#I just like the idea of Walter and Ivar roleswapping

[talesofourworlds]

This goes hand in hand with that one post I made about an Ivar AU a while back. I'm just gonna dump my dumb Walter is Milla's handmaid Xillia AU here because I've also put a lot of thought into it. Under the cut because Xillia spoilers and because of length.

Much the same as that Ivar AU I talked about, this is a roleswap AU. So Walter is born into the role of being Milla Maxwell's handmaid in the village of Nia Khera. He takes his duties very, very seriously and throws himself into intensive training for the role from a young age. He's as loyal and dutiful as one can expect from Maxwell's handmaid, but Walter is, to put it simply, very intense about his role.

There's not a day that goes by where he's not seen with a serious face and focused intently on his duties. As a result, Milla feels quite a different way about Walter than she would about Ivar. She thinks of Walter as incredibly difficult to be around and gets frustrated with his need to constantly look out for her. After all, Milla is more than capable of taking care of herself. She has the Four. Unlike Ivar, though, Walter is more than willing to extend his duties to protecting the people of Nia Khera if Milla asks if it of him.

Walter lacks Ivar's ability of beastcraft. So in this AU, he wouldn't be able to communicate with the wyverns the party needs later in the story. Instead of beastcraft, Walter has the ability to manipulate mana around him to do as he sees fit. He specifically utilizes this ability to craft wings made from highly condensed wind mana. Walter is something of a prodigy because of this. He isn't on Rowen's level of being able to use spirit artes, but is still more than capable of performing spirit artes. He's mostly wind based, believing himself to be blessed by Sylph in particular. He also can utilize water based spirit artes and is a skilled martial artist.

Also unlike Ivar, Walter does not refer to Milla by Lady Milla. He instead simply calls Milla 'Maxwell,' due to her position as the Lord of Spirits. He respects Milla a great deal and feels that he only should call her by her title out of that desire to respect.

When Milla goes to fulfil her mission at the beginning of the game, prior to meeting Jude, Walter is tasked with protecting Nia Khera. He obliges, of course, without question. Naturally, he's pissed as all hell when Milla returns to Nia Khera with a pair of strangers and discovers that she's lost her ability to summon the Four. He immediately blames Jude for this, aggressively going at him until Milla calls him off and explains the situation. Similarly to Ivar, Walter cannot stand Jude for being so close to Milla. He thinks it's an insult, especially with how casually Jude talks to Milla and how he seems to have just waltzed into his charge's life.

One thing that does stay constant is the line about how a handmaid is born, not made. Walter utters this with particular disgust when he tells Jude this. Naturally, he's taken aback when Milla basically tells him to back off from Jude. He complies with her wishes, but glares daggers at Jude for a long while afterward.

Naturally, when they have a moment away from Walter, Jude immediately asks Milla something along the lines of 'Is your handmaid always so scary?' And Milla just sighs and confirms it.

Walter is also pretty unwilling to trust Alvin. Something about his general manner from the word go rubs him the wrong way. He lets that much go in their first meeting in favor of focusing on being pissed at Jude for existing, but boy howdy as the story goes on he has more and more reason to be suspicious of him.

When Walter is tasked with staying in Nia Khera after that first meeting with Jude, he's a tiny bit reluctant. He tries to persuade Milla that he should stay by her side and help her complete her quest himself rather than letting a stranger do his job. In the end, he agrees to stay behind. For a while he does as he's asked. After all, he's always done what Milla asks of him. However, the longer he's attending to Nia Khera, the more agitated he becomes over the idea of Milla trusting Jude to stay at her side more than him. So he leaves Nia Khera in pursuit of Milla.

This eventually leads to him finding Milla after the incident at Fort Gandala. Of course he's pissed that Milla is hurt and, much the same as Ivar in canon, fights Jude. Eventually Jude beats him and Walter has to accept that, for now, he has to do what Milla tells him again. He's very grumbley and glares quite a bit at Jude before accepting his duty to protect the key of the Lance of Kresnik. When he realizes how important this job is, he vows to take it as seriously as he does anything else.

And eventually he crosses paths with the party when they're trying to get to Fennmont again. Unlike Ivar, Walter isn't convinced to be at the location of the boar because of a letter he received. He knows how important his duty to protect the key is, but he noticed something seemed off when he was making his way back to Nia Khera. He tries to explain that the Spirit Climes seemed to not have changed, but that's when the boar attacks.

The party can't get to Fennmont the way they planned. Walter takes the opportunity to suggest he simply Fly Milla to where she needs to be, but when Rowen remembers that Xian Du is known for having wyverns they could make use of the plan is thwarted. Remember, Walter doesn't have Ivar's beastcrafting abilities. Frustrated, Walter leaves in a huff.

This next particular bit I'm uncertain on and is subject to change, but this is what I've got so far.

When it comes to the battle that happens in the marsh Walter isn't tricked into believing he's doing a good thing by using the key. Walter does end up being there because he's concerned for Milla's safety, and in the confusion of the battle Alvin ends up separated from the party. Walter, still absolutely not trusting Alvin because of his bad gut feeling about him, fights Alvin here. The fight is interrupted when Gaius shows up, and in the confusion Alvin is able to knock the lance's key out of Walter's possession before slipping away again. The battle with Gaius still happens, but Walter scrambles away before Milla can see him there.

And Alvin grabs the key when the rest of the party is distracted fighting Gaius and tries to get to the Lance. But he actually hesitates a moment. His hesitation leads to Walter revealing himself, interrupting the battle because Walter is so devoted to protecting the key. However, since Walter is still weak from his earlier clash with Alvin, Alvin is able to overpower him.

And everyone stares in disbelief as Alvin activates the Lance. The while thing with Exodus occurs and the party is divided in the chaos that follows the Lance being fired, of course, and reconveens after Jude has met Muzét and everything else happens. Walter, of course, is also there. And he doesn't trust Alvin for a second. Especially not after the stunt he pulled in the marsh. Of course, Alvin explains everything when he's made to and adds that he just wanted to go home. But he hadn't expected Gilland and everyone to come through like they had.

Walter plays a decent role in the missions that follow, actually earning the respect of the Chimeriad where Ivar failed to. However, he still is infuriated by how close Jude has gotten to Milla. Especially so after catching sight of the pendant that Milla gave Jude much earlier. So Walter puts his all into the Zenethra attack and is devastated when Milla dies when everything is said and done.

With no one left to serve, Walter is left angry and adrift. He ends up fighting Muzét well after Milla's death because she can't leave anyone who was onboard the Zenethra alive. And she nearly kills him. However, Muzét realizes she can use Walter. She convinces him that it was Jude's fault that Milla died. And desperate for something to cling to, Walter believes her.

"Kill Jude, Walter. Then all will be as it should be."

"It won't bring Maxwell back."

"No. But won't it feel good? Doing in the human who is responsible?"

This leads to the final showdown between him and Jude and the rest of the party. However, in his weakened state, Walter isn't able to put up as good of a fight as he would otherwise. When he ends up losing, Elize and Teepo suggest leaving him because of how much of a jerk he's seemed to be.

But Jude refuses. In fact, Jude heals Walter, who does try to resist and tries again to hurt Jude but isn't able to because of how hurt he is. Naturally, Walter is confused because why the hell would someone he's tried to kill have sympathy for him.

And Jude, being the do-gooder that he is, explains that he can't just let Walter die when he only was trying to uphold his duty to Milla in the past. And explains how he understands how Walter must have lost his sense of purpose without Milla. After all, Jude felt much the same way after Milla died.

Due to how bad of a state Walter is in after this fight, even with Jude healing him, he doesn't end up joining the Chimeriad's final stand in the endgame. But he is the last survivor, technically speaking, since the Chimeriad accepted him filling Jiao's role. So when everything is said and done he's offered a position as Gaius' guard permanently. Since he has nothing else to do, and the people of Nia Khera don't need a protector so much since the little village is significantly smaller, he agrees. He doesn't ever quite end up becoming friends with Jude, but does respect him a bit more than he did to start.

No idea how things would play out with Walter in Xillia 2, but that's another thought process for another day.