Lachlan turned towards Dylan, his emotions were still letting loose but his concern with Sarah was much stronger, "You know, there is something you could do to make up for it".
"What's that?" Dylan was still laying on the floor.
Lachlan walked over and held out a hand, "You could join me on the adventure of a lifetime".
Dylan grabbed onto Lachlan's hand, getting pulled up, "After all, I going to need some extra hands to take care of all these children".
"Of course I'll join, but is there anyone else who will join?" Dylan asked, panting the dust off his clothes. He had seen for himself people abandoning their children just to keep up their public image. He wasn't sure how many people out there would actually care for the children.
"I have a few people in mind, the ones that I spent 2 years training with," Lachlan said while he adjusted his clothes, the children had all got up and were now standing behind Lachlan.
"Are they trustworthy?" Dylan asked; he wasn't feeling too confident in the people Lachlan was choosing. After all, none of them would have seen the new children yet, so an initial thought of disgust wouldn't be surprising.
"I think so, plus, I don't really know anyone else to ask since all the people I've socialised with were high ranking military and no, they won't help since they have the duty of protecting everyone. Come along," Lachlan said, gesturing everyone to follow him as he made his way towards the stairs.
"Don't want to forget this," Lachlan said as he ran back, picking up his mother's corpse in a princess carry. His tears continued to fall onto her face, however, he managed to change those emotions of hatred and regret into determination and hope.
'Don't worry mum, Sarah will be fine with me' Lachlan felt the need to protect Sarah as the last of her family. He felt that it was his duty, to make up for all the years he has been gone. To make up for the mistake of leaving them in the first place.
As they made their way up the stairs everyone aside from Lachlan seemed hesitant, still afraid of what's out there. They could see Calamity at the top and aside from Sarah and Dylan who had seen him before, the rest of the children were terrified.
"Don't worry, there is nothing up there, well nothing that is a threat anyway," Lachlan said as he reached the top of the stairs. He gave Calamity a quick pet and walked outside.
The children decided that they wanted to follow this person, he was one of the only people to give them love. The hybrids especially thought like this. It was one of the first times some of them felt like they weren't going to be abandoned.
As for Dylan, he just wanted to do something good again, and by following Lachlan, there will be plenty he could do. He slowly let go of his past mistakes, he felt the need to move away from them. He would deal with some of them later but for now, all he felt he should do was protect the children.
Once they made their way outside Dylan and the children had an especially hard time adapting, the sun hurt their eyes. They were down in that dark shelter for a month with almost no light, so the sun was a bit of a shock to their systems.
"So, let's say we go get something to eat, seems you guys haven't eaten in a while," Lachlan said as he stared at all of their skinny and frail bodies.
"But first, there's something I need to do," Lachlan said, carrying his mother to his brother's graves.
"Let me," A voice sounded from behind Lachlan. The earth in front of him begun to shake a bit, before lifting up. Looking towards the hole Lachlan saw that it was a perfect rectangle with enough room for his mother's corpse.
Looking back he saw one of the kids behind him. Recollecting the information he knew this child was the nine-year-old, and the only one amongst the children to have a tamed beast, his name was Jayden.
"Thank you," Lachlan said as he laid down his mother right next to his brother's graves.
The earth began to shake, and the lifted dirt shifted back in the hole, filling it up. Lachlan walked over to a bunch of large stones, which were likely what his mother had used to create the other gravestones.
His finger slightly pierced into the rock and he began to write. A large name at the top and her death in the middle. At the bottom, he placed a little note, 'Loved by Lachlan Wilson'. He hoped his name would make sure that this gravestone is never vandalised or destroyed.
He shoved the gravestone deep into the soil, so it can never be lifted away. His emotions were letting loose again as his tears were welling up. Sarah ran up behind him and hugged his torso. Lachlan calmed himself down and wiped the tears from his eyes.
Lachlan walked back, placing his hand on Jayden's head and squatted down, making it face to face.
"Thank you again, with your abilities you'll do great in the future," Lachlan said as he rubbed the kid's head. The boy would be one of the people Lachlan would focus on training, as he could grow up into becoming a fine man.
'Come out Aaron and Calamity you can return' Lachlan decided it would be best to ride Aaron due to its size. With a large number of children here, having them ride different birds might be dangerous. At least this way he could sandwich the kids between Dylan and himself.
The kids were in awe by Lachlan's beasts, especially the Griffin. It towered over them, looking extremely majestic. It leaned down and let the kids pet it. Even rubbing its head against their hands, the children's fingers ran through Aaron's smooth and silky fur.
Seeing that made Lachlan realise that the Griffin was better at handling kids than him, someone that has been a kid and is a human.
'Oh well, I can't be the best at everything' Lachlan couldn't help but think that to make himself feel slightly better.
"Anyway, hop on," Lachlan said.
Aaron laid down and made its wings into a ramp, letting the children climb onto it. Lachlan hopped up at the front while Dylan made his way to the back, with all the children in the middle.
The Griffin shot up into the sky slowly; Lachlan decided to summon the Rocs and have them surround them in a triangle formation for protection. Lachlan decided they would make a stop at Adelaide, get something to eat before heading off to Brisbane.
Lachlan decided they would slow down the speed and enjoy the flight. It might be one child's first time being so high in the air, and it certainly was all of their first times flying on the back of a Griffin. So he wanted them to enjoy it, take in everything they see. After all, you get to see the bigger picture once you're so high up.
He also made sure the Griffin controlled the wind, making it a gentle and cool breeze.
It didn't take too long for them to reach Adelaide, where they were surrounded by military flying in helicopters and people riding birds. Lachlan finally realised that there have likely been laws placed to stop people from flying above the cities.
Especially considering no one would know what the person's intention are. Although they might just think it's a harmless prank to make people worried. The military could never be too sure whether or not that person is planning on attacking others.
"Follow us to the landing platform!" A voice sounded through a loudspeaker.
Lachlan put a thumbs up, showing he understood.
They led them to an open area, the park in the middle of the city.
Hopping off Temp they were quickly surrounded by soldiers, all armed with guns.
"Woah Woah Woah, don't be raising your guns towards a bunch of kids that ain't cool," Lachlan said, arms ups. Although Lachlan was certain he could just completely crush them, he didn't want to kill anyone.
"Well, why doesn't this bunch of kids explain why they were flying in restricted areas," A large bulky man made his way through the soldiers. Lachlan could already tell he was the leaders.
'Huh, suppose they replaced the previous one' Lachlan remembered his promise with that leader two years ago. Of course, he felt slightly bad for not keeping to the promise and doing something else entirely.
"Well, I haven't been in contact with the modern world for two years, so I don't really know what the laws are anymore,' Lachlan explained.
"Where you from?" The man asked.
"Mount Barker"
"Bullshit, Mount Barker was annihilated"
"Yup and these kids behind me are the only survivors," Lachlan thought his explanation would suffice. But the next thing the soldier said really ticked him off.
"Huh, anyway, I don't really believe you, after all, it seems you are protecting intelligent beast"
"Calling my sister a beast? Brave," Lachlan immediately appeared right next to the leader and grabbed his gun to point at his head, "Especially when you have no information to back that claim."
The rest of the soldiers couldn't even react in time. All they saw was a blur before Lachlan appeared before their leader with a gun to his head. They quickly put their weapons down because they could determine Lachlan wasn't something they could handle.
Lachlan's only family left was his sister, and he certainly won't tolerate anyone calling her a beast. Lachlan also finally realised that the world might not be accepting these children just yet, and that including the military. Lachlan's only hope was that James and the Sea Guardians had a different opinion, and considering they had a variety of ethnics and religions it's very likely that they do.
"I'm going to give you two choices, either apologise for what you said or feel the wrath of a pissed off brother," Lachlan said coldly. He grabbed onto the hairs and pulled his head back, while he pointed the gun up to his neck facing his throat. The man could feel the cold barrel against his neck and he started to sweat buckets.
"I'll apologise, I'll apologise," Lachlan let go of the man and he ran over to Sarah and fell on the ground, "I'm sorry for calling you a beast, you are certainly not a beast."
"Brother you're scaring me!" Sarah shouted at him. She was slightly tearing up from the man's scary face. His apology was filled with desperation as he wanted to cling onto his life, it was also covered in sweat and he spat as he apologised.
Lachlan snapped and went back to normal, he suddenly realised what he was doing and almost couldn't recognise himself.
'What was that, I felt like I almost lost control over my body' Lachlan was slightly scared now. He thought of himself as invincible, but that won't matter if he can't control himself.
He walked over to Sarah and hugged her tightly, whispering into her ear, "Sorry about that, don't know what came over me."