Forty Years of This [Monster Hunter World]

Chapter 25

The Commander fell asleep with the Quartermaster at his side. It wasn't every night they slept together, but he treasured the nights they did. He liked the Quartermaster's striped pajamas, how they made the man seem somehow even taller, and how he'd worn the same pajamas for at least a decade. He liked the peaceful nights where all they did was sleep and hold each other. He liked the chill nights most of all where the Quartermaster would wrap the Commander around him like a blanket.

That night, he awoke to a sudden clamor as the Quartermaster leapt out of bed and tackled a hulking figure in the doorway. The Admiral cried out, and after the moment of recognition, the Quartermaster hopped backwards away from him.

"What the hell?" The Quartermaster threw up his hands.

"Why did you attack me?" The Admiral, a shadow in the moonlight, sulked by the doorway.

"There's suddenly a very large figure in the room while we're asleep, and you're asking why I attacked you?"

"I could have been anyone. I could have been your kid."

"I know what she sounds like." There was a sudden venom in the Quartermaster's voice.

The Commander saw something in his partner's hand, the silhouette of a knife, and jogging himself awake he turned and flicked on the oil lamp. True enough, the Quartermaster was setting a blade down on the end table.

"Admiral," the Commander cut in. "What are you doing here, and why didn't you knock?"

"I didn't think I had to." He shrugged. "I've known you since we were kids. I didn't think your boyfriend would jump me. I didn't know your boyfriend was here." The Quartermaster's typically stony face shifted into a snarl, and for a moment the Commander thought he might attack again.

"Look, forget that. Don't do it again. Why are you here?" The Commander blinked the sleep from his eyes. The Admiral was still in his hunting gear and grimey like he'd just come back from a hunt. He was pretending to be relaxed, but the Commander could see the anxiety in his posture. How he held his arms across his chest. How he canted his head in a fake grin. The Quartermaster was shirtless in his striped pajama bottoms. The scars under his chest were paler than before, but they still stood out like proud marks. Though he'd relaxed from the Admiral's intrusion, he was still on alert. He was still stiff, shifting. His weight was on the balls of his feet even as he sat back on the bed. There was an uncharacteristic suspicion and hatred in his eyes as he glanced from the Admiral to the window and back again.

"Because I saw a great black wyvern out there. One I do not know, and one that that chilled me to the core. There was an intelligence to the beast. I locked eyes with it, and it seemed to laugh. In that moment, I knew that even I couldn't take it on."

"You woke me up and scared the hell out of my boyfriend to tell me you saw a new elder dragon? You couldn't have knocked?"

"This is serious, Commander."

"Look, ███████, write down everything, then bring it to me tomorrow morning. I'm not going to remember anything while I'm laying in bed struggling to stay awake." He turned to his partner and ran his hand down the man's back. "You alright? You look like you're thinking of ways to hide a body."

"Jagras pack." The Quartermaster nodded to himself. "I'm just on edge is all." Even as he spoke, the Quartermaster seemed to deflate and relax.

"Good. Admiral?" The Commander slowly began to rise out of bed. He reached for a cane he kept for the mornings before he dressed with the brace, then leaned on it to stand. "Write it down while's it's fresh. We can talk tomorrow. Let me show you out."

The Admiral offered his arm, but the Commander ignored it. He didn't need it when he had the cane, and leaning on someone was far more difficult than most people realized. It was easiest when he was in control of his support and mobility, and there were very few people who could actually accurately predict how to move to support him if and when he needed it. The Admiral, for as much as his friend loved him, was not one of those people.

His daughter scampered away from the doorway as soon as the two men reached it, but when they passed, she was right back in the Commander's room grilling the Quartermaster on what had happened. He could hear the two talking and, to his surprise, the Quartermaster taking the blame for the ruckus. When the Commander and the Admiral were in the hallway of the of the barracks, they stopped.

"Don't just show up like that again. Knock first."

"I get it." A huff.

"It had to have been more than just a hunch though. What's got you so worried about this black dragon?" He leaned against the wall and looked up at the Admiral who shook his shaggy head.

"Instinct. Intuition. Whatever you want to call it. That monster is a hunter like us, and it goes for game much bigger than itself, just like we do. It's both kin and a threat."

"A threat to the commission? To Astera?"

"I don't know."

"You're the first person to report a sighting. We've been here for fifteen years."

"We don't know how large the new world is yet, and we've barely made any real progress with mapping the island. Tracker is the only one to have gone beyond the ridge, and she says the lands are so strange and wild she never wants to leave."

"And where did you see it?"

"On the ridge. I was trying to find another passage through when I saw it perched on one of the pillars like a magnificent beast surveying its lands."

"Write it down. Draw it, if you can." The Commander dragged a hand over his face. "I'll see you first thing tomorrow, or whenever you get up."

"Your Quartermaster is a fighter." The Admiral stared forward with a mix of approval and wariness in his expression.

The Commander sighed at the prospect of a long conversation. "Write your report. I'm going to bed." And having cut the conversation short, he turned and went back to his quarters where both his partner and his child were waiting up for him. With a little reassurance that all was well and that the Admiral would not be surprising anyone again, the three went back to pass the night in sleep.