The Roman Roads were awfully uncomfortable to walk on — especially with the flat, poor materialistic shoes Federico had given you; it just felt like you were walking bare foot! You would have thought he'd give you heels at least — even they would have been better than these... potato sacks you've slipped on your feet!
Remi strolled along side you, seeming rather bored. You knew it was mainly because of the fact that instead of free-running, he had to stay by your side in order to protect you from any unusual attacks. Despite this, neither of you had said a word since the Guild — since Federico suggested he take you on his little conquest. From remembering the few moments you spent reliving Remilio's memories back at Abstergo Industries, you knew that this kid liked to move... and fast. He was a quick runner and an impeccable parkour performer. He's jumped to and from heights you could only dream of surviving from. He's ran speeds that only the fastest man on Earth could run. He's killed dozens and dozens of targets without blinking an eye, which quite frankly, terrified you. However, you found yourself almost drooling over the man. But, if you were completely honest, you were a little afraid to join Remi considering he was assigned an assassination contract and all. You've never seen anyone die before... from being murdered; you only see that kind of stuff in movies! Remi wasn't at all phased by his contract or even by the fact that you were there with him to watch. Was it normal to see someone get murdered back in these days?
"So..." you strike up a conversation. "What's your name?" Even though you already knew, you'd like to hear it from him, plus it was a way to break the silence.
"Remilio Auditore da Roma," he replies, glancing over at you in the corner of his eyes. "But you knew that."
"Did I?" You question, grinning slightly.
"Did you not?" He asks, noticing your grin and revealing a small smirk on his lips.
The connection you felt with this lad was instant. Even when you both caught each other's stare back at the Guild, there was some sort of bond already being made. But now, that bond was growing quickly and for some reason, you found yourself not wanting to stop it.
You quickly narrow your eyes to the Roman Road, trying to break the eye-contact as it was too much for your heart and mind to take. He was incredibly hot that's for sure: the way his dark-brown hair blew gracefully in the wind, complimented by his tanned skin and marble green eyes. Just one look from those gorgeous, breath-taking eyes would make any young woman fall to their knees and beg for him to be only for themselves. Hell, if you didn't look away before they possessed you, would have probably done the exact same thing.
"I've heard of you," you admit, feeling your grin widen.
"Oh? What have you heard?" He asks, losing eye-contact with you and adjusting his focus onto the path.
"That you're dangerous," you reply, not lying at all - it was what the Templars told you back at Abstergo.
"Dangerous?" He laughed, sounding rather proud. "I'm not dangerous, in that way anyhow."
"What way?" You question.
"You'll probably find out soon enough Madonna," he says, letting his smirk merge into a smile. "Anything else?"
"You're young," you tell him; a lot of people has mentioned that the Assassin was young, but nobody has mentioned his age specifically.
"Si," he replies.
"How old are you?" You ask curiously.
"I'm eighteen years old Signora," he answers, fixating his eyes onto you once again. "Quanti anni hai?"
You pause for a very long time, not just because you didn't understand a word he had said, but because his age shocked you — how was an eighteen year old boy dangerous with deadly skills? Your expressions fall into puzzlement, and you knew it as he noticed, sighed and translated his question into English.
"How old are you?"
"Oh! I'm nineteen," you inform him, giggling lightly to yourself as it felt like the only way to put your nerves at ease.
"You do not speak Italiano, no?" He asks, raising an eyebrow only to receive a shake of the head from you. "Well then, where are you from?"
"The Uni..." you slowly come to a stop, realising that you were about to give away your true identity. "I mean, Venice."
"Venezia?" Remi questions, sounding extremely unsure. "You don't sound like you're from Venezia. Besides, you don't even speak Italian."
You remain silent, not knowing what to say or how to answer Remilio. He's already caught you out lying once, surely he can do it again. This man was good.
"Okay..." you admit, sighing heavily. "I'm from the United Kingdom."
"Che cosa? Sei per davvero? (What? Are you for real?). That's crazy!" Remi exclaims, trying to think of any possible way that you'd be able to travel all the way down from the UK to Rome.
Sure, you could have sailed all the way down to Italy, but that would take weeks! The people who lived in this era couldn't possibly be able to sail for that many weeks alone. However, it takes only a few hours to sail down to France, but then even so, how could you have gotten from France to Rome without a car? (Even with a car, it was around a twenty hour drive). The timespan was awfully long, and the kind of equipment and resources available in 1530 couldn't have made the journey successful.
"You're un bugiardo (a liar)," Remilio concludes. "There's no way a woman could travel all the way down to Roma solo (alone)."
"A woman?" You question with a hint of attitude. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know..." Remi replies, trying to make it clear about what he meant. "Just that you're a woman is all."
"What has being a woman got anything to do with this?" You ask, feeling your anger boil inside your blood. How rude was this guy?! Did he not know of human rights or feminism?
"Le donne non hanno diritti qui (women have no rights here)," Remilio states, smirking at you as he knew that if you knew how to speak Italian, you would have burst out in pure annoyance and outrage — he found that rather cute for some reason. The way your eyes narrowed at him and your pale skin slowly transforming into a darker tone made him feel... oddly fascinated by you.
Of course, Remilio wasn't being an asshole as he was only joking... sorta. Women do have rights, in his opinion. But only recently have those rights been proposed and acted on. Within the past hundreds of years, women have been trying to push towards the end of the rainbow, where the males tend to be born at. So, back in the year 1530, women rights did not exist — unless you were powerful that is.
"What did you say?" You interrogate, frowning at the lad.
"Nothing," Remi answers with a grin and a slight shrug of his broad shoulders.
Just before you were about to question him some more, he stops in his tracks right in the middle of the open space, surrounded by Roman Ruins. His sudden pause made your heart feel like it had dropped, because you knew that it was time — time to be seated and watch the show.
"We're here," Remi whispers to you, holding an arm out in front of you so you don't proceed any further. "And he's close."
It struck you right there and then, that you hadn't even asked Remi who you would be watching die. You were so caught up in yourself that you didn't even pay the respects to the man that Remi was about to murder, right in front of your eyes! Due to the anxiety that you felt, your hands began to tremble, your stomach felt like it had a knot in it; sweat trailed down your face, and your heart raced and pumped so hard that it felt as though it were about to leap from your chest!
Before you knew it, Remilio was no longer by your side. Whilst you were having some sort of a meltdown, he snuck off and hid in the shadows where no one could find him — stalking his prey like an animal. You didn't even know what the man looked like, so once Remi jumps out from the dark and murders the poor soul, it'll be even more frightening. You hadn't realised how horrible this was going to make you feel. Even if you covered your eyes and plugged your ears, you knew what Remilio was doing and you hadn't put a stop to it. You were letting a man die.
You let your eyes quickly scan over the scenery to find Remi, but you were unsuccessful. In surprise, you actually spotted the man Remi was assigned to kill (so you gathered), before you could spot Remi himself — despite not knowing the appearance of this man, it didn't take you long to notice the uneasy vibe one of the citizens gave you, even from where they were standing which was all the way over by the Roman Pillars. To conclude your judgement, Remi appeared out of the shadows and behind the man, ready to strike. His hood was over his head, covering his face and hiding his identity; his crouch allowed him to hide within long grass and move much more quickly yet quietly on his feet; the way his blades slowly emerged from his amour braces made a cold shiver flow down your spine. This was it. He was about to murder that guy in cold blood, right in front of you. You were about to witness a human life being taken away from someone. You were about to witness murder!
It was then, a sudden yelp came from your mouth that distracted Remi and caught the victim's attention. "Stop!"
Once the word escaped your lips, Remi glanced over to you in confusion, right before he was struck in the face with Alfonsi's fist. Because of your little breakdown and belt out, Remilio was highly inattentive to the mission and instead, paid his attention to you. That gave Eduardo Alfonsi enough time to realise what was going on and who Remilio was, before acting upon his discovery and clocking Remi in the jaw.
*Logging out of the Animus...*
Immediately, almost within the speed of light, you forcefully sat up and gasped for air several times over. Looking around, you realised that you were back in the Abstergo Laboratory and sat on the Animus machine. Quickly shaking your head in dissension and conflict as you completely disagreed with the sudden awakening, you shoot angry and narrow daggers at the laboratory assistant working the machine.
"What happened? Why did you bring me back here?! Send me back, now!" You order, feeling your vocal chords straining the more you speak as you emerge into a yell.
"I can't do that Miss," he replies, turning off the switches to the Animus.
"What are you doing?! Don't do that! You need to send me back immediately!" You shout at him, feeling your anxiety levels rise until you were in a state of panic — you had to go back and help Remi! Or see what had happened at least... considering it was your fault that his identity was revealed and that Eduardo Alfonsi struck him clean in the face.
"We -"
"We can't do that," Dr. Samuel Sullivan cuts off his assistant, walking into the laboratory with his hands placed neatly behind his back.
"Why not?" You question with boiling blood.
"Because Subject Nineteen, your heart-rate was too high. Are you going to be difficult now that you know that we were only looking out for your health?" He asks sarcastically, slowly stepping towards you with every word he said.
"I need to go back," you tell him, your tone a little softer.
"And why's that?" He raises an eyebrow at you.
"Because..." you trail off, knowing that you couldn't tell him that you needed to go back to help Remi — you were supposed to be there in order to retrieve the location of the Apple of Eden; Dr. Sullivan made it specifically clear that he wanted you to befriend the Assassin, and then strike... whatever that means.
"Hm?" Dr. Sullivan waits for an answer.
"Because I ensured he failed his mission and was a step closer to discovering the secret location, Sir," you lie, partly.
Dr. Sullivan yet again, raised an eyebrow at you — this time, in surprise and impression. He was rather shocked to have you on his side, though you didn't know which side was the good and which side was the bad. It was remarkable how a few days ago, you were this ordinary college girl with a future ahead of her; now you're this lab experiment being tested on and sent back to the year 1530 to befriend a dangerous Assassin, without a future ahead because if you didn't cooperate... well, you could tell it would lead to bad consequences.
"I suppose we could send you back," Dr. Sullivan thinks on his suggestion, pausing for a moment too long as you allow a small smile appear on your lips.
However, that smile was instantly overturned when Sullivan decided that he would send you back, but only when your heart-rate has fallen back to its normal pace. Despite the importance of sending you back, you understood why they were stalling. You knew that Remi had already died centuries ago because this was the real world, but thanks to you, his death could have came sooner than expected.