14/06/22: Rewind your clocks, everyone, it's flashback hour! This time with fifty percent less misery, I promise.
The air tasted of salt. When the waves crashed against the shore, they had a different tune to them. In Shulk's memory, these sand beaches and coral bushes had emitted a quiet tranquillity, like a song for half-forgotten times. But the surfs that swapped against his boots now had an entire ocean of force behind them.
These days, the Eryth Sea rather warranted the term Eryth Bay. With the dawn of the new world, large sections of the cliffsides that had once encapsulated the sweet-water sea had vanished, and what had once crowned the head of Bionis now peeped out of the larger ocean before Colony 9, half-submerged but as beautiful as ever.
Melia took a deep breath next to Shulk. Her hands tightened around her staff; not her ceremonial empress staff but the one Shulk had built for her.
He stepped forward to ask whether she was alright, but the look she gave him then was answer enough. Despite the longing, despite the overwhelm of familiar sights, she would carry on.
Her boots left imprints on the wet sand. Shulk followed.
On their search for marine marble, they walked along the shores. The marble would restore another broken statue in Alcamoth; another piece returned to how it had once functioned. The rebuilding of Alcamoth was their endless quest, and each trip Shulk and Melia had taken towards the caves of the Bionis' Shoulder or the outskirts of Colony 9 had served to bring the quest a little closer to completion. After five years, they had no end in sight.
But Shulk liked it this way. He liked the certainty that every time he and Melia wandered through Alcamoth's parcs, another errand waited for them, another Nopon asked them to fetch a lost memento or another High Entia needed materials for their personal mission to return liveliness to Alcamoth. Every time Shulk activated Junks' engine and Melia took up her place on the controls beside him, past and future ceased to exist. Only this little trip on their endless quest mattered.
And Shulk liked it this way.
The search for marine marble took them this way and that. Once in a while, a massive Carbon Tude snapped its jaws and crawled towards them in search for a fight. But an elemental orb or a few slashes with the Monado Rex+ dealt with any obstacles.
Like this, Shulk and Melia hopped from island to island. They listened to the cries of the Ekidnos far above. They let the tide determine their direction.
Melia turned towards Shulk every now and again and smiled. How often had they walked along these beaches together, back in the old world and now in the new one? A trail of footprints each time, soon swallowed by restless waves. How many hours had they swum through these waters while stars in the brightest colours fell in swarms from the night sky?
On the coastlines of the Eryth Sea, with the sand tickling in their shoes, it was easy to remember. Even if the air now tasted of salt. Even if many of the floating islands had sunken to sea level, and the others had disappeared from sight or from this world altogether.
Yes, even if each breath no longer brimmed with ether energy, it was easy to dive into the comfort of shared memories. And the more Melia smiled, the more often Shulk found himself returning the favour.
With a satisfied nod, he shoved the ninth piece of marine marble into his bag. Central Seal Island may no longer hover in the sky, but its impressive architecture still had a few crumbs of lose material to spare. One more to go. The sun neared the cliffs, but daylight should carve out the coastlines long enough to find the missing piece if they maintained their pace.
"Any preferences on where we should try our luck next?" Shulk asked.
Melia's eyes travelled across the small landmasses amidst the sea. "We have not yet searched the Sleeping Dragon Isle. It may be far from any High Entia structures that would have used marine marble, but I would prefer to first look there instead of the deeper waters."
"Are you still uncertain about your swim skills?"
Melia lowered her gaze. "I haven't had many opportunities to practice in the past years…"
"Hey, I don't mind going for the island instead. My shoes just dried and I would like to keep it that way for a bit."
Melia's smile carried a silent 'thank you'; Shulk had studied her face often enough to understand as much.
So, instead of the open sea, they opted for the rickety footbridge that protruded out into the waves. The disappearance of islands had long upset Eryth Sea's teleporter system to the point of total collapse. To make up for the loss, a few crafty High Entia like Jarack, who favoured the peaceful Eryth Sea over a return to Alcamoth, had built bridges in resemblance to those that had once spanned the canyon of Makna Forest.
The available material, however, could not compete with the forces of the tides. As such, the crooked collection of posts and planks ahead inspired little confidence. It groaned almost as often as it creaked. But the bridge beat the alternative, that was to say an extended bath with a shoal of territorial Sol Gradies.
Shulk tested the first planks. Like with other footbridges they had crossed before, the construct swayed but held firm.
"It seems safe enough." He waved Melia forward.
"Then let us waste no more time," she said and stepped onto the jetty.
The dry feet Shulk had wished for, however, did not hold out long. The waves crashed against the bridge posts and splashed foam onto the planks on a regular basis. Each step became a sliding and slipping not unlike the icy slopes of Valak Mountain. But they overcame that terrain trickery too.
About halfway across then, the prophesised Sol Gradies picked up on their presence. Their bright yellow fins sliced through the water's surface, and in spectacular formations, they vaulted the footbridge ahead. If they had intended to intimidate, their little show missed the mark. Each time they jumped, droplets fountained into the air, swirled and obscured and cast miniature rainbows over the bridge.
The spectacle might only last a moment, soon the Sol Gradies might dive back down, the water surface might return to its plain self, the sun would surely disappear behind the cliffs and take the colourful reflections with it. But for this one short moment, Shulk had all the reasons to marvel at this world.
It was beautiful.
Faintly, he felt the thrill of discovery send a chill down his spine. A ghost of the awe with which he had regarded each new location on Bionis, places he had only heard about from Dickson from a campfire tale here and a lecture there. The trees of Satorl Marsh which at night bore ether particles like illuminous fruit or the grand Makna Falls glistering in the sun. And now a shoal of Sol Gradies jumping out of the water as if they hoped to gain flight.
Melia chuckled. To catch a better view, she stepped forward. On the narrow footbridge, they now stood close enough for Shulk to hear her excited breath over the gurgling of the water.
Again, the Gradies soared, and each droplet they catapulted upwards was an orange ether crystal in the setting sun. Shulk giggled, and he could not narrow down why. But in this moment, he was convinced that if he stretched out a hand, he could capture and hold this moment forever.
He dropped his guard. No wonder then that a Grady ceased the opportunity.
The creature abandoned all reserve and vaulted the footbridge right in front of Shulk and Melia. The surprise fuelled both their laughter; even a shoal of Gradies could deal them little damage. Shulk shielded his eyes from the spray water and tripped on the slippery plank. He reeled.
Melia's smile vanished in panic, and she jumped forward to grab his wrist. For a moment, they remained there in a state of rickety balance.
Then Shulk lost the remainder of his footing and pulled her with him into the waves. So much for his dry feet.
Blue stones shimmered in the sand below. Shulk's hand dug into the ground, and then he treaded water to muddle his surroundings, above and below, with bubbles climbing upwards.
Coughing and spluttering, Shulk and Melia broke through the surface.
"Please do not do that again," she said, but she could not hide her smile.
"I promise. This should do for your swim practice anyway."
"If you planned all of this in advance, I am inclined to inform you that your joke fell through."
"At least it didn't fall into the water with us."
In the face of such a terrible pun, the likes of which would make even Reyn's skin crawl, Melia had no choice but to laugh. She laughed so rarely; the sound resembled a beautiful windchime. And it was infectious too.
They took longer to return to shore than necessary, also because they described a wide arc around the roused Gradies just in case.
Shulk panted when he stumbled onto the shore of the Sleeping Dragon Isle – not because of exhaustion but rather pure excitement. He could not remember the last time his heart had throbbed with half this liveliness.
Melia swayed a little and took the arm he offered her with a grateful nod.
"Maybe we should call it a day," she said. "Someone in Colony 9 might be open to trade marine marble and spare us further swim lessons."
"There won't be a need for that." Shulk opened his left fist. In his palm shimmered a blue stone, and its surface patterns seemed to shift like the waves of the Eryth Sea themselves. "I found what we came here for."
Melia stroked the marine marble's contours. "When did you find it?"
"When I stumbled and dragged you with me. I told you we should look near water."
"Then perhaps I should thank the Gradies for this lucky accident." Melia reached for her headwings, but the attempt to wring out the water did not produce the desired result because her gloves were likewise drenched. "But on second thought, I should rather be angry with myself for even attempting to save you. Even with one arm tied behind your back, you swim more confidently than I ever will."
"I guess that's the result of growing up in Colony 9. For an entire year, Reyn dragged me to the lake after school to train for a contest he was dead-set to win."
"And did he?"
Shulk laughed. "No, he tried to prank me with ice water the day before. In the end he was the one to catch a cold."
Melia joined his laugh. After a moment, she tilted her head and looked at him with an unreadable expression. "I have longed to see you like this again."
"Like how?"
She shook her head, and the strange expression disappeared. "Pay it no heed. I was talking without sense."
The shadows of the cliffs stretched farther and farther. Soon they had swallowed the Sleeping Dragon Isle, and the creatures of the night crawled out of their hiding spots. Although the light grew dim, Shulk and Melia waited on the beach for their clothes to dry. And when nothing but the tips of their shoes remained wet, they waited on. For some external signal to go perhaps.
Drenched in starlight, they sat side by side on the beach. Somewhere ahead, Junk's position lamps illuminated the darkness with red dots. Melia had slipped out of her gloves, and her slender fingers drew meaningless figures in the sand. She had beautiful fingers. They could perform the most precise movements without any tremor. Faint scars ran along her palm from fighting with her staff, and maybe that was why she hid her hands in gloves so often.
"Are you cold?" Shulk asked.
Melia hugged her knees tighter. "You need not worry. In truth, I would rather remain here for a short while."
Shulk nodded, but he nevertheless unzipped his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. "That's the least I can do. After all, it's my fault you fell into the water. Sorry."
"Please, do not apologise. Allow me to thank you instead."
"What for?"
"For so very much." Melia's hand inched closer towards Shulk's. Her warmth prickled up his arm. "For what you have done for me and for Alcamoth. The rebuilding would have never reached the stage it has now if not for your aid."
"I promised I was going to help you. And I know how much the city means to you. It's your home."
"But in helping me, you have cut the ties to your own home! That is a debt I can never hope to repay."
"Melia…" Shulk studied her face, the fine contours sketched by the faint starlight. A droplet of water escaped her hair and ran down her temple. "Don't be like that. It was my choice to go with you."
"But you have given up so much already. I… I cannot ask you to live the rest of your life for the sake of my dreams."
"It's nothing."
"It is not nothing! You may not see it, but each request you fulfil for a resident of Alcamoth, be that the repair of a pocket watch or an upgrade of the teleporters, all that does make a difference. And these errands we embark on, these hours on board Junks are the most cherished to me. Each small gesture of yours, each act of kindness – sometimes I feel it is a gift I do not deserve."
Shulk pulled back. "That's not true. Why would you think that way?"
Melia took time to answer while her eyes searched the firmament. Far above, a dark spot broke the pattern of light and darkness where the Bionis' Shoulder blocked the stars. The waves murmured.
"I cannot expect you to remember," Melia said. "You were unconscious at the time. But I promised to protect your happiness at all costs. In that, I have failed."
"I do remember."
Melia started and looked at him. "You do? Everything I said to you then?"
"A lot of it is vague. After Dickson shot me, I wasn't entirely dead. At least, it wasn't how I imagined death to feel like. There were images and sometimes voices from the outside. Including yours." Shulk brushed sand from his knees. "It sounds insane, I know. But even though I couldn't respond, I understood what you wanted to tell me."
A red hue crept into Melia's cheeks. "How embarrassing."
"Not at all. You can say it helped me find my way back. I want you to be happy in this new world, Melia. All the more because… because I couldn't do it right the first time around. Without visions, I may no longer be able to do great things. But I will try. For a future that belongs to everyone, like we promised."
Melia took his hand. Her slender fingers captured his, and Shulk felt the warmth.
"I do not need you to do great things, Shulk. Being the Homs that you are is more than enough."
The warmth in her expression was tangible, so real and so addicting. Shulk lost himself in the rush of this feeling, in her abyss-like eyes. In this moment, they might as well have been the only people in the world.
He leaned forward to take in more of this warmth and to feel her skin against his bare arm. He really did want to make her happy. And maybe, like her warmth, that feeling would spread too.
Melia's breath trembled, and Shulk's breath trembled, and then the lonely space between them vanished, and he kissed her.
The air tasted of sweets rather than salt. When the waves crashed against the shore, Shulk no longer registered the sound. He dared to reach out, and for this one moment, he could hold Melia without fear of her slipping away.
And for the rest of the night, not once did he remember a different kiss he had shared on a different beach, and he knew no regrets.
The wind tore through the flowerbeds and made Melia shiver. The blooms before her, a bouquet of whites and soft purples, quivered. A few shed their petals, and they danced and tumbled across the garden.
Like it had in former times, the scent of flowers coated the entirety of the imperial villa. The plants Melia's mother had gardened had withered under the Fog King's rampage, but Melia liked to think that her spirit lived on in the new flowerbed, in the dahlias and stardrops that stretched their fragile heads towards the sky.
These days, Melia found few excuses to visit the flower garden, and even fewer excuses to do no more than sit down and listen to the burbling of the marble water basins. Her apartment further down the base of Alcamoth enjoyed the benefit of a shortened walk to both the throne room and her private office, and on all other days, this or that worry drew her away from the villa. But with Teelan's funeral arranged and conducted and with Shulk gone for Colony 9, Melia had a rare moment to breathe.
Shulk…
On the beach of the Sleeping Dragon Isle, Melia had truly believed he could live like himself again. Even without Fiora. Melia had cherished this brief afternoon, had relived these sweet hours after sundown countless times, and for a while, it had seemed Shulk would recover as long as she stood beside him.
But new visions haunted his dreams. The collapse of the Bionis' Shoulder weighed on both their minds. And now Teelan was dead.
An unknown wind tore through the garden they had attempted to rebuild and ripped out their accomplishments without remorse, slowly but surely. The flowers around her knees quivered and lowered their heads in anticipation of the next blow.
Melia slumped. Her fingers found no support in the lose earth. How long could she continue on this way? How long before she had to admit defeat?
"There you are."
Melia straightened on reflex as the voice invaded her thoughts, but when she saw Tyrea approaching, she again allowed a little vulnerability to show.
"I must have forgotten the time," Melia said. "Excuse me, I will return to work shortly. Is it urgent?"
Tyrea halted on the marble platform in the centre of the garden, out of reach of any flowers. "Maxis may think this way. But I doubt his request is any more urgent than the other hundred problems that are waiting on your desk." Melia made moves to climb to her feet, but Tyrea stopped her with the wave of a hand. "Relax, I'm not here to drag you back and leave you at the mercy of these pompous gits. I feel like taking an extended vacation from the mess down there myself."
"Are you…" Melia struggled to find the right words. "Will you be alright?"
Tyrea huffed. "What do you think? Right now, I can imagine nothing more alluring than to put my mask back on and slit a few throats. It would have been a pleasure to cut that Fogbeast into tiny pieces until it would cry for mercy. Unfortunately, you dealt with it already. So, I have to make peace with it. I still have our research to complete."
"I cannot ask you to continue as if nothing happened. Take some time off. Please, do it for me."
"And the Shoulder?"
"I will find a way. I merely need to try harder."
"Melia, stop this. I'm not quitting my duty as your voice of reason, not even when you ask nicely. Teelan is dead, and his memory will be a dagger in my flesh for the rest of time. But he's not the first person I lost. Nor will he be the last."
"I wish I had the strength to see it your way."
"I wouldn't call that strength." Tyrea crossed her arms. "That, me, that's pure bitterness the likes of which you will hopefully never have."
"You blame Shulk for it, don't you?" Melia asked.
"It's more that I blame myself for letting Teelan out of my sight when he was with him. And I'm worried that the same will happen to you or Aaron next. Melia, you need to give him up! I know how a broken, aimless person looks like, better than most. I was at that point too."
"You recovered."
"But he won't! At least not here."
Melia's head felt too heavy to hold high. A gust tore through her clothes and left her colder than before. Maybe the next one would snap her in two or push her over the glass walls that fenced the garden.
"Was it selfish of me to hold him here?" Melia asked. "Fiora's death affected all of us, but no one grieved as he did. Day and night he locked himself in his laboratory. I could not bear the emptiness in his eyes, and I would have done anything to offer him comfort. But I stepped too close. I took her place even though I had sworn not to stand between them."
"You tried to help him. That's just the person you are."
"Did I? Did I truly invite him to stay in Alcamoth for his sake?" Melia plucked a half-withered flower. "Or was it my selfish desire that chained him here?"
Tyrea made a step forward, but she remained on the stone floor. "It doesn't matter why you reached out to him time and time again. He's just as much of a wreck as before. You've done all you could in regards to him."
"Perhaps I have. Perhaps I must accept that Alcamoth needs me more than he ever did. I thought he belonged here." Melia's gaze travelled towards the horizon. An unknown future shimmered there, waiting. "But he only belongs to his visions."
"Then what are you going to do about him?"
Melia stroked the petals of the half-withered flower. Brown spots stained the edges, but a little liveliness remained near the centre, a bright purple not yet tainted. If Melia had left the flower amidst the sea of its brethren, it might have recovered. In a month or two, the stardrop might have blossomed more wonderfully than the rest of them. But now, as a broken creature in Melia's palm, it never would.
With a heavy heart, Melia stretched out her open hand to let the wind tug at the flower.
"I will change my ways…" she said. A gust stole the stardrop out of her grasp, carried the flower around the villa and then above the glass walls and out of view.
"… and I will let him go."
A/N ... and then I thought to myself, why don't I take the love triangle, everyone's favourite part of XC1, and make it more complicated? And the audience clapped.
My self-destructive sense of irony aside, how are you guys doing over there on your side of the screen? Everything alright? I didn't think I would have to say this, but comments do give me life, no matter whether they arrive two hours, two weeks, or two years after I posted something. Though I guess it makes sense if you want to wait for the ending to finalise your thoughts on this...