Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Assassin's Creed or anything associated with the series.
Author Notes: The wait is over! I know it's not much of a chapter but I needed something to tie everything together. Don't worry! I have plans! I just also have school and chronic writer's block... yea.
Also, if anyone wishes for me to post my notes for the story (our history mashed with Assassin's Creed history), let me know!
Big thanks to The Legate and Xia19222 for favorites/alerts/reviews!
Hope you're enjoying the story! I promise to make things speed up in the next two chapters. I mean, come on. Nobody's even died yet. Lame!
Chi Vivrà Vedrà
Evelina heard the moans of the wounded and smelled the foul stench of loss. Bleeding men and women lay sprawled across tables, groaning in pain as less injured allies bandaged their gashes or amputated their infected limbs. Red splotches stained the floor and the walls. Sanity was on its end. The Inn was closed for the night.
She knew the cost of war, but it was still awful to witness. The young Thief who had delivered the message earlier was standing next to one of the other Thieves who lay on a table. She held her hand, whispering things Evelina could not hear, until she let go and turned away, head bent low. As she moved, Evelina saw the Thief on the table. Eyes fogged over and wide open, arm hanging limply over the edge of the table, face like a ghost, the woman lay there in a pool of crimson. The messenger glanced up at Evelina, a tear slowly running down her cheek.
"My sister…"
"I'm sorry."
The Thief walked over to her and embraced her. Evelina let her cry, sobbing silently into her shoulder. She patted the girl's back, attempting to soothe her.
When the messenger's sobbing calmed, she spoke. "They will pay. They will pay for what they've done to her," she choked.
"They will. I promise."
The Thief left with a sharp nod to help bandage the other victims.
Evelina walked over to the Thief's sister, closed her eyes, and whispered, "Requiescat in Pace."
Evelina could not stand another moment there. She stepped lightly up the stairs, passing various beds full of more unfortunate recruits. More hideous noises filled her ears but she ignored them. She arrived at the door to Lucio's room.
She twisted the knob and opened it to reveal a disheveled young man whose eyes met hers as she entered.
"Why hello there captor! Who have you killed today?" He was sitting cross-legged on one side of the bed with a piece of parchment and a quill.
Evelina payed no mind to his words and sat on the other side facing away from him. She could feel his eyes on her.
"Your friend is dead. I killed him."
Dead air settled through the room, a dense air that seemed to suffocate the both of them until Lucio's voice pierced through it.
"I know."
Evelina stared at the wall, confusion twisting her face. "You know?"
"One of your recruits..um…willingly told me before he left to fight. Your arriving back early tells me your attempts were unsuccessful. Surrender so easily?" he mocked.
"No."
"I did not think so."
More silence gripped the air.
Lucio twisted around on the bed so his body faced Evelina's back.
"What do you plan on doing with me, Evelina? Interrogating me? Torturing me until I talk? Just ending my life right here?"
She stood from the bed and leaned her side against the wall, gazing out the open window. She watched as an eagle in the distance glided through the air effortlessly, soaring over the rooftops, until he vanished into the hazy skies over Roma.
"You will be trained." She faced the young Templar. "You have been spared for a reason, and this reason is to harness your skills, improve upon them, and help us fight a losing battle with the imperial army. We don't have much time, but I feel I can prepare you in the amount of time we do have." Evelina paused to take a breath. "I know you wish not to stand by your enemies. I know you despise me for what I've done to your friend. But you will see. Your friend wanted this for you."
Lucio turned his gaze from her to the parchment in his lap. "I will do as you ask. But not for Adriano."
Evelina nodded and paced over to the door. She stopped at the door and turned around. "Tonight. Be ready."
With those words, she left the room- back into the world of pain and grief.
The sky. It was a mystifying sight to any man or woman who stood below the heavens looking up. It was also a device for engaging in the deepest thinking- sinking into a world all on its own; a world that only existed in the mind of the one staring at the sky. This is why Adriano climbed to the top of the Rosa in Fiore, despite his poor condition.
He had been provided herbs to help keep pain to a minimum but they were not strong enough to keep the Agile inside all day. He needed to see the sky. He needed to think. He needed to see the stars that shined like the eyes of-
No. He could not think of her or his passion would drive him to leave before he had healed. He felt a string of irrational thoughts hit him like a wave. But the young Agile snapped his mentality back into place, and logic took their place. Adriano needed to stay. He would ask Claudia more questions, but he had to be careful around her. Spies had said things about her back at the barracks. She was Evelina's aunt, after all and this meant she was just as fierce as any Auditore.
Had she said anything to Evelina? Did everyone still believe him to be dead?
The Agile shrugged these thoughts away- his head was pounding. The stars were driving him mad with envy. Why did they have the glory of sitting upon an azure canvas, glowing through the darkness, beaming down at all of the ignorant humans below. How little they know of us, perhaps they would say. Such wonders they held. Adriano wished, right then, to be a star.
"Adriano?"
The entirety of the Courtesans had learned his name in one afternoon. Gossip flowed like a river within the brothel.
He looked down from the roof. "Yes?" he answered politely.
"Claudia wishes to speak to you…," she shouted. He could barely see her through the night air but he felt a strange hesitation in her voice. "How did you get to the roof?"
"I climbed," he replied quickly.
"Messer, how do you plan on getting down?"
Adriano pondered this. He could swing from the window and land on the canopy below but that would spring him elsewhere, possibly opening his wound once more.
"Perhaps I should've thought this through," he mumbled not intending for the Courtesan to hear, but she giggled anyway.
"There is a wagon of hay at the bottom of here." He followed her voice to a ledge of the brothel. "You could jump down here and land in the hay."
The Agile was uneasy. Sure, Assassins could complete this task without a second thought but… Adriano was a Templar and had no such talents.
"Are you afraid, Messer?" she teased.
"I am not afraid." Adriano looked down again. "I am uncertain."
He flew to the other end of the building and flung himself onto the balcony below, startling some customers and Courtesans. His landing was firm and he had barely felt a twinge in his chest. He smirked, feeling proud that his abilities had not entirely diminished in his lack of activity.
Adriano reached the door and entered through the entrance to the upstairs. The Courtesans were still prancing about and a young man in the corner was playing the lute. Two women clad in bright colors sprinkled rose petals around him as he strode down the steps to meet Claudia in the main room.
"Adriano! Thank you for coming. I was about to climb up atop the roof myself," she said, laughing to herself.
"What did you wish to see me about?"
Claudia's face changed dramatically- from happy and carefree to a more serious expression. She glanced around and grabbed the sleeve of one of her Courtesans. The anxious woman whispered something in her ear and the girl nodded, dashing off to the upstairs.
"Walk with me," she ordered, stepping out the door of the Rosa in Fiore.
There was silence in the cool air as they walked among the desolate streets. The only energy seemed to be emitting from the bordello and even that was becoming faint as they passed by the docks. The water rippled slightly as a villager on a gondola passed by, with a courtly wave intended for Claudia. The moon and stars shone down on the water, a reflection worthy of an artist's brush. A short barrier separated the streets from the waters and made a convenient arm rest as he and the head of the Courtesans gazed out at the Tiber.
"I suppose you are wondering why we saved you," she stated, her eyes still fixed on the river.
"Yes."
She paused, as if thinking of a form her words. Then she spoke. "I can see it in your eyes, Templar. You know not who you are, but yet wish to be someone else. I see this in my girls sometimes but mostly, I had seen it in my older brother. You know him."
Adriano nodded slightly. "I do."
"He was not ready to be shoved into the world we know. He only knew of love and games and a mixture of the two." She laughed at this. "When our family was…murdered," she choked, "he took us away and kept us safe. He never once assured me that everything would be alright because he knew not. When my uncle showed him war and battle and things he had not even dreamed of, his eyes took on a shade of fear. He would never admit it himself, but he was frightened. And all he wanted was to be someone else. But he knew what was right for him. So he stayed and fought his battles to return home to his family, to my mother and me."
Adriano turned to her as her eyes moved to him. The moonlight lit her face as she watched him with a soft but firm gaze.
"Fight your own battles. Know what is right and follow what you believe. As soon as I saw you, I knew you did not belong there. And as I look at you now, I feel you believe the same."
The Agile looked to the ground, taking in every word she spoke and realizing the truth behind it. He glanced back up when she laid a hand on his shoulder and a soft smile appeared on her face, still lit by the moon.
"The Assassins do not know of your survival, Adriano. You will remain here until you are healed. I forbid you to do otherwise."
He nodded in agreement and her hand left his shoulder.
She spun around and began to walk back towards the brothel but halted in her tracks. Still facing the other way, she said, "I've heard time heals all wounds."
Adriano felt a sharp pain in his chest, but it was not from the injury.
Claudia began moving father away as she shouted, "And next time you wish to see the stars, ask for a ladder!"
Adriano chuckled to himself and started in the opposite direction of the woman, working his way to the front of the brothel.
She was right, of course. He'd seen it before but denied it all the while. He saw himself in a new light. He knew where he belonged and knew what he believed.
Time.
Time was all he needed now.