"Are you going to sit there in silence all day or are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" 

As moments turned to minutes, which turned into a full hour, progress had been minimal. Exposing any part of himself wasn't easy, let alone something so personal on demand.

 "It's not as simple as it looks." Verando's mind was like a vice, clinging to the memories as if his life itself depended on them. If I were there, he wasn't so certain he'd be more forthcoming but then at the very least he wouldn't feel as if he were betraying my trust. 

"I don't do... this.. and frankly, it's quite odd to me that you share your feelings. You claim I'm a pansy? Need I remind you we're sitting on a decorative rug."

Grumbling at the disrespect of youth these days, Claus rolls his eyes. "Alright, perhaps I was wrong, maybe you're too much of an asshole to help. Most people get some sort of relief from spilling their problems..." 

Yet, he doesn't look finished with him. The look of curiosity remained on the weathered face, it was enough to make him feel exhausted already. The mental drain of supporting an invasive old man wasn't helping his already fatigued mind.

Verando took the opportunity to yawn and it caused the older man to chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. "You handle stress well. You're coming apart at the seams and yet you're yawnin' like it's Sunday brunch."

"This isn't stressful. This is uncomfortable and annoying."

Sarcastically pouting his lip, Claus stands and stretches. "Poor lamb... Maybe you prefer poetry."

It's enough to make the gray-haired man smile, dimpling his cheek. "You see my dilemma."

Claus nods as the taller man stands, stretching with a grimace at sitting on the hard rug. "I don't know how you're married. It would take a man to tolerate that amount of stone-faced refusal. What's this Nicolas like?"

The question causes him to relax minutely, a sigh of relief to talk about anything but himself. "Kind. Stubborn. Funny." It brings a warmer grin, more boyish and playful at the thought as he runs his hand through the tangle of hair. "Incredibly brave, to his detriment, really."

Claus responds with a surprised sound, raising his eyebrows. "How did someone like that end up with a stick in the mud like you?"

"I conquered his city and took him prisoner, he had to learn to like me."

The aged man almost choked on his sarcasm and Verando pats his back, panicking that he had possibly killed the man trying to help him. As moments pass, finally the man begins to wheeze and cough, sputtering curse works and striking the tall lycan roughly with the back of the stoney hand. 

"You don't think that would have been a good place to start?!" He demands roughly, shaking his head. "That hasn't caused some sort of trauma in your relationship?"

Considering this, Verando shrugs one shoulder. "No. Not really. I killed his parents but his father was a pretty dreadful person... enslaving my entire species and all. Hmmm, I suppose out loud it is a touch strange." 

As Claus gawks at him like he's performing some feat, he makes a face and sighs at the judgment. 

"That doesn't bother me anymore and I'm quite sure it doesn't bother him either. Aren't you a mystic? Normally quacks like you can see right through me-" Waving a hand in front of the old man's face, Claus threatens to kick him in the shin and he expertly scoots out of the way. 

"I'm a demi-god of some sort, used to be at least. Not quite so sure anymore." Crossing his arms over his chest, he ponders this as he walks through the falling-down barn. It'd been so long since he'd seen one, spending so much time on the road and then coming to the future, there hadn't been much for rural living.

"Did you actually need any help? Maybe I could be of some assistance. You are older than the ground we stand on-" Noting disapproval, Verando busies himself with examining an old blade hanging on the wall. 

"Who are you? I knew Randy was a shit name." Claus yanks the blade out of his hands. "Don't touch old shit. It's valuable." 

"It's rusted is what it is." 

Claus waits for him expectantly and he realizes he can hide it no longer if he wishes to rummage through the rest of the assortment of blades hidden amongst the slats of the walls. At least the slayer story checks out. 

"Verando Mercer. I sing music." 

"Bullshit!" Claus snaps, shaking his head once more and cursing in a foreign language that almost sounds like Russian. "I'm not an idiot, just a damn old fool expecting kids to do what they say. Now I recognize you. What the hell are you doing here? You need to get your ass back to the resistance, aren't you supposed to be recruiting?"

Taken aback, the last thing he was expecting was for Claus to take sides. "I tried to leave last night if you remember?" 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the aged man lowers himself to sit on a bar stool and once more, Verando considers if he's injured the man's tolerance beyond repair. With a quick grumble and some frustrated gestures, Claus finally takes a deep breath and settles his eyes on the lycan in front of him. 

"What're you doing here, kid? Last I heard, ya were headed to Spain. Did you meet up with Leo?"

"I did. He's an ass." Verando retorts shortly, unimpressed.

Claus nods in agreement, "Bet you got on fine. You're quite the pain yourself."

"Don't call me kid." The lycan reminds him, bothered with the disrespect beyond all else.

Claus smacks the taller man with a handful of old newspapers before tossing it at the man in exasperation. "Why are you here, Verando?" 

The tone is much more desperate this time, a look he's seen before unfortunately. Everyone was expecting them to succeed, why should this man be any different? He had children, a family, he had a life he was trying to protect. Standing before him, Verando was wasting precious time, and nobody seemed to understand that the man behind the mask was a breath away from self-destruction.

"Nobody finds me without reason, it is my gift. Where is Leo?"

Reluctant, Verando snags another blade off the wall. This one is much sharper, running his thumb across the edge, it almost threatens to cut him should he press just a bit harder. "Leo is headed back to France with the others. I chose to come back on foot. They left on boats."

 Claus parts his lips and Verando raises a hand. 

"I told them to disembark, it's too obvious. Amateurs, really."

"Why aren't you with them?"

The very thought of the ship causes his heart to pound in his chest, his palms threaten to sweat, and his stomach twists in knots. All over again, it's as if he can't even bear to breathe. In silence, Claus approaches and carefully puts the wirey hand over his pounding heart. Jolting at the contact, Verando stumbles a step backward, gripping one of the support beams so impossibly tight that it threatens to crack and shatter.

 Claus holds his hands up as a truce, allowing him the space to release the beam. 

"I don't know why that keeps happening..." Verando murmurs, examining the clear finger imprints his hands left in the wood as he stabilizes his breathing. "I'm not normally this strong."

Claus purses his lips, concern clouding his vision. "Well, I know why you're here. And, you're doing that because you are a lycan and they are incredibly strong. Dummy."

Making a face, Verando scoffs. "Not me- in comparison, that is." Examining the wood, he flexes and unflexes his fingers. "My body is quite damaged-" 

At least, it used to be. It brings him to a pause as he glances down at his forearms. Rubbing his hands together, he brushes the thought off. 

"I don't like to hurt people." Verando had gotten by this long without using any 'special' strength, the thought was unnerving. His body was deadly enough as it was without any help. 

Leaving him for a moment, Claus limps across the barn to grab a heavy chain off a table and bring it over. Fifteen links rattle heavily in his hands as he holds it out to the lycan. The sight of it causes his body to shiver, a strong repulse reflex to the vision of him repeatedly sinking under the water. 

He takes a step back and Claus warns him with his eyes. "Take it." The aged man commands. 

Refusal seemed quite cowardly. "God damn it..." he growls under his breath as he snatches the chain in clammy hands. 

"Feel heavy?"

"No." His tone is short.

"Good. Hold it between both hands and pull tension onto it." The links rumble and rattle as he performs the instructions. "Break it."

Verando raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. "The links are massive, it's for towing. There is no way."

"You're blocking something. A young lycan could break that chain, with no issue. Look at you, you're massive. Break the damn chain, pretty boy." 

Putting tension on the edges, it's as if his arms are unwilling to exert the force. All at once, childhood memories come flooding back in a mental assault that leaves his temple throbbing. Shutting his eyes, his body tightens down, and yet his arms are unmoving. 

All the force exerts on himself, with a blatant refusal to perform the task. "I can't."

"You won't." Claus challenges. "You can tie a damned elephant with a string if you convince it it can't break the string... what happened?" His body begins to shake, breath catching in his throat. "Out with it, lad!"

"I drowned." Verando snaps back at him. "I drowned and there was nothing I could do about it. No trick, no secondary plan. I failed, they threw me into a bloody harbor and I sank to the bottom and drowned. For so long I thought that it would be a relief but it wasn't, it was just this overwhelming feeling of failure. If it hadn't been for Nic and Helen, I would have killed us both." 

Even with the reveal, the trembling refuses to stop. The aged slayer slowly begins to circle him, watching his body. "Then what?"

Tightening his jaw, the words fight to come out. His hands grip the chain impossibly tight. "I failed again. I couldn't kill Caspian, I chose a damned belt over a knife in his throat."

"You know how to kill people, I can see it in your eyes, but you wanted someone to save him?"

"It's not Caspian's fault... it's my fault... I should have been more strict with him. I should have shown him I wasn't interested- I knew he fancied me." 

The volume of the words slowly began to diminish, threatening to release the chain, his entire body felt drained and as if it was near impossible to stand. "I felt... guilty, seeing how much he loved me. I got with every woman I could fathom so I wouldn't have to be available. So we would never be 'alone' together. 

I fought this so hard because I knew it would crush him to learn that I did enjoy men, it was just him I could not stomach." With a shakey exhale, he felt as though he might fall over as a lifelong string of torment sat heavily on his chest.

Claus grips his wrists to stabilize him, instantly helping him to feel lighter. 

"I made Caspian this way because-" Because. He wasn't necessarily sure. He had always taken the blame so entirely, allowing himself to be bested, allowing the flirting and the constant assaults on his person, hoping that the desire Caspian felt for him would ebb. 

Claus meets his gaze. "You are not responsible for anyone else's happiness but your own."

"I did a bad thing..." Verando responds in almost a whisper, swallowing hard at the thought. Claus exhaled shakily in return, holding his wrists impossibly tight, the contact showing him all he needed to see. "I promised him I would never be unfaithful again. How could I not escape? If I'm so damn strong, if you think I could break this bloody chain then why couldn't I escape?"

"That was not your fault. Nicolas is going to forgive you."

Verando shakes his head, shutting his eyes tightly. "I should have done something, I should have fought back, I would have rather drowned before I-"

Claus shakes him firmly, commanding his attention. "Take what you're feeling right now, experience it, and let it go. Someone else's bad decisions are not your failures though we carry them like they are. Nicolas is going to forgive you because there is nothing to forgive."

Verando was uncertain if it was the clarity or the man's ability, but the choking feeling slowly began to reside. For so long he'd been running from this side of himself, wanting so desperately to be normal, to blend in and escape from prying eyes. But, there had been one who had successfully brought him out of the depths. One who he related to so completely, and made him feel the most like himself.

Me. 

"Now. Break the chain." 

The command sounds so distant. As the worn hands leave his wrists, his fingers flex around the chain. In a sharp pull, it snaps in half, the center link is shattered from the force. With the snapping of the link, the weight felt tolerable. Not completely gone by any measure, but he felt as though he could breathe for the first time since he entered that vat. Dropping the chain on the ground, he staggered back to brace himself on the wall, his body soaked with sweat. 

Claus lowers himself back onto the stool, panting heavily. "Now... go home and finish this. I can only start the process, you must complete it." His body begins to sag and Verando quickly rushes to help him ease himself to the ground. "I'm fine, just tired is all... I'd wondered why I was still alive, I think I was waiting for you. You're one fucked up kid, you know that?"

They sit together on the floor, basking in the cool air as Badger quickly trots over to rest his head on the old man's lap. In the distance, the familiar rumble of foot traffic causes Verando to sit up. Claus rests his hand on the man's thigh. "You should not be surprised. I imagine Jenny called them here, hurt her feelings something fierce by turning her down."

For a brief moment, he was fearful the man would attempt to turn him over but the hand was rather limp. Claus's face was pale, his lips like thin sheets of paper. "You've used too much magic..." Verando checks his pulse quickly but Claus places his pale hand over the tan one. 

"Correction, I used all of my magic. But, it's alright. For ya were worth it." The trembling hand reaches up to touch the stubble cheek, giving him a firm pat. "Even if ya are a pansy."

"If I can get you to Nic, maybe he can-" The hope was futile, the man would never make it, he had gone too far off of the path and now it would take him even longer to get home. 

Fishing into his pocket, Claus produces a piece of paper. "The map I promised ya. When you're going through the countries, let your presence be known. You are not alone, there are plenty of people who want to assist." 

The quiet of his voice is telling, he'd seen this fade before. Squeezing the man's hand, he accepts the map and slips it into his pocket. 

"Take a good look at that map... I've done some of your work for ya. Now. Get the hell out of here, I can't reset your sorry ass again." 

"I don't want to leave you to die on your own.."

Claus chuckles, leaning back on the post of the barn with a heavy sigh. "It'd be nice to finally have some peace... you're kind of annoying, and there isn't much time before they're here looking for you." With a grin, Claus gestures with his eyes toward the house. "Go get my guns and take my dog." 

As Verando stands, he hesitates with a cautious glance towards the black and white creature.

 "'Least you can do for a man is care for his dog."

Reluctantly, he nods. "Thanks for your help."

"Thank me by winning this war. Give 'em hell, Randy." 

"Come on Bandit."

"Badger!" Claus growls, patting the dog on the head. "He's a good dog, he'll help you through your head trash. Now get out of here, I want to die with a few moments of peace." 

With a heavy roll of his eyes, he quickly departs to the house. Taking a quick sniff of the air, it becomes obvious that Jenny is gone.

 Snagging the guns off the mantle, he doesn't bother with the tasteless food as he'd rather go hungry than eat the bland dribble. Instead, he opts to raid the living space for any other weapons. Claus truly was a bounty hunter and his arsenal was quite impressive, though one could not barter with free weaponry, he'd been quite upset to find that Caspian had robbed him of his favorite knives.

As he stashes the last of the knives on his person, Badger begins to bark and he curses under his breath. "I think that's our cue.." Slipping out the rear door, he can only flinch at the distant gunfire that he assumes is Claus buying him a little more time. 

As they departed into the crisp air, he noted that this was the lightest he'd felt in some time.

Today, his memory is much more clear as he made his way back to the overpass, climbing through the debris and into the depths of the crevice to retrieve his pack and clothes. The sorry display of his items thrown about so haphazardly allowed him to come to grips with how close to death he truly was. Without Claus's help, he might still be here, wallowing in his self-pity. 

 The barking of the dog causes him to smack his head on the concrete ledge and he curses loudly, rubbing the top of his head as he retreats out of the rumbling structure. "Damn dog!" He snaps in frustration only to freeze.

Surrounding them are 6 individuals of a variety of ages, ranging from a teenager to possibly one in their late twenties. Loaded down heavily with weapons, he's woefully out-gunned and outmanned. No amount of newfound 'strength' would help him disengage 6 determined youths. "Can I help you?" 

"You the one everyone's looking for? Caspian put out a pretty big bounty for your head..."

"Looks like him." The other agrees. "Gray hair, tall..."

A woman smirks. "Looks like we finally found him."