I wrote this because of a screaming plot bunny. And yeah, I know I have several other stories, but just let me write this one too! Enjoy?

Disclaimer: Ahahaha, no. I don't own Tales of Xillia 2.

Chapter 1: Youngest Brother?

Balan was tired. As the Origin head researcher, he barely had many breaks. He worked from sun up to sun down every day of the week, except Sundays. He never expected his workload to suddenly increase when the Schism between Rieze Maxia and Elympios dispelled a year ago. In fact, how he even managed to become the lead spyrite researcher was a bit beyond him. Though he got all the credit, he was not the one who came up with the idea.

He looked over to his preoccupied desk behind him to see a sixteen-year-old teen lazily spinning a pen in his hands. His slightly messy, raven, silk-like hair nearly covered his golden honey eyes as the teen looked out of the closest window. He wore a white button down shirt with a black jacket that was folded to his elbows, unbuttoned. Hanging loosely around his neck was a blue neck tie. Around his left wrist was a multicolored, glass-beaded bracelet with a single cluster of clock gears hanging off. In the center of the cluster of gears was a symbol that greatly resembled a clock face. Balan smiled.

That child came up with the idea a few years back, but it was never recognized until Balan proposed it to the government two years ago. He wanted the teen to help him with his research, but the teen's brother was completely against it. In fact, the teen was only here when someone needed to watch him.

Balan blinked for a moment when he reminded himself of a meeting he had to attend to. He glanced at the clock and grimaced. He only had fifteen minutes to prepare. He picked up a file he knew he needed and headed to a cabinet near his desk. The teen seemed to snap out of his daydream and turned in the chair to look at him with curiosity.

"Did an idea come to you, Balan?" he asked. Balan pulled out another file and shook his head.

"Actually, I just remembered about a meeting I need to go to." he answered him. He closed the drawer and headed to the door. Another thought popped into his head and made him stop near his desk. He turned to look at Jude.

"Which reminds me, Jude, it's one of those days, isn't it? Do you think you can handle yourself until Alfred picks you up?" asked Balan. The small black haired teen looked up from Balan's desk and waved a math workbook up in the air with a smile.

"Yup! Julius wants me to get a lesson done today, so I'm just going to be right here, working on it. So, don't worry about me." Jude said. Balan gave him a look before plucking the book out of his hands. Jude panicked and reached for his book, but Balan turned around to block Jude's hand. In all honestly, he doubted Jude was actually working on it.

"Hey! Balan!"

The researcher pressed his lips together when he opened to the last page he was working on. The borders of the page were covered with penned tomato vines, complete well-detailed tomatoes of different shapes and sizes. On one of the tomatoes, there was a chibi-version of Julius hugging it with a blank look. Chibi-versions of Jude were holding the answer boxes with expressions of a very cheery person. Heck, even one had his fat cat, Lulu, chewing on it. Balan actually took the time to quickly calculate a few of the problems (which were differential equations that was a bit advanced for his age), half-surprised that they were right. He closed the workbook and handed it back to the guilty Jude, who took it rather nervously, with a straight face.

"Jude, I know that you're a smart kid and all, but seriously," Balan placed a hand on his hip and held a finger up, "stop drawing all over them! Honestly, it makes me even wonder why Julius never scolds you about these things." Jude gave him a sheepish smile.

"Actually, he scolds me in the morning before he leaves for work."

Balan rolled his eyes and glanced at the clock. Five minutes left.

"Ah! I have to go now! Just remember to keep your GHS near you. Alfred will be coming by to pick you up soon, okay?" he said as he hurriedly walked to the door. The teen nodded as he placed his book back down.

"Okay, see you tomorrow then!" Jude said with a wave. Balan returned the gesture with a wave of his own and a quick "Be good!" before leaving to office completely. Jude sat there for a moment, making sure that no one else was coming in. Once a minute passed, he sighed and placed an elbow on the desk and rested his head on his propped hand. Boredom in settled faster than he wanted it. He looked around in search of something to do. He spotted a single file with a yellow sticky note sitting on top of a mostly cleared up desk at the other side of the room.

Without much of a thought, he got up and decided to check it out. Although he was here, Balan barely ever allowed Jude to take a look at any of the spyrite or Origin research. He could understand why though. Balan already had enough on his plate with all of the meetings and researching he had to do. To top that off, Balan even took the responsibility to watch over Jude when the teen needed to be watched.

Jude stood at the desk and took a peek at the sticky note.

"Balan, read this when you have the time. It's the research on the 'Spirit Artes' you were asking for."

~Maki

Curiosity nipped at him as he reached to open it, but it shattered when he heard his ring tone in his pocket. His hand quickly retracted as he pulled out his GHS and answered it. "Alvin?"

"Hey, Jude! I'm here at the front. Ludger wanted to pick you up with me, but he got held for something. You guys will just meet at home." came Alvin's slightly cheery voice. Jude nodded, completely forgetting that Alvin couldn't see his face.

"Right! I'll be down there soon. Just let me get my things." he said, turning away from the file. He quickly picked up his shoulder bag and stuffed his math work book inside. Jude took a quick look around to see if he missed anything. His gaze lingered on the file for a moment. Maki, the person the note was from, was a fellow researcher under Balan. She helped with getting any background information that he needed. If he remembered correctly, 'Spirit Artes' was an ability that only Rieze Maxians could use. It made him wonder why Balan needed that file.

Jude shook his head and quickly left the office, deciding to worry about it later. In a matter of minutes, he made it to the front with barely any trouble. He spotted Alvin and hurried over to him with his usual cheery smile on his face. "Hey, Alvin!"

The long, brushed-back, brown-haired man looked up from his GHS and grinned. He wore a dark blue trench coat and dark blue dress shirt underneath it. His slacks were nicely ironed and made him look professional. Instead of a tie, he wore a scarf with a tan scarf. Once Jude was close enough, he swung an arm around the boy's neck and ruffled his hair in a friendly gesture.

"Good to see you, kiddo!" Alvin said. Jude laughed and slipped out of Alvin's grip in a second.

"How was work?" Jude asked as he straightened his jacket. Alvin placed a hand on his hip and began to lead the way to Jude's apartment.

"Well, business is still a bit shaky, but I think we're getting there." he said, casually. "How was your day?"

Jude immediately answered with an upbeat tone about how things were just going normally. It was fun, really. Until recently, Alvin was previously known as Alfred Vint Svent, a resident of Elympios. Jude learned that he disappeared into Rieze Maxia over twenty years ago, leaving his cousin, Balan, to fend for himself. A year ago, he ran into a group of people and helped with dispelling the Schism. Alvin even traveled with a legend, "Maxwell" herself, according to the Rieze Maxians. Even Jude was surprised to learn that the man who tries (and sometimes fails) to get women, actually traveled with the Lord of Spirits.

"—and Balan caught me drawing in my workbook again. He scolded me lightly, but it's so hard not to when I'm bored!" Jude said as they neared the apartment building. Alvin walked by him, listening and adding his own comments.

"Well, Balan has a point though," he said, stopping in the middle of the park. "You can't just draw all over it. What if it was an official paper or something?"

Jude pressed his lips together and bowed his head a bit. "I know that! Stop treating me like I'm a child. I'm sixteen!"

Alvin just chuckled and shook his head. He didn't answer as another voice took over.

"What's this I hear about drawing?" Jude recognized the voice immediately and spun on his heel with a sheepish smile. There, standing with a brown paper bag of groceries in his arms, was his caretaker. The man had white hair with a portion of his bangs faded into black and caring azure eyes with a yellow ring in his pupils. He wore a blue dress shirt with folded sleeves and brown suspenders, a yellow necktie, and black trousers with a blue, feather-like decoration hanging off his phone case in the back. And lastly, he had a small pouch attached to his left thigh.

"Hi, Ludger! Does today's dinner have tomatoes in it?" Jude asked enthusiastically, in hope of changing the subject. Ludger raised an eyebrow and gave him a look.

"Hey, don't go changing the subject on me, Jude." he said, shifting the bag of groceries to his other arm. "What about drawing and official documents?"

Alvin ruffled the teen's hair once more. "Well, this kid over here drew all over his-"

*SLAP*

Jude slapped a hand over Alvin's mouth by pure instinct. Ludger's eyes widened a bit in surprise and quickly grabbed the back of Jude's collar, dragging him toward the entrance. "Okay, never mind! That's enough for the day! Sorry, but thanks for taking care of Jude today, Alvin!"

"Ludger! Let me go!" Jude complained, struggling to get out of Ludger's strong grip. Alvin rubbed his slightly swollen cheek as he waved with his other hand, not sure what to say. Although it seemed unusual, Jude normally would hit Alvin to hide his embarrassment.

"Man, that kid is getting stronger by the day..." Alvin muttered as the two disappeared into the building.

._._._._._.

"Lulu!" Jude cried as he spotted his favorite gray and white, fat cat sleeping on the floor. He paused for a moment to place his bag on a chair. Ludger heard the door close behind him as he placed the bag of groceries on the table and watched Jude with a smile. Jude practically scooped up the dozing cat and plopped on the couch, cuddling with her. While Jude was busy with Lulu, Ludger peeked into his bag and pulled out the only workbook in there.

He pressed his lips together to stifle a laugh as he opened to the most recent page. Just as he expected, Jude had drawn all over it. No matter how many times Julius scolded him, it could never stick to him. Heck, even Ludger tried, but Jude couldn't break the habit. He looked up to see Lulu squirming in Jude's arms.

"I guess he'll grow up a bit sooner or later." he said to himself. Closing the book, he placed it on the dining table and gave Jude a smile. "Want to help me make lunch, Jude?"

The teen looked up with his usual cheery smile, "Of course!"

Within ten minutes, they had a pot of mabo curry (with tomatoes of course) sitting on top of the dining table. Ludger served Jude with a bowl with the many faces of Lulu on the outside, and served himself in a matching bowl. As odd as it sounded, the bowls really were hand painted by Jude. Of course, Ludger didn't mind; it gave a bit of decorations in the used to be plain white bowls. Surprisingly enough, Julius allowed it anyway, saying, "Beats buying decorative ones."

"How was work today, Ludger?" Jude asked after swallowing his fifth spoonful. The older man gave him a short shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh, the usual." was his answer. Jude could tell that Ludger was hiding a few things, but he decided not to question it as usual. "My assignment today was easy. And the paperwork was a breeze."

"So, that's why you came home early!" Jude said, placing his spoon down. He looked pretty excited. "Does that mean we could train today?"

Ludger suppressed a frown and tilted his head slightly, "Unnn…how about we play a game of chess?"

Jude looked a bit crestfallen. "Chess? Again? But we just played that yesterday!"

The older man held up a finger with a small smirk. "You can never have too much of it."

The teen scowled. "…Never mind. I'll just work on the other workbooks I have."

Ludger laughed as they slowly settled into a comfortable silence to finish their lunch. Soon, Ludger found himself washing dishes while Jude set aside a wrapped bowl for Julius in the fridge. Once Jude was finished, he paused to look at Ludger's back as a question formed at the tip of his tongue.

"Hey, Ludger?" he began hesitantly. The older man tossed a quick glance over his shoulder with a curious hum of acknowledgement, encouraging Jude to go on. The teen didn't hesitate a moment longer. "Why doesn't Julius let me go to school? I mean, I don't mind being homeschooled and all, but it just made me wonder."

Ludger bit the back of his lip as he rinsed the last dish and placed it to the side to dry. Grabbing a towel, he turned around to face Jude. It was true. Jude never actually went to school before; he was always homeschooled. In all honestly, Ludger himself had no idea why Jude never went to a public school like he did. They always listened to Julius since he was the older one.

"Well, I'm not sure. I always thought it was because you got sick a lot in primary school, but now that I think about it…" Ludger trailed off and took a good look at Jude. The teen was still a bit pale, but that was a given since he barely left the house, and he was thin. Not very thin, but thin enough. Jude stood with his back straight, but his stance casual. If anything, no one would actually believe that the teen was sickly before. Unfortunately, Ludger could faintly see the thin white scar peeking from underneath Jude's jacket. There was more, but he was happy that the teen didn't have a scar that couldn't be covered by clothes. "…You are healthy enough to go to school. It's been about ten years already."

Ludger placed a hand on his hip and shifted his weight into one leg with an uneasy smile. "But, with the things you're learning from Julius and his workbooks, you're definitely beyond the grade level you're supposed to be in."

Jude shrugged his shoulders. "Grade level? Shouldn't a sixteen-year-old like me know what differential equations are?"

"…Even I don't know that Jude and I'm twenty." Ludger said after a moment. The teen gave a sheepish laugh before settling on the couch.

"Right, maybe staying home isn't so bad." He said as Lulu leapt up into his lap. Ludger just shook his head in amusement and began to finish up his chore.

._._._._._.

A few hours later into the evening, Ludger looked up from the T.V. when he heard the front door slide open. There, just entering the house, was his older brother, Julius. The man's short, brown hair was a bit messy and his blue eyes were slightly tired, but he had a relieved smile on his face.

"Ah, welcome home, Julius." Ludger greeted from his place on the couch. Julius gave him a happy wave with his gloved hand as a greeting.

"I'm home!" he said. He glanced at the dining table and spotted Jude's math workbook. "Oh, did Jude already finish the lesson I assigned him today?"

Ludger shrugged and got up to stand next to Julius. The older brother flipped the book open and grimaced. He spotted all of the penned tomato vines, chibi-versions of Jude and himself, and of course, Lulu. He heaved a sigh as he shook his head.

"Again? Seriously, he's developed a bad habit." Julius said. Ludger laughed and patted his brother's shoulder.

"Ahahaha, well, this is Jude we're talking about." he reminded.

Julius pinched the bridge of his nose and addressed Ludger. "Can you go and get the answer key in my room?"

"Yup!"

As Ludger headed into Julius's room, Julius took a peek into Ludger's shared bedroom. Although he couldn't see with the lights out, the lights from the living room provided just enough to vaguely see the youngest member of their family. Jude was sleeping in one of the beds against the wall with Lulu curled up next to him. Julius wasn't surprised when he spotted a book about something near his hand. Shaking his head in amusement, he quietly stepped away from the doorway and meet with Ludger at the dining table once more.

"When did Jude fall asleep?" he asked. Ludger reached into his pocket and took out his pocket watch, checking the time.

"Well…it's nearly nine. He just fell asleep about fifteen minutes ago." he answered. He handed Julius a booklet with the answer key. "He said that he was going to wait for you, but I guess he's tired today."

Julius had a worried frown on his face. "Wait, is it one of those days again?"

Ludger headed to the fridge and took out Julius's saved bowl of curry with an uneasy look. "I think it might have something to do with his Spirit Artes, but I could be wrong."

"Well, we'll see." Julius assured as he checked Jude's answers with his answer key. By the time Ludger reheated the curry, Julius took a seat at the table with a proud smile on his face.

"All correct again?" Ludger asked as he placed the bowl of mabo curry in front of him. Julius gave him a look.

"As expected from our youngest brother."

And, done. I think I ended it a bit weirdly, but I didn't know how to end it and the chapter was getting too long. So, tell me what you guys thought! And yeah, I know this Jude is very, very OOC, but it's completely necessary for the story! Well, practically everyone will be. So, just a quick warning before someone bashes me for that. There's a lot of twists and strange humor that pops up every now and then. I can never seem to write a serious story without writing in a bit of humor. Another thing, I have no idea what Lulu's/Rolo's gender is, so I settled for a girl. I hope that's fine. And one last thing: Preview!

"Lulu's fat." Jude stated rather bluntly. The white and grey cat meowed offensively as she flicked her tail at him. She seemed to be glaring at him as he leaned over the dining table and glared at the yellow sticky note on top of his math workbook. Ludger looked up from the tomato omelette he was frying and glanced at Lulu. He couldn't help a smile as he agreed with Jude.

"I guess that means she's back to cat food." said Julius from behind his newspaper. The youngest Kresnik would've openly agreed with him if he didn't read the sticky note. He tuned out his older brothers as he tapped the cover of his workbook. There, on the yellow sticky note, was a few words from Julius, even though his older brother was sitting right in front of him. It read: "NO more drawing in these books. Or else I'll double your assignments for the rest of the month. ~Julius."

...Exactly how was Jude supposed to do that?!

Ahahaha...Later!

-CloudyLightning

P.S. I have another story in Tales of Xillia that was cowritten with Amyra Silverheart. If you guys what to read it, it's called "Something to Protect" by Amyra Cloudy. Enjoy!