Untold Stories, Unsung Words
Series Summary: (A series of one-shots, some of them being connected, based on headcanons.) The story of the Bionis and Mechonis, the Heir to the Monado, and the creation of the new world has been revealed. But among that story are smaller stories that haven't been shown. To have it accepted to be as truth is an option, but the existence of them being a possibility is undeniable. These are stories untold, words unsung.
14. Fiora, Melia, Shulk - Through the Mirror
Summary: A peculiar item was dropped by a certain beast… and it was far more horrifying than it seems because when two certain people see its true purpose, it will shake them to their very core... (Takes place after the events of Mechonis Core and Colony 6 invasion, before the infiltration of Bionis' Interior.)
Pairings: Shulk x Fiora (Minor)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The Imperial Capital Alcamoth is the most advanced city on Bionis. The floating city was enormous, and armed with anti-Mechon artillery and a large shield that was almost impenetrable, as well as the beautiful architecture, the city has no match.
But now it is a hellhole. Overrun by Telethia, which they are considered as something equivalent to white blood cells of a body, they are beings that protects the Bionis… destroying any pathogen in its way. And unfortunately those pathogens are what Zanza has said to the party earlier as the Homs. But Shulk and his six companions are more than capable of stopping those beings and are able to defend themselves with their skill and the power of the Replica Monado, in which had different variants depending on the situation.
Dispatching them was no easy feat despite being able to hold ground against them, especially for Melia. Formerly High Entia, Melia couldn't help but feel that this was genocide of her own kind. And killing each Telethia was more blood of her former friends on her hands. With each ether attack and strike of her staff, Melia felt her soul break. And the rest of the party were nearly guilty as she was.
"Kaelin…" Melia muttered as she lowered her staff. She also lowered her head and went down on her knees, closing her eyes. "May you find peace… with Lecrough, Galdo and Donnis…"
Mounting their weapons, the entire party sighed as they finished the last of Rozeal's request. It was nothing but fighting hordes of Telethia the past few hours. It was painful and tiring (especially for Melia), that the hordes Telethia were all after their blood as soon as they set foot on Eryth Sea and the Alcamoth.
"Riki no like it in Bird People city… Riki and friends finished job. Riki thinks Riki and friends should leave now!" Riki groaned, lowering his ears.
"The furball has a point… This place gives me the creeps now…" Reyn added, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
Sharla, who was standing next to him, noticed a small gash at the side of Reyn's left elbow. Dripping a little bit with blood, she sighed. "Reyn, you're bleeding."
Reyn looked down to see his left arm since Sharla was staring at it. He lifted it a bit to get a better view of his arm, and he saw it. It was barely noticeable though at his angle, and he didn't feel blood. He must have brushed it off or the adrenaline didn't fade out yet.
"Oh uh… didn't notice. Thought it was sweat or something."
"Here, here…"
As Sharla used a handkerchief to wipe away the blood and wrap it around the wound, a few feet away, Dunban noticed Melia, who was still on her knees, raise her head. Approaching her, he offered his left hand. "Here."
"Thank you, Dunban." She lifted herself up as she took Dunban's hand and pulled her up gently. I am fine as well, if you're wondering… I've made my peace with them. And… I guess pretty much with everyone else."
The former Hero of Colony 9 nodded. "Good. And yes, let's make our leave here with haste. This place must be killing you. We've done our job here for Rozeal, we're exhausted, and we're not clear of danger yet."
"Right…"
As the party began to make their way back into the audience chamber, Shulk noticed something on the ground shining from where Kaelin Telethia fell and vanished into thin air. "Hm?"
He approached the shining object and knelt down to get a view of it. It was piece of glass that was twice the size of Shulk's hand. So the light he saw was the glass reflecting on it.
Picking the glass up, he looked at the object and stood upright. As he rotated in the back of the glass, it had a base of a different material of sorts, but couldn't tell what it was. The other side of it reflected the background of Shulk, which was the terrace. "A mirror maybe…?"
But there was something odd about it and Shulk couldn't quite put his finger on it even as he examined it closely.
"Shulk? What is that?" Fiora approached the Heir to the Monado and glanced at the object on his hand.
"Glass or a mirror… I think. But there's something strange about it…"
"Hmm…" Fiora took a peek at the glass as she examined it carefully. Shulk stared at Fiora's as she tried to peer closer at the mirror. He hated to admit that he liked seeing Fiora's peculiar-looking face when she narrowed her eyes and frowned in frustration as she tried to figure out what she's looking at. It looked cute (and it was something he got teased a bunch of times from Reyn and Fiora herself.) to him, and he couldn't help but crack a small smile too. She stood next to Shulk, lowered her head, and took the glass with her right hand from the boy to get a better look at the glass… and it was then her mechanical heart stopped.
"N-No… No…" She muttered, nearly inaudible.
"F-Fiora…?! What-" Shulk's little smile turned quickly into frown. He looked down at the glass to see what Fiora was seeing.
And he felt his heart stop too.
With the background of the sky terrace, Fiora was staring at herself… her own reflection. But what made her freeze in fear was the fact that her reflection wasn't an exact reflection of how she looked physically. She sees her face and all but… her hair was long. The black and gray colored Ether V goggles and frame was missing. Meyneth's core was missing. What she saw, was her old self in everyday Colony 9 clothes. Her Homs body. What's more is that there was dark red to black bloodstains from the area that Metal Face, or rather Mumkhar, stabbed her.
"It can't-"
Shulk felt like has drowning in air. Fiora's reflection was a shock but his own was just as bad, if not worse in a different sense.
Fiora's grip on the mirror tightened to the point where she was cracking the mirror's edge. "S-Shulk… th-thi-this… is…"
The boy couldn't even talk, let alone breathe from his realization either. "..."
"What's going on?!" Dunban cried out with him, Melia, Riki, Sharla, and Reyn running towards them.
"No-!" Fiora cried out, halting the rest of the party's advance. "P-Please… let's just go!" She angrily demanded, throwing the object on the ground. A loud smashing sound echoed across the terrace and scattered to many pieces. The shards scattered from inches to feet away from Fiora. Some of the shards even sprawled to Melia's feet, who was standing the closest to the pair. The rest of the party gaped at Fiora's anxiety.
Dunban was the most concerned, asking, "Fiora, what's wrong-"
"We must leave! NOW!" She growled, now covering her face with her mechanical hands as she dashed out of the terrace.
"H-Hey! Fiora!" Reyn and Sharla cried in unison as they ran after her.
Dunban, Riki, and Melia stared at Shulk and the glass that were scattered in front of his feet. His head hung down, they couldn't see his face very well. But it was obvious that whatever they were looking at clearly made them upset.
Melia took a step forward to approach Shulk, but stopped. "S-Shulk… you…"
"M-Melia… we have to go after Fiora… I'm right behind you."
"O-Okay… Come on, you two…"
Riki, the happiest member of the group, was growing sick with worry. "Shulk will follow… okay…" The Heropon moved an about face and waddled slowly out of the terrace and approached the audience chamber. Dunban wanted to say something else, but words couldn't come out.
"Catch up with us, Shulk…" Dunban said aloud as he ran off to join Reyn and Sharla.
"It can't be…" Melia muttered, realizing something horrible.
Before they accepted Rozeal's request, Melia talked to some of the High Entia that were spared from their cruel fate. She overheard a conversation about a rumored mirror that was peculiar, and it showed someone's soul as opposed to a reflection. She dismissed it because none of the High Entia actually seen the mirror, held, or looked at one. But now…
Melia noticed the shards… and it hit her. A sickening feeling that burned her stomach was crawling up as she had to turn around from the sheer thought and realization. "No… the mirror the others were talking about… was true…?" She walked away from Shulk and left the terrace, tightening the fist she made with her right hand. "I don't even want to know what they saw, let alone what I would see if I look through it..." As she walked away, she didn't look down to see a quick flash of a reflection of herself that showed a blue-green body with yellow wings, though only on the left side of her body...
Shulk, his head still hung down, slowly raised it up. Closing his eyes and taking a slow, pained, and deep breath, he let it out. As he opened his eyes, he finally mustered the strength to get the hell out of the terrace, let alone away from the mirror shards that was around him. No one was there to notice his eyes glow a bright blue in loathing and anger.
Because what he saw in that mirror… was no reflection at all.
Headcanon: The Telethia Mirror reflects the soul instead of the physical appearance. Fiora's reflection showed her former Homs self since she longed to be back to her Homs body, but it is broken because of Metal Face. Melia's reflection showed half of a Telethia since she is a hybrid Hom and High Entia. Shulk's reflection had nothing since he has been dead for 14 years.
A/N: A HORRIFYINGLY DEPRESSING HEADCANON. I read the description of this object in the game a while back and I thought about it about it hard... and it is quite scary thinking about seeing your own soul instead. That's nightmare fuel for sure.
This is a short headcanon because there's not much story I could think of and well, I'm out of juice when it comes to writing. Even my usual writing with some detail hasn't been good cause I'm really out of it. I haven't written anything in a loooongg while. And been busy with school and Tales of Zestiria. AND GOODNESS XENOBLADE X IS LOOMING IN THE CORNER I AM EXCITE.
I have ideas for the next oneshots but its going to be tough to write them cause it's really hard to write the main meat of it... So I have no idea when the next update will be. Until then, reviews and criticism are welcome and I am open to suggestions. Your ideas may be implemented and will be credited if used with permission.