Earlier, Juliana had been moving through the camp when she spotted Lily and Samael sitting together. From the looks of it, he was trying to comfort her.
...So she imdiately changed direction to avoid them.
Look, she wasn’t being an asshole!
She had a good reason!
There was only one person in the whole world worse than Samael Kaizer Theosbane when it ca to consoling people...
And that was Juliana Vox Blade herself.
No, actually, worse was an understatent.
Instead of consoling, she just intimidated the grieving person into silence and then pretended that counted as emotional support.
A concerned friend was the one mask she never quite learned how to wear properly.
...Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. She could play the role. But it required far too much energy, and she wasn’t willing to spend any right now.
So she did what any sensible woman with her level of self-awareness would do...
She turned on her heel and went the other way, leaving Lily’s emotional ss in the very capable hands of her Young Master.
Unfortunately, the universe had never once respected her coping chanisms.
She had barely rounded the corner of the makeshift rock shelter when another figure caught her eye.
A petite girl with a face as delicate as a porcelain doll and hair the bright shade of fresh tangerines sat slumped against the erupted stone wall.
Her sightless eyes, gray like the sky is when it’s about to rain and glassy like a pair of mirrors, were downcast, her gaze fixed on the ground.
She sat cross-legged, hands resting in her lap, clenched into small fists that trembled as she repeatedly tightened them, no doubt to test the limits of her swiftly depleting strength.
Repulsive black veins had crept up to her jawline now, pulsing darkly, as if to indicate whatever flowed through them was far too vile to be re blood.
Juliana froze mid-step.
...Then silently tried to backtrack before she was noticed.
Only to stop again when she heard Alexia let out a pitiful sigh.
Damn it, Juliana thought, craning her neck to stare up at the fractured sky. Why do the heavens hate so much?
All she wanted right now was so peace and quiet, a chance to rest the day away and recover, even a little, from the unnatural exhaustion gnawing at her.
But no. Of course not.
She couldn’t be granted even that much without being slapped with a stupid moral dilemma.
...And that was what annoyed her most.
Why was this even a moral dilemma for her?
Since when did she start caring about anyone other than herself?!
The thought irritated her more than the situation itself.
Juliana stood there for a long mont, staring at the smaller girl’s quivering fra like it was just a problem she could walk away from if she pretended hard enough that she hadn’t seen it.
And she very nearly did.
She took one step back, then another... only to stop for the third ti when the trembling in Alexia’s hands grew noticeably worse.
Juliana’s jaw tightened as an inaudible sigh slipped past her lips.
"Tch."
She clicked her tongue in annoyance which was mostly directed at herself, then turned and walked toward Alexia with resigned steps.
Alexia didn’t look up even when Juliana stopped in front of her.
She probably hadn’t noticed her at all.
And for so reason, seeing Alexia reduced to this fragile husk of her usual self again annoyed Juliana far more than it should have.
"You look like shit," she said flatly.
Alexia startled at the sudden voice, then frowned. "Wha— Julia?"
"Unfortunately for both of us, yes," Juliana replied dryly. "Where’s Kang? Or Ray?"
Alexia let out a weak huff that might’ve been a laugh if it had any strength behind it. "I wanted to be alone for a while."
Juliana nearly exhaled in relief and took that as her cue to leave.
Until Alexia quickly added, "But I wouldn’t mind your company."
Curses!
Juliana almost whimpered out loud.
...But, and she would sooner eat a cactus than admit this, it did feel a little good to hear that.
She couldn’t believe how stupid that notion was.
This wasn’t the first ti soone had relied on her.
In fact, one of her favorite pastis was to emotionally exploit people by luring them to drop their guards, then weaponizing whatever weakness she uncovered for her own gain.
It amused her.
No, it aroused her.
The betrayed expressions people made when she shattered their trust in front of them, when they realized they’d made a mistake in ever thinking she was soone safe to lean on.
That look was always priceless.
Because she was always the most in control during those monts.
...So why, then, did the mory of it feel sour now?
Why wasn’t she even thinking of doing that now?
"...That was a mistake," Juliana muttered.
Alexia tilted her head slightly toward her, a faint crease of slight amusent forming between her brows. "You say that like I invited a demon."
Juliana snorted. "Semantics."
Alexia smiled a tired smile. "Well, it’s not like you’d be the first demon to haunt ."
Juliana remained standing a mont longer, keeping her arms crossed as her gaze swept over Alexia’s condition with the sa detached interest she used to assess battlefields.
And upon closer inspection...
Yeah. Her condition was really bad.
The dark veins, the uncontrollable tremors, and the way her breathing was a little too shallow as if she was rationing air — everything clearly told her that Alexia wouldn’t survive more than a week.
Annoying.
Very annoying.
...And entirely unacceptable.
With another click of her tongue, Juliana whirled and lowered herself to the ground beside her, back against the sa stone wall. She kept a deliberate distance between them and drew a knee up, loosely resting one arm over it.
She didn’t look at Alexia again as she said, "Here. This is keeping you company. Cherish it."
Alexia’s smile softened, losing a bit of its fatigue. It still didn’t reach her eyes, but it was there. "And people say I’m a narcissist."
"Oh, please!" Juliana sneered imdiately. "You wouldn’t say that if you ever saw the way Young Master worships himself every single morning. He literally once recited, ’Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the sexiest of them all?’ and forced to answer ’You,’ from behind the mirror."
Alexia burst into laughter, then imdiately paid for it with a coughing fit she tried, and failed, to suppress. Her shoulders hitched before she forced herself to settle again, fingers tightening in her lap.
"...You’re getting worse," Juliana said after a mont.
Alexia humd and leaned back, drained. "Ah. You noticed?"
"I have eyes."
"Touché! Well, I’m fine. It’s just... harder today."
Juliana finally turned to look at her then.
Alexia Von Zynx was many things — dangerous and terrifying and monstrously powerful when she chose to be.
But right now, she looked so small.
She looked like soone trying to brace against an invisible tide, determined not to be swept away even as it lapped higher and higher against her chest.
Juliana sighed, lowering her gaze. "I... don’t have what people call empathy. Not in the traditional sense."
Alexia blinked, then added teasingly, "Yeah, we all kind of figured that out."
Juliana rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to smack the sick girl before continuing, "I think it started when I watched my family get butchered before my very eyes. As a trauma response, I guess my brain suppressed my emotions. Because if I could feel, then I’d have to feel that too. But the truth is... I was always a little weird. Not to this extent, of course, but enough to know sothing was wrong."
Alexia didn’t quip this ti and just listened attentively. If anything, her face turned a bit gloomy at the ntion of Juliana’s past.
"I still do. I still know I’m not right in the head," Juliana continued with gritted teeth. "I don’t feel things the way normal people do. But despite all that... I want you to understand how sincere I am when I say I want you to survive. And... I know you will."
Alexia’s fingers stilled. "How do you know?"
There wasn’t even a mont’s hesitation before the answer ca.
"Because he made you a promise."
"...Sam?"
Juliana simply nodded. "There was a certain look in his eyes when he made you that promise. I’ve seen that look since we were kids. When he vows sothing, it’s impossible to stop him. Believe , better people than us have tried."
Alexia let out a soft breath through her nose, sothing between a chuckle and a sigh. "I see."
For a mont, silence settled comfortably between them.
...Which Alexia promptly ruined by snapping her head toward Juliana. "Sooo~! Girl talk ti! You and Samael, huh? How’s the forbidden romance going? Give mama so spice!"
"Spice?! ?!" Juliana scowled. "I’m a church-going, pure-hearted girl, mama! So pure I haven’t even held hands with a boy! And you’re asking for spice?! You give so!"
Alexia gasped, affronted. "Excuse ! I’m equally pure, if not purer, than you!"
"Uh-huh. Uh-huh." Juliana arched a brow. "Then how did you get not one but two boys hopelessly enamored with you?"
"Wai— what? Two?" Alexia recoiled like she was genuinely baffled. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, you cannot be serious! You’re telling you don’t see sothing so obvious going on around you?!"
Alexia paused, then placed a hand on Juliana’s shoulder.
"Julia," she said gravely, "you’re going to want to sit down for what I’m about to tell you. Yes, I can’t see..."
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