasn't looking for anything in particular; he was more or less just doing something.

He found some nice shed tail scales that he picked up. He knew a Hunter that liked those. And he'd give them to him. For the right price. Maybe he could get some fried hen sticks for them during dinner. Dean was infamous for loving those. But they didn't let him have any. That sucked… This was his punishment for breaking the rules during his training. (They had actually tried all types of punishments, but being banned from the cafeteria on fried hen sticks nights was the only effective way to make Dean actually think a little about the consequences for his actions.) Right now he had five times left on the punishment. Knowing that, he actually tried to behave so that he would soon be allowed into the cafeteria again when they served those delicacies.

Anyway, Dolph Ziggler liked those scales and Dean liked fried hen sticks. It would be a fair trade, he figured.

It didn't help having Roman on his side when it came to that punishment. If they caught Roman sneaking out some sticks for Dean, then Roman was punished with not having cheesecake (and Dean had his punishment added to). And Roman loved cheesecake as much as Dean loved his fried hen. He didn't want to put his brother through that just because of his own selfishness.

Dean always just got some sides during those nights, having to eat them in the corridor. It was still food… but really… Gaah~ he loved those sticks…

"Stop drooling."

Dean looked around, wiping his mouth. He had indeed been drooling.

"I'm gonna have some fried hen sticks on Friday~" he just said, grinning.

"We're not allowed to-"

"Nope. I have these." He interrupted, showing the scales.

"Gonna sponge on Ziggler again?"

"Hey, it's fair when it comes to hen sticks."

"Good for you then, to have that deal."

"Come on, you do the same when it comes to cheesecake."

"Guilty as charged", Roman smiled. "Hey, don't they have it on Friday, too?"

"Think so", Dean nodded.

Roman shone up and started looking around, grinning as he found some tufts of shed baby lizoid fur.

"You know how much Cesaro loves soft stuff."

"Yeah. I wonder if it's because he's getting bald? Like hair envy?" Dean made a mischievous grin.

"Don't ever say that to him. He'll knock you senseless."

"Maybe it would be worth it just to see the look on his face." Dean laughed.

"Come on, Dean. Cesaro is a good man. Don't mess with him."

"I won't okay, chill man. You have the stuff?"

"Nine lizoid skins. They'll just have to take whichever suits them."

"Why are you so nice to them? It's for the academy." Dean's mood became a little more grumpy again.

"I'm doing it for the cash. The better the hides, the better the pay. It doesn't matter who the client is."

But it mattered to Dean. He didn't care about the money when it came to the academy. For others he might just a little more effort for some more money but just not for the academy.

He was a simple man with few expenses. He already got one hot meal a day being a Hunter and living in their quarters. Of course, supplies and additional food and such cost money, but that was what mission money was for. They didn't get any pay or salary for being Hunters, if you don't count the housing and some free food some kind of pay.

It was quite a convenient life really. Doing some monster fighting to ensure their spot as a Hunter and having a place to stay and some food to eat. (That was probably another reason for the weapon Runes, to make sure they earned their stay.)

Maybe it was cheaper for the Guild with this system; they probably got more pay for the missions than what Hunters got taking on said missions. The money they got was more like pocket money anyway.

But the system worked, for whatever reason you chose to become a Hunter.

Just wanted to fight monsters.

Just wanted to help people.

Just didn't have anywhere else to go.

With the items acquired, they could start returning back to Authority.