Author notes: Despite being written so late in the series, this is canonically the first "Xenochildren" in the series.

Shulk is just barely 4, Fiora and Reyn are 5
Mumkhar and Dunban are 17, and Dickson is about 31

Xenochildren: First Meeting

Colony 9 was a bustling community on the back of the Bionis' right calf. Despite the area that it's located in, the Colony was known for having one of the largest Defence Forces outside the famed Colony 6 on the Bionis' Leg. Located in this specific Defence Force complex was this legendary sword known as 'the Monado'. It was discovered by a local man who went by the name of Dickson, he was always travelling around and finding things so that wasn't really too much a surprise to anyone. What was a surprise is that when he had returned from his most recent trip to a place called 'Valak Mountain' he was carrying a small child.

This child was very small, especially for the age Dickson claimed them to be, somewhere around the age of four. The child hadn't said a word since the older Homs found them, so it wasn't going to be until much later that he learned the child was a little boy. Not only that, he was a crybaby to boot. No matter what Dickson attempted, the child would simply bawl and scream about missing his parents. It didn't help that he didn't remember his name, or even where he came from to return him to his proper Colony. Dickson had ended up becoming the boy's caretaker, at least while he was still in Colony 9 for the time being.

While the residents of Colony 9 had at least heard the rumors of the small child being brought in, not many actually had the chance to see him. It wouldn't be for another few months before he was brought out into the open so he could go to school. Dickson did have worries that the child would be bullied due to being an outsider as well as just being so small, but there wasn't any other options for him.

About two weeks pass since Dickson first enrolled the child in school, under a made-up name of 'Shulk', and the older Homs would be talking with his two Defence Force buddies, native Dunban and the refugee Mumkhar, about the boy.

"The kid doesn't like to talk, I'll give him that much." The blond says as he lights up a cigar.

Dunban narrows his eyes. "Understandably so, I wouldn't talk to you either if you just picked me up off the side of a mountain and brought me somewhere I didn't know."

"I don't think it helped you flat out told the boy his parents were dead to his face." Mumkhar added as he crossed his arms.

It was a few more minutes before the bell of the school could be heard going off. The reason the three men were even gathered was so they could wait for Fiora and Shulk to get to the central plaza so they could be taken home for the day. Things didn't necessarily go to plan though.

About five minutes passed before a young red haired mother would come strolling down the bridge, a crying Shulk in one arm, and her son holding her other hand. Fiora was walking alongside them as she was going the same way. The mother soon stopped in front of the three men at the plaza and sighed.

"My son accidentally ran into this little boy." She said as she set down the blond. "He's been crying since and there's nothing I've been able to do."

Dickson sighed as he tossed his cigar to the ground and crushed it under his heel. "The kid's a crybaby, nothing calms him down Amleia. I know from experience."

Dunban watched as his little sister sat down next to Shulk and enveloped him in a hug. Based on how his knees and face were scraped up, there was no doubt that he was pushed over into the ground. Amleia's son, who went by Reyn, was always rough and careless. It wasn't a surprise to everyone he 'accidentally' hurt the kid. What was surprising is that he was curled into a ball on the ground as Fiora tried to get the other to stop crying, judging on that his father probably scolded him again.

The crying boy persisted for another few minutes before Dunban finally walked over and picked Shulk up.

"Hi there." He said softly as he stroked Shulk's hair gently. "Are you friends with my sister? My name is Dunban."

The blond's screaming ceased and he looked at the older man holding him. "F-friends…?"

"Yes, that means you're really nice and like to play with Fiora. She's told me a lot about you. You live with my friend Dickson." He continued, seeing that talking to him is calming him down a little.

Shulk finally stopped crying as he looked at the little girl who was hugging her brother's leg. It was true that in these past couple weeks she's been the only one that hasn't either ignored him or picked on him. He figured that she'd be considered a friend at the very least. Carefully he was put down so he could look at Fiora, but he simply just sat down on the ground. Thankfully the blonde decided to join him and smiled.

Dickson cocked an eyebrow seeing that Dunban just simply talking to the boy calmed him down enough to stop crying. Amleia decided to use this opportunity to have Reyn apologize for knocking Shulk over, even if he was still pouting off to the side. It took a bit, but she finally coaxed her son into walking over to the other. He really didn't want to because he was one of those few kids that actually picked on him all the time.

Shulk looked at Reyn and almost started crying again, knowing he always made fun of how small he was. Thankfully before that happened the redhead muttered an apology and turned around so he could run home. He felt guilty because he got caught hurting the boy and he already knew his mother was unhappy with his behavior. Fiora brought her friend into a hug after the redhead left and looked at Dunban asking if he could come over and play. Seeing as how this might keep the boy happy, the Defence Force recruit said yes.

Amleia sighed apologizing for the trouble her son caused before dismissing herself. She could be heard saying something about how Reyn wasn't going to get dessert tonight, and maybe lose his privileges on staying up later on a Friday night due to this.

It's a rocky start, but clearly Shulk has met at least one person that he'll be able to consider a friend. In addition to that, he's finally brought Reyn's behavior to attention and maybe he'll end up becoming friends with him too. There was no way to tell at this point in time, but Dunban and Dickson had a fairly good feeling about that one.

End Notes:

1. I wasn't sure how I was going to write this, so that's why I held off until now with explaining how the Colony 9 trio even met.

2. The reason I say Dickson made up the name for Shulk is because as far as I've been able to tell, Shulk himself remembers next to nothing about his childhood, he doesn't even really remember his own parents so I doubt he would have remembered his own name.

3. I hope you enjoy the name I gave Reyn's mother as this is the only time I'm probably going to bring it up.