Authors note: I don't own Dark Cloud 2; it belongs to its creators. And man, did they ever do a better job with it than the first one. Tee hee.

Crest was the first person Max had ever seen die. I think he should have had more of a reaction to it. So here it is. Enjoy.

"Mourning"
Written by Skylark Starflower
Started Oct. 7th, 2005
Finished Oct. 16th, 2005

Night had fallen, the moon rising over Balance Valley as the stars came out to twinkle. The trip back from the lighthouse had taken a long time, Lin still in shock from the death of her master. Max and Monica had left her at her home before heading back to the train for the night.

"Monica…"

The young girl turned to face Max as he spoke. "Yes?"

"I'm going to go download the new Geostones. You go on without me."

It took Monica a couple of seconds to process what he'd said. "Are you okay, Max?"

"Why would you ask that?" Max's face was one of surprise. "I'm fine."

"Then why are you lying to me? The Furbits have already gone in for the night, you know that."

"I…well, I'll just take them to the Carpenterion so we'll have them ready for tomorrow."

"I guess, but why can't you leave that until tomorrow? We've brought stones back to the train before."

It surprised Monica when Max actually got angry. "I just want to, okay!"

"Okay, okay! Geez. I'll see you later." And with that, she stalked off, leaving Max behind to do as he pleased. She wasn't entirely sure why he annoyed her so much at the moment. Her best guess was that they were both just tired. Everything would be better in the morning, after they'd gotten some rest.

Feeling reassured by these thoughts, Monica headed back to the train, all thought of Max gone from her mind.

X X X

Monica awoke to a light touch on her shoulder. Grumbling, she turned away, noticing only how dark it was still. "Go away, Max. It's not even dawn yet."

The voice that responded didn't belong to Max. "It's Cedric, Monica. When did you last see Max?"

Monica was wide-awake now. She sat up and turned to face him. "What?"

Cedric looked worried, and that scared her. While she was certain the old mechanic cared about her and Max, he never really showed his concern.

"Have you seen Max? I know he didn't come in with you, but he's still not back yet. It's been hours."

She shook her head. "I didn't bother to wait up for him. What he was going to do shouldn't have taken long. I'll go take a look for him."

"Great, thanks."

Monica nodded and went to retrieve her sword. She hoped she wouldn't have to use it. Blade firmly in hand, she headed into Balance Valley.

Deciding it would be best to start at the last place Max had said he'd be, she located the Carpenterion. It had been left sitting a short distance away from Lin's house, so it didn't take Monica long to reach it from the Blackstone One.

Once onboard, it took no time to locate Max. He was slumped over the control panel across from her, asleep. She figured he must have been exhausted to fall asleep in the short time it would have taken him to drop off the Geostones. She knelt down to wake him and noticed he was occasionally sniffling and hiccupping in his sleep.

Had he been crying? She almost didn't want to wake him anymore, but her curiosity got the better of her. She took his shoulder and gently shook him.

Max blinked his eyes open slowly. Monica noted how red they looked, further backing up her suspicions. He groaned and looked around, somewhat dazed from sleep. "Huh…? Wha…what am I doing here?"

"You said you'd bring the Geostones here, remember? You must have fallen asleep," replied Monica.

"Oh, yeah…" Max rubbed feebly at his eyes.

"Max…what's wrong? You've been crying."

"I…I have not…" he protested.

She gave him a disbelieving look. "Come on, Max, I can tell. So just spit it out."

Max looked down at the floor. "It's…I…doesn't it bother you?"

"Doesn't what bother me?"

Pain radiated from Max's slight form, tears welling up in his eyes. "Crest DIED, Monica! We watched him die! We just stood…just…" He trailed off as he broke down, hugging his knees to his chest, sobbing into them.

Monica didn't know what to do. She'd never seen him like this before; he was always such a cheerful, determined boy. Watching him cry almost unnerving. She did the only thing she could think of to comfort him, placing her hand on his back and rubbing it.

Max, subconsciously responding to her touch, leaned towards her, pressing against her side. Monica wrapped her arms around him, hugging him. She could feel his body tremble as he continued to sob, and it made her feel awful. She'd been through something like this before, and to the point of sounding callous, it didn't affect her as much as it should.

"Monica…?" Max's voice was small and shaky, and cracked as he spoke.

"Yes?"

"You probably…think I'm a…a big baby, don't you?"

"Oh no, Max, of course not." Monica was surprised to find she meant it.

"But…I didn't even know him, you know?" Max moved away from Monica, but remained hunched up into his little ball. He wiped at his eyes, not looking at her.

"That's because you have a good heart, Max. I don't care who you are; I don't care how long you know the person, five minutes or several years. If you see someone die, it's going to affect you. To be honest, the fact that it's upset you is reassuring." She smiled at Max. "If it hadn't, think how it would have reflected upon you."

Max gave a weak laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

"You care about people, and that's a good thing. Someone like Gaspard wouldn't think twice about someone's death…"

And uncomfortable silence fell, lasting several minutes before Max spoke again.

"Thank you, Monica."

"For what?"

Max shrugged. "For…everything. For making me feel better. You didn't have to do that." He gave her a crooked smile. Coupled with his still reddened eyes, Monica couldn't help finding him rather cute. She giggled.

"You're welcome. But come on, we'd better get back to the train. Cedric's worried about you."

"Oh, oh yeah. Let's go."

Monica stood, helped Max to his feet and the two headed back to the train, both feeling better after their conversation. They both knew now that they could count on each other to be there for support should it be needed. They'd survive the battles ahead, and deal with the pain and suffering to come, together.

The End