Hey guys!
So I have been busy like hell. You wouldn't believe me. I still am. School always decides to throw every single, possible assignment of anything at everyone's face when a break is near. Fucking hate it when they do that. But, here is another chapter. =]
MrJaffaJack: Hahahaha, yeah he is! xd Hating everyone at the beginning lolz. He's not really a people-person.
calwitch: Damn right. Alvar needs to be happy she isn't kicking him out.
kykyxstandler: In a way yes. Kind of grumpy too but yeaaaah.
Daphne101: Yeah it is. I only saw the movies, though, but yeah it does remind me of it too. =]
With that said, have a good one and enjoy!
Alvar was lying on the bed that was placed against the wall. He was staring at nothing in particular. The bedchamber he shared with Ion was located in the mansion itself. The day had been warm and he had trained himself. The main thing he had trained himself in was self-defence without any weapons.
Then there was a clatter, a grunt and a chuckle. It had been Ion who had fallen off his chair while Dryas chuckled.
"Dammit Dryas! I was trying to read this book!" Ion mumbled while he sat down on the chair again. He put down the book he was holding and gave Dryas an annoyed glance.
"You shouldn't be sitting like that when I am around," was Dryas' poor defence for his actions.
Alvar sighed deeply to let them know he had been disturbed by their childish behaviour but both of them ignored him completely.
"Whatever," Ion said. "I am just glad I do not have to share my chamber with you. Where is Leon anyway?"
"He went to see Adonai," Alvar said surly. He sat up straight on the bed, his feet touching the floor while his eyes glanced towards the two men who had disturbed his thoughts. "Can you take this somewhere else?"
Ion rolled his eyes and chuckled: "You are as easily annoyed as he is angered."
It was then that Leon entered the room with a smirk when he saw the annoyed glances. "I see my absence really had an impact on you. Do not fret for I have returned."
"Right," Ion mumbled dumbly while Dryas just quirked a brow.
Alvar ignored them and asked: "What did Adonai want from you?"
Leon shrugged while he walked towards the bureau Ion was sitting at and grabbed an apple from the bowl. "Nothing special. He did request your presence."
"Did he say why?"
Leon shook his head while biting in his apple.
Alvar nodded and without further chatting he walked out of his room and towards the library. He didn't have any rest in there anyway.
He walked around the corner, passing a couple of closed doors and windows. He saw Vitoria coming down the stairs and his hand was already touching his hood but he didn't pull it over his head. She was living here now – it didn't really matter if she knew how he looked like or not.
They both walked down the hallway in silence. She however walked towards the front door while Alvar was already touching the doors that lead him into the library. He was about to open them.
"Alvar?"
He faltered.
"I just wanted to say thank you for what you did the other day."
Her words were spoken with honesty, he could hear it in her voice. In the corner of his eye he could see her standing there, grabbing the handle of the door tightly – her knuckles were turning white. It were the details he saw. He nodded, showing her that he had heard her words. It didn't take long for her to accept this as an answer and leave the mansion, locking the door behind her. She was still locking the door to make people believe she was living in this mansion all by herself.
Alvar opened the doors towards the library. The familiar creaking-noises sounded as he entered the room. He found his Master sitting at his desk.
"You called for me, Master?" Alvar said after he had bowed his head.
Adonai was looking at some sort of letter, reading the words with great interest... and trouble. The Master seemed troubled.
"I did," he replied and looked up. His eyes studying him before continuing. "I need you to do something for me."
He perked up at this even though he hid it under his wall of seriousness. "Name it and it will be done, Master."
Adonai rose from his chair and strolled over towards his pupil. "Tomorrow there will be a party, here, in Athens. Filipe Barbas will attend this party. I need you to eavesdrop on him. That is all you have to know for now. I will explain to you the details after you have returned."
Alvar gave his Mentor a nod. Finally he got a task he had to do. It had almost been unbearable to watch the amount of Assassins leaving the mansion for a task. Then again, most of them didn't even operate in Athens.
"It will be done, Master."
Her hands were placed on her arms, she was hugging herself tightly while she looked down on the grave of her father. Due to sickness and famine, most of the people who died got thrown into the same grave instead of digging a grave for every soul that had been living. Vitoria couldn't she was okay with this, but there wasn't another option. Her father did get his own grave because he had been 'important'. Arastoo even made a wooden cross and put it in front of his grave. Nicon and Arastoo had to be great friends if he did all this for her father.
"Are you okay, Vitoria?" Sophia, who had been giving her friend some space, was now standing next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"Yes. I am fine." Vitoria gave her a friend a reassuring smile and then gazed back towards her father's grave. "I just really miss him."
Sophia sighed and put her head on her friend's shoulder. "Well, that makes two of us."
They stood there for a little while longer until they both agreed to walk back towards the Great Plaza. Sophia had to work and Vitoria wanted to get back to her house. It was late in the afternoon, the sun wasn't shining as bright as it had done a couple hours ago, birds were retreating to their homes – wherever that was. The streets were quiet.
It was Sophia who broke the silence. They were almost at the Great Plaza.
"So... I was invited to this party and I am allowed to bring someone with me. The party is tomorrow in a really, fancy mansion. It looks almost like a castle – almost like your mansion. Anyway, I want to bring you. To keep your mind off certain things." Sophia smiled at Vitoria as she spoke.
"Hmm," Vitoria mused, "I don't know..."
Sophia rolled her eyes. "You will go with me to that party. I will pick you up. Wear one of those new dresses of yours, they look really pretty on you. Alright?" They had arrived at the Great Plaza and they were standing still because it was here that their roads parted.
Vitoria sighed. "Alright. Fine. I will go with you to that party, okay? Happy?"
Sophia looked satisfied. "Very. Well, I have got to go. See you tomorrow."
Vitoria rolled her eyes at Sophia's back. "Bye." She watched as her friend made her way through the crowd and then she made her way towards the mansion. The day wasn't over yet. She had one more thing to do before she retreated herself in her bedchamber.
Vitoria quietly took her key out and opened the front door towards her house. She was pleased to see that the doors of the library were standing open, which indicated that Adonai wasn't busy. That was good. She had to speak to him.
"Hello, Vitoria. How can I help you?" Adonai said calmly when he heard her entering the library. He had looked up from his desk and waited patiently for her to speak up.
"I need to ask you a question."
Adonai narrowed his eyes. "What about?"
"My father."
The man gave her a nod and gestured towards the doors – which she closed as soon as she realized what he wanted. The library was quiet; when she closed the doors it sounded akin to a thunderclap. She walked back towards the spot she had been standing before she had to close the doors and looked at Adonai, who was waiting until she asked the question.
"Did my father live here?"
Adonai didn't flinch upon hearing her question – not that she expected him to. His face didn't show anything that could answer her question. He was calm. That was all she got from him.
"Before I answer that question I want to know what made you think he lived here?" He retorted. He was careful in every action he made and every word he voiced, Vitoria knew that much. It was probably in the nature of every Assassin – to be careful. She could respect that.
"I eh..." She thought about her words and the odd vision she had seen in the stables. Maybe it hadn't been the thing she thought she had seen. Maybe it had been just something else entirely, something stupid – something that didn't have anything to do with the real world or with her father. But if there was a chance that it wasn't something stupid she had to ask it. "This may sound silly but when I entered the stables and saw, I believe, it was your horse I got a... I don't know. I saw something."
Adonai blinked. "You saw something that involved Nicon living in this mansion?"
Vitoria nodded slowly. "Something like that. Like I said, I don't know. I believe I saw Brion as a foal." She was glad that Adonai didn't look at her like she was insane.
Adonai sighed calmly and stood up from his seat, his hands clasped behind his back. He walked towards the nearest bookcase and read the titles of the books. He was taking his time – he was probably thinking of a reply to something like that, weighing his words.
It took him a couple of minutes before he finally turned around and faced her again, his face still unreadable. "To answer your question, Nicon did live here. You did too. I believe you were the one who gave Brion his name."
Yes. She had given Brion his name. She was now fully convinced that she had been the little girl. It hadn't been an odd vision – it had been a flashback, a memory. Vitoria frowned. "I don't understand. Why did my father leave this place then?"
Adonai crossed his arms and walked in front of his desk to lean against it. "Your father had been an Assassin. After he had been a Master Assassin he became a Mentor. Just like me. We walked the same path until he met your mother and she gave birth to you. For a couple of years they lived here, he being a Mentor and a father. Then he decided to quit – to step out of his life as an Assassin – and he moved towards the suburbs of Athens with your mother and you."
Vitoria blinked. It had been obvious that he could have been an Assassin too. It never did cross her mind, though. Her father had never looked like one of those Assassins – like Alvar, for instance. He never struck her as the type who murdered people. He may had the same ideals as the Assassins, but he never could have walked on rooftops – something she had noticed the Assassins liked to do.
"That is... absurd. My father would never..." Vitoria was bewildered, but she had to focus. She was certain of it that Adonai was speaking the truth and she had more questions to answer. "Is it possible to just step out of the Assassin Order?"
Adonai studied her, as if this question wasn't the one he had expected. "Not like that. But Nicon's case was different. He had dedicated his whole life towards the Order, he had fought the Templars for years – and successfully. I had nothing to make him stay, so I had no other choice than to let him go."
Vitoria nodded slowly, progressing this. She now completely knew why her father told her to trust the Assassins. He had been one of them. He dedicated his whole life to them and he was sure of it that they would return a favour – keeping her safe. "This is why you let me live here and told me about the Order?"
"Your father told me that he would give this mansion to me, someday."
"He never did, though," Vitoria stated.
Adonai shook his head. "He never did." His eyes studied her again, as if he tried to read a book. "Your father was a wise man."
Vitoria cocked her head a little. "How so?"
"Because he knew. He changed his will a day before his death. Death never took him by surprise; he was ready to go."
