Hey guyz!

My apologies for this extremely late chapter, but I had finals. Next Friday I'll be completely done with finals and try to upload faster.

MrJaffaJack: Shit is definitely setting in motion. It's gonna get crazy. And sad.

IcedFireFrenzy: Yeah, I really love writing this story, so I'm a bit sad too. Actually I don't want to write the ending. Cx And, well, we shall see what and who the Artino brothers are. ^^

So, without further ado, have a good day and enjoy.

The outlines of the houses were becoming clearer as the first glimpses of light appeared above the horizon. It was colder than usual. The still-dark sky didn't promise a sunny day. The leaves had already started falling from the trees – colder days were upon them.

Vitoria had been leaning on the guardrail of her balcony, quietly watching the city. The city was still asleep, which was perfect. She had a long walk ahead of her. It would take her a while (especially with her pace) to get to the church her father had mentioned. You know it when you see it. It amused her that her father still hadn't known things obvious to him weren't obvious to her. So it probably would take a while to locate the church.

She stretched her back and stepped off the balcony. She had already eaten something, so there was nothing that could stop her from going outside. Her eyes glanced over towards her bed, were she put her black cloak. She quickly pulled on the cloak, making sure the strings were bound.

As she silently exited her bedchamber, closing the door behind her, her attention was drawn to the door next to Sophia's. Elene's bedchamber. The door opened and out of it stepped a man – an Assassin.

Vitoria was glad she wasn't holding anything, for if she had it would have dropped on the ground.

It was Lazar, who stepped out of Elene's bedchamber. He didn't notice Vitoria, for he had only eye for Elene (she walked behind him). She was holding onto the Assassin's arm, and Lazar was... smiling? Vitoria wasn't sure whether he was smiling or not. The two of them hadn't noticed her, maybe she had a chance to avoid the awkward moment that was near. If she just could...

Elene and Lazar turned around, facing her, both of them fell silent. Smiles disappeared, Elene retreated her arm. Awkward.

Vitoria watched as Elene whispered something in Lazar's ear and he gave her a stern nod, walking towards her – and then past her. She heard the sound of him descending the stairs echoing through the hallway. He never gave her one glance – which was entirely normal for him.

Elene smiled sheepishly as she quietly walked over to where Vitoria was standing. She had never seen the woman embarrassed. Vitoria blinked.

"Please, please do not say anything to my brother. He will kill him," she pleaded, her expression much more expressive than Vitoria had ever seen. Elene was the woman who didn't take anything from anyone. And now she was begging.

"You always tease him about it..."

"Yes, yes, I know. But he doesn't believe that. If someone actually saw us..." Elene shook her head.

Vitoria sighed. She didn't want to have anything to do with this, she knew better than to interfere with family problems. "I haven't seen anything. Anyway, I must go. I'll see you later." Vitoria was already walking down the stairs before Elene could reply. She quickly exited the mansion and made her way down the slightly winding path, heading north.

It took her long enough to get to the northern parts of Athens. When the houses didn't look as crammed as they did in the centre of Athens, she decided to look for this nameless church she had to find. She really hoped these Artino brothers could help her with the secrecy of her father. She had taken the letter with her, just in case.

The sun had moved himself behind thick, gray clouds, which darkened the day – leaving Athens in a grim and dreary state. As she ventured further away from the centre of Athens, she noticed the houses became shabbier – the people became poorer. The only thing she missed were the beggars. However, she knew any man or woman with common sense would not beg on the street anymore, not if they wished to live.

Vitoria had come across a couple of churches, none of them really stood out. Then, her eyes caught a tower that rose towards the clouds. She walked towards this tower, until she was standing on a square where the church was built on. The church was small, the houses and the shops surrounding it were small as well. From what she saw, Vitoria could tell the church was beautiful, with a lot of decorations. The first thing she noticed was the incredibly large, stained glass window at the front side. It must have cost a fortune.

Vitoria quietly approached the large set of doors, her gaze travelled for only a moment over the square. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Men and women were just minding their own business, buying and selling products in the shops. Some were walking and disappeared behind houses.

She gave them a final glance before opening one of the heavy doors and stepped inside. The interior of the church was as beautiful as she imagined – a lot gold, a lot of statues. The room she was standing in consisted of an altar at the far end. At both sides of the Altar there were arched doorways, leading into darkness.

At her left side, she noticed a wooden desk with burning candles placed upon it. She walked over to the other side of the room, towards the desk, and noticed someone had spilled ink over a piece of paper.

Suddenly, Vitoria got the feeling someone was watching her and when she gazed into the room, a man – a priest – was standing near one of the arched doorways, with a cloth and a new inkwell. He watched her as she took a step back from the desk, then he continued making his way towards the desk and cleaned up the spilled ink.

Vitoria quietly watched the man. He was a small old man and he didn't have a lot of grey hair left on his head. His eyes were extremely expressive – she could tell from where she was standing.

She cleared her throat, when she noticed he was almost done with cleaning his desk. "Excuse me, I was told to look for the Artino brothers. Do you know where I can find them?" She was hesitant in her manner of speaking. Her blue eyes gave the man a friendly look, as he slowly folded the cloth and placed it neatly on his desk. He looked up, his expression sorrowful. Then, he pointed at himself.

Vitoria was confused at first. "You... are one of the... Artino brothers?" she slowly concluded. Why did this man held his tongue?

He gave her a warm smile and nodded his head. He quickly flicked his gaze towards his desk and went through a couple of papers. He was trying to find something, obviously.

When he finally found the paper he was looking for, he gave it to her.

Again, she was hesitant, but he gave her an encouraging glance and she took the paper from his hands. He motioned she should read whatever was on this paper out loud.

"'I cannot speak'," she read out loud. He probably got a lot of questions about his silence, so he had decided to write everything down. She continued: "'My name is Maro. How may I help you today?'"

Vitoria gave the paper back to Maro. He was still smiling friendly, awaiting her response.

"I was told you had a brother," she said softly, but with a friendly voice.

Maro lowered his gaze for a moment. She caught a glimpse of sadness in his eyes.

"Oh," Vitoria murmured, realization seeping through her. "I am extremely sorry..." Her father probably had written the letter when both of the brothers still lived; he would not fail to mention something like that.

Maro waved her apology off with a smile, his eyes regaining a warm spark. He gestured something to her, whereupon she frowned, failing to make anything out of his body language. Finally, Maro showed her a sentence on the same paper, which read: Who are you?

Embarrassed for not introducing herself earlier, Vitoria apologized again and sheepishly said her name. "Vitoria. I came here because my father told me to in a letter he left me. His name was Nicon Terian."

Maro's eyes widened in recognition and for a moment he just stared at her, regarding her with a mixed expression.

"He told me you could help me with certain answers," she added slowly as she regarded the priest.

Maro glanced around the empty church, blinked and finally nodded. Immediately, he moved behind his desk and wrote three letters on one of the blank papers. He showed the paper to her.

He had written the word KEY on the paper. She frowned.

"Key?" The young woman cocked her head, giving the priest a puzzled look while he was gesturing as his life was depending on it. He pointed at the word, then at her and finally at one of the walls in his church. He repeated this three times, but when she still had no clue what he was on about, he started writing again. This time he seemed to write a whole story.

Maro was almost done when suddenly the quiet of the church was disturbed by the sound of a set of doors opening. Frantically, he looked up and upon seeing the men who entered, he deliberately spilled ink on the whole paper, making sure no word could be recognized ever again.

Vitoria heard the noise too and turned around only to see that a total of eight men had entered the church. Seven of them wore plate-armour with swords attached to their belts. She recognized the cross on their chests anywhere – Templars.

Two Templar soldiers walked past her, moved towards poor Maro, grabbed him and forced him from his desk to his knees. The old man didn't struggle.

Vitoria protested. "What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled indignantly towards the men. She took one step closer towards Maro and the two Templars, and immediately she was grabbed by a Templar so that she was unable to move from her spot.

She could feel her heart beating faster, her anger blossoming in her stomach and a hot rush of emotion welled up inside her. "Let me go." This time, the edge in her tone turned razor sharp.

"Vitoria?" The familiar voice of Evando Kellis echoed through the church. He stepped before her, regarding her with a mixture of amazement and interest. He was the only one who wasn't wearing any kind of armour or any kind of weapon. "What are you doing here?"

She tried to shake herself free, but she only succeeded after Evando Kellis gave the Templar guard who was holding her a nod. Vitoria glared at him as she walked a couple of steps away from the man and then gazed upon Maro, who was still on his knees. "What does one do in a church?"

He studied her. "I didn't know you were religious. Besides, there are a lot of churches closer to your home than this one."

She turned her head to him, glaring directly at him. "I prefer this one," she spat. There was no way she was going to tell the truth to Evando.

Evando shrugged and nodded to his men, whereupon his men started to search the church. She had no idea what they were looking for, but they seemed pretty motivated. Her eyes drifted back towards Maro, giving him a sympathetic look.

One of the Templar soldiers stood before Maro, speaking with a thick accent. Unfortunately, she couldn't understand a word he was saying.

"He cannot speak," she told the soldier, who turned his head towards her.

"Oh, but we'll fix that," he said ominously.

Vitoria turned to Evando, but his expressionless face told her nothing.

"There's nothing here, sir," one of the soldiers told Evando. They had searched the church as fast and as thoroughly as possible.

Evando gazed down upon Maro. "We'll see about that. Take him away."

Two guard grabbed the priest and forced him onto his feet, pulling the man with them as they made their way to the set of doors.

Vitoria could not believe what was happening. She turned towards Evando. "That man did nothing wrong, how dare you take his freedom, and on whose authority?!"

Evando cocked his head. "On the king's. Now if you'll excuse me, Vitoria..." His words were interrupted by a pounding-noise, making everyone stop and listen. For a moment it was completely quiet in the church – except for the noise, then suddenly, large rocks and bricks broke through the stained-glass window above them.

Vitoria collapsed, her arms protective wrapped around her head as rocks, bricks and glass came crashing down on her. She heard yelling coming from outside the church. What was going on?

She was pulled out of her position by Evando, who was yelling orders at his men. She only progressed the last order he gave to his men.

"Dax! Get him out of here!"

"What is happening?" Vitoria asked dazed.

Evando helped her to her feet, while answering. "I believe this is the Resistance's doing."

Vitoria frowned. The Resistance? Did she miss a meeting? Why hadn't anyone told her it would start? As the person who financed the whole thing, she had the right to know things such as these. She should address this matter when she got back.

"We should get going," Evando said hurriedly and reached for her hand.

"What? No!" She yanked her hand away before he could grab her. Behind her, another brick went through the window. She noticed more windows were being shattered. Her eyes flicked back at Evando. "I am not going anywhere with you." The Templars had already disappeared. Evando and Vitoria were the only ones left in the church.

He studied her for a moment and finally sighed. "Fine." As soon as he said it, the set of doors opened and a great deal of people, men and women, rushed in. Some people were holding swords, others were holding pitchforks – even brooms. Most of the people hurried along, ransacking the church – they did this because the church had a lot of money and didn't do anything useful with it.

Evando held up his hands, to show these 'radicals' he was unarmed – thus no threat. He was still watching her. What game was he playing?

Vitoria was pushed against the wall by a man who tied her hands together with rope. They did the same to Evando. Both of them were escorted outside.

Vitoria was almost completely sure that it wouldn't be smart to tell them she financed the Resistance and thus was on their side. They would consider it a lie, for they found her in a church in the presence of a well-dressed, suspected aristocrat. It really wouldn't do any good if she decided to talk.

It had started to rain. Fortunately, it wasn't pouring, but it was still cold. Evando and Vitoria were forced onto their knees in the mud, in front of the church. Men and women were still throwing rocks and bricks at the church, they were angry, yelling all sorts of comments. However, not everyone was actively breaking down the church. There were a lot of people just watching it all happen, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, Vitoria noticed a City Watch guard (or what was left of him) lying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. She averted her eyes, staring at the mud. Even though some of the City Watch's men were extreme jerks, they didn't deserve death. Besides, not all the men in the City Watch were bad. Some were just doing their jobs.

"So, what will we do with ya', eh?" A man asked as he was pacing before them. He was holding a sword in his hand – but the way he held it, gave away he wasn't familiar with the weapon. He probably never even held one until now. Vitoria realized she had learned a thing or two from watching the Assassins fight in the training ring.

The man was still pacing before them, but now more radicals were watching them, even shouting to him what he was able to with them, such as killing them. He turned his back to them and listened to the shouts. But even now, running was no use. They were completely surrounded by angry men and women with weapons, even though not all of them were paying attention to them.

"They aren't really fond of us," Evando stated as he watched the crowds. "If only you hadn't been so stubborn, we wouldn't be in this mess. Are you happy?" His words weren't accusing at all, they were comically. He wasn't worried one bit. Did he have a backup plan?

The man had heard enough and faced them again. "With whom will we start?" His gaze flicked between her and Evando. Then he raised his sword towards her. She could feel the cold blade pushing against her chin. She slowly looked up at the man, who was studying her. It was obvious what was crossing his mind. She felt the raindrops fall onto her face as she continued watching him.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she noticed the crowd of people split apart, and some stopped yelling. She couldn't see what was happening, but she could see the expression of the man in front of her change to fear. The man in front of her was legitimately scared, almost to the point of wetting himself. Because of this, he was frozen – and the sword was still pointing at her, unfortunately.

Vitoria watched as the crowds all stepped back, watching wide-eyed what was happening. What was happening?

Finally, the man – it had been a man who struck such fear in the hearts of the citizens – moved closer. He was dressed in a dark blue, almost black robe. His face hid behind a hood. And he was casually walking towards the man standing in front of her; the man who was still unable to move a muscle.

The hooded man stopped as soon as he was standing next to the man pointing the sword. He put his gloved hand on the arm of the man, slowly lowering it, so that Vitoria could breathe normally again.

"She's with us, mate," Leon said loud enough for the crowd behind him to hear.

The man blinked, slowly nodding his head – he was a little in shock. As were all the men and women standing around. Apparently, they weren't used to the collaboration with the Assassins.

"Good man," Leon said, she could hear the smile as he said it. He gave the man an awkward pat on the shoulder and then rushed over to her. He quickly cut the ropes with his hidden blade and offered his hand to help her stand, which she took.

"Thank you," she murmured. She was about to straighten her clothes, but didn't get the time to do it, for Leon took her a couple of steps away from Evando.

"Where the hell have you been?" Then he eyed to Evando from under his hood. "And what the hell are you doing with him?"

Vitoria frowned at the Assassin before her. "I was visiting this church, and he interrupted it. He marched in with soldiers, searched the place, found nothing and took the priest, Maro. I am fairly certain that they will harm him to get what they want."

Leon studied her. "Do you know what they were after?"

Vitoria shook her head remorsefully. "Not a clue."

He nodded his head in understanding. "Doesn't matter. What matters is that you are here, and I found you. You should get back to the mansion."

"What are you doing here, and where's Alvar?" she asked.

Leon gave the crowds a brief glance; most of the people had returned to whatever they were doing before Leon disturbed it all with his presence. "We were split-up by Adonai and Thane so that every Assassin looked after a part of Athens. I got this part. Alvar got the centre, he's on the Great Plaza. That is the last place you want to be right now, Vitoria," he told her seriously.

Vitoria nodded her head in understanding. "Alright, I'll go home. Thank you again for saving me from an ironic death." Being killed by the Resistance which one financed, was pretty ironic.

Leon grinned. "Any time. Be safe, Vitoria."

She watched as he disappeared in the church. Her eyes flicked towards Evando, who was still on his knees in the mud. He watched her, but she was too far away to read his expression. The man who had been frozen a couple of moments ago, had regained his posture and stepped between Evando and Vitoria, so that Evando wasn't able to pay attention to anything but him.

Vitoria turned, and walked away. As she had left the square, she could hear screams and shouts filled with agony and pain coming from the same square. There was no doubt that that was Evando's backup plan.

She quickened her pace, passing a lot of angry citizens. She saw the men of the City Watch fight, but there weren't any Templar guards – or she just hadn't come across one yet. Not all streets were full of people, most of them were completely empty. Some only contained slain bodies of both sides.

Vitoria quickly moved away from it all. The rain had stopped, but most of the men and women, including her, were already soaked to the bone.

After a long, disturbing walk through the city, she was near the Great Plaza, where the biggest crowd was located. In the streets behind the Plaza a few citizens were walking. They either where trying to get away from the Plaza, or walked towards it.

Leon had been right: The Great Plaza was the last place one wanted to be. Vitoria was walking far behind the crowds, but the glimpses of the scene that played at the front of the crowd was horrible. The City Watch was stationed before the gallows as a couple of statues. If someone got too close, they ended motionless on the ground. It was to scare the people away, but the City Watch was making it worse. They were protecting the Court of Justice and the Vasco Bank.

Vitoria's eyes flicked towards the rooftops, searching them for Assassins. There were none. They were probably watching from the crowds. She decided to leave the Great Plaza. The streets she passed to get to her home were all empty, so she didn't find any trouble on the way.

She quickly walked over the winding path towards the mansion, unlocked the door (almost dropping the keys in the process) and went inside. The mansion was completely empty, except for the kitchen where candles were burning, which were the only light source in the mansion at the moment.

Sophia stuck her head through the doorway, and let out a relief sigh upon seeing her friend.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, walking with difficulty towards her. Her ankle wasn't fully healed yet, but that didn't stop her from hugging her friend. She pulled Vitoria with her back to the kitchen, where Elene and Renoz were sitting.

"Where have you been?" Elene asked, watching Vitoria as she pulled out her wet mantle.

"I had to check something, but it doesn't matter now. Anyway, I'm going to change my clothes for obvious reasons," Vitoria mumbled.

Sophia snorted. "You should. You are reeking of dead mouse, girl."

Vitoria rolled her eyes, smiling, and left the kitchen.