Here is part 2 of the New Year's double update!
How long before this becomes a betrayal on my part?
The question that has been buzzing around in my mind all night long returns to the forefront of my thoughts.
"Come on! We've got something to show you." Aquilo practically drags me to the stairs that lead to the basement.
At first all it is, is a regular cellar. Shelves that probably once held jars of preserved foods and racks that likely held wine with how close we are to Greece here. Then we turn into a smaller room and he smiles before simply pressing a specific brick near the edge of the wall about six inches away from the floor. Then the whole wall clicks and pops forward.
"Before we got these buildings the entrances were small crawl tunnels into a central area. The Assassins carefully excavated out the middle area some more and put in more hidden entrances. So even if Abstergo gets to one or two of the buildings, they'll still have to find out where the entrances are to this space." We walk a little further to where there is an Animus set up and a few other desks around with computers and wires everywhere, "Since we're under a whole bunch of buildings we can make it so the power draw to the block doesn't seem strange for how many buildings are on top of this space."
"Yeah, as long as we don't have absolutely everything, always powered on Mr. Forgetful." A woman pops up from behind the Animus and pats it, "It's too bad you're not interested in taking a ride in her. I just updated the software, and she should run like new."
"This is Rebecca Crane, and her accomplice is around here somewhere." Aquilo says looking around a stack of computer equipment.
"If anything, she's the accomplice." A male voice comes from behind the stack of computer equipment, "Now if you don't mind, some of us are actually working on figuring out the site."
"That's Shaun, he's nice once you get to know him." Rebecca jokes as she goes to the computer hooked up to the Animus.
"No, I am not." The voice says again from behind the computers. Aquilo just smiles wickedly, knowing that he is the one who incited this.
"Anyway, Lio. Emmett and I got you all set up… Emmett thought of a good sequence to show our new friend here. Nothing too exciting and you've already done it before so there shouldn't be any kind of desync issues. Now get settled." She points to the Animus chair.
"And we set up a bigger monitor over here…" Emmett says as he comes from behind a shelf and beckons me over. We walk over to where are just behind Rebecca's computer where she is controlling the Animus.
"Don't feel like you have to say yes to going in after this, I know some people just really aren't cut out for using the Animus. But it's good to finally meet you, Astraea, I hear a lot about you from all your siblings." Rebecca holds her hand out to me and I shake it.
"I bet you do… I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that the first time I heard of you was on the trip here." I reply to her comment.
"You got that right, but at the same time… I wouldn't have minded being talked about at little bit I suppose." She rubs her chin in thought for a moment until Lio calls from the other side.
"All set over here."
"Awesome, dropping you in then… Three, two, one…" Then Rebecca presses a button, and a feed appears on the screen, which boasts the back view of a very distinctive man in an unending abstract landscape. I narrow my eyes, noting that the outfit he is wearing looks familiar. "Alright, looking good… We're starting you when he gets off the boat." Getting off the boat?
Then the world of memories comes to life on the screen and we are taken to the docks of Galata in the early 1600s. I would recognize that scenery anywhere. We aren't seeing from a first-person perspective, but rather as what is going on around. The view comes around to show an aged Ezio reading a book.
"This was a good choice, Rebecca…" Zeph says from next to me.
"Couldn't have picked this one without Emmett's help." She tilts past the edge of her screen to look at Emmett, Zephyr, and I sitting on the little sofa they had brought over, and she grins.
Ezio begins conversation with a young man, Ezio didn't realize who he was even talking to at the time… He looks so young there… Sulieman, the son of the man who would become Sultan. Although, if I remember right this is the point where the succession had been in question for a time. And the rising Byzantines didn't help the situation any…
Then a lovely red-haired woman goes by, distracting Ezio. And rightfully so. If only he knew who had just gone by him, but the future mother of his children… And apparent branch point of my own existence.
At this point, I would have been wandering around in the hideout looking for an absent Yusuf… Who had come to the docks to greet Ezio.
Then there he is… On the screen in front of me, looking exactly as he did the last time I saw him.
My Light. My Yusuf.
He surprises the unsuspecting Ezio by grabbing his shoulder and immediately going into a welcome… That is just so Yusuf… Not even giving a new person a second to breath. I have to bite my lip to keep it from giving away my emotions.
"My Light…" I whisper to myself.
"Hoshgeldin kardeshim! Unless the legend is a lie, you are the man I long to meet."
I remember him once going over what he would say to the Great Ezio Auditore if he ever met him… And this is the single one that I thought was simply too much… But this also explains why he never told me how he greeted Ezio.
"Renowned master and mentor, Ezio Auditore de… la la la!"
He finishes the sentence with a flourish of his hand.
And I can't stop my hand from going over my face and rubbing my brow. I cannot believe he greeted Ezio like that…
It goes into Ezio explaining the phrase and Yusuf then using it to introduce himself. His charisma was unlike Ezio's and unique in a way that naturally drew people to him. I can feel my heart pounding. This is the closest I've gotten to seeing his face in front of me, besides my drawings, in five hundred years.
They then begin to make they're way to the Assassin's Headquarters, only to be ambushed by some Byzantines. The pair dispatch the group easily, but more rush in once they walk a little further. But the Janissaries of the Ottomans intercept them and attack the Byzantines.
Then before long they arrive at the hideout, my eyes immediately go to the top of the stairs and see the shadow rush over to the armoury. Then Yusuf and Ezio join a few of the Assassins at the table where Yusuf introduces Ezio, then from behind, I walk over to Yusuf my left hand visible for only a moment as I finish securing the hood around my face.
I miss that outfit… The dark emerald green brocade using black and gold for accents on the sash… The way those robes always felt so right when I wore them.
Then I stand at the end of the table, the ends of some of my blonde curls peeking out between the mask and hood. When Yusuf announces that they had been ambushed I see me place my left hand on his right arm and his left hand, bearing the match to my ring, covers my hand briefly.
"Wait, Rebecca… Are you sure this is right?" Aquilo's voice comes over the feed and the image begins to tear at the edges and seems to unravel before our eyes.
"Hold on Aquilo…" Rebecca stands up after rapping on the keys for a few minutes. We all stand and go over to the Animus chair where Rebecca is giving Aquilo a glass of water.
"That's not how I remember that sequence. I don't remember that woman being there." Aquilo says putting a hand to his temple.
Uh… What?
"Yeah… I seem to remember it without her as well…" Rebecca agrees.
"I've done that sequence as well, and I have no recollection of her being there either." Zeph says as well, and I can't stop my jaw from dropping open.
Did I get erased?
"Hmm… Well this isn't the first time that memories have been altered by the ancestor…" Is she saying Ezio purposefully withheld my existence from his genetic memories? Is that even possible? "Often a change in the person viewing the memories can trigger the change… But you've already gone through this sequence before when we were looking for details that may have been missed when Desmond went through these memories while he was stuck in the Animus and we couldn't save the memories." Rebecca adds.
Thinking back I did ask Ezio to never tell anyone about me… Could that have affected how his memories were stored in the genes of my family? Perhaps until exposure to me as I currently am caused the memory to surface as it happened?
Then… Could it be encountering me now, as I am, has changed the genetic memory?
"In any case, I'm going to go through and sort these all out again, then we should probably go through to look for other inconsistencies." Rebecca finally says, sitting back down in her chair.
"Alright, let me know once all of it is ready to go… I'm curious about that woman… Why wasn't she there before?" Aquilo scratches his chin.
"Yeah, this is great! I'll look for more memories with her and see what I find. If I come across one that's too jumbled, I'll call you up to work through it." Rebecca replies, she certainly sounds enthusiastic about all this.
"Well… That didn't go as planned… I was hoping to get you excited to play around in the past to get some Bleeding Effect skills, but I guess that whole thing probably turned you off of using the Animus for ever, huh?" Aquilo comments, I clasp my hands to hide the ring on my ring finger.
"Yeah… I think I'll still pass on the whole Animus business… Thanks for trying though, I appreciate the thought. All of you." I look at Zeph and Emmett and they both smile a little.
We all go upstairs again and into the kitchen where we all pour a drink for ourselves. With me being sure to hold my iced tea with my left hand so I can keep the ring out of sight.
"Desynchronizing can be seriously rough… I've gotten so used to the Animus that I don't usually desync anymore. I didn't think that memories could change like that though… I wonder who she was…" I take a deep swig of iced tea and I see Zeph bring a cup to his mouth as well, "Hey, you're Yusuf's descendant, yeah? What do you think about her?" He gestures his cup at Emmett before taking a drink.
"Well… I've only seen the memories of his son while he was in Istanbul… And the Assassins there did mention him having a wife." Emmett reports.
Zeph spews his coffee all over the kitchen floor and Emmett. Aquilo managed to dodge the worst of it but his socks are definitely not dry now. I take another deep drink of iced tea until my glass is empty, then I just hold the glass up to avoid Zeph's looks.
"Dude. Not cool. Did you try to breathe the coffee or something? You know that's not how it works, right?" Emmett looks himself up and down, "Now I have two outfits that need cleaning from spewed drinks…"
"Gee… Thanks… I… Hadn't realized. And… Sorry." Zeph chokes out between coughs caused by coffee inhalation.
"Well, since we couldn't get you in the Animus, how about we do some of that self-defence recap that mom requested for you? It probably won't be a bad idea to go over a few things that are a little different when confronting Abstergo agents." While he's not wrong, I don't think I need to train more.
"Alright, I'll take her up so she can get changed quick, we'll meet you guys over at the studio building." Zephyr volunteers after drinking an entire glass of water. He then leads me to the stairs and then we start the trek up.
Yikes… I'm about to get a talking to.
"You left out that little detail, didn't you?"
"Hey, it wasn't a very long flight…"
"And you, what? Didn't feel like telling me that the fancy ring on your finger there was your wedding band?" His voice had started to rise but he capped it and returned to harsh whispers as we get to my room.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that in all the details that I told you, that weren't very many by the way, that an almost marriage that ended five hundred years ago, wasn't as big a detail to me as me worrying about how you might see me at the end of all the talking. I'm not exactly the sweet, innocent, squishy little sister you remember." I close the door a ways so I can change into the closest I have to workout clothes making sure that I have a long sleeve, crew-neck shirt to cover all of me.
"Okay… I see your point…" Zeph says as I open the door to come again, "I guess, I was surprised is all… I hadn't really thought of you having had that kind of a relationship before. Or ever, really. You had never been interested in that. So when it hit me that you've had it and it's been over for so long, I guess it kind of hit home what really happened."
"There's still a lot I have to tell you. And honestly. Most of it isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows." I start walking down the stairs behind Zeph, "Yusuf was, without a doubt, the brightest most amazing gift that I received through my years. He had been the light that brought me out of a long dark night. But… It still hurts to think about how quickly he was taken from me."
"So when you whispered… 'my light' earlier…" He stops at the bottom of the stairs as I come to the bottom behind him. He turns around and pulls me into a bear hug, "I'm sorry… That must have been painful…"
I stand frozen for a second as I process what he said.
Then my arms reach around him, and I hug him tightly back. My brother is so kind.
"It was… But… On his wishes, I can't let it stop me from moving forward. I can't let it stop me from living." He releases me and smiles at me.
"From the memories Ezio had of him, when I went through them, Yusuf seemed very… Jovial."
"That's an understatement. He had this way of making the most mundane thing seem fun. And he cared so much about his Brotherhood and his city. Anyway, where are we going now?"
He is leading me back into the basement, but there seems to be a new door down here from earlier.
"At the bottom of one of the buildings there is a space that had been converted to a pilates studio in the late eighties. We've been using it to train while we're in this city. So that's where we're going… For your 'training'…" Zephyr snickers a little.
"Don't be mean… Aquilo doesn't know yet. And I'm not really sure how to approach it with him."
"Honestly? I think this is a great opportunity to tell him… Or rather show him. Because I don't think he's going to buy it. His pride might get a little bruised though." Zephyr suggests at how I might get Aquilo to believe me.
"You really think this is the best way to go about this?" I ask skeptically.
"Yeah, actually. This will at least get him to listen. He remembers the last 'sparring' match you had with him, the one where he called your muscles soft, and he has been planning on how to help you improve since it was decided you'd come here."
"Awe… I almost want to just let him beat me and teach me if he's thought about it that much… Is that mean?"
"Maybe a little patronizing…" Zephyr shrugs a little bit, "But not mean…"
"Hmmm… I'll think about it… Quickly." I add as we climb the stairs into a hallway, the hall leading to a large open space that definitely screams eighties pilates studio.
Aquilo and Emmett are chatting at one end, with Aquilo having taken off his over shirt to show off that he's gotten even more muscular since I last saw him.
"Are you ready to learn some Assassin fighting from me?" He walks to us at the edge of the room, "Aren't you going to get a little warm in that? And… Wow. I didn't really realize how much you've changed over the last couple of years… Congrats, little sis! I knew you could do it." He smacks my shoulder.
"Thanks, Lio." I straighten out the long-sleeved yoga shirt that I would normally wear underneath a sweater, "Did you get even more muscle since last time?" He beams with pride.
"I sure did." He grins wider.
"But he still has a ways to go if he wants to compete with Arend." Zeph quips.
"Shhh… Just let our sister compliment me. I never did ask; do you guys want to help out?" Aquilo directs at both Emmett and Zeph.
"Nah…" Zeph answers.
"Nope. I'm good." Emmett says almost too abruptly at the same time. Aquilo shrugs and turns to go to the middle of the room while Zephyr and Emmett start moving to the side of the room.
"Just us, I guess… Anyway, mom said I should first cover a few things that could help you get away from Abstergo agents. Although, I guess you probably already saw some at your place before, huh?"
"Oh, she definitely saw them." Emmett pipes up as he passes me, and I elbow him as he goes by.
"Well… At least with some tips maybe she could avoid it going that far next time… Especially if the whole hiding in plain sight doesn't work out and all…" Aquilo counters. I have to make my decision… Soon. I feel bad, Lio is being so genuine about wanting to help me, his little sister…
I'm afraid.
What if he doesn't see me as his little his after this?
What if, unlike Emmett and Zeph, he sees me as I truly am? A monster…
An un-aging, unchanging monster.
And…
If I don't tell him, could it be considered a betrayal?
I go over to the side of the room while Aquilo begins a quick demonstration.
I see him demonstrate a few disarming techniques that would be effective and easy to learn for someone who knew some martial arts… He's being so thoughtful. I don't want to hurt him. He may put up the tough-guy front, but he is caring towards anyone he brings into his circle. And he is more sensitive than he lets on.
I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look over to see Zephyr smile encouragingly and nod. He leans in a little.
"Relax. Have a little fun with it. Trust that he can handle the truth because I know he can." Zephyr whispers before giving me a little push.
"Did you see all of it? I can show you again if you want." Aquilo offers.
"No, I think I caught all of that… Similar to some of the stuff from my martial arts training…"
"Well, that makes sense since you learnt most of your martial arts from Assassins." Aquilo states.
Of course I did… This reminds me that they did in fact keep an especially large secret from me for an awfully long time. I guess I am still a little salty over it.
"It went something like this, right?" Knowing exactly what he did makes it quite easy for me to repeat it perfectly, right down to the footwork. When I finish, I look over at him wearing an expression of pure shock.
"Alright, well… Obviously you know that one already… Hmm… Let's try this."
He demonstrates another relatively simple move to knock someone down, and temporarily cripple them. Once he finishes, he steps aside and gives a wave for me to try it. And yet again, I make a completely flawless copy of what he did. He narrows his eyes.
"Did you guys already train her on these or something? Are you playing with me here?" Aquilo looks at them past me, the both of them struggling to hold in laughter.
"I am maybe playing a little." I answer, "But there's nothing they could teach me that I don't already know." I shrug.
"Ouch." Emmett replies.
"Hey, I'm not the one that let five of them go unnoticed by my Eagle Vision, am I?" I look over at Emmett crossing my arms.
"Oof… Burn." Zephyr says looking over at Emmett, "Five? Really?" Emmett just sadly nods a little.
"Okay… Hold on? What's the deal? Are you all acting or something? Who's got the camera?" Aquilo eyes the two onlookers his arms crossing in front of him.
"OH MAN! That's a great idea!" Emmett shouts as he whips out a phone to capture the moments to come, and Aquilo just put his hands up in confusion.
"Alright, whatever… Anyway, if you think you're so skilled, why don't we just get straight to the sparring then? We both know who won last time." Aquilo loses his cool for a moment. And while I know he is only saying it out of impatience, I take the bait and offer up some of my own.
"Yeah… The one with more experience won last time." I gesture to the middle of the room and set myself just opposite him.
"Okay but promise you won't back down after you get knocked down once or twice." He gets into his ready position, and I assume my own out of courtesy. He straightens a little, "You're really sure about this?"
"Completely positive."
"Okay…" He launches at me and throws a few punches coupled with one or two dramatic kicks. The trajectory he gave them wouldn't have even made contact with me, but I dodge each strike, and as he pulls back his fist and feet from each blow, I tap his wrists and ankles. After the first barrage he hops back looking incredibly confused. I see him look at Emmett and Zephyr behind me again, the pair just motioning him to keep going, and he narrows his eyes.
This time he launches himself much faster and increases the speed of all his throws, and this time he aims true. His blows would have made contact this time. But again, I deftly dodge them all, gently tapping each time to him know that not only did I have time to dodge but I also had a chance to strike back. He feints backwards after the five failed strikes and stands upright.
"Alright, I give… What's the deal? Did you already use the Animus for training? Are you experiencing the Bleeding Effect?" Aquilo asks, I can hear the concern in his voice.
"I wish it were that simple… But is this you giving up? We can call it quits if you want…" I offer, to which I see him grimace at.
"No. I want to see how far you can go." He decides as he launches himself again, much faster this time.
"You're on." I say as he gets to me.
I exchange blows with him this time, tempering my own to keep him from getting injured at all. At one point he grabs my fist and I let him spin me around and he puts me in a hold around my neck
"Aquilo…" I almost whisper it.
"What?" Concern colouring his voice again, as he loosens the hold a little.
"I'm afraid…"
"We can always call it quits," He wisecracks using my own words; I can hear the grin in his voice.
"Not of what you might think… I'm afraid that at the end of this, you won't see me as your sister anymore." I grab his arm and spin him back around in front of me, hooking my leg behind his, and tipping him backwards. About halfway through the maneuver I could feel him try to resist against my strength. I hold onto his fist stopping him from hitting the floor too hard before letting him fall the final two inches. Then I hop back a little.
He swings his legs around to bring himself back to his feet and dives back into exchanging blows with me.
"Stop holding back." Aquilo says, now devoid of the previous playfulness.
In response I up the ante a little bit, but still holding back. He is still keeping up well enough, but I can see his stamina beginning to wane.
"Stop. Holding. Back." He bites out between blows. Voice sounding icier than just a minute ago.
My patience begins to grow thin, so I pick up the pace some more. He is beginning to lose focus of my hands as I land blow after blow, his blocking coming up short.
I give a little bit more to my effort and end it with a sweep under his legs before pinning him to the ground. And I let him have a taste of what a true enemy would feel against me.
And he just lays there, his forehead dripping sweat and his chest heaving to catch his breath. I stand up and offer my hand to help him up, he takes it but after he just stares at me.
"You were still holding back, weren't you?" He states, his tone carrying it as less of a question and more of an accusation. I look to his soft, storm grey eyes to see only a cold stare as he appraises me with the calculating precision of an Assassin. The stare hurting me more than all of his strikes combined.
I bite my lip and nod before looking down.
Then he leaves.
He walks right past me without another word.
I try to put a hand on his shoulder, but he flinches away from my outstretched hand. Then he goes out the door to the courtyard.
Then the world is drowned out by the sound of my heart racing faster now than during our bout.
I bring the shaking, outstretched hand back to cover my mouth.
What have I done?
A hand touches my shoulder, and I can't help but bolt.
I run.
Through the basement back into first building and up the stairs. I retreat to the space deemed as my own and close the door and sinking to the ground to lean against it.
After a few minutes I find the resolve to move to the bed. I lay on the bed and just breathe for a few minutes staring at the ceiling.
Then I can hear Zeph shouting at Aquilo.
I succeed in not listening until Zeph shouts, "YOU NEED TO TALK TO HER!"
"TALK TO HER? I DON'T EVEN KNOW HER!" I don't hear everything that comes after, but I do make out when Aquilo enunciates the one word I feared hearing from any of them, 'monster.'
I don't want to hear any more.
Covering my ears, I go out the door and find the way to get further up. I managed to suss out the best way to the roof and go there. I choose the roof that by my memory should be over the basement hosting the underground space that the Animus is in.
There I finally find a little peace. But how long will this last? If Aquilo really feels that way, what will he do? Will he convince Zephyr that I'm a monster? Have I just lost the family I waited thousands of years to regain?
Perhaps it was foolish all this time to hope I could rejoin them…
Perhaps not telling them as soon as the ferry incident had made this a betrayal right from the beginning.
I lay back on the slightly slanted roof and look at the pale blue sky. There are patches of soft looking clouds lazily sailing by, intermittently blocking the sun. I don't know how long I lay there but by the time I'm interrupted the sun has moved closer to the horizon as the day begins to close.
"I thought I might find you up here…" I look over to see Emmett climbing onto the roof, "That didn't go the way Zeph thought it would."
"No kidding…" I look back to the sky as Emmett sits down on the roof next to me, "He called me a monster, didn't he?" Emmett doesn't say anything and that's all the answer I need, "Maybe I should leave here… He won't be able to stand looking at me…" My voice cracks as I say the last words.
"Hey… That won't be necessary, just let Zeph talk to him first…" Emmett says softly.
"I heard them talking plenty. Aquilo thinks I'm a monster. And if he asks me whether I am or not, I won't be lying when I say I think I am. Thousands of years, and all I can think to do now, is run. Run far, far away…"
I hear Emmett take a breath in to say something else, but the sound of shuffling at the window below draws both of our attention, when the person comes over the edge it turns out to be Rebecca.
"Oh, I didn't expect to find anyone up here… This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the raised voices we could hear, would it?" Rebecca says as she strolls over to us and sits down.
"Maybe…" Emmett answers slowly.
"Sibling feuds? Can't say I didn't expect it. Aquilo can be a pretty high-strung guy. I take it your 'training' didn't go as planned."
"Not exactly, but then my whole month has kind of gone to shit…" I answer, which earns a stark laugh from her.
"I suppose it kind of has, hey? But you get a family reunion out of it, at least, right?"
"Yeah… Not sure if we're all ready for that yet…" She laughs a little more at my comment.
"What family is ever really ready for a reunion after be apart for a long time… I remember how Bill and Desmond were after Desmond woke up from being comatose for a while… It wasn't exactly all fun and games. And you do share genes with them, so I imagine there's got to be some similarities there…"
"Apparently…" I mutter to myself.
"Oh, so I looked into the memories of Ezio's regarding the strange interference Aquilo experienced earlier and I managed to trace it back to one point quite a bit further back in Ezio's life. It also ties in a few other places further down to the point where Ezio's children are born." Rebecca skews into another topic, thankfully. And not thankfully, at the same time… Because I'm fairly sure I remember my first meeting with Ezio… And the couple of times after that… All of which lead up to… Well… What Ezio did when he was that age… With Women. Often.
"Cool, looking forward to seeing why it was all glitchy like that…" Emmett says.
"Hey… Could someone alter someone's existence in their memories inadvertently after making a significant effort to never mention them to anyone?"
"I guess if the person were making a real effort on a regular basis to keep whatever it was a secret, yeah, I've heard of and seen weirder thing happen through the Animus." Rebecca answers.
I wonder how she'll react to everything she might end up learning… Which, with her working through Ezio's memories to find the beginning of this synchronization issue, is only a matter of time. For Aquilo too… If only I could talk to him about it somehow. But if Aquilo feels the way he does… He probably won't give me a chance to explain… And he probably won't let me keep it secret for long.
My heart aches over it all, Zephyr had been so sure he would be able to handle it that way if I went along, that I did go along with it… But was there a better way to go about it? Aquilo isn't as intuitive as Zeph is so it would have taken more proof for him to believe me. But could I have started a different way to bring it up at first…
But it's too late now to try it a different way… I'll just have to learn from this. Because our dad and Aquilo are remarkably similar in how they handle news. Especially reality altering level news.
I wish I could talk with Yusuf about this… If he didn't have advice, he would at least comfort me in the perfect way. He would been able to handle this so gracefully too… I doubt that Aquilo would've even gotten mad at all.
We follow Rebecca all the way down to the basement of the building I had been using to escape it all for a little while. On the way down I look out a window and spot the small courtyard in the middle of the block that Aquilo had first gone to. It has one decently sized tree and some other bushes with little flowers on them. It reminds me of the tree by Yusuf's grave.
Once we're in the basement we go through a door disguised as a shelf full of canned goods. On the other side we enter with a different view of the underground space. This view affords a look at where Shaun has been beavering away. I see the code on his screen, it's looks like he's working at keeping this place off the grid.
"Hey, Shaun." Rebecca says as she walks by him to her station.
"Rebecca." He says shortly.
"Hi Shaun." Emmett says right after following behind Rebecca.
"Oh, you're back, are you?"
"Always so welcoming." Emmett quips.
"Would you be welcoming to an irritating fly? No? Exactly." Shaun shoots a searing response back at Emmett who winces a little.
"Ouch… Harsh words, my friend." And Emmett goes around the corner to Rebecca's workspace.
I stop and look at the screen of Shaun's workspace, seeing how he's been keeping this place off the grid, I can see a few places where a couple of additions and cuts could improve things. So, as he goes to collect something from the other side of the basement, I go over and make a couple of quick adjustments. But he catches me pressing the enter button.
"Oi, what exactly are you doing? Do you want your goon of an uncle to find us after all the running? Because this machine is keeping us all on the downlow, yeah? You know… Hidden. Like that thing that all you genetically born Assassins are good at." He places his hands over the keyboard ready to undo the changes I had just done, and then he just stops. He stares at the screen before pulling one hand away from the keyboard to trace a few lines of the code on the screen. "How did you do that, then?" I take a deep breath in and hold my hand out to him.
"Shaun, it's nice to meet you. I'm Astraea, but you have kind of met me before as Nychta."
"You? Nychta? Nope. Can't be. I've been…" He trails off as though he's unwilling to go as far as admitting I saved him from detection… More than once.
"Saved? Yes. I did that… More than once if I recall."
"Rebecca? Did you tell her to say that just because you want Nychta to be a woman?" Shaun asks cynically.
"I wouldn't stoop that low… Okay, maybe I would. But no. I did not tell her to say that." Rebecca says from behind her computer screen. Shaun shakes my hand very briefly before going back to examining the code…
"Could it really be?" Shaun says to the screen, "Huh…" He scrutinizes the new code on the screen.
"Come on, Shaun. She is one of Aiden and Aurora's kids… All of which are incredibly talented people. Is it really that surprising that one of them is a computer nerd?" Rebecca stands with her hands on her hips, "Zeph is entry level computer nerd, but it's nice to see one of their kids being savvy enough to have saved this guy's digital ass." She clasp my back before heading back to her workspace.
A sound from the entrance at the other building, causes me to tense right up.
"You said you had figured out where to start with those Ezio memories?" Aquilo's voice fills the basement, and I find myself grateful that Shaun's workspace cannot be seen from the Animus' location in the basement.
"Yeah, I found the first trace of the weird signal in his memories in Venice. There are a few other points that I've singled out, including a number of memories surrounding Ezio's time in Istanbul. Are you ready to go in? It sounded like things got a little heated up there…" Rebecca asks him.
"It'll be fine." Aquilo says curtly, "I need the time in the Animus to sort a few things out anyway."
"If you say so, Lio." Rebecca answers, "Alright, are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be." He answers abruptly.
"Okay, three, two, one…" I hear her press a few more buttons and I hear Aquilo breath in quickly before his breath evens out.
"Alright, you should be okay to come over and watch a little if you want… He can only hear me when I talk through the com-link now." I walk around to see Aquilo laying the Animus' chair and I bite my lip guiltily. I feel like I'm only making things worse with him with every decision I make. I don't know how I can possibly get through to him…
Zeph had just come into the space as Aquilo had entered the Animus and he goes over to the couch where we had been sitting before. He and Emmett both beckon me over to the couch near the bigger screen to watch the memory as it comes to life before us.
I recognize the street as soon as it materializes before us, with Ezio walking along the through the crowds at a brisk pace weaving around slower people. Then just as out of nowhere for him as it was for me, a woman comes from a side road and the two collide. Quite spectacularly too.
He looks so young… Barely past thirty at this point but he had already accomplished so much.
I know he had many adventures in Venice, and I believe he actually saves one Christopher Columbus after he finishes securing the last of Leonardo's move to the Auditore Villa in Monteriggioni.
I had been in Venice for a little while earlier on and had happened upon Leonardo while he was drawing. And of course recognizing him for who he was, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk to him. It had been some years later that he had left Venice for a little while and then when he came back it had only been to pack up his workshop to leave Venice altogether.
But for me… This was a dark period of my life. Everything seemed lackluster and dull. I often had been looking for ways to bring light back into my life. But nothing ever felt… Alive. Except my time with Leonardo.
I watch as Ezio apologizes to that me, before being distracted by my appearance as he often was around women. I also apologize to him and bow a little before going on my way. We don't get to see much besides my eyes at that point since I had been wearing a deeply hooded dark green cloak with the hood up and hiding most of my face and it had only gone slightly askew after colliding with Ezio.
But seeing my eyes was enough for me.
"I… I can't watch this." I stand up and Emmett reaches for my shoulder lightly.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"I remember what I was like then. The whole world was monotone to me. A lackluster collection of faces and places. The only thing that had begun to bring the tiniest amount of light back into my life had been making art with Leonardo." I lean in and whisper to him.
"Da Vinci?" He asks, eyes practically popping out of his head.
"Yes, da Vinci. And right there? That's minutes after I found out that he would be leaving Venice, probably for good. That woman? She isn't me. She is dead inside." My words, though soft in volume, strike him enough that he lets go and I leave to head back up the stairs and out the door to go find something to draw.