Hello everyone! Would you believe this is the last chapter! I hope you enjoying this conclusion and I ask that you please check out my Author's Note chapter after this to participate in a surprise!
Thank you so much for reading my story and I hope you've enjoyed it!
"Hey!" A shout comes from the other side of the closed door. I scowl at the door where the shout came from, and Yusuf just chuckles at me, "Are you two staying in there all day or what?" Lio's voice continues from the other side of the door.
"What's it to you?!" I shout back at the door and the only reply is a laugh that gets quieter as it walks away. I huff before squishing myself closer to Yusuf.
"You know… Now that you're awake you probably should go and tell everything to your father…" Ugh…
"Oh God…" I dramatically flip myself over and cover my head with the blankets.
"You know you have to tell him eventually… Why put it off?" Yusuf asks while placing a hand on my arm.
"Because I didn't think that I would have to tell him for twenty or so years… Now… I don't know… I guess I just don't feel ready… Especially with how Lio took to start."
"He deserves to know the truth. It was your father who told us that you had been taken by Abstergo in the first place after all." Yusuf points out the fact that without my dad I would entirely likely still be in that tank, probably being examined by whoever Moore's boss is… I remember his last name was Harris because that's the same name that Nyx—Adeline—seems to have adopted. But his first name escapes me.
"I know that… But… I guess I just don't want to see him hurting from my truth is all… Because I could see how much it pained my mom… I almost couldn't finish telling her… It was so hard." I curl up a little at the edge of the bed and Yusuf rubs my back in comfort, "I don't want that for my dad."
"Even so… After all the effort he gave to save you, and what happened when we were leaving that place… I believe it is your responsibility to tell him the truth."
"Why do you always have to make so much sense?" I ask Yusuf bitterly.
"What can I say? I'm just an incredibly logical person."
"How long did I sleep anyway?" I ask trying to divert the topic a little.
"We arrived here yesterday at around four in the morning… And you woke up a little after one this morning. Considering that you fell asleep on the boat—"
"Gee… I wonder whose fault that is?" I comment sarcastically.
"You slept for probably twenty-two or so hours." He continues without missing a beat at my comment, "So you should really get ready to tell your dad." Yusuf deftly brings us back to the exact probably I was wanting to ditch.
"Fine… But I think I want you there for support…"
"Of course, Najmay. I will always be there to help you…" Now… I finish in my head. He will be coping with this drastic change to his life for a while… And so I must also be as supportive as I can. Even if that might end up meaning that he feels the need to… Leave.
Nope. I'm not even going to let that sit in my mind…
But…
What if he did decide that… That he wanted…
I mean I know that I've been all over the place since I got changed…
Would it be so impossible if he decided that…
"Najmay?" His voice breaks through my dangerous line of thought, "You cannot lay here forever instead of talking to your father." I chuckle a little bit.
"Dang… Foiled again! You saw right through my devious plan…" I roll back over and let my arm flop over his chest. I feel his chest shake with his laughter as he takes the initiative to get out of the bed and then he begins to pull me from it. "Nnnughhhh…"
"I suspect you will want to get dressed before you address your family…" I let him pull me into standing position. And I look down at my underwear clad body.
"You may have a point." I go over to my bag and fish out the last clean clothes to put on.
"I am going to have a shower before going down…"
"I feel like I missed out on teaching you a whole bunch of your firsts… You know how to shower… You have a smartphone. You were even surfing the internet on my laptop…" Yusuf laughs.
"I'm sure there are plenty of firsts yet to come my love." While I put on my clothes he gets ready to hop in the shower, but then he pauses, "Najmay?"
"Hmm?" I respond while brushing my hair tame.
"I would like to go to Istanbul."
"I'm not surprised to hear that… But… I don't know if that's really a good idea yet. We will have—"
"I know we will have a lot of time, but I… I think I want some closure about it." I sigh a little, I think it is a bad idea… What if there is still high Abstergo activity… I don't want to give a trail to follow.
"I'll think on it some more… And maybe I'll take a look into where Abstergo is active…"
"Okay. We can talk about it more later." Yusuf compromises before stepping into the shower. I dawdle for a few more minutes in the room before I make my way down to the kitchen.
"Good morning." I hear dad say to me as I enter the kitchen, he is at the table flipping through a few folders of papers.
Yusuf told me that we had arrived at this safe house hidden in the forests along the central-west coastline of Vancouver Island in the morning yesterday. Consequently, I had slept until just after midnight and we had stayed up talking until sunrise. Then I had hopped in for a shower to get any remaining blood off of me and to wash away my time in that tank device. It was about half-an-hour ago that Aquilo interrupted my post-five-hundred-year-withdrawal cuddle-fix.
"Morning, dad." I reply automatically, as I open the near barren cupboards and find an unopened box of cereal. Yusuf did say that the twins had gone to the nearest town to grab some simple groceries. I reach up to the cupboard to grab a bowl and I hear dad take a breath. Oh dear…
"I said it before, I'm going to say it again. Never take a bullet for me again." He says firmly. After a rush of anger, I manage to calm down before clunking the bowl down on the counter.
"Dad?" I look at him and don't say anything until he looks up from the papers at me, "Look at my shoulder." I say shortly, "There is barely a pink mark left now. I have healed completely in less than forty-eight hours. Can you tell me that you could do the same? Take a bullet in the shoulder and be back to full working order in less than two days? Can you tell me that it definitely wouldn't kill you? Now, tell me, in what way does it not make sense for me to take a bullet when I know that not only will I most certainly survive, but I will be completely healed in only a couple of days? Because to me, taking a bullet for my father, dealing with a few minutes of pain, and still having a father at the end seems like a good deal to me. I will never stand idly by and let a loved one die in front of me, especially from something I can take and survive easily." I grab the cereal and pour it into the bowl. Dad remains silent as I grab the milk and pour it as well. Then I make my way to the table. All more aggressively than I had perhaps planned on.
"So… You're a Sage, right? Like how Aita's DNA was joined with that of a human by Juno? When did you start gaining the memories of the Isu? And evidently past other lives…" Dad asks as I sit down at the table with my bowl of cereal.
"Huh?" I say before even really registering what he said, "Who told you that?"
"Well, your brothers and Yusuf told me that you had been in Istanbul during the early sixteenth century… And the only way that really makes sense is if you are some kind of Sage being reborn throughout time." He replies, with fair logic. "It would also explain the sudden change between when I last saw you and now."
"Hey, be fair. The last time you saw me was right after New Year's in 2017. I was still working on myself with Venus then." I defend past-me. I had been doing really well then.
"Okay. But by the sounds of things, my guess is incorrect. But if that's the case then how could it be that you were in Istanbul in the sixteenth century? I've viewed the Ezio memories from that time period, I don't recall seeing you." Again, very logical. He has all the same fiery stubborn belief as Aquilo but it's being tempered by experience.
"That would be because something changed when she came back to us." Aquilo states as he sits down next to dad, "Something about her changed the Ezio memory sequences, we discovered that, and I went through them. Although, we didn't realize that it had been her presence that changed it until after I finished them…"
"And you didn't mention this before… Because…?" Dad asked pointedly.
"A lot of this stuff needs explaining with her at least here." Aquilo says calmly, then he reaches into his pocket and places my phone and my bracelets on the table and slides them over to me.
"Thanks, Lio… I appreciate that, thank you for taking care of them." I smile at him.
"Fine, but if you are not a Sage, then I would like a full explanation. Especially on how your arm is already healed." Dad says with finality.
"Well… I was going to wait until Yusuf got down here… He is just finishing up in the shower." I pause and look at the papers that keep drawing his attention, "And you'll want to put all that away too…" He closes all the folders and stacks them neatly on the corner of the table. Dang it. I was hoping that that would have at least given me some more time.
"And I'm sure I heard plenty from that end of your story already." He says curtly, he's getting impatient about it… And I guess I understand why…
"Alright." I take a deep breath in and try to sort through the jumbled mess in my mind. Then a pair of hands settle on my shoulders before Yusuf sits down next to me. As he sits, we make eye contact and I find the some of worries floating in my mind grow quiet.
"Well… For starters, I guess I'll clarify that no, I am not any kind of Sage. I honestly try to avoid the Sages, Aita or otherwise. I met Aita back then and must've made enough of an impression that the Sages who gain his memories and don't lose their minds almost always recognize me. I had suspected it when I came across the first couple I had met, but they didn't mentally survive the memories well. It had been when I met the pirate, Bartholomew Roberts, that he was able to identify me. Quite readily."
"Hold on. Did you say you had met Aita?" He sits forward in his chair, "That is impossible, that was more than seventy thousand years ago. Not mention Bartholomew Roberts… And you were born on August 25, 1992. I remember because I held you. And then I helped to raise you. Now, I know there were times that I maybe should have been more present and wasn't but…"
"Dad. You did perfectly as my father. What happened was out of anyone's control." I say to at least reassure him that he was the father I needed as much as any father could be.
"And what exactly happened?" He asks looking at me from across the small table.
"It happened the day of the ferry thing." I start, "I had never come back out of the water." Dad makes a confused face. And I go into as best an explanation as I feel I can give. Certain details I leave out, mostly because they are not important to the actual topic and will only upset him. And I can only hope that the guys pick up on my signals. At one point, Zeph had arrived and helped me rephrase a few things to dad; popping in information he had that he felt would be beneficial.
After I finish speaking, dad just sits there massaging his temples.
"So that was really you? The mystery person who took out the Abstergo strike team that had ambushed my brother and new wife." He murmurs.
"Yeah… I had no idea of course… Since no one had ever told me that our family is deeply rooted in the Assassins." I remind him.
"Do you think that would have changed anything? Knowing about your heritage beforehand, I mean." He questions and I can just look at him and answer as fully as I'm able.
"I don't think it would have, no. It has been a very consistent thing that I've been drawn to the fight between the Templars and the Assassins. And more often than not, I end up helping the Assassins. I may not have done certain specific actions… But overall no, not many changes." Yusuf leans over to me and I look at him, his face wearing a large shit-eating grin. I narrow my eyes in suspicion.
"I told you so." He state simply, and I just release a sigh of exasperation earning good laughs from Lio and Zeph.
"Did you two teach him that?" I look between the two and they comically avoid my gaze.
"I always said that you seemed like a natural born Assassin, so many times I told you that, and now look." He gestures to all of them, "Your family, they are Assassins." I put my elbow on the corner of the table and lean over to him. He leans a little closer to hear.
"You're not going to let this go, are you?" I ask him with a strained smile, and he just closes the distance between our faces.
"Not. A. Chance." He enunciates very slowly before planting a quick kiss on my lips. "Related to Ezio no less."
"So then… Rather than Yusuf being way too old for you, it's really the other way around…" Dad starts saying, and I look at him incredulously, "You are wildly too old for him. That can be legal." The twins start laughing so hard that they fall off their chairs.
"That's okay with me, I don't mind older women." Yusuf says with a perfectly straight face, and his face stays that way for about thirty seconds before he laughs as well and even dad joins in on the laughing.
"Why does it feel like all this laughter is at my expense?" I comment between breaths of laughter. "Now, that all that is out there, I'm going to go for a walk…" I announce to the room of laughing men.
"Sure thing, Lil' Sis'." Zeph says. I stand up, and glance at my poor, forgotten bowl of now mushy cereal that got moved to the counter halfway through the discussion, and go for a walk, lamenting my lack of breakfast, and walk to the back door of this seaside cottage safehouse.
I begin to stroll down a small path, more likely used by deer and other wildlife but suitable enough for me too.
It took all the way until the afternoon to get it mostly out. I don't think that I'll be able to tell them everything the way I have to Yusuf, not any of them. Things like being sunk to the bottom of the Caspian, being impaled on a spear, and the amount of blood that stains my hands are things most of them can live without knowing.
Yusuf knows all of those things… Mostly because towards the beginning I think I had been trying to have him look away from me in disgust. But no matter what I said, he never did turn me away in disgust, everything I said to him would just end with him saying how he is glad that I had opened up to him. And eventually that sealed the deal for him. I'd been falling in love with him the entire time, but I had been so convinced that I couldn't be loved, that all it would take is for him to hear the single wrong thing before casting me out… I had been waiting for, and waiting for it… But he never did. He only ever sat and listened patiently, all he ever wanted was to know me better.
I look up and see a break in the treeline ahead and make my way over to it.
When I get there I discover it's a cliff that drops into the ocean, with the sound of the waves beating against the bottom of the cliff. To the right, the cliff rise even higher, and to the left, they are a steady decline to what looks like a small beach. I sit myself down with my legs hanging over the edge of the cliff.
"Mind if I join you?" I hear from behind, and see dad come from the forest.
"I don't mind." I say before looking back out to the ocean then he sits down next to me.
"So, you got married, huh?" He states more than questions, and I just chuckle.
"Not really… I think it was something we both wanted for the future, but at the time… The Templars had been returning to the city in droves as Byzantines. It felt like a slippery slope from bad to worse with each passing year and we both knew that we had to commit to the Brotherhood. So we did a handfast… We exchanged rings and made promises in front of the other Assassins. But we never did get the chance to officially get married." I reassure my dad.
"So… I can still walk you down the aisle then?" He asks with his hands wringing in his lap, I shuffle myself closer and lean my head on his shoulder.
"Of course you can… If you want to. You'll always be my dad…" He puts his arm around my shoulders.
"Although… I admit, I'm really not sure what to think of it all…" He admits, "I feel like I have always approached things fairly logically… Perhaps not with the same calculatedness that William has always relied on, but within reason. But all this…" He sighs, "To be frank, I really don't know how to approach this. It's felt like I haven't been your dad for longer than you've been like this, and I know that. But now that gap feels so unbridgeable."
"I think I understand where you're coming from with that… But I want you to know, that I never blamed you for me losing interest in all of that stuff… When we were kids, I mean, the others…" I begin.
"I know… I would be lying if I said I hadn't seen some of it. You were a prodigy. We could all see it, your mom and I, your teachers at school, your instructors in extra classes, and your siblings. I wondered what had made them act the way they did as children, but now I think I can see it clearer. It had always been Mesonyx leading the pack, and then you came along. By the time you began taking the classes as they all had, she had been taking them for seven years. Then… Bam, just like that." He snaps his fingers, "Within the years, you were as skilled at six as she had been at ten years. You almost beat her in a sparring bout at seven years old and she was already fourteen. After that she began to treat you badly."
"And now… Dad…" I start with the topic of everything that recently happened between her and I. For me, I don't remember any sparring bouts from when I was seven. But for her, she would have been fourteen… Her confidence would have been affected by that…
"I know… Rebecca showed us the footage from the tower in Vancouver of her drugging you. How did that work though? If you healed that gunshot wound so quickly your metabolism must be through the roof, so how did a syringe of drugs actually knock you out?" Dad doesn't miss a beat… Just like mom… And because of genetics, the rest of my family.
"Well, we did have to basically fight our way to the first floor… I can handle around twelve regular tranquilizer darts or so before I feel the effects. I had taken somewhere around twelve in the fight outside the elevators so waited there to stall them while I let my body process the tranquilizer. I'd already had my escape route planned, I only needed to keep Moore talking for another two or three minutes. Then I would've been fine to take a couple more darts as I escaped. But then Mesonyx… Adeline she calls herself now, dropped in behind me. I had thought she was there to back us up… But then." I shrug.
"Hmm…" He says and we sit next to each other for a few minutes before he asks, "Did she say why she did it?" I look over at him and he is just looking down to waves below us.
"Are you sure you want to hear that?" I ask simply.
"Yes. I want to know what ultimately caused her to betray us." He answers softly as I watch his shoulders slump, he's not sure he wants to hear it… But he feels like he needs to hear it. And in that case, is it really my place to refuse?
"Okay…" I comply, "She said that while she had been tracking remnants of the Instruments she came across a Templar with a similar task. They had come across the same lead and we both tracking it, so they conceded to work together to deal with the Juno Cult members that are trying to cling to the shadows." I pause and look at him, his jaw is tightly clenched, "They fell in love." I say simply, "And she became infatuated with the idea of becoming her own person and…" I pause because if I say it the way she did it will hurt him… I look as his hands, the knuckles white as he wrings them together. I suppose this is going to hurt no matter how I say it.
"And…?" He chokes out for me to continue.
"It seems she has decided that she feels as though you and mom fabricated who she was and her future in the Brotherhood. She became infatuated with the idea that with the Templars she could build herself as she feels she was meant to be, and not as a part of some plan you and mom had for all of us. She told me that… That she has felt for a long time that she never felt like she belonged among the Assassins… And all of us." I finish.
"I had no idea she felt that way… What a failure of a father I've become." He says while running a hand through his hair.
"Dad." I put a hand on his shoulder, "I said it earlier, and I'll say it again." I repeat the words he said to me earlier, "You have always been and will always be my dad." He turns and smiles at me before pulling me into a long hug.
"You have always seemed wise, you and Zephyr. But now that you have a few thousand years under your belt… I never said this enough when you were little, but I am proud of you. Later, for the record, I'll need you to fill out a sort of… Debriefing report… But, for the sake of believability you should probably leave out the whole… Immortal business and only mention what you think they wanted and what they did. Maybe also don't say anything of past memories… Also, we are leaving as soon as we have a location to meet up with your mother." He releases me from the hug and stands up to leave, "It seems your man has need of you. He said you told him all about us back then, I find it strange that someone from so long ago had been hearing about me…" He muses as he walks back through the forest to the cabin.
And I hear the pair meet in the woods, but I focus on the sounds of the waves to give them as much privacy as I can. Then after a few minutes, I hear the rustling of the bushes as Yusuf walks over to me. He silently sits down next to me and I just lean against him.
"A little different from looking out over Galata?" I ask him.
"Just a little…" He jokes as he puts an arm around me, "At least this part hasn't changed." He says before he leans around and kisses me briefly.
"I never did fall in love again… I suppose you stole my heart too thoroughly." I tease.
"Well… I suppose that is a good thing now. I don't have any competition." He manages to keep a straight face for all of thirty seconds before he begins to laugh, and I can't help but join him.
"I missed you… I never thought I'd get the chance to laugh with you again." I repeat for probably the hundredth time since we've been together again.
"I saw a beach down there, would you like to walk to it, Najmay?" He suggests pointing towards the beach I had noticed earlier.
"That sounds nice…" I say as he stands up and then lowers a hand to help me stand as well, "Oh, so gentlemanly." I tease.
"I aim only to please." He jokes as he gives a dramatic flourish before going into a deep bow.
"The whole thing with my dad went a lot smoother than I was imagining…" I say as we begin to trek downwards to the beach, "I think I told you before, but he is a very logical person. I really wasn't sure what to expect from him, but I'm glad it went smoothly. Although, I still kind of wish that things had turned out differently, I had been so sure of this next couple of decades to spend with my family. No Templars, no Assassins, and no secret wars."
"Ah, but then what would have become of me?" He asks.
"Whelp. I suppose you'd still be six feet under." I tease, and then I take his hand in mine as we walk along the cliff edge, "I am glad that things took this turn, I feel less… Weighed down having shared everything with my family… And I can't even begin to describe how I feel having another chance to be with you. I'm just sorry that I left you down there… I know how it is… To be like—" Yusuf interrupts me by coming around in front of me and kissing me silent.
"Do not apologize. You remember being sent under the water; I had essentially been asleep when I got buried. It was not your fault." He says while holding my face centimeters from his.
"But it is my fault that you are living like this now… I poisoned you like some kind of radioactive substance; I infected you with my power. Now you'll never be quite who you were before." I explain my apology to him.
"It's a good thing I read about Marie Curie while you were sleeping I guess." He jokes and chuckles before kissing my forming protest silent, "You had millennia alone that changed you, you were betrayed, and hurt, and tortured before you met me… You once told me that I had helped to bring back some of what you used to be, and I think for me, just you being here will keep me who I am." Then he just takes my hand and pulls me along to the beach. Meanwhile, I'm stuck a minute ago, still dizzy from the two remarkably close together kisses.
"How is it that you still hold so much sway over me?" I murmur to his back; he just looks back and smiles. It's the same smile that has always stolen my breath and emptied my thoughts.
It's been a couple more days now, no word on how the facility is managing its breakout, but dad said that there are people from the Brotherhood keeping their eyes on it.
I don't imagine after all this help that they will just let me fade into the background. Nor will Abstergo of course… I can't shake the feeling that there might have been more to their desperation to keep me than simply wanting to study me more… It's the nagging sensation that this is far from over with Zachariah Moore and whoever the shadow is that stands above him.
"So you mentioned you were often drawn to the Assassin-Templar conflict… Can you tell me about a couple of them?" Dad sits down on the sandy beach next to me, breaking my reverie.
"Hmm… Well, I've been drawn to it for longer than each party has called themselves Templars or Assassins. I interacted with one of the people who began the Hidden Ones. Only briefly, but briefly enough that I saved him. I managed to avoid the stuff going on during the Crusades, but I had become close with one of Altair's sons… Before he was killed by the Assassins. That took me to Masyaf for the first time. And I met Altair, both of us looking for answers on the same death."
"Wow… What was Altair like?"
"Usually too serious for his own good. But occasionally he would have a moment of humour that would either get an entire room laughing or would fall flatter than two-week-old roadkill." I chuckle a little at some memories.
"This is so strange; it all sounds so unbelievable and yet I can tell by the look on your face that this actually all happened. I'll leave you to the memories for a while… It looks like I've brought on a bunch of them…"
"No, you can stay and ask more if you want."
He asks me further about some of the more notable Assassins in history, most of whom I've met at least once. He chat for a couple of hours until Yusuf comes to the beach and we talk some with dad about my time with Yusuf in Istanbul until dad's phone rings and he excuses himself from the conversation.
"Najmay…"
"Yusuf?"
"Have you thought more about going to Istanbul? I really believe it is best if we go there sooner rather than later."
"Well… I looked at activity and there is still a little but no more than normal really… I just don't know… I love Istanbul too, but I don't want to lose you more."
"It would take an army to remove me from your side, please think about it some more. I honestly believe it is important for me to go there." I think so to… but I can't seem to shake this nervous feeling over it all and it's making me want to go hide in some remote location for a decade… But that isn't an option now. Yusuf pecks my forehead before standing and leaving for the cottage while I watch the sea gulls soar in the kind winds.
Sitting on the porch, I look out over the water of the Pacific Ocean.
This has been a peaceful break from my last few months… I think I was starting to need this.
"Say, Najmay…" Yusuf starts as he comes onto the porch sounding like he means to ask something he isn't sure of how I will react to.
"Yes?" I answer hesitantly without looking over at him approaching, knowing that even on a good day it's nearly impossible to refuse him anything. And he has been getting more insistent on going to Istanbul. And with each time he asks it gets harder to stick to my guns. And… I'm sure he knows it too.
"I was wondering whether we could spare some time soon to go see Istanbul."
"Yusuf… I don't know if that's a good—" I start saying as I turn to face him only to see the most convincing puppy-dog eyes I have ever witnessed. The rest of my words get thoroughly caught in my throat. Silently I stand and walk over to him. His eyes never wavering but a mischievous smile slowly growing on his face.
"Who taught you THAT?" I ask as I cover his eyes so I can at the very least answer without coercion. If he had made eye contact with that before asking I would have let a 'yes' simply fall from my lips. I would have agreed to anything he asked me.
"Does that mean it's working?" He asks grinning wildly and without removing my hand from his face but taking a step closer and scooping me up into his arms and drowning my protests with his kisses.
When he finally stops, I just glare into his eyes.
"Who taught you puppy-dog eyes?" I ask seriously.
"Your brothers." He grins with his response.
Ugh…
The sounds of my brothers laughing nearby is telling enough of that truth.
Now it's been a couple more days and we can't seem to escape the stares and comments from the twins. And we are just walking in from another attempt to escape them, we had once again stayed in the forest and on the beach until the sun had set.
"OoooOOooo… I was beginning to wonder if you guys were aiming for a romantic starlit night on the beach…" Lio jokes, following up with exaggerated smooching sounds.
"Oh, so mature." I shake my head as we go into the kitchen with the twins trailing along.
"You were certainly outside for a long time…" Zeph points out as he leans against the counter.
We linger in the kitchen chatting for a while. Or rather, the guys all chatter and I just stand there taking in the moment. A moment I couldn't have dreamed happening. My brothers idly chatting with the man I love.
It's something that happened to everyone else.
Not me…
Not the mutated monster.
And yet…
Here we all are.
Then the moment was over, as we all hear a curse from above us and then rushed steps that move around above us for a while before the steps clomp down the stairs and over to us in the kitchen.
"As you all know, our exit from the Solis facility was rushed. As a result we—I –was never able to visually confirm whether that knife you threw hit its target." He takes a breath in, "As it turns out your sister… I mean… Adeline Harris, pushed him just far enough that instead of his neck, the knife sliced off most of his ear." Shit. "Unfortunately, he has almost recovered and has been spotted in Vancouver." Shit, shit. "I just got off a call with Bill and he suggested we all, quietly, leave the area." Dad finishes spewing unfortunate information in time for me to ask my own question.
"Bill?" I look at him and he has a moment.
"Right, it's hard to tell what exactly you do or don't know… Bill—William Miles, of course. The current recognized Mentor of the Assassins…" He stops before continuing.
"Dad…" Zeph crosses his arms.
"And my half-brother." Dad adds on.
"Right. I forgot that's where the connection to Ezio is…" I remember that mom had mentioned that he is her brother-in-law…
"Right, you knew Ezio…" He thinks for a minute, "And you looked like this?"
"Well… My looks haven't really changed… To the exception of my hair length. My hair does still grow. I've probably had every possible length under the sun."
"How old was he when you met him?" He suddenly looks profoundly serious, and it hits me what he is searching for.
"Dad…" I put my hand on his shoulder, "Don't ask questions that you don't want to hear the answer to."
His words hitch for a few minutes as he tries starting a few different sentences before he sighs deeply.
"Alright… Returning to what we were talking about, I guess." Dad says hopelessly.
"You were mentioning what your brother said." I remind him, and he just looks at me almost rolling his eyes.
"Yes. I was. As I said, he thinks we should all leave the area separately. To keep us from being such a large target. And as much as I want to hear everything about all that has apparently happened, I agree with him. We need to go our separate ways for now."
"What about mom and Venus? Didn't you mention that they had been planning on coming this way?" Zephyr interjects.
"Well, Bill managed to convince the two of them to also go their separate ways for now. Aurora has gone to another dig site and Venus has agreed to take your friend Sefa to a cell somewhere in Turkey."
"Are we getting any instructions on where to go then? Or are we just on the run to wherever we can get to?" Aquilo asks.
"Well, he asked me to meet up with him, but he said for the rest of you to just find somewhere to lay low for a while until you're needed. Ideally I'd want the rest of you to stick as close to each other as you can."
The two of them look unsure for a minute but then seem to accept what dad says to them after he had given them expectant looks. Then he turns to Yusuf and me.
"I actually to have some things that I should look into back in Europe. So I'll contact all of you once I finish with that I suppose." I say to them.
"Yeah, I wouldn't try ordering that one around." Lio jokes as dad just watches me.
"What do you want me to say to Bill? Because he would want to make use of the—"
"Advantage I present?" I say to complete dad's sentence, "He wouldn't be the first."
"I—I don't want you to feel like you don't have a choice. Many families within the Brotherhood often don't give their children a choice. But your mother and I have done so with all your siblings and you will be treated no differently. If you don't want to be tied to the Brotherhood then that's okay. Same with you, Yusuf. You already gave you life fighting for the Brotherhood." Dad puts his hands on our shoulders, and I put mine on his.
"Thank you, Dad. I probably won't join the Brotherhood this time around. But if you ever need anything, I will help." I answer and he smiles.
"I won't tell him about you. Just that you don't want a permanent place with the Brotherhood."
"Thanks Dad."
Over the next day we all went our separate ways. First Lio left for Victoria's airport to take a flight somewhere. Then Zeph went to Sidney, he decided to start with a ferry ride to Ana Cortes near Seattle. Then dad took a flight to wherever William Miles would be meeting with him. That left just Yusuf and I to decided where we are going to go.
Luckily, Yusuf's documents all arrived making our escape-to-be much easier.
"Najmay? Where exactly are we going then?" Yusuf sits down next to me in our flight to Toronto.
"Well… First we are going to the international airport in Toronto. Then… We're off to Istanbul."
He just grins at me before snatching up my chin and stealing a kiss deep enough that it had a woman in the next row scoffing.
"Thank you, Najmay."
"Anything for you, my Light." Rest my head on his shoulder as the plane begins to gain speed and we make our trek towards our future together.