Hey! This may not be my first work, but it is my first fanfiction that I'm publishing on here. Please feel free to let me know what you think! I (obviously) don't own Tales of Xillia.

I hope you enjoy this!


Alvin pressed his back against the wall, listening to the others talking to yet another stranger. He didn't really care what they did, he was more or less used to it by then. Their conversation was interesting, he was sure, but he couldn't help being distracted.

He pulled at his coat, trying to ease the unusual chill that was creeping through him. The moment he did, he felt overwhelming heat emitting from somewhere inside himself. He dropped his coat – finally admitting defeat – and rested his head against the stone wall behind him, laying his increasingly warmer face against the cool surface. He let his eyes rest and concentrated on his breathing, hoping for some kind of relief.

He heard Jude say something, but he wasn't sure what it was through his fog. He flicked his eyes open and looked down at him.

"Sorry, kid," he said, peeling off the wall and turning to him, "I didn't catch that."

Jude squinted up at him. "Are you okay?"

Alvin forced a grin. "What? Why are you suddenly so worried?"

"I guess it's nothing, then," Jude said, rolling his eyes.

Before Alvin could even begin to act hurt, Milla interrupted them for Jude's attention.

"We'll be staying in the inn tonight," she said, not even batting an eye at Alvin, "Rowen believes it would be best if we took time to rest before setting out again."

"Alright," Jude said, nodding, "That probably is for the best."

Milla started toward the inn and Jude watched as Rowen, Leia, Elize, and Teepo followed her.

"Seriously, Alvin," he said, looking back up at him and noticing an uncharacteristic redness in his face, "If something's wrong, you need to tell someone."

"I'm fine," Alvin said, loosly laying his arm around Jude's shoulders. He let go of him after a moment and started toward the inn himself. "It'll be dark soon, kid. I wouldn't be caught out here alone at night, if I were you."

Jude watched him for a moment and ultimately followed him. He couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right, but he pushed it aside – maybe he was just reading too far into it.

Alvin pushed the cheep, inn blanket off his too-hot body, sitting up and rubbing his face desperately. He took in a shaky breath, a tightness in his lungs he hadn't expected. He coughed a weak, dry cough and pulled himself out of bed. His legs didn't respond as they normally would, his head reeled, and he staggered. He caught himself on the wall, but couldn't prevent the thud that sounded as he made contact.

He heard Jude stir just a few feet away and froze in the darkness. When he didn't make another sound, Alvin let out a heavy sigh and started to pick his way along the wall.

"Alvin?" Jude's voice echoed in the room. He had whispered, but it seemed a thousand times louder in the silence of the night.

"Did I wake you?" he asked, squinting to see him.

"It's fine," he said, rubbing his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Alvin said, finding his voice shakier than it had been a moment ago.

Jude shifted more. "Are you sure? You don't sound fine."

"Yeah," Alvin said, starting to edge his way along the wall, searching for the door. "I'm just getting some night air."
"Okay," Jude said, suspicion in his voice.

Alvin's hand found the door handle and he turned it, clicking it open. He slipped out into the dimly lit hallway and pulled the door to behind him. He stumbled a bit, catching himself with a wider stance so he didn't crash into anything. He glanced toward the front room, where he needed to go if he were actually going for night air, and pulled his heavy body in the other direction. A dark, empty corner – that was what he wanted.

He ducked into the hall that ran adjacent to the one he was in and made his way toward the dead end, though it seemed a great distance from him. Halfway down the hall his foot caught on thin air and he fell face first into the hardwood floor.

He laid still for a moment, letting himself rest against the cool surface. He eventually pushed himself up when he realized warm, red liquid was seeping from his nose. He wiped it away and stared at the streaks on his hand. He was suddenly aware of an unbearable pounding in his head. He sat up and looked behind him at where he'd come from. The world was swimming, a dense fog obstructing his vision.

He forced himself to stand, using the wall to get his bearings enough to hurl himself back down the hall. He tripped again and slammed into the wall that divided the hallway and the room the others were in. He managed to turn his back to it and slide back down to the floor before the door opened again.

"Alvin?" Jude said, sounding much more panicked now than before.

Alvin blinked away the haze and met Jude's concerned eyes for a moment before spotting Rowen off to the side.

"Alvin, what happened?" Jude asked, "Your nose is bleeding."

He laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes against the lights. He could feel his heartbeat behind his eyes and felt like he might...

Before he could stop himself, he'd turned away from Jude and sent what little he'd managed to hold down that day out of his stomach and across the floor. He nearly fell over once he finally stopped gagging and spitting, but Jude and Rowen carefully held him up.

Jude made brief eye contact with Rowen, exchanging nervous glances.

"I will go at once to retrieve Lady Milla," Rowen said quickly, before dismissing himself and slipping into a door down the hall.

Jude looked back at Alvin, who's ragged breathing was beginning to scare him. He pressed his palm to his forehead and drew his hand back with a snap, his eyes widening at the heat.

Alvin stared back at him, his eyes half glazed over with fever. He heard a door close and a moment later felt more people around him – Milla, Leia, and Elize.

"Little buddy doesn't look so good!" Teepo shouted, only to be snatched from the air and silenced by Elize.

"He seemed well enough earlier," Milla said, touching her finger to her chin, "I can't help but wonder what exactly it was that brought this on."

"Does it matter?" Leia asked, "He's obviously really sick. We can worry about what caused it later."

A realization washed over Alvin as they stood over him. They really could just walk away from him and leave him where he laid. They had every reason to, not to mention every right, after what he'd done. He tried to move, but Jude stopped him with ease. He knew Jude was a tough kid – he'd found out the hard way exactly how strong he was – but he was too weak to even push him off. They could do anything to him at this point. He felt tears sting his eyes and he tried to push them away, but they began to fall anyway. He pushed them away with the back of his hand and focused again on catching his breath.

"It's okay," Jude said, his voice low and even, "You've got nothing to worry about. We've got you."

Fear flashed in Alvin's eyes, remembering hearing those words in the past and having had them back fire. The last time he'd been sick like this seemed like a million years ago, and yet the sting from the memory was all too fresh. He tried once more to struggle free, making no progress and eventually just collapsing back against the wall to gasp for much needed air.

Leia was suddenly at his side, rubbing his arm and carefully thinking of ways to distract him. She snatched Teepo from the air above Elize's head and wrapped Alvin's arms around him. "Can you squeeze him?" she asked, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"NO!" Teepo shouted, "Don't squeeze me!"

Alvin chuckled through the fog before letting Teepo slip out of his grasp. When he returned to Elize's side, he looked back at him.

"He didn't squeeze Teepo," Elize said, staring in surprise.

"I thought you didn't like it when people squeezed Teepo," Jude pointed out.

Elize shot Jude a concerned glance, shaking her head after a time.

"Is little buddy dying?" Teepo asked, fear in his voice. Elize grabbed him out of the air again and clamped his mouth shut.

"Don't say those things, Teepo," Elize cried.

"No," Jude said, holding eye contact with Leia, "He'll be just fine. I'll make sure of that."

Leia stepped away and disappeared to get something to clean up the mess beside Alvin. Milla and Jude picked him up and supported him carefully, carrying him back toward the room he'd been in originally. He tried to catch himself and stand on his own, but his legs shook so much that he couldn't take a step.

"Don't be afraid to lean on us, Alvin," Milla said, helping Jude hold him up when he crumbled.

Alvin groaned loudly, leaning his head against Milla's shoulder. He had no idea where he even was anymore, so he let his eyes fall closed. Not long after he did, he felt Jude and Milla ease him back into bed, propping up his head with an extra blanket they'd rolled up. He felt them lay the blanket he'd kicked off over his legs and twisted underneath it.

"Whoa," Jude soothed, "it's okay, Alvin."

Milla reached out and stroked his head, easing him. "I've read in a book that light petting can ease others and even momentarily distract them from pain or discomfort." She brushed his hair away with her finger tips and continued to carefully slide her hand over his forehead.

"Not a dog," Alvin managed to croak out. He hadn't realized how raw his throat was before he spoke. He swallowed against it, feeling it sting when he did.

"It looks like it's working," Jude agreed, ignoring Alvin's protests.

"Yes," Milla said, watching Alvin as his body released some of its tension, "I believe it is working, as well."

Alvin heard water slosh as the door creaked open again. He opened his eyes a crack to see Leia carrying a bowl of water followed by Elize with several wash cloths.

"The innkeeper said we could use these," Leia said, nodding to Elize and the cloths, "When I told her we had a sick friend, she all but ran to help us."

Rowen stood by the door, talking silently to someone out of Alvin's line of sight. Leia dipped one of the wash cloths into the bowl of cold water and wrung it out, laying it on Alvin's head gingerly. She picked up a second one, dipped it in, and wrung it out, too, only to hand it to Milla to dab over his searing skin.

"I'll be fine," Alvin wheezed, "We should keep going." He searched the faces, but no one would meet his gaze.

Jude pressed his finger against his temple, thinking for a moment. "Sharilton would be a safer place for him to recuperate – we know that. If we could get him there without his condition worsening, he'd be better off there than here."

"It's quite a long trek from Sapstrath Seahaven to Sharilton on foot with an impaired party member," Rowen said, closing the door and joining them at Alvin's bedside before folding his arms behind his back. "We should be ready for an emergency should one arise."

"I don't know," Leia said, rubbing the back of her head, "If we go dragging him that far, it'll be hard to keep him safe. What if he gets worse while we're traveling?"

"He will be hard to keep here if he wants us to continue," Milla said, "Human determination is a powerful thing."

Jude stared at Milla for a moment before sighing loudly. "We're all right. As much as I want to keep him here, a seahaven inn isn't safe enough for this kind of thing. We all know Alvin has more than his fair share of enemies, after all. If someone finds out he's laying here in this condition..."

"I'm right here," Alvin groaned at him.

"That's a good point," Leia said, pressing her palm to her forehead, ignoring Alvin, again. She moved her hands to her hips. "I guess we don't have another choice, but can't we just wait one more day? That could make a huge difference in how traveling effects him."

"Are we sure the big, fat liar is worth all this?" Teepo grumbled.

Elize snatched him out of the air above her head, squishing his head so he couldn't speak. She looked up at Jude, tears stinging her eyes. "I'm really trying to keep him from saying those things."

"S'okay," Alvin said, smiling at her, "S'fair enough."

She buried her face against Teepo, sniffling.

Milla sighed at him. She nodded after a moment of thought. "Alright," she said, "we wait a day so he can rest before we set out for Sharilton."

Jude blinked at her in surprise. "So that's that?"

"Yes," she said, "I think it's a fair compromise. It eases our worries some while still preventing any potential attempts on Alvin's life."

Alvin tried to argue, but his world started spinning again, his heartbeat pounding harder behind his eyes. He whimpered slightly and pinched his eyes shut, pressing his cheek against the thin pillow that laid atop the rolled up blanket. Leia switched the cloth on his head with a fresh, cool one. Alvin felt the momentary relief as his eyes grew heavy.

He blinked against sleep's draw, desperately clinging to consciousness. Eventually, he couldn't fight it anymore and sleep pulled him away.


Well, that's it for chapter one. It doesn't look that bad, does it? Hopefully, it stays that way!

If you enjoyed this, please keep reading!

Reviews are great! Let me know what you think!