Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 3 of My "Here's How Shulkelia Can Still Win" Fanon
Collections:
♥️ Shulkelia Collection ♥️
Stats:
Published:
2021-05-10
Completed:
2021-05-16
Words:
8,581
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
38
Kudos:
76
Bookmarks:
11
Hits:
2,061

World Ender

Summary:

Shulk has invited Melia to Colony 9 to repair her staff, but unbeknownst to her he has a confession to make.

Melia helps out in the lab by spreading out Shulk's blueprints for World Ender, but unbeknownst to him she sees something on there that shatters her world before he can.

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Tyrea, are you absolutely sure? I would not want my leave to burden you with any potential remaining tasks.”

“Oh, there’s always something more to do.”

Tyrea crossed her arms and sternly locked eyes with Melia.

“But that’s exactly why you should take this time off: this place isn’t going to get fixed in a month or even a year, let alone half a day. You leaving for the rest of today won’t make Alcamoth explode. And it’s not like this is the first time you’ve gone to visit your friends anyway.” 

“That is true, but I—”

“Besides, if anything comes up while you’re gone I’ll take care of it myself. Unless you think I can’t handle taking over for you.”

Her tone was rather harsh, but the deliberate smile on her lips and in her eyes told Melia that she was joking—partially, at least.

Melia mirrored her with both a smile and an attempt at a jest of her own.

“Are you suggesting the Empress made an error by delegating a position of importance to someone I believe to be incompetent?”

She had not yet been coronated, but everyone addressed her as such all the same. Besides, the fact that she wasn't officially the Empress yet just added to the joke, she thought.

While anyone else would have thought the sound Tyrea made was some kind of cough, Melia knew it was her sister’s laugh. 

“No, what I am suggesting is that you should start walking to your ship now if you don’t want to ‘accidentally’ fall off the plateau and have to swim your way to Colony 9 instead.”  

Melia hummed two short giggles. “An interesting alternative, but I shall have to decline. I would like to arrive before next month.”

“That’s the spirit. Now go on, then.”

For a moment Tyrea considered flapping her hand in a shooing motion to punctuate her sentence, but decided against it because it would make her look silly.

After Melia had informed her sister what time she should be back by, she turned and left the palace. She made her way to the spot she had parked her airship, saying her goodbyes to everyone she passed along the way. Soon, she was seated at the controls and directing the ship on a familiar route.

While the whole colony was looking forward to Melia's trip, there was one particular engineer who was quite a bit more excited—and much more anxious—than the rest. In fact, the reason every denizen knew of her arrival was because he was trying to release his pent-up energy by darting all over the place to ask everyone questions. 

Each Nopon, when asked if they had heard anything through the merchant network, replied with some variation of “If me got news from floaty-island sellers that fast then Bird Lady should already being here.” No luck from them, so he searched elsewhere.

All he got from Reyn was “sittin’-in-a-tree” teasing and jokes about how much exercise he must be getting from all this running around. Dunban just called out for him to “have patience” each time the brunet saw him coming. Dissatisfied with their responses as well, he looked for someone else to talk to. 

He had asked Sharla to take out her pocket watch three separate times in one minute. She told him during the final run-in—with a tinge of humour and mild annoyance—that the time had surprisingly not changed in the past 10 seconds. After a “right, sorry” and some nervous laughter, he let her be.

Dorothy had heard him come running over to her station to ask if she had spotted an airship so many times that she was now prepared to yell, “Not yet!” before he had even made it past the shopkeeper. He was running out of ideas for running around.

But soon someone showed up who made him stop in his tracks: partially due to who it was, but mostly because she had deliberately planted herself in his way.

“F-Fiora!” 

“Are you finally gonna ask her out this time?” His friend had a huge smirk on her face.

Out of breath and his brain scrambled by her direct, embarrassing question, he stumbled through his non-answer.

“Uhh… Hah… Well… I mean, um…”

“Shulk, you promised this time you’d do it!” Fiora bent her arms and placed her fists against her hips. 

She wasn't wrong. 

This wasn’t the first time Shulk had found an excuse to invite Melia to visit, and each time he did, he informed Fiora that her best friend would be stopping by the colony. His childhood friend began to suspect something, and with each new instance of this routine, her hunch was affirmed even more. Before long she confronted him with her definitely-accurate theory, and hounded him until he finally confirmed it. At first he stuck to his story that X reason or Y excuse was exclusively why he asked her to visit, but eventually he caved to the immense pressure she weighed down on him and admitted that maybe there could possibly be a little bit of a confounding variable involved.

Namely, that he had a crush on Melia. 

Once she got his “what are you talking about that’s ridiculous I just thought she’d want to see her good pal Fiora again” out of the way, the blonde instantly switched to pestering him about confessing or asking her out officially. While Fiora did enjoy the extra Melia Time, it was quite difficult for her to hold her tongue around the High Entia after she discovered Shulk’s secret. The only reason she had held out this long was because Shulk had told her repeatedly that he would ask Melia out himself when he next saw her.

But he’d Tirkened out every single time—and now, with the next visit nearing, Fiora was getting impatient.

“You need to be the one to tell her, I won’t do it for you!”

At first, Shulk just sighed.

“…You’re right, I should have by now.”

Then he furrowed his brows and met her gaze. 

“But it’s not that simple! In fact, the whole reason I’m so nervous right now is because I made that promise, and I...”

He broke eye contact.

“I do want to tell her…”

“So then tell her!”

Fiora leaned towards him with a provoking smile, but when she saw the sheepish expression on his face she softened a bit. 

“Look, I get why you’re nervous, but we’ve gone over all that already, remember? And it’s only gonna make you feel worse the more you put it off.” 

Shulk suddenly felt a hand plop on his shoulder. The unexpected contact made his head shoot up to look at the source of it. 

“So why spend your time being all antsy and worried when instead you could be spending time with ~Melia~ on a ~date~?” 

Initially all he could do was blush, but when he saw the look on Fiora’s face—one eyebrow raised with a cheeky grin—he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“…All right, you make a compelling argument. This time, I…” 

He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. Using only about 10% of the breath he had just taken, with eyes still shut, he forced out an “I’lldefinitelyaskherout” before sighing out the rest of the air.

Fiora’s facetious smile changed to a genuine, but amused, one.

“Great! That’s the right attitude! But”, she giggled, “you could work on your delivery.”

Her pining friend silently agreed, nodding in defeat. 

As she took a moment to figure out how else she could help, she gazed up at the sky to think. After just a few seconds, her eyebrows shot up in a combination of epiphany and surprise.

“Look, what if you thought about it like this? Imagine instead you wanted to ask her to marry you.”

“W-What?!” His voice cracked from the shock.

“See? That’s much scarier! Makes asking her out seem easier now, doesn’t it?”

Shulk just stared at her in confused disbelief.

“…I don’t—” He was cut off by Fiora grabbing both of his shoulders.

“You can do it, I know you can. And you have to! So you’d better hurry up and get ready”, she said as she spun him around in a 180 before letting go of one of his shoulders to point up at the sky, “’cos she’s almost here!”

While Fiora dragged him over to the colony’s main entrance, Dorothy’s shout doubly confirming the ship he saw was indeed real, Shulk tried to remember how to say hello.

It didn’t take long for Fiora to round up the gang. Dunban left to borrow a couple chairs from the tables next to Giorgio’s stall as his sister corralled everyone else to their home. While she worked on cooking dinner—firmly refusing to let her guests help no matter how many times they asked—the group of friends mingled by the stairs, catching each other up on their lives.

Plenty of thank yous and compliments preceded their chatting during dinner. After everyone was finished and the dishes were cleared, they talked for a few minutes more until Sharla glanced at the clock on the wall and stood up.

“I’d better get going now. I need to make it back before Juju burns the house down,” she joked. Then she nodded towards the chef. “Thanks a lot for the meal, Fiora. Excellent as always.”

The blonde beamed.

Now turning to look at Melia, Sharla gave her a smile and a warm hug.

“It was brilliant seeing you again. Hopefully the next date you’re visiting’ll also line up with my schedule, it’s been too long.”

After she exchanged heartfelt goodbyes with the rest of her friends, Reyn stood up and followed her out the door. He smiled and took her hand in his, walking her to her buggy.

Once the two had left, Fiora promptly turned to face her brother.

“Hey Dunban. It’s getting pretty late, isn’t it?”

He didn’t even need to look at the clock to give his answer.

“Not especially, I can see it’s still not quite dark out y—”

“Yeah, but you’re old. You gotta go to bed early. Come on, chop chop!”

Dunban was yanked out of his chair before he had time to react. Fiora, dragging him across the room, called out to her remaining guests. 

“Anyway, you guys should head out before it gets too dark. Have fun you two~!”

She gave Shulk a quick wink before shoving her protesting brother up the stairs. The blond responded by giving her a look of complete incredulity.

Melia, luckily, had missed Fiora’s teasing gesture.

“Ah, that’s right. Shulk, you had told me you planned to repair my staff, did you not?”

He nodded, just now remembering that was the reason he had invited her here in the first place.

Well, one of the reasons.

His heart started pounding just a bit faster.

“Fiora’s right, we should make our way over to the lab. I wouldn’t want to keep you too long, I’m sure you have plenty of more important things you could be doing,” Shulk said, standing up from his chair.

Melia thought back to her recent conversation with Tyrea as she pushed her own chair in.

“I do appreciate your consideration Shulk, but it would be an error to imply spending time with you and the others is less important to me than my royal duties. I am glad to be here.” 

Shulk beamed a smile that carried all the warmth growing within his heart. Alongside the wave of relief and reassurance he felt came a memory of something Fiora had told him once, when he had expressed his worry that Melia might reject him: “She’s said yes every time you’ve asked her to come visit, hasn’t she? Obviously she likes spending time with you.”

“Well then”, Melia said as she stoically extended a bent arm, inviting him to link arms, “shall we?”

Shulk quietly slipped his arm around hers, hoping his face wasn’t too noticeably red, and they made their way towards the Military District.

As they walked, Melia fortunately chose to talk first, asking him the specifics of the repairs he wanted to make. This allowed him to get into his Nerd Zone and speak to her with ease, instead of spending the entire trip silently fixating on his looming promise and the fact that he and Melia’s arms were entwined.

His engagement in talking about her staff’s components made the walk to the Weapons Development Lab go by quickly, and soon they had reached the hallway leading to its entrance. Shulk was at the same time disappointed that the hall was too narrow for them to continue walking arm-in-arm and relieved that this fact gave him the out he needed to avoid needing to find the will to let go of her.

Once inside, Melia extended her staff to its full length and carefully propped it against a wall while Shulk busied himself with rifling through his collection of blueprints. Immediately after she asked him if there was something she could do to help—

“Ah! There it is!”

He emerged from the cluster of scrolls with the one he needed. Now responding to Melia’s offer, he walked over and handed her the paper after slipping off its rubber band, which had a tag attached with “World Ender” written on it.

“Actually, it would be a big help if you could unroll this for me on my desk. There’s a few things I need before I can get started. They should be somewhere around here…”

He called over his shoulder that there were some paperweights sitting on the desk for her to use as he walked over to one of many boxes placed against the side wall. Then he got to work rummaging through piles of scrap parts, mentally scolding himself for having spent his time sprinting around the colony instead of preparing everything he needed here.

Melia scanned his desk and saw a stack of square-cut stones placed off to the side. She struggled at first to hold the self-curling blueprints still and flat with one hand while picking up a paperweight with the other. After she managed to weigh down two opposite corners, though, it was much easier to handle. 

Just the bottom-right one remaining and—

She froze. There was something scribbled there in the corner.

The entire paper was covered in etchings of course, but this one was different.

Each stroke that made up the design of her staff was perfectly smooth and meticulously placed, drawn by a skilled hand using specialised tools. Ruler-straight lines pointed from segments of the weapon to various measurements and labels. 

However, what she saw in the corner was more accurately described as a small doodle. It was not quite crude or messy, likely drawn by that same hand which had practise in sketching shapes and clean lines. Nonetheless, it was definitely—in comparison to the primary drawing—organic, freehand. And while it lacked descriptive numbers or text, Melia did not need any to understand what it was:

A doodle of her head, surrounded by small hearts.

Was it real? Was this real? Was she even awake? Or did Tyrea end up pushing her into the ocean after all, knocking her unconscious?

Was Shulk the one who drew it? Why would he? There were hearts all over it, for crying out loud!

But then, why would anyone else? And how would they get into the lab in the first place?

Maybe it was a prank. Yes, that had to be it. Shulk inviting her over to “repair her staff”, everyone else at dinner—Fiora, and by extension Dunban, especially—leaving so suspiciously soon one after the other, him asking her to set up the blueprints so she’d be sure to see it…

It made too much sense. At least, more sense than the alternative.

Surely any second now she would hear “Got ya!” from behind and turn to see Shulk, maybe even Reyn and Fiora too, jumping out from hiding, laughing at her. 

But…

Would all of her friends do that to her? Would they want to plan a prank of that magnitude, after all the years they spent being kind to her? After all of their many previous meet-ups had been genuine? Or was that all part of it: was it planned misdirection, a setup to this long-awaited punchline?

But which of them would think of such a thing, then plan it out, and for so long? Would everyone even agree to participate in something like that? 

Would Shulk? 

How could any of them have known about her buried—no, dormant—no, extinct feelings for him in the first place? 

If… If it’s not a prank… 

Then…

Could it be…?

Melia felt like her brain and her heart were at war with each other, like her soul was devouring itself. She was overwhelmed at the thought of this being a prank, and even more so at the thought of it being real.

Then she watched her vision blur as her eyes lost focus. Despite viewing nothing but smears of colour, she could still see the drawing. It was all she could see.

Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from behind her. But, it wasn’t the laughing or jeering she had been bracing for.

It started out cheerful and light, but quickly converted to shock and concern as Shulk saw her trembling, her limbs completely rigid.

“Okay! I think I’ve found everything I nee—Wait, are you all right?”

She didn’t turn around. She didn’t answer. She didn’t know how.

Melia was at a complete loss. She still didn’t even know if this was actually happening.

Her total lack of acknowledgement to his question worried Shulk even more. He quickly but carefully set down the parts he was cradling and raced to her side.

Peering at her face and discovering her shocked expression, his concern amplified.

“Hey, what’s wrong, Melia?” 

Now that he was here next to her, the situation felt even more surreal. 

Does he know that I noticed the drawing? Did he even create it? Is he even aware it exists?

What do I tell him?

Melia was stuck trying to decide if it was already too late and he would shortly discover the truth, or—if it wasn’t too late—if attempting to hide that she saw it would only have the opposite effect and just telegraph her thoughts to him.

Shulk had been waiting so long for her to respond in some way that he became even more anxious. He couldn’t think of anything he could do besides asking her again. Maybe she didn’t hear him the first two times?

She saw his lips moving in her peripheral vision but heard nothing.

Seeing her remain petrified despite—or worse, possibly because of—his efforts made Shulk a nervous wreck. Now he was worried any attempt at trying to help her would only make her more upset.

Still, I can’t just do nothing! But how can I help when I don’t even know what the problem is?

…I shouldn’t ask again. She would have already told me by now if she was comfortable sharing.

Despite how much it hurt him to do so, he turned to look at Melia’s distraught face again. He was desperately searching for a nonverbal clue.

So… What else can I do…?

It took him a moment to realise it, but he discovered that she had been gazing at something in particular this whole time. She wasn’t staring straight ahead at nothing, and while her head was slightly cast downwards, she wasn’t looking at the floor either. Her eyes were fixed on a single spot, and he wondered if she might still be staring at the cause of her distress. Following the path of her vision led him to his blueprints.

Did… Did I make an error when creating her staff?

It was a challenge to get the ether conduit of a staff working in a way that properly imitated the Monado… Plus, I haven’t taken a look at the original architecture in a long time.

Let me see if I wrote anything down back then that I never got to.

Scanning his blueprints for answers led him to noticing something was out of place, literally. One of the corners didn’t have a paperweight set on it yet.

Hm? What’s this doing uncov—

OH.

Notes:

First of all, I want to thank my lovely boyfriend for beta reading this for me! This fic would have been much messier and wordier and taken way longer to write if not for him. When I hit roadblocks he was always there for me to bounce ideas off of and give feedback. He's the best :)

This is basically my first fanfic, so please give me feedback and tell me how I can improve! I have many many more future ideas for this pairing because they deserve more content, and I want to write them as best as possible. My main goal with this (and any) fic is making sure the characters are in-character, and that they have interactions that are fun/interesting to read which feel natural and not like I'm puppeteering them where I want the fic to lead lol. Any and all comments are very much appreciated, no matter how short! (I really enjoy reading long comments though haha) I'd love to hear what you liked about it!

I originally wanted this to be a oneshot, but much like the first Shulk/Melia fanfic I started writing (which is now stuck in eternal development hell) it slowly got longer and longer. So I've decided to split it in two chapters for easier reading, and post part of it so people can start reading while I'm working on the rest. I'm almost finished writing the end though, chapter 2 should be posted pretty soon!

Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! :)

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Shulk had completely forgotten that he had drawn Melia on the blueprints for her staff. He often absentmindedly doodled in the margins of his notes when he was particularly invested in a project. It was so common and so reflexive to him that he only remembered creating these sketches when he reviewed the papers they were drawn on. 

Seeing this one again refreshed a series of memories for him.

A fresh piece of paper.

Excitement sparking from the idea of two new, special weapon designs, modelled similar to the one he had spent so much of his life studying.

More excitement brought on by the thought of making one just for her. 

It would be new and special, just for her, only she and he would have weapons like this. They would be a matching pair, the two of them. 

A need for an outlet to get rid of the butterflies in his stomach—he definitely couldn’t draw straight let alone think straight in a state like this.

His hand drifting to the nearest corner of the paper and practically moving on its own, doodling the subject of his daydreaming.

A warm face post-realisation. 

Concern at the thought of someone else seeing it.

Frustration in believing he would need to start over on a new sheet.

Disappointment at the thought of throwing it away.

And finally, relief when recognising it would be easily hidden via paperweight.

That last part was the main reason he had forgotten about the doodle. While he would see it—and feel his heart rate quicken a bit—whenever he put the blueprints away, it was covered up the vast majority of the time he spent working on her weapon. Not to mention the fact that it had been so long since he last took these blueprints out. 

If he had remembered that he had drawn it, then he never would have even thought about admitting his feelings verbally. Why stammer his way through his confession when he had already made something that could tell Melia for hi—? 

Melia!!

Oh. Oh no.

Melia… Melia saw it.

Ohhhhhh no.

The woman in question had finally snapped out of her trance, and now it was her turn to stare at her own crush him gazing speechlessly at the drawing.

Now he knew, and she knew he knew.

She took a deep breath in.

Shulk didn’t notice, as his mind was frantically racing. 

Oh no oh no oh no oh no.

What do I say?! 

How do I tell her? I mean, I was already going to… but not like this!!

Melia took a moment to privately scold herself for her behaviour up until now before preparing to make amends for it. She needed to address what had happened.

I must compose myself, immediately.

As she prepared to apologise, Shulk was still trying to recover mentally.

Agh, pull yourself together! There’s no use hiding anything, she already saw it, so—Bionis, it’s hard to breathe.

He shook his head at himself.

…Enough. I need to calm down and I need to talk to her about it.

I was planning to say this anyway.

I can do this. I have to.

“Shulk—”

“Melia—”

“First, I must apologi—”

“First off, I want to make sure you’re oka—”

“I-I apologise again, it’s my fault for inte—”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you o—”

“No, it is I who nee—”

“Melia, you don’t have to be sor—”

“Ancestors forgive me, I’ve done it yet agai—”

This time, Melia stopped herself because she heard sudden laughter.

Shulk was giggling from pure relief. The previous uncomfortable silence and tension were finally broken. And, more importantly, his friend was back to normal.

Melia’s mind was too fixated on the unresolved matter at hand for her to allow herself to laugh along with him. Despite this, hearing Shulk giggle and seeing him smile gave her a comforting, though faint, sentiment: 

Perhaps everything will be all right.

In between giggles, he managed to titter out, “W-Well—haha—I guess we’re—hahaha—on the same page, then.”

His bout of laughter now subsided, he cleared his throat. It was time to address it.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about, Melia. But first, I have to make sure, are you okay?”

He looked down at her face to check her expression as she replied, as he wanted to be absolutely certain.

“I am fine, Shulk. Thank you for your concern.”

She kept a straight face but internally she was an emotional wreck. However, she knew what could be done to resolve that:

“So. The drawing.”

Shulk felt his gut tense.

“Right. Yeah.”

“Is it your own? How did it come to be there?”

Driven by anxiety, she unconsciously crossed her arms to cup her hands under elbows as she waited for his answers.

He breathed in.

I can do this. It’s as simple as telling the truth.

She needs to—no, deserves to know.

Wanting to prevent any potential stuttering from delaying his response to her, he started off with a nod.

“Y-Y-Yes… I-I drew that. Back when I was first designing your staff, actually.”

He scratched behind his head, which Melia recognised as one of his nervous tics.

“I was, um, kind of on autopilot when I did it, you could say, haha. I was… distracted, thinking about something else. Someone else, rather.”

He gulped, then guided his eyes directly to hers.

“Y-You.”

Melia stood there in disbelief, stunned. Even if her brain was able to formulate a response right now, she couldn’t speak. Her mouth was glued shut, his words the adhesive.

Shulk paused for a moment, waiting to see if she would say something.

While her silence and the look in her eyes made him worry, he decided to take the opportunity to say everything he was prepared to tell her. He had only rehearsed this aloud to himself once or twice—Fiora helped him with the general outline, but the exact words were “for Melia’s ears only”—but it was now or never.

Hands quivering, he began.

“I’ve liked you for a long time Melia. For many reasons… so many that we’d be here too long if I listed them all”, he chuckled nervously, “even longer than it already has been.”

Then he realised he skipped a phrase. Trembling, he backtracked.

“A-And when I say, ‘like,’ I mean that a-a-as… more than a friend—well, I mean, as a friend too, of course! Heh.”

As he cleared his throat, his fingers began fiddling with each other.

“…In fact, that drawing you saw, i-it’s almost like a documentation of how long I’ve felt this way, I guess.”

His crush could do nothing but stare as her crush continued, not wanting to lose momentum.

“That’s why I’ve been inviting you to visit so often: I really like spending time with you. I-I’d like to spend even more time with you… but with just the two of us. On a d-d-date, together.” Quickly and more steadily, he added, “If that’s something you’d want, too.”

Melia could feel her jaw ever so slightly dropping on its own. Her lips parted just a little, but with no intent of any words escaping them.

The expression on her face, or more accurately the total lack of one, thoroughly disheartened him.

Oh. She… She doesn’t like me back… 

But, he thought—and hoped—maybe the next part of his confession would remedy this. 

“I… I completely understand if you don’t feel the same… but hiding this felt like lying to you and I hated that feeling. I just wanted to be fully honest with you.”

With tremendous effort, he kept making eye contact with her without tearing up.

“I-If you don’t like me in that way, I really hope that you would still want to be friends with me—If not, I totally get it, I wouldn’t blame you at all, and I’d completely respect your decision.

“But… what’s important to me is that you know, above all else, that’s what I want the most: to be your friend.”

Then Shulk finally exhaled the breath that had long been trapped inside him.

Each time he had rehearsed that last phrase in the past, it had always brought to his mind a familiar, deep voice saying almost the exact same words. As he now paused to wait for Melia’s response, he slowly realised that the voice belonged to her father, Sorean.

For the second time that day, Melia was in a state of speechless shock while Shulk anxiously but patiently waited for her to respond to him. 

The past few minutes he had been speaking to her, Melia had been repeatedly trying to lie to herself, trying to explain away the fact that his feelings for her actually existed. Surely he couldn’t have actually just said to her the very thing she couldn't bring herself to hope for in her wildest dreams. 

But there was no way around it this time.

His words were unambiguous and undeniable. All her doubts were completely shattered.

…He likes me.

He likes me.

He likes me back.

Melia felt warmth coat her cheeks, unable to tell if the cause of it came first from her blush or her tears. She couldn’t stop herself from weeping, despite how ashamed she felt for doing so. Years of caged emotions came flooding out involuntarily. 

Much like everything else that had happened in his lab today, Shulk was not expecting this whatsoever. A flat “no” and a permanent goodbye, some awkward back and forth ending in them remaining friends, or maybe—hopefully, miraculously—a “yes” were all things he was prepared for. Seeing her cry one-two-sucker-punched him with anguish and confusion.

Oh!! Oh no!!

Why is she crying? Which part of what I said made her cry? What does crying mean; does she hate me?! 

How can I help her?

Should I help when I’m the one who made her upset?

But…

Standing here just watching her sobbing… It’s destroying me.

He began by gently leaning closer to her ear as he practically whispered, “M… Melia? I’m… I’m so sorry, Melia. I don’t know what I did, but... can I help fix it? I want to make amends for it, in any way I can.” 

The shame Melia felt from knowing Shulk was seeing her in such a state, and especially that she was making him blame himself for it, brought on a fresh wave of tears.

Stop this immature foolishness immediately, Melia. You're hurting him. Speak.

“Shulk…” She barely managed to squeak out his name.

His concerned expression paused briefly to let pure relief to take over as she said his name, but it shortly returned as she kept crying.

“Yes Melia, I’m here for you, I’m listening.”

“…It is not your fault at all, Shulk. You’ve done nothing wrong. I… I just…” Her voice quavered as she spoke and she hated it.

He likes you. You no longer have to hide anything.

He cares for you. You can admit the truth.

Don’t let him blame himself.

Make him smile again.

Everything will be all right.

Melia took a deep, rasping breath.

“I have been waiting so long to hear you say those words.”

Shulk’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

“Waiting”… “Waiting”?!

To hear me say… I like her?

Waiting to hear that?! Wanting to hear that!?

“Waiting so long”…? For how long?

His head was spinning from the implications of her reciprocating his feelings: there was even the potential of her having liked him even before his own crush had developed! But he tried as hard as he could to keep his focus not on the past but on the tearful woman in front of him right now.

Shaking her head, Melia couldn’t stop herself from quivering and continuing to spill her heart out.

“I had given up hope it would ever happen. I don’t… I don’t think I deserve this, deserve you. I—” She choked on a sob.

Her words pierced straight through Shulk’s heart.

“Oh, Melia…”

He enveloped her in an embrace.

Shulk didn’t know how much time had passed since she started crying. All he could remember was viscerally hugging her, slowly lowering her down with him to rest on his lap while he sat in his desk chair, and gently rubbing her back until she was spent.

Any other day he would have been paralysed with anxiety at either seeing her cry or the mere thought of initiating such close physical contact with her, let alone both at the same time. But after her confession harmonised with his, all his doubts and bashfulness were quashed by concern for her and the desire to help. Melia needed to rest her trembling legs and he needed to hold her, so if there was only one chair in the lab then they would sit on it together.

She barely spoke the entire time they sat together. But Shulk didn’t need or want her to say anything more than she already had, especially if she wasn’t willing to. He only allowed himself to talk when he responded to her sobbing out apologies with a “you don’t have to be” or an “it’s okay, I’m here.”

Were she alone, Melia would have cried for much longer. But knowing Shulk was there, watching her, waiting for her to stop—and that he had just moments earlier vanquished part of the reason she was crying in the first place—motivated her to make herself calm down faster.

Her breathing slowed and her tears stopped flowing.

Seeing this filled Shulk with anticipation for what she would say, but he made sure not to show it so she’d feel no pressure to speak right away. He remained silent while he stroked her back, maintaining the same gentle rhythm as before.

After she finally returned to the present, Melia practically jumped when she realised where she was: sitting on Shulk’s lap, with his arms around her.

Even more astonishing to her was that she felt no embarrassment at all from being this close to him, only serenity and reassurance.

She desperately wanted to just lean into him and stay in his arms forever, never leaving this spot, never needing to speak another word. But the guilt she felt for crying so much and worrying him for so long overrode this desire.

After swallowing to make sure her voice wouldn’t come out hoarse, she began.

“I want to apologise for forcing you to deal with me in such a state. I ensure it will never happen again.”

She gazed at him for the first time in… neither could tell how long.

The look on her face told Shulk that she was not willing to take “You don’t have to be sorry” for an answer this time.

“I’d do the same for you every time, Melia.”

The expression he gave back was full of sincerity and sympathy.

Her heart melted.

“Shulk… I…” She felt herself starting to tear up again.

But she refused to let herself begin crying anew, so she continued apologising instead.

“I… I must also apologise for wasting so much of your time: the time you were hoping to spend repairing my staff.”

The sorrow in Shulk’s chest weighed even heavier from her viewing the situation in such a self-disparaging way.

“Wh… What? I never thought about that for even a second. What’s important to me is you, Melia, and that you’re all right.”

Again her heart hurt. He was being too nice to her. She had to stand her ground. 

“You made it for me, Shulk, so it is important. The amount of time, effort, and care you put into creating it and maintaining it is important to me as well.”

While Shulk was still dismayed that Melia insisted on blaming herself for something so minor, the last thing he wanted was to argue with her. And why should he when he could so easily accept her kind words instead? 

“Well… Thank you, Melia. It’s very considerate of you to think that way.”

He couldn’t help that the smile he made to reassure her ended up rather melancholy.

After closing her eyes for a moment to prepare herself, Melia then made sure he met her gaze as she said, “There is one last thing I need to apologise for.”

Shulk was quite upset that she felt guilty in this situation at all, let alone for so many things. But he wanted to respect her feelings and listen to everything she had to say, so he merely nodded.

“Most of all, I am sorry for having such a contemptible reaction to your passionate, thoughtful words. I appreciate your sincerity in everything that you shared, from the bottom of my heart. I…

“I am honestly still in disbelief a little, that you truly did say all of that to me, and about me. But, what I am completely sure of is that…”

After a weighty breath, she resumed. “I do lo—”

No. No. Too much. Too soon. Cease.

She tried to convincingly clear her throat to mask her last syllable, wondering how she had almost allowed such a private emotion to slip out in the first place.

…Although, in a strange way, the thought of not needing to admit something that major made the task of saying her more proper confession seem much easier.

“I do like you, Shulk—‘more than just as a friend’, as you put it—and I am overwhelmingly elated that you feel the same.”

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Melia gave him a smile, a truly heartfelt one.

Based on her earlier semi-confession, Shulk had already presumed—rather, hoped—that she liked him back, but that didn’t make the jolt of euphoria that ran through his core any less potent.

His tiny exhale of relief ended in a smile for her. Mind racing with joy, he felt his hands start to tremble with excitement.

Then he realised the position he was in, that he had been in this whole time: arms locked around Melia, who was resting on top of him, her face right next to—

He practically yelped in realisation. The wave of concern that had engulfed his shyness had long since evaporated, leaving only embarrassment remaining.

Clumsily, he untangled his arms from around her and stammered out multiple attempts at apologising, still deciding as he spoke whether or not he should.

I mean, it helped her feel better…

But I didn’t ask if I could.

But she didn’t tell me to stop and still hasn’t gotten up yet…

And she does like me, but…

Wow, she likes me…!!!

His arms now awkwardly hanging at his sides, Shulk looked at the floor and cleared his throat.

“Uhhh, um… I-I think it’s time we… stood up, now…?”

The cold spots Melia felt on her back and waist revealed how long he had been holding her.

She missed it. She was disappointed she wasn’t courageous enough to hug him back before he withdrew. She wanted to answer his question with “No. Let’s return to the way we were and stay that way forever.”

“…I suppose we should.”

Carefully, she dropped her legs off of his and slowly stood up. Shulk got off the chair afterwards and fumbled trying to push it in.

The moment had passed… but Melia was still left with a longing to embrace him. The arrival—at last—of his reciprocation was a Valak geyser launching her up into a dangerously passionate state.

“Shulk.”

He turned around to face her, giving up on the chair.

“…I should like to do something like that again, in the future, with you… if you are not opposed.” Blush began to dust her cheeks.

His eyebrows popped up in surprise.

“Ye-Yeah…! I’d like that, too.”

Then his own face began to turn pink, and he decided to deflect with a bit of a joke.

“So I guess you want to pay me back, make it even? Haha…”

One corner of her mouth rose up just a bit.

“I do not need to invent an excuse to hug you, Shulk.”

Uncontrollable wheezing was his involuntary response.

Startled, she cried, “Oh! A-Are you all right? Can you not breathe?”

Still gasping a bit, he managed to get out an “I’m okay” before building upon the excuse Melia just gifted him.

“I-It’s just… a bit stuffy in here, we’ve been in the lab quite a while. We should head out and get some fresh air—it must be really late now anyway.” He sighed a little. “I’m sorry I kept you for much longer than expected. We need to get you back to Alcamoth so you can get some sleep.”

Melia gave him a sympathetic smile.

“What you say is true, but you need not apologise. I wouldn’t trade my time here with you for the world—despite my shameful melodrama, which I am still quite sorry for.

“But even so, it was rather… cathartic, in a sense.

“…Anyway, I must admit I am rather disappointed at the thought of leaving.”

Hm, now what if he suggested—?

No, Melia. It is far too early in this relationship to spend the night, even without any intention of… tomfoolery.

Her words catalysed the last part of Fiora’s promise that Shulk was trying to figure out how to complete.

“Ah, well, same here. Like I said earlier, I would very much like to see you again… real soon.”

Mm. I was pretty vague. Not the best.

Melia caught on immediately.

He wanted to ask her out. He liked her back and wanted to go on a date. He had held her, caressed her, cared for her.

She practically felt delirious with adoration for him and the excitement of what was to come.

“As would I. In fact…” She tapped a finger to her chin and grinned. “How about this? Next time, let’s arrange for you to travel to visit me. Not only could I ‘pay you back’ for the numerous times you’ve invited me here, but while there I could also ‘repay you’ for that kind hug of yours.”

Before Shulk was able to fully process what he just heard, Melia had already taken out some kind of pocket planner and flipped through it.

“Would… this time next week suit you? Well, not the current hour, of course.” She giggled, a sound Shulk had sorely missed. “Rather, five o’clock, the same arrangement you made with me for today.”

While he doubted he’d be able to manage a coherent verbal response, he tried adding one to his energetic nodding.

“Oh—! Er, um, ye-yeah! That’s—That’d be… brilliant.” He finished off with a shy smile.

Ancestors above he’s so cute.

Melia closed her notebook with a nod, not having written anything in it because she knew full well that time and date would not leave her mind for the rest of the week.

“Good! Then it’s a…” 

Once she realised the word that was supposed to come next, she trailed off in embarrassment. This was a phrase the Empress-to-be had used several times before in her duties, but—ironically, despite its literal meaning—never in a context like this.

Shulk, determined to say something without stammering for once so that Melia could hear words that were as steady as his feelings for her, finished the thought.

“Then… it’s a date.”

He made his next move partially because it could be a small joke to ease his nerves, partially because he was buoyed by his sentence coming out stable, and partially because he had missed this ever since the last time they had done so on the Shoulder: he extended his hand for her to shake.

Melia gladly slipped her hand in Shulk’s and completed the handshake… and then they both found that neither wanted to let go.

So, they didn’t.

Without a word, Melia started walking out the hall to lead the way with Shulk attached, not wanting him to see her blushing face. He was happy to follow behind her, for it gifted him a constant view of their fingers intertwined.

As this time they were linked single-file, they could easily make it through the hallway without needing to separate. As he thought back to earlier, Shulk realised he’d never noticed that problem with the size of that hall before, and that there was a similar problem with him only having one chair in the lab. 

He never noticed these things until today because before now, there wasn’t anyone who wanted to spend time with him in the lab, together. Just the opposite: everyone was always trying to convince him to leave and join them outside.

But now that would change.

He had someone who not only wanted to visit him in his lab, but that same someone also made him actually enjoy the thought of going out.

After a nice—but far too short—stroll hand-in-hand, Shulk escorted his… girlfriend? Requited crush? Pre-girlfriend?

…

Shulk escorted Melia back to her ship.

Although each of them were secretly hoping the other would lean in for a goodnight kiss, they were both equally too shy to actually do it. So instead they left on a rather awkward shuffling goodbye and each privately decided to store that wish for next week.

Even after Melia’s ship was no longer visible in the night sky, Shulk didn’t want to walk back into the colony just yet.

First, he wanted to enjoy the emotional afterglow of how the night ended.

Second, he needed to actually process everything that had just happened.

And third, he had to prepare himself so he could update Fiora.

As he walked across the bridge that led to the main entrance, he half-hoped to see the windows of Dunban’s house darkened. While he did want to share the good news, but he was completely mentally exhausted, and it honestly could wait until the morning. Upon seeing the downstairs lights still on, though, he knew if he was spotted walking past without stopping in he’d live to regret it.

He chuckled to himself when he saw the front door open before he had even reached it, Fiora racing to meet him halfway.

I suppose that’s what I should have expected.

The blonde didn’t even pause to take a breath, immediately crying out, “How did it go!?!” 

Her friend smiled shyly. His head was cast down to the ground but he made sure his eyes met hers.  

“…She likes me.” He could still hardly believe it himself.

Fiora squealed.

“Yaaaaaaay!!! Way to go!! That’s awesome!! I’m so happy for you two!!!”

Then she speedily grabbed his wrists, forcing him to jump with her as she sprung up and down. 

Shulk tried his best to speak as he bounced.

“Woaaah!—Hahaha!—Thank you—Fiora—but—can we—please—not—wake—the entire—district?”

Reluctantly, she stopped both of their jumping and spoke at a normal volume.

“Fine, but can I ask for any details?! I don’t want to pry but… I do. Just a little.”

Laughing, he told her the line he had decided on:

“All I can tell you is it happened very differently than expected.”

“I’ll say, you stayed up practically all night!

“…Wait.

“Don’t tell me—” She bit her lip with a smile and raised her eyebrows at him.

All the blood rushed to his face for what must have been the tenth time that night as he tried to stammer out a “n-n-n-no!”

At first he started explaining what had really happened, but he quickly caught himself, stopping before he said anything too revealing. 

Then he had an epiphany: Fiora had unknowingly thrown him a lifeline.

The blond rolled his eyes at her and said with the dullest sarcasm, “You can believe whatever you want, Fiora.”

He smiled to himself. Melia’s secrets were safe with him.

His friend told him that she was obviously just joking and didn’t actually believe either of them would do that by rolling her eyes back.

Soon, they were giggling together. 

“Anyway, I think overall it went well.” A bright smile grew on his face. “We even have a date planned for next week.”

Fiora’s eyes lit up and she beamed with her whole mouth open.

“Really?! You finally asked her out too?!”

“Well… I mean, technically Melia was the one who asked me, b—”

She crossed her arms at him.

“Shulk, did you seriously not keep your promise again?!” 

“Wha—Bu—No—But I—!”

In his flustered, “how-did-I-do-what-I-was-supposed-to-and-not-at-the-same-time” state, he missed Fiora’s joking smile.

“Relaaax, I’m only kidding. Now then, how about you make it up to me by helping me put back those chairs we took from Giorgio’s?”

It was typical for Tyrea to stay up late, and this night was no exception. She looked up from the novel she was reading as she heard footsteps approach her.

“You’re back later than you said you’d be. That’s not like you.”

Melia, while preparing her explanation, almost laughed out loud a bit when she remembered how quick and simple original plan was: have dinner with everyone, stop by Shulk’s lab to drop off World Ender, stay there for perhaps a few minutes to chat, then be on her way.

“My apologies, there was an… unexpected development.”

Not too long ago, Tyrea wouldn’t have even been talking to her, let alone been interested in her goings on. But now she was invested in her sister’s life, politically and personally.

“Oh? Is it by any chance related to Shulk?”

Even though Melia had tried with all her heart to never let a single word slip out about her feelings for him to anyone, somehow Tyrea knew.

Melia narrowed her eyes.

“…How did you come to that conclusion?”

“I am your shadow and your informant, is it not my job to know secrets?”

Tyrea shared a small smile, then dropped it and gave her a direct answer.

“No one told me nor knows, in case you’re worried about that. I… unfortunately picked up on it when I was trapped with the two of you for literal months, if you forgot.

“I’m honestly surprised neither of you noticed yourse—Oh wait, never mind. Considering it’s you two, I’m not.”

Before her sister had time to think of a rebuttal, Tyrea continued.

“Anyway, out with it. What’s the news?”

Melia was unable to focus on anything but her giddiness, but she tried to maintain composure.

“Shulk will be traveling here to visit, exactly one week from today in the late afternoon. Five o’clock, to be exact.”

Tyrea saw this chance to tease her and relished seizing it.

“Oh? Will this be a private visit? Shall I plan in advance to request for the Gran Dell guards to vacate and lock down Alcamoth, just for you and your ‘special guest’, Your Majesty?”

All of a sudden, Melia looked as tired as she should have been at this hour.

“…Goodnight, Tyrea.”

Notes:

Aaaaaand it's finally done! I tried not to make this too long but as usual I got carried away lol, I hope you liked it!

Again, I'd appreciate any kudos or comments you can throw my way, I'd love to know what you thought or how I could improve! Shulkelia Nation where are you

I hope the next thing I write for them won't take this long and end up being this long, but thanks for sticking with me and I hope it was worth the wait! :)