Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Monster Hunter, only how the story goes. The characters and world of Monster Hunter belongs to Capcom. The only thing that I do own are the OC's of the story. I do apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: I understand if there wasn't much of Jacob trying to tend to the Lagiacrus' broken heart. I do apologize and hope to rectify it with this chapter.

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Chapter Thirty-Seven: Trying His Best

After a great deal of swimming, Jacob made it back to shore of the New World. He panted as he pulled himself onto land again. His muscles burned from such a long swim and he needed to take a moment to catch his breath. He cast a glance back to see if the Lagiacrus was still out there, but from the look of it, she had dived down into the sea again. With a sigh, Jacob moved to where he wouldn't provoke the Kestodon into attacking him and moved to get to the boat.

After reaching the vessel, Jacob put his clothes back on and then went up to the bow of the boat. He looked out to the sea, but still didn't see any sign of the Lagiacrus anywhere. His belly rumbled and decided to get some food. He knew that he was low on fish and decided to do a little fishing for himself. Grabbing his dagger and shield, Jacob left to get started.

…

Walking into the shaded part of the forest, Jacob looked around for any sticks lying about or he would cut some off the trees. He preferred this way as when he loaded the sticks into his slinger, he could fish that way. He found a few sticks on the ground and started to use his knife to sharpen the ends. When he felt that they were ready, Jacob applied one to his slinger and started to make his way back to the sea.

When he came to the top of the slope, Jacob saw that it was completely crowded by the Kestodon, a good number of males and females. While some of the males were picking fights with one another, there were a few who were away from the group. A male rubbed up against a female and she turned and bellowed at him. Having a feeling about what was about to happen, Jacob shook his head and turned away, "Nope, don't need to see any of that."

The teen then remembered the cove where the poachers were and thought that some fish might be there now that the ship was gone. He started making his way to that cove to fish for his meal.

…

After a quick trek across the Ancient Forest, down the hill and Jacob found himself on the beach once more. Looking around, the spot looked like it hadn't been touched by the poachers days beforehand. Another rumble from his stomach returned his focus back to the waters before him. He looked around for any signs of fish and saw a few fins poking near the surface of the water. When he saw the backs of the aquatic creatures raise out of the water a bit, Jacob saw that they were good sized fish that would feed him well.

He heard the sounds of great splashes, growls and small groans nearby and wondered what was going on. It caused the fish to get spooked and dive underneath the water, making Jacob wait until they came back up again. Looking further out to sea, Jacob saw the Lagiacrus swimming about chasing after something. It appeared to be one of those sea creatures that he had mistaken for her earlier. The Lagiacrus jumped out of the water and tried to catch it with her jaws, but the sea animal managed to move out of the way by diving down. The Leviathan landed with a big splash before raising her head from the water and looking around for her prey.

Jacob kept close to the trees to avoid being seen by her just in case she was still ticked off with him. The Lagiacrus gave a frustrated roar before looking around again. The sea animal popped it's head from the water a good distance behind her. When she looked in the animal's direction, the Leviathan roared at it before giving chase again. The sea critter gave a startled yelp before swimming off to escape its chaser.

They both disappeared under the waves and Jacob thought it to be safe to come out into the open. Stepping closer to the edge of the shore, Jacob stayed low and waited to see if the fish would pop up again. They eventually did, but close to some rocks a good deal away. Glancing to where he last saw them, the teen made his way over to the rocks and carefully stepped out to where he could see the fish. The water was a little deeper around the rocks and Jacob could see the fish swimming about. Some of them started to swim close to the rock he was on. It was then that a thought crossed his mind; if he managed to hook his sharpened sticks into a fish, the smell of the blood would likely attract the Lagiacrus or anything else close to the cove.

Knowing he would need to act fast, Jacob aimed his loaded slinger at one of the fish and waited to take the shot. When the fish got close enough, Jacob fired the sharpened stick and it struck home in the fish's side. Blood leaked from the wound and Jacob moved to get it out of the water.

…

A little further out and down below in the ocean, the Lagiacrus was still chasing after the sea animal. But after lunging at it with her teeth, it managed to move out of the way at the last second and she collided against a rock. The Lagiacrus turned her head in the direction it was going and gave a frustrated huff that her hunting wasn't going well.

She was about to give chase again when she stopped and caught a sudden scent. The smell of blood was hardly anything new to her, but it was coming in the direction of shore. Thinking that something might have become an easy catch for her, the Leviathan turned in the direction of the blood.

…

Jacob got the fish out of the water when he looked out to the sea to see a shape moving towards him. Straining to lift the fish, he put all he had into moving as he had a feeling that it was the Lagiacrus, he started dragging the fish across the rocks and headed for the trees.

Jacob barely made it in the trees and up the hill a little when the Lagiacrus' head rose near the rocks. He was a little nervous as he hid behind some brush and pulled the fish with him. Peeking out from the foliage, Jacob watched as the Lagiacrus looked about the for the source of the blood, but didn't see it anywhere. Jacob knew that it may only be a matter of time before she sees any of the fishes blood on the rocks and the trail towards the trees. He carefully made his way up the hill and hoped that he wouldn't draw her attention to him. When he was far enough up the hill, the sound of a loud roar made him look back to see her roaring in frustration again. The Lagiacrus gave a snort before turning and diving back down into the ocean. He watched her go before she fully disappeared once again.

The wheels in his mind and the struggle in his heart caused Jacob to think about her. He knew that she wasn't wanting him around, but Jacob had the feeling that her grief and anger were causing her to lose focus on the hunt. He hoped that he wouldn't have to do it too much, but Jacob thought that maybe he could give her a hand. But first he needed to put his fish away first so something wouldn't get to it. He continued to carry it to the camp so he could put it in the chest until later.

…

It took some time to get the fish up the hill and into the chest before he returned to the cove. Looking around the tree, Jacob saw the Lagiacrus now laying down on the beach, basking in the sun. He saw that she wasn't sleeping, evident by her turning her head and creating a groove in the sand each time she did.

Moving behind the tree, Jacob tried to think of what to do. He thought she might just be resting after her hunting attempts, but her on the beach complicates things. The Lagiacrus is too proud to allow him to hunt for her, especially if she sees him. The sounds of snuffling came from deeper in the woods and Jacob thought that those pigs might be around.

An idea came to him and Jacob moved to find the large swine. The sounds of snorting didn't sound too far from him and Jacob soon came upon a trio of them amongst the trees. He was really surprised to see that these three were much smaller than the ones he had with the Rath family, Grumper and Boltia the other day. But no matter the size, it would have to do if he was going to help the Lagiacrus.

Looking down, he saw some rocks laying on the ground and figured that those would work out for him. Sneaking around the hogs, Jacob loaded his slinger with a rock. His plan was a simple one; scare the hogs towards the Lagiacrus and she might be able to get one, especially if it were to run in the water. Moving a good distance and making sure he was facing towards the beach, he aimed his slinger behind the three little pigs and fired it at the ground. It seemed to do the trick as the pigs were startled and ran away from where the rock struck. Jacob started running after them. Quickly loading his slinger again while trying to keep pace with them, Jacob shot once to the left when they started to turn to keep them on track. When they started to veer to the right, Jacob shot another rock that way. Jacob made sure to keep after them until he saw the beach dead ahead and fired the last rock at the group. The stone smacked against the third swine's rear and with a squeal of panic from the poor creature, it caused all three of them to run much faster.

They rushed out of the trees and onto the beach while Jacob slowed his pace and stopped within the tree line. He watched as two of the pigs raced towards the water while the third one stopped halfway. Jacob watched as the other two kept running until they were splashing about in the water. While they didn't go too far to where they needed to swim, they did make a lot of noise. It was enough to draw the Lagiacrus' attention when she raised her head from the sand. She turned her head in the pigs' direction and saw the two moving about in the shallows.

Jacob waited to see if she would go after them, but sighed when she turned her head away and moved off into the ocean. The two pigs returned to drier land and calmed down from their run. The third hog rejoined them as they snuffled and snorted along the beach.

Turning to leave himself, Jacob cast a glance just as the Lagiacrus' dermal spikes disappeared underneath the water. With another sigh, he started the walk back to camp to prepare the fish that he caught for himself.

…

After cutting up the fish into something much more carriable, Jacob built a fire in the little oven to let the meat cook in it. As the flames started to grow, his thoughts once again drifted back to the Lagiacrus. He wished that he could give the Lagiacrus some of this, but he thought that she wouldn't take to something like this. He was beginning to wonder if he should have left the fish for her to begin with. Feeling a little lost on what to do, Jacob glanced up to the sky and prayed, "Lord, please help me to figure out a way to help my friend. She's hurting because of what happened to her.

"She just really needs someone to be there for her. And please watch over us all." He sighed and ended the prayer with a bow of his head, "Amen."

Jacob then placed the cut fish into the oven and waited for it to finish cooking.

…

After an hour or so waiting for his meal to cook Jacob tried a piece and thought it to be done. He ate the meal then and there as he continued to be lost in thought.

…

It was hours later after he had returned to the boat when he saw her coming back. Jacob was sitting on the bow of the boat when he saw a shape gliding through the water towards the little island. The Lagiacrus pulled herself up onto the rock and laid something down in the middle of the island. Jacob was curious about what she had and went to go get the binoculars.

When he got them, he returned to the deck and looked down at the island. The Lagiacrus had coiled her body around what she had brought. He couldn't see much with her in the way, but when he raised the binoculars into place, he saw that she was wrapping around something round. Lowering the binoculars, Jacob really hoped that they weren't the eggs of another creature. Glancing up with a worried look he said, "I really don't want have to play Solomon here."

He turned his gaze back down to the island and saw that she was lightly nuzzling the round things. Raising the binoculars again, he adjusted them to try and get a better look. They looked gray in appearance, like rocks, but he couldn't be sure. Jacob wondered just what those things were and planned to try and take a closer look when the Leviathan left.

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Author's Note: I think I'll end the chapter here. Thanks to my friend lukas-sx-luki-2001's input, I made some necessary changes to Chapter 1, which I had intended to do beforehand but hadn't gotten around to it and added a little more content to the Song of the Seas story arc. I do hope that these new chapters will add more excitement to the story, and I'll try to get started on the next story arc. However, I will not be making much changes to the next couple of chapters after the next one. I would like to have done multiple chapters, but a big one felt just as good to me. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See you all next time.