Jude slowly blinked open his eyes, being greeted to the wakening world through birdsong. The branches of the tree outside toyed with the orange glow of morning light that filted in through the window like a flock of butterflies. The boy sat up, his back against the wall and rubbed his eyes drowsily. It took him a moment to register where he was. The Sharilton Manor.

Rowen's friend was the Lady of House Sharil, one of the ruling houses of Rieze Maxia. He frowned, furrowing his brow. Ms. Driselle looked sad when they first came in and introduced themselves, if only for a split second. Jude couldn't help but wonder why.

For a little while he allowed himself to enjoy the peacefulness of early morning, his eyes closed and listening to the tired sigh of the world. And as he found was a habit of his, he did this through souls. Most of them in the area were still asleep, awaiting for the new day. There was an old man lazily rocking on the swing on his front porch, watching the sun rise. A teenage boy was somwhere laborously reviewing material from a textbook. Some cats were batting at a mouse. Another cat pawed at a boy's nose.

But there was a slight something bugging him... What it was, he couldn't put his finger on... The cat he was focusing on was white with grey paws and seafoam eyes. Why did this cat bug him so much? It was just a cat!

"MROW!"

Jude's eyes snapped open.

...That was why the kitty was bugging him. It was on his lap batting his nose. You'd think he'd notice this.

"Uh... hi." Jude blinked.

"Mrow." the cat sat matter-of-factly, his tail wrapped around his plump body.

Jude, not quite sure what to do, scratched the cat behind his ear. The animal purred loudly, settling itself onto his lap more comfortably as a result. The boy let out a short snort of agitation. How'd the cat even get in here? He looked over to the door and found it to be slightly open. Sky-blue eyes peered through the crack of the slightly door from under light caramel-blonde hair.

"Oh, is this your cat?" Jude smiled. The girl slid through the door, her hair still in a frizz from probably just getting up. She took a tentative step toward him, her eyes wide and glistening.

"Jude?" she said. His smile slowly melted down into a frown.

"Yes?" The girl's eyes widened even more. She bounded across the room and leapt, wrapping her arms around him in a suffocating embrace. The girl burrowed her face into Jude's chest, letting out loud wails. Jude stared at her, a cord tightening around his heart. He should know who she is. She knows who he is.

The cat stared at him, tilting its head to the side and letting out a loud mrow. The boy drew in a long, slow breath. He placed one of his hands on the girl's head and sighed. It was difficult to say, especially to someone who seemed so glad to see him.

"I'm sorry, but..." another slow breath "Who are you?"

A long pause.

"Jude this isn't funny."

"It's not supposed to be..." he sighed. "Miss, please, what's your name?"

The girl's grip tightened and Jude could hear her grinding her teeth angrily. "Elle." she pushed away from him and glared into his eyes "It's Elle! Jude, this isn't funny!" tears streamed down her face.

"I know." he said quietly. "Elle, I'm sorry if I knew you before but I..." another soft sigh "Elle I don't remember you. I..." he breathed in deeply, ignoring his own tears slipping their way down his face "I don't remember much of anything."

Elle's eyes were a murky pool of sorrow. Her grip on his shirt slowly laxed until she was darting down the hallway, her high-pitched wailing crashing against his ears like a tidal wave.

"W-wait!" Jude called, leaping off of the bed quickly. His ankle caught on the sheets and he crashed onto the ground. He groaned in frustration and struggled with the sheets for a moment before managing to get to his feet and bolting after Elle. "Wait!"

His bare feet slapped across the floor boards as he frantically tried to catch up with her. He needed to explain, needed her to explain? He needed someone to explain something. Who was the girl? Elle Mel Marta- ...

Elle-Style? Did she have something to do with that?

He turned the corner of the huge corridor and saw Elle clutching onto an older girl who must have been in her teens. She had large jade eyes and light brown hair that looked like it had a slight tint of green. The older girl was holding the younger, comforting her and trying to get her to calm down. A strange doll arched over the two of them as well, also offering comfort by saying things that don't make a whole ton of sense.

Jude panted heavily, trying to, again, put a name to the face. This girl also looked familiar...

"JUDE!" The boy jumped a little at the shouting of his name, looking up just in time to see the strange doll go for his face.

"Wah-!" Jude yelped, clutching onto the doll's feet and straining to pull it off. Through the plush he heard moving of feet and muffled voices. Another pair of hands wrapped around his own and aided him in his effort to get the doll off of his face.

A moment or two passed before he was released into the realm of light. The older girl was right in front of him, holding onto the squirming stuffed... eggplant. Her eyes widened and she dropped the doll, which didn't fall as much as just hover in the air more.

"Jude- It's- It's really you-!" she gasped, slapping her hands over her mouth. Tears of joy glimmered in her eyes. "Oh my goodness, Jude!"

"He doesn't remember, Elize" Elle pouted, wiping her eyes and crossing her arms across her chest.

Elize looked behind her to the girl. "He doesn't...?" she turned back to face him "You don't remember?"

She looked at him for what felt like along moment before Jude slowly shook his head. Elize frowned, opening and closing her mouth several times before her floaty companion smashed against his face.

"But you're still Jude, right? Jude Mathis?" he hollered.

"Y-yes..." Jude said, he forced a smile. "Elize, right? And uh..."

"Teepo!" the eggplant chirped.

"Teepo." the boy frowned, committing the names to memory. "Alright..."

"You really don't remember us?" Elize said.

"No." Jude replied. "I don't." Elize fiddled with her hands for a moment before grabbing Teepo out of the air and clutching him to her chest.

"I'll make breakfast for the three of us." her voice was quiet. "Please meet us in the parlor when you're ready. Come on, Elle."

Jude watched the pair walk away, a weight on his heart. He was really missing out on a lot, apparently. As the girls left his sight, he slowly turned and walked back to his room. On habit, he caught himself reaching to hold his wrist and flinched. No, he shouldn't do that. He was, will be, Origin. He shouldn't partake in such human habits.

But... He was human. So.. maybe he should? It hurt his head to think about. The past four years, Maxwell had been telling him to be human would mean he'd fail in being Origin. The past four years, he hasn't been human. So why start again now?

"You look troubled."

Jude jumped, startled by the voice. "Celsius, don't scare me like that!"

She shrugged "Sorry. I thought I made it obvious I was following you, though." The spirit put a hand on her hip "But yeah, what's eating at you?"

Jude clenched his fists. "My... my memories."

"Oh." She frowned "Yeah, you made a bit of a commotion there with the little girl- Elle, I think." The boy flinched.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Celsius rolled her eyes "It's not your fault she didn't take your amnesia well."

"Is it my fault I have amnesia?" he said quietly, looking the the side. A bit of an odd question, as it makes no sense why he'd purposely lose his memory...

"What?" Celsius frowned.

Jude shook his head. "Nevermind. Elize said she was making breakfast, let's go meet up with her."

"Sure thing, I got your shoes and cape here." She helped out her right arm, the white cape hanging over it and her fingers gripping around the boy's boots.

Jude tilted his head, smiling quizzically as he accepted them "You went out of your way to get me my clothes?"

"It's not really out of my way, I just happen to be nice sometimes." Celsius shrugged. "Also I know how you get if you don't have your blankie."

Jude's face turned as red as a strawberry. "Cape! It's a cape!"

"That's what you had me tell Maxwell."

"Celsius!"

"Fine, fine, It's a cape." she chuckled. "Let's go talk to your friends."

The spirit of ice didn't say much of anything else as they made their way to the parlor. As promised, Elize had made breakfast. A generous amount of waffles centered the table, enough for several people. A small flower vase was placed next to it, as well as a pitcher of milk and a pitcher of orange juice. There was a small basket of strawberries set next to the plate, and the table was set for more than just three. Jude didn't really bother counting, as he found himself wondering where the people who had set the table were...

Celsius tugged on Jude's hair gently, motioning to him with a flick of her fingers. She motioned again down into another room and slowly made her way over. Jude followed, keeping low and being just as quiet. After half a step, it became clear to him there was a conversation going on in the other room. He peered around the corner of the wall and slowed his breathing. In the room he could make out the figures of Rowen and Elize, with what looked like Driselle further in.

"Rowen, why didn't you tell us Jude was here!?" Elize sobbed.

"You were sleeping, Miss Elize." Rowen said calmly. So he knew too...

"So what!?" she shouted.

"Why didn't you just tell him about us?" Teepo demanded, bouncing in mid-air angrily.

"Now Elize, Teepo, calm down." she said "Rowen had his reasons and he did all he could have."

Rowen nodded. "We don't know what Jude does, or doesn't, remember. We can't just go jumping in telling him information he may or may not know. Or what if we give him the wrong information? We can't tell him how he felt about something, or how he experienced it." The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully "This is a very sensitive situation."

"Can we point out things that can jog his memory?" Elle's voice. She wasn't visible though. Chances are she was on the opposite side of the wall...

"I suppose..." Rowen frowned.

"Then it's decided!" Elle's voice again. Jude heard the scuffling of her feet. She must have been sitting on the ground and just now have gotten up. There was a large amount of pride in her voice as she declared: "From this point on, I'm going to be Jude's Memory Compass!"

This declaration was followed by a moment of silence.

"Elle, it's a lovely idea, but I don't think it'd work..." Driselle said quietly.

"It wouldn't...?" Elle sounded distressed.

Jude chuckled quietly under his breath with a thankful smile and stood up straight. Celsius rolled her eyes, following him in the room.

"I actually think that's a good idea." he said. He turned to smile at the girl with sky-blue eyes "I appreciate it a lot, thank you, Elle."

The young girl put her hands on her hip, a large grin conquering her face "No problem, Jude!"

The rest of the people in the room stared at him for a moment before Teepo decided to give his two cents.

"You were eavesdropping!" he hollered, slamming up and down on Jude's head.

"Hey, knock it off you deranged... thing!" Celsius snapped, snatching Teepo off course and practically strangling him "I will icicle you into the next dimension!"

"J-Jude, y-your friend is hurting me!" he spazzed.

"Teepo, stop being rude!" Elize snapped.

"Oh my." Rowen laughed "Ms. Celsius, please do not kill Teepo."

"Everyone please calm down!" Driselle gasped "Let's all just go and eat out breakfast..."

Jude chuckled under his breath, thankful the remnants of his old life were being so compatible with the aspects of his new.

There was going to be more in this chapter but I decided to leave that off until next time. So I hope I got the new characters here, well, in-character... Sorry the update took so long, I was debating whether or not to re-introduce Elize in this chapter. Also, do any of you have a tumblr? If you do I have a crazy ton of Shadow doodles I wanna post for someone. So without further... uh... hesitation, I guess. Skits!

"Stalker Celsius"

Elize: "So Jude, you're new friend is... uh..."

Jude: "Celsius."

Celsius: "Yep. Not really 'New' either, I've been following him around for the past four years."

Elize: [!] "Following!?"

Teepo: [angry Teepo face] "So you've been stalking him!"

Celsius: "I haven't been 'stalking' him!" [bounces angrily]

Elize: "You totally have!"

Teepo: "Celsius the spirit of being a Stalker!"

Celsius: [Grr]

Jude: [bounces] "The three of you calm down!"

Teepo: [crying Teepo face] "But Celsius has been stalking you!"

Jude: "That's besides the point."

Celsius: [angry] "JUDE!"

Jude: [chuckles timidly, box sinks] "Sorry..."

"Memory Compass"

Elle: "So from this point on, I'm your memory compass!"

Jude: [headtilt smile] "I guess so." [box sinks, sad] "Sorry to be such a burden..."

Elle: "You're not a burden!" [smile] "It's not your fault!"

Celsius: [annoyed] "So what does a 'Memory Compass' even do?"

Elle: "I point out things that can jog Jude's memory!" [grin]

Celsius: "So wouldn't a 'Memory Guide' be a better term?"

Elle: [...] [flustered] "N-no! It's a human thing, you wouldn't understand!"

Jude: [[that confused smile he does]]

"Who are you?"

Jude: [eyes closed, takes a deep breath]

?: [flickers into existence, blinks] Hi?

Jude: ... [eyes still closed] "Who are you...?"

?: [opens mouth to respond]

Rowen (off screen): "Jude, may I speak to you?"

Jude: [!] [? disappears] "Oh, Rowen!"

Rowen: [?] "Is everything alright?"

Jude: [bounces] "Yes, fine! What did you need?"

Rowen: [...] "Well, Ms. Celsius was looking for you..."

Jude: [sigh] "Was she? I can't keep her waiting." [bounce] "Thank you Rowen. Goodbye." [slides offscreen]

Rowen: ... ((Jude, what's going on with you...?))

"The Snow Bunny" pt 1

Elle: "Hey, Celsius, you're the Spirit of Ice, right?"

Celsius: "Correct."

Elle: "Can you make snow?"

Celsius: [thoughtful] "I suppose if I wanted to, yes." [confused] "Why did you ask?"

Elle: "I want to play in the snow! Let's go do it!"

Celsius: [half eyed] "I guess I might as well."