A.N. It has been a long time since I have written something for Dark Cloud 2. I take that back - it has been a very long time since I have written something for Dark Cloud 2. I figured I'd give this little idea of mine a chance and wrote this rather quickly. I was surprised as I never write this quickly. Sure it is short, but oh well. There's a lot of violence in this, so you've been warned!

It had happened all before his eyes. The flying warship had spewed out billows of smoke as it was consumed by Gundor's mouth. He had stood there at the edge of the volcano's cliff, watching until he could no longer see the ship, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs the name of his partner. He wouldn't believe it—he couldn't believe it; Monica couldn't be dead!

He was unable to think of anything else.

Monica…

He was running as fast as he could.

Monica…!

The core of the volcano was right…

"Monica!" Max called out in panic as he burst into the volcano's core. His eyes hastily surveyed the area that was plagued with burning wreckage from the flying warship before catching sight of his unconscious partner and the evil man who stood above her. His sword was drawn and held over her chest.

Max was shaking from the hate and adrenaline flowing through his body. "Gaspard..." He murmured in hate as he burst into a frantic run towards him, "You bastard! Leave her alone!" He demanded. The area around him was blurred, his sight blocking out everything except for that man. Every step took him closer and closer, and now his wrench was at his side with a white-knuckle grip; but as he drew closer, so did the sword to Monica's chest.

Everything had slowed down. Max pulled back his wrench and readied himself to strike as he screamed, "No!"

He saw the spurt of blood come from her chest and heard her gasping cry as the sword pierced.

And then his wrench smashed into the side of the evil man and sent him skidding into the burning ground of the volcano. Max staggered from the overexertion that his attack put on his body, but he was able keep his balance by dropping his wrench. He was instantly at Monica's side.

"Monica!" Max screamed as he watched her now—her eyes wide open and wandering, her body trembling as she gurgled up the blood she was choking on. He couldn't do anything but watch her beautiful and delicate face become splattered with specks of blood from her mouth. His eyes wandered to the gruesome wound in the left side of her chest that was spilling life. His wide eyes returned to her face and found her own wide eyes that sparkled one last time before becoming dull. Her body had stopped all movement. The stain of life on her clothing had ceased growing and a final drop of it escaped the corner of her agape mouth.

His shaking hand slowly and unsteadily reached out towards her face. He caressed her pale cheek.

And then he heard laughing.

"Is this the first time you've lost someone dear to you, boy?"

Max didn't budge.

"How weak, just like her father." Gaspard grunted at the end of his comment and he leaned in on his damaged side. He readied his sword and burst into a dash. "And now you'll be joining them!" He swung his sword after closing the distance, but Max had nimbly moved out of the way. Although he dodged, the blade had caught against Max's side, but he almost didn't feel it because of the state he was in. Once again there was distance between the two. Gaspard took note of the wrench on the ground next to him, and he kicked it behind him, further away from his opponent.

Max rose to his feet, his head down and his bangs covering his face. His eyes took in the burning ground, his dirty pants, his two empty hands, the red stone at his chest that was glistening from the lava and burning wreckage around him, and his holstered gun. He was still in shock, unable to fully comprehend what was going on. His body sensed danger but his conscious wasn't responding. Like a machine, his hand mechanically grasped the gun and pulled it from the holster. After staring at the gun for a moment, his body registered: weapon; and then all of a sudden his mind kicked his body into overdrive and his senses came back to him. He thrust the gun out in front of him and pulled the trigger repeatedly and screamed, "I'll kill you!"

The energy pellets were too fast for Gaspard to get away unscathed—he took a hit to his shoulder and forearm. He had made the mistake of taking his eyes off of Max as he dodged, and before he could locate his opponent again, was hit in his hand, knee, and his already wounded side from more energy pellets. The hit to his hand caused him to drop his sword. Max was circling around him from quite a distance away and firing relentlessly. Gaspard kept his eyes plastered on his opponent this time, and was able to successfully dodge the energy pellets. It was a continuous process as Max kept quickly moving in the arc motion around him, until finally reaching his destination. He fired his last energy pellet before reaching down and picking up the heavy wrench weapon at his feet. Shoving the wrench under his arm, Max unlatched the top of his gun, pulled the empty canister out, reached into the satchel at his side, pulled out an identical canister, shoved it into the gun, and latched it shut. He then took the wrench into his right hand again.

"Guess you're not so wet-behind-the ears…" Gaspard stated as he spat up bloody saliva. It evaporated instantly upon contact with the ground of the volcano. He reached down and picked up his sword in his woundless hand.

Max charged towards Gaspard, shooting crazily as he did. Gaspard moved his body in conjunction with using his blade to dodge or deflect the energy pellets. One of the pellets was deflected back at Max, but adrenaline-enhanced reflexes moved his head out of the way far before the energy pellet was anywhere near him.

When the distance was closed, Max jumped and spiraled his body to gain momentum for his attack. Gaspard went to move out of the way, but his singed knee gave out on him and he collapsed to one foot. Unable to evade, Gaspard grasped his sword with both hands and held it out in front of him defensively. Max's wrench came crashing down on his blade with a roaring clash. Gaspard's heavily wounded side gave out on him and his torso's firm stance collapsed. His signed arm faltered as well. His eyes widened as he watched his sword torn from his grip, slammed into the ground, and snapped in half like a twig as Max's wrench smashed into it full-force. He could see Max's legs as he landed right in front of him; Max's knees buckled slightly. He saw the wrench come into view, both of Max's hands gripping the handle. Then Max jumped again, bringing his wrench up with him and performing a brutal uppercut that slammed into the chin of the evil man, snapping his neck upwards and sending his body airborne.

Max landed on his feet and watched as Gaspard's limp body landed in a heap a few feet from him. A white-knuckle grip formed between Max's hand and his wrench. He ran like a madman towards Gaspard's body and slammed his wrench into the helpless man's stomach. He then dropped his wrench and kneeled atop the man, slamming his fists repeatedly and mercilessly into the man's face.

"You bastard!" Max yelled. He kept punching the paralyzed man whose eyes showed very little life. "You killed her!" He let loose another punch. "You killed her!" He repeated in fury, this time his hands grasping at the man's hair and pulling his head forward. "You killed Monica!" He screamed into the man's face and then banged the man's head against the ground of the volcano. He let out another punch. "Monica is dead because of you!" He couldn't stand to see the man's pleading eyes. Max gouged his fingers into both of the man's eyes. "You…Monica…" Max's furious screaming had died down to sobbing cries and he softly pounded his bloody fist against the dead man's forehead.

He rolled off of the corpse and laid on his back, staring up into the large tunnel above him that led to the mouth of the volcano. Tears streamed down his face. His head turned to the side and took in the view of Monica's body that was lying motionless and away from him. Max stood and stumbled his way over to her body, collapsing as he finally reached her. His hand went to his side, and he could feel blood.

"I couldn't save you…" The boy murmured as he reached out and tenderly took her hand in his own. He gazed into her lifeless eyes for a moment before slowly reaching his other hand out and closing her eyelids, blocking her beautiful ruby eyes from the world forever. His hand went from her eyelids and into her red hair, the soft strands brushing against his fingers. "I couldn't save you." He repeated as he scooped her body up into his arms and held her against him. Her head was resting on his shoulder and he rested his head on top of hers and breathed in her scent. He sat there with her limp body in his arms as he continued to get weaker and weaker himself.

But he wouldn't die here.

He wouldn't let himself die.

Not yet.

Not until he paid with his life.

A.N. Tragedies are awesome! Don't you agree? Since I feel like the final line in this story may be a bit confusing: "he" and "his" are referring to Griffon. I hope you enjoyed! Review, comment, rate - do whatever you please.