Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Thirty-Six: Complications

Nia couldn't get it out of her head. A whole week had passed, which was unfortunately not enough time that Granport may become too suspicious of their hunt ending as poorly as it had, especially given the lack of any at-the-ready support teams on account of how sudden this whole quest was, but the shock of what she had to do was still with her. Sitting in the chair next to Sariko, who now had been moved to a slightly more comfortable patient's bed, turned onto her back, and propped almost sitting up on a number of pillows, Nia stared down at her hands, which had long since been cleaned. Yet, when she closed her eyes, she could practically see all of the blood that had covered them by time she had finished her part of the operation. In every moment of relative quiet, she could still faintly hear Sariko's absolutely heart-wrenching screams of pain echo unhindered through her thoughts, shuddering her to her very core. It all made her feel sick.

She had spent this whole time waiting for Sariko to awake in this very room, only leaving when it was humanly impossible not to, though she was always swift to return to her friend's side. She had even slept in this room, though she did not sleep often, or for very long, or very well. After all, the very sights and sounds that were haunting her now were far, far more vivid in her dreams than they were in her waking hours. At this point, Nia had become certain that the only thing to alleviate what she was going through now was to see Sariko well again, even though she had no doubts that the nightmares she had gained from this experience would still stick with her in some capacity or another for some time. Yet, this mental imagery was not even the worst of what plagued her since Sariko was injured.

That would be what she could only describe as a looming sense of horrific emptiness.

In the past several days, Nia had quite a lot of time to think about her inability, or perhaps subconscious unwillingness, to easily picture a future where her friend did not survive this, only seeing darkness. Perhaps fortunately, said darkness wasn't as literal as Nia first thought during those initial few hours of panic; In fact, with enough effort, she actually could bring herself to envision it, though the unpleasantness, uncertainty, and her overall opposition against it all was enough to make those thoughts extremely brief. Rather, that darkness was more akin to a feeling that something was being taken away, not just from her life, but from her very being. It was like the sudden, jarring threat of her best friend possibly losing her life had violently ripped a part of Nia from where it was supposed to be, that part only kept from being lost entirely by the hope that Sariko might still survive this. Yet, in the gap that this part of her occupied, though it was only partially revealed, there was a shadowy emptiness that terrified her to her core, every part of her demanding that it be filled back in, lest that void grab hold of her and drag her into the darkness kicking and screaming.

Worst of all, that emptiness somehow felt alarmingly familiar to her.

"Ni... Nia?", a voice muttered out, to which Nia was quick to whip her gaze towards Sariko, laying eyes on her face for the first time since she carried her friend into this building. When she saw Sariko's own eyes, now finally open again, staring wearily and quite groggily into her own before scanning the room with clear confusion, she could not help but cry joyfully and laugh impulsively, if not exhaustedly. "Y-yes! Yes, it's me, Sariko!", she spoke out in response, beyond glad to finally see her friend start to recover, to physically feel that emptiness seal up not insignificantly, before Sariko began to inquire slowly and confusedly, "Wha... Where am I? What... happened? I... last thing I remember, I... We were fighting the... Nergigante, I think? And I... saw you get hit, and then... I...". Soon, Sariko slowly went silent, a measure of clarity as to why she wasn't remembering much after such a sight returning to her as she grew more and more awake, before continuing dejectedly, "Oh... What did I do?". In response, Nia drew in a deep breath and explained upon the exhale, doing so with a mixture of joy and nervous apprehension, "You... you took a thorn from that dragon straight through the back of your neck. I'm told it missed your spine and throat by... less than an inch... You lost a whole lot of blood too, but... we got you to a doctor. She was the only person still in the village, would you believe that? She... We... I'm just so glad you're doing okay now". After a moment of silence, Sariko slowly reached her right hand out of the light blanket that laid on top of her and up to her neck, feeling the stitches that were there. Soon after this, she attempted to turn her head to look fully towards Nia, only to wince in pain and turn back to facing forward as soon as her neck twisted. "Oh, what in the world is wrong with me?", Sariko muttered abruptly, "I see you get hurt and next thing I know, I let all this happen".