Astraea
He hasn't even been able to look at me…
What should I do?
You would think this is something that I of all people could figure out… But… I just don't know how to approach him.
"Morning, Raea." Emmett says as I come into the kitchen area looking for something small to eat. Spotting an apple just waiting to be eaten, I grab it and wash it off quick.
"Good afternoon, Emmett." Which causes him to look up from his book at the time surprised, "What're you up to?" I ask him as I sit down at the table with my apple.
"Waiting to hear back from the higher powers." He flips the page of the book in his hand, ever the librarian I suppose…
"For reassignment now that you've delivered me to my family?" I guess.
"You got it." He points a finger gun at me and laughs a little.
"You're so weird." I say to him.
"You're one to talk." Zephyr says as he comes into the kitchen.
"Heyy, you must be reading my mind because you are so right." Emmett says, as the two team up on me completely. They are a nice distraction from the impending doom on the horizon with Aquilo.
"Also… Raea?" Zeph says as he comes right up to me and takes both my hands in his, looking deeply into my eyes.
"Uhh… Yes?" I ask him, "You are getting dangerously close to being called weird yourself Zeph."
"I am deeply sorry." He says with a concerningly deep sincerity.
"Oh? About what exactly?" I narrow my eyes with suspicion.
"If we hadn't kept all of this from you, then you wouldn't have let happen what you did in Venice." What? In Venice? I think back to what he could mean… Then it hits me like a freight train.
"No… Did Aquilo go through all of Ezio's memories of me in Venice?" I ask desperately, as Emmett is getting increasingly interested.
"Yes. He did." Oh my god… "Again, Raea. I am so deeply sorry. I know if you had known, you wouldn't have done that."
"No kidding! But you don't understand! Ezio was a very charming man! And handsome! And maybe I was hoping that something like that would have a similar effect to getting back to drawing…" I desperately try to explain from my position.
"And did it?" Zephyr asks.
"Well… No. Not really." I candidly answer.
"Sweet Jesus." Emmett exclaims, "Did you have sex with Ezio Auditore?"
"Agh… I can't believe that Aquilo went through that memory… I was already having trouble facing him… This just keeps getting better and better. I'm going outside." I snap bitterly as I take the apple with one bite out of it outside to sit under the tree in the courtyard and finish it by aggressively chomping bites out of the poor innocent apple.
I sit under the tree for a while, daydreaming of easier times when all I had to do was don a false name and live a false life. Lives where no one knew me, where no matter what happened I could just up and disappear and no one would be the wiser. I would travel to wherever I felt like going and no one would tell me I'm not who I am.
"Hey." I open my eyes to see Zeph approach and sit against the tree next to me.
"What's up?" I ask him.
"I know the whole thing with Aquilo didn't really work out like I had hoped… And I'm sorry. I didn't think that he would react like that…"
"Well… That's maybe a little bit my fault." I confess.
"How so?"
"Well, he had been insisting I not hold back against him… But that would have ended with him severely injured or maybe even dead. So, obviously, that wasn't an option. So I maybe let him feel how much of a threat I can amount to… In a way that I know experienced Assassins can feel when facing an opponent." I fiddle with the hems on the sleeves of my shirt, "I didn't expect him to respond like a threatened Assassin for real though… I thought he would go more along lines of 'That was sick!'"
"Ah… Well, to be fair that is kind of what I was expecting as well. Which I suppose is why I got so angry…"
"Hence the shouting match?" I ask as Zeph scratches the back of his neck.
"Yeah… I just wanted him to talk to you. But he…"
"I know. I heard. And…" He's right…
"He's wrong. You're not a monster." He places a hand on my knee, "I was the first to notice, remember? And I can confirm you are definitely my Astraea. But please tell me you didn't inadvertently have sex with any of our other ancestors…"
"I cannot guarantee that. I never knew who our ancestors were. I can tell you that I didn't really do much of that… The only time I really was… invested in it... Was with Yusuf. And I definitely haven't since."
"Well… You didn't have any kids, did you? Can you have kids? What if your kids had had kids with Ezio's line?" I just laugh a little at the line up of questions that Zeph unleashes.
"Well, that is not something you have to worry about. I can't have children. I stopped having any kind of reproductive cycle immediately after the whole ferry/time-travel business."
"Oh… Do you regret that?" Huh… No one has ever asked me that before…
"Maybe a little sometimes. I think I felt it most watching Flavia and Marcello. Sofia and Ezio seemed so euphoric every time they saw their children… I often wondered what a child between Yusuf and myself might have turned out like. But most of the time no… I don't think I would be able to bear having to watch my child grow up, have a family, grow old, and die. I think that would be a goodbye that would break me."
"I suppose that you've had a lot of goodbyes, haven't you?" Zeph says softly, as though he almost didn't want me to hear.
"Yes…" Faces of the people I've been close to and lost flood my mind, "Yes, I have. But only a few of them hit me really hard… Like Yusuf… And Kassandra." He flinches.
"I hadn't even thought of you knowing Kassandra… That was so recent too. I suppose when I was imagining your goodbyes, I was picturing them a long time ago, like Yusuf… Not so recent as a half a year..."
"And after so long too… We had known each other when she first carried the title of Eagle Bearer, but it wasn't until right around Julius Caesar's death that we reconnected. After that we made a point of getting together once every couple of decades or so… Often though, the world would see fit for us to run into each other. Like when I went to Greece with mom last year, I came across Kassandra on Santorini."
"If you ever want to just talk like this, or about anything really… I will always listen." He says warmly.
"I'm fine… But… Thank you, Zeph."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier, but word came in from mom yesterday evening. She'll be back this evening and tomorrow she wants to take you out to the dig site."
"I was wondering if she ever got back last night, but there's the answer. Why does she want to take me out there?"
"Well, she has brought all of us to it at one point. Well… Except Nyx, she's been busy with her own stuff for the Brotherhood. They've had her on point to watch for movement from the Instruments."
"Hmm… Makes sense I suppose. They're nothing if not persistent. Even though Juno's gone. Thank god." I wipe pretend sweat from my brow.
"You said it! Makes me feel a little less concerned knowing that there isn't a power mad, near goddess that despises humans on a rampage." He finishes and I laugh just at the way he decides to say it all in one breath.
"I admit that part of me is now glad that Ilios got to me first. He once told me that Juno had set her sights on me to fuel her next fucked up project…" He shudders next to me.
"I can't imagine what that must have been like… Then being in that stasis thing for so long…"
"The stasis wasn't so bad… It was like being knocked out and then waking up… You don't really realize how much time has passed. It would be nothing compared to say… Being stuck in the Memory Corridor of the Animus, where all you have for company is your thoughts as you live as little more than a disembodied thought yourself." Another shudder.
"I've heard of that happening before… I admit that I'm glad to not be super interested in hunting history through the Animus." He shrugs.
"I won't tell you any further. Partially, a lot of those memories have since faded. Partially, I want to keep it that way."
"Fair enough, I suppose." Zeph stands up and holds out a hand for me, once I don't move and just stare at it, he adds, "I'm hoping you can coach me on being a better fighter."
"Oh? You want to have a smackdown?"
"Maybe not so… Aggressive as a smackdown… But I could also do to improve." He smiles. I knew I always respected my brother for a reason, the attitude that there are always things to be learnt is a valuable trait.
"Hey!" Emmett walks out the back door of the building we're using and Zeph goes to the back door of the building hosting the abandoned pilates studio.
"I'll see you over there once you're changed."
"Nah, I don't need to change, I'll be there in a few."
"Are you gonna lay down the law with Zephyr?" Emmett looks between me and the walking away Zeph, "'Cause if you are, I'm gonna want that on video. The only people he can't beat are the head honchoes and Nyx."
"Nah, he just wants to improve. So there won't be a smackdown… Unless you want one?"
"Nope…" Emmett immediately raises both hands in surrender, then goes to lean against the tree, "So… Ezio, eh?" He waggles his eyebrows.
"Oh my god…" I just walk away towards the studio and leave Emmett leaning against the tree laughing his ass off.
The afternoon passes at a nice pace with Zephyr using training as a distraction for what is going on between me and Aquilo. Before I know mom is arriving back and Emmett is the one to call ahead of her arrival inside the studio.
"Hey, Aurora! We missed you at supper last night." Emmett could have been more inconspicuous, but he did get the message across, so we had to make it look as though Zeph had been training and demonstrating for me all afternoon when our mom comes up the stairs into the studio.
"Hey, you two." She looks around, "Where's your brother? I thought he was all excited to teach you, Raea."
"He was taking a break, something to do with potential new synchronization points in the Ezio memories." Zeph says while walking up behind me.
"Oh well, I suppose I'll chat with him later on then."
"Great job this aft… I think we'll make an Assassin of you yet." Oof, that is laying it on a little thick, Zeph. "I'm doing watch overnight, tonight. Did you want to join me for a while?
"Actually, that's a great idea. You should do it if you want to." Mom comments.
"Yeah, that's sounds good, will you come find me when it's time then?" I ask.
"Sure thing, Lil' Sis'!" He smirks wickedly.
"Either way, did Zeph tell you about what I'm hoping to do tomorrow?" Mom asks as Zeph heads down the stairs and she strolls up to me smiling.
"He said something about taking me out to the site tomorrow?" I say to her.
"Yeah, I'm hoping to show you what I really do now that it's on the table anyway. What do you think?" She hands me a bottle of water.
"I think that would be really awesome, mom. But there is one thing I wanted to talk to you about… As privately as we can manage…" I open the bottle of water.
"Hmm… Well, the most privacy we can get would be the drive out to the site in the morning if you can wait that long." I think carefully before answering, I want to have my fair chance to explain everything… But if Aquilo manages to talk to her first then her opinion may be already formed before I even get a chance.
"Alright, but can I ask you a little favour then?"
"Of course, hun."
"Aquilo has had a bit of a misunderstanding… Regarding what I want to talk to you about. And I just want to let you know that he might try to talk to you about me… My favour is to please give me a chance to explain myself before hearing him out… After I explain myself feel free to hear him out and make your own opinion of what I say."
"This sounds really serious… Are you sure it can wait until tomorrow?" She places a hand gently on my shoulder.
"If it means total privacy, then yes. But… Please consider my favour?"
"Okay. Aquilo has always been quick to jump to conclusions, and he often acts rashly and without prior thought. It also takes a lot to change his opinion once it's been made… I think he probably gets it from me, I've got something of a stubborn streak… But yes. I promise to hear you out tomorrow before listening to him. Then you can bet I will make my own opinion of it." She walks over to the stairs, "But if it's as serious as it sounds you better be prepared to tell your father at some point too." She says as she descends to the basement area. All I can think is, yeah… That is a different kind of hurdle.
After my chat with mum I go out again to the courtyard with the tree. Naturally, I have my sketchbook with me. I draw for a while but then I turn the pages back a few and just look at one of the portraits of Yusuf. This one surrounded by the city he had loved so dearly. Also on the page is a lute, reminding me of the time when they had all dressed as entertainers to save the life of the young prince Sulieman. The memory brings a smile to my face but somehow still brings a hollow feeling that seems to accompany loss.
"You must be Astraea, Aurora's daughter, right?" A tired sounding voice comes from beside the tree, I snap my sketchbook shut on instinct.
"Yeah, that's me." I look over to her, she looks tired. And despite that she just arrived in front of me, her eyes make her thoughts look a thousand miles away.
"My name is Layla; I've been occasionally helping your mom at her site for the past little while… Ever since…" Her eyes darken for a moment, "It's not important. It's good to finally meet you."
"Good to meet you too." I answer automatically. Something about her seems… Different. Almost like how I am… But to a smaller degree. Like she has been strung along by fate.
"Do you mind if I stay here a while? I find it calming out here." She points to the side of the trunk next to me.
"Oh, sure. Go ahead." We sit in silence for a while and I go back to drawing.
"So… You just got drag into all this, right?" She asks.
"Kind of, yeah… I guess my family's been at it for a while though… Baby of the family problems I guess." I shrug a little and earn a small chuckle, "Do you mind me asking how you ended up with this whole Assassins business?"
"Well… I actually used to work for Abstergo…" She starts, "I had been so sure that I could make my mark there. That my work would change everything." I can hear the pain in her voice already.
"What made you leave Abstergo?"
"Well… I had been sent to Egypt to retrieve an important artifact, but I had been so convinced that all I needed to do was prove my worth that I kind of went rogue…" Yikes… Abstergo does not take kindly to their people not listening to orders… "Yeah… I know, bad idea. They issued a kill order on me and my friend. Luckily for me I had been using my Animus and was experiencing some pretty serious Bleeding Effect, so I managed to protect myself. After that William Miles came along… And well. Obviously, I took his offer."
"Are you happy? Working with the Assassin I mean… Because I imagine it wasn't easy to abandon everything you had for this." I say.
"Well, I'd bet you know that plenty." She says back.
"I suppose so… But I wonder how similar it is…" Not that she would understand where this is coming from… "You said you had been helping my mom, what are you all looking for out there?"
"Sorry, got a specific request from your mom to keep it mum."
"Dang it." I curse and Layla chuckles.
We chat idly for a little longer, I manage to get her to laugh until she was hoarse a couple of times. It had seemed to me like she had needed it.
"Well, I'm on night watch so I'd better get some shuteye before my brother comes to grab me." I say as I look to see the sun setting.
"Fair enough." She says, but I don't stand right away because it feels as though there is something more she wanted to say, "You know what? This isn't easy… It feels like every moment since Egypt has been a struggle… And lately it feels like it's all been for nothing… But I guess what I'm trying to say is… God, I don't even know. Just try not to be too hard on yourself for not… Being ready for all of this. I guess I thought I was but… Recent events have really…" Her words die on her lips, so I stand up and she does too as I tear a corner off a page of my sketchbook and write my encrypted email on the paper and pass it to her.
"I know how hard all this can be already… But don't ever blame yourself for your circumstances. If you ever feel like you need to talk, you can email me. I can't guarantee instant answers, but I will answer. I don't know what happened to get you so exhausted but trust there must be something behind it. More often than not that's the case." I hold my hand out to her and she grasps it, her eyes appraising me differently than before.
"I might take you up on that offer some day. And thanks… This was really nice, just chatting about useless things for a while." She releases my hand I begin to walk away.
"Honestly, useless conversation can be one of the most glorious distractions. Especially when it can be a humorous one. Bye." I wave as go into the building to head up the stairs and get at least a little sleep before the night begins.
The sun had long since set before Zeph comes calling. I had been sure to spend the rest of my evening napping to be ready for a long stint of wakefulness. I had successfully gotten three hours of sleep, which should help me through the next day. I open the window to let in the fresh nighttime breeze. Then I bring my backpack up onto the bed and unwrap my hidden blade.
"Hey, you ready?" Zeph taps the door a little bit, then his eyes settle on what I'm holding, "Wait a minute… Is that what I think it is?" He walks over to me eyes locked on my prize.
"Yep… This is the hidden blade I used when I was a part of Yusuf's Brotherhood in Istanbul."
"In the early 1500s… Wow… It's beautiful, you've taken really good care of it."
"It is one of my most important possessions. Along with…" I reach into my bag and procure the small painting of Yusuf and I, and I pass it to a wide-eyed Zephyr who handles it as though it were about to crumble to dust before him. He passes it back after a few minutes and I slide it back into the safety of my bag.
"Well, shall we go watch for them Templars?" I say with an exaggerated southern accent, Zeph laughs as I make my attempt at humour.
"Let's git 'er done!" He goes along with my joke.
We go up to the top of the building that they've been using for keeping watch and relieve one very salty Shaun. Very salty because we took ten minutes longer than we should have and he has more work to do than both of us combined. Which is not wrong.
Zeph offers me to use the night vision goggles to see the mountains in the distance and I shake my head.
"But they are really cool…" He waggles them in front of my eyes.
"Maybe for you, but I don't need them," I turn to face him and point at my eyes, "These already do all the work for me." His jaw drops as he hands set the goggles down and he puts his hands on both sides of my face and gets his face right up close to mine.
"That is literally the coolest thing ever." He turns my head left and right to catch the slight sheen my eyes get in the dark, "How is it that we are directly related and yet you ended up with superpowers?"
"I don't know if I'd go as far as calling them superpowers…" I try to downplay my abilities.
"Hush." He sits back from me and puts a single finger on my lips, "Let me live my dream. My sister is a superhero." He then slips on the night vision goggles and proceeds to look out to where the mountains are to the south-east, "If you spot anything let me know, I'll call it in." He points at the radio in his ear.
"Rodger dodger." I sit down and close my eyes simply focusing and gently reaching my awareness over the whole city and just beyond it into the mountains.
"Uh… Usually being on watch involves watching." I hear Zeph say.
"Hush. You live your dream; your sister is a superhero. I can use a sort of Eagle Sense skill of my own that can extend my senses over large distances without any kind of power draw. And from what I've been able to test thus far, it seems to be undetectable by any modern means." I open my eyes to look at him.
"Sweet." He whispers before going back to surveying the area for a few minutes, "Do you think I could hone my Eagle Sense enough to do that?"
"Maybe after a lot of practice? I don't know if any Assassins have tried… There aren't that many I've even told to be honest…"
"That would be so amazing…" Nerd. "But wait… If you can do that, then what even is the point of me being up here too?" Zeph exclaims.
"You're my supervision I guess…" I shrug, "It isn't like anyone would believe if said I 'felt' them coming…"
"True… Such is the bane of being a superhero, and of course why you need normies like me." He points his thumb at himself.
"Zeph… In the grand scheme of things, are you not closer to superhero than normie?" I reach up and braid my hair back.
"Good point… But. I counter with that there are some superheroes who have even more superheroness than most. That is where you fall on the spectrum. If there are two points on the spectrum," He holds up his hands about a foot apart, "One is normie," he waves his left hand, "And the other is superhero." He waves his right hand, "I land somewhere about here…" He moves his left hand a little past the halfway point to the superhero side, "And you?" He gestures at me before his hands resume the two original positions, "You land somewhere around here." He moves his left hand about a foot past the superhero boundary, "You fall into the super-superhero category. In terms of media you are OP." He bluntly concludes his explanation.
"Over-powered. Very funny. Back to watch duty with you." I point to the dark city.
"Don't talk back to your supervisor." He tuts me before going back to looking out over the city, and I return to focusing on keeping my awareness as wide as I can. Luckily, I can handle about a five hundred square kilometer area, which covers the city and most of the roads leading in and out.
Silence fills the city the way it only can in the dead of night, a couple of hours before the earlier risers and at least one after the partying subsides.
Until I spot a convoy of vehicles coming around the mountain road into the city from the north-west.
"Zeph. Mountain road, northwest. A convoy of identical vehicles coming into the city." I stand up and look out over the city, trying to spy them in between other buildings of similar height to this one. Zeph calls down on the radio to let them know what we spotted.
"Alright, they've started packing up the essentials, we get to keep an eye on the situation for a few more minutes to see if they've got a precise location on us or if they only know we're in the city."
I go back to focusing on the convoy and see them break off into three groups and each go to a section of the city, driving slower but combing the city at a brisk pace.
"It looks like they're combing the city from their entry point out. Not slowly, they must be looking for specific signals to check closer on." I relay to Zeph as I carefully observe their actions.
"Then it's only a matter of time." He says before he repeats what I said into the radio but makes it sound as though it were from visual observation instead of from my extended Eagle Sense, "Alright, that's us going down now." He slides the goggles down, so they hang around his neck and goes to the ledge where the top floor's balcony is, "Ready?"
"I'm hopping by my room quick, don't wait for me." I hop over the opposite side and free run my way over to the window I had thankfully left slightly ajar and hop into my room and get myself ready. I put my hidden blade on and pull a dark green hoodie on and slide the sleeve over it, so my mom doesn't see it… The neckline of this hoodie is the reason I choose it over my other hoodie because with the cowl neckline I can hide this… I pull the mask out of my bag, often the Templars have video equipment on raids like these… I slip the mask into the folds of the cowl of the hoodie and pull the deep hood up before grabbing my bag and hopping back out my window and down to the courtyard where Zeph is crossing into the house.
"Wow… That was fast… You really are a superhero." Zeph says as he looks me up and down.
"Ha, ha. Very funny…" We go to the door and down to the basement where mom and Aquilo are already at another secret door leading to a long tunnel. Aquilo and mom both already have night vision goggles on and at their wrists I can see the modern looking hidden blades.
Mom tosses Zeph a hidden blade and pulls her goggles up to her eyes.
"We have to be fast, Aquilo is going to pull the door shut behind us but this tunnel is long, so they'll likely find it before we get to the end. I don't have any more of the goggles, so you'll just have to stick close." We start walking and Aquilo looks at me before pulling the door shut, I see his eyes dart down to where the metal mask hides in my hoodie and he looks away when our eyes meet. Mom puts her hands on my shoulders, "And if one, god forbid, snatches you, don't hesitate to hurt them as much as you can." Aquilo slides his goggles over his eyes and I think I spot the barest hint of a smile at the corners of his lips. Luckily, even the eyes of a normal person appear to glow through night vision goggles.
"Okay." I say, knowing that I may have to act to protect her, without her even knowing just how much I can do.
"Alright, let's go." We start running down the tunnel, not at a dead sprint but a generous pace.
"This is a marathon, not a sprint. If we let ourselves get exhausted, then it's as good as over." Zeph says to me, "But that doesn't mean we can afford to be slow at all, so we run. Just not with everything we have."
"I'm sure I can handle it…" I whisper with a snarky tone.
"I know you can, but you never got to say everything, right?" He whispers back. "Did Emmett get out before us?" He asks louder.
"We are the last group to leave. Everyone else packed up and left while you were monitoring them further. You did good spotting them coming into the city…" Mom praises us both.
"Actually, Raea spotted them first and I just confirmed it." He claps my shoulder.
Then, about fifteen minutes into this marathon, my ears pick up a noise I was hoping I wouldn't hear. A slight crash from behind us.
I focus to see if they're coming down the tunnel behind us, and sure enough, I hear what sounds like about a dozen fully armed Abstergo agents flood the tunnel entrance behind us and begin at a pace that will overtake us in about ten minutes. I wait to see if the others hear it, but it was just quiet and far away enough that they don't notice it.
I clench my fists conflicted on what to do, if we can get to the end of the tunnel before they overtake us then we should be fine… But I don't know how much time we'll still be in the tunnel for…
"How much longer is the tunnel?" I ask.
"Last time I went this pace it took me forty minutes to get to the end… So probably around another twenty to twenty-five minutes." Mom says, "Which is why we need to pace ourselves; it isn't a walk in the park." She says almost with her chiding tone.
"Why? You obviously aren't tired…" Zeph whispers.
"They're in the tunnel. About ten minutes from now they'll catch up to us." I look at him and take a deep breath.
"You're not going to—" He starts as I stop dead and turn around, "Hey, no. We have to all go together."
"I'm a superhero, remember?" Mom and Aquilo notice us and stop.
"Hey. We don't have time to stop and catch our breath. We need to get out of here. There's no way to tell if Abstergo has already found this tunnel." Mom comes over and grabs my arm roughly before pulling me to continue.
I gently but forcefully pull her hand off of me.
"There is a way to tell. They're already in the tunnel and closing in on us too quickly. I'm going to hold them off." I look at Zeph and Aquilo. "Zeph, you all need to run. As fast as you can."
"Hold them off?" She practically shouts at me, "You have barely had any training and didn't even use the Animus for it." Zeph comes and takes her by the hand.
"It'll be okay, mom." He says as he pulls her to run, then the sound of the heavily armed feet coming echoing down the tunnel.
"Mom." Aquilo says, getting her attention immediately, "Trust her… She can do it. Let's go."
"Raea…" She says, I turn and start walking back the way we came, pulling the mask over my face and tying it tight at the back.
"I'm sorry, mom… I wanted to tell you before I had to show you… But I'll just have to tell you later. Love you all." I look back at her and smile before running at my full speed towards the Templars coming at us.