Yusuf
It has taken them a week to make these plans. Aiden often pressing the gravity of how well-guarded this specific Abstergo facility currently is. Which is partially why they have painstakingly gone over ever single detail of their plan at least three dozen times. The facility they took Astraea to is called the Solis Research Oasis. Aquilo had laughed at the name, calling a typical Abstergo hoity-toity title. Yusuf learnt then that 'hoity-toity' essentially referred to anything that was excessively arrogant or haughty.
Aiden also reiterates many times over that normally Astraea would be considered a lost cause… Beyond the point of saving since this is such a closely watched facility. But apparently the current Mentor, a man named William Miles, agreed that the loss of a true prodigy like Astraea would be too much to risk, especially if they were to allow her to be turned over to the Templar side.
According to Aiden, someone on the inside of this facility snuck out some of the details of it about a week ago. It is unclear who it could have been as the message had been expertly hidden. It had apparently gone out on an encrypted satellite link and once it got to the internet it had more or less put itself right in the view of any hacker willing to look at some top secret Abstergo information. But the message had been coded so that only a few could decode it. Namely Rebecca, the Assassin who had shown us the video of Astraea getting drugged, and one other by the name of Shaun. It had been Shaun who found it and passed the information along to Aiden and Zephyr. Although apparently the two are in fact a set. They had also briefly mentioned a group… Erudito as Yusuf recalls, that could likely also have understood the message but would likely stay uninvolved with this as it doesn't directly interfere with anything on their end.
Currently the group of hopeful rescuers are on the highway going north up the eastern edge of something called Vancouver Island. It's been a gradual trip, first a ferry from the large city and now driving. Lots of driving. Yusuf mostly watching the world sail by outside the window or reading about the next thing on Zephyr's list of must knows.
Yusuf has now covered the beginnings of modern… Well everything… As well as getting to history starting where he died. And he now knows that the 'New World' that Christopher Columbus had only just 'discovered' is now essentially one of the central places in the view of the world. Much the way Italy had been during the time of Leonardo DaVinci and his fellows during what is now called the Renaissance. Apparently, history comes quite easily to Yusuf. A fact he intends on bragging about to Astraea. Even now he is studying.
Aiden had mentioned that they would be meeting up with another Assassin who has agreed to help with this venture. An Assassin who had apparently been more or less sizing this facility up already. This Assassin has also supposedly set up a few locations for us to fall back on once we have secured Astraea.
The Solis facility has apparently been in use primarily for holding Assassin descendants who could prove to be useful. Zephyr had explained that Abstergo uses many of its clinics as fronts for hunting down certain genetic strains, namely those connected to Assassins. This led into the discussion on how the Templars control huge chunks of modern society through Abstergo, such as merchandise production, pharmaceuticals, and even branching into the entertainment industry.
"Uh… Guys?" Aquilo pipes up from the front seat of the car. Both Aiden and Zephyr ask what at the same time and in the same tone, causing Yusuf to smile a little bit, "Isn't Lukas Emmett's cousin?" He just asks. Yusuf just looks back out the window, fairly sure the conversation has nothing to do with him.
"Oh shit. You're right, what side are they cousins on? Dad, do you know if Lukas has done much time in the Animus?" Zephyr has a revelation as to what they are talking about, but it is lost on Yusuf.
"Damn. He has… And I believe they share that ancestry…" Aiden reacts, "But we can't do this with only the four of us. There's no way we would all make it out, especially if we assume the worst and Astraea is unconscious."
"Shit." Aquilo curses in the front seat. Yusuf looks to the front seat with concern and Zephyr just kind of looks over at Yusuf.
"Maybe if we put a hat on him…" Zephyr suggests.
"Oh, Lukas will see right through that. He isn't stupid. Eccentric sometimes… But not stupid." Aquilo rebuttals.
"I agree. A hat won't do much. Honestly, I think our best bet is to just not mention it. But if he asks I don't think we should withhold the truth." Aiden diplomatically suggests.
"And you think he's going to buy a back-from-the-dead, five-hundred-year-old Assassin just helping out for kicks?" That's when Yusuf realizes that the conversation is in fact about him.
"Wait… What? I'm confused… What does this have to do with me?" Yusuf asks, suddenly invested in what's going on, instead of trying to let them have a semi-private conversation.
"Uh… Well, Lukas is actually one of your descendants." Zephyr says carefully.
"But that's not possible. I never had any children." Yusuf immediately responds.
"Well, that's not exactly true. Your lineage was traced by Abstergo to somewhere in Spain. I remember Emmett, another of yours, saying that he had seen the memories from you and your son." Zephyr says each word further shocking Yusuf.
"But I never—Oh… I see." Yusuf immediately stops, "Do you think Astraea knows?" He whispers to Zephyr.
"Probably…" Zephyr answers honestly, leaving Yusuf wondering what to say to her when he she surely brings this up.
"If he does notice should we just tell him?" Aquilo asks.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Telling him about Yusuf almost guarantees that we'll need to explain why he and Astraea would be so close—" Zephyr starts on an explain but stops suddenly. Only… Not suddenly enough, as Aiden pulls the car over to the side of the road and turns to look at the two men in the back seat, and Aquilo next to him.
"Did you have something you wanted to explain?" Aiden says cheerfully, but to Yusuf the expression on his face is not cheerful at all… It is the epitome of menacing… Despite the smile he has plastered on it.
"Uh… I really need to use the ditch…" Aquilo says before reaching for the door handle, but then all the doors click as they are locked shut by the driver.
"Well… There is a lot to that… And most of it is… Well, it—Um… It's better if Astraea explains… Because—" Zephyr tries to defer the explain until later.
"Nope. Not good enough anymore. I will certainly be getting an explanation from her too, but for now I feel like this falls under 'need to know.' I was willing to let the whole laptop password thing slide… But this is too much." Aiden states tersely.
"Well, then perhaps I should start with greeting you as the father of the woman I love." Yusuf drops with his best attempt at a peacemaking smile. The statement earned a facepalm from Aquilo and a deep sigh coupled with temple massaging from Zephyr.
That bomb had been enough that Aiden forced Aquilo to take the driver's seat.
They attempted a light-version of the parts of the truth, mostly focusing on her time in Istanbul. They managed to settle into a tense agreement with Aiden on the condition that as soon as she is able, Astraea would be fully explaining herself. Aiden did say almost under his breath at one point that at least Yusuf isn't a Templar or some kind of useless lump on a log… Which Yusuf promptly looked up online. His discovery filled the car with his laughter for almost twenty minutes until they arrived at a town to get some more gas in.
"I think you probably should think of a name to use though… Because if you call yourself 'Yusuf Tazim,' he'll see right through it. And maybe do something with the hair." Aiden comments as they pull into a small town to stop near a gas station. They all get out for a little while and Yusuf stretches every way he can think of. And fiddles with his hair, they had trimmed a little bit off, but he hadn't wanted to cut it all off… Mostly because he knows Astraea enjoys his hair… But at the time he hadn't wanted to confess quite that much of the truth.
"How is it we can move so fast and still be in that thing for so long? How far are we going anyway?" Yusuf asks Zephyr who just looks at him with exasperation.
"We are going to have traveled for around 400 kilometers on roads, and another 200 or so over the water to get to this facility… Roads-distance wise… I believe there is less distance between Istanbul and Ankara… And water distance wise… I suppose just a little less than the distance from Istanbul to the Aegean." This earns a look of disgust on Yusuf's face, after a quick look on a phone Zephyr adds, "Apparently, that is around 83 leagues."
"And we're travelling all of it? Today?" Yusuf less asking and more realizing.
"Yeah. It's already been more than two weeks. Who knows what they could even be doing to her… If we're lucky they've been treating her like a guest, maybe trying to recruit her to the Templars… But if we aren't lucky… Well, we don't want them learning too much about her. We'll be meeting Lukas at a town at the end of this highway. He should have a boat secured for us by then. And I agree with dad, you should think of a name to use instead of Yusuf Tazim for now."
"I swear you look so familiar to me… Are you absolutely sure we've never met, Nuri? What was your last name again?" Lukas asks for the millionth time. His brown eyes haven't left Yusuf's face for at least twenty minutes.
"Reis. And yes, I'm sure. About as sure as the last hundred times you asked, I think I would remember if I had met you before." Yusuf says letting out a laugh as he claps Lukas' back.
The group in the impossibly silent motorboat is carefully gliding along the surface of the water in the late evening light as it fades into night. Lukas had actually been surveying the facility in question for about a month prior to Astraea's arrival at it. In the days after she had been brought there the guard population of the facility nearly tripled from the modest grouping that had been there previously. And with the higher guard count the watches inside and out the rotations of guards seemed to become more consistent. He had been keeping Aiden in on the reports because Aiden had been nearly certain that Mesonyx's activity in the region had been to the facility… He just hadn't been sure until he saw the video of her drugging Astraea.
According to Lukas there is an inlet just out of view of the facility where they'll be able to hide their boat, but it means they'll have a ways to go on foot.
"Alright, so Yu—ou two will be going with me to distract and secure a way out of there. Nuri and Zephyr will be going to find Astraea." Yusuf notices Aiden almost calling him by his name and deftly changing the word to cover it up. Yusuf touches the ring through the shirt he's wearing. They are going in equipped with all kinds of exciting things. Although, Yusuf hadn't been able to resist putting on Raea's hidden blade. His familiarity with the weapon could be the difference between life and death. Aiden also managed to procure some throwing knives for Yusuf from an Assassin cache in the city, along with some other Assassin used items. Most of which are in the hands of the more modernly experienced Assassins.
Yusuf had been the leader of his own Brotherhood until what feels like only a little while ago to him… And now, he feels so ill-equipped to be fighting in this time…
"Earth to Nuri… Do you read me?" Lukas waves in Yusuf's face.
"Pardon?" Yusuf tries to futilely make sense of what Lukas said, 'Earth to him'? How does that make sense? Luckily, he is saved by Aquilo and Zephyr. Aquilo who takes Lukas' attention and Zephyr who pulls him away a little bit.
"So, a while ago people went to the moon, right? We talked about that one a few days ago…" Zephyr reminds Yusuf of the completely unbelievable task that mankind accomplished, Yusuf nods to confirm he does in fact remember, "Well what he said is kind of a reference to that. When you get lost in your thoughts it can be called 'spacing out,' so when people are trying to get your attention while you're 'spaced out' they say, 'Earth to blah-blah' because that is kind of similar to how Earth called the people in space." Zephyr explains it as carefully as he has explained other turns of phrase and the idea of referencing things in speech.
"Ah, I see…" Yusuf thinks on it for a moment, "I like that." And he laughs a bit. He adjusts the hidden blade on his arm a bit, it had been made for Raea after all.
"Not fitting quite right?" Zephyr asks.
"Not quite, I'd love to have mine back… Or perhaps a good hook blade." Yusuf waves his empty right wrist chuckling a little bit.
"Oh man! You said it! Those hook blades from the sixteenth century were the bomb! What I wouldn't give to be able to have one now!" Lukas escapes Aquilo's attention and bounces into the conversation between Yusuf and Zephyr.
Then like the final piece of a puzzle, Yusuf watches as something changes in Lukas' face. Then he walks right up to Yusuf and grabs his face. Lukas moves Yusuf's face right, left, up, and down, examining every angle of his face…
"God! I just figured out why you look so familiar to me! You look exactly like an ancestor whose memories I went through in the Animus…" At that moment Yusuf realizes that having his memories viewed through a device feels like…
"A horrible breach of privacy." Yusuf just says, startling himself too, "Could I have my face back?" Immediately, Lukas releases Yusuf's face.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to… Breach your privacy?" Lukas apologizes.
"No, no… I didn't mean to react so suddenly, I just thought of something and it slipped right out." Yusuf says, trying to cover what his meaning.
"No worries, man… I guess I just got carried away by seeing how alike you look to Yusuf Tazim. It's pretty wild. Have you looked into your own Animus memories yet? I don't for a second believe you're not related to him. Oh wait, you must have if you know about the hook blades…"
"What did you think of this ancestor?" Yusuf not so subtly asks, but it brings a light of excitement to Lukas' face. The bug-eyed reactions of the twins standing behind Lukas almost cause Yusuf to break out in laughter again.
"Honestly? I loved to see the world he lived in. I only wish the memories could have been more in the time while Ezio had been in Istanbul…" Why is Ezio so popular even five hundred years after his death? Lucky dog… "These lucky dogs… They get the front row seat to all of that Ezio stuff! The world's unfair I tell you… But honestly, I really digged doing Yusuf Tazim's memories… But I think I learnt more important information from his son…" He muses.
"Oh? Why would that be?" Aiden asks.
"Well, actually, there are a few cells doing linked work on finding someone who might've have been another kind of Sage…" As though someone were holding a bomb the twins seize up a bit.
"Really? I thought that the only Sage was the one from Juno's experiment on Aita…" Aiden points out.
"That's what we are trying to find out… There is a little evidence that there may have been several, but I've only been looking into one. There have been a lot of Assassins slowly compiling information on who they are and if their name may have been carried forward with mythology… Because, unlike with the Aita Sage… This one seems to lean towards our beliefs more than the Templars. Which is why it's important… If we could find more evidence of this person, perhaps their memories could uncover more Isu locations than we've ever previously found. It could be the means of finally tipping the balance closer to our favour." Aquilo, Zephyr, and Yusuf all share looks while he's talking, "According to some of our sources, Yusuf did have a wife at one point before he died, we were hoping that perhaps this person might have at least been a clue… The snag we hit is that it was after he had conceived a child before he had met this person. So the most I got was some info from the Istanbul Assassins as the son."
"Hmm… That is interesting… Have you found anything more concrete yet?" Aiden continues the conversation.
"Not yet… So, I was actually going to take the opportunity to ask you guys if you wouldn't mind us going through Ezio's memories with you… We are hoping to come across her with Yusuf through Ezio's memories." Lukas goes further into everything, "Honestly, that's one of the reasons why I haven't left this facility alone yet… I caught wind that they were also looking into the possibilities of this other Sage's existence."
"Hmm…" Aquilo thinks for a moment, "You know, I've done those Istanbul memories a few times before now… And I can't think of a single moment where there is a woman who Yusuf treats differently from those times." Yusuf almost looks over at Aquilo indignantly, but instead looks at Zephyr who nods and mouths 'later.'
"Really? Are you completely certain?" Lukas asks.
"Yeah… But you know what? We did just come across a history PhD student from Istanbul who had been doing her thesis on Yusuf previously. Maybe she might have a lead." Aquilo attempts to steer the conversation away from the subject of Yusuf Tazim and his wife.
"Really? Do you have her contact information? That could be really good."
"She's with mom and Venus now, they were going to meet up with us as soon as we are all finished up… But well, things got a little out of hand."
"Yes, and I told them to stay put until we got this all sorted out and have Astraea back." Aiden states abruptly.
"Makes sense. I had spoken with Aurora and Venus just before that whole ferry business in Italy. She had—Aurora had—been certain that she wasn't going to bring Astraea into the loop… Then a little while ago, I saw an email about something going on but what happened?" Lukas asks. Yusuf feels relieved that the conversation had moved on.
"Well, in April, Zachariah Moore had gotten a hold of her address and essentially launched a snatch operation to take her into Abstergo custody. But luckily we had Emmett there, so he managed to get her out…" Zephyr starts going over the basics.
"Only just though… They had to drive to Vancouver to catch a plane to Europe." Aquilo adds.
"Damn… I feel for you guys sometimes, it seems like that Zachariah guy really hangs around the lot of you like a bad odor…" Lukas waves his hand at his nose to exaggerate his joke.
"No kidding… And now..." Aquilo goes to say it but gets stuck on the words.
"Now, Mesonyx seems to have been taken in by his… Ideals I guess." Aiden adds.
"What? Your older sister is with the Templars?" Lukas' jaw drops open.
"It appears that way…" Aiden confirms somberly.
"How did you all find out?" Lukas asks carefully.
"Well, we had gone into an Abstergo skyscraper in Vancouver to retrieve… Something direly important that had been stolen from an Assassin's grave in Istanbul. We three got out," Zephyr gestures to himself, Aquilo, and Yusuf, "But Astraea had gotten caught up by a group of them… Then Mesonyx had shown up and drugged her using a syringe."
"So that's how Astraea ended up in Templar hands…" Lukas puts the puzzle pieces given to him together. Hopefully, he doesn't realize from this that there are pieces of his puzzle missing still.
"Not just any Templar hands either…" Yusuf adds.
"Yeah… Zachariah Moore has her there." Aquilo finishes.
"Damn…" Lukas breathes.
"Guys." Aiden gets their attention, "We're here. Time for us to go get Astraea."
"Alright, so we are entering over on this side." Zephyr whispers to Yusuf, "According to Lukas, a few days ago there was a fuss on this side of the facility… Because someone ran out from inside over in that area." He gestures to the side of the building where there appears to be a section of the earth cut away to host large bins, "It looks like this is the spot where they deal with garbage…"
"Yeah. From what I was able to gather, there seems to be a collection of tunnels underneath. Templars keeping the halls clear of janitors, I guess. We do have to hurry a little bit because the perimeter sensors will be fully active again in about five minutes." Lukas' voice comes over the comms, "Like I mentioned earlier, they probably have a few different areas to keep subjects. But if as you said Nyx really is working with them, they may be giving Astraea preferential treatment. So I still think that she is in the section that is on the cliff. But if for whatever reason they are doing something else, she could be in the science wing, which is just a couple of floors above where you are going in."
"Alright, we're going silent for now… We'll let you know when we have Astraea." Zephyr says before tapping his comm, and then reaching over to tap Yusuf's.
"If you want to talk to them again, just press right here," Zephyr guides Yusuf's finger to a divot in smooth surface.
"Okay… But what about Ezio's memories? Was Astraea really not in them?" Yusuf finally asks, it has been on his mind the entire time.
"Until recently yes… Rebecca's guess is that Ezio had actually been so defensive of information regarding Raea that he ended up altering his memories. Until Raea, as she is now, was in contact with us again it seems. Recently, Aquilo had been trying to convince Raea to use the Animus, and we found the changed memories by happenstance. After looking into it they found that she had appeared in a number of them. Before and after her time in Istanbul with you."
"Interesting. Ezio was an extraordinary friend. It almost makes sense that he would protect her secret so fervently." Zephyr looks over at Yusuf.
"Fervently? Where did you learn that one?" He asks, his confusion coming through crystal clear.
"Why the internet of course." Yusuf gives a little chuckle.
"Of course…" He pauses while they watch a guard patrol walk by, they had already managed to get past the outer line of security by sending interfering wireless signals to the motion sensors around the perimeter of the facility, and now it is on them to stay hidden as long as possible, "Lukas had mentioned that it seemed like someone had almost escaped a few days ago… I wonder if that might've have been Astraea. If she planned right she might've have made it out… So what went wrong?"
"Well, it seems as though there are a lot of guards throughout the facility and while she is unbelievably skilled, she does have limits." Yusuf reminds Zephyr, Yusuf remembering that it took a near miss to have that knowledge really sink in for him. Yusuf shakes his head to clear the image of her being carried into the hideout pale as snow from blood loss.
"I suppose, and if she took too many tranquilizer darts then she might not have gotten out… Either way. I say we go to the science area first. My gut says to try that first." Zephyr points to the floors above the garbage dock space where the inside seems to be on a night cycle lighting.
"Hey guys!" Zephyr and Yusuf both jolt from the shock of having a voice suddenly come through on the comms.
"Rebecca?" Zephyr whispers harshly into the comm, "Are you on everyone's comms?"
"No, just you two. I wanted to ask you to get to a power line inside the building. I have a hunch that your girl isn't just hanging out inside, and if I can get a look at the power draw for the building, I might be able to narrow down the search area for you. Although, if you could get attached to a console in a power room that would be best. And any time saved is a plus."
"You don't have to do that Rebecca." Zephyr answers.
"Well, I'm already ready to do it. Plus… I feel partially responsible for her having gotten caught anyway, so let me help get her out." Rebecca says firmly.
"Okay… What do you have on the building?" Zephyr asks.
"Not much yet. But once you're in and to a main electrical panel I should be able to get some more." She says over the comm link.
"If it matters we don't blame you at all. But here's our opening." Zephyr says as the two guard patrols pass each other and the two Assassins slip past them and with the help of Rebecca get in the locked door, "Glad you came in on this for a little, I'm much more confident in your skills on the hacking side than mine."
"Why thank you for the praise." She says as she waits for them to find an electrical panel.
It doesn't take the pair too long, and the guard presence in the lower halls is minimal at best, which is fortunate for the two Assassins making their way through a maze of tunnels following the signs to get to the electrical room. Once they arrive they can see the sign to a room that says security, where some voices are speaking. So Zephyr and Yusuf carefully enter the electrical room and Rebecca gets to work. Yusuf stays near the door and listens to the two people in the security room. He turns the volume on his comm earpiece down a ways.
"Man, things have gotten dull again." One of them says, he has a husky voice that carries well.
"You're only saying that because when she was trying to escape you got to use the gun." A lighter voice says, this one is less obviously gendered, it could be a man with a higher pitch, or it could be a woman with a lower pitch.
"That's not the only reason…" The man says, but when he doesn't continue his partner prods a little further.
"Oh, yeah? Then what else could it be?" They interrogate.
"Well, I'm not gonna lie, it was severely satisfying to watch all those uppity guards have their asses handed to them." The two laugh for a few minutes.
"No shit! That lot are always so arrogant to everyone else. Like their job is anything more than being glorified mall-cops. They literally just waltz around and sometimes goad the locked-up subjects. That girl almost escaping is probably the most exciting thing that has ever happened to any of them." The partner complains about the guard patrols.
"You're probably right, but I'm glad I never confronted her. Did you see some of the guys she took down?"
"Well, yeah. We were both were watching it happen in the corridor. She was faster than any Assassin I've ever seen."
"What are you talking about? You've never really seen an Assassin. And technically she isn't one anyway…" The man says, effectively ending their conversation. Then Zephyr taps his shoulder and Yusuf brings the volume on his earpiece back up a little bit.
"Alright, Rebecca is all set up she said the science area seems to have the largest power draw, with one room in particular having a strange amount of draw. She's just working on getting into the video surveillance system. She is going to guide us to the room using the floor plan she pilfered from the system. Are you ready?" Zephyr asks.
"Always." Yusuf answers with a grin.
At the direction of Rebecca the pair use mostly the service stairs and corridors throughout the facility to get to the science wing. Rebecca hadn't been able to access the surveillance system, but she did have access to camera locations, so she was able to guide them through all the way to the door of where they intend to be with virtually no run-ins with the guards.
"The security on this door seems a little tighter than the rest…" Zephyr says as he observes the panel next to the door.
"You're right, this one might take some time…" Rebecca says as she focuses on cracking the lock.
"Hopefully, we have enough…" Yusuf says as he watches down the hallway, hearing the low murmur of a conversation echoing from another corridor nearby. Then after a couple of minutes instead of a few seconds the door pops open.
The pair walk in and the room lights up revealing a computer system on one side and a kind tank in the middle of the room.
Inside the tank is Astraea. She is hooked up with a breathing apparatus as well as some other kinds of cords, and if that wasn't enough they also have her hands bound together and her ankles bound to the bottom of the tank. She seems to be wearing tight-fitting athletic-looking pants and a sports bra. Already Yusuf can see scars that hadn't been there the last time he saw her.
"Damn… That's not what I was expecting…" Zephyr goes over to the computer next to the tank.
"What did you find?" Rebecca asks.
"Astraea is in some kind of tank…" Yusuf answers her when Zephyr doesn't, "There appear to be cords attached to her."
"Dang… Zeph, are you at the computer?" Rebecca asks over the comms. He doesn't answer, he only begins to furiously type into the computer, "Zeph, let me on the computer before you end up telling the whole place you're there."
"Fine." Zephyr bites out in irritation. He gets his phone to the computer where things begin to happen on the screen.
"Alright, here it goes." She says, then the tank begins to drain, "But don't disconnect anything just yet. It looks like they've put her consciousness inside of an Animus connection with no memories… That's terrible, they've left her trapped in the Memory Corridor."
"What?" Zephyr growls, "Why would they do that? What could they gain from that?"
"What is the Memory Corridor?" Yusuf asks as he watches the level of the liquid in the tank lower, itching to destroy the whole thing and wrest her from the bindings.
"It is the space between entering an Animus and living the memories. It is a space where you can adjust to how the Animus feels and how it feels to be someone else. But without any memories the Memory Corridor is just a blank slate. An empty void." Rebecca answers over the link as Zephyr paces back and forth, "Alright, it should be okay to enter and disconnect her now." The tank pops open at the side and Yusuf pulls it open and goes in, Zephyr right behind him.
The pair quickly remove the bindings and cords. Yusuf removes his hoodie, slides her arms into the sleeves before he picks her up, and they exit the tank. As they do her eyes flutter open. And Yusuf's heart clenches as he is able to look once again into the deep green eyes. As he sits on the edge of the steps into the tank he realizes that it does feel as though it has been a long time since they were together.