A/N: Like most of my stories, this one starts off really slow but picks up after chapter 2 I believe.
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It was another pink day in the castle. The banquet was happening all below, but Julie didn't plan to go anywhere near it. She was standing out on her balcony, staring out at the kingdom and at the birds. She wished she could trade spots with a blue jay- even if it was just for one day. The weight of a blue jay's wings is but a decimal of the weight of grief. A blue jay probably wouldn't know that their mom is dead. A blue jay would assume she's somewhere- out there- and they'll meet up for migration that Winter like they always have. Denial must be bliss she always thought.
But Winter and Spring had all left as well as the snow and the constellations Julie used to see in the sky. She only sees an entire universe that could swallow her whole, and she only knows peace when she shuts her eyes and dreams of singing with her mom for the people in the town square. She hoped they didn't think that she was gone, too.
She heard the door from inside her room open, but she didn't bother looking to see who it was. She was more interested in seeing which direction a trio of crows would take.
"To the square or to the graveyard?" Flynn asked, looking out with her. Julie pointed at the crows she had been watching as they flew in circles around each other.
"I think they're playing right now."
"Crows." Flynn scrunched up her face. One had dropped a little present for her on her head a few years ago at a public event, and she didn't seem to be too fond of the idea that it was a symbol good luck. "Probably the graveyard. They're going to take their little shovels and little graverobber pin buttons and start grave robbing." Julie watched Flynn pretend to be interested in her bird watching activities, peering closely at the birds who made her run out of the square in shame when she was eleven. Julie had chased after her to comfort her. Flynn was doing a lot of that in these past few months.
Although Flynn would never turn her in, Julie still had to ask, "Are they looking for me?"
"Not yet," she said. "Someone asked about you and your brother started talking about bugs or something to distract them." Carlos seemed to take attention better after their mother's death. Julie on the other hand, wasn't a fan. It worked out for the two of them. It's how they looked out for one another.
Julie saw the crows head off in the direction of the graveyard just like Flynn had predicted. She hoped they'd be able to find nourishment in something on her mom's altar. "The king's son wants to be an entomologist and his daughter is starting to resemble Icarus. I can't imagine what the people are saying."
Flynn put her hand over Julie's. "Your people don't care. They also miss her." Julie knew exactly who Flynn was talking about. The people in the smaller villages of the kingdom that seldom used electricity and provided most of the crops for the kingdom. Too many times had building a school in those areas been denied and her and her mom could never figure out why. They would go there almost every weekend to build relationships until her mom became bedridden for two years and later died. Julie was almost sure those people got the news last.
Julie looked up at the white clouds adorning the velvet pink skies. Their contrast made the world seem perfect for a moment. She was pulled back from impossibility when a tear fell down to her collarbone. "I hope they remember her."
"They always will."
After a few moments of spacing out and thinking about her mom showing newborn baby Carlos the clouds, Julie realized the crows were completely out of view. She imagined them perched on a headstone, cawing in joy. "Let's go in?" Julie asked Flynn.
Flynn gave a mock bow and a genuine smile, "You are the princess." Julie couldn't help but smile, appreciating the unmatched warmth Flynn brought into her life.
They sat in the middle of Julie's king sized bed, Flynn looking for something interesting to watch on Netflix as Julie blanked out again. She always found it hard to stay present and although it had gotten better, she couldn't help but vanish even when she still existed on the Earth.
A loud noise brought her back. Her and Flynn looked at each other with wide eyes, Flynn not screaming as she usually would. It confirmed to Julie what the noise was- a gunshot.
Julie quickly moved off the bed, pulling Flynn with her and walking her into her closet. It was like another small bedroom dedicated to her wardrobe that now held many of her mom's pieces weaved between hers. Sometimes it was nice, sometimes it drove her insane. Flynn was starting to breathe heavily, stumbling on her walk, and Julie knew she couldn't stop or she would also start to unravel. Once she did, nothing and nobody could get her to move.
She went into the edge of her closet where her ballroom dresses were hung up and pulled them apart. There was a tiny ribbon in the corner, and she pulled it, the wall easily coming open like a door. She pushed Flynn into the five by five room, not registering that she was in there shutting the door until it was complete darkness.
Julie began to process the noises all happening at once when they were completely locked in. The panic below. The yelling of knights. The alarm system was blaring loudly now, and it was lasering away any progress she had made towards recovery since her mom's burial. She sunk to the floor, starting to cry. Flynn fell in place next to her, humming a soft song. Flynn wouldn't cry if Julie was crying. It was an unspoken thing that only one of them could cry at the same time. It's how they took care of each other. Even if for a moment Julie had finally been the one to run to save them from whatever was happening outside, Flynn was back to being her guardian.
Julie felt like they were in there for an hour, but it had only been twenty minutes when Flynn's phone went off. Flynn checked her phone and whispered to Julie, "They're looking for us. My mom said to tell you to text your dad where you are. Or Bobby. Everyone else is in the bomb shelter."
"I don't have my phone," Julie whispered, wiping her face with the palms of her hand. The idea of calling Bobby first for support amused her for a quick second. "Do you have my dad's number?"
Flynn nodded her head no. "Kind of weird to ask the King for his phone number, don't you think?" Julie smiled and rolled her eyes, grabbing Flynn's phone from her.
"Did she not ask how you were?" Julie looked at the texts quickly before going to the dial pad. She didn't mean to, but it flew by.
"She knows I can fight."
"That is true." Julie dialed one of her dad's phone numbers, already trying to recall the other one if he didn't pick up. It didn't even fully ring before he picked up.
"Julie?" her dad whispered. There were people talking around him, most likely half a dozen knights sworn in to protect him. She hoped he trusted all of them because he really had to for once in his life. The Inmarcesible Kingdom was a quiet and peaceful place, usually staying out of neighboring conflicts and staying neutral when possible. Someone seemed to be after them.
"I'm safe with Flynn," Julie said. She was always trained not to say her whereabouts in an emergency unless told to, just in case the enemy was listening. Flynn's mom, for example, could've easily gotten them all killed if there was a part two to whatever was going on. "Are you and Carlos safe?"
"Yes," he assured her. "I love you very much. Don't move until you hear it from me myself okay?" Julie could hear how hard he was straining to not cry. Julie bit her lip, fighting back her own crying to be able to talk.
"I love you, too." He hung up without another word, probably because he wouldn't be able to say anything more. Julie handed Flynn's phone to her and took a few deep breaths like she was taught in therapy.
In the echoing distance, she could've sworn she heard another gunshot.
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A/N: I had this very vivid dream of a Princess Julie running off to go somewhere to talk to village people and Knight Luke running behind her like "you are not supposed to leave without me" and they fight, and I couldn't shake it off so here I am. I blame Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity so yes, look for parallels later on. As of now, all of my chapters will be short (700-1.5k range), so I can update more often. I'm honestly excited for this AU.
This fic will have a lot of mentions of Ray and Carlos because I still want the grieving with family parts in this fic because I think they're a huge part of JatP, and I don't want to take that away. Flynn will also be here often because I really think she's Julie's rock. The boys will come in the following chapters very soon, and I will most likely use songs from the show because I'm a song fic person, and I will not let anyone take that away from me. My tumblr is webarebares and my JaTPish tumblr is lgbtyrus if you have any questions! That is all! Peace and love <3