A/N: Merry late Christmas dear readers! (Hope you're not reading this in April, that'd be awkward)

Now, I know that the past two chapters might've felt somewhat small but, to compensate, Chapter XV might not be small! How great is that?! The possibility of a 4k words chapter coming to you after three tiny ones!

Ah, but I am a benevolent spirit. Take this chapter here, written in December, right in the middle of my well deserved holidays. Be thankful that I did not go on a four month hiatus (again). And I should mention that this chapter was beta'd by TorNathan so we should thank him as well but, most of all, I should thank you guys for reading and reviewing this fic, it makes it all worth it.

As a small note, I have to admit I felt a bit depressed after writing the first section in this chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Do enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-made fiction based on the Monster Hunter series. I own only the story and characters, Monster Hunter itself is owned by Capcom.

If you enjoy the story so far, please feel free to review and leave your opinion. I will be sure to reply to any questions.

Again, she said nothing before collapsing on Max and Lews' arms, her dead weight feeling surprisingly light to them. Max felt confused at first… until he noticed the red wounds on his friend's exposed back.

The Tigrex's claws had torn through armor and muscle like paper, marking her back in horrible roads of flesh, none of it too deep, but deep enough to kill her.

And so it continues...

Chapter XIV

The Invisible Predator

The Guild Outpost at night. No Hunters or clients remained. A few Guild Knights passed by like ghosts wondering through ruins. Their red armor reminded Max of fresh blood.

Lucia had clung to her life.

She was still unconscious and her condition remained serious but at least she was still alive.

The Guild had questioned him and he had been asked to explain the encounter with the Tigrex, starting from the time they had left the village earlier that day.

Ferguson had been terrified when he had arrived at the Outpost. He had asked Max how Lucia was doing in a serious tone that didn't suit the blacksmith at all.

Sometime later, the man was seen leaving the room Lucia was being kept in. Max hung his head over his sternum, afraid to face Ferguson. Lucia's father.

Walking towards the bench Max was sitting on, Ferguson sat right beside him, leaning his massive torso on the wall behind it. "I suppose I should have expected something like this to happen. I can blame no one but myself for this."

"That's not true." Max protested. "Lucia became a Hunter of her own accord. It's our fault she got hurt! It's my fault she was left alone to fight the Tigrex!"

"Your fault? Would I be wrong to think she asked you to leave her?" Ferguson's eyes gazed at him. Max turned away, too ashamed to look at the man.

"…" It was true.

"Fault seldom lies with one person alone, Maxie. In a sense, we are all guilty of what happened, even in some small way, herself included. She knows this, I'm sure of it, and I know she is expecting us to respect her choices just as she would have respected ours." The blacksmith told him in a tired voice. "I guess I'm just having second thoughts on whether it was a good idea to be so supportive of her choice to become a Hunter."

*CUE: Vadim Kiselev - Alone In The Dark*

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Max's throat ached.

Ferguson sighed. He had just arrived no more than a few minutes ago but he already looked too tired to respond. A busy day in the forge and a grave piece of news at night could do that to a person.

"Hunters get hurt like this regularly. I simply worry for my youngest daughter, as you can understand." He muttered in a low tone. "It's… terrifying to think that this is what she is after, in life. But there's nothing we can do. As for whether she'll be alright, I can only hope she's as resilient as we believe her to be."

"I… I see." Max nodded. His throat still hurt him, tightened like some bony grip, crushed his voice.

Lucia was always there for him, he hadn't believed so before but it was becoming increasingly apparent to him that it was so. He was the one with the training his father had given him. He was the better armored member of the two. He had been the leader of the team when the Tigrex had appeared. And every single time they had been in actual trouble, Lucia had been the one to take a risk and face the dangers head-on.

And she was victorious. Every. Single. Time.

She had never hesitated when faced with a large threat. Never failed where willpower mattered. Never asked for help from others. But in exchange for what? Why would she try so hard?

This is a simple world we live in. Life is easy to understand and easier to deal with, it's people's delusions that make them believe there is more they could accomplish as long as they had tried harder. But as we grow, we find out that is not true. Wishing to be smart does not make you so, just like wishing to be able to fly would be an equally naïve absurdity.

Now, it's not to say that training and exercising your mind won't ever possibly bring fruit. But after wasting a large portion of your life doing just that for the sake of little more than personal pride, will you say it was worth it?

Humans are clever creatures, but they're also very emotional as well. Oftentimes you'll find yourself doing what others tell you to do even if you don't like it or it doesn't make logical sense for you to do it. You don't live life at its best in the moment and you suffer for the sake of others on the long run.

So why would she try so hard? And HOW did she manage it?

He was there when she needed him, talked to her when nobody else would. He was her only friend.

But… did she really need him? Or was the situation reversed?

When had she become so strong? How was she so strong? It frightened him to think of how she had surpassed him so utterly.

What was it then that made Lucia so special? What was it that she had and Max lacked?

*END CUE: Vadim Kiselev - Alone In The Dark*

"I… Mr. Ferguson. How did Lucia's mother die?" He asked.

"She was a Hunter. Died in a quest to the Snowy Mountains." The man answered as he got up.

It had been sometime since Max had left the Guild Outpost. Lews had been the first to leave and now both boys were resting at home.

As for Lucia, she was to spend the night in medical care, joined by her father. She hadn't woken up ever since she had fainted in the mountains when Max and Lews had been forced to carry her back to Pokke.

Luck had been a major factor back then. Luck that one of the Guild's hot-air balloons had been flying by. Luck that Max and Lews still had sufficient Potions to keep Lucia alive. Luck that the balloon's driver had been fast enough to bring her back to Pokke in time. What happened after that, whatever it took Max and Lews to find their lonely way down the mountain, didn't seem to matter anymore.

Max was now having dinner with his family. He was sure it must've tasted great but every mouthful he took tasted like ash in his mouth. He remembered what he had been asked when he had left the Outpost.

Sitting next to Lucia's father had proved too uncomfortable for him. He could not look at the man's beard without feeling guilt and remorse crushing his throat. He wanted to get away, anywhere. At some point, a Guild Clerk, dressed just like Celia, had approached them.

"Umm… I'm sorry but the Outpost is only open to Hunters over a certain rank as well as relatives of the ill starting from this hour onwards, so I might have to ask you to leave." She eyed Max and Ferguson uncomfortably, the only ones sitting in the Outpost's corridor. "Are you any of these?"

"I… ahem, Lucia Azmaria. I am her father." Ferguson answered. He looked up at the female Clerk at first but then his gaze diverted towards Max, as if expecting something.

Max nearly choked at first. His throat felt too dry. "I'm a friend. Just… a friend." Ferguson's stare remained the same, aside from a single raised eyebrow. Whatever the man expected from Max, he could not tell. Max got up and left.

"Max… don't stick your neck into dangerous things. You'll make your parents cry too."

This time, Max lowered his head and did leave the Outpost.

Even now, back in the warmth of his home, Max was still unsure of the meaning behind Ferguson's stare. He had been asked a question and answered it honestly. What more could he have been expected to do?

Regardless, it was time he went to bed. Excusing himself, Max took up the dishes and brought them to the back of the kitchen. It was his turn to do the washing that day but his mother told him it wasn't necessary. Turning his back on her and Rick, he walked out of the room.

"Max." He heard his father call.

"…Yes?"

His father's voice sounded completely neutral. Almost like a remark on the day's weather. "You don't have to worry about visiting Lucia. She needs to concentrate on recovering for a while, after all."

"…"

In other words, you've done enough damage.

"Alright, I'll try and stay away."

"Thank you, champ. I know how this is hard but I knew you would understand."

He headed towards his room. Far too much had happened that night. No, not that night. That entire day.

"… My stomach hurts. I'm so tired."

He wandered aimlessly around his room. He could hear people walking in the street outside. His ribs and arm still hurt, even after medical care and a good amount of Hunter's Potion in his system. He was beginning to find the sweetness of the drink almost sickening.

The monsters. They had always seemed dangerous but he thought he was being careful about how he and his group got involved. And this was the end result.

Lucia, Drew and even Lews... His best friends. He had let them down every time.

Was he wrong to have rejected life as a merchant? Could that have saved Lucia? There must have been a way to have prevented all this pain.

Him. He was responsible. He was the one who had screwed up. Max Rickson.

Before he could think about it, he slipped on the carpet and fell onto the bed. So much had happened that day that a clump of irritation could still be caught deep in his chest. Right now, he just wanted to forget about everything. So he burrowed his face in the white pillow hoping to erase the red color burned deep into his eyes.

Lucia's vision turned black. Something suddenly hurt her entire back.

Her legs gave in, as if they were about to break. It felt like something was being carved into her flesh.

"Lucy? Lucy, what's wrong?" She heard Max ask her.

Lucia's mind was then engulfed by blackness.

The sounds of her companions disappeared. The brief panic in her mind died down. The only thing that remained was the silent darkness. The Tigrex had also disappeared. There was no one on that mountain anymore.

She could see a dead light appear, one with no heat. Blue moonlight with not a single dreg of warmth. Only silence, darkness and her.

It was like she was on the surface of the moon.

"I should probably head back. It'd be a pain if the others happened to need me right now."

"No." A voice broke the silence. A sound that echoed through the shadows themselves. A neutral voice, with no discernible gender.

"An Elder God?" She questioned.

Suddenly, blue light erupted from underneath her, stretching out in every direction, dazzling her eyes for a brief moment. The darkness was gone.

She looked down and found herself standing on a platform made of stained glass. It had a circular shape and was filled with light yet vibrant colors. Traces of blue and white dominated the spectrum but bits of green, red and orange could still be seen all over it. And then in the middle she saw a portrait of herself. Around the edges she could spot smaller portraits of people she knew. And people she didn't.

Max, Corr, Drew, Celia and… a shadowed portrait. A keyhole glowed over it, marking it. Close to her, she spotted a person lying face down on the stained glass platform.

"No." The voice answered again.

More than anything, she wanted her comrades to be safe. They were irreplaceable. They were her friends.

Silence made her think of death. Her heart raced.

And…

And all she found was a dead, silent body.

"…Me." Her body's back had been ravaged, muscle had been completely mangled. She must've been torn by a beast. The claw marks certainly made it look like it. "Why?"

She couldn't see any of her friends' bodies anywhere. She felt relieved from the bottom of her heart.

"…The hunt is over." A voice croaked from her corpse's lifeless lips. A mockery of her own self in the shape of a human being. "Your friends are safe."

Much like before, she could not tell the voice's gender. Her body was much the same as her own, only the voice broke apart all similarities.

Lucia asked, "How did this happen? Was I attacked?"

"Yes." The strange being replied.

"Was it the Tigrex?"

"Yes."

"…I do not recall being struck." Herself or not, this creature's short answers were slightly annoying to Lucia. But, if it said so, then it must've been true. She saw no reason for the corpse to lie to her.

"Do you know where you are, Lucia?" The being asked. A sudden riddle. She didn't know what to respond. "This is a place out of the reach of Mankind's kingdom, where your deepest thoughts, fears and emotions, past and future, gather. Even the ones you have tried so hard to escape and ignore. You might call it your heart."

Lucia held her corpse in her arms, facing herself like one would a mirror, careful not to touch the wounds. The resemblances were a virtually perfect copy of her own face.

It continued its speech. "There is a man here who carries with him a strong hatred, and he can kill others without help from a gun or by drawing a blade. All these others are in danger. You must protect them."

Lucia smirked, assuming to know full well who was it that the being meant. The Loc Lacian brat. "We have already dealt with him. Are you saying he will be back?"

The dead body shook its head disapprovingly. "That is not the man I speak of. It is another, one you have already met. A different will lies behind his actions, as well as his hate. He is but one small part of a monster so huge that no one can see its whole face. The tip of a web of vines growing over everything they find. An isolated group, cut off from the rest. That much we can assume."

Lucia's interest was being piqued. "And what is that group planning to accomplish by getting all these people killed? And who is we?"

"We do not know what they are seeking. But who we are should be obvious. Lucia Azmaria." It deadpanned with the sick simulation of a smile. The being spoke of entirely implausible things with the most casual tone imaginable.

Hatred. Murder. Firm and merciless words. Dangerous words.

"You've gone quiet, Lucia. Are you worried about your friends?" An unpleasant sensation swirled in Lucia's chest.

Blood. Death. Malice. These were things she did not want anywhere near Pokke.

The mysterious being smiled. "It is not too late. You can still save them. You need only remember."

"Remember what?" She asked, confused.

Before she could get her answer, she felt something change, twist inside her heart. The moonlit world died without a sound. Silence overtook the platform. The doppelganger disappeared. She could hear the sound of a keyhole unlocking.

She woke up.

A room in Pokke Village's Guild Outpost. A tray with cold food. An infirmary resting room.

Under the white sheets…

"Dad." Lucia said as she woke up.

Ferguson seemed to lighten up considerably. "Feeling alright?"

"Somewhat." She said. She then noticed the small group of people waiting around her. Her father was joined in the room by Max and Drew.

Ferguson took her hand in between his two much larger ones. "Good. We were told you might wake today."

"How long has it been?" She asked.

Drew was the one to answer her. "About sixteen hours since the accident. It's two in the afternoon."

She seemed surprised. More than she usually let on anyway. "Dad. Could you give us a moment? I need to talk to Max and Drew about something."

"Sure thing, hon." He replied as he got up and went for the door. "I'll be in the corridor."

"Thanks!" She cried out before he left. For a moment, there was only silence in the infirmary room.

Coughing slightly, Lucia took a long sip from a water-filled mug the Guild Clerks had left by her bed. When she was done, she calmly set it down beside her, right next to the food tray.

Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed a knife from the food tray. The blade shone under the sunrays entering from the window. She pointed it towards the two boys.

"The heck has gotten into you?!" Max asked her, taken by surprise.

"I'm going to improve your skull's ventilation. It looks as if your brain's boiling in there."

An unexpected threat. He had to defend himself… So he went for a utensil of his own.

"Give it up. You can't defeat me with that." Her face didn't change in the slightest even as she used a phrase that had been cliché for the past century.

Max grinned as he pointed the fork at his childhood friend. "You have better specs than I do. At least let me use this as a handicap."

"You've pointed a weapon at me. This won't end well for you." She smiled earnestly.

He could feel a happy warmth swell in his heart. This game had always been known to them ever since their childhood.

"Hoooold it!"

Now Drew was holding a spoon with a grin of his own. The way he held it was laughable, like a hero in a play.

"…That's quite the secret weapon you have there, Drew." She chuckled.

The three were used to playful banter ever since they were kids. Max sighed and leaned against his chair. Lucia dropped the joke duel and started moving her knife around her fingers.

Suddenly, she stopped. "It's often said that the wise don't go looking for trouble… I would be a fool to worry you without a good reason. Thank you for coming here today, boys, but I didn't expect to feel so drained. Would you mind coming back tomorrow? I need time to think about some things and there is something that I want to tell you both about. Just not today."

An odd thing to say but for some reason Max conceded. If nothing else, at least she appeared to be fine and that was more than enough for him. Whether her thoughts were something she should have talked about or not depended entirely on their nature.

"One question then." Max asked. Lucia remained silent. She looked at him like he was a rat in a trap. This was obviously a trigger he did not want to step in but... "Will you be alright if we leave?"

That was the first step. And after a few seconds then came the reply. "Are you worried about me again, Max?"

Whether he was worried? Of course he was. "…I suppose I am, I guess."

Lucia went silent, as if waiting for something. "Ha…"

Suddenly…

"Ha, hahahahaha!" She laughed as if he had said something strange.

He felt somehow left out of the joke he was probably the target of. "…do you enjoy the sound of your own laugh that much?"

"You really are something else Max, you silly-goose." She told him. "Just… come back tomorrow, alright? The two of you. It's serious but you don't need to worry so much, Maxie, you know I can handle everything."

Post-chapter Note: Yep, that's everything for now. Got a surgery tomorrow so I needed to update this ASAP, hence the short chapter length.

Did this chapter's length bother you in any way or would you prefer this to the longer (6k words) ones? Also, any thoughts on how the plot is shaping up?

I hope you enjoyed it and I wish you a Happy New Year!