They had reached the entrance of Valak Mountain. Although the walk wasn't really all that long Shulk had begun to feel very tired. Melia was the first to notice this.

"Shulk, you look exhausted. Maybe we should stop and rest." Melia looked at Shulk with her kind blue eyes. They met with Shulk's dull, glossy eyes.

"N-no. I'm fine." Shulk replied through a harsh fit of coughs. "Let's keep going."

Melia began to grow extremely worried for Shulk. In the short time she had known him she started to develop feelings for him. She didn't like seeing him act like this. Melia wished he'd just admit he wasn't well because even though he tries to hide it, everyone knows there's something wrong with him.

"Shulk..." Melia whispered as he walked on.

As some more time passed Shulk's other friends started making protests suggesting they take a break. As much as he really wanted to stop and rest Shulk kept pushing on even with his energy depleting faster than an either cylinder leak.

They got deeper into Valak Mountain, somewhere around the Hollow Bone, with an Antol Den nearby. As they got deeper into the snowy landscape that is Valak Mountain it began to snow, it wasn't bad, but it could turn into a blizzard at any moment.

They walked nearer to the den. They didn't expect one of the Antols to leave the cave and begin attacking them. Shulk, Reyn, and Dunban were the ones fighting it. Running and dodging the enemy's attacks only added to Shulk's exhaustion and left him breathless. He was doing his best, but soon the attempt of dodging attacks became futile. He was just too tired to do it anymore. Luckily for Shulk the Antol was more focused on Reyn and Dunban most of the time.

His luck didn't last forever unfortunately. The Antol changed course and began to direct its attacks towards Shulk after he managed to generate too much aggro. Dunban and Reyn did all they could to get the Antol off of Shulk but to no avail.

It was when the Antol made one final shot at Shulk did they realize how much trouble Shulk was in. There was one attack he failed to dodge. It sent him flying. Shulk hit the ground with a sickening thud. He tried to get up but he couldn't breathe. He began to cough, bad, Shulk began to cough up blood.

Everyone froze. It felt as if time stopped.

After a few moments of being still with shock Sharla, Melia, Riki and Alvis ran over to Shulk who was now on his knees gasping for air between coughs. Reyn and Dunban finished the Antol off.

"Shulk! Are you alright?" Asked Melia. She was on the verge of tears, you could hear it in the cracks in her voice even though she tried to hide it, her worry was clear.

"Yeah... I'm... Fine..." Shulk managed to say through more harsh bouts of coughing. He tried once again to stand up but he just couldn't keep his balance, Shulk was now in a sitting position. He continued to cough up more blood. Sharla and Melia rubbed his back to try and provide some comfort.

"Shulk, you're not fine. You're sick and need rest." Said Sharla in a stern, but still sympathetic voice.

The cold, wet, snowy area was making Shulk shiver. Seeing this, Riki decided to sit on Shulk's lap. The warmth coming from the furball felt nice to Shulk, Riki calmed Shulk down. Despite the harsh conditions of his surroundings Shulk began to feel drowsy. Try as he might, he couldn't stay awake any longer. Shulk fell asleep while hugging Riki.

With everyone now surrounding the sleeping Shulk Melia spoke up in a whisper, turning everyone's attention to her. "What should we do?" Melia once again turned her attention to Shulk, "We all knew he was not well but, I don't think any of us expected it to be this bad."

"We can't stay here, out in the open when he is in no condition to defend himself." Said Sharla.

Everyone kept turning their heads, looking for a solution. After a few moments of looking around Dunban spoke up. "There's a cave over there! We should rest there." Dunban pointed to a cave not too far away.

Everyone agreed for the time being it was the best course of action. "I'll carry him." Offered Reyn. As Reyn bent down to pick up Shulk Riki wiggled himself away from Shulk's grasp. Shulk was in Reyn's arms bridal style. Not even all this commotion made Shulk budge.

As Reyn began to carry Shulk towards the cave he noticed Shulk's breathing was very quick and shallow, "Hang in there Shulk." Whispered Reyn.

A/N: I'm really trying my best when it comes to keeping the story on a similar track as the original facfiction while still trying to go more in depth when it comes to the characters interactions with each other and the things around them. So, I hope you'll bear with me as I continue to work on the story!