Chapter 14: Resistance

Shulk was conscious. Whether he was "awake" was questionable; he could feel that he had a body, but he didn't appear to be able to exert any control over it. He could feel himself breathing but couldn't alter its pattern. He could hear the silence of an enclosed room but had no other knowledge of where he was - he couldn't even feel whether he was standing up or lying on a surface.

He wasn't sure if he had succeeded at escaping the strange dream world where he had found Alvis. Wherever he was at least felt a lot more real, in the sense that he didn't think he'd imagine himself being blind and paralysed. All he had to do was figure out how to regain control of his body.

Zanza must have messed me up, he figured. He stole the keys to my body so I can't get it moving. But he probably assumed I'm dead, so maybe he didn't try that hard. I'll figure something out, or someone else will.

He got bored pretty quickly; with no apparent change in his body or surroundings no matter how hard he tried, all he could really do was wait and guess how long he'd been waiting.

What was there to think about in the meantime? Not a lot that he really wanted to think about. At least not without someone else to bounce conversation off - as much as he didn't like to admit it, if he didn't have Alvis to talk to about Zanza and what he'd done, he probably would have been too depressed about it to bother trying coming back to life. But now that he was stuck doing nothing alone, he was worried about slipping back down again.

"Shulk..."

It's Melia. Shulk immediately perked up at the voice from nowhere. She's been out kind of like this before, she might have some hints what to do.

"Please wake up soon."

Okay, so it just looks like I'm sleeping, no serious injuries then. Didn't really even hurt a lot, actually. Sharla probably fixed me up quickly.

"How long do you want to sleep?"

It was difficult to tell where the voice was coming from, in relation to him. She was definitely close, but left, right, or in front was hard to discern.

"You must get up. The world needs you. I need you. We all need you."

Shulk's enthusiasm dipped as Melia stopped talking for a few minutes. If she had an idea she would have told me already. Hopefully I didn't miss it earlier. Please keep talking though, I don't like the silence. Is there anyone else here? No probably not, they'd be less quiet than you.

"Shulk. Can you hear me?"

Shulk tried even harder to do something, anything that could act as a signal. He wondered if his inability to feel touch meant that he couldn't feel whether he was successfully moving, but then again Melia would certainly react to it.

"Maybe you are lost. Perhaps you feel helpless. But please stay with me a little longer."

Definitely alone, she wouldn't be saying that kind of thing if anyone else were here. That probably means it's been more than a few hours, or they'd all still be crowded around hoping I'm all right.

"Shulk... Since I first met you, it is as if my life has been turned upside down. It has been an unending chain of anxiety, worry, and sadness... I have experienced much pain. Father's death, losing my people... Just thinking about it, it is difficult to hold back the tears."

There was another long pause. Shulk absolutely hated how he couldn't do anything; he was the one in trouble, yet Melia was the one who needed the emotional support right now.

He did notice something, however - as Melia talked, he was finding it easier to locate her voice in space, which was also slowly making it possible for him to figure out that he was lying down at some non-flat angle. If she could keep talking, he might be able to keep getting back in touch with the real world. Maybe if she poked him in the arm or something, that would also be helpful, but he more expected that kind of thing from Reyn, and he probably did it a few times already.

"I wanted to grieve for everything lost, but I did not. Because I still have hope in you. You have kept me strong. You, Sharla, Riki, everyone... You have all stood by me and given me so much strength. I cannot even begin to put my gratitude into words."

No, Melia. You kept us strong. You attacked Mumkhar when none of us had the guts to. You faced a fear of piloting to carry us around the world and keep our spirits up by helping others. You kept Meyneth safe without complaint and faced Zanza alone to protect us. I carried the Monado, but you're the true hero.

Shulk almost thought he could sense something, the way that the world is never truly pitch black with eyes closed when facing a bright light. He now knew for sure that Melia was to his right, creeping somewhat closer. But as the silence extended, things slowly began to regress back into nothingness.

"I presume you have noticed that out of everyone, you have given the most for me. It is even because of you that I feel the way I do now. But I have given you nothing in return..."

That's not true at all. You gave me someone to care about. I don't think I could have gotten this far without one.

"Shulk... What can I do for you?"

You can keep talking, it's drawing my senses back. If I can get to the point where I can feel my body again, I should be able to get it moving.

But Melia didn't keep talking, instead allowing the longest silence since she first spoke.

C'mon, anything at all, just keep going. Could you even just start loudly walking around? Even that-

Shulk's thought was interrupted by a siren that was either distant or muffled by walls. He couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it wasn't a familiar sound, so at least he now knew he wasn't in Colony 9. Probably Colony 6; it sounded more Homs than otherwise.

Melia didn't seem to react to the siren, given that there was no sudden clattering of footsteps. Instead, she found something else to say, with a voice that was both much quieter and much closer.

"Shulk... I have just now realised that I don't have to worry about your condition. In the few hours before embarking on my journey to Makna Forest and the Telethia there, Alvis approached me with a vision. He told me the crown princess would meet the wielder of the sword of light, and change the fate of the world together. I did not think much of this claim. But upon first meeting you, evidently the described boy of pale skin and golden hair, I was conflicted. I could not believe that I would develop a personal connection to a Homs within the short span of time before I expected to return to the palace and become sequestered from all once again. Yet even before the Telethia fell, you had bolstered me with a positivity and kinship that I had never before felt, a link that grew even stronger when you risked everything for no benefit to yourself and followed me into the tomb. The revelation of your childhood friend's feelings for you was a painful damper on my feelings and motivations, but even as I spiralled down into despair over how I believed myself to be nothing more than a substitute for her, the tiniest spark of hope remained. While I was initially undecided as to whether the vision was about friendship or...something deeper, you yourself have made it undoubtedly clear."

Shulk tried to pay attention to the content of the speech and not just its soundwaves. On one hand, he wasn't too surprised that Alvis saw fit to push Melia in the right direction before they had even met, and idly wondered what could have happened if he didn't plant the seed in her mind. On the other hand, he felt close to a breakthrough in awakening from this coma or whatever it was, and just wanted Melia to keep talking about anything at all.

"So, you see, you're going to be fine." It was almost a whisper in his face now. "Because if everything has indeed proceeded as Zanza has foreseen - we haven't changed the fate of the world yet."

Well, we kind of already have? To an extent? Maybe not in a completely good way yet, but-

Shulk was suddenly inundated with tactile sensation; it felt like every part of his body got awoken from its stupor at once. He could feel he was lying at an angle on a cold hard table. He could locate the distant siren. He could feel his hands and feet twitching at the sudden restoration of control.

He could feel...something wet on his lips.

"Now get up."

Shulk's eyes flew open. Melia had already stood up and picked up a strange-looking weapon, holding it in front of him. The siren kept blaring.

He slowly sat up and hung his legs over the side of the table, looking around the medical lab, bending all his joints at once to check that they worked. It was a huge relief to be able to move again.

He couldn't help from vocalising his first instinct. "So we're even now then?"

Melia didn't appear to get the context. "How so?"

"Getting each other to wake up by doing this."

Shulk reached out to grab Melia's waist and shoulders, pulled her in, and kissed her.

Melia dropped the mystery weapon with a loud clatter, lucky that it didn't crush her toes, and stood paralysed with indecision as massive quantities of sensation and hormones flooded through her. To say she hadn't expected this kind of reaction would be a gross understatement.

After about five seconds, Shulk let go. "It's okay, no one never taught me how to kiss either, no big deal." He started to stand up off the table, testing his legs cautiously.

Melia chose to ignore whatever had just happened. She could dwell on it later - if there was a later. "Allow me to fill you in."

"Wait," Shulk interrupted, "let's skip the part where I kind of half-felt what was going on. Zanza said he's the only person that matters and wants to kill everyone so he can live, he fought you to kind of a draw until he used a very powerful attack, and Meyneth sacrificed herself but had to give up her Monado to him. Then he left and that's all I know." He remembered something else and quickly became depressed about it. "...oh yeah, and Dickson...said things."

Melia felt it best to move on quickly; she wasn't keen on deeply reliving the last little while either. "We collected you and escaped to Junks. Zanza used the Bionis to destroy Mechonis while we reached Colony 6. Now, he's...attacking us with Telethia formed from the citizenry of Alcamoth."

Shulk nodded; it was clear he wanted to hear more about the last part, but figured it wasn't the time. "Wow. I imagine it's been hard without me."

"It has certainly not been ideal."

"So what's this then?" He bent down to pick up the mystery weapon and felt it over. "Feels kinda familiar somehow...wait, it's a replica Monado, isn't it? Miqol got one finished today? Or yesterday?"

"Indeed." Melia felt kind of jealous. The Imperial Staff was effective enough, but it was never meant to be used as a weapon, and having sat unused for eons and then suddenly pressed into extreme service was making it start to feel a little loose and unfocused; it would need a fair chunk of idle time to firm back up. And now that Alcamoth was gone, there was no reasonable avenue for her to obtain a new staff of comparable quality - she could always go back to her own Protect Staff, but it was simply less effective overall, and none of the other staves the party had collected were a true match for her.

"Feels good." Shulk tried activating the Replica Monado and gave it a few test swings; it was clearly effortless. "Feels even better, actually. There's...like...it's clean, it's empty. It's just mine, not also Zanza's." He closed it back up and looked over it. "Not sure about the green, but that'd be easy to fix."

The last comment's pettiness was amusing; Melia was compelled to turn away and stifle a chuckle. She hid it by looking towards the source of the siren. "It sounds like the others will need us shortly."

Shulk felt a huge rumble. "Uh, is there time to eat something first? Even just like a bagel, I'm totally empty."

"I expected as much." Melia pointed towards a plate on a counter with two chocolate chip muffins and a glass of orange juice on it.

"Great thanks." Shulk hurried over to the food. "You should go get started without me. If they're fighting Telethia out there, they'll need you more than anyone."

Melia rather felt they needed Shulk more than anyone, but it'd do no good to argue the point. "Very well. I'll see you outside."

Shulk already had a large wad of muffin in his mouth, so he just waved.

The morning sky outside was lit with battle. All available artillery was firing upon the descending cloud of Telethia above, forcing those that survived to at least land outside the colony walls. The current position seemed tenable for the defenders, as long as the attackers didn't change their strategy.

"Melly!" Riki appeared at high speed almost the moment Melia stepped out onto the Junks deck. "Super alarm say lots of Dinobeasts!" He tumbled to a stop and started trying to get going back the other way.

"I had a hunch that would be it, Riki." She ran to catch up and presumably meet up with the others, wherever they happened to be.

It didn't take long to regroup; Reyn, Dunban, and Sharla arrived at the colony entrance at about the same time as them. Melia considered whether to tell them that Shulk was awake and would be joining them soon - it might raise their morale, but it might also make them complacent. She decided to wait and see how they were doing.

Dunban didn't leave any time; as soon as they were fully grouped, he started outside. "Let's go! We'll focus our efforts on protecting the gate!"

"Give those slimy creatures a headache!" Reyn yelled loudly enough to reach several other groups of fighters also approaching the gates, earning a few calls in return.

The fight on the ground was in a careful balance. Few enough Telethia were reaching the ground that they were overwhelmed by Colony 6 forces before they could get far, but the defenders were spread rather thin; if the attackers were just a bit more frequent it was likely one would slip through.

"We should hold here," said Sharla, planting her foot into the ground. "It's the best vantage point we can get without going too far out."

Reyn pointed up. "Looks like we got ourselves a warmup."

A small, bipedal Telethia descended upon the group. One of its arms was missing, presumably via the artillery, and it appeared distracted and unsure which direction to go.

"A warmup indeed. Show no restraint!" Melia summered her team-boosting elementals to begin the group's attack.

As expected, the crippled Telethia was easy prey; it took no more than a minute to dispatch.

"Sidekicks do good, real good," Riki rambled. "Small Dinobeast no trouble for Heropon!"

"Now for a tougher test," said Dunban, looking up into the distance.

A large snake-like Telethia hovered distant and above, too low for the artillery to reach but high enough to be out of any fighter's effective range. It was surrounded by a dozen of the star-shaped ones and a few bipedals, some of which clearly took some shots to help the large one get this low.

"Why are they just hangin' there?" asked Reyn. "If they all came at us at once we'd be in real big trouble."

"They must be waiting for something."

Sharla snapped around to face the new voice. "Juju?! What are you doing out here?"

Juju fumbled a bit with the gun he was holding. "I helped rebuild this colony, I'm not letting anything destroy it."

"Don't be silly, kid," Reyn said. "What good d'you think you can do against these things?"

"I'm not useless! I'm not the best but I can still fight!"

Melia had a thought. "Any additional mind a Telethia must read is a burden. Especially that of an adolescent."

Juju looked like he wasn't sure whether the comment was an endorsement or an insult.

Sharla sighed, shook her head, and looked back up with a neutral expression. "All right. If nothing else, at least I can protect you if you're here with us."

A star-shaped Telethia was the next to get close to the party, attempting to slip through the defenders and breach the colony entrance without fighting. It wasn't difficult to cut it off and subsequently force it to battle, which after a short while was resolved in its destruction.

These Telethia are going down quite easily, Melia considered. Perhaps they are exhausted from travelling down here, or hampered by the less ether-rich environment of the lower Bionis. We may have a slightly easier time than expected. At least, until the large group decides to attack. But by then Shulk should be out here.

As if on cue, the large group in the distance began approaching, the large snake in the middle being circled by the others like moths around a lamp. It was clear they didn't care about the colony or the fights happening around it - they were coming straight for the party.

"Here it comes." Reyn cracked his neck and rolled his shoulder.

Expecting a volley of long-range attacks to begin the battle, Melia prepared defensive elementals and focused on the ringleader. But as it got closer, she suddenly sensed an all-too-familiar presence riding atop it.

...what? No, it can't be.

Sharla was the next to notice. "Look, it's him!"

"It's meee!" Dickson spread his arms tauntingly. "How've you all been? Glad to see me?"

"Shut up!" yelled Reyn.

Dickson laughed. "What, you don't wanna hear me go on about how I'm still here? How the princess's big bro died for nothing? And how you'll get to go see him soon enough?"

Melia shook her head to clear it of the stun caused by seeing Dickson completely unaffected by yesterday's exploding Telethia. "Get down here and fight, you coward!"

"What do I need to do that for?" Dickson reached over to pat one of the surrounding Telethia on the head, like it was an oversized dog. "I ain't got nothin' to prove. Just a need to return you all back to Lord Zanza where you belong so we can get on with it. Maybe he'll decide to match you back up with your brother in the next life. How does as a boyfriend sound?"

Melia angrily smashed the head of her staff into the ground, which happened to grab her earth elemental on the way and thus caused the ground to slightly split open on impact.

"I have a boyfriend, and his name is Shulk!"

She raised the staff again and launched the earth elemental at Dickson, which had picked up a significant chunk of soil. One of the swarming Telethia interposed and exploded into a cloud of earthly poison.

Dickson seemed unimpressed by the action and quickly moved on. "You lot don't know when you're beaten! Why don't you just give up?" He shoved the nearby star-shaped Telethia down, which took it as an order to swoop down on the party; two bipedal ones it passed by decided to join in.

"Riki never lose! Riki and friends protect Hom Hom colony!" Riki lunged towards the creatures' target point and Burninated the area as they arrived, setting them all on fire to start things off.

Fighting multiple Telethia at once was an unwantedly new experience, but it turned out to be not much more difficult than any other battle against more than one significant foe. The Telethia showed no concept of teamwork, fighting independently of their allies with little regard for a plan. It took some effort, but they were soon dispatched with no casualties.

Dickson shrugged unconcernedly and made a motion, prompting his steed to let out a series of three barking roars.

Upon hearing the sound, all the Telethia currently engaged with other Colony 6 forces attempted to break off their fights and focus on the party. Most of them were already significantly injured, but there was a lot of them.

The battle quickly turned into a frenzy. While each incoming Telethia could be either beaten off or destroyed in two or three attacks, the sheer numbers were forcing the group to fight independently and attack without pause.

Reyn grabbed a smaller Telethia and punted it, wiping his brow. "We're in for the long haul for sure."

"If only Shulk was here," Juju moaned, shooting reasonably accurately but not counting his ammo. "We're dead meat without the Monado!"

"Forget the Monado, kid. We ain't usin' that tool of Zanza's no more."

Sharla approached so her healing ether could be shared amongst them. "If Reyn's got time to flap his jaw, we must be doing okay!"

"We are doing okay!" Reyn ran off to his next target, which he passed to Dunban with a bash.

Dunban received the incoming enemy with a spinning slash that covered all its options. "Reyn is correct. We have depended too much on Shulk and the Monado. Now, we must fight without them."

Melia looked up towards Dickson, still surrounded by enough minions that it wasn't practical to attack him directly. Coward. A true leader fights alongside his forces, not behind them.

The battle wore on. Telethia continued to rain down upon the group, slowly transitioning from "badly injured from fighting others" to "freshly arrived". The surrounding forces' efforts to lure some away could only make so much of a dent in their numbers. The party started getting hemmed together from defending themselves.

Riki beat off one assailant. "Friends losing ground. Need big push!"

Reyn took one hit and gave it back. "We just need a breather, then we'll be fine. But they just keep coming!"

"Of course they are," Dickson drawled. "What, you thought you'd actually get through 'em all? Here, I'll skip ahead a bit for you."

The incoming small Telethia were replaced by a multitude of large three-headed beasts, each fully healthy and as imposing as the one fought in Makna Forest.

Melia leaned on her staff, breathing hard in both exhaustion and frustration. She'd just lost her burst aura by bolting a Telethia, and now she had to start all over just as the hardest test so far had arrived. And the others looked similarly worn down, so combined with the small space they'd been enclosed in, it wouldn't be easy to keep herself away from trouble for long enough.

"It almost looks as though everything is going as Zanza planned," Dunban said. "But our hearts and minds...They still hold the will to seize our own destiny! No matter how hard you try to break us, the future is ours to shape, Dickson! Always!"

Dickson rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and shape your next five minutes, that's about all the future you've got left. Your destiny is to die here!"

Melia's gaze snapped towards Colony 6. She couldn't see it through the Telethia, but a familiar energy was rushing towards them.

"C'mon then, what're you waiting for?" Dickson motioned towards the surrounding Telethia. One of them started to charge up an attack.

It was perhaps a mistake. The charging creature was the first to be targeted by Shulk, appearing with the Replica Monado in hand and cutting up its heads.

"Shulk!" called Reyn. "Good timing!"

Shulk didn't answer, busy attacking other foes. The group didn't waste their chance to help out, taking advantage of his sudden appearance to kill two more Telethia and force the others to back off.

In the earned pause, Shulk rejoined the party proper. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he said breathlessly. "Had to...finish waking up."

"Your timing couldn't be better," said Dunban. "Now, the true battle begins."

Dickson grumbled something to himself before dropping his Telethia down to ground level and resuming his toying posturing. "So, you looking for a final lesson, kid?"

"Dickson." Shulk glared at him.

Melia sensed an odd tension between the two. Shulk seemed to be trying to look angry but didn't really have his heart in it. Dickson was a lot harder to read, but it felt like he was trying to hide something - presumably his surprise that Shulk wasn't dead.

"So you think you can stand up to Lord Zanza, eh? Well then, show me what you've got!"

The largest Telethia so far was of equally great challenge, but now that Shulk was here, it was no longer the unbeatable menace faced atop Junks yesterday. The very first thing Shulk did was to use Monado Purge on the creature, allowing the rest of the team to play their strengths without being immediately destroyed. And the few times it managed to stop paying attention to Reyn and Dunban, it always went for Shulk, who had no trouble evading its attacks. Eventually, the beast fell.

Dickson lazily walked away from the Telethia before it exploded, angrily muttering something to himself.

"Looks like we got him upset," taunted Reyn. "How'd ya do it, Shulk?"

Shulk seemed somewhat confused himself as to how. "I...I could see the future. Just as I always have. Even without the Monado."

"Nice one! Looks like we're back in business!"

Dickson grumbled and started calling to someone unseen behind the party. "Oi! Where're you at, you lazy bum? You just gonna sit back there and let me do all the hard work? Alvis?"

Melia scoffed at the implication that Dickson riding a Telethia that mostly made its own decisions was considered "work". But once he got to the last word, she immediately turned to see if he was talking about the same "Alvis" she knew.

Indeed it was; Alvis was walking past the party towards Dickson.

The rest of the party started to call him out and try to make him respond. For a moment, Melia intended to join in, to call him a traitor and demand answers. But she quickly noticed that Shulk appeared completely unconcerned, which caused her to reconsider.

"Oi, don't you ignore us!" Reyn moved to chase him down.

"No." Shulk grabbed Reyn's shoulder.

"Wha? Don't you-"

"It doesn't matter what he is," Shulk said. "That doesn't change anything at all. Does it, Alvis?"

"Yes. Precisely." Alvis turned and stopped next to Dickson. "You must find your own path to the future."

A new Telethia appeared, descending from the sky to hover beside Alvis. It was of a form unlike any other - bipedal with a tail, but with arms that moved like wings. As it arrived, the weather quickly turned sour, with thick rainclouds appearing as if from nowhere all across the sunny sky.

"I'm over these stupid things," Reyn spat. "Well fine! You side with Zanza, you get to lose!"

"Show them no mercy," assented Dunban.

"Very well," replied Alvis. "Show me your claimed will to survive." He stepped back and motioned the Telethia to attack.

Like its shape, the Telethia fought unlike any other: by launching ether attacks from the sky rather than its body. It clearly possessed some form of weather control, as the rainclouds above moved unnaturally through the air in order to enable whichever attack it wished to use: solar-sourced laser beams, rainy blasts of water, and powerful bolts of lightning. It was a novel challenge in that the enemy's attacks had to be watched for from any direction, rather than simply the foe's position - but this by itself was not insurmountable. The unique specimen shared its kin's fate.

Reyn was still hot under the collar. "Now it's your turn! I'll show you "will to survive"!" He rushed towards Alvis.

Shulk tried not to roll his eyes as he chased him. All it took to notice that Dickson was aiming at Reyn was not having tunnel vision. It wasn't hard to block the shot with his Replica Monado.

Dickson snarled. "Meddling kids."

Alvis had not moved an iota the entire time. "I have seen your will to fight," he said to Shulk. "It is time to decide. What do you say? Does this world belong to you or to Zanza? Well?"

"Dunno why you care," Dickson butted in. "Same result either way really. But hey, I guess it won't hurt to have a life goal, even one that'll never happen."

"He desires the same as you," Alvis continued, ignoring Dickson's interjection. "And he sees everything. As you see, Shulk. You understand. Correct?"

Shulk paused for a moment for the vision he just received to finish. "Yeah. You can bet on it."

A pair of Telethia swooped in for Dickson and Alvis to mount and carry them off.

"We will be waiting," Alvis said.

"Don't take too long, Shulk," Dickson taunted. "A god's only got so much patience."

The retort came to Shulk immediately. "He needs it with you hanging around."

Dickson appeared to nod and shrug as he disappeared into the distance. The remaining Telethia followed, abandoning the attack on the colony. Shouts of victory rolled in from afar.

"Get back here, you scum!" Reyn hollered after them.

"Give it a rest, Reyn," Sharla said.

"Nrrrrgh." He slowly turned away.

"Let's return to Junks," Dunban suggested. "We may have won this battle, but we need to plan how we're going to fight the war."

There was exhausted assent from the others.

Colony 6 had proven itself able to hold against a Telethia attack directed by Zanza's disciples; it was sure to hold against further attacks for as long as said disciples were lying in wait for Shulk inside the Bionis. As a result, it was decided that the party could have as much time as they needed (within reason) to rest and prepare. The rest part came first; the remainder of the day was spent with everyone going off their separate ways around the well-reconstructed colony.

It wasn't hard for Melia to find Shulk. Once she'd had enough of thinking herself in circles about some things, she quickly located him in the Junks lab, prodding at the Replica Monado.

"...interesting shape," he was muttering to himself. "Less ring focus, more strut focus, three-part...Oh hi Melia." He half-heartedly waved at her and continued his investigation silently.

Melia sat on an adjacent table and waited for him to decide she was here for a reason.

It took a few minutes, but Shulk did eventually look up and focus on her. "Uh, do you need something?"

"...You might say that." She didn't really need it, but it felt that way. "I am...overly curious about your condition."

"How do you mean?"

"I feel...compelled to know how you felt, what the world was like while you lay dormant here earlier."

Shulk shrugged, unconsciously turning back to his new weapon. "Didn't feel much of anything really. I guess it was like being asleep and kind of stuck in a dream. Then there was some being half-awake, where I sort of knew what was going on a bit, and then you woke me up."

"So...so you heard what was going on, while you were still unable to act?" Melia tried to phrase it in a way that didn't suggest anything in particular.

"After a point yeah." Shulk thought about what he would have heard at the time, and once he remembered, he realised what Melia was probably trying to get at. "Then I heard you talking to me."

Melia tried not to visibly react. "You did?"

"Yeah. It kind of helped me figure out how to wake up, actually, since it was really...uh, close and directional. Helped get my body back into feeling things."

"... ... ...How much did you hear?"

Shulk knew for sure what this was about now, and returned his full attention to Melia. "All of it. I don't know if I remember the whole thing, but you talked about how hard everything's been on you, how you think I'm a bigger hero than you, and how Alvis pointed you in the right direction before we met."

Melia had expected Shulk to have heard some muttering, a string of indistinct speech, or a few disconnected parts. She was not ready for him to reveal that he'd heard and understood everything she'd said. To be honest, she wouldn't have said half the things she did if she'd known he could hear it. She could feel a strange hollowness in her chest.

Shulk suspected that something wasn't right with the way Melia suddenly fell quiet and motionless. "Do you need a hug?"

"No." It was an instant, instinctive response, completely independent from whatever her unconsidered opinion might be.

"Are you sure?"

"No." The second answer was also immediate, but it also wasn't for the actual question that was asked - it was expected to have been a "how about this instead" alternate suggestion. "Wait, I didn't-"

It was too late. Shulk had already stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

Melia didn't collapse; rather, she expressly attempted to remain stoic and rigid, and to ignore all the sensations being imparted upon her. It was difficult to stay calm while her dislike of being touched was fighting her assumed condition of touch starvation.

"C'mon, Melia, loosen up a bit." Shulk gave her a light shake. "You're like hugging a statue right now."

She didn't budge. She wasn't going be embarrassed like a wet rag again.

Shulk tried for a further fifteen seconds or so before giving up, disappointed.

"I guess it's dinnertime soon," he said, completely dropping the subject. "Dunban recommended one of the newer places around here a few days ago, I'll go ask him where it was." He picked up his weapon and left.

Melia got the distinct impression she'd made the wrong choice of action, but had no idea what a more correct choice could have been. It certainly couldn't be "liquify like a floozy" like the first hug. What else was there?

I didn't communicate well enough, she reasoned. I didn't listen to the follow-up question and gave an emotional response that confused matters. If I'd paid attention, and acted more detached and rational, I could have avoided this situation altogether.

I normally don't let my emotions get the best of me like this. It must be due to all that's happened today. And yesterday. And the day before. It's all piled up on itself to form a huge mass of events that's left me at a loss of how to handle all at once. But if I can weather the storm, I should be able to move on eventually.

They say it is a curse to live in interesting times. It cannot be more true.