"and that," his mother spoke clearly, as she pulled the blade back out of the beasts forehead. "is how you finish a beast," she said, wiping her bloodied blade onto the grass. the beast she had 'killed' was already dead to begin with. it was a beast she had captured on her own, to sell later on. the beast was a class C beast, one of the weakest types, it had the appearance of a deer, with dainty claws and four eyes. they were slow, bakugo had caught many on his own as well, but never finished them off.

"right," bakugo muttered, watching her place the blade back into her bag.

"if you don't stab it in that spot, it might not die right away, and you'll have to stab it again," she said as she stood up from the ground. she was showing him these techniques in their own backyard, which was already covered in dry blood due to the fact that she always brought her fresh kills here.

"right," he repeated, absentmindedly. he simply stood up, averting his eyes from the dead beast then looking over at his mom. "am i excused yet?"

"well, i'll have to contact a messenger so they can drag this thing to the market and make me some money, then we'll go train," she said, draping her arm over bakugo's neck. she ruffled his hair roughly, he huffed and pushed her arm off of him. then she grinned widely at him walking into the house through the backdoor.

"training? we just went training a few hours ago," he groaned. he crossed his arms over his chest as he followed her into their home. they lived in a relatively middle class home, a nicer home than those around them since they tamed beasts for nobles, who paid more. their house was made of wood, unlike the mud houses which surrounded them. they were dressed in traditional beast-slayer clothing which consisted of mostly furs and wool. bakugo, like his mother, never really wore a shirt anywhere he went. he was never cold, which was something he obviously got from his mom, since his dad used to wear double layers all the time.

"you're turning sixteen soon," she said, "you need to start getting excited about this stuff, son," she spoke, "this is your future!" she proclaimed. "now, grab your blades, lets get going," his mother spoke, tossing him his bag of essentials, filled with medicine and snacks.

"how long are we going to be out?" bakugo asked, "i'm already tired,"

"quit whining," she said, firmly grabbing onto his shoulder, "i was thinking, maybe, two hours but now i'm thinking four," she said, with a wicked smile. "we're going out now because i heard rumor of a dragon passing through the forest near here,"

"a dragon? what the fuck, i'm too tired for that!" bakugo groaned, swatting her hand off of his shoulder.

"if we come across the dragon i'll be acting alone, obviously, you're too young for that," she said, "and if you're so tired you can just pass out in the forest, i'll leave you there and you can sleep all you want!" she proclaimed, grabbing onto his shoulder again just to push him out of the front door. "the beasts'll eat you and then you can sleep forever!"

"finally,"

*

once they had gotten to the edge of the forest, they heard a low growling coming from the east. they hadn't even set foot in the forest and yet it was obvious something didn't want them there. "bakugou!" his mom called out to him, from a few feet in front of him.

"huh?" he replied.

"did you hear that?!" she nearly screamed, as if she were excited.

"obviously," he narrowed his eyes slightly. he couldn't recognize the growl, so he wondered if it was some sort of rare beast and that's why his mother was near fainting.

"you know what that was?!" she turned to face him completely, walking up to him and digging into his bag. she pulled out a small tube filled with a shiny liquid.

"what? what is that for?"

"bakugo, that was the fucking dragon!" she said, excitedly, and wickedly.

she undid the cork from the small tube and took a whiff of it. "what is that?" he asked, "you aren't actually thinking of going after that dragon...are you?!" he exclaimed. "i mean, i know you said you would but...that's an actual fucking dragon, that sounds way bigger than we thought it'd be,"

"i have to!" she jumped up, and looked onto the forest, determination laced in her tone. without looking back at him, she raised the tube, "these are dragon tears," she said, then paused. "i've only killed one dragon in my entire life, and it's what has gotten me as far as i am today," she said, "it's the reason i work for nobles," she went on. "but before selling the corpse, i extracted it's tears," she looked back at bakugo, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips tugged up into a crooked smile. "the smell of these tears should bring that dragon to me..." she said, her voice lowering, "and i will slay it," she went on, "and i'll get us a nice place, even closer to the king's castle, and not only will we work for nobles," she paused, bakugo felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. he knew he couldn't stop her, and he knew she was about to put a huge risk on her life. "we'll..." she said, "we'll be nobles," she said slowly, as she spotted the tears in his eyes. she walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. "oi, idiot, stop crying," she said, "man up," she whispered to him. she wasn't good with words, neither of them were. she placed a kiss onto his cheek, then took a step back. "don't move from this spot," she said, pointing firmly at the ground, "i'll be back," she said. "don't you dare move," she repeated as she began walking towards the forest, dragon tears in hand. "i'll be back," she whispered one last time, raising a finger and crossing over her heart before running into the forest. bakugo felt a strong weight over him, as a few tears dropped from his eyes. he wiped them aggressively with the back of his wrist. this was the same way he had lost his father when he was younger, but he knew his mother wouldn't leave him that way. god wasn't that cruel...was he?

i have no reason to cry, literally no reason. i need to stop crying. i'm not a little kid. he thought as he wiped his eyes. she'll come back, it's just a stupid dragon. he thought to himself as he took a seat onto the cold grass beneath him. he began messing with the grass around him, tugging at it for what felt like forever. his mind repeating the same phrases over and over. stupid fucking dragon, stupid fucking dragon, stupid old lady, stupid dragon, stupid beast slayers, fuck this. then his thoughts were interrupted by a loud sorrowful scream, but not of a human. the scream of a beast, the dragon he had heard earlier. he furrowed his brows intensely, taking in a sharp breath as he watched the forest for any signs of movement. the scream sounded like it came from pain. she killed it? she killed it. he thought, but he didn't move. he sat there, for hours, awaiting her return. he watched the sunset, and wind blew in. it was starting to get cold.

"i have to go," he mumbled to himself, "fuck," he muttered then stood up. "fuck, what the fuck," he continued muttering. that dragons scream should've attracted more hunters by now, why isn't anyone coming? bakugo began to grow even more worried. he clenched his fist, "fuck it! i have to go!" he proclaimed before running towards and into the forest. upon entering the forest he immediately smelt it, the scent of blood. they weren't too far, and his nose would lead him straight to the dead dragon. he ran as fast as his legs would take him, towards the blood. he ran, breathing heavily before he spotted a few damaged trees. this must've been the dragons doing. he went on, until eventually he found it. he stopped, cold in his tracks. he stared intently, upon the bodies. three bodies. the body of a tall woman, with long red hair, huge wings and a tail. from what bakugo could tell, she was dead. then, near her dead body was the body of what appeared to be...a dragon. a small red dragon. small for dragons at least, it was the size of a large dog, it was curled up into a ball, whimpering noises coming from it. what the fuck, where's my mom? he looked around, then gasped as he laid his eyes upon her. she was hanging from a tree, her lifeless body hung, draped over a branch. as if she was tossed into the tree and died upon impact. bakugo began to cry, "no," he said, the small dragon perked its head up, looking over at bakugo. "no!" he nearly screamed, running over to her. he grabbed at her legs, pulling her down and catching her lifeless body. "fuck!" he screamed, he continued screaming profanities as he dropped to his knees. "you weren't supposed to die, you dumbass!" he heard a loud purring noise coming from behind him. he jumped up, looking over his shoulder and looking up at the small dragon which was now sat near him. he screamed, jumping up again and beginning to pull his mother along with him. he began dragging her away from the two dragons, the two murdering monsters who had taken his mother away from him. "get the FUCK away from me!" he screamed, pulling a blade from his bag and waving it at the red dragon. he shut his eyes closed, tightly. then he heard the dragon purring again, he opened his eyes and looked up at the dragon, sniffling as he met the dragons eyes. the dragon had tears in it's eyes. its eyes were red, piercing, but sad and sorrowful, almost human-like. bakugo looked past the dragon, at the lifeless body of the dragon-like human. he stopped, lowering his blade slightly. "is that-" he paused, looking back at the dragon hovering over him. "is that your mom?" he asked. the dragon lowered its head subtly, tears falling from its eyes. then he heard the sound of a voice in the distance. "oh shit," he muttered. the dragon jumped, limping back over to its mother. bakugo looked around, seeing faint flashlights in the distance. hunters. hunters that are too late. he looked down at his mother, then at the dragon. he looked between them for a while. if the hunters found him and his mother they'd take them back to the village, but they'd kill the kid dragon. if they find just my mother and the dead dragon, they'll take them back to the village. he thought quickly. i can't let them kill anyone else. too many lives have been lost today. he slowly let go of his mothers wrist as he heard the voices getting closer. he looked down at his mother one last time, sliding his hand over her face to close her eyes. he kept his hand on her face for a moment before taking a deep breath and standing up. why should i care about a dragon, when a dragon just killed my fucking mom. he thought as he looked upon the curled up dragon, then back at the flashlights coming closer. then he thought of the fact that his mother had also just killed the dragons mother, he felt the weight on his shoulders get even heavier. that dragon was the only creature who knew how he felt in this very moment, he couldn't let them kill it.

he took another deep breath then made his way over the curled up dragon, he looked back at his mothers corpse, swearing he wouldn't look back again, then looking back unto the dragon, poking at it. "oi, dragon-breath!" he said hastily. "we gotta go," he said, looking over the scaly thing, its wing was clearly damaged, probably his own mothers doing. the dragon was shaking as it peeked up its head a bit. he heard the voices get louder, and the lights began to get brighter. "shitty scales, c'mon!" he tugged at the dragons wing. the dragon perked up, clearly in pain, it snapped its jaws at him, defensively. bakugo huffed, "c'mon stupid!" he barked. the dragon just growled some more. bakugo groaned before pulling his blade out, he knocked the dragon out with the metal handle of his blade. the dragon fell unconscious, bakugo dragged the oversized lizard away from the site. he struggled as he dragged the red dragon near a dirt cave. he kicked the dragon gently into the dirt cave, it rolled towards the bottom. bakugo followed the dragon into the cave, sitting next to the it. he listened as the voices grew closer and closer. they eventually walked past the cave bakugo was waiting in, flashlights waving as they walked towards the scene. he could hear the panic in their voices as they carried away the bodies. he sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. he wiped the nonstop tears from his eyes. he tried his hardest not to cry, he knew his mother wouldn't want him to cry but the tears wouldn't stop. once he heard the voices fall out of range, he crossed his arms over his chest. he rested his back onto the wall, shutting his eyes for a moment. he never thought he'd fall asleep after what had just happened, but he did.

maybe i'll get lucky and the dragon'll wake up before me and eat me for breakfast.