Here you go people! the Sequel to Invisible Storms! I have say, this is MAINLY focused on LeoxLisa.
Song to this fic - Power of Love by Gabriella Aplin. - Siriusly you HAVE to listen to it! I think this is my official LeoxLisa song.
And I might be doing a story of one-shots surrounding 'Invisible Storms' and this fic, 'The Last Return'. See you soon!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything in this story, except the plot.
The Last Return
"Come on!" Lorenzo said, as he heard the gate creaking, "lets go!" he started running, his bag slamming against his legs. The others took off in a similar fashion right behind him. They all laughed as they ran across the plains outside of Florence. They were safe. They were free.
Years later, the four did return to Florence, after getting over a lot of confused feelings, Lisa and Leo had finally admitted their feelings for each other, and Lisa had given up being Tomaso and now dressed as a girl all the time.
"Come on Leo!" Lisa laughed as she walked down a dusty deserted path with long grass growing on each side. "I can see the gate now!" She glanced to the boy behind her, "look, Lorenzo and Mac are at the gates already!"
"But Lisa." Leo moaned, "your not the one who has had to carry all the things!" And it was true, Leo was weighed down with his bags, and Lisa's, but he had offered to take hers for her. "You really have a lot of stuff, you know, dresses and all that. Why can't you go back to being dressed as Tomaso!"
Lisa giggled and looked down at the midnight blue dress she was wearing, and tugged at her hair, which was in a pony tail. She stopped for a moment, pecked Leo on the lips and reached to take her own bags, "Well, if you didn't insist on having to carry my bags. I am more than capable of carrying them myself!"
By this time the two had reached the gates, they were still arguing. "Oh come on you two love birds!" Lorenzo complained, "I want to see what has changed since we were last here!"
"Oh shut up Lorenzo!" Lisa said, smiling, looking up at the gates to Florence and smiling, "Lets just get inside. We all want to see what's changed!"
"Al right..." Lorenzo said, looking at the ground, "Can we just go in now?"
"Yes oh-so-mighty Medici" Mac said, bowing in front of Lorenzo as the other two laughed, while Lorenzo just scowled. Lorenzo marched forwards and knocked on the gates, the other three, still laughing followed behind him but straightened up as the gates slowly creaked open.
The four passed through the gates easily, while they were away from Florence they had stayed in a small town about 30 miles away, it was quite near Lisa's old home, she did go back once. But they got through thanks to getting papers from the town they had stayed in the past few years.
Once inside, they all decided to stick together, their first stop was Verrochio's workshop. "I wonder how much has changed," Leo wondered allowed to Lisa, who was standing beside him.
Lisa nodded as the four retraced the steps which had been programmed into their minds, "Not much I expect." she said, while the door to the workshop came into view, "if Verrochio is still the Verrochio that we know!"
Leo and the others laughed at Lisa's statement, at how true it was. Within quartet's next few steps, had brought them to the entrance to the workshop. "Ready?"
Without waiting for an answer Leo pushed open the door to the courtyard outside the workshop. "Hello?" He called out, as nobody replied, he motioned for the others to enter. He took Lisa's hand and smiled at her as they pushed open the door to the actual workshop. As the door opened fully, the four could see Maestro tutoring some new apprentices on how to draw bird wings.
"Maetro?" Lisa asked, following Leo into the workshop, followed by Mac and the Lorenzo. Verrochio turned to face the people who had entered his workshop without permission and was surprised to see a familiar face.
"Leonardo?" He asked, Leo nodded and walked into Verrochio's outstretched arms, hugging him tightly. "And who are these people with you?" He asked, looking at Lisa, Lorenzo and Mac.
"This is Lisa," Leo introduced, "Tomaso Gherardini's sister." Lisa stepped forward and shook Verrochio's hand, it was strange, she knew him so well but was still a stranger to him. "Ciao Senior Verrochio, I have heard much about you from my brother, as well as Leo."
"Will Tomaso be returning?"
"I am afraid not Senior, he has had to retire to care for our father, he is not well." Verrochio nodded at Lisa's statement about 'Tomaso'. Lisa looked towards Leo and saw he was trying not to laugh, it was the same with the other two.
"And I'm sure you remember Niccolas Machiavelli and Lorenzo de' Medici?" Leo said, smoothly cutting into the conversation.
"Yes!" Verrochio said, "Master Lorenzo, I am so sorry but I did not recognise you. And I must say, you father, he was found guilty of crimes against Florence, I am afraid that he has been imprisoned for the past few years." Lorenzo nodded, not at all sorry for his father - he had realised, with the help of Mac, Lisa and Leo what his father had done, and how bad it was/had been.
"It is fine Verrochio," Lorenzo said, "My friends showed my the error of my father's ways and showed my the truth."
Verrochio nodded and turned to face Mac. "Machiavelli, for once I have never been so happy to see you in my workshop!" Mac smiled and grasped Verrochio's hand and shook it. He didn't give a reply, he just smiled and went back to stand beside Lorenzo and Lisa.
"Maestro?" Leo asked, grabbing onto Lisa's hand and pulling her forward with him, "Do you still have my painting? I couldn't take it with me when we...left."
Verrochio nodded and walked off to the shelves, he put his hand down the side and carefully brought out a canvas covered in a piece of linen. He walked over to an empty easel and placed the artwork on to it. He gestured to the piece, "here you go Leonardo," he said, "Nobody's touched it, except when I put it there, I can't even remember how many years ago! Children!" He called to the boys who were working on drawing bird wings. "Come and look at this piece by a former apprentice here, pay attention to the detail and the unique twist..."
Leo smiled and dropped Lisa's hand as everybody crowded around the small space around the easel, Lorenzo and Mac stood directly behind him, but Lisa stood a little way from the easel, standing behind it and looking over the top. Leo caught her eye and they both smiled, waiting to see the piece of art that had taken up so much time from both of them.
Leo lifted up the linen carefully, showing the painting bit by bit. First to be seen was the hands, then the dress, then finally her smile and her brown eyes. the painting was every bit 'magnifico' as it was seen last time by the people of the former workshop.
Lisa Gherardini smiled up at the people surrounding from her place on the canvas. Verrochio smiled at the painting but then frowned at the painting, as if trying to remember something, his eyes looked up to Lisa's face and then back down to the painting before him. "Your the girl in the painting." He said, his eyes still darting back and forth between the painting and real life Lisa. "The girl with the smile." he trailed off.
Lisa blushed as everybody turned to look at her. She looked to Leo who was smiling at her, she smiled back and went on her tip-toes to lean over the canvas to look at it. She scrunched up her eyes, she couldn't see it, what was everybody so fussed about anyway? She walked around to stand just behind Leo she tilted her head to the side, Leo smiled up at her while she was examining the picture, squinted her eyes at the portrait and murmured to Leo, "I don't see it!" She sounded frustrated and a small bit childish.
Leo looked up, amusement in his eyes, "What can't you see?" he asked, smiling up at her.
"What everybody's going on about this painting for!" She said, throwing her hands up in the air. "I mean, I'm not that pretty or beautiful," she lowered her voice, "Not like Angelica or Valentina! So no, I can't see why people think its so amazing."
Lisa rolled her eyes as Leo smiled crazily at her, Oh No, she thought, he's got another one of his ideas... Just as she opened her mouth to speak Leo spoke. "Its not finished, could I possibly finish it? Maestro? It'll be easier with Lisa here posing."
Verrochio nodded, "Yes, Yes, Fantastico idea Leonardo! But first boys back to work you nee-" Verrochio walked off instructing the apprentices on how to draw bird wings, but Leo just turned around to face Lisa and smirked, raising his eyebrows as if to say see? I was right!
Lisa just rolled her eyes as she walked over to get a stool and dragged it over to in front of Leo's painting. She reached up and pulled her hair out of the pony tail she had put it in, her hair fell down in its natural curls and waves. "This OK." she asked as she clasped her hands in front of her. She looked up to meet Leo's eyes and she smiled.
"Perfecto." Leo said quietly, as he started to mix the paints.
"Perfecto." Mac mimicked, and Lisa playfully stuck her tongue out, but all she got back was a sarcastic smile.
"Sit still!" Leo scolded, making Lisa sit straighter and turn her gaze to Leo once more, she tilted her head slightly and directing a slight smile towards the young painter.
A little while later...
"Done!" Leo's voice rang out around the workshop, while Lorenzo, Mac and Verrochio immediately headed towards the picture while Lisa just stood up and slowly wandered over to the canvas that everybody was now crowded about. She walked behind Leo and rested her head onto of his, he certainly had done an amazing job.
Lisa couldn't believe that this person on the canvas in front of her was well...her. Leo had painted in so much depth to the painting, it look almost life like. "Wow Leo, that's...amazing!" She smiled at him and looked at the detail of the painting, he had got everything right, even to the tiny scar just above her collarbone she got from escaping from Piero the last time she was in Florence. "What's its name?" Lisa asked, looking down at Leo who was eyeing the portrait fondly.
"The Scream?" Mac asked smiling cheekily, and cast his gaze over to Lisa and then to Leo.
"No, no," Lorenzo said quickly, "It should be La Signora Pazzo for sure."
"The Crazy Lady?" Mac said, "No, no the Scream!"
Verrochio said nothing but just rolled his eyes, walking away quietly as the two names that Lorenzo and Mac had just suggested were being fought over by the pair. "Sante Maria," he said, "Its like they are still all 15!" But before he walked upstairs to his bed, he pulled out some spare pillows and blankets for a cupboard, he placed them on a bench and nodded to Lisa, who seemed to be the only one who noticed his absence. He smiled and went to his bed, laying down and thinking what it would now be like to have his old apprentice back, he also wondered if Lisa, Tomaso's sister had any artistic talent, if she was anything like her brother, then he was sure, that in the future, when laws were not as strict she would become one of the great artists to come from Florence...
"I've got a name!" Leo exclaimed, standing up and rushing over to the painting of Lisa. He was careful not to step on Mac or Lorenzo, who had both fallen asleep after their argument on the name for the painting.
"What? What is it then?" Lisa asked, raising her head off the pillow that had been given to her, as she watched her boyfriend run over to the painting that he had finished not so long ago.
"Mona Lisa." Leo muttered, grabbing a quill and some ink, he concentrated as he wrote Mona Lisa on the bottom of it, right above his signature.
"My Lady Lisa?" Lisa laughed, as she got up, rubbed her eyes and joined Leo to look at the picture, he wrapped and arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Bit cheesy isn't it?"
"You might be laughing now," Leo said, mumbling into Lisa's hair, she laughed, "In a couple of hundred years from now it'll be the most famous painting on earth!"
Lisa laughed, "Sure, sure, 'your Leonardo da Vinci, for you anything is possible!'" Both she and Leo laughed as they looked on at the now dubbed, 'Mona Lisa' joking and laughing, both of them wishing that this moment would last forever.