Julian was numb.
There was no possible feeling that he could have had to the information he had just been told.
His parents.
Eventually, he would feel his heart twist in his chest, causing him to cry out. He would feel nauseous. His body would reject the information with every fibre of its being. It was going to come close to killing him.
But for now, he was numb.
"Julian? Are you okay?" Cortana was still sitting next to him, hand reaching out to pat him on the back before he jerked away, jumping off the bench.
"I-I'm oka-" But his voice was shaking too much to tell a convincing lie.
His parents.
"Julian-"
"Just don't say anything for a moment!" He shouted, followed by a small, whimpering "please". She didn't reply, a sign she understood.
His parents.
He crouched on the floor, and wrapped his spindly arms around himself, the way he used to when he got upset as a child. He could feel the tears burning his eyes, but none fell. He felt the vicious shaking rack his fragile form, but no sob escaped.
His parents.
His parents.
His parents were dead.
"He didn't take it well," Cristina was sitting across from Cortana, over a table just down the hallway to Julian's room. He had asked to go back, the look of absolute heartbreak on his face.
"Who could take news like that well?" Cortana stared right into Cristina's eyes. There was something unspoken there, that Cristina couldn't pick up on.
"Did you tell him it was relatively quick and painless execution?"
"No, but I highly doubt that would have soothed him. I don't think anything can soothe a grief that runs so deep." Cortana sighed. She knew helping the little prince wasn't going to be easy, but she never could have imagined the quick attachment she made to him.
"Family can. He has other family that's alive. We know that." Cristina was fiddling with the chain around her neck. Cortana never asked where it came from, but she knew it meant a lot to the other girl.
"And I'm going to get them back too. For the rebellion." For Julian.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Both girls fell into an uncomfortable silence as they heard a door from the other end of the hall slide open.
It was Julian. His hair was dishevelled, and eyes still red and puffy. But he had this look in his eyes that could only be described as fierce. It was a look that Cortana had seen in herself over the year.
"I want to find my siblings."
On the walk to the conference room, Julian became increasingly nervous. What if something bad had happened to his siblings as well? What if they had been going through what he had gone through? Or worse?
As they entered, Cortana pulled out a few sheets of paper from the other end of the table, and took a seat on a metal chair. Julian and Cristina followed suit. Julian didn't even bother asking where Cameron was.
"Here's what we know-" Cortana cleared her throat, but Julian instantly cut her off. She was propped up, elbow resting on the desk, holding up her masked-face.
"Start with Octavian. The youngest. Where's he?" Julian was impatient. He needed his siblings, and he was willing to bet that they needed him too.
"I was going to get to that," but Cortana wasn't truly mad at him for interrupting. She knew how important this was to him. "We have special insider info that he, Drusilla and Tiberius are fine. In the castle, being watched over by a friend of mine."
Tears welled up in Julian's eyes. They were okay. "Your friend, he's a good guy?"
"One of the best. Malcolm won't let any harm come upon them. Besides, everyone thinks they're too young to know anything anyway."
"What about Livia? And Mark and Helen?" Julian's voice quickened with each word. Why weren't they there?
"This is where it gets a little more complicated, little prince." Cortana drew in a breath, and turned to her next page. Julian could feel his own heart in his chest.
"Livia is, uh, missing in action." It was the only time Cortana had ever hesitated with words.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means she escaped, Jules." Cristina interjected, her arms crossed over her chest. She had a soft smile on her face, still radiant.
"She left without Ty?" Julian couldn't believe it. Livia would do anything for her twin, for her other half.
"She could probably assume that he was safe where he was."
Julian's head was spinning. Livia was somewhere out in the world, alone.
"What of Mark and Helen?" Julian wanted to be near his older siblings now more than ever.
Cortana and Cristina looked at each other in a way that made Julian uneasy.
"Tell me."
"Well, Mark became some sort of peace offering to a different neighbouring country. While the ones who invaded were still in a settling period, they knew they'd be vulnerable if an attack came. So they traded your brother, in hope that they wouldn't be attacked."
Julian sunk down into his chair. There were only two neighbouring countries he could think of, and he knew neither of them would treat his brother with any kindness.
"But he's still alive, right?"
"We don't know."
"He probably is. Why would they kill him?" Cortana and Cristina spoke at the same time.
"H-Helen?" He was almost too scared to ask what had become of the eldest.
"She got exiled, so we don't know her whereabouts either."
"Why would they exile her?"
"They're traditional. They consider her an illegitimate child." They. The people Julian hated more than anything.
"What do we do from here?" Julian knew he was asking too many questions, but he was so desperate to know. He had to.
"We start with your older brother," Cortana grinned at him. "I think that's the easiest one to start with, don't you?"
Julian couldn't help but smiling too. These people, they were going to help him. Cortana was going to help him. And if that wasn't something worth smiling about, then what was?
