First of all, I would like to thank everyone for reading this story. I know I'm usually the type to write hilarious and lightheaded disclaimers and parodies for my stories. But this time, I won't. Why you may ask? Well somebody in my family passed away and before that someone left us…
Well, I promised I would write something to honor his memory. Grandpa, may you rest in peace.
Disclaimer: I do not own Xenoblade Chronicles, or any of its characters. If I did I would have probably given Melia a chance to be with Shulk but, you know…
A Night at Valak Mountain
It was an unkindly bitter night at Valak Mountain, where two lonely travelers tried making their way through the icy storm. Shulk and Melia were out breath after traveling for 3 days without rest after they heard some clues about the whereabouts of Melia's human mother, yet they had to wrap things up beforehand since they had a prior appointment in a week and a half.
Riki, had asked his friends before they went back to their lives to celebrate a festival with him and his family called the Nopon New Moon Festival held only once a year. Shulk and Melia had to oblige without any hesitation after being pressured by the others in the group and a promise to Fiora of spending time together but, thus far the plan wasn't going as planned. "I can hardly believe I haven't been able to finish this list after so many months…" The girl sighed as she stared at a small piece of paper she had been holding on to for a long time.
"Things to do for the next year…" Melia pondered over and over on her head as she stared at the brittle piece of paper hardly believing how much pain a small piece of paper could cause on his heart.
"But what do I want to do?" The girl groaned under her breath. "I've been looking for months for Mother…"
"My brethren have been sent to the brink of extinction and I cannot help but watch!" The girl solemnly cried in silence as the tears froze on her pail skin and her eyes swollen.
Shulk, genuinely worried about his precious friend, asked "Uh, Melia, are you feeling alright?"
Melia, in her current state, replied halfheartedly with a whisper, "I am fine, Shulk. Do not worry about me; I can take care of myself."
Shulk sighed and shrugged as he kept close to his partner noticing how her clothes seemed not very comfortable for the extreme weather and less than useful to cross around an artic Mountain in the middle of the night.
"Ughh…" The proud princess coughed as she made her way through the freezing air of the northern mountains. "I cannot begin to quiver about such nonsense; it is time to press on!" The young girl repeated to herself over and over again completely ignoring whatever her partner was trying to tell him.
"..est?" Was the only thing the silver-haired maiden heard.
"I beg your pardon, Shulk?" Melia Antiqua answered trying to hide her sore throat with one of her smiles.
"I said," the young scientist sigh looking straight to her eyes, "that you look very much pale and if you were feeling fine to keep on or you needed to rest for a while…" He said placing a hand on the blushing girl.
"N- Not at all!" She easily dismissed her friend's worries. "We must meet with the others in three days back at the Nopon Village for the Nopon New Moon Festival, have you already forgotten all about it?"
"It's not that, Melia." Shulk casually chuckled taking out a blanket out of his backpack and putting it over Melia's cold shoulders.
"No, I am fine. I can keep going. Let us hurry onwards," Melia replied giving back the blanket and turning to the path ahead.
"What I mean, is that I don't want you to get your health in danger for a Festival…" The blond swordsman commented as they kept on their way back to Magnar Forest. "Oh, Shulk, if you only knew that the reason I'm doing this is just so you and Fiora can have a day alone…" The proud princess sniffed as she turned her flushed face from her partner.
"It still puzzles me how meaningful this festival is for the Nopon, don't you agree Melia?" Shulk continued as he tried to make her partner forget the shivers up her spine.
"Still, I do not grasp the meaning of a celebration for a whole new solar cycle…" She laughed as her eyes began getting drowsy under the cold blanket of ice. "Either way, we made a promise to our comrades to come back before the party and I have the full intention to keep that promise."
"Melia, you're always so strict with yourself you hardly give yourself a rest!" Shulk chuckled taking off his jacket and placing it over the princess's shoulders. "I understand we have to get there but, what good would it make if you come back and cannot even enjoy the festival?" The blond teen gently patted the maiden's back with a gentle smile on his face.
"I guess a small rest won't do us any harm if you see it fit, Shulk." The girl sighed in defeat after the persuasive speech from her mate. "But just for a moment, alright?"
"Trust me we will leave here in no time," the young man smiled placing their belongings under the protection of a tree, "I'll go and get some wood to lit a fire and get something to eat."
"I'll then wait for you here, Shulk." Melia announced as she summoned her powers and made a barrier to keep enemies and the weather out as she set forth to create a small shelter under the tree.
"My heart aches, Mother." The young girl coughed as she turned to the bright starlight above her head. "Why is it that Shulk decided to accompany me in my personal mission?" Was he only trying to fulfill what he had promised to her? "Does he ever think of me…?"
"Yet," Melia felt as if her chest pressed harder on her lungs, "I promised I would not be the reason he would not able to be with his beloved."
"Mom, Shulk, Fiora…" Melia closed her eyes as the fever she was suffering took the last of her strength and the mild form of pneumonia she somewhat had struggled to hide from her worrisome partner left her fainted in the midst of the storm. "Please, forgive my weak heart…"
A couple of hours later a tired Shulk came back carrying a stack of wood with a grin on his face since he could see from afar a small snow shelter where he had left Melia and for the looks it seemed to be very sturdy and warm, "at least we won't be cold today, huh?" He muttered to nobody in particular as he pushed himself into the small shelter.
"Melia, I'm back!" The blond swordsman called as he entered the small shelter and found himself staring at the pale frame of his friend stiff on a corner of the room.
"Melia!" Shulk drop the wood as he embraced his friend and took his gloves off. "Wake up! Melia! Listen to me!" The young man begged as he shook her body.
"Melia…" A soft voice called the princess as she opened her eyes and found herself inside of one the palace gardens once again.
"Where…" The girl mumbled. "Why am I here…?" She yelped as she looked through the glass of the garden and found herself face to face to a lively Alcamoth thriving with life and people.
"Oh, so you're awake, Melia…" The young maiden turned her face to find a familiar face that made her skip a beat or two.
"Kallian…?" The girl cried as she hugged her brother and let her tears flow freely on her cheeks washing away her pain as the love she felt from her company overflowed her heart.
"I thought you were dead," the princess smiled between sobs of happiness, "I thought I was all alone again nowhere to turn, no one to go to…"
"But Melia," the man smiled at her and carelessly touched her cheek, "you are stronger than this and you've never been the type to give up, have you?"
"Oh, Kallian…" The girl sighed taking a seat in one of the garden's benches. "How am I to keep on going? Without a home without a friend without a face to deem me worth of living…"
"Melia, dear, you have never been forsaken." The man chuckled as he took a seat beside her. "Your friends have always been right beside you…"
"I don't trust to confide in them as I used to since I've seen them move forward…" A slight bit of bitterness could be hint in her tone as she muttered those words. "Moved forward indeed, moved to a good ending to their tidings." She chuckled as her eyes drift far away to the sunny sky shining over her head.
"What do you mean, Sister?" His brother gently patted the princess's shoulder as she came back to her senses.
"Haven't you seen? The happiness on their eyes?" The young maiden stood up of her seat as she stared back at the beautiful scenery in front of her eyes. "The fulfillment in their determination and their plentiful lives they've had in just a couple of years?"
"It is indeed true." His brother placed his arm over Melia's shoulder. "I am grateful though, that they have changed our world breaking all the barriers that existed between our races…"
"But me?" Melia snapped her head back to look at his brother's eyes with boiling anger and despair. "What's there to be glad about? My family was murdered in an instant, my people are in shambles and in panic of the shadows of the past to come and haunt us once again." The young maiden hiccupped trying to hide her tears whose bright gleam shine like silver rivers on her rosy cheeks.
"Alone…?" His brother whimsically answered as she forced a small smile on her dry mouth.
"But now that you are here I know my night is near," the girl shook her head as she extended her hand towards his brother, "you've come to take me with you, have you not, dear brother?" The girl sighed with relief as she found herself face to face to the gates of death.
"Now I can finally make believe he's here, my beloved, my first and my only…" The young girl whispered under her breath just loud enough for Shulk to hear her last words and jolt on his knees.
"You cannot leave yet, Melia!"Shulk vehemently shook Melia's cold body as her eyes started to cover with tears and his sight became blurry. "Don't you have something to live for?" The young swordsman begged as his hug became more and more intense as if he was trying to drag Melia's soul back from wherever she might be.
"Are you denying me peace now, Kallian?" The girl hoarsely coughed as Shulk dragged the frail princess close to the fire. "I guess you're right; I cannot just abandon my duties as a princess."
"That's not it, Melia!" Shulk yelled as he turned to his dear friend whose eyes seemed far away from him, from everyone…
"You should live for yourself!" He demanded as he himself felt Melia's pain. "For those you hold dear, for those you love! You must live!" Shulk whispered to the princess's ears hoping those last words would reach her.
"Do you want to know a secret, Kallian?" Melia sullenly chuckled staring right into Shulk's blue eyes. "I do have someone I cherish, someone special to me…"
"See?" Shulk resigned to the fact his friend somehow had confused him with her late brother. "You still have much to live with your special one, Sister!" The blonde teen blushed at the last word since he considered that making her belief he was her brother might not be very prudent. Yet again, the whole situation was critical and it seemed to be the best way to keep his comrade conscious thus far.
"Oh, Kallian, it would indeed be my greatest treasure to be with whom I found most dear in thy world." She gently turned to his brother whose condescending smile made Melia pout a little. "But his heart belongs to someone else, to someone I also consider very important to me…"
"So he does not return those feelings?" The man inquired as he raised an amused eyebrow to his sister.
"No, I believe he does not." She stated flatly turning her bright green eyes to the flowers in the garden. "Oh, these chrysanthemums are the most gorgeous I've ever seen! Come closer Kallian! Can you smell it?" The young maiden summoned his brother with the outmost excitement on her face. "Just like Mother used to plant…" Melia thought to herself as his brother came closer to her side.
"Trying to avoid the subject, I presume?" Kallian's teal eyes passed through his sister's obvious intentions. "Just let me tell you something, Melia…
"If you believe and thoust have not tried," the young prince pointed at the small withering blossom in a corner of the garden, "your heart could become like that brittle blossom that never grew to be as wonderful and marvelous as the one in front of you…" Melia swallowed hard as she heard her brother's advice with her undivided attention.
"They are truly gorgeous…" The man commented as Melia tried with all her might to snap out of her gloomy trail of thoughts.
"But not everything is so dull, dear Brother." The girl chuckled staring at the flowers with hope on her eyes. "Sometimes I walk alone at night when everybody else is sleeping…" She casually commented as she picked one of the flowers of the garden.
"Good riddance for the tired minds and for self-reflection, I suppose…" The man looked at his sister with worried eyes while she nodded with her head.
"I use my time to think of him and then I'm happy," she sighed as she placed the flower on her brother's hair, "remembering his company and as the lights of the city go to bed I can be with him inside my dreams…"
"Melia, but how can you live just between dreams and illusions?" The man beside her commented with aggravated tone of voice. "Don't you wish to know what would happen if he knew…?"
"I don't need to I can still live, on my own as I've always had." The girl bit her lower lip as a thin line of blood flowed from the bite. "Because, only on my own I can live pretending he's beside me; only when I'm by myself I can walk with him until the next sunrise comes…"
"Please, Melia, just stop…" Shulk cried out in anguish as his trembling arms hugged his friend trying to get her back from her fever. "You don't need to do that to be happy if you gave yourself a chance with the one you love!"
"But Kallian, it's when I'm without him that I can feel his arms around me," the convalescent girl retorted with a faint smile on her face as she let herself into the warm hug in which Shulk had her. "And just like the first time we crossed paths and lost my way back, I close my eyes every night to turn around and see that he has found me at last…"
"Let me ask you this then, Melia." Kallian solemnly walked towards Melia as the sunny morning in Alcamoth came to an end and the starry night came to sight in the brink of an eye. "So after all this is just a dream…" The young maiden gazed up far beyond the glass dome of the gardens and far beyond the stars.
"If living in a dream where the pavement shines like silver and I'm with you is enough for you," the man growled in frustration and pointed his finger to the outside dome. "Do you regret meeting all your friends?" As he said that Melia found herself towering above her own body down to a crying crowd of people wearing black gowns and suits as her peaceful body wreak the audience in painful cries of agony.
And as she turned to her coffin she could see the grim silhouette of a lonely blond teen staring at the nothingness, not uttering a word or anything. And as she sat beside him, he could see her friends crying on another bench all in their own antics trying to keep her memory alive: She could clearly see Riki assuring everyone in the gang that he was in no way hungry; meanwhile, Dumband and Fiora paid their respects to her and pray in silence.
Lastly, Sharla seemed too entranced by a letter she was reading while her tears flowed from her eyes and Reyn had to take her out of the room for some fresh air. As he did that, Shulk would shake his head and sighed mumbling, "I should have never let her read that paper…"
"Melia, I'm sorry…" Shulk bitterly cried as he seemed to look right at her for a moment. "Can you see it now, Melia? The one you love?" He contently dried his tears as he approached to one of the room's windows.
"Is it you the reason all the lights are misty in the river?" The young man inquired as he turned to the bleach scenery of that foggy night. "I can still remember that time you said that the darkness from Satorl Marsh made the trees seem as if they were full of starlight, can you see them where you're now?"
"Oh, Shulk, yes!" The girl cried as she felt the wretchedness in which Shulk was in. "Please, look at me I'm right here!"
"But you're not, Sister…" Kallian suddenly appeared from nowhere with a gentle smile on his face. "After all, you are happier in your dreams, correct?"
"A place where you see yourself with him forever and forever…" The man gently offered his hand to his sister as they walked back to the gentle summer breeze of the palace gardens.
"I know it's only in my mind," the proud heir to the throne sobbed under the comfort of his brother, "that I'm talking to myself and not to him, but what if I'm not wanted?" She abruptly jolted of her brother's arms.
"And what if you are?" His brother childishly ruffled the girl's hair as she blushed in embarrassment.
"What if I do not convey my feelings properly to him?" Melia suddenly found herself hyperventilating on her own thought as his brother just gave her a reassuring smile.
"What would you say of practicing your confession with me?" Kallian proposed nonchalantly as he extended his own hand to a shocked Melia. "Do not worry about your performance. After all, it is not as if I could tell anyone about it…"
"I guess you are right." The girl finally agreed as she gave herself to her brother naggings. "I just cannot do it when it's you, brother…"
"Then how about this, Melia…?" The naïve teen thought for a moment as he stared at the ill frame of his friend. "Why don't you try closing your eyes for a second…?"
"Like this?" The girl obediently closed her teary eyes as Shulk nodded with his head without realizing in the moment she could not see him.
"Exactly like that!" He chirped and rejoiced as he could see the fever coming down from her forehead. "Now, I want you to think about the one you love with all of your might!"
"Alright." She monotonously responded as she tried to imagine Shulk's face on her head giving her one of his warmest smiles. "Shulk, would you look at me? Just this time? I have something I need to tell you…"
"Now, open them!" A familiar voice called with a gleeful and inviting tone.
"Shulk!" The girl snapped her eyes open as she could hardly belief what was in front of her, a teary and content blond teen smiling at her with all the passion of his heart. "I cannot believe it's actually working!" She smiled back at the boy as she tried to pull herself up just to be stopped by her partner.
"Not yet, Melia." Her friend advised her as she shook her head and laughed. "You're still weak and with a fever, you know?"
"Oh, Shulk…" The girl chuckled as she turned to him with hesitation in her eyes. "Dream or no dream, it's still very terrifying what I'm about to do…"
"Shulk," the young man turned to see his partner as she reached forward towards him, "there is something I have to say to you…"
"Melia, you should rest first." The young swordsman suggested as he placed a warm blanket over her shoulders. "We can talk about is later, we have all the time of the world!"
"Do we really? We do not!" Melia unexpectedly jumped from her seat and toppled over the blanket lying right on top of a flustered Shulk. "Shulk there is something I have to say and although I know that you are blind about these feelings I have been harboring all this time I've been with you…"
"Me-Melia…" Shulk stuttered completely taken aback with his friend's sudden change. "You are not well!" He explained to a pale Melia who could just shake her head in immediate response.
"It's true!" She chuckled as she tried to push some of her bangs of her head from covering her head. "I am ill! I've been lovesick for a long time now, if I may say so myself…"
"C'mon, Melia! It's just the fever talking…" Shulk tried fruitlessly to push Melia from on top of him as she just smiled at him. "You're sick and you are not acting like your normal self."
"Yes, indeed, you're right Shulk." She quietly moved away from him as she retired to a corner of the small dome. "But, you know what, Shulk?" The blonde teen turned ashamed of his harsh behavior just to find his partner smiling once again at him.
"I love you!" She chuckled as tears running down from her swollen eyes. "And though I know that when this night is over you'll be gone I wanted you to know that you will always have the key to my heart…" She wobbled on her seat as she slowly dropped to one side of the wall.
"Yes, yes indeed…" The girl smiled as she was taken back again by the fever. "Even if I'm without him, even if he rejects me, even if the world around me changes, even if one day he passes away before my time comes, even if I find myself completely on my own and the streets are full of strangers…"
"Mamma, papa, brother…" She muttered under her breath. "I said it! I finally said! I finally told him I love him…"
"Yes, you did." The pale frame of Shulk stared at the sleeping girl's head on his legs. "She told me she loves, but what should I do now…?" Shulk fearfully realized how wrongly he had treated Melia all this time after he and Fiora had started frequenting each other as more than friends.
"Would you care to listen to this spirit's words of wisdom?" An unfamiliar voice responded making Shulk snap out of his thoughts.
"Who are you?" Shulk skeptically turned to see his guest with his mouth open.
"You've been acting on my behalf all this time and you forget about me so easily?" The translucent silhouette of Kallian Antiqua moved closer to him and knelt in front of his sister. "I apologize to appear like this all of a sudden, but I was very much concerned about Melia's welfare…"
"B-But you're…" Shulk's voice became less than a whispered as he tried to rationalize things inside his head. "How are you here…?"
"Truthfully?" The man smiled back at Shulk. "I do not have the faintest idea, but every day I'm learning that even my little sister here has the courage and the blood of the Antiquas' inside of her to fight thru any adversity, whether the illness may be physical or emotional…"
"I have to be completely frank, but there were a couple of times I felt like she was leaving me…" Shulk turned trying not to look that much distraught at the thought of losing Melia.
"But you did not give up on her, did you?" The blonde boy shook his head as he stared at the sleeping Melia. "That's why when Father and I left we knew she was in great hands…"
"Yeah…" Shulk monotonously responded thinking back to Fiora and the arising new situation with Melia.
"Do you hate her?" Kallian broke the silence that transpired between the two of us since his arrival.
"Never!" Shulk immediately responded with a loud yell. "Ever since she became part of my life I've only been trying to fill the void in her heart as her friend and confidant, but even as a friend I've failed as I never suspected anything of her feelings towards me…"
"Am I fool for not figuring it out earlier?" Shulk looked back at the spirit seating across the warm fire on the shelter. "Or am I simply a monster…?"
"Listen, Shulk you are neither a fool nor a villain." Kallian assured Shulk with a smile. "But the truth is now that you know it, what are you planning to do?"
"I don't know…" Shulk sighed totally wrapped on his own thoughts. "Whatever shall I do?"
"Whatever your decision might be," Kallian stood up walking towards the exit, "you must take it without me…"
"I guess..." The boy simply groaned trying to decipher his own feelings at the moment.
"I'll just say that you don't have be with her," The man turned one last time to look at her sister, "but, if you don't hate her perhaps giving her a chance?"
"A chance…?" The blonde swordsman repeated inside his head.
"Well, that's all I have to say!" The man walked outside the shelter. "May we meet again someday, Shulk!"
"We sure will, Kallian!"
"I guess your brother is right, Melia." Shulk casually stroke Melia's head in a new light. "I won't promise anything, but today I'm looking just at you, my Melia…"
"I love you." Melia mumbled on her sleep. "And who knows, maybe a chance isn't so bad…" Shulk mused himself remembering all the times he had spent with Melia throughout their journeys.
"Good night, Melia." Shulk whispered into her ear and he looked down onto her rosy cheeks he gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.
The next morning Melia woke up to find herself comfortably wrapped around the arms of Shulk and with a jolt she tried pushing him away with her arms. "I see you…" The blond mumbled on his sleep not letting her go. "Oh, Shulk, if you just realized it's just me not Fiora…"
The girl gloomily watched outside to the bright morning rays and with a quick glance to her sleeping partner strode out of the small shelter with a blanket on her shoulders and a piece of paper on her hands.
"Melia…" The boy slowly opened his eyes trying to find his… "What is she now…?" Shulk rubbed his hands on his forehead as he left the shelter to find a silver-haired girl walking back towards him with a gentle smile on her shining green eyes.
"A lovely morning, is it not?" Melia said releasing a satisfactory sigh and bowing in front of her friend. "I cannot recall what exactly transpired last night, Shulk, but whatever the case I'm grateful that you took the outmost care for my welfare."
"Of course! It was only the fever…"Shulk finally gave a deep breath and smiled back at her. "Don't worry Melia you were very quiet and it is always my pleasure to help a friend!" "It was obvious the fever made her delusional, I mean, she could never fall for someone like me… could she?"
"I just came from a close by geyser," the young girl pointed towards a hill close to their position, "you should take a shower as well before we get to Maknar Forest, Shulk!" Melia suggested as she took out a piece of paper from her pocket and stared at it intently.
"What is that piece of paper, Melia?" Shulk looked closer to her friend's hand holding what seemed to be a list.
"Do you recall the list of wishes for the Nopon Festival?" Shulk perked up as he nodded back at his friend. "Well, I finally finished my list! Do you want to see it?" The girl gladly gave her friend the paper to his care.
Things to do for the next year, by Melia Antiqua:
Ask Fiora to teach me how to cook desserts
Take a day to go fishing with Reyn
Shopping with Sharla… (Been postponing this for far too long!)
Teach Dumban how to appreciate horticulture a bit more!
Thank Shulk for been with me
Find my own courage
Visit my Father and Brother's grave
Fight for the good of my people
Find Mother!
Never stop dreaming!
Make my dreams possible and take my chance!
Tell him I love him! That I have always loved him even if it has only been on my own!
As the young boy read the last three things on the list he could not avoid but to blush and avoiding the girl's innocent smile gave the paper back to her and ran towards the geyser saying he really needed a bath. "One day, Shulk, one day I'll take my chance…"
"Oh, before I leave, Melia…" Shulk stopped on his tracks and turned to a surprised girl.
"Good for you! You cannot give up until you try!" He said trying to fake his own ignorance about the whole event. "I will cheer for you all the way as long as I'm here with you, Ok?"
"I'll take your word on that." The girl turned her head trying to hide the blush on her cheeks from her partner. "Now, take that shower because you certainly need it!"
"Then I'm off!" Shulk chuckled as he walked away from his friend with smile grin on his face. "Chances, huh? I should take one myself once in a while, don't you think?" The young teen mused himself as he thought that just like Sharla once had said and he have learned during his journey, "maybe the future is not set on stone…"
I hope you really enjoyed this piece. And if you think this One-shot deserves a small sequel through Fiora's eyes when Melia and Shulk come back together from the mountain to the Festival, please PM me or leave a comment on my story. Just remember, like the story said:
I'm not trying to force Melia with Shulk, I'm merely trying to give her a "Good Ending" and not an incomplete one. And well, if you don't understand Kallian's relevance in this story…
I'll know you didn't read my Author's Block at the beginning of my story.