Chapter 28: Meld

It felt like Shulk had blinked and it was suddenly November. And so far he didn't like it, what with the gloomy weather and daily temperatures much lower than what anyone was used to. Alvis had warned them about the new world's climate, but just being told about a new sort of winter was very different than actually feeling it approach. At least the lab and Melia's house were both warm. Dunban's house probably was too, since the repairs were all but finished, but he hadn't actually gone over there in a while. There hadn't been a need, to be honest.

Correction: Melia's house had been warm until now. During dinner, the furnace had suddenly started making a scary rattling sound, so Shulk and Melia had hurried down to investigate. After turning it off and opening it up, Shulk eventually pulled out the pieces of a broken fan. It must've been defective to last so short a time.

"How does it look?" asked Melia. "Is it rectifiable?"

Shulk turned the fractured part around in his hands and frowned. "There's no fixing this. You need a new one. But I don't think either of us should be going outside in this weather, so for tonight we'll just have to deal with it."

As if on cue, the howling wind outside roared even harder. The house creaked slightly as it felt single-digit temperatures for the first time.

Melia nodded. "I see. Well, the fireplace should be sufficient. Especially since...what was your wording, that you "over-insulated the heck out of it"?"

"Sounds right."

The two of them returned to dinner. It had cooled off a bit, but nothing a quick application of a flare couldn't handle. Shulk still found it pretty goofy to see a ball of fire hovering just above each of their plates, but he wasn't complaining - chicken was terrible cold.

Once the food was done, it was Melia's day to clean the kitchen and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

"What were your plans on this dreadful evening?" she asked Shulk as she began.

"Well...I was going to watch a movie."

Homs were just on the verge of developing television when the world had ended, so the High Entia had seen it acceptable to give them the final push to complete the technology. The notion of transmitting video was still very new to those who had never seen it in Alcamoth or on Mechonis, so it was still inconsistent and experimental. But the notion of cinema was well-established, and an industry was quickly popping up to support the idea of people buying copies of films for personal viewing.

As a result, Shulk was starting to collect tapes for his favourite films. This was ostensibly just because he wanted to, but really he wanted to show them to Melia. He hadn't gotten a good chance to bring up the idea yet, but this was a decent time.

"Indeed?" Melia was never much of a movie-watcher - she preferred books for her fiction. But the wind was so loud outside tonight that it might be hard to focus on reading. She was considering asking if she could join.

"Yeah. Titan Wars: A New Hope. It's the first in the trilogy, but they call it episode four, and they still haven't made the first three yet. It sounds a bit confusing, but it's just a funny number, it doesn't really mean anything. Do you want to watch?"

He hoped it didn't sound like he forced the question. It wasn't like he planned out the sentence, but he was kinda fishing for-

"Perhaps I shall."

"...Okay, cool." That was easy.

Melia didn't own a Homs-made TV, but Shulk had bought the appropriate device for reading a Homs tape into her High Entia set. He got everything plugged in while Melia finished up the dishes.

"What is this film about, exactly?" she called from the kitchen.

"Action, mostly." He didn't want to spoil too much, it would be much more fun if she knew very little. "Typical hero's journey sort of thing. Sci-fi setting, other titans across the ocean with life are common. Hm, I guess that idea doesn't quite make sense anymore, does it? Since we're a planet in space now."

"I imagine the base idea can be adapted without too much difficulty."

"Yeah, but no one's going to want to re-shoot the whole thing."

"True. Many people will always prefer the original." The cleanup done, Melia entered the room with curiosity. "All right, let's see it."

Shulk finished pushing his bedding off to the side of the couch and motioned Melia over as he pressed the play button.

Melia settled down into bed, her head still buzzing somewhat.

Shulk was known to be an excitable person when it came to his interests, so it was hardly a surprise that he'd gotten pretty into the film. After it was over, she had acquiesced to his going back to certain scenes and explaining some detail or other, both on the lore and production sides. For her part, she had to admit to being legitimately interested in the prospect of watching the next two films over the next two nights.

She didn't know what she expected, but Homs cinema was not much different than that of the High Entia. Less advanced in special effects, but the story and cinematography was at least on par with the few films she had seen.

It would perhaps be fun to show Shulk one of her films. This would naturally be difficult since she didn't know many, but there were a few at least. She could start with her mother's favourite, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

A classic High Entia film of a genre more enjoyed by Homs. A good first step...

There was a smash from downstairs, followed by a continuous rattling and scuffling. The sound of the wind took on a harsher tone.

Melia was very close to falling asleep, so she didn't react to the noise quickly. But after a few seconds, she figured out that something had happened, and should probably go see what it was.

She opened the bedroom door to a blast of frigid air. It was quickly followed by Shulk in his pajamas, hustling up the stairs with rigid fists and a pained grimace on his face.

Melia got out of the way and accepted Shulk into the bedroom before closing the door, turning the light on, and placing some dirty clothes down to block the cold airflow through the space beneath it.

Shulk hurried to sit down at the desk and started using Light Heal on himself. He appeared to have several cuts across his hands.

"Window broke," he muttered. "Got shards."

"Is it just your hands?" Melia took her staff and summoned an aqua to help with the healing.

"Yeah, gut reaction was to cover my face." The pain mostly gone, Shulk shivered a bit. "I'm guessing a rock or tree branch hit the window. It's freezing down there now, the fire's still on but the wind is just too cold."

Melia felt increasing trepidation that the room would now have two occupants for the night. "I suppose you're stuck here for tonight then."

"Guess so." Shulk tested his hands, they were pretty much fine now. "At least the window in here faces a different way, we don't have to worry about it happening again...I guess we'll have to find your sleeping bag?"

"Indeed." Melia was already looking; it wasn't where she last remembered leaving it, so she had to start investigating the entire room. She started preparing her argument for why Shulk would sleep in the bed while she would sleep in her bag on the floor.

After a few fruitless minutes, Shulk halfheartedly joined in, wanting to help but not really knowing what he wasn't supposed to touch. While he passed through Melia's bedroom constantly to use the shower, he always tried to do it quickly without looking at anything, so the room's contents as a whole were still kind of a mystery to him. He started figuring out what part of the floor that he could fit in was furthest from the bed, so he would encroach on her privacy as little as possible.

"It has to be somewhere in here," he mumbled, mostly to himself. "It'd never be elsewhere in the house, right?"

Melia frowned worriedly, running out of places to look. "Of course. I'm not sure where else...it..." She trailed off.

Shulk turned her way, now also worried. "You just remembered where else, didn't you?"

"...yes. Sharla borrowed it some months ago for a camping trip. It got dirty and she promised to have it cleaned before returning it. We both forgot."

"...well, uh...so..."

A thick tension slowly fell across the room. They were both thinking the same thing: that the other would insist above all else to give up position in the bed and sleep on the floor. But doing so was a dangerous idea, as the room only had one set of blankets and neither of them felt safe sleeping without any. The more they thought about it, the more they considered that there was only one option - one that neither wanted to be the first to suggest.

After what felt like several minutes of standoff, Shulk finally broke the silence. "I think we both know what has to be done. Let's just get it over with."

"Agreed." Melia quickly turned the light off and hurried into bed, pulling herself as close to the edge as possible. In hindsight it was kind of rude to turn out the light first, but she didn't much care - she was too busy being terrified of the unknown.

Shulk slowly and carefully clambered into the other side of the bed, also leaving as much room as he could. He was dead scared of accidentally doing something to offend Melia - he didn't know of any unusual etiquette High Entia might have for sharing a bed, but he still almost expected something to go wrong.

Melia shuddered as the mattress shifted. It felt unequivocally wrong for it to be moved by something that was not herself, like her safe space had been invaded. No amount of telling herself that is was just Shulk, the one person she trusted more than any other, would make a difference.

Shulk could feel the shuddering and wasn't sure whether he was doing it himself. Sleeping this close to someone wasn't new to him, but only in their own sleeping bags in a tent or on the ground - never in the same bed. And given how often he woke up to find that each of his blankets had apparently shifted in a different direction during the night, he saw no way to avoid getting in Melia's way somehow.

The ensuing silence was as uncomfortable as the pair's positions.

Melia found herself in a blizzard, the snow so thick and swirling that she could barely see her own feet.

Not recalling how this happened, her first instinct was to sit and await rescue. But something didn't feel right about doing that. In fact, it felt like she was supposed to be going somewhere - towards a faint ether light in the distance that she couldn't see yet knew existed.

So, she started to fumble through the blizzard. The snow was accumulating at a magical rate; if she stayed in one place for just a few moments, it suddenly became quite difficult to wrench her foot out of the drift that had formed. She had to keep moving.

Eventually, she found what seemed to be an angled rock wall. With nowhere else to go, she started to climb.

Shulk was awake. It was immediately clear why: the blankets had just been pulled off him, and he was now cold.

He looked over to see Melia at the other edge of the mattress, still asleep but actively pulling on the blankets. Her face was neutral - she wasn't cold, she was just acting instinctively.

I don't blame you, but you can't do that. Shulk took hold of the trailing edge, pulled it back over himself, and stuck it under his body. The blankets were more than wide enough, even with the two as far apart as possible, so he just had to make sure his end was anchored and there wouldn't be a problem.

Melia kept pulling, which was no longer having any effect aside from Shulk feeling continuous tugs. He didn't expect it to stop immediately, so he tried to ignore it and go back to sleep.

The jostling continued for several minutes as the wind howled.

I don't know why I'm surprised she's being tenacious about this, that's just how she is. She's probably never shared a bed before either, they probably had rules against that, so she probably doesn't even know she steals blankets. Which seems kind of weird since she's a light sleeper...then again, she dreams hard.

Something bumped into him from behind.

Shulk looked back to find that Melia was no longer at the far edge of the mattress, but on the same half as him. With her pulling no longer moving the blankets, she had pulled herself across the bed instead, until her pulling motion was interrupted by Shulk's body. She was now brushing her hands against his back.

Uh, this is-

Undeterred by the obstruction, Melia kept going through the sleepwalk-like motions of blanket-pulling. It wasn't long before her limbs were fumbling across Shulk's body, trying to find more sheets to grip as she inched closer.

Shulk considered doing something to wake her up and snap her out of it, not really wanting to deal with the fallout in the morning if she approached too closely. But on the other hand, he found it kind of interesting and almost wanted to see how far it would go.

Eventually, Melia couldn't reach outward without her hands being trapped by the curve of the blanket as it coiled underneath Shulk. This seemed to be the breaking point; the motion slowly tapered off and stopped, with her top arm draped over his side.

Shulk kept still for a moment to be sure that she wasn't trying to move any further.

I think I can just brush her arm off me so she doesn't hate herself in the morning. That shouldn't wake-

Melia suddenly rolled into him. She had been on her side, but something or other caused her to roll onto her front, pressing most of her right side against his back.

Shulk was stuck now. Melia had kind of wedged him in place against the coiled-under blanket; the only way he could escape was to either elbow her or roll onto the floor, neither of which was really a reasonable option.

...so that's how it's gonna be, huh.

He mentally shrugged and started trying to get back to sleep. He expected it to be difficult, not being used to sleeping with his back to a warm non-uniform surface that also happened to be breathing. But it was strangely comforting.

The blizzard faded. Melia looked back down the mountain to see it raging below, completely obscuring all but the last few metres of the summit.

She clambered up to the small flat terrain at the top. Shulk was there, sitting down looking at the sunrise. He looked a bit fuzzy, as if she was viewing him through frosted glass, but it was clear he was the source of the ether light she had been following.

He said something. His speech was as blurred as his appearance, but it seemed reasonably clear what he meant.

Melia obliged and sat down beside him. A thick blanket suddenly appeared around her, as if he'd thrown it on without notice. The coldness of the air instantly vanished; the wind was just as sharp, but it no longer touched her face, and the blanket covered everything else.

Shulk mumbled something else, but it didn't matter. She had warmth in the storm.

Melia gained consciousness. The world seemed oddly warm compared to what she expected given the weather, so she presumed another dream was starting and chose to let it run.

After a few minutes of nothing happening, she decided it was not in fact a dream, and that she was actually awake. This seemed strange, but there was no reason to upset whatever the odd and comforting warmth was, so she left it alone. It seemed to still be pretty dark out, so there was little point getting up.

A tickle in her nose prompted a slight head movement.

Suddenly she was aware that the mysterious warm object pressed to her side was something alive. There was no way that could be right. Something must have invaded her bed.

In panic, she grabbed the blankets with one hand and shoved away the intruder with the other.

"Wha-?" Shulk got out half a syllable before he plummetted off the bed. With the blankets coiled under him pulled along, Melia unwittingly followed, landing on him front-to-back.

"Oof!"

"ow."

Only now did Melia recall that she had been forced to share her bed with Shulk.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry." She started to scramble to get off him, but the tangled blankets did not make it easy.

"Mel-uuhuf." Shulk took an elbow, and decided it wasn't worth continuing. If she wanted to do this the hard way, let her.

It would have been faster had she not struggled so much, but eventually Melia extracted herself from the mess and stood up. It was chilly in the room, but not problematically so.

She looked at the clock. "It's 7:08."

Shulk had a much easier time escaping the blankets. He said the first thing that came to mind. "I guess we survived."

Melia couldn't help but chuckle over the word "survived", relieved that it wasn't so early that they would have to go back to sleep. "A red-letter day to be sure. Or I suppose night?"

"Yeah, first time sleeping together. Awkward, but it worked." Shulk's brow furrowed and he scratched his chin. "I never really understood why people treat sleeping together like...I dunno, like a crime almost. They'd only say it in whispers and such."

Melia kept quiet as her face flushed. Now was not the time to tell him that the phrase "sleeping together" did not mean only that.

Shulk stepped toward the bedroom door but then stopped, remembering what had happened. "It's not as windy anymore, but it's still going to be pretty cold out there. We'll need to be ready for it."

The first thought that came to Melia was that she should get dressed in order to deal with the cold, and she had already reached back to undo her nightgown before the second thought kicked in of Shulk is right here in my room I can't just disrobe in front of him what sort of-

"You got some sweaters, right?" Shulk looked at the closet, not feeling brave enough to open the door himself. "I'll take a sweater so I can leave, and you can get dressed. I'll get some wood from the basement and board up the window. Then I'll get dressed and let you know when I'm done, and then we just have to get a new window in as soon as we can, I'll head right out after breakfast to see what I can find. How's that plan?"

Melia twitched and felt offended for a moment - it was taboo for High Entia to wear someone else's clothes - but the feeling passed once she realised that her sweaters were Homs and so probably okay for another Homs to wear. It would still be highly awkward, but at least it wouldn't be revulsive.

"This is acceptable." She entered the closet and took the nearest sweater out of it. "Here."

"Thanks." Shulk threw the sweater on with ease and turned back to the door. "I'll try to close it again quickly. Ready?"

Melia stepped away before nodding.

Shulk left the room in a hurry. While the door was only open for two seconds, the frigid air was even worse than expected, chasing Melia all the way to the bathroom. She'd have to wait a few moments before continuing the plan.

It had been a harrowing night, but it was as Shulk had said. They'd survived.

As it turned out, Melia's house had taken the worst of the windstorm, compared to the colonies. While this was unlucky in that it was the only building to suffer any significant damage, it was lucky in that nobody else was running around looking for new windows. Shulk and a few volunteers had the damage repaired before lunch. The afternoon was then spent looking for furnace parts - by the time dinner rolled around, it was also repaired, and Shulk had stored away two spares for the fan and a few other critical pieces.

So, the hectic twenty-four hours ended back at the dinner table, the two of them enjoying a Lewie's pizza. They'd started to settle on a "usual" order: just pepperoni on one half, and the other half covered in anchovies, olives, and pineapples.

"Is the new window any stronger?" Melia was asking.

"Well, no," admitted Shulk. "But I found the culprit: a very sharp rock. Like, maybe-a-Tirkin-carved-it kind of sharp. I think it's safe to say that it's an anomaly."

Melia nodded. "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is malevolence? Is that not how it goes?"

"Something like that. Kind of like how they got our order wrong that one time, and if they do it again it's free."

"That is not the comparison I'd make, but it does fit. Vaguely."

Shulk finished his last-for-now slice and moved to put the rest in the fridge. "Besides, how rare is a windstorm like that anyway? Alvis wouldn't drop us in a world where we'd get a tornado every month."

"He did put us in a world where we predict it to start snowing soon and continue for four months, every year."

"Okay, you got me there."

Melia also finished her meal. "I do happen to agree it is likely to have been a rare event. But rare things happen all the time, as unintuitive as it is to say."

"Yeah, probability is weird." Shulk pointed his thumb back to the living room and started to sidestep. "I'll go get the movie ready."

"Oh no you don't." Melia blocked the door with a pair of earth elementals. "The cleanup today is your duty."

"One day you'll forget."

"Perhaps by the time that happens, you will have forgotten to avoid it."

Shulk shook his head in the good-natured banter sort of way as he walked back over.

Melia flipped over in bed yet again, becoming ever more frustrated.

Just like last night, she'd gone to bed a mix of satisfied from a film and brainstorming about how to reply to it. But this time, instead of falling asleep quickly (well, she would have had nothing happened), she'd tossed and turned for what must have been forty minutes by now. And there wasn't even a loud storm or traumatic experience to cause it, it was as calm and quiet as usual. What was wrong?

Was it the film? No, while it was a bit darker in theme, she didn't feel bothered by anything now or at the time.

Was it fear of another weather event? Doubtful, she didn't feel stressed about it or anything.

What was it, then? Why was she suddenly having so much trouble getting to sleep?

There was a quiet knock at the door.

Melia sat up, bewildered. What does Shulk want? Not wanting to get out of bed, she took her staff to summon an earth and used it to remotely open the door.

Shulk seemed confused that the door had appeared to open by itself, but quickly shook it off and stepped in. "I thought you might also be having trouble sleeping."

"What gave you that idea?" Have I been making noise this whole time?

"I dunno really. Just...a feeling, an instinct." He didn't really know how to explain it, he just somehow knew.

She decided not to bother hiding it. "Well, you are right."

Shulk edged further into the room and nudged the door closed. He looked pretty sheepish about it.

Suddenly Melia realised what his plan was. How brazen of him. She wanted to call him out on it, but couldn't get herself to do it.

Instead, she found herself lifting the covers up and shifting over only slightly.

Shulk needed no further invitation, and climbed into bed without making too much attempt to be careful about it.

The two lay much closer together than the previous night, and both felt practically none of the awkwardness or fear. It was as if they'd discovered something they'd both wanted to do and had never known.

Melia turned her head to look at Shulk. "I suppose you no longer have any plans of returning to Dunban's house?"

Shulk chuckled quietly before looking back at her. "In hindsight, I'm not sure I ever did."