Chapter 71: Loosening the Chain
Xavier visited three more times over the following days, and each time, Julian let the performance deepen a careful, deliberate degree further.
"you don’t have to sit so far away," Julian said on the second visit, voice soft, tired in a way that wasn’t entirely fabricated anymore given how draining the constant vigilance actually was. "I’m not going to attack you."
Xavier’s mouth curved, something pleased and cautious both flickering behind his composed expression as he shifted the chair closer. "you’ve never made that promise before."
" Like I said i’m tired of fighting," Julian said again, the same careful line, though he let something new bleed into it this time... a thin, brittle edge of genuine exhaustion that made the lie land easier because it wasn’t entirely a lie at all. "you’ve made it clear I’m not leaving. I’ve made it clear I hate every part of this. neither of those things is changing anything. so what’s the point."
’good,’ Julian thought, watching Xavier’s expression carefully, cataloging every flicker of hope and satisfaction crossing his face. ’keep feeding him exactly what he wants to hear. slow. careful. don’t push it too fast or he’ll suspect something.’
By the third visit, Xavier had started bringing better food, softer blankets, small unprompted kindnesses that Julian accepted with careful, practiced gratitude instead of his usual venom.
"you seem different," Xavier said quietly, studying him with something searching behind his possessive warmth.
"I’m just tired," Julian said, letting his voice waver slightly. "of hating everything. of hating you. it’s exhausting, being angry all the time, and it’s not like it’s actually working."
Xavier reached out, brushing a strand of hair back from Julian’s face, and Julian forced himself not to flinch, forced his expression to stay soft and resigned instead of the revulsion actually crawling under his skin.
"I never wanted you to suffer," Xavier murmured. "I know that’s difficult to believe, given everything. but I meant what I said, before. I gave you somewhere safe. somewhere nothing else could touch you."
"maybe," Julian said quietly, letting the word hang there, noncommittal enough to feel earned rather than sudden.
By the end of that visit, Xavier had loosened the chain’s length slightly, giving Julian enough slack to reach the small washroom attached to his room without assistance, murmuring something about trust needing to be built in both directions if Julian was genuinely willing to try.
It wasn’t much. But it was something, and Julian catalogued the extra length of chain with the same cold, methodical focus he’d once used mapping every weak point along a barricaded wall.
---
Ian noticed the shift immediately. "That kid seems different," Ian said flatly, standing over the same maps he always studied, though his attention had drifted, uncharacteristically, toward his brother’s recent visits instead of troop movements. "you’ve loosened his restraints didn’t you."
"he’s finally accepting his place," Xavier said, something warm and satisfied threading through his voice that made Ian’s flat expression sharpen slightly.
"or he’s manipulating you," Ian said, voice utterly without inflection. "you’ve wanted him to want you since the very first night. that desire makes you remarkably easy to deceive, if he’s clever enough to recognize it."
Xavier’s jaw tightened. "you don’t know him the way I do."
"I know," Ian said, "that a kid who insulted an Emperor to his face, escaped this territory once already at devastating personal cost, and fought alongside strangers to protect two civilians he’d known for less than a day, does not simply become compliant because you started bringing him better blankets."
Something flickered behind Xavier’s composed expression, uncertainty threading briefly through his satisfaction before he shoved it back down. "he’s just exhausted okay," Xavier said. "grief and isolation change people. it’s not unreasonable."
"perhaps," Ian said, though his tone made clear he believed nothing of the sort. "I would advise caution regardless. watch him closely. if this is genuine, no harm comes from confirming it slowly. if it isn’t, we’ll see the truth soon enough."
Xavier said nothing to that, jaw tight, some old, familiar friction settling heavy between the brothers once again, though this time it carried a fresh, uncomfortable edge... the possibility that his own desperate hope might be the exact weakness Julian had learned, patiently and precisely, to exploit.
---
Back at the academy, the rumor finally reached Logan directly, delivered secondhand by a training partner who clearly hadn’t considered how the words might land.
"I’ve heard the search’s basically stopped," the Sentinel said, adjusting his gear absently. "guess the losses were too much. can’t blame the Emperor, honestly, throwing more people at..."
"stopped," Logan repeated, voice gone dangerously flat.
The Sentinel, finally registering the look on Logan’s face, took a careful step back. "that’s just what people are saying..."
"who’s saying that," Logan demanded, weapon nearly forgotten in his grip as he crossed the training yard fast. "who started that."
"I don’t know, it’s just... everyone’s talking about it..."
Logan didn’t wait to hear more, storming toward the war room with fury building hot and fast in his chest, finding Reid already there, jaw tight, having clearly just heard the same rumor from a different source entirely.
"tell me you’ve heard about this garbage too," Logan said, voice tight.
"I have," Reid said grimly. "and I intend to correct it, publicly, before it spreads any further."
"we haven’t stopped," Logan said, fury cracking through his exhaustion. "we lost people. we’re regrouping. that’s not the same as giving up, and I won’t have people whispering that we abandoned him while he’s still out there..."
"I know," Reid said. "I feel exactly the same. we’ll address it. the Emperor won’t tolerate that rumor spreading unchecked either, not after everything he already said in this very room."
Logan’s hands curled into fists, grief and fury tangled too tight to separate. "he’s out there," he said, voice cracking now. "waiting. probably wondering why nobody’s come yet. and here people are, gossiping about how we’ve given up, like his life is just some tally we decided wasn’t worth the cost anymore."
"then we will have to make sure that, that rumor dies fast," Reid said, voice hard. "and we make sure the next expedition succeeds where the others didn’t. that’s the only answer that actually matters right now."
Logan nodded, jaw tight, though the grief in his expression didn’t fully fade, some old, aching fear settling deep beneath his fury... not fear that they’d truly given up, but fear that somewhere far north, isolated and alone, Julian might have started to believe the very same lie everyone else seemed so willing to accept.