Darkness in the Ice

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

"I think I'm actually getting used to the cold wearing this."

Ellie glanced up as Levin approached her from the rear of the caravan and smiled. "Glad to hear it. I was kind of surprised when you decided to get a new armor set while we were here, and I know from experience that your Ludroth coat was really warm. How's that armor suiting you, anyway?"

Levin shrugged, twisting his body around. Ellie cocked her head at the sight. It was so odd, seeing her partner wearing something besides that dull yellow coat he'd sported since the pair of them had met. In the last couple weeks that the two had been in the Tundra working for Noi, Levin had spent a better part of his spare time collecting materials off of the monsters in the area for a new set of armor. Where he had once he had worn a dull yellowish coat, the man was now dressed in a cool blue and grey suit of Baggi armor.

The pair of them were currently striding through the snow banks of the frozen passes that worked through the mountains between Hearth and the sand sea port. As Noi had told them, they'd spent all their time since they recovered going back and forth between the two towns, playing guard dog to the caravans that made their way to and from the ocean and the village. It hadn't been as easy as Noi and Crezant had let on though; it seemed that Baggis really enjoyed attacking the caravans that worked through the mountains with a fervor bordering on lunacy. Luckily, Noi had been able to conjure up a great sword for Levin to use, made from Great Jaggi and Great Baggi materials, one that had been owned by a former hunter that had worked for the merchant before retiring to warmer climates. Levin didn't care much for the old weapon, but it had given the great sword user plenty of time to gather materials for his armor, and both he and Ellie had materials to spare that they could sell back in Loc Lac. And when he wasn't doing other work for Noi, Nox was there to help them out; killing Baggis seemed like the man's primary passion in life.

"It feels… bulky, compared to the sponges," he muttered. "Lots of leather and bone plating, and not nearly as warm as before."

"You kind of needed the upgrade though," Ellie grinned. "You've had that old coat for, what, almost two years now? The thing was falling apart at the seams. I think even a regular Baggi could've shredded it apart without much effort, and then where would you be? No Ludroth in the area to pick up more materials off of."

"Yeah, I know that. It's not that much tougher than my old armor, though. I'm going to miss the bonuses of my old suit, though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, when Silph made it, he told me that the suit would make it easier to block and dodge… and let me absorb more hits. It was a lot of that mystic power mumbo jumbo that seem to go hand in hand with monster materials; I don't know how it works."

"Maybe we'll ask Harker if he's headway on that topic next time we see him," Ellie smiled. Then she laughed. "You know, if we have an extra hour or so on our hands to listen to him prattle on about it. I know the armor I'm wearing should allow me to swim a little better, and it's supposed to… I don't know, somehow make any elemental weapons or ammunition I use more powerful. I haven't really had the opportunity to fight a monster in the water in a while, though…"

"You could take a dip in the river if you're so curious," Levin smirked. "I hear that's a bit of a hobby in this area, to brave the frigid waters. Though, the locals tend to do it in their bathing suits, rather than full suits of armor. I wouldn't be adverse to the first option, if that's your pleasure, however."

"Up yours Mister Levin," Ellie said with a glare. Though she was grinning as she said it; she'd missed this laid back, good-humored side of Levin's personality. Despite the poor circumstances that had found the two of them where they were, working under Noi in exchange for not taking down the Barioth and her pups, she found that she was very happy about the whole thing. She had the old Levin back… well, mostly. He still had nightmares, and every now and then she saw his eyes glazed, as though listening to something that wasn't there. But if it was like Harker had told them, then that may prove to be something the great sword user would have to deal with for the rest of his life. But if that's what it took to get her Levin back… "So what strange and awesome powers does this particular armor set offer you?"

"Not entirely sure," Levin admitted. "It's supposed to resist the cold and icy weather a little better, though I haven't noticed a difference. Nox keeps telling me that he feels like capturing monsters is a touch more prosperous for him when he's wearing it, but he couldn't explain why. And the smith that made it said that it was supposed to, I don't know, make me more focused or something."

"More focus?" Ellie asked. "So it's not something I need then. I've got too much focus, so if I put in on for a fight, my head would probably explode or something."

"I think he meant something else," Levin smirked. Then he leaned in close and lowered his voice. "But if we ever find ourselves in a position where you'll need to… borrow some of my clothes for warmth, I'll remember to keep something besides this on hand. Just in case."

Ellie felt her ears reddening at the words, and she turned, smacking the great sword user in the chest. Her partner laughed and held his hands up to block, moving to get out of her swinging range as quickly as he could, though the deep snow made the chase a challenge for the both of them. But the pair of them were laughing as they did it, earning a few rolled eyes from the drivers of the wagons. The men and women of the wagon train were smiling, though, the time with Ellie and Levin as their escorts giving them all time to become friends or acquaintances of the hunters. They knew what kind of relationship the two had, and what kind of teasing the hunter would give his beloved.

However, as they hurried through the snow, one of the older drivers held his arm out to the pair of them, cutting them to a halt. The two paused, looking at him curiously, and the old man glanced up, motioning towards the mountains above them. Ellie turned and glanced up, and shivered. Above them, on one of the towering cliff tops that lined the sides of the pathway, stood the Barioth, glaring down at the caravan, studying it. Levin was quiet for a moment, then nodded to the old driver and turned to head out a little ways away from the caravan. Ellie tailed behind, but kept a bit of distance between herself and the great sword user. She needed to stay close to the caravan, just in case. And she needed to stay close to Levin. Just in case.

Levin worked his way out until he was a good twenty or thirty yards from the caravan, then looked up to face the Barioth. The creature turned her gaze on the hunter, eyes cold and calculating, and the great sword user kept it. The Barioth eyed him carefully, sniffing the air a bit. The entire caravan was quiet and unmoving, uncertain and fearful how things might develop. But after a long minute, the Barioth blew a quick breath, before turning around and vanishing out of sight into the distance.

The entire caravan, hunters included, sighed in relief as the great sword user turned to return to the caravan. This was the third time the Barioth had appeared, before turning away at the sight of Levin, but tensions still ran high each time. Noi and Crezant's description of the Barioth's actions were proving to be correct so far, but no one was certain if or when the beast would change its mind on the issue of letting Levin and her pass through its territory unscathed. The moment that happened, if it ever did, would mean a lot of trouble for everyone involved.

"We should be fine now," Levin told the old driver as he returned. "No sense sticking around here any longer at least. We should try to move out of the drake's territory just to be sure."

"Right, right," the man muttered, before turning and shouting to the other wagons. "All right folks, double time, now! I want us to port in good time! 'Less you want to stick around and see if that Barioth will come back, get your Aptonoth and Popos moving!"

The other drivers needed no other motivation, and with shouts of encouragement to their pack animals, the cluster of wagons began their march to the south. Ellie and Levin glanced at each other, nodding wordlessly, and Ellie turned and hurried on, making her way towards the front of the caravan while Levin made his way to the back. The number of wagons had grown in number since they started their work, Noi growing more and more confident with the more successful trips the pair of hunters managed to lead. Several of the merchant's business partners that used the same trails actually had started sending a few of their own wagons to tag along with the two hunters as well (after providing Noi with payment for the borrowed use of his hired hunters, of course).

Luckily for everyone, it wasn't that much further to the port town on the shore of the sand sea. After another couple hours of trekking, they finally came into sight of the town, where only a couple of trade ships sat waiting for goods to carry. The town guards nodded in welcome to Ellie as she and the first couple wagons rode through the gates of the village. This village depended on the trade of the Tundra merchants just as much as the merchants themselves did, and everyone was glad to see the hunters helping the wagons safely along again.

"Looks like we're safe now," the driver of the lead said with a grin. "We'll get things unloaded as soon as we can, little miss, so we can be on our way back to Hearth with all the imports we need. In the meantime, why don't you and that boy of yours treat yourselves to a few drinks at the bars? Ain't nothing for the both of you to help us with while we're in switching cargos."

"Might have to do that," Ellie grinned. "Let us know if any news from the Guild comes in, please?"

"You got it, little miss," the man nodded, snapping his Aptonoth's reins into motion and leading them to the docks.

Once Levin caught up with the sword and shield user, the pair of them headed off to the local tavern. The place was also where the local Guild representative was, a lean, irritable man with trim black hair, who spent most of his time drinking at the very bar he worked behind. Ellie and Levin both avoided talking to the man, having only spoken to him once, to pass on information to the Guild that they would be staying in the Tundra under Noi's employ until further notice. So, the two hunters moved to the other end of the bar, trying to avoid him.

"There's hearsay that a few more hunters are going to be heading up this way soon," Levin told Elie as they sat down. "Apparently, the Guild rep over there's had to be weaned off the liquor by the bartender to get his job done, filing the paperwork to cover the mission specs."

"What kind of missions?" Ellie asked. "More bodyguard work for transports? Or monster killing runs?"

"Couldn't say. I haven't heard of any monster problems from the wagon drivers or Noi, so maybe this is a Guild mandated thing or something. Or maybe another wealthy merchant is hiring hunters to bring in pets."

Ellie glowered at the thought, remembering the incident in Echo Village. "You think we could convince the hunters that take that mission to turn around and tell their hirer to go to hell?"

Levin grinned. "We could certainly try I guess. Though, depending on the monster, we might just let them go and give their master his precious pet. After all, maybe some idiot thought it would be a fantastic to have a pet Gigginox nestled away inside some pen or another. After all, no other wealthy man would have one, so it must be a wonderfully unique and clever idea."

Ellie laughed at the thought. "Yeah, I suppose that if that's what they're after, I'm sure it would be fine to let the hunters go about their business."

"And what, pray tell, will you do if the ones who are doing the Guild's work happen to be acquaintances of yours, if I may ask?" The two hunters turned abruptly at the familiar voice, and found themselves face to face with…

"Harker!" Levin laughed. "What are you doing here?"

"Just as you were saying, I fear," the man grinned. "I have come to the dreadful, frozen north in order to aid the Guild in its mysterious work. After all, it was the only way Lady Kerrigan and I could make our way up this far in order to find the two of you. It seems the threats the lovely woman made about having friends in the Guild proved true."

"Kerry's here too?" Ellie asked, glancing around the room. "Where is she?"

"Unfortunately, our benefactor, a researcher working to the beck and call of the Guild, has requested that she remain at his side while he unloads the goods he needs from the ship we rode in on. The man allowed me to check out the tavern, though, when we saw that a caravan was arriving out at the docks. I was hoping that meant that the pair of you were here."

"But how'd you know that we'd be in this town?" Ellie asked. "I didn't think that Nax told either of you where the three of us were going. Oh, um. I mean… Pugnax isn't here anymore actually…"

Before she could continue, though, the long sword user raised his hands, signaling her to stop. "I fear that there is no need for you to explain, my dear Miss Eleanor. It seems that the report that made it to the Loc Lac Guild, as well as the… less than glamorous story spread by your former hunting mentor, has spread throughout the entire city of Loc Lac like wildfire. I fear, my friends, that by now every person in Loc Lac, and countless more beyond, know every detail of your falling out with Pugnax. It's not going over with the populous very lightly."

"That… doesn't sound very good," Levin muttered.

"Yes, things could be a little more peaceful, I'll admit. However, the argument between you and Nax isn't really the defining point of the issue. Rather, I'm afraid to say that the primary issue is that you two, a pair of Lost, challenged the decisions of a native, and consequently won. People are not sure how to deal with this. I'm afraid the issue was still in hot debate when last I left the city, but hopefully things will have cooled off a little by the time the four of us return to Loc Lac."

"Wait, what?" Ellie asked. "The four of us? What are… how long is this mission you and Kerry on planning to take?"

"It doesn't really matter," Harker grinned. "Lady Kerrigan and I are planning on staying with the pair of you until the Guild ban is lifted. Besides, the researcher behind our mission says the work he needs to do up here may take a while to accomplish."

"What kind of mission, exactly?" Ellie pressed.

"A material hunting mission," another familiar voice said. Ellie turned and smiled at the sight of Kerrigan striding through the bar towards the three Lost. She had her bowgun slung over her shoulder as per usual, as well as another massive object wrapped in cloth. Items for the materials hunt, perhaps? Ellie didn't have time to ask before the bowgunner came over and hugged her tightly. "It's good to see you in one piece, dear. I'm so sorry we weren't able to help you deal with that bastard Pugnax."

"It's not your fault, Kerry," Ellie replied. "The way Nax did things, this was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Yeah, but we should've been there to help you. You shouldn't have had to deal with him alone."

"It's fine, Kerry. Things turned out… about as well as they could've, all things considered. We might have been able to stop him a little quicker, but the results would've been the same, I think. Either way, people would still be going on about how a couple Lost countered the decision of a higher level non-Lost."

"Maybe so," Kerry said, releasing the sword and shield user. "But it would've made me feel a little better about the whole thing."

Ellie grinned, then glanced at the large object hanging over the bowgunner's back. "So what's that thing there?"

Kerry smirked. "Oh, this? This is a delivery. Me and Harker picked up a couple things in Loc Lac that needed to get delivered to the two of you. As for this thing, before we left for the Tundra, we got stopped by a rather… irate Wyvernian that asked if we knew Levin. We told him we did, and the guy asked that if we were heading to meet the two of you, that we take this little thing to him. Seems your boy there forgot to go pick it up after we got back from the Rathian mission. It's not good to keep smiths waiting for you to pick up what you request them to make, Levin."

Levin frowned in confusion at the words, before his eyes widened in realization. "You mean…"

"That's right," Kerry grinned. She pulled the object from over her back and held it out for Levin to take.

The young man did so quickly, pulling the object out of the cloth and grinning broadly. Ellie actually whistled, impressed. Her partner pulled what Ellie assumed to be a switch axe out of the satchel, a large blue contraption made of Lagiacrus scales and plates, lined with bright orange and red spines down the back side of it. Small machinations filled the inside of the weapon, from what Ellie could see through the holes in the side, reaching all the way to what looked like the chamber of a bowgun, resting just at the base of a long hilt. Around the handle of the weapon, two small bottles were tied with rope, and the little things clinked softly against one another as Levin hoisted the blade in his hands.

"I'd almost forgotten about this thing," Levin grinned. He spun the blade around lightly in his hands, getting a feel for it. "Wow, I'd forgotten how light these things were."

"Light?" Harker scoffed. "Surely you jest my friend. Your new toy weapon there weighs almost four times as much as my own blade! I don't know how you put up with it."

"I just like having some oomph behind my hits," Levin replied. "I'm not so nimble as you or Ellie, so I like my strikes to have a little more impact than other weapons."

"I see," Harker replied. The man's smile suddenly faded, though, and in a flash, the man stepped forward, planting himself right in Levin's face. Ellie's partner flinched back in surprise at the sudden rush, and found the long sword user staring intently at his eyes.

"Um, Harker, what…" Levin sputtered, backing off a little.

"You seem more in control than you were when last we spoke," Harker said. "How did you do it? There's still some twitchiness, but… you also seem to be in a better mood than the last time I saw you."

Levin grinned wryly. "I've come to a few personal conclusions recently, and I think they may have helped me out a little bit."

Harker frowned uncertainly, but nodded at the words. Then he grinned again. "Well, I suppose that explanation will work as well as any other one. Though, if you allow me, I'd like to give your psyche another once over, see what sort of tweaks your mind has gone through."

"You're not going to do that snapping thing again, are you?"

"I could… but I've thought of some new methods of testing that I'd like to try out if you'd let me. They shouldn't hurt… not too much, at least. And I made the chemicals myself, so I'm certain the results will be wonderful!"

"No… no, I don't think I'd like that. I think I'd rather spend another week in the hospital, thank you very much."

"Come now, Levin! It shouldn't be too bad, and we'll have plenty of time since we've got two whole weeks to spend here in the Tundra. You're not afraid of needles, are you?"

"Gah! Stay away from me!"

Ellie laughed as the great sword user (switch axe user now, she supposed) tried to back away from Harker, with the long sword user tailing close behind, intent on getting Levin to participate in his strange experiments. As the two continued to argue with each other, Kerry came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder and lean in to whisper in her ear.

"This is for you," she said quietly, pulling a small white envelope and passing it to the sword and shield user. Ellie took it and glanced at the cover, realizing that it was a letter from Marshall, back in Boma Village. Her eyes widened at the sight, and she clutched the edges nervously.

"You mentioned… sending a letter to your master back in Boma, once," Kerry said, her voice still low. "To ask about what your Levin was like when he arrived in your village. Your innkeeper had that and said you'd want it."

Ellie stared at the little packet of paper nervously. So long… it seemed like it had been so long since she had sent that letter to Boma, telling Marshall about Levin's breakdown, hoping that the old hammer user could offer some sort of insight about Levin. She'd heard about Levin's reputation in Boma before the hunter had seen his first Rath mating dance. The locals had claimed he was… brash and reckless. They'd been kind with their words, Ellie had since realized. If she didn't know better, the young man had been like he had been after Ellie had been injured by the Barioth, if not worse. He'd gotten better after seeing the dance but… he'd lost control of himself before, couldn't it happen again?

"Thanks, Kerry," Ellie said quietly, sliding the letter into her pouch. "I'll read it later."

"Right," Kerry nodded. She glanced over at Levin curiously. "So is he really doing better?"

"As far as I can tell," Ellie replied. "He's laughing more, talking more, joking more. He's teasing me a lot more, which is kind of irritating, but I've still really missed it." Ellie could feel her face reddening a little as her thoughts got away from her. "He's also being… um, more affectionate than before, though… well…"

"Really?" Kerry asked, a sly smirk crossing her face. "How affectionate?"

Though she was embarrassed, Ellie felt herself grinning as she replied, remembering the phrase Noxramus liked so much. "This is the Tundra, Kerry. People have to keep themselves warm at night somehow."

"You dirty girl!" Kerry laughed. "Well, I suppose that's one way to make sure the boy keeps his thoughts on you rather than on hunting."

"That's what I was aiming for," Ellie said quietly, feeling her face redden even further as the bowgunner hugged her in congratulation. "Though, I'd like it if not all of his thoughts were geared that way. And it's not like I didn't want him to… um, I think I'm getting off topic."

"No, please continue," Kerry giggled. "I'm intrigued."

"What about you?" Ellie replied, turning on the bowgunner. "Have you gone beyond giving your own partner anything more than dreamy looks when he's not looking? Surely you've at least told him how you feel, right?"

To Ellie's pleasure, Kerry's face turned just as red as Ellie imagined hers had been only moments ago. "I don't… that's not… he's just my hunting partner and apprentice, Ellie."

"I don't believe that for a moment," Ellie smirked, glad that she had managed to turn the tables on the bowgunner. "You may like hassling me over my relationship with Levin, but I can return the favor, Lady Kerrigan. Don't think I don't see the way you look at him. And don't think that I don't see the way he looks at you."

"He's just being respectful... and he's a gentleman."

"Maybe so, but you can't really expect me to believe that you don't have any other feelings for him," Ellie said with a grin. As Kerry sputtered in embarrassment, the sword and shield user slunk closer to the other woman and lowered her voice. "And just think: now's the perfect time for you to be a little bit more aggressive. After all, like I said, it does get very cold up here in the frozen north. Wouldn't you like a way to keep warm at night?"

If Ellie thought that the other woman had been embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to now. Ellie had thought that the term 'beet-red' was a metaphor, but Kerry's face was bright red at the words. For a woman that was as attractive as she was, 'Lady Kerrigan' had a very innocent mind when it came to the vulgar, at least when it came to her own personal actions. And she was very attractive; Ellie was able to admit that much, with her curvy body and long red hair. She'd felt a surge of jealousy when Levin had eyed her when they'd met at the hunter's exam, but had cooled once she'd seen how close Kerry and Harker were. We'd she'd asked the great sword user about the bowgunner once, Levin had said that Harker was a damn lucky man to have a girl like Kerry (of course he'd said it teasingly, to get a rise out of Ellie, which had worked). Yet here the bowgunner stood, twiddling her fingers in embarrassment at Ellie's words; the sword and shield couldn't help herself, she enjoyed teasing the other woman so much.

She leaned forward again, grinning and continuing to keep her voice low. "It would be easy, with a guy like him. You could just tell him that you wanted to… conduct a thermodynamics experiment. Do a study in heat exchange, something like that."

For a moment, the bowgunner actually had a contemplative look on her face, and Ellie had to hold back a snicker. However, upon seeing Ellie's expression, Kerry's face returned to a bright crimson, and she shook her head in embarrassment. "I couldn't do that… he wouldn't… I mean, Harker wouldn't be…"

"I wouldn't be what, Lady Kerrigan?" Harker asked, approaching the two huntresses. Kerry squeaked in surprise at the long sword user's abrupt approach, but was able to smooth over her expression fairly quickly, though her cheeks still were tinted red a bit. Levin was right behind Harker, a sour look on his face aimed at the long sword user.

"Nothing important," Kerry said quickly. "But shouldn't we be hurrying back to our benefactor? As much as I'd… like to talk more with Ellie, the man seemed to be in quite the hurry to get out in search of, er, whatever it is he's here in the Tundra to look for."

"Hmm, perhaps you're right, Lady Kerrigan," Harker shrugged. "He did seem to be quite enthusiastic about this mission."

"What are you guys looking for, anyway?" Levin asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know," Harker shrugged. "The researcher we were hired under is being awfully tight-lipped about the whole thing."

"Well, who is he?" Ellie asked. "What kind of person is he? What does he do?"

"That would be me," a voice said from the entrance of the bar. Ellie blinked and turned towards the voice. The bespectacled man that stood in the doorway was about the same height as Levin, with black hair that was pulled back into a short braid at the base of his neck. He looked tired, very tired. But it was the strong, determined look on his face that made Ellie realized that she knew the man, and Levin did as well by the sudden gasp the great sword user released.

It was Farren, the researcher that had worked under Saul during Ellie and Levin's egg hunt at Echo Village.

"I wish I could say it's nice to see you again, Levin, Ellie. However, considering the circumstances of our last meeting, I have little doubt that you view me in less than decent regard."

"Of course we don't," Levin growled. "It's because of you that we were tricked into trying to steal eggs from a Rath nest."

"By association, I suppose that may be true," the man nodded. Harker and Kerry both had confused looks on their faces, glancing back and forth between the two hunters and the researcher. "However, while I deeply regret being forced to lie for Saul, that whole debacle was neither my plan nor something I even desired to do at all. My superiors demanded that I help the man with his request, and if I wished to continue my work, I had to do so, or else lose my funding."

"Funding for what?" Ellie asked angrily. "What could be so important that you'd be willing to help a bastard like Saul steal eggs?"

The man was silent for a moment before speaking. "I work in a lab under the Guild tower, testing formulas for the goods that the Guild puts out for hunter consumption, as well as testing various other materials and concoctions to make certain as to their safety and quality."

Levin glanced in confusion at Harker, who had an intrigued look on his face. Then he shook his head and looked back at the researcher. "What does that mean?"

"Well… for example, at the moment, I'm studying possible formulas for a more effective or less-addictive potion, among other projects. Seems addiction rates have been on the rise in the last decade or so, and the Guild would like that to slow down. As you can see, it's very important for our work to continue, as for that, I fear we must rely on the Guild's benefactors to provide funding, which is why we… why we are motivated to provide for our benefactors' less savory requests. I spend most of my time testing out new materials that are brought in though, make sure they're safe to use or produce. Take your weapon there for example, that switch axe."

Levin glanced at his new weapon uncertainly. "What about it?"

"My research group was the one that designed the phials you use," the researcher said, motioning to the clinging bottles tied to the blade's hilt. "We spent years testing mixes of metals and glass, making sure we produced the most sturdy one we possibly could. With all the raw energy those bottles contain, we didn't want to risk anything less, or else we'd risk the thing detonating during the middle of a monster battle."

Ellie shot a glare at Levin. She knew he'd been hiding something when he'd been describing how the switch axe worked! The man had a guilty look on his face as he scratched his head awkwardly, trying to avoid the sword and shield user's gaze. Finally he turned back to the researcher. "Then, what are you working on now?"

Farren was quiet another moment, thinking, and opened his mouth to answer, but he stopped as the bar doors opened again and one of the wagon drivers from the caravan entered the tavern. Upon spotting Ellie and Levin, the man strode over and motioned to the door.

"We're ready to take off, you two. The carts are all loaded and ready to go, and we're hoping to be back to Hearth before nightfall, and we're sure as hell not making the trip without you, boy, not with that Barioth still out there."

Ellie grimaced at the poor timing, but Farren raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Hearth? That's actually where I need to head. The leader there, Noi, knows the area fairly well, and I'll need his advice in order to make sure that we don't spend too much time wandering around aimlessly. It would be easier if my bodyguards here and I traveled with you rather than on our own… unless you still feel enmity towards me and would prefer not to. I can promise you two, though, that this time I'm here on my own accord, rather than at the beck and call of someone else's desires."

Ellie glanced over at Levin questioningly. Neither of them cared for Farren, considering how he'd lied to them. But if he had been forced into doing as Saul told him to, like he said… Ellie could understand why he didn't want to lose his funding, considering how important his work seemed to be, what with him making potions better. But how could they be user that the man wasn't lying to them this time? He'd helped to rally the locals of Echo Village to get rid of Saul, but…

"I guess it's fine," Ellie finally decided. "By me, at least. What do you think, Levin?"

"I guess I don't mind," her partner replied. "Though, I will want to hear about what you're looking for and why. And I'll want to keep an eye on you myself."

Farren nodded in acceptance. "That shouldn't be an issue. However, I'm planning on accompanying these two hunters into the wild during my search for materials. So, if you're planning on keeping me company, you'll have to get the permission of your current employer to do so."

Ellie grimaced at the words. Noi was a good employer, but was harsh about keeping his schedule with the caravans. She wondered if she or Levin could even get the man to consider the possibility to allow them to accompany Harker and Kerry out on their mission with Farren… the odds were slim, but there was still a chance, Ellie supposed.

"Fine, whatever," the sword and shield user muttered. "I don't see any reason for you not to tag along. You'd have to get to Hearth one way or another, and I suppose it would be faster if you came along with us."

"Just be sure to watch out for Barioths on our way there," Levin smirked as he made his way towards the door. "There's a fairly nasty one that's been watching the roads in this area recently. So keep your eyes open. If you see one, it could mean big trouble."

The researcher frowned, a worried look on his face at the great sword grinned, working his way out the door back out into the open. Harker, however, had an excited grin on his face at Levin's words.

"A Barioth? Really? How wonderful! I've always heard their tusks made wonderful stimulant when ground into a powder! Or maybe it was a depressant… or an aphrodisiac? I can't remember, it seems."

"You should probably look into that before running any tests on the stuff," Kerry sighed, leading the long sword user out the door of the tavern. "I don't think you want to make a mistake with those kind of things."

Farren scowled at the door as his two hired bodyguards walked outside. He stood silently for a moment, before turning to Ellie. "I've signed on a strange group of people to protect me, haven't I?"

"Maybe after two weeks with us as your guards, you'll be used to us?" Ellie grinned walking to the door.

"I highly doubt it," the man replied, following after.


"So you managed to create an arrangement of mutual trust with the Barioth? Fascinating."

"Something like that, I guess," Levin replied to Harker with a shrug. The long sword user had a small notebook out, writing down the story Ellie and Levin were offering to the man on their so-called 'relationship' with the Barioth.

"A mutual understanding that the pair of them have tried to kill each other and failed, more like," Ellie said with a grin, making Levin roll his eyes.

The four hunters were sitting outside of Noi's merchant complex, waiting for Farren to finish talking with the man about… whatever it was the two needed to talk about. Noi had actually been the one to ask the hunters to leave, once Farren had requested the use of Ellie and Levin as additional bodyguards for his time in the Tundra. Business talk and all that; nothing the hunters really wanted to be a part of.

"But still, creating mutual empathy with a monster is rare, even for locals who have spent their entire lives here in the hunting world," Harker said, leaning against a nearby wall. "Such things are highly uncommon. You mentioned that Echo Village place, with their benevolent Rathian and Rathalos, but similar cases like that are sparse. Monsters tend to be some of the most unruly creatures I've ever seen, especially towards humans. The wealthy always claim they've made a 'pet' of certain beasts, but all they really have is a big, dangerous trophy in a large, very sturdy cage. Now, I've heard of some people or hunters that have actually managed to train and keep monsters as trained pets, usually some of the simpler-minded monsters like Jaggi of Ludroth, and of course people have managed to domesticate Aptonoth as pack animals. There are even some rumors of people having tamed and ridden wyverns, Raths to be specific… but I'm fairly certain such stories are hearsay or just outright made up."

"If such things were possible, I doubt that there'd be such a fear of them in the world," Ellie muttered sourly.

"Imagine if it were though," Levin grinned. "Can you picture it? People weaving stories of 'Eleanor the Great: Wyvern Rider!'"

"That would be quite the tale," Kerry grinned. Ellie smiled at the words as well. It was a nice thought, having such skill that she could tame a Rathian or Rathalos, though she still was sure that she'd prefer just killing them over trying to train and raise one.

As she and Kerry continued to talk between themselves, Ellie watched as Levin waded out into the snow, hoisting his new weapon over his shoulder. The man hadn't had much time to practice with the new blade since he'd received it, the trek back to Hearth taking precedence, and he wasn't so bold as to try and ward off enemies with an untested weapon. But now he had time, and began swinging the weapon around in its base 'axe' mode. He certainly seemed to be swinging the blade quite quickly compared to how quickly he swung his great sword, which Ellie supposed was natural after hoisting around such a heavy weapon for so long. The motions seemed a bit awkward for the man at first, considering he was going from a longer weapon to a shorter one, and from a sharper weapon to one that was more blunt (at the moment, at least).

After playing around with the 'axe' mode for a while, the hunter finally decided to slide in one of those phials he'd been given. Ellie was still untrusting of the strange things, holding so much power inside of a small glass bottle. Harker and Farren had both professed the sturdiness of the clear material, but both had also been clear about the impending detonation should the phials break or even so much as crack. But as her partner slid the phial into the chamber and clicked the bolt into place, and a wave of energy rushed over the weapon, quick spikes of blue electricity crackling over across the scales of the weapon as the phial sent energy through it. The sparks vanished momentarily as the charge equalized inside the chamber, but even just knowing that the energy was there was enough for Ellie to eye the blade in awe.

Levin hoisted the weapon again, giving the axe a few good swings with the charged phial inside. Nothing seemed different than before, as far as Ellie could tell, but a moment later, the hunter pressed a small toggle at the edge of the hilt. A rush of energy burst from the phial, and the small machinations inside of the weapon spun to life, pulling the jagged spines from the rear of the axe up and around the peak, latching into place just above the axe portion. In just a short second, the weapon seemed to have switched over from one weapon to a completely new one. Now the hunter seemed to be back in his element, swinging the switch axe far easier now that the weapon shared the shape and style of the sword he was so used to. Each swing and thrust of the blade grew more confident as he progressed, getting more used to the feel of the weapon.

However, right as Levin was getting into the full swing of it, the mechanical blade hissed violently, and in mid-swing the weapon began whirring back into its axe form. The hunter was thrown off by the abrupt change, and tumbled backwards when the shift threw off his balance, landing him awkwardly in a large snow bank.

"What the hell?" Levin muttered, as Ellie found herself giggling loudly, a layer of powder covering her partner as he pushed himself back to his feet. "I didn't push the button! Why the hell did it… oh, wait."

"Problems, Levin?" Ellie laughed, pushing off through the snow towards him. After the hunter brushed himself off, he reached up and ejected the power phial from the chamber, letting it roll around in his hand. Ellie blinked in surprise at the sight; where the bottle had once glowed from the inside with a pale blue light, the strength seemed drained from it now, barely letting off any light at all. "Is it broken? Already?"

"No, no, just… out of charge," Levin muttered. "I was just caught off guard… I thought the charge would last a little longer than it did. These phials slowly recharge themselves over time, pull… energy out of the atmosphere, or something like that. Umbre wasn't very clear about that; I'm not sure he really knew how it worked himself. But give it a minute or two, it should have power again. But I guess it's set up so that when the power's getting low, it automatically switches back to axe mode."

"Weird," Ellie said. Then she paused in thought. "Wait, it recharges itself? Shouldn't that be used as like, a generator or something? I don't know about you, but I'd really like to have electricity instead of candlelight, thank you very much."

"I'm afraid such a use is unfeasible, Miss Eleanor." The sword and shield user turned as Farren walked out of the complex, with Noi and Crezant close behind. "The substance inside the phials doesn't recharge quickly enough to provide an amiable source of energy, not to mention the stuff is highly unstable in large quantities. Well, more unstable in large quantities. So I'm afraid use of the energy phials in going to be minimal outside of things like the switch axe or other small application things."

"Too bad," Ellie muttered. Then she glanced at Noi. "So… are we going to be allowed to accompany our friends on their mission?"

"It seems you will," Noi replied, though he had a look on his face that showed he didn't like the idea. "Our caravans have, admittedly, been pulling double time over the last couple of weeks to make up for the losses we incurred during the Barioth's attacks, so we're almost back on track with our work. We can afford to let you and Levin accompany Farren for a few days. Besides, our drivers need rest from loading and unloading, and we'll need to check the wagons for damage, what with all the use they've seen recently. However, I want the pair of you back in three days or less. We may be catching up with our backlog, but we're not there yet."

"Alright," Levin nodded.

"Normally, I'd keep the pair of you on track, but…" Noi shot a worried look at Farren. "Considering what this fellow's after, I do suppose that it would be better for the two of you, as well as Noxramus, to keep him alive and well. You'll be heading deep into Baggi hunting territory, and he knows that area best."

"Nox is coming too?" Levin asked, surprised. He gave Farren an untrusting look. "What the hell are you taking us out to find?"

Farren frowned at the question. "Two things, truth be told. The first is to investigate a series of strange lights that have been seen appearing in caves and other places across the Tundra. A few hunters reported sighting a strange glow when scouring the area for monsters, before the Alatreon attacks cut off access to the north. Normally, we'd attribute the sights to the Aurora, but for one, it's the wrong time of year; second, from the reports, the light seems to be coming from underground, rather than the sky, which requires investigation. It might just be a trick of the light, bouncing through the ice and glaciers, but it would be better to be certain."

"And the second thing?" Ellie asked.

"The second…" Farren said nervously. "The second is as I said before, material acquisition. However, the issue is what we're looking for is extremely dangerous, and must be handled with extreme caution. It is a very rare ore, only found here in the Tundra, referred to only as 'Dark Metal'."

"How dangerous! Exciting!" Harker giggled excitedly from where he sat. "I've read about that stuff! Such terrible things you seek, Farren!"

"And how would you know what Dark Metal does?" Farren asked, eyeing the long sword user accusingly. "That information is highly guarded by the Guild. Not just anyone is allowed to know what the stuff is; we try to allow knowledge of its effect to the fewest hunters possible. Where exactly did you hear about what the substance does?"

"I read it somewhere," Harker replied with a grin.

"Isn't Dark Metal cursed?" Kerry asked, a fearful tone to her voice. "Doesn't it… kill people that get too close to it? I've heard it takes people's souls from their bodies if they're foolish enough to touch it…" Farren raised an eyebrow at the question, clearly not expecting the words. Ellie frowned; she'd forgotten that Kerry had a tendency towards superstition and a belief in the supernatural. The man shook his head and shot a look at Harker.

"Well, you may not want to tell them, but I have no such obligations to hold the information from them," Harker said.

Farren glared at the long sword user, but the man simply grinned in reply. "Fine. Dark Metal is a very rare substance, a dark black ore that seems to… absorb the cold of the Tundra. The material never gets above sixty degrees Fahrenheit, even when left under the desert sun for weeks on end. It just seems to eternally emit the feeling of the Tundra. If kept out of the sun, the material will almost always be below freezing. There are also theories that the temperature of the metal goes up and down as the seasons of the Tundra change, no matter how far from the far north it gets, but… well, it's only a theory.

"However, there is another effect the metal has, one that is more dangerous than its temperature. No matter what temperature the material has, when any living creature touches bare flesh to the ore, it… well, it's not a very precise or scientific way of saying it, but the metal drains the life force of whoever touches it. However, that's the only way I know to describe it. Several months ago, right after the cold season ended a young hunter came across the stuff and tried to collect it for his own use. Three minutes of contact with the ore put him into a coma. Had he not been found by a pair of Felynes working their way through the area, he likely would have died in the snow."

"To the people of the Tundra, as well as many people that only have heard of it, the metal is considered to be cursed," Noi told the hunters, staring poignantly at Kerry. "It's a dangerous thing to see in your path. People act like just seeing the stuff is bad luck. They swear that it is the essence of death. I don't believe in that nonsense myself, but… that metal can be deadly, so I suppose the superstitions aren't entirely unjustified."

"And we're planning on… collecting some?" Kerry asked. "How? Why?"

"I've brought along some special satchels with me," the man replied. "They should be able to hold a fair amount of Dark Metal without any of the… side effects that would come with handling the material. The bags are lined with metal, so physical contact should not happen, unless the bag gets torn. As for the why… we're doing it because it's a very dangerous substance. There have been rumors of some hunters and smiths that have found ways to mold the ore into personal weapons, though those that have are hesitant to reveal how exactly they did it. Several of my coworkers have ideas on how to make the ore safer for hunters to use, so I'm planning on collecting as much as I feasibly can. It's a sturdy, powerful metal, so with luck, we'll be able to find a way to make it viable as a weapon, or even armor. I have some experiments of my own to try as well, more… chemical than physical. More so to do with altering the metal than method of smithy work."

Ellie nodded at the words. "Well, I guess it doesn't sound like you're doing anything too terrible. And I can't think of any ulterior motives you might have…"

"How trusting," the researcher replied wryly.

"After the last time we met, can you really blame me?" Ellie returned.

"No, I suppose not," the man replied.

"So when do we head out?" Levin asked.

"As soon as possible," Noi cut in. "I want the pair of you back and sending out caravans as quickly as feasibly possible. I've sent news to Noxramus that he'll be accompanying you into Baggi territory. If that doesn't light a fire under his ass to get here as good as possible, then he's either lost his mind or he's dead. As soon as he gets here, I expect the lot of you to leave. It's only late afternoon, I'm sure you can make some miles before nightfall."

"The confidence you show in us is unparalleled," Levin muttered sarcastically.

"And it will only grow stronger once you return and finish your work as caravan guards," Noi smirked. "I suggest you stock up on the Hot Drinks I've provided you. You'll be quite chilly for the next few days."


As Noi had pretty much ordered them, once Nox showed up at the merchant's compound, the five hunters and the researcher made their way out of town, heading out the eastern gate of the city in the direction of where the Guild reports had said the blue lights had been appearing. Noi and Crezant's information also said there were one or two Dark Metal mining spots between the village at the caves, though their exact locations were somewhat vague; the superstitious view of the ore by the locals usually made it so when some was found, the immediate area was considered too cursed for anyone to risk getting close to it.

Nox seemed pleased upon meeting Harker and Kerry, excitedly introducing himself to the pair when he had arrived at the compound, though not able to really speak with them until getting out of town, what with Noi chasing them out, telling them to hurry along with their mission as fast as possible. The three of them seemed to get along great for the most part, though Harker's personality seemed to baffle Nox just as much as it did anyone else, with his deranged enthusiasm and odd questions. But it wasn't until they were a couple miles out of town that Nox finally told them something that caught the long sword user and bowgunner off guard instead.

"You're one of the Lost?" Kerry asked. "Really?"

"Truly," the sword and shield user laughed. "I woke up in the Tundra with about a dozen others, somewhere to the south of here."

"I thought almost all of the Lost that came out of the Tundra got caught up in the winter freeze," Harker asked solemnly. "Levin over there is the only one I've met that managed to survive the Tundra, and that was only because he was saved by the Veggie Elder."

"Yeah, I heard about that mess," Nox replied sadly. "I hadn't heard of anyone surviving that weather either; caught me off guard when I heard Levin had managed to keep himself intact through it. No, me and… the others I was with actually woke up several months after that incident from what I figure, during the summer months when the Tundra is a little more bearable to trek through. There were… losses, but a few of us were able to find a hunter's camp to stay safe at. Once a hunting group came along and found us, they helped us get safely to Hearth, where we'd be taken care of until we could travel to Loc Lac. I think a few of us chose to stay in Hearth, though. I think the thought of traveling across the sand sea disturbed them too much to want to travel. They work around the village doing odd jobs for Noi based on what they did back home."

"You don't really see too many Lost outside of Loc Lac, I guess," Kerry nodded. "I guess most of them try to meet up with the rest of their kind as soon as possible. The only ones that I've really seen outside of Loc Lac are either the ones that have become hunters, or I guess the rare ones that don't want to travel to Loc Lac and just want to stay in one place. I remember, there was a Lost doctor that started working in Sentry Oasis, that used to take care of Harker when he was still my apprentice."

"Ah, yes, Doctor Yvonne," Harker said with a grin. "Brilliant woman. I learned more from her about medicine than from the hundred or so books I read at the Guild library. I've become very proficient in self-treatment thanks to her."

"If only because you never seemed to learn how to avoid trouble," Kerry muttered. "She probably learned as much from you as you did from her, what with you coming in every other day with a dozen new injuries for her to try and fix up."

"Yes indeed. It was lucky she was so very good at her job. But I don't think she liked me very much, as I recall…" Harker trailed off.

"That's because you'd be out of the clinic she set up hours after she'd treated you, when you were supposed to stay for several days!" Kerrigan chastised him.

"If she didn't want me leaving and continuing my research on the desert monsters, she would've tied me down. She learned her lesson right there at the end though."

"What exactly did she do?" Ellie asked.

"Tied him down," Kerry laughed. "With chains. Big ones. She used the same chains that the Guild transports use to hold down Diablos and Rathian between the village and Loc Lac. Had his bed moved ten feet away from any of the walls and tables so he couldn't grab something to break out with. He didn't have any more opportunities to break free again after Yvonne went that far to hold him down."

"Yes, she was especially irked. I think she was getting vengeance for me, ah, disorganizing her medicine supply the last time I had come by."

"She was ready to tear your head off for that."

"For moving around some medicine?" Levin asked, surprised.

"Yes," Harker nodded. "Miss Yvonne had a Lost madness of her own to contend with, a rather powerful case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Everything had to be in exactly the right place, turned in exactly the right direction, no exceptions. So when I, ah, 'borrowed' some medical goods for my experiments, I may have knocked a few things over when I heard her returning, causing her to throw a bit of a fit. Needless to say, she had little forgiveness or pity to offer me the next time I came in to have my injuries examined, thus the chains."

"Well I thought it was funny," Kerry said with a laugh.

"Sounds like you all had some interesting times before becoming hunters," Nox laughed.

"Surely you have some interesting stories to tell, Nox," Kerry said.

"Nothing so off the handle as you guys, maybe," the sword and shield user said with a grin. "I trained in a fishing sort of village when I was training to become a hunter; a ways south east of here along the coastline near the plains. There aren't many land monsters in the area except for Jaggi and Qurupeco, really, but there are a lot, and I mean a lot of monsters that live in the ocean in those parts. Spent a lot of time hunting monsters in the water. Got pretty good at it too. Gobuls, Royals, you know, that kind of thing. I had a… bit of a bad run in with a Lagiacrus once, though; didn't turn out as well as the story Ellie and Levin told me. I thought I could take it on but was way out of my league. My hunting master pulled my ass out of the fire that time. But I tell you what, that incident scared me straight. All those teeth and that lightning? Scary stuff. I can't even watch an arena fight with one of those things anymore, no sir."

"That doesn't sound that bad," Kerry said. "Back when Harker was my apprentice, he got in all kinds of trouble with the locals of the town."

"Well," Nox said sheepishly, "I… did have a bit of a reputation. Not sure whether it was just bad luck or general clumsiness on my part, but it seemed like lots of the things I did in the town I was trained in tended to result in, um, how to put it… complete and utter chaos?"

"Sounds like Harker," Levin said with a grin.

"Maybe so, but his work was intentional for the most part, it sounds like. As for me, it seems like every time I'd try to help cart a wagon through town, or roll barrels down the streets, or even make my way from the smithy to the item shop, things just seemed to go wrong; destructively so. Eventually, it got to the point where people just told me to stop helping entirely, so that nothing would go wrong or break. I don't even want to think about the barrel bomb incident… Not to mention the reputation I got when I was drinking."

"Oh, those are always fun," Levin laughed.

"Yeah, until women start leaving the bar when you walk in," Nox said with a huff of frustration. "I had a bit of a reputation for being… um, I can't think of the right phrase. Is 'touchy-feely' descriptive enough?"

"Good enough to encourage me never to drink with you," Ellie said. "I get enough of that from Levin when he's drunk, so… erm. Never mind."

"Now that's an interesting bit of information," Kerry laughed as Ellie blushed and Levin smirked. "But I think Nox's actions were a little less well-received than that."

"That's what the general consensus in the town I trained in was," Nox sighed. "It even got to the point where I didn't really drink again until I got to Loc Lac. Then I went to Hearth to hunt Baggis, and I've been stuck here a while. I've avoided causing a, um, mess of anything in the village, but… er, I think the women of the town are starting to figure out what kind of guy I am when I drink, which means I should probably cut back a little."

"Probably a good idea," Levin laughed.

"As much as you seem to be enjoying your conversation," Farren cut in, "I must ask you, Noxramus, whether or not we're close to our destination."

"Pretty close, I think," Nox replied, looking around the surrounding area. Ellie realized that they'd entered into a far… stranger area of the Tundra than anything they'd seen before. There seemed to be far less snow in the area, but lots more ice somehow, and somehow the area around them seemed like a mountain and glacier had been blended together, with ice and rock twisting together in odd spiral and stripe patterns. The result ended up creating a lot of change overs in the path they walked from stone to hard ice back to stone again, forcing the party of six to constantly watch their footwork as they walked.

"The area around here's pretty odd," Nox said, pointing to the odd formations. Harker was practically drooling at the sight of the strange formations, and was obviously desperate to study the surrounding area. "I can't even begin to imagine how this area of the Tundra came to be, but from what I can tell, a lot of minerals and ore and other stuff that are usually pretty rare got pushed to the surface when… when whatever did this to the area happened. So where hunters would normally be hard pressed to collect Gracium or Isisium, it's actually a lot easier in this area of the Tundra."

"Sounds like a veritable gold mine," Ellie said. "I've looked at the maps though. Not many people come this way very often. Wouldn't all the ore be sought after by the hunters that need them?"

"You'd think so, but... this place is a bit of a maze, and people have a tendency to get lost inside pretty easily," Nox explained. "And besides, with all the superstition surrounding Dark Matter, it's no wonder that people try not to come here if they can avoid it. I've come here enough times during my time in the Tundra to know my way through a little bit of it, but what I've mapped out so far probably only scratches the surface of the true labyrinth that the place really is. We'll just be going far enough to find the first ore vein we can find. Any further, and we risk getting lost. With luck we'll find what we need there."

"And if we're unlucky?" Levin asked.

"Then we leave this cave and look for another one. I'm not planning on spelunking in uncharted areas, thank you very much."

"Ah, where's the fun in that?" Harker laughed. "Just think of what mysteries could be found! Perhaps more of these geological formations lie buried in the earth, simply waiting to be found! Or something better! Perhaps a unique monster's nest or something of the like? It's such an exciting thing to think about!"

"And what good will all that be if you're not able to return to Loc Lac and show off your research?" Kerry asked, making the long sword user frown in disappointment. "I thought as much. You can come back and explore the caves on your own time, but right now we're working for Farren."

"As you wish, Lady Kerrigan. I suppose I should finish learning about Dark Metal before turning my sights elsewhere, after all."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that…"

The group followed Nox carefully through the tunnels as they worked their way lower into the earth. It was strange, seeing how the earth and ice blended together so oddly. They never needed to even light torches, with pale sunlight coming through the ice above them and filling the cavern with a pale blue light. It was a good thing Nox knew where he was going; the place was just as much of a maze as he had said, with other paths branching off in a dozen different directions every hundred feet, it seemed.

Ellie watched in awe at how quickly the color and formation of the stone around them changed, as she saw patches of iron and machalite appear, sliding up the walls of the caves. Somehow, though the six of them didn't seem to be going deeper into the earth, many ores that were normally very deep in the earth were appearing quite commonly in the walls. Even small collections of the pale colored Tundra ores, Isisium and Gracium, seemed to be rather common in this area. Ellie would have to remember this place when she needed ores later on in her hunting career.

All of a sudden, Nox drew the group to a halt, glancing around. Ellie realized that the walls seemed to have shifted from dark and rocky to a pale, brighter color. She realized that the walls were practically filled with the pale white and pale blue colors of the rare metals of the Tundra. She'd never seen half as much of the ores over the course of her entire hunting career, and yet this one single room seemed to be absolutely made of the minerals. Thick stalagmites of the ore actually sprouted up from the ground, while dozens of jagged icicles hung down from the ceiling.

"This is as good a place as any to dig, I guess," Nox said, looking around. "I'm not really sure where Dark Metal usually shows up, since I've never gone mining for it before. But this place is pretty rich in minerals, so if there's a place for it to pop up, this'll be it. All we have to do is dig around and hope to find some."

"And if some is found, remember that you must be very careful with it," Farren told them. The researcher quickly reached into his pack and pulled out a folded, thick leather bag, lined with thin metal plates. "I've seen the effects of continued exposure to the ore, and none of them are pleasant. I've got a satchel here lined with plating that should be able to carry the metal without the effects seeping through the bag."

"Sounds good," Nox said, reaching for his pouch. The hunters began spreading out a little, pulling out their picks and searching for a good place to start. "I wouldn't exactly feel safe trying to… oh, dammit."

"What's wrong?" Levin asked.

Ellie realized that the other sword and shield user was scratching his head with a very sheepish expression on his face. "I um… well, I, er, I may have forgotten to bring picks with me."

"Seriously?" Levin groaned. Ellie could understand the feeling. Over the time she and Levin had been working with the man escorting the caravans back and forth, they'd long since realized that he had a bit of a problem with remembering to bring certain things with them on hunts. Occasionally it was whetstones, now and then he'd slip up and forget his potions, and once he'd even gone so far as to forget to pack extra Hot Drinks in his pouch during one of their trips. "The one thing we need on this mission and you slip up with it? I mean, I'd get it if you forgot extra rations or hell, even potions since this isn't exactly the most dangerous mission, but picks? Really?"

"Hey, we can't all remember everything," Nox argued, though he clearly seemed embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Not to worry, Noxramus!" Harker said happily. "Luckily for you, I happen to have several extras with me. And all of them are ones I've made myself!"

"Yourself? That's impressive," Nox said with a smile. Then he noticed the worried looks on the other hunters' faces. "Erm, are you, uh, sure they work?"

"Of course! I mean, I haven't tested them or anything yet, but I've dismantled the Guild mandated ones before, and I'm certain I've replicated the design perfectly! I think my creations should actually be an improvement on the originals if I do say so myself! Please, give it a try, I insist."

The blue hunter looked uncertain as he accepted the gizmo from the long sword user. The thing wasn't as sleek as the ones you normally bought at the stores, but it looked surprisingly solid for something that Harker had put together. Nox pressed the activation button, and the thing unraveled as per usual, though the movements of the thing seemed clunky and odd. Nox spun the thing around in his hand, searching the thing over for signs of imperfections, but could seem to find anything. He held the axe up to the nearest wall, where a chunk of ice covered a long vein of ore, and took a swing at the wall. The pick cracked into the ice, smashing off a bit of it and sending it clattering to the ground.

The hunters seemed pretty impressed with the pick, and Harker seemed pleased with the results. But as Nox pulled back to take another swing, the mechanisms near the head of the pick suddenly seemed to detonate, and the entire pointed tip of the tool blasted off the handle of the gizmo, soaring across the room before slamming into the opposite wall and imbedding itself several inches into the ice. Nox immediately dropped the handle and backed away fearfully as the other hunters stared in shock.

"I'm done!" the man yelped. "You can test the rest yourself. I'll just… I'll just sit the rest of this mining venture out, thank you very much."

"Ah, too bad," Harker sighed. "Maybe I wound the springs too tightly with that one… Hm, well I'm sure one of these has to work."

Ellie grimaced as the long sword user pulled out another of the unwinding tools out of his pack, and she quickly turned to find her own ore vein to mine into. Levin and Farren seemed to have similar thoughts, moving to put distance between themselves and the madman. The sound of another pick detonating followed her, and she jumped as a volley of metal parts clattered past her, with Harker's frustrated muttering following behind. She quickly made her way around one of the walls, finding a place where the ore was about chest height, allowing for decent access. Levin found his own place not far away, swinging his own picks against a vein that lay underfoot.

The stone and ice of the Tundra proved to be more of a challenge to dig through than Ellie had thought it would be. She'd brought along three of the collapsible picks with her, and chiseling through the top layer of stone and ice ended up breaking the first one she'd pulled out. However, she could see a large wall of some ore or another just behind the next sheet of ice, and she was determined to get through to it. With a grunt of effort, she smashed her pick into the wall, right at a cracked area, trying to take out as much as she could with one go.

Ellie yelped in surprise as a massive chunk of ice suddenly gave way under the swing of her pick. She quickly dropped back away from the wall as the large sheet of ice and frost crashed to the floor, shattering on impact and sending a wave of frozen shards across under her feet. Ellie grumbled in frustration, brushing the ice and snow off her greaves as she looked down at her pick. She realized that the disposable thing had been torn in two in the last swing, and the woman tossed the useless thing away irritably. Kerry was looking over at her at the sound of the collapse, but Ellie waved her off, calling out she was fine. But the bowgunner had an odd look in her eyes, and lowered her own pick to walk over to Ellie.

Ellie blinked in confusion, turning back to the wall she'd been digging against, and gaped in surprise. The rocks and ice that had come loose with Ellie's last pick swing, revealing a long sheet of ore protruding from the stone. But what was most stunning was the appearance of the ore itself. Ellie had been expecting a black-colored type of material by the name of the ore, but she hadn't been prepared to see something so bleak and consuming. The Dark Metal ore seemed to somehow… absorb all the light around it. To call the substance 'black' was not nearly a powerful enough description; the rock was like… the definition of emptiness. Nothingness. Ellie felt as though if she touched the substance, she would be pulled into it, like a black hole or some endless void. If what Farren and Harker had said about the ore was true, perhaps touching it really was like that, with its effect of draining the life out of people.

"Pure, untouched Dark Matter." Ellie turned as Farren approached. "Quite the find. Though, perhaps the term 'pure' isn't the right word to use when describing such a dangerous, poisonous material. I'd avoid touching it with bare flesh, Eleanor, unless you want to end up unconscious on the floor in a matter of seconds."

"Right, right," Ellie nodded. She glanced at her arms; not much worry about that happening with her full-body armor. "So um, do I just mine it like normal or…"

"It should be fine to do so. The ore's just like any other material you mine, you just have to be careful around it."

Ellie nodded and turned back to the wall, pulling another of the disposable picks from her pouch. She took a precursory swing at the collection of ore, testing the strength of the metal. Her pick jerked wildly upon striking, nearly knocking the sword and shield user onto her back, cursing. Gah, this stuff was hard! She'd dug iron and Machalite out of the walls of ore veins, which had been a challenge, but this metal had to be twice as hard as either of them. Ellie gritted her teeth, pulling the pick over her shoulder and swinging it down on the vein. This time, the ore gave way a little, ripping out of the rock. A few small chunks of the black ore dropped to the floor, small jagged pieces that clacked across the hard ice.

Ellie glanced down at the pieces that had broken free. Such a small amount. As it was, it didn't seem as dangerous as the entire vein did. Cautiously, she reached down, picking up one of the shards and rolling it around in her hand. Almost immediately, she dropped it again, as a frigid, painful feeling seemed to creep even through her armor. Quickly, she pulled her glove off to examine her hand, and shivered at the sight. Her entire appendage was shockingly pale white, with the arteries and veins standing out brightly against skin. Ellie realized that her hand was somewhat numb, hardly reacting to her attempts to move it. But the color was coming back quickly enough, and the tingling feeling, though uncomfortable, meant that she was getting the feeling back in her hand.

"This stuff really is dangerous…"

"No kidding. That looks like it hurt." Ellie jumped at the sound of Levin's voice, her partner leaning over her shoulder. The hunter smirked at her surprise, earning a glare from her. The other hunters seemed to be halting their own efforts, collecting what they'd found and working their way towards where Ellie's vein was. Levin motioned to the pick, lying on the floor where Ellie had dropped it. "Want me to take a few swings for you while you recover? I'm pretty sure this vein of yours is the only one we're going to find here."

"Yeah, sure," Ellie replied, shaking her hand as the pins and needles continued to creep up and down her fingers. "I think it's going to be a little bit before I can do it myself, I think…"

"I thought as much," Levin replied, picking up the tool. "We might have to take turns, anyway, if this stuff is as hard as it looked. Let's see if I can…"

The switch axe user swung the pick at the vein, cracking it against the wall. He didn't seem to have any more luck than Ellie did, breaking through the thick material, once again only breaking off a few scattered shards of the stuff. That didn't seem to bode well for the hunters, since Levin had quite a bit more physical strength than Ellie after spending his time swinging around a great sword. If he couldn't break off much more than that per swing, collecting enough of the stuff for Farren was going to take a while.

And it really did. Levin was able to go at the ore vein long enough to pick off several handfuls of the black material before needing to stop and rest. Farren had been pleased though, claiming that the difficulty of the mining meant that the collection of Dark Metal was very untainted, which was good for him, if not for the hunters that were mining it. Ellie did some mining on the ore once her hand had feeling again, though her picks didn't last very long against the hard surface of the vein. Harker took a swing at it after Ellie was done, using one of the personally-made picks he'd brought along with him. It worked pretty well for a few swings, knocking off one really good chunk of ore, but it broke rather quickly, and rather explosively, sending springs and shards of metal flying in all directions clattering across the ice floor.

Kerry was the last one to take a swing at the ore, since Nox had neglected to bring his own picks. Levin was preparing to take another go at it as the bowgunner stepped up, figuring that they'd be at it for several more hours before they got enough Dark Metal to satisfy Farren. However, on the first swing, Kerry's blow smashed apart several chunks of stone and ice, and managed to dislodge a large chunk of ore that was roughly the same size as Ellie's items pouch, and weighing a good ten pounds. The second swing smashed against the ore vein and another couple chunks just as large broke free as well, clattering across the ground. Ellie and Levin and Nox gaped in shock at the collection of ore that the bowgunner carefully scooped into the bag Farren provided, before she grinned at the Lost.

"I'm fairly good at mining," she said. "The village I trained in had some fairly rare ores in the area around it, so I spent a lot of time working the mines for iron ore and Machalite."

"Okay, that makes sense," Ellie muttered. "But that rock was hard as hell! How'd you break it so quickly? And with the same useless picks that we were using?"

"Lady Kerrigan is being modest," Harker said with a grin. "Despite her pleasant-on-the-eyes appearance, my dear hunting partner here is quite physically powerful. I imagine hoisting around that heavy bowgun of hers has given her more than plentiful strength for things like this. She could probably wield that great sword you used to hoist around, Levin, without all that much effort, I think. She's dragged my butt back from more messy missions on several occasions at a pretty healthy pace on many occasions."

"Lucky for you, eh, beanpole?" Levin laughed, leaning down to pick up the bag of Dark Metal, dragging the open bag awkwardly over to the last few shards of ore. "Good thing she's strong, 'cause all you got going for you is your speed and dexterity. I saw you when you were helping unload the caravan back in Hearth. You were having a bit of trouble as I recall, even with some of the lighter stuff. I'm pretty sure even Miss Ellie's stronger than you in terms of strength."

"Eh, maybe so," Harker replied. "But then, strength isn't the only thing needed to become a good hunter. If it was, I'm fairly sure every local in the world would be capable of being a hunter. Whereas, somehow or another, I have what it takes to go out in the name of the Guild and take down the monsters that threated the safety of humanity in general."

"So all it takes is to be half-crazy with a penchant for mad science and creating abominations of chemistry using monster materials in your spare time?" Nox asked with a smirk. "That would make the Guild pretty interesting if you ask me, though I'm not sure how people would react to so much crazy in one place. A hundred people like Harker in one place, though… kinda scary, and I haven't even known him that long."

Ellie laughed at the thought, walking over to help Levin pile the last of the Dark Metal into the bag, picking the scraps up off the ground and quickly piling them into the bag. She had to move quickly to avoid feeling the painful touch of the ore, but after knowing what to expect, it was easier to avoid losing feeling in her hand this time through. There was a good thirty pounds of the ore in the bag when they were done with it, though, and Farren seemed satisfied with the haul.

"This should be plenty," the researcher said happily. "It's lucky you managed to find such an ample vein, Miss Eleanor, or it might have taken us several days to find all the ore we needed. No doubt Noi will be pleased that we made such good time. With this we can make a quick trip to those caves where the glowing lights were seen, figure out what's causing it, I'll take some notes, and we can make our way back to Hearth in good time, even with the Dark Metal weighing us down a bit."

"That's good," Levin nodded, trying to hoist the bag. It was heavier than he'd expected though, and the hunter tripped up a little and bumped into the wall behind him. "Ow. This stuff is really heavy. This is going to take some effort to-"

"Levin, watch out!" Nox suddenly shouted.

The switch axe user blinked in surprise, eyes darting around in search of danger. But Ellie caught what the other sword and shield user had seen: Levin's bump against the wall had loosened some of the icicles hanging from the ceiling of the cave they were in, and some looked perilously close to falling right down on the hunter. Immediately both Ellie and Nox rushed forward, grabbing Levin by the arms and pulling him away from the dropping ice blades.

But they weren't quick enough, and one of the sharper blades of ice crashed down, striking into the switch axe user's shoulder, tearing through the armor into the man's flesh and making Levin cry out in pain, dropping the bag of Dark Metal to the ground. The impact also made the man's legs buckle, and Ellie beloved partner dropped to the floor as the rest of the icicles fell and smashed on the ground around them. Ellie quickly rushed forward, holding herself over Levin and swinging her shield above the both of them, deflecting a pair of ice lances that would have dropped right on top of her partner. As the last of the icicles clattered across the floor of the cavern, Ellie finally turned back to check on her companion.

"Levin, are you-"

The sword and shield user's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the switch axe user. His face had gone a deathly pale, and his face looked like he would pass out, or vomit, at a moment's notice. The veins in his neck and throat seemed to stand out brightly against his skin. Immediately, fearfully, Ellie recognized the symptoms, and her eyes darted to the man's injured shoulder, where a trail of blood poured out from the wound. Sure enough, somehow when Levin had fallen backwards he had landed on the still-open bag of the Dark Metal, and a small, pencil-sized chunk of the ore had wedged itself right into the wound where the icicle had struck him in the shoulder. Immediately Ellie grabbed for the black ore, yanking it out of the wound and dropping it to the ground before pulling the switch axe user off of the bag and onto the ice floor.

Ellie winced as she glanced at the bag of Dark Metal; most of the ore had been painted with a spray of blood that poured out the switch axe user's shoulder from the impact of the icicle. The frigid mineral seemed to grow even more frightening to look at as the blood spread across the ore, changing it from an inky, terrible blackness to one of dark, ominous crimson with the same bleakness hiding just behind. Ellie turned away, forcing her attention back to Levin's injury, and removing the icicle from his shoulder.

By then, both Harker and Farren were next to the switch axe user, the former pulling gauze and other bandages from his pouch, while the latter took a place behind Levin to aid Ellie in removing the spike from the wound and quickly pour a potion down the hunter's throat. Levin was shivering quite a bit from the injury and the effects of the Dark Metal, not even making any sounds despite his wounds. After a quick look, the researcher motioned that the icicle, though sharp, was safe to pull out, though he ordered Harker to be quick with the bandages to prevent excessive blood loss. With a quick yank, the ice spear was pulled from Levin's shoulder, pulling a strangled gasp from the switch axe user, but Harker was quick with his hands, pulling open the scale chest plate to reveal the naked injury, and the bandages were on, gauze looping around the injuries a scarce moment after the removal of the ice.

If Ellie had every doubted Harker's words of being good with battlefield medicine, she believed them now. Though the work was rough, and something that would need further looking at upon returning to Hearth, the injury was stopped and covered very quickly, and there was hardly any sign of blood coming through the gauze. But Levin was still very pale and gaunt, shivering from the effects of the Dark Metal, if not the bite of the cold around him. He seemed to be improving a little from before, but still seemed very out of sorts, trying to struggle to his feet.

"Stupid… damn ore," the switch axe user muttered. "This kinda injury shouldn't slow me down. Damn it, that… that Dark Metal is soul-sucking. It's so cold… can one of you hand me a Hot Drink or something?"

"That's not a good idea, Levin," Nox suddenly said, catching Ellie's hand as she was reaching into her pouch for one of the aforementioned bottles. "I've seen some people that have come in contact with that ore. Hot Drinks won't help you, not with this. You'll just be wasting them, bottle by bottle. I'm afraid to say the best way is to simply wait out the effects until they wear off."

"There's got to be something we can do though," Kerry said worriedly. "Can't we start a fire or something?"

"Might be tricky with all the ice," Nox replied. "But we can try. See if we can't find a patch of rock or dirt or something where we can use to start a fire on. You know, to avoid melting the floor beneath us. That would be a little counterproductive, I think."

The other three hunters moved away from where Levin struggled to lean against the nearby wall. Ellie stayed near him, while Farren hurried to close the pouch of Dark Metal before such a thing could happen again. Ellie's eyes fell on the bag a moment before the researcher closed it, and she frowned in confusion. She was certain that she'd seen the ore covered in the switch axe user's blood before, but seeing it now, the stones seemed positively pristine, as though they had just been pulled from the vein a moment earlier, with only blackness and not a single drop of the crimson color. But for a fraction of a second, Ellie thought she saw a spot of blood on one of the buried shard of ore, but the metal seemed to… absorb the life fluid into itself, somehow sucking the blood into the pores of the ore and leaving the exterior of the metal clear. Ellie shivered at the sight. That couldn't have happened… she must've just imagined the ore covered in blood earlier after seeing Levin injured.

For some reason, she found Levin smirking as the others were off finding wood. He even was chuckling to himself lightly, despite his shivering and gaunt expression. Ellie looked at him worriedly. Was he hallucinating or something? She didn't exactly know the full extent of Dark Matter's effect on people; and did the ore have different effects on the Lost? She couldn't guess, and really didn't want to find out, with such a dangerous material. She carefully leaned over her companion, looking at him searchingly.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he replied, grinning. "Well, I've been better, I'll admit. I haven't felt this bad since… ah, since I go poisoned by that Gigginox back during the hunter's exam. But I'm feeling better, bit by bit. I guess the effects of the metal don't last long. Next time someone asks us to go out in search of Dark Matter, knock me out if I even think about agreeing."

"I'll remember that," Ellie smirked. "But that doesn't seem like enough to make you smile."

"Yeah, I guess not," Levin replied. Then he took a quick glance around the room, seeing where everyone else was, before turning back to Ellie and smirking. "It's just that, when they were talking earlier about finding a way to warm me up besides using Hot Drinks, I couldn't help but think of a couple things you could do to warm me up, though they might not be things that we could do with the others around. Just a fun thought that had some appeal for me."

Ellie's arm shot out, slugging her partner in the arm almost on pure instinct, making Levin laugh, even if it was a weak one. Ellie felt her ears burning at the words, but was grinning all the same; if he could make lewd suggestions like that, he obviously couldn't be too badly weakened by the Dark Metal.

"Too much, my dear Miss Ellie?" Levin laughed as the sword and shield user huffed indignantly.

"Just a touch," Ellie growled. But she glanced over as the other hunters were trying to light the fire, then turned back to Levin and lowered her voice. "However, if it'll warm you up a little, perhaps there is something I can do for you, if you don't mind the others seeing, that is?"

To Ellie's great pleasure, her companion actually reddened at the words. "You… you can't really mean… I mean, we shouldn't… you're joking, right?"

Ellie smirked victoriously. "Come on now, Mister Levin. Mind out of the gutter. What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"You… jeez, Ellie, you really know how to catch a guy off guard." Levin laughed quietly and grinned affectionately at her. "Just when I think I have you pegged…"

"I surprise you?" Ellie cut off, before leaning in to kiss him. Her partner jumped a little at the sudden show of affection, before reciprocating. The embrace lasted for several seconds, before the sword and shield user reluctantly pulled away, grinning at Levin's stunned expression.

"Well, that certainly warmed me up a bit," he admitted sheepishly.

"I'll bet it did." Ellie flinched at the sound of Nox's voice and turned to find the other sword and shield user strode up behind them. Ellie worriedly glanced behind him, but found Harker and Kerry still working to start up a fire on the ground, with poor success. "Oh, don't worry, I won't tell them. Though, if you need an excuse for more private time to yourselves for anything… more, I'm sure I could think of a decent cover story that would give you an hour or so for personal time. Or perhaps you'd want more time than that?"

Ellie found herself sputtering incoherently, face burning bright red at the words, before Levin put an arm around her shoulders and waved off the other hunter. "That won't be necessary, thanks."

"Suit yourself," the man grinned. "I came over to see how you were doing. It's looking like we're not going to be able to light a fire here. With you suffering from the aftereffects from the Dark Metal, it's probably best that we find a safe place to stay the night, and we'll head off towards the caves where the lights were seen tomorrow, provided your injuries aren't too terrible. Think you can make a trek a couple miles to a safer place than this?"

"Yeah, I should be fine," Levin replied, trying to push himself to his feet. However, his legs gave out from underneath him, forcing Ellie to catch him and support him as Levin clutched his injured shoulder. "Okay, maybe I'm a little more drained than I thought I was… but I should be able to get to a safe place. With a bit of help, of course."

"You sure?" Nox asked skeptically, getting a nod from Levin in reply. "Alright. There's a fairly safe cave not too far south of here. It's out of the Baggi's hunting area, and I've never seen Giggis or anything else going through them either, so it's probably our best option."

"Sounds good enough for me," Levin replied, letting Ellie help him stay standing.

"Let's head out then," Nox said, leading the group out of the cave.


Micah glanced up as the door in front of him slammed open. He glared as a pair of guards hobbled through the door, carrying some sort of large satchel between them. He was in one of the side rooms that he'd claimed for himself, reading one of the many hunting manuals that he'd managed to collect from Loc Lac the last time he'd visited the city, and every single guard knew that during the evening hours he spent his time reading through them, and was not to be disturbed. He'd made sure they knew.

But he blinked in surprise as Filcher strode in behind them, the towering man forced the bend over to get through the door. Micah had heard that the man had recently returned from his… 'mission' with Pugnax, so he'd known the man was back at base, but what caught the long sword user off guard was that the man's thick arm was in a sling, and one of his head had bandages wrapped around it, covering one of his dark eyes. The man's weapon was still slung over his back, and despite the durable materials that the weapon had been made out of, a good number of dings and scratches lined the weapon. His armor was in no better condition, several breaks and cuts covering most of the thick metal alloy.

"You look like you had fun," Micah smirked. The large man growled in reply, motioning the two guards to set whatever they were carrying on one of the many stone slab tables. The two obliged quickly, and with a sharp look from Micah, quickly vacated the area. Once the pair were gone, the hammer user glanced down in frustration at his injuries.

"The boy we went after wasn't fooled by the story the Boss wove together for him to tell. Nax and I had to resort to harsher measures," the man muttered, slumping into one of the room's chairs. Micah gave the man an odd look, and the bigger man grunted. "Nax. Pugnax said he preferred to be called that. I didn't care either way. Anyway, this Guild man, Richard, I think, he figured out that he was being fooled before we were ready to take him down. Nax was supposed to head out with him, waiting for the moment when he was vulnerable before signaling me, and then I'd come in and we'd take him down. The man knew it was coming though, and went along with it. I think he wanted to try and drop us both and drag us back to the Guild for questioning."

"How'd he catch on?" Micah asked.

"Who knows? Maybe the story the Boss whipped up wasn't strong enough to work. Maybe the man was sharper than we gave him credit for. That wouldn't surprise me; the man asked a lot of intelligent questions when Nax introduced himself at the inn we caught up to him at."

Micah waited. He'd worked with Filcher long enough to know he wasn't done yet. "But?"

Filcher scowled in anger. "But… I think Nax decided not to try very hard to convince the Guild's dog that he was a friend. I think he wanted the story to fail. I think he wanted to try sinking his teeth into fighting another hunter again. No sneak attacking, no backstabbing, just a head on assault. He's a reckless, dangerous man, that one."

"But the Guild man's no longer a problem, right?"

Filcher smirked wickedly. "Not anymore. He put up a good fight, though. I haven't been hurt in a pitched battle in… a long time now. It was fun to fight someone with real skill for a change. I think Nax might've taken a little more damage than me, but he's pretty quick with that shield of his. Good thing too: he may have died if he hadn't been. I think the dog's blade had some kind of poison on it; felt like I was catching frostbite or something when he nicked my arm. I'll need to look into that when I've got some time on my hands… Anyway, Nox may have wanted to be the one to drop that Guild man something fierce, but… heh, I had the pleasure of hitting the dog in the back of the head with my hammer after he broke my arm. Thought I was out of the fight for a minute or two. Now that was a satisfying feeling, I'll tell you that much."

"I'm sure," Micah muttered, shaking his head. Murderous, violent monsters. That's all he was surrounded by. Why couldn't Moloch afford to hire people that were more down to earth? More… sane? People though the Lost were mad, yet every single one of the locals that had been hired made Micah feel like he was in a psychological institution, trapped with the inmates. "Where's… Nax now? The infirmary?"

"No," Filcher replied. "Well, sort of. Whatever was on the dog's blade hit Nax pretty hard on the way back. Looked kinda sick to me, but he kept claiming he was fine. Guess we'll see. Our… coworker, Lilith, has decided to treat the man herself, as an opportunity to introduce herself."

Micah grimaced. "That psychotic banshee? Why? She's more apt to pour poison in his wounds than helping him heal… Actually, that kind of thing would be merciful for her. Didn't you tell her that the Boss wanted Nax to work with us? Alive?"

"I did. Don't worry. She's just heard the rumors about his… particular enjoyment of armed combat with other hunters, and thought she'd set out to size him up herself. Birds of a feather stick together, or something like that. I have to admit, the pair of them share the same enthusiasm for such work, though the boy is a little quieter about it out when the fights actually going."

"That's not encouraging," Micah groaned. Then he glanced over at the satchel the two guards had brought into the room, and his eyes caught on an ugly splotch of red that was spreading across the material from one side. At the sight he jumped in realization, much to the amusement of Filcher. "That… did you… is that the Guild man you went after?"

Filcher laughed. "No, no, though I'm surprised he's still alive after I hit him in the head as hard as I did. Thick skull or something, or maybe that old Rathalos armor of his is more durable than the modern design. They don't really make armors like they used to… No, that corpse there is another, shall we say, gift your little pet down in the cell blocks left behind during another escape attempt."

"What?" Micah gasped. "Nat? But… how? We've moved her and Kim to the strongest cells we have! The ones we don't even use for humans! And Richard is in another cellblock entirely! How did…"

"Couldn't tell you, boy," Filcher smirked. "Though, with fire like hers, I wouldn't mind seeing what she could do in a real fight. I caught her off guard when we brought her in, but perhaps she's a different kind of threat in battle now that she's been here awhile… Almost made it to the gates, her and her partner. Met her coming back from our mission, me and Nax did, my arm in a sling and the one we grabbed slung over my shoulder. Had to help the guards knock her out. If I'd been a few minutes later to come back, we might've had a real crisis on our hands, what with two escapees."

Micah groaned, dropping his face into his hands. This woman… out of all the psychopaths in the building, one of the only two sane people in the base was proving to be the biggest threat to their security.

"The Boss is getting antsy about those two," Filcher said, catching Micah's attention. "Wants to get rid of them, one way or another. They're proving too much of a liability, he says."

Micah stared at him. "Why are you telling me this?"

The big man shrugged. "Thought you might want to try and convince him otherwise, before he made his decision."

"Why? You don't like me."

"No, I don't. But… I know what kind of person you are."

"You don't-"

"But I do," Filcher cut him off. "You try to hide it, you try to be discreet. But I've seen it. Every one of the Lost has a type of madness, and I know what yours is. Possessiveness."

Micah sat stunned. How did he know? He couldn't… "That's not…"

"Not what it's called? Maybe that's not the right word for it. I don't know the right words for these things, but I know that's what you are. I've seen it. That sword you carry around. We've got hundreds of them, just like it. But you won't let anyone else use the one you use, even though there's a pile of them in the storage rooms. Same thing with your armor. Your food. Your books. Your room. Everything of yours. If you've claimed it, no one else can touch it, sully it, or even look at it if you had your way. That's what you've done with those two girls, haven't you? You've… claimed them, in your mind. You respect them, are intrigued by them, and maybe you're even attracted to them. That's why you don't like the old man using them for some of the bigger things. Even if it's him, you don't want them getting tossed around, not like the others we've brought in. That's why you make excuses for them, cover up for them, try to keep them from getting pulled in too far. Isn't it?"

Silence filled the room, and the two stared at each other. Micah felt sweat sliding down his face. Damn it! How had he been figured out? Damn this Lost madness! He hadn't been like this before… the damnable blue light!

"Again… why would you tell me this?" he muttered. "What do you gain from this?"

Filcher shrugged. "A favor, maybe? I don't know. Mostly, though, you're a decent hunter, and a passable partner. I don't like hunting with Lilith, and Nax is proving to be no less of an irritation. You're the easiest of them to hunt with, that's all. I figure if something happens to those two, it might… effect your work in the field. So I thought I'd fill you in. I don't want to spend the rest of this job out in the field with those two lunatics just because one of those girls met a messy end."

Micah was silent for a moment. "I don't…"

Before he could start, though, the hammer user got to his feet and strode to the door. "If you're going to thank me or something, save it. I'm doing this for myself. Just go do whatever it is you do to keep those girls alive. And try to be… I don't know, less crazy or something. I don't like depending on your sanity to keep a decent ally around."

"Right…" Micah muttered, as the man began to walk through the door. Then he remembered the body on the stone table. "Um, aren't you going to…"

"Body's your mess to deal with. After all, it was your pet that caused the trouble. I've got other work to do, anyway."

"Like what?"

Filcher turned and grinned wickedly. "I've got to go wake up our new recruit. I'm sure he'll be… delighted to know he has family here. I'm thinking of chaining the older one to the wall across from the younger. After all, our base is just the place for a reunion, don't you think?"

Micah grimaced as the man turned away and walked off laughing. He frowned as he looked again at the bloody bag in his room and shook his head. "Psychopaths… An entire base full of them… Just wonderful."


Author's Note: Please Review! This story is now working its way onto deviantArt! I decided to use my old profile (username is almanorigin), and just put all the old crap into storage. There's an old story I wrote… 2007 I think. It's worthless, but I'll leave it there. Posting a new chapter every Thursday there until it gets caught up with FF, then I'll post a new chapter on both sites when they're done.

Trying to make slightly shorter chapters that come out more often, so I avoid massive walls of test like the last chapter, which explains this chapter. It almost ended up being really long like chapter 28, before I realized it was getting along in words, so I found a cutoff point in the middle (this seems to be an increasing problem for me). The next chapter is already 9k+ words along, so expect it sooner than this one came out.

I hate to do this, but it seems that I must close OC submissions. I've simply received too many to put any more in the story, considering that the story has a set number of story arcs remaining. I suppose that I could put characters in as passerby, or people who get one or two paragraphs of mention, but I really can't do anymore than that. Sorry, folks, but the opportunity is over. Beyond the posting of this chapter, no more OCs will be accepted.

It seems like every few months, I roll on back to reading Hoshi no Samidare/The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer by Mizukami Satoshi all the way through again. It's proven to persistently be my favorite manga to read right after Full Metal Alchemist. I've said it before, but anyone who hasn't should really find a website to read it on and do so (my suggestion: tenmanga .com).

Every once in a while, I have a tendency to question whether or not I'm a decent writer. However, when I'm feeling that way, I have a way to make myself feel better. I go to a meme website called Fandom Base every couple days to look at nerdy art and other stuff, and the moderator has a weekly thing going on, aptly named 'Bad Fanfic Friday.' As you may have guessed, this is where he finds a really poorly written fanfic suggested by the viewers and posts the first few paragraphs (or just one paragraph when the writer forgets how to indent) on the site, as well as a link to the full thing. I rarely follow the link, but just reading what's posted is a sure-fire way of pulling my self-confidence back up when I'm feeling down. Any other writers out there should give it a try. This week's was a Twilight/Harry Potter crossover fic with ample Mary-Sue-ness emanating out of every pore; I'm sure you can imagine the full quality of the work on your own from there.

Reading: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, Hoshi no Samidare/The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer by Mizukami Satoshi
Playing: Minecraft, Mass Effect 3, BF3
Listening: CAKE, Gotye, Fun, Radical Face, Modest Mouse