Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Originally these first six chapters were only three chapters. But with word counts at ten thousand or more I made the decision to split them up a bit... Anyway, this chapter concludes what I consider to be the "prologue" of my story.

Thanks for reading this far! I hope you enjoy the rest after this chapter too!

Venus

The ferry to Naples, 2017

Venus moves over to the opposite side of the booth from her mother. She looks out the window to see Astraea taking some photos the of the land that is going by us to the East.

"So, you really intend on keeping Astraea in the dark about all this?" Venus stares out the window at her little sister for a few minutes as Raea watches the land get closer, snapping the occasional photo as the scenery changes.

"Well, there's no doubt that with all the help you've given her, she is certainly physically capable of it now… But… Her heart and her mind are the same as ever. I think that even knowing about what is really going on will have a hugely negative impact on her. I'm just worried I suppose." Venus turns to see her mother combing her fingers through her hair, "With the rest of you, I could tell as you grew into adults that you would be well suited to what you might end up having to do. And you all have… But I have never felt that way with Astraea." Venus' mother clasps her hands on the table between them.

"Mom… It's okay… We've all seen who she is as a person. Personally, I'm kind of torn between wanting to share it all with her because I love her and wanting to keep her away from it all… Because I love her." Venus puts her hand on her mother's, "But whatever you decide, I want to be able to help you."

"Thank you, Venus. You are a very good sister to Astraea, and I couldn't have hoped for a better relationship between you two…" Her mother stands up, "I'm just going to go to the washroom, won't be long."

"Alright." Her mother walks away leaving Venus with all of the belongings.

Venus was about to get up and join her sister, but now I guess she'll have to wait… Then she spots a handsome looking man approach her from the side. Instead of to the edge of the booth, she shuffles in closer to the window for a better view.

Astraea fretfully smooths out the front of her skirt, She must be nervous. Then the man scratches the back of his neck. Is he nervous talking to her? Awe… Damn it… I wish I could hear what they're saying… Zeph's Eagle Sense has always been better than mine, I bet he could hear them…

Then they begin to walk away towards the front of the ferry, Venus watches along as she can until they are going around the curve to the bow and Venus has her face pressed against the glass of the window.

"Do I even want to ask?" Venus shuffles away from the window as her mother sits back down.

"I just saw Astraea walk off with a man! He was definitely flirting with her." Venus makes to get up and leave, but her mother grabs her hand.

"Unless he tries to knock her out or something don't interfere." Her mother says before Venus gets up to go to the other side of the ferry.

"Roger." Venus gets up and walks around the ferry to the front on the inside trying to spot her sister and the man. She is about to give up thinking that she might have to go along the outside of the ferry behind them when she spots them paused near the bow of the ferry, or rather as close to the safety railing as they can get.

She then spots her sister sneak a photo of the man, Astraea, you've got guts…

Then they continue their trek around to the opposite side of the ferry from where they had started. Immediately, Astraea has her camera up and snapping photos of the island to the north-west, straight out the side of the ferry. While she is taking photos, Venus notices the man staring at Raea. Please be genuinely interested and not from Abstergo or some shit… Venus sends her silent prayer to whoever might be listening. For how seldomly Astraea even admits to being attracted to anyone I hope this is genuine.

She sits down in an empty seat a little further down from them in hopes of going unnoticed. Then her pocket buzzes so she pulls out her phone to see that her mom sent her a message to have her come back to their table. Venus stands up and give her sister one last look before going back to their mother. Good luck, Raea!

On her way back Venus feels a change in the mood of the people around her. People are whispering and traffic going the same direction as her increases.

Once she gets in view of her mother and their table she can see why. Venus sits down at the table and looks out the window to see a monstrous looking storm swallow the view of Mount Vesuvius. It seems the ferry had already began turning while Venus had been en route to the table as Vesuvius is steadily moving further to the back of the ferry. A voice comes over the intercoms asking everyone to please find a seat and to share booths with strangers if you must. The view of the storm sinks further behind the ferry as they turn the ferry away from the dark, menacing clouds.

The ferry abruptly lurches to the side as water sprays up the side of it, sending any still standing people tumbling. Venus had to keep a white-knuckle grip on the table to keep from being slammed into the window. Screams from everyone nearby filled her ears, along with a few grunts and shrieks of pain. From that point on the ferry seemed to be just rocking back and forth on the surface of the ocean even after it turned to towards the island to the north of the ferry's course. After only a few moments did the pair begin to hear rumors about a little girl having gone overboard and the rescue that is underway.

Then the intercom blares a warning and Venus sees some of the people grab the closest solid thing to them, so Venus grips the edge of the table with one hand and the edge of the booth with her other. Then the ferry jerks violently to the side again.

Venus' stomach drops as she realizes that last time Venus saw her, Astraea was still out on the deck. Venus whips out her phone and calls Astraea. Still using one hand to grip the table's edge, her arm beginning to tire from the constant grip.

The phone rings in her ear, each ring tone bringing her more fear for her sister before her sister's voice comes from the other side.

"Hey!"

"Raea! Where—"

"Just kidding! Sorry I missed your call, please leave me your name and number so I can get back to you later! Bye!" Then the beep tone to leave a message for her voicemail. Venus looks at her mother, who looks puzzled for a moment, then she seems to realize the problem and begins to frantically look around, hoping to see her youngest daughter emerge from the crowds of scared people. The conditions outside only worsening, the light quickly being swallowed by the thick clouds becoming tinged with yellow and green, lightning flashing across the sky, thunder crashing all around, and the alarming height of the waves around them.

The ferry continues to lurch side to side, they try to make warnings over the intercom to reduce injury and for the most part it works. The sounds of screaming have mostly died out, but there are the sounds of a few people sobbing not too far away from us and children wailing.

After another fifteen minutes or so of high tension sailing the storm seems to settle down a bit. The ferry is no longer tipping. The skies have begun to lighten ahead of them and the sounds of crashing waves and rolling thunder now becoming distant and muted.

Then someone in the ferry's uniform comes through one of the doors, stopping at each table and seating area to check for injuries. The woman arrives at their table and looks them up and down and begins speaking in decent but not perfect English.

"Do you have any injuries here?"

"No, we don't have any injuries… But my daughter is missing… I haven't seen her since before the storm hit." The woman brings a radio up to her mouth and begins speaking in faster Italian than Venus can easily understand, all she had caught were 'two women' and 'daughter.' Then Italian just as quick answered from the other side of the radio, Venus couldn't make anything out past the static.

"Her name?"

"Astraea." Venus says before her mother had a chance to answer. The woman relays the information through the radio and receives another garbled answer.

"They are asking the other places to see if she is… in a…" A pause while she thinks for a moment, "there. I will come back to you after finish this." The woman begins to walk away.

"Wait, may I have your name?" Aurora asks the woman.

"Laura." She replies quickly before moving on to the next area of the ferry.

The sound of the intercom turning on brings the entire ferry to silence to listen. The announcement came over the intercom in Italian first, again Venus found she was only able to pick up bits and pieces. Next the announcement was in French, and then finally English. A different sounding voice for each announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen. We are now travelling to Ischia Island to the north-west of our current location. It seems we have managed to navigate away from the worst of the storm that seems to have come from the east. The Italian Coast Guard is currently en route to escort us to the island where they will be providing any necessary medical care. Our crew has already combed through to find the worst injuries and will have spoken to any of those in the most immediate need of attention. We ask that you please stay where you are unless a member of our crew is escorting you somewhere. If you have any questions or concerns, please direct them to a member of our crew and they will help to the best of their ability. Thank you for your patience while we deal with this unfortunate turn of events." The message was then repeated in German, then the intercom went silent and people began low-voiced chatting.

Venus and her mother spent the next five minutes with their heads on swivels hoping to spot Astraea come from behind a crew member or another passenger. Until the woman, Laura, returns with a more official looking crew member in tow.

"This is the Captain's… Assistant Mateo Rossi." Laura gestures to the man next to her.

"I'm Aurora Thomas, and this is my daughter Venus." She holds her hand out to the man who shakes it and then Venus'.

"A pleasure ma'am, miss. If you could please come with us, the Captain needs a word." Venus notices the difference in English skill between the two people.

"Sir, is this about Astraea?" Aurora asks the man.

"Ma'am, if you could wait until we are on the bridge the Captain will tell you everything she knows."

"Okay…" Venus' mother passes her bag and Astraea's bag over the table to her. Jeez, mom wasn't kidding when she said this is a bag of bricks… What the heck is Astraea lugging around in this thing?

They follow the man through the ferry and up a few flights of stairs, most of which are label 'Crew and Employee Access Only' or 'Restricted Access' in Italian, French, English, and German. Venus supposed that they must want to cover all of their bases and have as few excuses as possible for people being where they don't belong.

Finally, Mateo, opens a door to a space that must be the bridge. Inside are already what seems like a lot of people who definitely look like civilians. Mateo walks over to a woman talking with a family and she turns around to look at Venus and her mother. She then shouts a couple of things in Italian and all the crew members in the space respond before she walks over to them with Mateo.

"Mrs. Thomas. Miss Thomas. I am Angela Rossi, captain of this vessel. If you don't mind following me to more private quarters." This woman's English is damn good, "Darin? Since our other parties involved are native English speakers, we will discuss this in English. I know you're up to the task." She must know this Darin person, a tall Italian man steps forward.

"Of course. That shouldn't be a problem for me."

"If you have trouble with any of it just ask me. I can't very well leave my girlfriend's brother high and dry." Ah, that settles that. Angela leads the way out of the room with Mateo guiding the family she had been speaking with before. The group leaves the bridge but only to go just down a hall to another door that opens to something that looks like a break room. It has a fridge, counters and a coffee machine, as well as a couple of couches and some chairs to boot.

"You will want to sit down for this." Captain Angela says to us, but as Venus follows her mother to the couch to sit down, they pass by the man that the captain called 'Darin'. Grasped in his hands is an unmistakable camera pouch. The sight of that pouch causes Venus' stomach to drop through the floor and her ears begin to ring. Things get out of focus for a moment until her mother places her hand on Venus'.

"First I would like to apologize for all of this. I have never seen a storm appear quite so suddenly… I've seen fast storms, but that monstrosity was unbelievable. We as a crew were wholly unprepared for something of that magnitude. If there had been anything like that in our reports of the weather from the mainland, we simply would have delayed the departure or perhaps even cancelled it. Now. Mr. and Mrs. Davies, I believe that you would have been the closest to the event, if you please." The woman and the man, who Venus now recognizes as the father and mother who had been ahead of them in the line to board the ferry on Capri. They look over at Venus and her mom with sad eyes. They bring forward the little girl who had been in the pink dress. The edges of it are poking out from underneath a towel wrapped around the little girl. Along with some bandages on her arm and a sizable goose egg on her forehead that has some bruising around it.

I wonder if she is the little girl we heard the rumor about earlier…

"We had heard the announcement over the intercom, but our Isla was too excited and got away from us…" The mother begins, her accent lightly British, "It had only been for a moment, but that was when the ferry tipped sideways the first time. She had just bolted away and towards the side of the ferry where the storm had appeared… We fell over when the ship tipped… And once we…" The mother's voice cracks, and she covers her mouth and looks away. The father with a much more pronounced accent takes over.

"By the time we were able to stand Isla had disappeared, fearing the worst we went to the railing only to spot her adrift in the waves…" The father clears his throat, "We had to secure our other two… and we didn't even notice the woman who had been thrown against the railing just a little ways away from us…" He takes a deep breath in. Venus' heart begins to pound. No… Please, please no… "We were preoccupied with keeping our other two secure and didn't notice her until… Until she dived in after our little girl."

"I had ordered my crew to get everyone into the ferry for safety, so most of them were preoccupied with that and had not even been present to see the little girl go over board. It had been Mateo who saw what happened and reported it to me. But Darin had already been en route with some crew." Captain Angela adds as a note to what the father was saying.

The father looks up at Venus' mother, "Your daughter is very brave. I can't thank her enough for this, I still have my little girl because she didn't even hesitate to jump in after a complete stranger." The father pats his daughter's head.

"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Davies… Darin, I understand you can tell the rest." The man nods briskly. Then it hits Venus like a freight train. This was the man that Astraea had been with…

"Well, Astraea and I had been… Chatting. She had taken some photos of Isla Ischia. Then she noticed that while after we had started talking the Isla had gone from right in front of us to almost straight in front of the ferry. She decided to go check the other side of the ferry, and I had gone inside to find a crew member and meet her over there. We had gotten to the door to the deck and opened it just in time to see Astraea dive into the sea." But then… Where is she? Where is my little sister? "We immediately went for a life saver and looked for her in the water. We didn't see her right away but then we spotted the pink of the little girl's dress. I shouted at her and threw the lifesaver as close to them as I could. She had brought the girl to it and put it around the little girl with herself holding on to the outside of it. By then more crew members had arrived on the scene and we began to pull the two of them back towards the ferry, getting ready to bring them back aboard. But in that time the storm had also gotten closer and stronger… At first, it seemed like Astraea had been trying to shield the girl from the waves, but as they got closer, they got turned around and Astraea was between the ferry and the lifesaver. There had been a strong wave that pushed them against the ferry, but Astraea had managed to hold on. It had been then that one of the more skilled swimmers of the crew had jumped in to help them. But the storm didn't let them recover before another larger wave came and pushed them against the ferry again. Then we lost sight of Astraea." No… No no, please… Please no… Venus wanted to scream. "I think this must have fallen off her wrist before she jumped to help the little girl." Darin steps towards them and passes Venus' mother the little camera pouch.

"The coast guard already knows we lost one overboard. They have already sent out alerts to all vessels in the area, as well as all ports in the vicinity." The captain kneels down in front of Venus' mom putting a hand on her shoulder. Venus' mother's face is a blank stare, trails of tears showing on her face as she reaches and hugs the captain, trying to hold it in, but Venus can hear the little sobs escaping. Darin steps closer and places the camera pouch in Venus' lap. Venus pulls the pouch up and holds it against her chest, her mind sinking further into shock.

For Venus, the next few days passed like molasses; a slow, sticky blur. There had been a few days where she tried to walk around in Naples, but she kept imagining her sister every time she saw something that would make her stop in awe or take a picture. So as the days had passed, she found herself staying in the hotel room longer and longer. She had stayed in the hotel room for an entire day just yesterday. Even today, she had been watching the news earlier in the day, just letting it be the background sound as she flipped through Astraea's photos from her camera. She had gotten through a quarter the pictures when she found one of herself… It was a photo of Venus on top of a bridge looking out over Venice's canals. Venus didn't even remember seeing her take this photo. At that point she ended up needing to put the camera away. Then on the news there had been a whole section with the Italian news anchors chatting while a photo of Astraea, taken from a social media account, was being featured in the background. A picture of the ferry came up, then the little girl and her family. There were a few interviews from people who had been on the ferry. One had even been another Canadian tourist who saw Astraea dive in after the little girl, the interview had been in English with the Italian translation streaming across the bottom of the screen.

At that point Venus turned off the TV and just sat in the hotel room. Alone and in the silence. She had only moved to close the curtains when the sun started to shine its radiance into the room.

Even now Venus only sits in the room. She doesn't notice her phone ringing, until only a few moments too late. As she reaches for it, it stops ringing. She had been zoned out again, in the back of her mind she knows she shouldn't be letting this get to her… At any point, any one of my family could be taken away from me by the Templars… I can't let it get to me like this every time… But why did she have to taken from me? She hasn't done any harm to anyone… Why would it be her? Why would the world take her away?

A knock on the door brings Venus back to reality.

"Who is it?" She asks as she walks over to the door and unblocks the peep hole to take a look at who is knocking.

"It's me, Zeph…" Sure enough, on the other side of the door is her brother. She looks around him carefully to make sure he is alone, at least she hasn't lost all her sense as an Assassin… She opens the door and lets her brother in. "Venus…" He looks around the disaster of a hotel room, "What are you doing?" He pulls his sister in for a hug with her looking at Astraea's bag on the other bed. It hadn't been bricks inside, it had been rocks… And the reason she hadn't answered her phone was because it had been on silent inside the bag.

"I… I couldn't do anything…" Venus reaches her arms around her brother, "This whole trip… I was trying to be extra cautious… I would watch the shadows and look for possible escape routes everywhere…" She can't stop the tears anymore… "Then when it really came down to it…" Venus releases all the emotion she had been shutting out since it happened, "When she really needed help… I… I wasn't there."

Zeph just lets Venus cry it all out, they stand like that until Venus has no more tears left. He squeezes her tightly as though it might prevent her from falling apart.

"Venus… You can't control the weather. This is not your fault." He takes a deep breath, "We all know that if she had stayed safe and on the deck until help arrived, that little girl would have died… And Raea would never have recovered from the guilt she would feel from not acting when she knew she could have." Zephyr guides his little sister to the bed, sits her down, and kneels on the carpet in front of her, "We still would have lost our sister. Just a different way… She would have lived the rest of her life as only a shade of what she was… With the weight of that little girl's death forever on her mind. Because that is just who she is. She is kind, brave, creative, loving, and true."

"Yeah… She… Is." Venus looks at her brother, How can he be so strong? He just lost his little sister too…

"Now, go and get yourself cleaned up. I'm taking you outside into the sun and fresh air."

"But…"

"No 'but's. You." He points at Venus, "Shower." He points to the bathroom, "Now." He makes a 'shoo' gesture in the direction of the bathroom. And when Venus doesn't immediately get up, he picks her up, carries her to the bathroom, turns on the water, points at the shower again. "Now." He walks out of the bathroom and closes the door behind him.

Venus hears his voice on the other side of the door.

"What did you say?" She asks at the door.

"I said, I'll wait for you out here." Venus smiles and gets a drink of water from the tap before hopping into the shower.

After Venus is done in the shower, she gets ready to go out… She only puts on a little foundation and mascara in the hopes to keep a lower profile.

Then Zeph, as promised, takes her out into the day.

As it turns out, the day wasn't even half over yet. They set out at 11:45 am and went to lunch first before visiting all kinds of touristy places and doing some typical touristy shopping. Zeph's plan to help Venus out of her slump by taking her to enjoy the city of Naples was doing wonders. The dark circles under Venus' eyes were fading by the hour and her smile was beginning to return little by little. Which was lifting a weight in Zeph's mind too… He hadn't wanted to lose two little sisters to one freak storm.

They take the whole day at a leisurely pace, going from location to location when they feel like it. Once they feel done in one place, they move on to another. Eventually the sun begins to set so they settle on somewhere to eat. Once they finish, they decide to call it a day and begin the trek back to the hotel.

"Thanks, Zeph… I think… I really needed that." Zephyr puts his arm around his sister's shoulder as they walk.

"Don't forget that you're my little sister, I can't be losing you. Especially not to some blackout curtained, dingy, depression hotel room." Venus laughs fully and Zeph releases her after one good squeeze. Then for what seems like the two-hundredth time in the day, a group of men whistle at Venus and Zephyr steps around her to walk between her and the cat-calling men. Venus spots him look very pointedly in their direction and then all the sound from the other side of the street stops. Venus snorts a little from trying to contain her laughter.

"You're terrible. Look at them…" All the men walking the opposite direction for the two all have their hands in theirs pockets with a noticeable slump to their shoulders, "You have terrified them… Poor boys…" If those men had had tails, they would have been tucked firmly between their legs.

"Hmph." Zeph looks behind them at the sight of the men, just when one happens to look back at them, notices that Zeph is still watching them, and whips around before speeding up. Which of course causes the rest of them to look back and consequently speed up. Zeph snorts his own laughter, similar to Venus in only the way that siblings can be, "Serves them right."

Then Venus' cellphone begins to sing from her pocket, a call from their mom.

"Yeah, mom? Is everything okay?" At first, silence over the other end, "Mom?"

"Vee… Baby… They found her." Venus' phone slips from her grip and Zeph swipes it out of the air.

"Hey, mom? What did you say? Venus looks like she's seen a ghost." Zeph asks over the phone.

"They've found her. On a small island near Ventotene Island. They've taken her to a hospital on Ischia. I'm getting on a ferry now with the authorities. You two should come as soon as you can."

"Okay." Is all that Zeph can get out, then he hangs up the call and looks over to Venus. Venus who without warning launches herself at him in a hug, where she begins to cry all over again. "Hey now… You're going to get your mascara everywhere." But Venus just couldn't keep it all in, after only just letting herself feel the loss, she is finding out that her sister has been found.

They catch a cab to the ferries and manage to catch one heading out only fifteen minutes after they arrived. For Venus, the ferry voyage felt like an eternity, her eyes trained on the horizon, nervous of another freak storm like last time. But with the sun gone now, all she can see are the glistening stars, not only in the sky but reflected in the calm sea waters. The ferry docks and they disembark, they get to the road and hail a cab to take them to the hospital that their mother had texted to Venus.

Once they arrive, Venus calls their mother, who comes out to bring them to the right room.

"Alright, she's in here… I have some things to finish discussing with the Italian authorities and the representative from the Canadian Consulate." Their mother leaves the two of them at a closed door.

Zeph opens the door and ushers Venus in ahead of him. And there, sitting on the bed facing the window, is Astraea. Her honey blonde hair looking more unkempt than ever with a blanket around her shoulders.

"Astraea?" She turns around to face them and stands. Venus runs over to her and throws her arms around the little sister she never thought she would embrace again. Astraea wraps her arms around Venus and gives her the most comforting and warm hug.

Zephyr

Isla Ischia Hospital, 2017

Zephyr watches as Venus throws herself at the woman in the room. The woman whose emerald eyes well up and begin to overflow with tears as she brings her arms up to embrace Venus. In the light of the hospital room Zephyr spots what looks like a deep scar poking out from the long sleeve of the sweater as it rides up her wrist from the hug.

"Oh, Astraea… I never thought I'd see you again! I didn't know what I would do…" Venus cries into the woman's shoulder.

"Venus… I was wondering if I would ever see you, too… I don't remember much of what happened… But when I came to, I was on a beach and pretty delirious…" Zephyr is very good a picking up on lies, and this woman isn't telling any… But… Zephyr can't shake the feeling that she isn't telling the full truth either… "Zephyr… When did you get to Italy? I thought that you were busy with work the whole time we'd be away…" Zephyr hides any doubts that he may have, she certainly seems like his sister…

And yet… Not.

"You think that I would keep working after hearing that my littlest sister went overboard in a tempest in Italy? I'm wounded." He dramatically slaps his hand against his chest over his heart. Venus releases the woman, and she walks over to him rolling her eyes.

"God, you have no idea how much I have missed you! It feels like it's been millennia. I wish I could've seen you more often, you and your counterpart of course." She grins in the way that only Astraea could master, a heartwarming kind of smile. Something in her manner reassures Zephyr that this is Astraea, his little sister. But something about her seems too different from the last time he saw her.

"I've missed you too, littlest sister." He pulls her in for a bear hug, which cements what he suspected. While this may be Astraea, there is something more going on here… She feels far too strong, and while she may have been working at it for two years, she wasn't doing anything drastic. Nor was she training day and night like some gym nuts do, overall, Zephyr had found that her training for the last two years to be leaning more towards the casual side. And the last time he saw her, her muscles were still mostly soft. This much change in her muscles over only four months shouldn't be possible… She may be ever the talented one, but that doesn't change the human body's ability to build muscle especially without near constant effort. And knowing what she looked like only four months ago… This should be impossible…

In the time they sit in the room, waiting for their mother, the three chat and Zephyr catches up with Astraea about her past few months, hoping to find inconsistencies with what he knows. What he sees are the small things. She keeps pulling the sleeves of the sweater down. Some of the things she is saying don't make sense. Then all of a sudden, as if she remembers something, she says to disregard it. 'That it happened with someone else', or a similar excuse.

Something isn't right. Zephyr thinks…

And I'm going to find out what