Quick Author Notes:

This is based on the first Heart-to-Heart you can do in Xenoblade Chronicles, and one of two in the game you can do without affinity building.

Also, in this Shulk will refer to Fiora as "Firi", because not only is it cute as a childhood nickname, based on how I write him, it makes more sense that he would have had trouble saying her full name coherently when he was younger.

Shulk and Fiora are about seven, and Dunban is around nineteen

Xenochildren: Midnight Escape

It was quite late at night. Nearing midnight if anyone was really paying attention. Unfortunately that really changed the situation at hand. Dunban was shouting at his little sister, clearing ticked off with something she might have said or done. Not only was little Fiora getting a stern talking to, but her friend Shulk was also getting a lecture by the Defence Force soldier. This plan obviously backfired because the small children started crying by the older brother's loud yelling before taking off and leaving the house. Being younger and full of energy despite the time of night, it was easy for them to run quite far and away from the entrance to the colony.

After a few minutes of running the two find themselves at Outlook Park. It's very quiet and there's only a small bit of light shining from the Ether lamps nearby. Both children sit down on the bench under the central tree to finish their crying spells before they try and figure out what to do.

Breaking the silence Fiora lets out a small hiccup as she speaks. "Big, dumb, meanie. Why does he think he has all the power in the world? He's not our daddy."

Near silence follows as Shulk is still crying and not willing to speak.

"Ever since he got in the military he's never been home… I just want to have fun like he does. He gets to go to Colony 6 and see all the cool stuff while I'm stuck here."

Shulk finally ceases his tears and quietly whispers. "Maybe… maybe he just wants you to be safe Firi."

The young girl sighs as she wipes a remaining tear from her best friend's eye. She hadn't meant to get him in trouble with her brother, so she feels like it's her fault he's out there with her. Maybe the two can sneak into Reyn's place after things calm down. Then again, he probably locked the house because he's so small and he wants to feel a little bit safer at night after what happened to his parents last year. So the only option left is to wait out the night here in the park.

About an hour passes in silence before Fiora decides to speak again, trying to pass the time a bit.

"Hey Shulk." She starts, getting her friend's attention as he fiddles with his shorts. "What do you when you grow up?"

Shulk takes a second to think about this before answering. "I… I think I want to be an engineer. Mr. Dickson said that's what my mum and dad were. I want to build things that can help him and Dunban fight those stupid Mechon."

"Wow, that sounds cool! Do you think you'll ever be as good as your parents?"

"I… would hope so. Mr. Dickson never mentioned though how good they were… he just showed me about four really thick books full of all their notes." The boy pauses to keep himself from crying, remembering that he barely escaped their final expedition. "He said they travelled a lot in search of machines from the past to use today, and they wrote down everything. I hope to look through those notes someday. Especially any about that red shiny sword in the Military District."

Fiora leans on her friend's shoulder to show some support as he tries to block the memory of losing his family. "I think I want to be a cook when I get older. All of mum's old recipes give me a lot of inspiration. That, and someone needs to feed my brother sometimes. He can't even make toast."

Both children laugh a little remembering the last time Dunban attempted making breakfast for them. That ended quite horribly when he burnt the toast and just let his little sister take care of making the rest of the food instead. Thankfully the small girl was able to fix such delicious meals. Or, at least what she is able to accurately judge from Reyn devouring everything on his plate all the time and Dunban always asking for seconds. She hopes eventually Shulk will be able to better judge when something is good or not, as he'll eat whatever is put in front of him, even if it's Dunban's cooking.

The two continue talking for a while before Fiora starts to get a little tired and starts rambling out whatever comes to mind without even thinking. It's getting to be close to about three in the morning and both children are starting to feel the need to try and sleep. Yet, neither wants to fall asleep first because they want to make sure the other is comfortable.

Shulk leans his head on Fiora gently as she snuggles up next to him, her arms around his torso. She looked so comfortable like that, like her friend was a pillow, or her favorite doll.

"Hey, Firi?" The boy asks as he wraps an arm around his best friend and rests his head on hers. "What do you want to do in the morning?"

A quiet yawn. "Maybe go fishing… invite Reyn… bring sandwiches…"

She was rambling again at this point due to being so tired. Frankly Shulk wanted to doze off too, and he could feel his eyes getting heavy as the spell of sleep started to wash over him. Yet he didn't want to fall asleep before he knew Fiora was out cold too. Considering how she was still talking, it was safe to assume she had a little energy left to go.

"Shulk?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I be your bride… when we get older? … like… yaaawn… Dunban's age…? I… want to… marry…"

Fiora didn't have a chance to finish that sentence before her breathing evened out and she truly fell asleep. Thankfully for her Shulk was just as tired and dozed off just as quickly as she did without another word. Maybe in the morning they can sort out their situation, but now is the time for both children to rest.

Ending notes:

I swear the cuteness of these things will either kill me or rot my teeth worse than Canadian maple syrup did to my braces. Regardless, I tried to incorporate as much as I could based on the information you get from all four routes of that heart-to-heart, that's why Fiora both mentions the fishing and wanting to be Shulk's bride. (By the way, the Colony 9 Night theme on loop helped write this one.)

I hope you enjoyed, favorites, and reviews are greatly appreciated!