It's better late than never, right? And I hope you have as much fun reading this as I had writing it.


Julian awoke to bright lights, and the feeling of cold metal under him. His head was spinning, and all he wanted to do was to close his eyes and drift off into another sleep. Just as he was giving in to that urge, a voice from the other side of the room made him snap his eyes open again.

"Good morning over there, little prince." It said. Julian couldn't tell whether the voice was masculine or feminine, or whether the nickname was mocking him or not. He most certainly was not bothered to turn over or get up to look at the source of the voice.

But that did not matter, for whoever it was decided to approach him anyway. He could hear their heavy footsteps echo around the room. From the sounds they were making, he could guess that the floor was made of metal as well.

Jules wasn't going to stand for it. He wasn't going to let himself be intimidated by whoever was coming.

As he internally chanted that to himself, he could hear them getting closer and closer.

When he heard them pull up next to him, he slightly craned his neck, so he could get a better look at them. The action sent a jolt of pain through his body which caused him to flinch. "Be careful, we don't want you any more damaged then you already have been." This time Julian could see that the voice belonged to a tall, and masked figure. Other than the full-face silver mask they wore, they were clad in all black. As Julian payed more attention to them, and noticed more details, he could make out that they were female.

"Where am I? Who are you?" As though something had been restraining it, all of his panic showed at once. As soon as the words left his mouth, he wished he hadn't said anything at all. He had shown weakness in the face of a stranger.

"One question at a time, little prince." That nickname again. It bothered Julian more each time he heard it. "You're safe, I can promise you that. As for where you are? I can't tell you that." She seemed to contemplate her words before she spoke again; "I guess I can tell you that you're in the infirmary of the rebellion base."

"Rebellion? What rebellion?"

Julian felt like an idiot.

"I forgot you've been in the dark about everything for the past year. Figuratively and literally." She said. "You can't possibly think that a government full of tyrants is going to invade and people will just be okay with it? They're slaughtering people, making everyone's lives hell, and no one should stand for it."

The longer she spoke on, Julian could hear more passion enter her otherwise-monotonous voice. He could only imagine that there was a reason that she was so motivated to do something.

He could use that to his advantage.

"But who are you?"

"I hardly see how that matters, little prince."

Julian used whatever was left of his strength to push himself up into a sitting position, trying not to let the pain of his actions show on his face.

"If you know who I am, then I have the right to know who you are, and what you want." He stated. He was not going to let himself be in the dark this time. He wanted to know what was happening, and if this person, or this rebellion, meant him any harm.

"I'll put it simply for you. I founded, and currently lead this rebellion. And I'm going to do so until my final breath."

Julian didn't know what to say. On one hand, he wanted to get far away from here, to find out what was going on. But on the other, this person seemed rather interesting.

"But what do you want with me?"

"Why do you ask so many questions, little prince?"

"Perhaps it's because I went from being imprisoned, to being kidnapped here, and I have no idea what's going on!" Julian could feel more anger well up inside of him. It was the type of anger that made him want to yell at whoever was in front of him. He was frustrated, and the more he thought about his frustration, the angrier he got.

"Who ever said you were kidnapped? You can leave if you like. It won't do you much good, you'll just be caught and imprisoned again."

"What do you want me to do, then? I'm sure you didn't help me out of the goodness of your heart."

"You're right about that. I'll keep you safe, but I need your help. Before we can do anything as a rebellion, we need more numbers. And I'm sure that more people could be convinced to join us, or fight with us, if they saw that the country's darling, green-eyed prince, was on our side. So what do you say?"

Years of listening to his father at various courts had taught Julian to learn to negotiate. And he was not going to become the puppet to the rebellion without getting exactly what he wanted.

"On one more term."

It seemed to take the female a moment to register what he said. Though, that might have been Julian's imagination.

"And what term would that be, little prince?"

"You need to help me find, and help the rest of my family." Julian said those words with such certainty. If there was one thing he wanted in the world, it was to be with his family.

"Fine. I will help you with that. But not today, for you need to rest. In the morning, I'll come back and you can ask the rest of your questions."

Jules sighed in relief. There was hope of seeing his family again. He had help now.

As the masked woman was leaving, Jules called out again to get her attention.

"What should I call you?"

"I told you, no more questions until the morning." And just as it looked like she was walking away, she uttered one more word."

"Cortana."

And with that, she left Julian alone with his thoughts. But this time, there was light.