User:Roacher27/My Own Episodes/The Boy and the Herdsman

Based on: The Black Cow

Opening Quote: "Do not weep, my child, but get up on my back, and I will carry you to a place of safety where we can still be together."

Synopsis: When Andrew Mallory, the young son of a neighborhood drunk goes missing, Nick and Hank are called upon to recover him. Brought up in a poor family, with his mother found mysteriously beheaded before he could remember, his father married again and turned to alcohol to forget. His stepmother was in fact a cruel woman, and beat her son whenever she pleased, the father oblivious to the treatment of his much-loved son, with the boy too scared to tell him.

The case leads to a nearby family shelter, where the boy had run to for a place to sleep safely overnight. At the shelter, Nick sees a girl morph into a strange Wesen while being interrogated by her boss. However, before he can question her, Nick gets a call from Wu reporting possible evidence.

When they get to Wu, they find out that Wu found important information: footprints. They follow them into Macleay Park, along a trail, where they eventually find a small jacket and a pair of shoes lying out on a log in a small clearing with a stone house in the background. They search the area, but find nothing more; unbeknownst to them, the boy is watching silently from the shadows of the house, afraid of the men searching for him.

The detectives visit a house near the edge of the forest, right near the entrance to the trail. When they knock, they are greeted by a man in his fifties, who welcomes them inside. The man's name is Brogan Gage, and they tell him that he is a suspect due to living near Macleay Park, where the boy's trail ends, and because of his criminal activity from long ago. Brogan says that he has "reformed" since his youth, and is now a "solid citizen". However, he seems interested in the case. He offers to help them if they need it, and the detectives leave, finding no evidence.

A while later, the boy gathers his wits and begins walking down the trail. Suddenly, a shadow jumps out from the bushes, captures the boy in a chokehold, and slings his now-unconscious body over his back as he runs off deep into the woods. Moments later, the girl from the shelter appears from down the trail. When she sees that boy is gone and his jacket and shoes remain, she nearly faints, then runs as fast as she can back down the trail.

That night, the girl knocks on Brogan's house. The older man opens it, and he politely greets her. She asks desperately if he can help her find a boy, since he knows the forest well and is widely traveled. He asks for details on the boy's appearance, but when she tells him, his face turns surprised for a second and he morphs into a Lausenschlange. He morphs quickly back and rushes her out. She is confused for a second, then realizing where the boy is, bangs loudly on the door. When it doesn't reopen, she sprints away.

The girl calls her father as she is riding towards the Precinct, and it shows him on a farm, herding cows. As she's telling him about the older man, saying that he "broke the promise", her father angrily morphs into the strange Wesen, and tells her to tell the police, and "settle this", to which she replies she's on her way. When she arrives at the Precinct, she is brought to Nick for questioning, as Hank had already left.

When she sees Nick, she morphs in fear, but Nick reassures her that he won't chop her head off. She tells Nick her name, Clara Bergeron, and tells him everything: how she took Andrew from the shelter, how she hid him in the woods and how the man had taken him from her. He is disbelieving, wondering how she had connections to the man and whether or not he should arrest her for kidnapping, but decides against it—after all, it is the only lead he has. He tells here to meet at the entrance of Macleay Park at night, and that he'll "bring a friend".

Nick drives to Monroe's house for a beer and advice. After Nick explains his situation, Monroe explains that Hirtenkühe, as they are called, are usually kind and quiet farming folks that don't eat humans. Nick, of course, asks why one would kidnap a 10 year-old child, to which Monroe says that it was probably voluntary—Hirtenkühe are very good with children, and the boy probably preferred the girl to his parents. Nick then persuades Monroe to come with him to search for the boy, and after another round of beers, they go.

They are walking down the trail, Clara suddenly freezes, then sprints off into the darkness, with Nick and Monroe quickly falling behind. It follows Clara running through the woods for a while, when she stops and looks down a hill. At the bottom there is the man, with the boy tied up to a tree stump. They fight with words, the Lausenschlange explaining that he "had gone for so long without eating humans, when I [the man] saw the chance, I took it." As he is about to kill Andrew, Clara runs at him and desperately tackles him to the ground. She begins to untie the boy, and when she finishes, she tells him to run. As soon as he seems gone, she turns around to face the man. But he is not there.

Suddenly, the morphed Lausenschlange tackles the girl, strangling her so that he can eat her instead. However, the boy is silently watching in horror as the cow-girl who promised him a better life is getting choked by a snake-man. As her struggles cease, he is filled with a red-hot fury. He grabs a heavy branch on the ground nearby, and screams as he charges Clara's assailant. The snake-man turns, unmorphing as he sees a heavy branch flying at his face. The boy continues to pummel the man, and as he is severely beaten to death, Nick and Monroe (finally) come sprinting through the trees to see Andrew killing his kidnapper, they pull him off, trying to save the man. However, it's too late, and the Lausenschlange dies before their eyes.

Andrew breaks free of Monroe's grip and runs to Clara, who is limp on the ground, with no signs of life. He is taken away by Nick, carried over his shoulder. The boy doesn't even resist.

At the Precinct, while thinking about what to do with the child after learning the father had commited suicide during the case because of both his lost son and wife, Nick is visited by a man. He reveals himself to be Clara's father, Taurean Bergeron, and explains that Brogan Gage had promised Taurean that he'd stop eating humans. They had been old friends, and been through a lot together, but always disagreed on that. Brogan had promised so that they could maintain their friendship, which had been wavering. Taurean then offers to adopt the boy and raise him as one of his own. Nick, dumbfounded, brings Taurean to Andrew. They study each other for a bit, then Taurean steps back in surprise, saying quietly: "Grimm."