The Memory Corridor is gone…
And… This scent… I know it. It's familiar to me… But where do I know it from?
It's like… A spice market.
There is a voice too, with each second it sounds less distant.
"I still don't understand why they would just have her in the Memory Corridor… What could they have wanted?" The voice, I know as well, but the voice and the scent aren't from the same person.
I pull my eyes open and meet a pair of glacial turquoise eyes looking down at me.
These eyes… It's been too long…
"Yusuf…" He gives a full and stunning smile as I say his name. He has set me down on the steps leading out of the tank and is sitting with me holding me upright with on hand behind me on my waist.
I try to bring my hand up to his face, but my body won't listen to me. A rush of memory comes to me, as I remember how I spent the last while of my life. I try again to hold his face in my hand, but I only manage a pitiful twitch, then as though he were reading my mind he takes my mind and moves it to his face for me. After a quick test to make sure that I can at least hold my hand up, he places his hand on my cheek. Feeling the warmth of his hand there I can't help but press my face against his hand. The sensation of his hand there brings a flood of memories and emotions and I just close my eyes hoping that this is all real.
"My Light… I…"
"I know, Najmay." I open my eyes to see his lips widen into loving smile that melts all of my anxieties away for a moment before I hear the voice of my brother speaking.
"But I just don't get it. If they had wanted to torture her for information there are hundreds of other ways to do that. And if they wanted to turn her to their side why stick her in some containment tank like a science experiment? And then, why the Memory Corridor? Surely studying her could have been done with her simply unconscious." Zephyr rants out all of his questions in a string of continuous talking without leaving any breath space for someone to answer at all. There is a strain to his voice. I look behind me at the tank. They would have entered the room and seen me inside the tank… I imagine that is why he sounds as though he is holding back a surging rage.
"They… They wanted to pry my memories out… They've been drugging me so that my mind would be manipulable. So that they could view my memories through the Memory Corridor…" I say as loudly as my voice will allow; I feel completely drained. My entire body aches and I can barely keep my eyes open. I try to slowly lower my hand but instead it simply slumps to my lap as I attempt to turn and fully face Zeph. Luckily, Yusuf is still on his mind reading streak and helps me turn to see my brother.
"Is that even possible? I thought that the Corridor was meant as an in-between to help ease people into the memories…" Zephyr exclaims perplexedly.
"I suppose if there were no memories loaded then it would just show whatever happened to come across the mind of the person inside the Corridor…" I hear the voice coming from near Yusuf's ear.
"Rebecca?" I say towards the comm link I now see in Yusuf's ear, "My, aren't you just settling right into the shoes of a modern Assassin?" I comment to Yusuf, my voice coming back to me little by little.
"I find myself both surprised and not surprised at the same time that you can hear me…" Rebecca's voice says over the link, "Through a comm link in another person's ear… That should only be barely loud enough for them to hear…"
"It's definitely not easy to pull one over on this girl…" Yusuf jokes before chuckling like he always does.
"Rebecca?" I ask towards the earpiece.
"Yeah?" She responds.
"You have access to the computer here already?"
"Absolutely." She affirms quickly.
"Erase it all. They cannot have any proof of what they found." I say firmly to her, "And if you can try to make sure that nothing sensitive about me left this facility. It's bad enough that apparently some higher up Templar is already on his way here."
"Can do…" She answers.
"What did they find?" Zephyr kneels down to look at me.
"They managed to get a drug that caused me to lose focus… They saw a whole bunch of my memories from my time with Astraeus and Eos… They didn't see enough to come to the correct conclusion, but I think they're hypothesizing that I could be some kind of Isu reincarnation like the Aita-Sages. Can you help me stand up?" I ask Yusuf as I get ready to be on my feet.
"Nope, you just admitted that the drugs they had used on you proved effective. I intend on carrying you." Yusuf stands up with me in his arms, I try squirming a little to stand up and protest, but then he clutches me tighter and the face he makes at me that causes all my words to get caught in my throat. Five hundred years and he can still get me to do whatever he wants with only a look.
"Wow… You're just going to let him carry you? I thought for sure you were just going to stand up anyway… Then all he had to do was look at you. And… Bam! I never thought I'd see you go along with that kind of thing so easily… You barely let Lio carry you before when you were nearly passing out from exhaustion. That was like magic." Zephyr jokes as we make our way to the door. I know he meant it well… But the information loaded in that joke causes Yusuf to give me his 'Seriously?' look.
"Shut your face." I glare at Zeph to avoid Yusuf berating glare; I can feel the blush starting to warm my ears.
"Alright, all files saved on any of the computers in the area even remotely linked to those files have all been either deleted or corrupted beyond saving. I even put a little present in if someone tries to get files out of that computer." Rebecca reports with a wicked giggle, "I will also try to see if any details got sent out in emails at all. Although, that one may take a little time."
"Good, let's get—" The lights on turn completely off, "out of here…" Zephyr says as the red security lights turn on.
"Huh… When I tried escaping the lights did the opposite… I wonder if they are hoping to keep us confused…" I remark as we begin to cautiously move through the space and to the doorway with Zephyr looking both ways down the hall, "If they find us just use me to block any tranquilizer darts… As much as I may want to fight… Yusuf is right… They definitely used strong drugs to have an effect on me like that and I don't know how the long term will affect me, so just try to not get tranqued yourselves." Yusuf makes a face at me about it, but I do my best you-know-I'm-right face and he just looks ahead instead. So instead of fighting it, he presses a throwing knife into my hand as a just-in-case measure.
"Hmm… It doesn't look like it was you guys setting off the alarm… Damn." Rebecca curses.
"What is it Rebecca?" Zephyr whispers into the comm.
"It looks like Lukas went off to the other side of the science wing…" Rebecca starts.
"Who is Lukas?" I ask the other two without getting an answer.
"Not sure what he was doing. Looks like your dad is ready with a helicopter, but… Lukas has a surprisingly good following. I'm going to get the rest of them in on the link with us." Rebecca says before there is a click sound over the comms.
"Dad, Lio?" Zephyr says into the link. Dad?!
"Zeph, did you find her?" Lio's voice chimes in.
"Yeah, where are we going?" Zeph asks.
"Where did you end up finding her?" Sweet mother of all things holy… Is that dad's voice? I look at Zeph's face and he looks back at me and shrugs.
"The science wing." Zeph confirms our general location. I tap the mute button on Yusuf's earpiece.
"Is my father here? What have you told him? Does he know?" I ask Yusuf, whose face gets a little guiltier each time.
"Yes… And perhaps that is best left for later…" He taps the mute button again so that he can hear and be heard. Which also means I can be heard. I narrow my eyes at him.
"Alright. That settles it. You guys head straight up, and I'll come your way once you're all ready to go. For now, I'll keep these guys entertained." A voice I don't recognize comes from the link and Zephyr answers.
"Okay, just don't get caught."
"Or killed. That would be bad too…" Yusuf adds with a chuckle.
"Back at'cha, boys." This Lukas adds before his comm link goes quiet.
"Alright, we're going up." Zephyr instructs as we begin to move.
"The nearest staircase up is around the corner on your left, it goes to the next floor and you'll have to get to another to get to the roof." Rebecca directs as I try to focus to see what enemies may lie ahead, but all I end up with is something I can only describe as feedback. It's like a squealing in my mind as everything goes blurry and my head drops against Yusuf's shoulder.
"Hey, are you alright?" Yusuf asks quietly.
"I will be… It looks like we have to go completely without the superpowers for a while Zeph…" I say as I try to overcome the dizziness that floods my head.
"Hopefully, it's just the drugs and having been semi not in your body for a while…" Zephyr says as we go through the space carefully, Rebecca giving instructions turn by turn.
Luckily, Lukas' distraction seems to be giving us all the help. We don't come across more than three Abstergo people and they were all plain workers that Zeph just knocks out. All three more or less shit themselves when we came across them.
As we get to the top of the stairs, I manage to convince Yusuf to let me walk next to him.
"Are you completely sure?" He asks for the fourth time between the top of the stairs and the door, behind which is the unmistakable sound of a helicopter.
And I find myself getting nervous of seeing my father. What can I even say to him now?
As we arrive at the helicopter, I see his face waiting to pull us up.
"Alright, Lukas! We're at the helicopter, make your way to us now!"
"On it!" I hear as Yusuf helps me up into the helicopter and my dad pulls me the rest of the way. Zeph and Yusuf both hop in and then we hear it. The near stampede as the one who must be Lukas barrels out of the door and does a hasty job of barring it before booking it towards the helicopter.
"Aquilo, get ready to leave quickly." Dad says into the comms, and Lio holds his thumb up in affirmation that he is ready to go on dad's word. And just as Lukas gets to us grasping Zeph's and Yusuf's hands, the door bursts open unleashing a flood of armed Abstergo agents. Along with one irate Zachariah Moore, whose face grows more enraged upon spotting me inside of the helicopter. I lean in closer to dad as we begin to take off, already too high for them to reach us as Lukas clambers the rest of the way into the helicopter.
"I don't think he's very happy about you stealing his favourite new toy." I joke, and dad just scoffs a little, hiding that he found it funny.
Behind Moore, a business dressed woman follows closely, Mesonyx… Or I suppose Adeline Harris now…
"Mesonyx…" I hear dad whisper; the pain of betrayal fills his voice.
"If you think we're going to just let you take this and leave… You are sorely mistaken. I won't let this happen Aiden!" He shouts before drawing a gun, then he only aims for a moment before firing. But I can see where it will hit.
So I pull my dad backwards and put myself in the path of the bullet then just before it hits me I whip the knife that Yusuf had given me straight at the maggot's neck. Then the bullet makes contact with my right shoulder which had only just healed in the tank from the sniper's shot.
I growl at the pain in my shoulder as we soar over the forest and away from the facility. And Lukas shuts the door on the side of the helicopter.
"Why on God's green Earth would you do that?!" My dad shouts at me as we get further away. He presses against the wound as blood flows from it.
"Najmay. I have told you time and again. You cannot be taking blows for others." Yusuf implores again.
"When did that— Arghh… Ever stop me?" I smile at him and he kisses my forehead.
"Never." He chuckles.
"This is not a laughing matter! You could bleed out from this!" My dad shouts.
"It will be okay, dad. Just—" I wince as he presses the open wound, "—please, get that bullet out of there."
"Not until we can stop the bleeding." My dad states.
"If you don't get the bullet out before the bleeding stops, then the wound will start to heal with the bullet still in there. Now please, in the name of all that is holy… Get. It. Out." I shout.
"Alright, alright. Relax, Lil' Sis'." Zephyr says as he brings the helicopter's first aid kit over to me. He pulls out an implement that is probably not designed for bullet extraction and looks at me, "Are you ready? This is not going to be pleasant." He says with a more serious tone. Yusuf moves the fabric of the, now ruined, hoodie aside, and I hear a gasp from my dad as my bare skin is shown revealing the scars already there. He looks me in the eyes, the look in his is an unbearable sadness so I look away for a few seconds until I'm sure he turns away as well.
"I'm just glad I don't have to do it myself." I avoid the look I spot growing on my dad's face as he tries to look me in the eyes again.
"Here it goes…" He announces, I grit my teeth and then he goes in and begins to fish for the bullet in my shoulder.
"Fuck… Malaka… Putik." I mutter profanities in as many languages as come to mind out to the world as Zephyr fails a few times to get the bullet, each failed attempt is another four swears in various world and historical dialects, "Neuken!" I shout as he makes contact with the bullet, "Alqarf! Good God! Do you need a metal detector?" Lukas snorts.
"Is that a thing?" Yusuf whispers the genuine question in my ear.
"Sranje! Sweet mother of pearl! Naida!" As Zephyr finally extracts the bullet.
"Nuri, could you apply pressure on it? I'm going to dress it now to contain her blood to her as much as possible… Since she seems to be so attached to it." Nuri? I look at Yusuf and he just grins as Zeph wraps up my shoulder.
"See, dad? It's okay… I'll be fine… Especially now that Edward Scissorhands here is finished butchering my arm." Lukas full on chortles at the remark.
"Well, Nuri…" Lukas claps Yusuf's back, "If this is your girl, I'd say you've got your hands full… But I'm having a hard time relating this girl to the… So described sweet, innocent, and caring Astraea that I've heard so much about… I don't think I've ever heard such colourful language… In so many languages…" I take a closer look at this Lukas, which he notices, "Right, we haven't actually been introduced before… I'm Lukas Avila, I've been with the Assassins for near on fifteen years now… I know you definitely know my cousin though. Emmett Ramos." Oh… Could he happen to share in his descendance from Yusuf? Is that why they're calling him Nuri?
"It's good to meet you Lukas. I feel like there could've been better circumstances for a first meeting, but thanks for the quality distraction for my handlers to get me out of there." I hold out my functioning arm to shake his hand.
"Handlers?" Zeph asks incredulously.
"No worries, quality distractions are my specialty." Lukas does a flourish of his hand before doing a dramatic bow, "But, since I'll be flying this hunk of junk away from all of you, I'm going to go take over for Aquilo. I expect I'll see more of you before long." Lukas shakes my hand briefly before walking towards the front of the helicopter to relieve Aquilo. He puts on a pair of the large headphones to talk with Aquilo about how to handle this specific machine.
"What's with being called Nuri? Is he a descendant or something?" I ask right away, without pausing to think about my dad being right there.
"Apparently so, Najmay." Yusuf wraps the sweater around my arms again. I spot his left hand sporting his ring and I can't help but reach out to it and slide my fingers over the surface of the ring, "You took very good care of these…" He comments as he grasps my hand.
"Ahem." Dad clears his throat and I look over to see him with his arms crossed, "That was not okay, Astraea. I don't ever want you to take a bullet for me ever again. If I get shot, then I get shot. That is a reality you need to face to be a part of all of this." I take a careful and deep breath to think before I speak, but mostly my mind is buzzing with anger.
"If I see something that is going to kill someone I love, but not me, then I am going to get in the way. I have had—" I catch myself before continuing and look over to the front of the helicopter to Lukas, "I'll explain more later on… But please know… I love you. I have for an exceptionally long time, and I'm not just going to let a bullet kill you when all it represents for me is a little bit of pain." I see conflict bloom on his face.
"Well… I expect I will get a full explanation of what exactly is going on… Sooner than later." Dad forcefully says as he turns to look out the window.
Yikes… Cold shoulder. I take a sharp breath in and Yusuf places a reassuring hand on my leg. I cross my arms and turn to look out the opposite side of the helicopter.
"Hey guys, we're almost at the boat now." Aquilo says as he climbs back from the front of the helicopter, "Uh… What's with the atmosphere in here?" He asks before he just sits down between Zeph and dad.
Lukas takes us down and in the darkness below us I can see a decently sized boat moored to some trees just off the rocky edge of a small inlet. Lukas takes us down until we are about three feet from the ground, and he turns back to say goodbye before we hop off.
Predictably, Yusuf goes mother-hen mode and insists on hoping off with me in his arms. Surprisingly, it goes really well.
"You've been working out to get your strength back then?" I ask and he just nods.
"Your brother gave me some useful tips on regaining my strength quickly after… Well." Yusuf says as we wave up at Lukas who waves quick before flying away. Zeph and Aquilo go and get the boat ready to go and dad hops onto the boat to get in running.
"Yeah… I'm sorry…" I hug him as fully as I've been able, the pain in my shoulder already down to a dull throb. He wraps his arms around me and squeezes. I have no words for how much I've missed this…
"You have nothing to apologize for… It was as though I were asleep."
"Oi! Lovebirds! Let's get this show on the road!" Aquilo shouts at us. God, do I ever I want to pummel him.
But he is right, we should keep moving. I sigh as Yusuf and I walk over to where they've got the boat ready to go and we hop from the edge of the rocks onto the boat. Aquilo waiting on the deck of the boat for us.
"I think you mean on the water. There is no road." Yusuf states matter-of-factly earning a chortle from Zephyr as he hops onto the boat behind us, and dad gets us moving.
"I mean… He's not wrong." Zeph laughs around his words and Aquilo is just standing there with a strained expression.
"What did I do?" Yusuf asks as we settle into a couple of the bench seats along the side of the boat.
"Well, 'let's get this show on the road' is a figure of speech. It basically means get your asses moving. Like when you used to give out orders to you Assassins, and they wouldn't always get at it right away, so you would have to—"
"Ah, I see. Makes a little more sense now…"
"I'm surprised to see how quickly you picked up English though… Did you actually remember some of what I taught you before? It wasn't much…" I ask him.
"Ah, sorry Najmay… I couldn't remember much at all." Yusuf confesses, "It seems along with not dying, I have gained an affinity for language."
"Oh… Well, I guess that kind of makes sense… That is one thing that has always come easily to me, even more so since the whole… Thing." I say vaguely noticing that dad is half listening. I can feel a grogginess beginning to settle in my mind now that I'm not actively being chased.
"Najmay… You need to rest." Yusuf urges putting a hand on my shoulder lightly.
"I'll be fine…" I place my hand on his for reassurance.
"It may have been a while. But I know how you are, that was a lot of lost blood, even for you. Now, rest." Yusuf orders more forcefully. He's right, this is what he had to do then too when I had gotten more serious injuries. He often had to force me to rest the proper amount. Because I don't take as good of care of myself as I should.
"I'll be fine… Shouldn't we at least finish getting away first?" I say, but like a spell, I can feel my eyes getting heavier as the blood loss settles in further.
Then I feel Yusuf pull me in closer, it's so warm. And comforting.
I feel my head tip back against his shoulder, then I fall asleep.
"Najmay… How many times do I have to tell you?" Yusuf chides as he cleans up the fresh wound that is little more than a scratch, "You should not be throwing yourself in front of killing blows. At best you could actually end up seriously injured, at worst you could expose yourself to the Templars as something worth taking." He begins to wrap it up.
"I know… But… If I see something I can survive but would kill an innocent or a friend, I'm not just going to let them die. I also do my best to take the blows in a way that seem survivable. But I spent too many years letting people I could have saved die because of what happened with the Greek soldiers. That made me more a monster than anything… Saving people when the opportunity is in front of me helps me feel like less of a monster." He brings the cream-coloured Assassin robe over my shoulder.
"You are no monster." Yusuf replies tersely.
"Perhaps I should begin to wear one of the masks? And if I ever take a blow that no one should survive, then we could change my robes."
The memory melts away and reforms into a brawl.
I spot the large Templar bearing the polearm weapon moving towards Kasim menacingly through the delicate swirls of the mask. I begin to run. He is one of the last Templars, seemingly aiming to take as many Assassins down with him as possible. The Templar pulls the spear backwards readying to impale Kasim who is finishing off the last sword-wielding Templar.
I won't let Kasim die here.
"Kasim!" I shout, then shove him out of the way as the Templar launches the spear forward. I feel the initial jolting pain of it impaling me in the midriff and blood begins to fill my mouth as I watch him get taken down by Kasim and two other Assassins. Seeing as we can't walk me to the headquarters with the spear in my gut, I tear it out and cinch my sash as tightly around the wound as I can. I see the blood already soaking through it and realize that I won't be able to walk myself all the way back to the headquarters…
"Yusuf, is going to be deeply angry…" I say as Kasim runs over to me putting my arm around his shoulder. Especially since he kept me off of any jobs for a week with no injuries a couple of months ago over what he felt was a close call…
"The real question is at whom he will direct this anger…" Kasim replies as another Assassin puts my arm over their shoulder as their arm goes around my back.
"I'll be fine, eventually… But he won't be happy with the middle parts… I'm probably going to pass out from losing too much blood before we get back…" I confess to Yusuf's lieutenant.
"So, what you're saying is that it's me… I'm going to be the one to receive his ire…" I chuckle as much as I'm able, then the world gets fuzzy for a moment.
I hear Kasim order an Assassin to go ahead to let Headquarters know what's coming, and the beginning of him telling a couple of others to scout ahead and watch for trouble… But the words fade into nothing.
Then the world fades away with my blood.
A pressure at my hand brings me to open my eyes. I look over to my hand to see Yusuf laying his head on it. His is sound asleep until I move my fingers and he stirs.
He opens his eyes, and once he realizes what he's looking at he smothers me with a desperate embrace. His scent fills the space around us.
The scent surrounds me… The scent reminiscent of the spice market.
And I'm so warm… I haven't felt this comfortable in a bed in a long, long time.
"Najmay…?" The sound of his voice brings me into euphoria, and I can't stop the smile that pulls at the corners of my lips, "Najmay… I can see you're awake now…" His hand on my shoulder gives a light squeeze.
"No, I'm not…" I wrap my arms around him, keeping my eyes closed, and putting my head on his chest.
"Oh? You are still asleep, and responding to me? How talented you are, Najmay." He chuckles.
"I don't want to open my eyes to wake up alone in my apartment or maybe back in the Memory Corridor… With all of this having been a dream." I confess with my eyes still closed, I feel him shift a little bit and then I feel him kiss my head.
"I assure you; this is no dream…" He brushes my hair away from my face, "I want to hear everything. Again. You told me everything about you once, and now I find I get to hear it again." He continues to play with my hair, the same way he always did, "Now open your eyes, Najmay…"
I slowly open my eyes… Dreading to see the ever-undulating surface of the Memory Corridor, but when I do I find myself in a regular bedroom with a bedside table lamp as the only light in the room, and only the darkness of night out the window.
I sit up and look at him.
"There…" His hand comes up to my cheek, "Now I can see your eyes." His smile is overflowing with love and his turquoise eyes fill me with light all over again.
"My Light…" I manage to whisper as I place my hand over his on my face and reach with the other to his, "I… I never in my dizziest daydreams thought that I would ever see you again." I turn myself and throw my arms around him, holding onto him as though he were about to disappear again. And I can't help but cry. I cry from the hard years, from centuries of only being half of myself, and from the sheer joy flooding my being.
"I know… I'm sorry for how hard these years must have been… But I hope that my letter at least got to you." He gently holds me, rubbing my back while I release everything all at once, "It's okay… I'm not going anywhere." He reassures me before hugging me a little tighter, as though he were also reassuring himself.
We sit together on the bed for hours. I tell him all about my five hundred years since I had been in Istanbul. And he tells me all about his last few weeks with my brothers at first, then with my dad, and then finally the cramped trip to come rescue me. The only hiccup being how he dances around any changes he has noticed about himself.
He also tells me that they did end up having to let my dad in on some of the details… But that they had done their best to convince him that it would be better if I tell him the rest. They had been fairly vague on most of it, but dad was now in the know that Yusuf has ties to me. Namely that somehow or another I was in Istanbul during the 16th century. And that no… I am not the same daughter I once was.
I had asked for my ring back, but he said he wanted to borrow it for a little longer, although he did make a point of letting me know that my hidden blade is back in my bag with my other belongings.
Over and over I kept just staring at him, marveling at his presence, basking in the feeling of him being near once again; still half convinced I'm dreaming.
Then, before I knew it, the sun was rising. So I hopped into the shower of the small bathroom attached to the room we were in. Suffice it to say that this west coast safehouse is a fancier stay than the Albertan prairies safehouse that Emmett and I used.
The whole shower I worry about how I am going to broach the subject of the truth with my dad… He is a very logical person, and this truth doesn't seem very logical… I'm banking on the fact that Yusuf being five hundred years old helps my case.
I step into the bedroom again and Yusuf is sitting on the bed with my laptop in front of him.
"How did you open that?" I ask as I sit down. Not because there's anything I need to hide from him on it… But more because I have a fairly good lock and the hint isn't displayed anywhere.
"We had need of it at one point for Rebecca to show us something… She found the hint and for me the answer was pretty obvious." Yusuf closes the lid and places it on the bedside table.
"Well… Aren't you adjusting nicely…" I comment as I sit myself next to him on the bed.
"Your brothers have been an enormous help for me."
"You know you don't have to use English with me, right?" I comment as I lean onto his shoulder.
"Of course, but I think I need to practice if I'm going to come across as the person they've created for me on paper." Yusuf answers.
"Nuri…"
"Yes."
"On paper… Are they getting you passports and whatnot made?"
"Naturally, this world seems a lot harder to disappear in." He comments.
"It is very connected. Unless you're in the remote areas of the world there aren't a lot of places to be where someone doesn't know. What surname did you choose?"
"Reis." He says simply. The answer hits me like a ton of bricks.
"Because of Piri?" I ask quietly. For me, Piri died a long time ago… I had bid my final farewells and mourned the loss of a friend. But for Yusuf it would seem like it was only weeks ago that he last spoke to his good friend.
"Yes…" He answers.
"Oh, Yusuf… I'm sorry…" I hug him, and while it takes a moment I feel his arms come around me and squeeze tightly. Not for my comfort this time. But for his. All of his friends… And his Assassins. Effectively his family. They are gone. This is a pain I am deeply familiar with. We sit like that for a while, once or twice he buries his face in my shoulder. After he sits back again and gives me small smile.
"To me it seems like it were just a little while ago. I have been trying not to think about it too much." He confesses in his antiquated Turkish.
"For me… I find it helps if I make a point of remembering them. Because maybe if there is even just one person still thinking of them, just maybe they aren't ever really gone." I want to take him to Turkey. In the eighteenth century I had been visiting Turkey and planted a tree in memory of those I had been with there… Yusuf included. But also for Kasim, Piri, Szofia, and so many others. So I want to show him that… But I don't know if it's really a good idea to go to Istanbul and other areas of Turkey, seeing as it had only just been a hot spot of Abstergo activity, and they tend to linger.
"Thank you." He returns to English.
"So… Who is Nuri Reis? I feel like I should know the identity of the person who is effectively my boyfriend." I ask, bringing a smile back to his face.
"Well. Nuri Yusuf Reis is a Canadian whose parents immigrated from Istanbul before they conceived him. He is the kind of person who is smart but not good at school—We had to think of a reason for me not knowing certain things, but since I learn quickly I couldn't very well be stupid." Yusuf explains, this is sounding like a very logical breakdown for how my brothers and father must have created his present version. They've even thought to include Yusuf in his name in case of slip-ups, "He Has a degree in art history from a large university somewhere in Ontario… But his GPA wasn't very sparkling, so he never stuck out in any of his classes. He took a minor in business. He has previously worked as a personal trainer since he couldn't get a job right out of school." He thinks hard for a moment, "Those are the things your brothers and dad came up with to suit my skills and manner. Other than those things, I am still me." I look at him in his striking turquoise eyes.
"Yes. Yes you are." Then I lean in and kiss him deeply.