Chapter 11: Apocryphae

Returning to Mechonis was a bumpy ride. Junks had evaded most of the incoming fire but couldn't dodge everything, and the blast it had fired with its main weapon to open the cooling duct was almost more of a jolt than the flak it had taken. But the relative peace and quiet of parking somewhere within the titan was even more foreboding.

Most everyone was ready to depart. Reyn and Dunban were checking each others' weapons for problems. Sharla was giving Gadolt's Cannon last-minute adjustments. Melia was idly looking over the Imperial Staff, assuring herself that none of its spindles had been damaged. Riki was swinging his biter around with little restraint. Dickson, who was coming along like it or not, was hanging around the exit.

Shulk, however, was nervously pacing around. It looked like he was having some sort of internal conflict of interest.

After a minute or two of realising Shulk wasn't leading the group out the door, Reyn stepped in front of him. "C'mon, Shulk, spit it out. What's got you all in a knot now?"

"What?" Shulk didn't seem ready for someone to talk to him. "What do-"

"No I ain't hearin' it. Something's givin' you the worries again. We're a team, let us fix it up for you."

Shulk glanced around to see that everyone was now looking at him. He let out a deep sigh. "The Monado isn't at full strength. I don't know if it can beat Egil."

"Oh that's it then?" Reyn chuckled. "That Apocry-whatchamacallit thing ain't nothin against all of us together, and you been doing pretty well against it so far."

"And we're better off now than earlier," Dunban added. "We know how Egil fights. We won't make the same mistakes again."

Vanea stepped in. "The core is directly linked to the Apocrypha Generator. If you destroy the generator, the Apocrypha field will deactivate, and the Monado will no longer be suppressed."

"What? You been holding that back, eh?" Reyn clapped Shulk on the shoulder. "You hear that, Shulk? One little detour and your big worry's gone!"

Shulk barely budged. "That's not all. Egil...called me Zanza. Not just like I'm using his blade, but me personally. What did he mean? Should I really be using the Monado to stop the Mechonis if that's how Zanza started this whole thing?"

Reyn ignored Shulk's attitude. "He's just trying to get to you. Don't let him bring you down."

"There's more though," Shulk continued. "I haven't been getting as many visions lately. But if I try hard enough, I...I can still sense what's going to happen. Without a vision at all."

"C'mon, Shulk, get it together. We don't need you questionin' yourself." Reyn gave him a prod. "Now let's get out there and save the world, eh?"

Shulk looked around at the others before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "You're right, Reyn. Let's go."

He started to leave Junks. The others followed.

Melia wasn't in the best mood to begin with. Being even this close to the Apocrypha Generator was uncomfortable, its Monado-cancelling ether waves strong enough to make her feel artificially pressured and anxious. It didn't help that Shulk's abandonment of her in Agniratha was still weighing heavily on her mind, generating additional worry that it could happen again if something else went terribly wrong. And now, hearing that Shulk wasn't getting as many visions made it feel even worse - his claim that he'd have gotten a vision if she was in danger now rung hollow. Perhaps he believed it himself, in which case it wouldn't be his fault to make such a claim, but it still hurt.

What was she to him then? Nothing more than a friend like the other party members, probably. It was hard to believe he even viewed her as a Fiora surrogate now; if it were Fiora lying on the ground in the Mechonis capital, she felt certain he wouldn't have left without her even if it meant they both failed to escape. No, she was just a friend. If even that, honestly - he was clearly more comfortable with the others, almost certainly due to their low-class backgrounds like him, and would a true friend have not even tried to-

Melia angrily stomped the floor, trying to derail her train of thought. Focus. There'll be plenty of time to hate life later. Either that or die and have no life to hate, so that's a win-win. Luckily, she was the last to leave Junks, so there was no one to see her temporary outburst.

Just as Melia walked out the door, with the others on the deck in front of her, a strange blue energy started to crackle over Shulk's body. He immediately began crying out in pain and collapsed, with the Monado falling off his back.

"What? Shulk?" Reyn was the first to react by running up to him, but he didn't dare touch him without knowing what was going on. "Shulk, what's wrong?"

The others began to huddle around as Shulk spasmed and screamed.

"...no, it can't be!" Dunban kneeled down beside Shulk. "It's happening to him too. Hold on, Shulk!"

Melia found a gap in the huddle near Shulk's front right side. So this is what took Dunban's arm from him? An overdose of the Monado's power? She realised that everyone else was crouching or otherwise leaning down in some way, leaving her the tallest in the group. It was kind of amusing. But it didn't do much to stifle the fear that Shulk was having a very serious problem, which looked like it had high potential to cripple both him and the group's efforts.

The foreign energy quickly dissipated. Shulk started to calm down, screaming replaced with gasping.

"You okay, man?" Reyn was still too hesitant to get much closer.

"...I think so." Shulk's voice wavered, as if he were unsure of himself. While he managed to sit up, he was kind of staring off into the distance, unfocused.

"I never thought this might happen to you," Dunban said, somewhat upset with himself. "Your control of the Monado has always been flawless. Are you sure you're okay?"

Melia had a guess as to what was going on. "The effects of the Apocrypha Generator are far stronger as we approach it. It must take an unsustainable amount of effort to counter this close."

"Ain't you learnt yet, Shulk?" Reyn blurted. "I've said it again and again, if something's up, you gotta spit it out, man! And not just about visions. Whatever's on your mind, anything at all. All right?"

Shulk still appeared somewhat dazed. "...yeah. I get it."

"No, I don't think so," Melia said. "You're still clearly quite shaken."

"...yeah, I guess I am." He put on a weak smile and held a hand up towards her. "Want to fix that?"

Melia presumed the hand was for pulling him to his feet. She'd done so in battle before, but not without significant exertion, so it was curious why he picked her to help. Perhaps it's an artifact of my apparent height, with all the others crouching and stooping. Or simply to try and make me feel better after what occurred earlier today. She stepped forward to take the hand and got ready to pull.

"Wha-"

Shulk stayed rooted and yanked Melia down to her knees before capturing her in a hug.

Melia's immediate instinct was panic; defensively raising her arms in response to being pulled down had allowed Shulk's grip to pin them to her chest. She thrashed her legs about for around two seconds, which was enough for Shulk to lose his balance and fall backwards, dragging her further down on top of him.

But then realisation sunk in, and the panic stopped. It was a hug. She hadn't had one of those in...she didn't even know. All right, so there was one with her father at Prison Island, and a couple with Riki at a few points during their adventure. But Nopon hugs were too asymmetric to be satisfying, and the one at Prison Island was too clouded by the terrible memories of what had come next. This was different. It was...

It was blissful. There was no better word for it.

She could feel her whole body relax as it settled into Shulk's topology. It was warm and inviting, soft yet firm, but more than anything it felt safe. Being immersed in Shulk's effusive ether felt like occupying the one safe spot in an infinite plane of suffering. She instinctively closed her eyes to amplify the tactile feelings. It was kind of uncomfortable to have her chin right in his shoulder, but she didn't care; she didn't need to be grasped to stay here forever. She could feel his breath on her left wing, which was somewhat creepy but mostly helped affirm that this couldn't be a dream.

It felt like both eternity and no time at all before Shulk exerted the two back upright and let go, proceeding to stand up. Melia remained kneeled on the ground, mostly limp and in somewhat of a dreamy stupor, for about three seconds before snapping out of it and doing the same.

"Thank you, Melia," Shulk said. "I really needed someone to just hold for a bit. I feel a lot better." He did look and sound significantly better.

Melia had no response; in order to put her feelings into words she would first need to understand them. Figuring she had to answer somehow, she simply nodded.

"Now you're the one who looks pretty flustered, Melia," Sharla teased.

It was somewhat of a rude reminder that there were seven other people huddled around, probably staring at the interaction the whole time. Melia could feel all the blood rushing to her face as she scrambled for a response.

"I...I've never been hugged by someone my size before."

It was a newfound realisation - aside from Riki, all her life's previous hugs were from family members at least a head taller than her, if not double or more her childhood height. To feel all of Shulk's body parts in about the same location as hers certainly added to the surrealness.

Dickson was the one to break it up. "Well as much as you all might have needed a bonding moment, we still got a job to do." He tilted his head towards the path ahead.

"Right," Dunban answered. "Let's get to that generator."

The party started off again, heading towards the nearby energy source.

Melia let herself fall to the back of the group, far enough to be unseen but not far enough to be believed missing.

She was extraordinarily confused about what had just happened. Not so much about why Shulk wanted to hug her of all people - it did make sense to need a hug after a somewhat traumatic experience, and he probably wanted to try and make it up to her from Agniratha earlier. But more importantly, she hated herself for suddenly becoming so weak and submissive just because she received a hug from Shulk. What about it was so disarmingly inviting? She absolutely hated being touched by strangers, and even friends caused a lot of anxiety when they bumped into her or had to help her up. True, she was aware that hugging is an important biological construct and that she was highly deprived of them, and so would in theory react favourably to one as long as it were delivered by someone she knew. The phrase "touch starvation" rolled around in her mind as something she wouldn't be surprised to be diagnosed with - after all, her mother was the only one who ever touched her in a positive way on a regular basis, and she'd been dead for four and a half decades. But the few hugs she'd had in the past few months had never been remotely as intense and the one Shulk had just delivered - it caused her to completely shut out the world and melt into pudding. What was different?

Deep in thought, Melia didn't notice that Shulk had dropped out of the group to meet her. "What are you thinking about, Melia?"

Never you mind. "A great many things."

Shulk nodded. "Yeah, I know how that feels. Maybe you should tell me some of them, so I can think about them for you."

Melia shook her head and looked away. "They are...deeply personal things. Even were I brave enough to divulge one, I doubt anyone else could understand it."

"Oh." Shulk continued walking at her pace for a few steps before responding. "But don't you want to feel better? You heard what Reyn said, you can't just keep everything inside all the time."

"...I suppose." Melia thought for a moment, trying to find something that she was indeed thinking about recently, but not related to her conflicted thoughts about Shulk. "Very well, I shall tell you something. I am afraid."

"Afraid that we'll lose?"

"Afraid that even if we win, it will be at a terrible cost. Either to us personally, or to the world as a whole." She had intended to leave it there, but for whatever reason ended up continuing. "I am no stranger to fear of failure. It feels like every day of my childhood and even beyond, I have had to put immense effort into pleasing my parents and others. I can tolerate that feeling. But now, there is...something new. Not just fear for myself, but fear for others. Others that I never could have imagined being friends of, let alone being fearful for."

Shulk nodded slowly. "I'm scared too. And it feels kind of...ugly. I mean, in one way, Egil's already killed so many of us, what's another one or two more, don't worry about it and go save the world. But on the other hand...that one more could be the worst one."

Melia was in complete agreement. But before she could state so, Shulk continued.

"I used to think that the worst one had already happened, actually, when Fiora was killed. And I guess it would have been, if I just sat in the colony and moped about it, and just let the nightmares happen while the Mechon prepared the next attack. But instead I came out here to get revenge, and met a bunch of new people. Older siblings, concerned parents, entirely new societies." He took a long breath. "And a new worst person to lose."

Melia took a moment to guess at who Shulk could mean, but she drew a blank - Reyn and Dunban weren't new as he implied, he didn't seem to have exceptional affinity with Sharla or Riki, he'd demonstrated earlier that she herself wasn't it, he hadn't really met Meyneth, and it didn't feel like anyone outside the party would fit the bill.

Her curiosity got the best of her; she worked on a way to pry the answer. "From my point of view, you would be the worst person to lose, because I believe Egil would be nigh-invulnerable without-"

"No, Melia, it's not about defeating Egil." Shulk's arm swung towards the party in front of them, a fair distance away now. "It's about life afterwards. It's about living in the world we saved." He looked up for a moment. "It's about being with the people we saved."

"If you frame it that way..." She worked on a new response. "I'm not as certain of my opinion then. You are all relatively even in my mind in terms of companionship. But perhaps you would still be the answer, if only because it was ultimately your actions that caused me to fall in with this exceptional group of people."

Shulk let out a small chuckle. "That's what I thought I'd hear. Carefully choosing your words to not offend anyone, but still sticking to your choice."

After a pause, Melia became irked that Shulk didn't appear to be holding up his end of the unspoken agreement. She would have to be direct. "What about you, then? Who do you fear the most losing?"

Shulk looked confused. "What?"

Melia looked at him expectantly.

"...oh, you don't know. I thought you knew. Or'd have figured it out by now." Shulk shrugged and looked ahead. "And they call me the socially oblivious one."

How could you expect me to figure it out when you have given no indication of favouritism towards anyone in our party, aside from perhaps the version of Fiora you've projected onto me?

"It's just some girl. Met her a few weeks ago."

...what? How? No, this is a farce, there can't be someone like that without us knowing about it.

"Cute even though she's a fair bit older than me. Smart and well-educated. Rich but doesn't act like a stuck-up."

Yes this is a fictional person. No name given and doesn't match anyone we know. Who are you trying to fool? Yourself?

"A natural pilot, which I think is really cool. Could probably kill an army by herself if she got mad enough. Doesn't care for laws or the laws of physics; makes things happen anyway."

Complete and utter hyperbole. Not remotely believable.

"Somehow a worse hugger than me but I think she'll learn, and she's already an excellent huggee."

...That's...oddly specific.

Keeping a straight face, Shulk turned to look directly at Melia. "I'm pretty sure she likes me and is too scared to admit it. Probably just scared of rejection, but maybe also scared of admitting it to herself. I know that neither of those should be a problem, but she's had a tough life and I don't blame her for being slow on something like this. Maybe one day...if there is another day after this."

Melia's pace slowed to almost a stop. She didn't want it to, it just happened as her thought process continued. Older, well-educated, rich...likes Shulk and is scared to admit it...

Shulk kept going and slightly sped up to catch up with the rest of the party. His job was done.

Could...Shulk have been...referring to...me?

No. No, impossible, absolutely impossible. He cares not for me outside being a Fiora surrogate, as Reyn is for Gadolt to Sharla. He has shown it many, many times.

But who else could possibly fit even a quarter of his description? And why would he go to the trouble of inventing a person simply to avoid answering a question?

...I don't need this. This internal conflict, being jolted back and forth as to whether Shulk holds any...reciprocation of my feelings. Especially not now.

Melia violently shook her head to try and clear it, but it did nothing. Instead, it started replaying a bunch of memories of Shulk going out of his way for her. To her surprise, while they were indeed biased towards more recent times, there wasn't a shortage of them from earlier - his efforts to aid her against the two Telethia stood out the most. Could there have been something even then?

Of course, it didn't take long for the most frustrating memory of all to pop up. When she first met Shulk and the others in Makna Forest, her initial instinct was to reject their help and continue her attack on the Telethia alone. But her mind was changed by recalling something Alvis had told her in the few hours before leaving for the forest: a vision he had received that claimed she would met a young man with blond hair and a "sword of light", and that they would change the fate of the world "together". She had decided to accept Shulk's help once she realised he fit Alvis' description, and by the time the Telethia was destroyed it was all but certain it was referring to him.

She'd managed to suppress the memory for a while now, but it was no surprise it returned during this most confusing time. She remembered being initially uncertain what exactly Alvis meant by "together", and had eventually decided that it being a marriage prophecy was too unlikely, given her historical lack of such feelings for anyone and lack of necessity for the lesser heir to marry. But after her sudden appointment to the throne, and Shulk continued to drive feelings in her that had never been felt before, it felt more possible than ever - while simultaneously feeling outright impossible due to Shulk's apparently disinterested stance towards her. It was the ultimate conflicting thought - did it ensure that Shulk would eventually come around to her, or had they already changed the world together as mere friends and thus rendered the vision complete and expired?

Shut up, shut up shutup. It wasn't a typical choice of words, reflecting her conflicted frustration. She dashed forward to rejoin the group, hoping that being less alone would help.

It didn't help. Melia caught up to the others as they reached a long bridge, but the turmoil in her mind continued at full force. In fact, as they approached the platform at the other end of the bridge, the negative half of her feelings seemed to develop ever stronger, causing the positive half to try and assert itself even more. She figured the Apocrypha Generator's immense power was messing with her mind; it kind of felt like it was wrapping around her like a predatory blanket. She had hoped that Meyneth would know something about it, but so far her only memories and instincts from that direction were that Egil painstakingly built it himself over many years; Meyneth herself knew very little about it.

The party reached the platform and looked up at the far wall, covered with a bunch of protrusions and spinning rings. Even the less-ether-sensitive people could feel it was a source of great power, though it was likely most of them couldn't feel its suffocating effects.

"This machine," Shulk said. "Is this it?"

"It is," Vanea replied. "The Apocrypha Generator."

"Yeah!" Reyn shouted. "Let's trash the thing! Then Shulk'll be rockin' as hard as ever."

"Indeed," Vanea mused. "It is a miracle that you have been able to use the Monado at all."

Shulk nodded slowly. He appeared to be being distracted by two different things.

Shulk must feel completely overwhelmed by the generator's pressure this close, Melia reasoned. "Are you really all right?"

It looked like it took a fair amount of effort for Shulk to tear his eyes off the generator, and once he did, he remained idle and unfocused for a few moments.

"...I'm...not sure. I think I am, but..."

There was a flash of red light. A large metal sphere emerged from the generator, surrounded by an energy shield and four satellites. The Apocrypha's core had come out to defend itself.

Shulk shook his head and looked back, suddenly with a clear expression again, one hand on the Monado's handle.

"I'm fine because you're here with me, Melia. Let's do this!" He turned to attack.

The rest of the party cried for battle and followed Shulk's lead.

Melia didn't budge, stunned by what she thought she had heard.

Shulk reached the heart that opposed him and delivered the first blow to its hardened shell. The core's defences were effective, but it still took enough of a hit that the cancellation waves flowing out of it were no longer perfectly even.

The pressure that had been building in Melia's mind blew out through the weakness in the field, igniting her burst aura and covering her in an all-encompassing feeling of utter relief. It was partly relief that the oppressive energy field was ruptured. But more importantly, it was relief that Shulk had finally broken the uncertainty around what he thought of her, relief that there would be no more frustrated trains of thought travelling in endless circles around the issue what felt like every single day. She could finally put the question to rest.

And even better than ending the uncertainty was the direction it had been ended in - it was what she wanted to hear. There was indeed a mutual connection, a two-way street of affection that while perhaps uneven was undoubtedly open both ways. While his description was heavily over-flowered, it was now without question that he viewed her as his worst person to lose - not for anything that he had seen in someone else, but for her alone.

What was just relief turned into freedom and elation. Shulk was right: so far she had been carefully guarding her true feelings in fear of not only rejection, but ridicule from others. That wouldn't have to be the case anymore - there was no negativity at all from anyone else in response to Shulk's actions towards her, and Shulk had made it plainly obvious that her fear of rejection was unfounded. She would probably still keep her feelings inside until she got used to the idea, but the ability to be free and honest about things would hopefully quickly turn into the norm.

Surprisingly, it didn't take much effort for Melia to start paying attention to the battle. It felt easier and more natural than ever to go through the motions of her arts, driven by the positive energy she was bathed in. Yet despite feeling so empowered, she had no problem staying within her role as support, allowing the others to keep the heat off her.

The Apocrypha's core was no pushover. It was heavily armoured and its offensive satellites were quite dangerous. The battle stretched on for longer than expected.

The floor shook.

"Wait." Dunban looked up to see the walls and ceiling also moving. "We're moving!"

"Big deal!" Reyn kept fighting. "Kinda busy here!"

The tremors died down surprisingly quickly, or perhaps everyone simply got used to them. It didn't take long for the group to forget about it.

Melia's morale was so high that her burst aura remained flowing even after firing a dozen elementals. So when Meyneth raised the idea to unleash her ultimate attack, she had no reason to hesitate.

Of course, she wouldn't be a fool again. "I am preparing to use Final Cross!" She didn't know where the name came from; it vaguely seemed like she'd said similar before but couldn't remember.

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

Reyn and Dunban muscled some extra effort out of their distraction tactics, working together to pull the device's attention in the opposite direction.

Once they appeared ready, Melia focused her energy through Meyneth's chestplate. But first, she held the bottom of her staff up to it and pointed its head towards the enemy, hoping to get the foreign ether to flow through the staff in an attempt to better learn how to control it. With her plan prepared, she released the power.

The red energy tore through the air, converging on the foe to knock it down to the ground. Some of it did go through the staff, and produced a flowing sensation that was useful to experience, but most of it painfully ripped through her hands instead. It was hard to keep her grip on the staff for the attack's duration, but she felt that next time, she might be able to reroute the energy through her body and out of her staff instead. It was unfortunately the final straw for her burst aura, and she would have to start building it up again.

The Apocrypha's core had trouble recovering from the Final Cross. Shulk destroyed one of its satellites while it was down, leaving its attacks askew enough that it willingly detonated a second simply to restore balance. But from there the victor was decided - it wasn't long after that before it lay on the ground split into three pieces. The weakening dampening field fell into emptiness as the greater machine ground to a halt.

"Nyapakapow!" Riki shook his four fists at the scrap.

"Get stuffed, Apocawhatever! Right, Shulk?" Reyn turned around to no reply. "Shulk?"

Shulk was staring at the activated Monado, concentrating on something.

"Oi!" Reyn looked to consider waving a hand in his face but backed off.

After a few seconds, the Monado's blade grew to twice its normal length as a whirl of energy surrounded it. Everyone took a step back.

"I...I've done it," Shulk muttered. "I figured it out."

"Figured it out?" questioned Dunban. "You mean there is something more to destroying the generator than simply allowing your full potential once more?"

Shulk raised the Monado into the air. A huge cyclone suddenly began, surrounding a large area around him in gale-force winds that knocked over about half the party.

"I haven't just gone back to normal," he said, staring at the new symbol in the Monado's circle. "All the effort I did to stay normal - now that the generator's gone, it's made me even more powerful. I...I think I invented a new art."

"Have you ever." Sharla stood back up. "We weren't ready for it, but it still knocked us right down. That'll be a big surprise."

"Absolutely." Shulk deactivated the weapon and looked over it. "They say it's impossible for one person to fully understand both breaking and toppling. But I'm not surprised the Monado knows how."

Dickson snarled impatiently. "That's nice 'n' all, but while you were fighting, the Mechonis powered up and struck. Must've hit somewhere on Bionis."

Melia had to use all her willpower to not step in front of Dickson and make a slow, exaggerated facepalm. I defy you to tell me where else it could possibly have struck.

"Then we'd better get after Egil." Shulk replaced the Monado on his back and looked at the nearby transporter. "He has to know we've destroyed the generator. Let's finish this."

As everyone prepared to move on, Melia waited for Shulk to advance so she could take up her preferred position in the back half of the group. But he instead milled around, seemingly waiting for something himself.

Why is he delaying? Is something not quite right? Has he forgotten something?

Why is he slightly holding his hand out like that?

After about twenty seconds, Shulk sighed and approached Melia. "C'mon, let's go." He took her hand and started walking towards the transporter.

"Eep!" It was an involuntary reaction, given the last two times Shulk had taken her hand in the past few hours were for an injury overreaction and a surprise pull-down hug. But this time, it was for simply...gently holding hands while walking at a leisurely pace. It was yet another alien sensation in this already very long day - one that was less all-encompassing than the hug, but was lasting for far longer.

"That attack's incredible," Shulk said, clearly trying to make idle talk. "Have you figured it out, or is it mostly Meyneth?"

Melia found it was a lot easier to stop obsessively focusing on the current physical contact when in conversation. "My understanding is that I supply the raw ether energy, and Meyneth focuses it into its destructive form. But having used it three times now, I believe I am starting to learn the waveforms, and could possibly learn to directly use it myself."

Shulk nodded. "Cool. I kind of hope you don't learn it though, because that would probably mean we'd be fighting Egil for longer than just today."

"You are quite right. As beneficial as our partnership has been, I do not believe Meyneth wishes to remain with me once her duty is fulfilled. It will be a relief for both of us."

"Me too." Shulk eyed the chestplate. "We'd never have gotten this far without her, but I still can't wait for her to leave so...you can be completely, fully yourself again."

Melia wasn't sure if she was okay about the subject progressing too far when surrounded by so many other people, especially Dickson. "I share your sentiments, Shulk. But now is not the time to get ahead of ourselves."

"Right. Still one thing left to do." There was a pause. "Melia, do you think Egil can still be saved?"

Melia took a moment to gather her opinion together. "I believe that Egil is doing the wrong thing for the right reason, which has hardened his point of view to a nigh-unbreakable solidity. We have already demonstrated his goddess and entire people are against him, and he simply added it to his list of betrayals. To shatter his reality beyond the point of denial would take an action I cannot fathom the nature of. But...if we can indeed find such an action, to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is blinded by revenge..."

Shulk nodded. "I figured about the same. It might take something huge, but there's still a chance. And we should look for it."

They stopped just in front of the transporter.

Shulk's gaze went back to Melia's face. "I'm ready. Are you ready?"

Melia thought about how much had changed in the past twenty-four hours. Yesterday, she believed Shulk viewed her as nothing but a replacement Fiora for the duration of their adventure, and that they would part ways afterward with almost zero likelihood of meaningfully seeing each other again. Since then - over the course of a social game, a surprise date, several difficult fights, and a terrible mistake - her views had undergone multiple overhauls back and forth, from possible connection down to less than a friend and back again many times. But now it appeared that Shulk had finally made it clear - she wasn't just a Fiora substitute or a Meyneth container. He cared about her as her, not someone else, and he wasn't afraid of displaying it in front of all the others.

She felt like she might have found a Second Consort that would make the empress experience a lot less unbearable.

"I've never been more ready."