A Reflection

Disclaimer: Monster Hunter is copyright Capcom. All the characters in this story are mine.


"Hey, Ellen! Wake up!"

The girl sat abruptly, her hands supported her body as she panted the cold air of that forest. Ellen saw Frey sitting next to her with a frown on his face. She heard the fire crackled, and as she gained her conscious back, her head ached. Again.

Her body swayed, but Frey caught her and slowly put her on her back. Ellen once thought Frey said something, but the pain took over she wasn't sure. "I'm okay." She said as she rested her head.

"Bad dreams?"

"I can't remember. But this headache just keeps coming."

"Hate that when that happens."

She opened her eyes slowly and tsked. She stared at the blurry figure of Frey with a frown. "No need to worry. I promise you I won't be a burden." Not very convincing. She closed her eyes once again, for less than a second. She rolled to her side and forcing her body to sit once again. She gasped between the processes since she started to realize that the sky wasn't so dark anymore.

"It's okay; you may sleep a little bit more," Frey said, lying on his back.

"How long have I been sleeping!?" She almost yelled, and she can't decide the tone on Frey's voice meant.

Frey shrugged before he saw Ellen sat there. Her eyes threw daggers at him, with her hair which reminded him of a male lion with its yellow noble mane, but only she was a female.

"Five hours or so." He replied. "Maybe six."

"And you didn't wake me up, because?" She continued. And once again she saw Frey shrugged. "What does that mean?" She asked as she mirrored his shrug.

"Is it the pain talking, or what?" Frey responded. She saw Ellen' fists clenched, she was like about to burst out. "Hey. Since you are awake already, why don't you do your watch? I'll sleep here, and we're leaving in two hours."

"How can I gain your trust if you won't start letting me doing one simple task!?"

"Look! If we start arguing now, I'll have less sleep, and you won't do your simple task very good."

"Why won't you let me do my watch!?"

"Because you are the one who keep me awake, now!"

Ellen opened her mouth slightly but nothing came out, since Frey's words cut the unfinished argument. She saw him rolling to his side, away from her. She clicked her tongue, trying to relax her sit and exhaled.

The pain on her head stung once again she grunted under her breath. Ellen moved closer to the fire and rubbed her hands against. "But I should've been doing this like two hours ago." She said with a frown. "Why you keep belittle me since the first time we met?"

"Can I sleep now? You just took my five seconds." Frey responded without turning his head. "And don't ever think to take a walk around. It's still dark and we're pretty close with the gate of Gemeth."

"What does it mean?"

"It means you shouldn't walk around when it's still dark."

Suddenly Ellen wanted to throw any nearest log at him. But since she realized that the fire was growing weaker, she moved even closer and started to grab a log or two to keep the fire lit instead.

"I don't really care about that stupid gate either!" She yelled in her whisper. Though she knew she had heard about the gate somewhere she couldn't remember. Something related to a ghost story, which was her favorite of course. She snorted in dismay.

She started to feed the fire. But her effort was useless. She could only maintain the fire burned for another five minutes. Now there was nothing but gray ashes.

"Stupid mist!" She cursed under her breath. Knowing Frey could keep the fire lit for six hours but she couldn't even make it to ten minutes. She started to hate the whole universe which seemed taking side, proving Frey right.

Half an hour had passed, and the mist grew even thicker, leaving her motionless. She saw Frey lay there, stiff under the cold dew. She just remembered she had worn Frey's cloak since she left hers in the forest. And if she was frozen with her cloak on, she couldn't imagine of how he must feel.

"It was his fault anyway." She wrapped her arms around her legs and shrunk herself under the cloak ignoring her partner. She rocked her sit to fight the boredom. But only took five seconds before she found herself kneeling next to Frey, wrapping him with the cloak she worn. "There. See? I'm not that useless." She pursed her lips once she finished.

She stood, rubbing her palms. Every breath she took was chilling cold, and without the cloak on the minutes ticked by at a snail's pace.

An hour had passed. Ellen sat next to the cold ashes. She couldn't stop shivering. There was nothing to be seen nor heard. There was a perfect silent, while being surrounded by the silhouettes of tall trees behind the thick fog.

The sky wasn't getting any brighter either, and the dark clouds above reminded her of the storm which never came last night. She remembered the sky was rumbling far in the west when Frey told her to sleep when he himself did his watch last night. Maybe he couldn't sleep since the storm must have hit Louru. Maybe because there was that woman in that village.

Kea. That was the name of that gorgeous woman whom she met at the last village, and Frey seemed pretty close to her. And she was one of Guild officers in that young age? Frey told her that Kea was sent by the Guild to take care of some problem in a mining area, far south of Houroth. Never knew that the Guild now was putting interest with mining resource.

But that was all. She was at the point she couldn't ignore the cold by keeping her mind busy. She moved slowly to where Frey was sleeping. She grabbed the cloak and worn it once again, but stayed as close as possible to Frey, so the cloak could still warp him as they shared.

Their backs touched, and she felt a comfort warm; started from her back, crawled to her face. And with that rate, she knew she could stand against the cold for another couple of hours. But she hated it, because, again, she couldn't do that without Frey.

Her heart was racing every time she felt him moving in his sleep. What if he woke up and asked what she was doing? And that stupid question caused her heart racing every now and then. The cold couldn't be just freezing the air, but also the time.

.. ... ..

Soft beams of light crept under the forest roofs. Another hour had passed. The lack of sunlight made the morning as cold as winter. The fire died due to the thick dew since a couple of hours ago, and the remaining mist hadn't yet left them. Though the misty layers hadn't vanished, but the visibility now was so much better.

"How was your sleep, sir?" Ellen asked after realizing Frey was awake.

"It was good," Frey answered as he bent his neck.

"I was trying to keep the fire lit, but it didn't work." Ellen sat while hugging her knees.

Frey moved slowly to sit. His black hairs were covered with silver dew. He realized that Ellen had covered him with the cloak he gave her while he was asleep.

"Are you okay?" Frey raised his brows. "It must have been freezing here. But how come you don't look so cold?"

Her eyes goggled in response. "That... I... am surprised, too." She said abruptly after forcing a laugh. "Maybe because I have this fast metabolism. You know? It keeps your body warm." She said as fast as she could to convince him about the metabolism.

Frey raised a brow and nodded."You see, in the morning, the dew here acts strange to the fire, so don't bother to keep the fire burn; and it will get thicker as the morning come, we won't find any dry logs to burn." He explained as he grabbed the nearest log. "And there won't be any warm food for breakfast in a few days ahead. So, I hope you will get used to it."

So, it wasn't really her fault.

"Houroth is scary." She almost chuckled, earning a smile from Frey. She couldn't really tell. Was it just her, or the morning grew even warmer.

Absentmindedly, she rocked her sit while humming a song.

"You seem in a good mood. How's the pain?"

She pulled herself straight and pointed at her head. "Nah, It's perfectly gone." She smiled while scratching her head, earning slow nods from Frey. She dropped her right cheek on her palms and clicked her tongue. "What was the gate you were talking about anyway? It does sound dangerous."

Frey gave her a frown before raising his brows. "Gemeth? It's just a stone gate actually." He threw his sight back and forth before pointing his finger at something behind the mist. "Look over there." Frey pointed to a gray pillar of stone between two trees a stone throw away. A monolith. "When you see those things around here, it means you're not far from the gate." He explained and started to draw on the ground after grabbing a stick. "Why you shouldn't walk around was because this gate is surrounded by earth cracks. Some are big enough you can't even jump over it."

"So that's why." Ellen nodded as she pressed her lips.

"Don't worry, It can't be missed by the day." He ended with another smile. "Aren't you starving? Let's see what we get this morning."

Ellen flinched and nodded quickly, grabbing her leather bag and brought out two shiny containment in her arms. "Behold! Our Guild generosity." She said as she shook the canned food and heard crackled sounds. "They feed us... pebbles?" She added with a frown and saw Frey reached out his hand offering a help. "But I hope they will be sufficient for a few days." She said, handing those canned foods to him.

"They're called rations," Frey explained as he opened the first can.

"Have you tried these?"

"Haven't you?"

Ellen shook her head. "This is new."

"We're in the midst of war, so they need to solve the supply problem. Less resource, same nutrition. You'll be surprised. Either you cook it or eat it raw, like this." He took one of those dry food and tossed it into the air. The brown big marble landed right into his mouth.

"Another invention made by the Guild."

"Nothing is new," Frey added while his mouth was still full. He finished his chewing and handed the containment. "They're just rediscovered."

Ellen pursed her lips and put the can aside. "I like that." She took notes to what Frey just said.

"What are you doing?"

"Adding your words to my book."

"You bring a book, knowing you'll travel through the Flooded Forest."

"Don't worry. I came prepared." She beamed before she tossed the canned food which landed right into her mouth.

She closed the book and started tapping it with her pencil. "I want to know a bit about our hunting today." She added, and wished she could swallow her words back. After she saw the change in Frey's look. She knew she had pushed her luck too far. That man hadn't changed his mind a bit.

Frey sighed. "I thought we've talked about this, Miss Elweard."

"But— I also bring my weapon." Ellen frowned. "Maybe later, I'll— you know, put a little help."

"You've got to trust me."

"But you haven't seen my ability!" She cut hastily. She pointed her finger as her mind recalled. "I'm not a hunter, yet. But on my last mission, I managed to fight this one nasty monster."

"I know. A Bulldrome, right? That must've been a life threatening moment." Sarcasm was dripping from his words.

The girl tsked in dismay. "But I swear it was almost a silver crowned Bulldrome!"

"Well, listen. Miss Elweard. I have no clue whether you know what a High Rank quest means. But there is a whole world of difference this time."

"I can't believe my presence is nothing more than a cause for troubles here." She grunted, pouting her lip.

"Don't go that way. I just don't want to burden you as the scout of.."

"See? I'm a burden."

Frey sighed and leaned his body forward. "How much do you know about a Royal Ludroth?"

His look was testing her. Means she needed to be as convincing as she could. "A leviathan class. I think I saw a few Ludroths in a big aquarium in the city."

Failed.

Frey closed both his eyes. "I'm not talking about Ludroths. I'm talking about the alpha–"

"I know! It's four to five times larger than the ones I saw in the city. And No! I haven't met any of them in all of my life. But isn't today my chance? If only you could be just a little bit generous than this." She snapped. "You don't know what it feels like to be treated like this, do you? Not to be able to fight just because someone else is telling you not to!"

Her words stopped, replaced by an unusual silent. As they exchanged sight, she saw something on Frey's eyes. The look was too familiar. Something she knew very well she was certain. No. It wasn't something. It was someone. It was the reflection of herself.

"Fine." Frey nodded. His word was so cold it could match the air. "I'm going to take you into the hunt."

"Wait. What?"

"You want to prove yourself, right?" Frey stood and walked to grab his bow. "This Royal Ludroth quest. I'll let you join the hunt, since you are a person who doesn't really seem to bother to get home crippled."


Thank you for reading! You guys are awesome!

I'm dying to know your opinions, so if you like the story, please let me know!

These two acts like a rollercoaster. What do you guys think?

The next chapter is about to come!

- AL