Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.
So, what have gotten into me you said? Well, to pay for the weeks I had missed on, I have a double chapter update along with new story (one here and one in other) and a continuation of another story. But really, I was absorbed into Tales of Xillia completely like how I was absorbed in Legend of Mana (my very first game), although in two different way because I actually played and finished LoM.
But anyway, it wasn't the point right now, because we needed to enter the story like right now~ oh yeah, for anyone who asked about the amount of the chapter this story might have, I could safely said that it would take at least 7-10 more chapter including this. I just realized that I jumped the POV every chapter, so it would take quite a long time to finish with both Milla and Jude POV of the story.
So, I guess please enjoy this chapter and leave some Review?
Note:
"…abc…" : Normal talking
"…abc…" : Whispering, past talk, and far away sounds (so if it was in 1st POV, eavesdrop)
'…abc…' : Heart talk, telepathy, that kind of stuff
Milla POV
I couldn't move my muscle even just an inch and my breath was hitched in my throat. I could say that because right here right now, Jude's hand reached up to my face and when it met my cheeks, then he stroked it gently with slow movement, partially because he didn't heal completely yet.
With a hard struggle on my part to find my voice, I asked, "J-Jude…?" I asked with a visible surprise and maybe my own nervousness.
Jude didn't say anything at my question and his eyes only looked straight at me. His touch was as warm as I remembered, and he was warm like the Jude I know. I couldn't dwell at the past as what happened right now was the most important. But, I still wanted to cherish my memory about Jude.
I could feel myself giving away to the warmth of his touch and closed my eyes. I wanted to cry and said all of my worry to Jude. I wanted him to know my pain because of his kindness when he forgot about me. My tears threatened to roll down but I hold it in by biting my lower lip.
Without myself thought about it, my hands reached up to hold Jude's hand which rested on my cheek. I was shivering under his touch, I knew it.
"Milla-san…?" he said with a questioning voice. But, he sounded like he was hurt.
I opened my eyes, just to find our eyes locked with each other. The Jude in front of me is the same Jude I cared. Maybe his memory was missing, but he was still the same. The kind, gentle, and compassionate Jude… I wanted to bring his memory back, but he needed rest now.
"You shouldn't stress your body, Jude… you are still recovering," I said as calm as I could right now. I wanted the best for Jude.
I withdrew his hands from my cheek and hold it against mine, before I put it back to his side, Jude said, "Milla-san… did we ever meet before?" he then asked.
I raised my head in surprise of his question. I wanted to say an affirmative answer, but I knew it would only make him confused. So, instead of giving an affirmative answer, I said, "It is for you to find out Jude. I won't make you strain yourself by thinking about did we really meet before. When you remembered, you would remember," I answered with a slight monotone voice but it was hard.
I could hear Jude let out a deep breath. Then I saw some of his bandage loosen in some place. Well, I did change it daily, but I never dared to change the one on his upper leg nor change his clothes. I'm not that clueless about human man, thank you very much.
But as I saw that and considering that Jude already awake, I said, "Jude, I needed to change your bandage now, except I saw that the wound finally closed. Oh, do you want me to wash your body too?" I said with a calm voice.
Jude blushed at my words, maybe the part about the washing body, so I quickly straightened it out, "I-I don't mean anything like that… I only rubbed your body with towel a-and I thought it will be uncomfortable to wear the same clothes for 3 days straight," I said with panicking voice. I wonder why when I said what I wanted to do out loud I thought the one who was perverted is me.
"I-it is not like that… and I don't think about it like that either, Milla-san… it's just… embarrassing," Jude said with slight shyness.
I laughed at his shyness but slightly broken up inside by his way of saying my name, I guessed I need to get used by that soon. Then I stood from my seat with the bowl in tow before I said, "Rest a lot so your wound would heal faster Jude. And would you mind to wait a little longer? I needed to find a change of clothes for you. I hope Leah left us some," I said with a monotone voice.
Jude looked at me and nodded while smiling. I winced at his smile, remembering a past once more, adding it into my inner pain. I walked away with soft steps, quite glad about how things happened. But I was hurt too, what if his memory won't come back? If that's what would happen… it might be the best for Jude. With less contact with a spirit on my caliber, he might lead a happy life with a happy family. He wouldn't need to get hurt just because bonding with the Spirit of Origin.
Was his lost of memory the work of fate so we would get separated? Or the fate just wanted to toy my emotion? Or maybe… it just wanted me to realize about my love for him. I let out a sigh I didn't realize holding.
I was so lost in my own thought that when I heard Jude's voice calling me, I instantly froze up in my place. He called me, "Milla…" with stern voice.
I don't know how to react with that. Does Jude say it on purpose? Or my ears catch it wrong? Or maybe he remembered about me? Scratch the latter, it wouldn't return that fast according to my knowledge.
I guessed that Jude realized that I stopped on my track even if I didn't turn my back to face him. He then softly said, "Thank you… for everything Milla-san," he said with soft voice.
I could feel my tears threatened to roll down from my face. I opened my mouth to say something, anything. Yet, my voice was stored inside my throat, unable to go out. I tried to calm myself and nodded lightly before leaving, opening and closing the door softly behind me.
After I put the bowl on the kitchen, my balance was lost and I knelled on the ground. I guessed, taking the pain from Jude using my hardly there Mana really took me a lot. I looked at my hand and saw it flickers once, but it materialized again as fast as it flickered.
I grasped my hand and put it on my forehead. Even if it might be just my ears playing with me, Jude called my name. It made me felt very happy and relieved inside. His touch, his voice, Jude's every action made my body and soul yearned for him.
"I love you… no matter what happened to you… I really love you, Jude…"
Gaius POV
I was in my study and staring intensely against the stack of paper Rowen gave to me before like it was a big enemy or something along that. Mostly it was because I was worried about a friend of mine that promised would meet me in formal way 3 days ago, but he was missing and the train he was on was missing as well. The search party was dispatched a yesterday but it didn't get any result yet.
The friend I mentioned was Jude Mathis, a 20 years old researcher, a very young age for a researcher nonetheless, and he was already the lead researcher, practically but not really in the paper, in his research team. The 'me' from 5 years ago would laugh at him and gave him a scorn when he said he wanted to make the world where human and spirit can co-exist, that we could co-exist in harmony, but he actually really changed the world and made it became true step by step.
One thing we have in common that we fell in love with spirit, he with Milla Maxwell one of the Spirit of Origin, and I with Musee a Great Spirit and the older sister of Milla. I guessed it was not so hard to know secret because my companions saw it almost instantly, only the said spirit didn't see it or even notice it. I don't know if it was only the denseness of spirit in general or the sister heredity denseness. Another one was Jude really was a good fighter, and when I felt his punch on me it really was heavy. I never lost in battle except from him and Milla, and I was with Musee fighting two on two with them.
I sighed when without my notice Rowen went inside my study, with his calm smile on his face all the way. But, I knew it best that he was worried about Jude safety, even more than I was. Well, he also never bothered to knock on the door because he was one of the few people who didn't need a formality to meet me with the other people were my important close friends.
"How was the search party?" I asked with stern voice.
Rowen shook his head a little as he said, "The weather near the mountain border was terrible, and we couldn't move forward because it might took us even longer to bypass it. If my deduction didn't fail me yet, most likely the train was somewhere on the mountain," Rowen said with a grim voice.
I glanced outside the window of my study and we both fell into silence. But, the silence was broken when I heard it quite clearly, I might add, a voice of woman I knew so much, rushing inside the study without even thinking that it was the study of the King of Liese Maxia and I might add, in panicked mode. Without even looking back, I knew who it was and said, "What's wrong Musee?" I asked with slightly annoyed voice because she never bothered to knock the door or using the door in general, but inside I was happy that she came by to visit.
Musee, who seems to not heed my question said, "Gaius, did you see Milla? Rowen, did you see her?" she asked with a visible concern and panic.
Now that was weird. I looked back from my original position and saw that Musee was completely freaked out that even Rowen saw her with an unreadable expression. Jude was gone, and now Musee came here looking for Milla. If my memory didn't fail me, shouldn't she stay in Spirit world or something doing her job as Maxwell?
"What do you mean, Musee-san?" Rowen asked with an uncertain voice.
Musee looked at Rowen with a visible panic and said, "Like I said, Milla was missing. I looked for her all over but I just couldn't find her! Her Mana reaction was so weak I can't pinpoint the location either. What should I do? What if she got hurt? What if she got lost? Oh, no, that would be terrible!" she said with panicked expression that's understatement she was freaked out completely.
It's not everyday thing for a Spirit of Origin to be missing, so I asked, "Since when? And Musee, calm down a little bit," I asked with slightly annoyed voice.
Musee seems to hear my plea on the end and stop her panic attack and said, "3 days ago she said she wanted to meet everyone in her human form. I-I thought it was okay, because the Mana concentration in the world was high enough for her to come without sacrifice. But then her Mana wave became so weak and she didn't go home or disappearing from human world. I was worried and looked for her all over, b-but, I couldn't find her…" she explained with a voice that sounded like she wanted to cry.
I put my hand on my forehead. Jude was gone 3 days ago, and now Milla was gone too. It's not like it was the first for Milla to just gone from the earth, 4 years ago she did quite a job at going missing.
"Musee-san, did you really sure that Milla-san was gone 3 days ago?" Rowen asked with a stern voice when he asked for confirmation.
I looked over at Rowen and Musee did the same as she answered, "I'm positive. Her throne was left to me for a while after all, we did it whenever she took a walk to the human world," Musee answered with questioning voice.
Rowen then looked at me and said, "Gaius-sama… did you get what I wanted to say?" Rowen said with a complex expression.
I tried to catch on his implication, Jude was gone 3 days ago, and at the same day Milla was gone too. If they were gone at the same day and remembering Milla was practically with Jude almost everywhere, it should be… don't tell me.
Rowen looked at me with a smile as he said, "Yes, if that was the case we could rest assured that Jude-san was within the capable hands. They might just take a shelter around the mountain area," Rowen said with a content expression.
I couldn't help but felt the relief as well. I couldn't see Milla abandoning Jude in one way or another. I guessed that even Musee understand what we have been talking about so she looked relieved. All we needed to do now was finding them and the missing train.
Our short relief was cut short by a loud rapping on the door. Rowen told whoever it was to enter the room while Musee went invisible. When Rowen let whoever it was enter the room, that person breath was strangled. The person was one of the messengers and he was in charge on calling me if something big happened. He then said, "The Beastmaster or The Fire Demon, Lady Leah Sanctrum asked for a meeting with the King and Minister," he said with short breathing all over.
I stared at Rowen and Rowen stared back at me. It's not like we didn't know the person who asked for the meeting, but we never heard of her for the longest of time. The last time we had a contact with her it was only in a form of letter. She was the guardian of the borderline, and her title was a real thing. Another thing about her, she hated waiting.
Musee looked over me with questioning expression. I couldn't blame her, she never knew about the person after all.
I looked back at the messenger before I said, "I'll go now," I said sternly to him.
His face lightens up and he scrambled down the room to do who knows what. Rowen and I (and Musee who was interested) walked to the meeting hall, to meet our sudden unusual guest.
When we entered the meeting hall, she, the said Leah Sanctrum stood there impatiently but still with a grace of a noble knight.
To be honest it was the first time I ever met her in person because she was charged to protect the borderline from the late king. I was even more surprised that she looked very young, almost like in early twenty, considering her start of job was more than a decade ago and she was supposed to start at her mid twenty at the time.
She had fiery red long hair which she didn't bother to tie and let it framed her face freely. It looks like she didn't have the word appropriate on her book as she wore a fancy dancer clothes that reveal a lot of her skin. Her eyes had the color of dark brown but one of it has the color of ruby. Beside her sat a white tiger that seemed to be loyal to her, one of the reasons she was called as the Beastmaster.
"So, you are the King right now, Arst Outway or should I say King Gaius? It's an honor to meet you. I am Leah Sanctrum, the loyal servant of Liese Maxia. Please feel free to call me Leah," she said with menacing voice and completely ticked off voice.
I could feel my eyebrows twitched at her attitude but wondered how come she knew my other name. I remembered that I didn't say it to other except some special people.
I could sense that Musee was ticked off by Leah attitude, but I told (not really told her verbally, I just gestured it) her to hold it in and let me do the talking. Then I said, "And what do we owe the pleasure of this meeting?" I asked with slight sarcasm on my voice.
She giggled in almost ominous way as she said, "I thought this will surely pick on your interest my liege. Did you know about the train from Elenpios that went missing three days ago?" she said with a mocking voice.
At the mention of the missing train, my, Rowen, and Musee, attention turned to her. She then giggled a little bit as she said, "Yeah, my liege. The train fell on my territory, it was quite a loud landslide it even reached my humble house. And actually, I'm here to ask something too," she said with a slightly less annoying voice.
Our breath was held inside our throat as Leah pulled out a necklace. I… we would recognize it instantly when we saw it anywhere. Leah then asked, "The friends of the owner of this necklace claimed that the owner of this necklace was Jude Mathis, the Spirit Researcher from Elenpios. Was this really one of his belonging?" she asked with a pure concern yet carefully.
Before I could answer it, Rowen said, "It was Jude-san treasured necklace, how come you had it?" Rowen asked with a flat voice, but I knew he was surprised too.
Leah then looked over us with questioning look and answered, "Well, I found them in the woods, and I gave them shelter. If they really said the truth, then I thought that my liege would recognize this necklace so I borrowed it when he was asleep," she said with a weird face.
I let out a deep breath, at least I know that the train crashed on the mountain and Jude was safe. But, then Rowen asked again, "Sanctrum-san, by this friend of Jude-san, do you know the name of the person?" Rowen asked again.
Leah bowed a little before she said, "If my liege wanted to know it. The name of his friend was Milla. She didn't tell me her last name for a reason I don't know of, but her appearance was so out of the place I even thought she was a spirit or something… like the one over there if I might add," she said with a more relaxed tone.
Musee who was silent squealed in delight. At least now she knew the place of her beloved sister. But she just realized something off from Leah's comment and raised a voice, "You could see me?" she said with questioning voice.
Leah giggled and said, "My ruby eyes let me saw the outline of spirit. I couldn't literally saw them but when I could see the spirit, I could hear the voice too. I couldn't pinpoint either this Milla was a spirit or not because I hide my ruby eyes by using a magical contact," she said with an amused voice.
Leah then looked over me and said, "Anyway, now that the formality was over. I wanted to offer my assistance to my liege and it was not in my list of job so it was personal," Leah said with a very relaxed voice, contrast to her annoying personality from before.
"What assistance?" I asked with a serious tone.
Leah spun a little bit, letting her clothes playing with the wind and took some light step before she jumped to my place and stopped around 5 feet away. I was surprised because her jumping made it looked like she had no weight or the wind carried her away.
She smiled on me as she said, "The weather was bad around the border, and it won't stop until next week. But of course, if it was that bad I wouldn't dare to go here just to report my finding. Oh, I wouldn't even bother to help the injured person inside it and let them rot there in 7 days, but of course I knew severe punishment might went on me and it involve water, oh, how I hate them with passion. Burning things were so much better than made it drown. So I offer a trade," she said with a brimming confidence like she held the trump card in her hands.
I tried to remain calm as I spoke, "Say your condition," I said with bitterness in it. I couldn't really sacrifice the life of the victim waiting for help, and it would only sour Liese Maxia and Elenpios already bitter relationship.
Leah giggled before she said, "I offered my guidance for my liege to use the Fire Demon road for the price of my beloved counterpart Anima, with this you must release her chain and make her live with me. Oh I also asked my liege and the prime munstier-something, and that lady spirit to come. It would take 2 days if the search party moved fast, but I guess it won't be that fast because 2 days was because I rode on my Daisy. It was a fun thought for me because the King would follow the Demon way, so how about it?" she said with an innocent yet mischievous laugh.
Then she back-flipped from her position and landed on her position before. She giggled mischievously at the process maybe because of her own weird amusement and weird definition of 'fun'.
It sounded like she was challenging me, tempting me with her weird title. I never really met this 'Anima' she talked about but I did hear some story about her. The Fire Demon beloved, Crazy Alchemist, Wind-Freak… a lot of weird story were tied into her very being as she resided inside a Forbidden Land very far from Leah's place. I guessed the first part was true since Leah, the said Demon, admit it. Anima never really had a bad reputation to get jailed or punished, but she escaped my mind completely.
Normally I would look at this matter closer, but because of the situation I said, "Rowen, call back the search party, we changed the path with the guidance of the Beastmaster with our deals in the end, and clear my schedule for a week even if it will make a war," I said with a sigh.
Leah gleefully clapped while Rowen moved to arrange the thing. Musee whispered on me as she said, "I didn't believe this psychopathic aura giver so I would check on it ahead," she said before disappearing.
So, that's that for now. Wow, it was quite long for this chapter. The search party was dispatched and don't worry Musee actually would pop out more often now. But then, who knows, see you later okay~ and don't forget to Review~
