Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! I'm so sorry that this took a while... In between school and many rewrites this is what came to be! Also, I added in a lemon in Chapter 2 if any of you would like to read it.

Thank you Mayuko-chan, TheAnime4Fan, Project AE Hachi-Roku, and CloudyLightning for your continued support!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Tales of Xillia.

Chapter 3

Milla ran hastily while her hair flapped behind her head. Her thundering footsteps on the hard flooring echoed in the empty halls. On her way to the city, Milla figured her first step should be to ask the citizens if they'd seen anything unusual. She made a quick detour to Jude's room where she swiftly grabbed a recent picture of him from his photo album, careful not to choose one featuring the king or queen, and then made a beeline to the town square which would undoubtedly be the most populated.

She had some inkling of a feeling that the abduction was somehow related to the encounter with that middle-aged man in the commercial district the day before, but she doubted it since he was taken into custody. If she did come out with no information from the people outside, she would make sure to stop by the jail to pay the man a brief visit.

The moment Milla reached the center circle of Fennmont, she looked around frantically for someone to ask. She caught her breath and composed herself before walking up to a young woman who stood next to the white lotus flower in the center of the circle. "Excuse me?" When she got the woman's attention she held the picture in front of her face. "Have you seen this boy?"

The woman squinted and brought her face closer to the picture of Jude. "Hmm…" the woman then shook her head solemnly. "I'm sorry. I don't think that I've seen him."

"I see." Milla was suddenly thankful that she took the time to grab the picture since it seemed not everyone was aware what exactly the prince looked like. "If you do see him, please let me know."

The woman nodded and then turned away from Milla to continue staring at the glowing flower in front of her.

Milla thought it best to not be too bummed out at the woman's response; Jude was kidnapped at night so it would be unlikely for many to have seen the crime take place. Holding her head high, she decided to press on. "Have you seen this boy?" Milla asked an elderly couple browsing the merchandise of the nearby weapon shop. The couple didn't even spare her a second glance as they strutted away from the frantic blonde and whispered amongst themselves. Milla sighed in disappointment and was slightly ticked off at their rudeness.

She shook her head to forget the incident and then walked off. However, she hesitated when she was approached by a knight wearing his full helmet and armor. Milla squared her shoulders and raised her chin up slightly to regard the other knight.

"Milla," the armored knight said hoarsely.

The woman's eyes widened slightly, and then her demeanor changed completely into one that expressed great anger once she realized who the man was. "What do you want?" she snapped.

The knight removed his helmet to reveal Milla's old instructor, who used to have to honor of training new knight recruits, but was now doing guard duty on the streets of Fennmont.

Although it had been years since she'd seen him, Milla would recognize the stern voice of her instructor anywhere.

Looking at the man's head she could tell that he aged well. The only indications of his age were the wrinkles that formed the number eleven between his eyebrows, no doubt a result of him furrowing them too much, and the oncoming grey at the roots of his hair.

The man gritted his teeth. "You dare speak to me that way after all you have done to me?"

The blonde threw her hair over her shoulder. "What I have done? Everything that resulted from that night was of your own volition."

The knight furrowed his brows in the precise motion that created the creases on his forehead, and he took a step closer to Milla, to which the blonde responded in taking a step back. "If you hadn't come onto me that night I would still have my job, and you would be doing something within your capability. Everything would've been perfect."

Milla was visibly fuming. She tightened her jaw and glared daggers at the man. Seeing these series of statements get a physical reaction out of Milla brought a smile to the male knight's face. "Look at you. You've been given such a high honor in serving the prince and yet he's gone within the first month? It's quite pitiful."

"Shut it, bastard. You know nothing of the situation." Milla didn't care if her declaration was rude; she just wanted to put the black-haired one in his place.

"There's nothing to it, is there? You failed. That's something about you that hasn't changed at all. You fail at everything. Even when someone else is dependent on you. Tell me, Milla, do the king and his kid know about the fun we had back then? How you whored yourself into knighthood?"

Milla looked down at her feet in shame which signaled the man of her answer. "The situation is dire, I'll give you that, but it's difficult to feel bad for you knowing that you've undoubtedly slept with others in order to get into your position."

The woman directed her gaze upwards and regarded the sharp-tongued knight fiercely. "After that night I had never given myself to anyone to get to where I am today. This is a result of my hard work."

The man scoffed, "You expect me to believe that?"

"No. But it doesn't really matter if you believe me or not; I could care less. That's in the past, and I'm not bothered by it any longer. That's why I'm going to tell him everything."

The man blinked twice in surprise at Milla's answer. "What?"

"He needs to know the truth. I owe him that much. Which is more reason to bring him home safely."

The knight clicked his tongue in irritation. "You should know very well that talk is cheap."

"Yes, which is why I must leave you now. My goal isn't to convince you of anything; it's to find Jude." The moment she uttered her statement, Milla spun on her heel and began to march off, however she wasn't able to get far because the man put a hand on her shoulder. Milla turned slowly to face the knight whose expression softened slightly.

"What?" the female narrowed her red eyes at the other while her own irritation grew.

The brown-eyed one removed his hand from her shoulder and covered his mouth with the same hand. "It's just that I had never seen you this way before. You're very blunt, but I think I like this side of you."

Milla gave him a suspicious look and crossed her arms at the man's confession. As a result, he coughed in his hand and tried to change the subject before it got more awkward. "Uh well, it's plain to see that you meant your words."

"Of course I do. Jude means everything to me. I wasn't brave enough to admit it earlier, but I know that it's time to now; even if it ends with me losing my job, it wasn't supposed to be mine to begin with."

The knight stroked his chin that was covered in black stubble. "Hmm, you've definitely changed, Milla. It was fun catching up with you, but I guess it's time for me to return to my post now."

Milla nodded to the man and he turned around to walk away. When he advanced few paces, he spoke over his shoulder. "By the way, I was on guard duty last night and I noticed some suspicious behavior in front of the Talim Medical School. I took care of it, but if I were you I would start looking there."

"Huh? Thank you," Milla said quietly she then strutted toward the medical district briskly without waiting for a reply from the older man.

When the blonde reached the section of town, she scanned the area thoroughly, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. The obvious students were casually talking with each other and some were walking to their next class. There was the occasional person who spared her a second glance, but his countenance was not that of fear, but instead full of questions.

Milla whispered a quick prayer to the spirits, wishing that she wouldn't waste her time here. She walked into the school and toward the front desk, grabbing the picture of Jude while she did so. Once she got closer, the young man who was about ten years younger than Milla raised his gaze and smiled at her.

Milla raised the picture of the attractive boy and was about to ask her static question, but was beaten by the receptionist who asked his own question first. "What can I do for you two?"

The blonde tilted her head slightly. She then spun around, wondering what the man was talking about. Milla soon found herself face to face with a very smug looking character. The man looked so suspicious that the first thought that crossed her mind was if she needed to arrest this fellow. He had messy chocolate brown hair, dark eyes, olive skin, and a devilishly handsome smile.

The man chuckled softly. "You looking for a kid?"

"Yes," Milla said without any hesitation, not realizing how strange it was for him to know her predicament. She raised the picture higher to the man. "This boy."

The man waved his hands in front of his face. "There's no need to show me, ma'am. Yes, I've seen him."

"Really? Where?" Milla yelled before she all but jumped on the man, desperately waiting an answer.

"I saw a group of people drag him into the inn." He motioned toward the exit door of the medical establishment.

Milla crossed her arms across her chest, and then glared at the man's suspicious smile. "So, he saw a young boy being taken into the inn against his will, and he didn't tell anyone until now? For that matter, no one at the inn found it suspicious either?" Milla was aware that sadly there are many people who would idly stand by while something as sick as that happens in front of their eyes. Even so, the story was just too insane to believe.

Milla eyed the man in front of her again, and then decided that it was probably best to stay away from him. Now that she thought about it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask those at the inn either, but, as much as she hated to admit it, she was going to trust her old instructor before this character.

"Thank you... er…"

"My name's Alvin," the man said as he straightened his fancy mustard colored scarf.

"Yes, thank you, Alvin." She nodded to him, and then briskly jogged out the entrance of Talim Medical School. As she left the well-lit building, she couldn't help but feel an ominous wind blowing over her head. She glanced behind her and sighed when she saw Alvin following her not so discretely. This struck Milla as very unusual, but she didn't know if the man just needed to leave the school as well, so she didn't confront him about it.

"Excuse me. Have you seen this boy?" the blonde asked a student sitting on a bench outside the school.

"Isn't that the prince? I'm sorry. I haven't seen him recently." The male never made eye contact with Milla. After looking at the picture, he nervously eyed something behind the knight.

The woman turned around, and not to her surprise, Alvin was standing behind her with his smug smirk.

Milla muttered the boy her thanks and then walked a couple of paces. She huffed in annoyance upon seeing Alvin follow her even out on the streets. Milla ceased her stride, and then confronted the man. "What is your problem?" she growled. "Why are you following me?"

Alvin threw his hands in the air as if he were showing that he surrendered. "Me? Oh, I was just making sure that you found the boy alright. You seem desperate to find him so I thought I'd help you out."

"Yeah, by lying and annoying the shit out of me," she muttered angrily while keeping a look of contempt painted on her face.

"Don't give me such a sour look, beautiful. In all seriousness, I did actually see that kid being taken somewhere last night. If you take me along, we will find him a lot quicker."

Milla squinted her eyes at the man. "This guy really is full of shit. But if he really did know where Jude was taken this could really quicken things up a bit."

The knight knew exactly how to handle his type; she dealt with many of them in the past. She suddenly grabbed him by the collar and dragged him down to her eye-level, a few inches away from her face. "Now listen here, you lowlife scum. This is no time to be playing games. Especially when a little boy's life is in danger," the blonde growled. "Either tell me what you know or piss off." Milla enunciated the last two vulgar words.

The female waited for a few moments, but only received silence as a reply. She sighed dejectedly and was about to let go of Alvin when she noticed a shift in his eyes. They focused to something to Milla's right; it was very brief, but she caught it. She slowly turned her head in the given direction and noted that it was the exit into the Arkland Quag.

Milla dropped the man and walked towards the field with Alvin yelling behind her. "Hey! Where're you going? You still don't know where to go do you?" Alvin noted her destination and tried his best to deter her path. "He's not over there!"

Milla ignored him as the path she was taking was all too clear to her. Alvin must have been working for whoever kidnapped Jude in order to divert her attention from the boy's location. It would make sense why he followed her around and gave her faulty directions. Milla felt an uneasy pit grow at the base of her stomach. "The only people who knew I was going to look for him were King Nachtigal and Gilland." Milla brushed this thought to the side as she left the city and into the field.

Milla approached the first dark tree of the area and shifted her gaze from left to right for some kind of clue as to where the boy had been taken. She crouched down to get a better look at the muddy ground and took note of five sets of footprints between the patches of grass. A grimace marred her pretty face when she noticed that one pair of footprints were smaller than the other four. "Four of them?" Milla thought with growing uncertainty. She then shook her head abruptly to remove the negative mindset. The blonde knew that if she were to save Jude, she needed to have more faith in herself. "I can take them. I was the best in my class with the sword after all."

Milla ran for about a kilometer following the footprints while the surrounding trees became sparse and the visibility of the area lessened. Her clothes underneath her armor clung tightly to her body with sweat and by the sheer humidity of the area. The female knight slowed her breathing and followed the footprints with her eyes. They led to an unknown area on the other side of a nearby boulder that concealed their location wonderfully. Milla crept forward, hid behind the dirty boulder, and peered through an opening between the stone structure and the cliff of the Quag's border. Surely enough, Jude sat crossed legged on the muddy floor in his ripped pajamas with cuts and bruises all over his exposed skin.

Milla was overcome with anger at the sight and knew that whoever had inflicted that much harm to the boy would fall very painfully to her blade. She gazed at the men around Jude and was taken aback when most of them seemed all too familiar to her.

She soon realized that all of those who surrounded the prince were undoubtedly the king's knights; she couldn't see their faces, except for the Conductor, but the armor they wore gave away their allegiance. Milla felt relieved and was about to rise until the men began to speak to each other.

"I don't know. This still doesn't feel like the right thing to do… I mean he's just a kid," one knight said to the other.

Rowen settled his gaze on the boy in front of him. "I concur. This young man doesn't deserve any of this." The old man then diverted his gaze and looked off to the side. "My king, what has become of you?"

The third knight in the group glared at the two men. "You all maybe prepared to lose your heads, but I'm not," he jeered. "If doing this is what it takes to keep my job, then I will do it when the time comes." The man motioned to Jude. Before the men could discuss things further, their attentions were caught by a comrade behind them who joined at that precise moment; he was panting from his hasty journey from Fennmont.

"What is it?" Rowen asked.

The man spoke quickly and quietly, but Milla caught what he was saying. She squatted down further while adjusting her feet so she didn't slip in the mud. "Alvin informed me that he was unable to divert Milla from our tracks long enough. She's headed here as we speak."

The knight closest to Jude nodded his head toward him. "Is that so? Then I guess it's best if we kill him now before she gets here. We have orders to kill her as well?"

The messenger nodded curtly. "Yes."

"Very well." The man then proceeded unsheathe his sword and grab Jude's neck. The mere sight of the blade enticed a flash of fear in the boy's eyes as he started to pull at the knight's iron grip and began to cry.

"Stop! Let go of me!" Jude screeched.

Rowen and the other knight who opposed the punishment grimaced at the cruelty, but neither of them took action to stop him.

"Shut up, kid," the man said coldly.

The guard pointed the sword at the boy's stomach to stab him, but instead it was him who cried out in pain as his back began to burn from a fireball. The man turned around to spot the offender who casted the arte, but he was not quick enough to stop her from performing her next one.

"Splash!" Milla shouted as a pot of water mercilessly pounded the man down with the liquid inside.

The knight hissed as the cold water made contact with his burning back. No later had this occurred, the remaining two knights ambushed Milla. She successfully guarded against the onslaught of slices, kicks, and punches. When she found an opening, she summoned a ring of light around her which harmed the men surrounding her. Once both of them were lying on the floor, she locked eyes with the one who was a victim to her magic; upon seeing him, she started to breathe heavily, and her mind went into a haze of fury.

Milla swiftly sliced her sword in all directions to distract the knight, but he wasn't having any of that. He dealt Milla a diagonal slice in the torso which her armor absorbed for the most part, but she still felt the residual force of the impact.

The blonde grunted in pain, but was too caught up in her rage to care. She stabbed the man near his belt, which he blocked with his shield. This action left his head exposed which was precisely what Milla was waiting for. Immediately after her low blow attack she kicked the man in his armored head which left him dizzy. He fell to the ground and Milla stabbed him in the heart with her sharpened blade which pierced through his armor. She twisted the blade cruelly to which the impaled man groaned in pain. Milla withdrew her sword from the defeated knight and proceeded to attack the other knights who were now on their feet and ready for another go at the blonde knight.

Milla ran away from the men and casted a Thunder Blade which spun around her and electrocuted the hostiles around her. They fell to the ground after the sword of lightning stopped their hearts instantly.

The blonde looked around, but then squinted her eyes back into a glare as she spotted the Conductor who was walking toward Jude. Not liking their close proximity, Milla sliced the old man multiple times, but none of the attacks were making contact with his flesh. The two weapons clashed multiple times which emitted a ringing sound every time.

Milla was faster and stronger than Rowen, but the old man was by far smarter. He learned the woman's pattern of attacks quickly and anticipated when she was about to go for a stab. Once she did, he evaded it and gave a quick flick of his wrist to disarm her with his sword. The blonde gave him a very broken look as if she had resigned to the fact that she failed, but then her expression changed once the Conductor sheathed his sword.

"That's quite enough now. I'm not the one who you should be fighting, miss." Rowen gave Milla a reassuring smile which seemed to have magic of its own as it eased her immensely. "There seems to be something else you need to take care of though." He motioned toward the shivering boy on the floor.

Milla nodded, "Thank you."

Rowen walked many paces away to give the pair some privacy.

Milla walked towards the trembling prince on the floor and placed her hand on his shoulder. Jude raised his brown eyes at the woman and then cried some more. "Why are you here? Do you want to kill me that bad?" he managed to say through a series of hiccups.

Milla's eyes grew as she gasped at the statement. "What do you mean?"

Jude turned his gaze over to the lifeless bodies on the muddy ground. "My father sent you, didn't he?" he said sadly.

Milla nodded slowly at the question afraid of what the boy meant by that question. "Yes. He sent me to come and look for you. To save you."

Jude snapped at Milla. "You're lying! He doesn't care about me! He wants me dead!"

"Why would he want you dead?" Milla asked with a genuinely confused expression.

"Because I'm not really his son." The boy observed how Milla's expression didn't change at his confession and then nodded his head. "You could tell too, right? I'm nothing like him. I'm a bastard and he hates me for it. I've lost my mother and now I've lost the one that I called my father. I'm an orphan." Upon speaking the truth of the situation, Jude covered his face in his hands, concealing himself from the condescending looks he knew Milla would give him.

Milla gingerly grasped the boy's wrists and gently pulled his hands away from his face. Jude looked at her and noticed that she too was crying, and he was taken aback by it. Milla then released the boy's hands and pulled him in a tight hug.

Jude didn't return the hug, he just sniffed profusely taking in the sweet scent of the blonde's hair. "Why?" Jude asked in a barely audible whisper.

After a few moments of holding him, the older one finally answered Jude's question. "You're not an orphan, Jude. You're mine." Milla said softly.

"What?" Jude eyes grew larger as the truth dawned on him.

"You're my son."