Prelude of a death foretold

 Throughout the years that she had known the rising star, the whimsical nature of the boy became apparent. Mischievous is a word commonly thought after to describe him in her thoughts. A confidence that she could not understand was being tested in this mission.

What is it with him? He is acting so nervous and emotional.

She is seeing Julian becoming another person. Normally, his nonchalant attitude brushes off every obstacle that he encounters and thus, reaches a desirable conclusion for his employers. That is why he is one of the best in what he does. That radiating pride through smiles and sarcasm, that attention catching atmosphere around him is no longer present since he started to hear those voices.

I understand it is not ideal what is going on with him, but he usually just overcomes everything in his way. What is the difference this time?

 Juliette of course was genuinely worried. The once prominent and phlegmatic Julian is now reeking of anxiety. Their last interaction between them makes Juliette think that he knows something that she doesn’t. Otherwise, how could he be only a shell of his former self?

He didn’t call me princess throughout the whole day. Something is definitely wrong.

 Her relationship with him was rather curious.

 Since she turned fifteen two years ago, she was registered in the DAI and became a rookie agent. Juliette, being homeschooled by her intellectual parents, her education is regarded highly amongst the barracks of the DAI. This amount of knowledge provided by her progenitors is what made her attitude towards life calculated and studied.

 The people that she met were always submissive towards her, always treating her as royalty in some sense or another. Loosely related to some diarchies of the city states members of the CEC, someone of her kind was not expected to be working in the field. The Hudson’s, a branch of the leading city states of the north are known for their prowess in battle. Even with this history with her bloodline, she was still treated as non capable.

 Julian, on the other hand, was different. Perhaps his poor formal education made him who he is, thus resulting in him not showing respect to land owners or authorities that were not from the DAI. Paradoxically, prideful to the core, he regards everyone as either the same as him, or below. Few individuals gained the respect of the young boy to regard them as superior.

 Their first interactions between them showed her 15 year old kid that reaches his goals through unorthodox and shameless methods. Even his attitude towards life itself was regarded as non common to everyone that she spoke with about him.

 Countless afternoons practising with him in japanese styled dojos made her grow keen on him.

 Various talks about how to optimise her movements, patterns that she usually used that made her predictable, and a plethora of other options that she had at her disposal made her yell at him inside her mind. Alas, her filter inside her mind that made her a well respected girl did not allow for these tantrums to be voiced.

 Recounting all of these memories, she realises now that she enjoys being with him. A key factor being that he is the only one that treats her like a human being.

 As such, seeing him in this state is worrying Juliette sick. His temperament after they entered Olympus has changed for the worse. She was hurt by the words he shouted earlier.

It’s not like him to be aggressive.

 Fleeing thoughts trying to explain Julian’s attitude today come and go inside the girl’s mind. Encrypted through layers on top of eachother, she does not know what Julian is thinking. A common occurrence that happens ever since they met, now has her pouting and fidgeting with her hair for he conveys only a part of his true self.

He’ll apologise again, eventually. And then, everything will go back to normal. Right?

 While roaming around the various stands that fill the parthenon, the silver haired girl has her pondering cut short by a stampede of people running towards the centre of the architectural wonder that she is currently in.

 Intrigued by the sudden amount of people flowing to the centre, she notices a sign indicating the remaining time for the start of the expo. It is already starting!? How much time did I spend wandering around?  Sooner rather than later, she goes to the meeting place that Murph told the two kids to go to minutes ago.

“Where is Julian?” Seeing that only Juliette arrived, the Captain sets his hands on his waist and starts tapping the floor with his feet.

“I don’t know. I thought he would already be here by now.” Lurking in the shadows, Juliette’s peevish concerns were ready to ambush.

“This kid… Okay, let’s get going. Hopefully he doesn’t do something reckless.”

Decisive, Murph takes a step forward followed by Juliette.

The forces that be… Please be on our side now. 

 With a plea of mercy, Murph resorts to his faith in the causality for everything to go alright.