Chapter 57

...I really wanna play Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. Hm.

...(RIP my wallet.)

"Thank you," I nodded to the merchant as I grasped the black jacket with some teal markings over myself, rolling up the left sleeve. "Alright..." Looks like everyone's still scattered around the village... we'll probably meet up with Miqol soon though.

I frowned, looking at the ground as I looked forward. Fiora... damn, who's gonna break the news to her? Shoot. Actually... I stopped. The place where Metal Face crashed shouldn't be that far away, I think... Dunban should be there too, right?

Or wait... is Egil gonna pull a Mumkhar and Reyn and reincarnate... that probably ain't the right word. Uh... bring him back as a Face?

"Hey, Andrew, whatcha thinking about?" I started at the sound of Shulk's voice, seeing the blonde walk over to me. "You seem pretty deep in thought."

Doesn't this seem like a Heart-to-Heart. "Yeah... just thinking about stuff," I spoke.

"Wanna talk some about it?" spoke Shulk.

"Well..." I breathed out, looking out as I leaned over a railing. "Uh... I don't think Fiora knows about Reyn and Dunban."

Shulk nodded. "Yeah." He sighed. "Honestly... I have no idea how to tell her. Even now..." Shulk looked away. "It's difficult to know that they're gone."

"Mm." 'Cept Reyn wasn't... y'know, come to think of it, didn't Shulk's Monado glow white whenever one of us died? Wonder why... pretty sure white was to signal Cyclone, after all. And he has his Smash Arts too. "Hm..." I groaned, scratching my hair. I've been thinking a lot... way too much. Thinking about it probably ain't gonna tell me anything, and most things'll likely become clear in time.

Though... should I try messing and stopping Dickson from shooting Shulk? That'd be good, but... hm.

But for something else... I looked at an arm, casting my senses outward to detect the metal within it. When Melia and I were fighting those Mechon and I used my soul... it hurt to use. And using it increases my pain tolerance, too... why'd it hurt so much?

"Hey, Andrew, you there?" Shulk snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Hm? Oh, sorry. Were you sayin' something?" I spoke, looking at him.

"Nah... though, here." He paused. "Pass me your sword for a sec?"

"Sure," I spoke, drawing and handing over the blade.

Shulk inspected it in silence, before nodding and handing it back. "Looks like you've been using it well," he observed.

"Yeah, it's pretty useful to be able to change its form. Oh, and while we're here... when'd you... y'know... do this?" I activated the chainsaws on my blade for a brief moment. The timing on it... was way too convenient. Right after my last sword broke? Did he predict it?

Actually, that probably ain't wrong. The Monado's a plot device after all.

"When we were in Alcamoth, after I got the Monado powered up on Prison Island," replied Shulk. "Remember? After we had that big fight, we rested for a while. Gave me plenty of time to mess around with some of the junk I'd picked up over our travels."

"..." I stared at him. "Are you telling me... for all of Valek Mountain... and Sword Valley... you intentionally let me carry an inferior sword?" And junk...? I haven't been paying enough attention.

"Nah. I started work in Alcamoth, and it was mostly complete," he spoke. "I was just musing about how to get an easy trigger for the chainsaws to activate when we left, and then... we didn't exactly have much free time."

"Fair," I muttered. "Whatever, doesn't matter too much. It's useful, regardless. Thanks." I raised my fist toward him.

"Don't thank me too much," he spoke, bumping it. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"...Mm." I nodded. "Alright, then..." I grunted. "Should we gather in front of Junks now?"

"Nah, let everyone do whatever they wanna do first. They'll come there in their own time," spoke Shulk. "Well, I'm gonna try and see where Fiora got off to... peace."

"Yeah." The blonde walked away after my words. "Hm..." Breathing out, I narrowed my eyes. The wreckage of Metal Face's body... it's not that far away. If I sneak out for a sec... I sighed. "Nah, they'd probably get pissed at me, especially if I wind up in a big fight."

"That would be accurate." Melia's voice drifted to me. "What were you planning to do, Andrew?"

"Mel, Riki," I greeted. "Uh... you..." I felt sheepish, and looked away from Melia's gaze. "Well... I can sense where Metal Face is, it's relatively nearby... I was gonna investigate." If Dunban's body is still there... guess then we'd be forced to tell Fiora and stuff, though. And that definitely isn't something I wanna deal with, but... probably better sooner then later...

"And Andrew plan to do that alone?" spoke Riki, looking up at me. "That dangerous!"

"Probably," I admitted. "Yeah... best to wait until we gather everyone, then." As I spoke, I felt a sense of impatience, tapping my foot.

"Well, everyone's here," spoke Shulk, coming up behind me. "Hah, gotcha! So, what were you discussing?"

How'd he sneak up on me...? "Well, 'kay," I muttered. "Nah... it's just... I think Metal Face's... wreckage... is close, so I wanted to go and check it out."

"Hm..." Shulk adopted a thinking pose. "We should probably go to Junks first, like Linada said, but... if it's nearby, we can do it really fast, then. That sound good, guys?" he spoke, to which we all nodded. "Alright, gimme a sec and I'll talk to Linada quickly." He dashed off.

I took a seat, breathing out. Geez... if this is a mistake... hell, something's probably gonna try and kill us out there. Question is... what's it gonna be?

And if any us die on this expedition... that's gonna be on me.

"Don't worry too much," spoke Melia, kneeling beside me. "We are all extremely capable. We can face whatever may threaten us out there."

"Hm... Andrew look worried," commented Riki. "No need for worry! So long as Heropon Riki is here..." He puffed out his chest. "Everything will be OK!"

I laughed. "Yeah, thanks." I rose, taking an offered hand from Melia. "We'll be fine." I breathed out. "It's us, after all."

"Alright!" At his voice we turned to see Shulk running towards us. "Linada said that if we're gonna do this, we should do it fast, so! Andrew?" He looked at me. "You know where it is, right?"

I closed my eyes, sensing the location of Metal Face's body. Ugh... around the whole Mechon body is a bunch of Ether... I can't focus...?! I clutched onto my head for a second as a sharp pain jolted up it. "Ugh... yeah. Follow me, then... I guess," I muttered.

"This'll be refreshing," spoke Shulk. "Usually I'm the one leading, so it'll be a nice change of pace."

"I bet," spoke Melia. "After all, Andrew here is just as fearless a leader as you, Shulk."

"Riki believe in Andrew!" cheered Riki. bouncing in place.

"Uh..." I blinked. "I really don't feel suited to being considered a leader of any kind though." Too much responsibility, especially for a guy who's been going out of his way to have one-on-one duels... feels like too much effort, too.

"Well, shouldn't be long anyway, yeah?" spoke Sharla.

"I hope not," I replied. "Okay, fine, then." I breathed out, locating one of the village's exits. Geez... yeah. We're not bad. Whatever's out there, we can probably handle. I looked at everyone else and nodded. "Let's go."

I stared out as we exited onto a plain, greenery stretched out wide as the eye could see, shadows being cast from the sun shining overhead. What seemed to be pterodactyls flew in the blue sky, whilst large flamingos maneuvered toward a nearby beach.

Humming to myself, I noted everyone conversing to each other behind me, Shulk and Riki beginning to engage in a conversation about pollen, whilst Sharla and Melia mused quietly about hot springs.

"Hey, Andrew?" I blinked at my name, and saw Fiora increasing her pace, coming closer to me. "You mind if I ask you a question? I tried asking Shulk something, but... he avoided answering."

"Hm? Yeah, if it's something I can answer," I spoke.

"Well... considering you and Shulk are out here... why isn't Reyn here too? There's no way he'd let Shulk go off without him," spoke Fiora, a slight frown emerging on her face.

Oh boy. I sighed inwardly, peeking behind me to make sure Riki still held Shulk's attention. "Well..." Is it really my place, though...? She, Shulk and Reyn were all really good childhood friends, weren't they...? "Okay. Fiora. Uh... huh. Well..." Geez. where do I even begin?

"Did something happen to him?" spoke Fiora, worry flashing through her eyes now. "Has he suffered an injury, so he can't accompany you guys?"

I really wanted to slap myself. What the hell was I thinking with this? I narrowed my eyes. "Um... Reyn is... he's..." I shook my head, looking Fiora dead in the eyes. "He's dead, Fiora."

She froze at my words. "Wha- no. No way. You..." The half-Homs stared at me, eyes widened. Her breath caught and stopped. From my peripheral, I saw Shulk turn away from Riki, a resigned acceptance in his eyes. "You're lying, Andrew. There's no way Reyn would just go off and die like that!"

I winced, the memory of that large, bulky body lying deathly still, an all too large pool of blood growing from underneath him rushing through my mind. I sensed Riki bow his head, wings drooping towards the ground, sadness clouding his face.

"You have to be-" In the midst of her emotional outburst, Fiora suddenly stopped in place, limbs locking up as she fell forward. Acting out of reflex, I managed to reach out and catch her before she hit the ground. Fiora's breathing was shallow, eyes half-lidded, as if in pain.

Right... weren't we supposed to go out and grab some energy unit thing so Fiora could operate? I realized. 'Cause right now, she's only managing because Meyneth's with her, but even then she doesn't have the energy capacity. Or something.

"Fiora!" Shulk moved forward, getting under her to take her weight, which I let him take. "Are you alright?"

"We should probably head back to the Machina Village," spoke Sharla. "Sorry, Andrew... looks like this excursion is going to have to wait for another time."

"Don't worry about it," I replied, nodding. "It's not overly important. It can wait." I saw Melia give me a small nod from one side, before we started to turn around and go back the way we came.

Damn... I knew she probably wasn't gonna take it well, but I didn't expect her to shut down just like that... I guess to be fair, in-game Fiora doesn't venture with us outside the village until she gets that unit source thing. I shook my head. Stupid... gotta think more.

"Hey, Andrew, help me out?" I blinked at Shulk's words, then saw that he was adjusting Fiora on his back to settle into a piggyback position. Nodding, I moved over and helped him out, noting how Fiora's eyes were closed now in unconsciousness.

I rubbed at my own eyes, feeling a yawn come out as we started on our way back to the village. This was fruitless... oh well, too bad. Besides... I glanced back behind me, where I vaguely sense to be in the direction of Metal Face's body. It's not like Egil or anybody else is gonna go back for it, right?

...I've tempted fate, haven't I.

"I see you've- ah." Linada blinked, seeing Shulk carry Fiora on his back. "Did you run into trouble out there?"

"Something like that," answered Shulk, shifting his grip on Fiora. "Ever since Fiora's gotten this body, she hasn't been feeling too good. But..." A tinge of regret entered his voice. "We don't know what's wrong, or what to do."

"Wait a moment..." Linada peered more closely at Fiora. "Do you mean to say... she is not Machina?" The doctor frowned. "If that is the case... here, can you please bring her with me?" She entered the door leading into Junks, the door itelf revolving to open up before she entered.

"Well... we should be able to trust her," I spoke, seeing the slightly skeptical faces of everyone else, though mostly Shulk. "She did surgery on me after we got separated on... Valek Mountain." And I had to fight Reyn... I bit back a grimace at the memory. "And besides...it's not like we know how to help out Fiora. With Linada, we probably got a better chance."

Shulk nodded slowly as I spoke. "Yeah... you're right." He straightened up with a light grunt, following after the Machina, before stopping all of a sudden. "Wait a sec... you had surgery?" He paled, looking at me. "Are you okay, Andrew?"

I waved him away. "I'm fine, don't worry. It was a while back." I sighed internally at some of the dubious gazes around me. "Really, I'm great. We ought to worry about Fiora here, though." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as the doubtfulness around me persisted. "Look, if you guys really wanna know about it, I'll tell you guys later. Let's help out Fiora first."

"Mm..." Shulk looked conflicted for a moment before nodding. "...Yeah, you're right." He glanced at me again, to which I gave a nod, Shulk nodding in response. Seeming somewhat reluctant, the blonde walked into Junks' interior.

I waited as everyone else followed after the blonde, leaning against the wall adjacent to the door for a moment, heaving a deep breath. "Hah..." Geez... I'm gonna need a nap soon. I feel exhausted.

"You okay, Andrew?" I blinked to see Riki waiting for me at the door. "Heropon Riki see you yawn and be very, very sleepy!"

I mustered a smile at the Nopon. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking though."

"Mm!" Riki responded with a stout nod that I almost laugh aloud at. "You can sneak in small sleepy time if you want! Riki promise he not tell!"

I chuckled, feeling my smile widen as I followed after him into Junks. "I will eventually. But right now... it's probably best that I stay awake; for now, at least." I grunted as Riki jumped up to slap a soft paw into my face. "Ow?"

"Listen to Riki!" he spoke. "Andrew need sleep! Andrew like littlepon; he need sleep to grow big and strong!"

At this point I had to actively resist the urge to laugh, and though I was successful (mostly at least), the same could not be said for the growing smile on my face. "Yeah, I'll listen, dadapon." I smirked at the slightly sour expression that came over Riki's face.

"...Riki not sure he able to feed one more littlepon," he spoke as we walked along, looking downcast.

"I'm just messing with you, Heropon," I told him. "Now c'mon, we'd better hurry, or everyone'll leave us behind." I took off at a light jog, Riki following at a rapid pace to keep up, a large smile present on his face as well.

I entered through into Linada's labortory as she seemed to be finishing a conversation with Shulk. "So, I've discovered that Fiora is experiencing functional breakdowns in several different places," she was explaining. "If possible, I'd like to keep her here for a while."

Shulk stared at Fiora for a brief moment before turning back to Linada and nodding. "Um... Sharla, do you..."

"I'll stay with Fiora and keep an eye on her," spoke the sniper, Shulk nodding his thanks.

"For now, Chief Miqol can answer your questions. If that's alright with you all, of course?" spoke Linada, to which none of us disagreed. The doctore nodded, turning her gaze on Fiora, who was resting on a table, face more peaceful now. "Then I shall commune with you soon."

"Yeah, got it. Thanks, Linada." Shulk turned, nodding to Riki and I as he did so. "Alright, then, guys. We should go see Chief Miqol," he spoke. I nodded, as did everyone else, following after the blonde as we travelled through Junks.

Hm... Dickson shows up too, doesn't he? I thought. Doubt he'll try to kill me this time though. Not with everyone else around. I cracked my neck, pausing at my thoughts. This is scary, if I'm getting so nonchalant about dying. What the actual hell. I shook my head. Gotta worry a bit more... if I die, I ain't coming back like Subaru WHO SHOULD TOTALLY GET WITH REM by the way- I smacked my head, ignoring the brief, worried glance Melia sent me at my action.

"Are you alright, Andrew?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Tired, but I'm fine." I stretched out, noticing Melia focus her gaze on me. "Hm? What?"

"Ah... nothing. Come, we should hurry." Melia turned away from me and took down the hallway, where at the end Shulk stood with Riki, opening a door.

I shrugged and chased after her, Shulk steeping inside to a larger room where Miqol waited, unmoving, still. I tilted my head at the scene.

All of a sudden, Miqol let out a sudden noise, his whole body starting to move. As a result, Riki released a yelp, whilst Shulk and Melia gasped, recoiling slightly in their surprise. Miqol let out a hearty laugh, looking at us, a slight smile on his face.

Well then... I walked forward, nodding to the old Machina, who gave a nod in return. "Hello, Miqol."

Let's get this started.

Thank you for reading!