Chapter Seventeen:

One of us is Going Down

1511

"I heard that the tower fell and the chain was lowered!" Sofia exclaimed. "Can you imagine seeing such a spectacle?"

"A spectacle? S-Sofia, are you okay…?"

Sofia laughed at my face and waved it off. "Strambo! I was just thinking that people never get to see a piece of history fall… literally. It would have been exciting."

"Not to mention that half of the Turkish fleet was wiped-out by their own Greek fire cannon."

Sofia went rigid. "Mio dio!" And just when I thought she was about to go on a rant about Constantinople's safety, she surprised me again. "Greek fire! Oh, how I would have loved to see such a thing!"

I smiled and laughed. It had been only a day since Ezio left, and so I decided to visit Sofia. I realized just how much time I hadn't spent with her, and I regretted it. She was interesting and surprising, just as Ezio had described. From a certain point of view, I guess, I was the same way.

"Poco Sofia! Come here!" Sofia called from the back.

I hadn't even noticed that she left the front of the shop. I went to the back and smiled. "Poco Sofia? That's a new one!"

"Well, this confuses me less. I feel like I'm talking to myself all the time, so I gave you a nickname." Nevertheless, she smiled and tried to hide her laughter.

"Grazie mille," I said sarcastically. Sofia was poking around her books, which immediately reminded me of one of the main reasons I was in her shop. "Ah, Sofia! I nearly forgot!"

"What is it?" Sofia asked as she sat on the desk with me.

I pulled a book out from under my belt (where I usually held anything) and presented it to Sofia. "I thought you would like this."

Sofia handled the book with care and looked it over. Her eyes widened, and she smiled. "Poco Sofia! How did you get such a book? These editions are not even made anymore! They date back to the early Crusades!"

"I came across it," I said, not really lying. "It was a good book, so I thought I'd give it to you. You can put it with the collection that Ezio got you."

At the mention of Ezio, Sofia blushed. "S-Si, I shall. Grazie, poco Sofia. 'The Art of War' is an amazing gift, and in this condition… Grazie." She smiled. "Oops. I already said that, didn't I?"

I nodded with a smile and then yawned. "Mio dio! Tired already? I'm getting weak in my old age!"

Sofia was giggling at me, but practically skipping around with the book I gave her. I felt something I hadn't noticed before in my hood, so I felt around, but I couldn't find it.

"Erm… Sofia? Could you help me with something?"

Sofia put the book down and came over. "Si. What do you need?"

"There's something in my hood, and I can't seem to find it…"

Sofia laughed. "Well, take off your hood and I'll grab it." When Sofia was behind me, I took my hood off and let her feel around for a bit. "Aha! Successo!" Sofia came around the desk and presented me with a bullet, which (apparently) had been caught in my hair. "Though I am unsure as to why this was so close to you…"

"Call it bad luck," I said, taking the bullet and examining it. "I rarely have a moment's peace."

"But Kostantiniyye is a place where you can relax—."

"I don't like it here," I admitted. "There are… many memories here that I would love to leave behind."

Sofia, as ever, was thirsty for knowledge and sat on the desk again. "Like what?"

I started to fidget with my fingers. "My sister was killed here, many years ago. She's buried here."

Sofia sadly looked down. "Mi dispiace. I do not know that bond between siblings, but I can still only imagine how you feel."

"I could have saved her!" I blurted. "That's the worst part. She would not have been hurt if I had stayed with her, but no! Sono fottutamente stupido per aver lasciato il suo!"

Suddenly, Sofia smiled. "Poco Sofia, you blame yourself for something that was set in stone. Continuing to dwell on such a thing will only make you bitter. And from what I see, you still have some years left."

It occurred to me that I'd never taken my hood off in front of Sofia before. I chuckled. "Sofia, you have no idea."

Still holding her smile, Sofia held up my shortblade in front of me. "Interesting blade, poco Sofia."

My eyes widened. "Porca puttana! How did you—?" I grabbed the blade and smiled. "Ezio."

"Si," she said, nodding. "He told me to bug you a bit."

"Funny. He told me that same thing."

2012

Jeremy grabbed a pen that was on one of the tables and charged at Diana. I tackled him just in time, as I could see Diana was only feigning being hurt. She'd have stabbed him if I hadn't.

Diana came at us, and so I kicked her in the jaw as she was grabbing something else on her belt. She dropped it, and it unluckily landed beside Jeremy and I. I reflexively threw it away, and then I noticed what it was. The grenade hit the wall beside the windows looking outside, and exploded. The ground from underneath us shook as the supports on our floor started to break. I tried to get my balance while stopping Jeremy from attacking Diana with that stupid pen, but I tripped and slammed into the wall near where the grenade exploded.

The wall fell backwards and the ground sloped. Jeremy grabbed hold of a wire bristling with electricity and leapt after me as I started to fall. He grabbed onto my hand just in time, and we hung there on the edge, hundreds of metres above the ground.

Diana, still safely above us, grabbed another grenade and tentatively rolled it towards us.

Fuck!

"Let go of the wire!" I ordered as I activated the jet's homing signal. Goddammit Jared you'd better get this!

"What?" he exclaimed.

"Do it now!"

With a nod, Jeremy released the wire. The grenade fell after us, but I grabbed onto Jeremy and activated the only parachute that was built-into my robes, courtesy of Lucy. We floated away from the grenade, and it exploded harmlessly in the air, only breaking a few windows.

I didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the jet picked us up as we were still floating. Tired, I just laid on the ground for a while and closed my eyes while Jared tended to Jeremy.

"Never… again…" I panted.

Jared smiled and finished bandaging Jeremy, though with some difficulty, because Jeremy kept trying to come over to me.

"You, my friend, are the bravest stupid person I've ever known," he commented.

I was going to reply, but I heard something in the storage room. I got to my feet and looked in that direction, only to meet face-to-face Diana.

Shit! She must've gotten in through one of the emergency doors!

"You're not getting away from me!" she roared, and grabbed my robes.

She shoved me out of the plane through one of the doors she hadn't used and followed after me. I activated my hidden blades and fended her off as we sailed through the sky, while watching my escape become smaller and smaller.

"Die, you bitch!" Diana yelled over the wind, and stabbed her right hidden blade into my heart.

I grabbed hold of her arm and shoved the blade deeper inside of me. My face was only a few inches from hers as my hood fell from my face. She stared into my eyes, her expression (at first) steady and angry, but as we continued to fall, it turned into fear and realization.

"You'll have to do better than that!" I told her. "Do you finally accept what you see?"

She plunged her other blade into my guts and twisted. I cried out in agony, but held her gaze again. Diana deactivated her blades and activated a parachute she had, and yet she forgot I was still holding onto one of her arms. I let go for only an instant, so I could grab onto the top of her parachute. I ripped the top with my hidden blade, and we started our plunge again.

Diana screamed, and the way her arms were flailing made her fall only faster.

Rest in peace, I thought as she hit the ground.

Instead of hitting the ground, the jet had circled back around and just barely managed to catch me at the correct velocity so I wouldn't break any bones. Oh, how I loved the pilot.

I crawled into the jet and lay on the floor again, despite the fact that my blood was pooling around me.

I laughed. "Okay… This time… never again…"

Jeremy was the one to come over and help me to my feet, steadying me as the jet started to fly faster. "Are you injured? You have blood around you, but I'm not sure if it's yours…"

I waved him off. "I'm fine. Just a scratch."

"That doesn't look like a damn scratch!" Jared snapped as Jeremy sat me down into a seat. "I'm getting the med-kit! This is serious!"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. How long had it been since I'd done something as simple as that? I'd always had my hood up, and when I had amnesia, I did it all the time!

Jeremy studied me as I rested my head in my hands, the heel of them rubbing my eyes.

"Take a picture," I told him. "It lasts longer."

Jeremy moved so Jared could bring the med-kit to me. "Okay! So, looks like it really isn't anything serious. Your upper-chest is a bit nicked, and your stomach…"

"Look, I'll put the bandages on."

"I'm pretty hesitant about that. You remember what I said, right?" Jared grinned and handed me the med-kit, then looked at Jeremy. "This is the guy you went after?"

I almost nodded, but then I bit my lip. "Well… kinda."

"Kinda? How do you get 'kinda'?"

"I already explained to you about the situation we'd be in if I didn't get there in time," I told Jared, a bit of an edge on my voice. "Well, we're in that situation now."

Both of us looked at Jeremy, who had his face glued to the window. "W-We're flying!" he exclaimed.

"See?" I said to Jared.

He frowned. "Damn… I thought he could only be here with some sort of a trigger?"

"I guess when Diana and I were fighting, he remembered something." I clenched my fists. "I should've just gotten him outta there… I'm such a damn idiot!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, but it wasn't Jared's. "He didn't want you to be sad about this," Jeremy said. "While you were fighting her, we actually managed to have a conversation before he died."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" I glared at him. "You shouldn't even be here! Jeremy was a young man, who'd barely started living, and now he doesn't exist! Spero che tua madre ha un attacco di cuore!" I bit my lip. "Wait a sec, that won't work… she's already dead." Instead of sitting around and looking like a fool, I grabbed the med-kit and excused myself to a private room. Damn… Now what do I do with him?

1205

"Ahdara!"

She smiled at me. "Suna!" She held me tightly, though I had to be more careful with her, since Maria had told me she had bruises on her sides from being beaten. "I thought you were dead!"

"A nice trick," I told her, and then held her at arms length. "I am sorry I could not get to you sooner."

Ahdara smiled and waved it off. "It was nothing I couldn't handle."

Malik was there visiting Ahdara with me, but I was sure he wanted to be somewhere else. "Are you well?"

"I am better," she told him.

I stood there like a fool, not knowing what to say. "Um… We have your father in custody. We'll be deciding what to do with him soon. I was wondering if you had anything to say."

Ahdara frowned. "What father? I don't have one."

"And so we have our answer," Malik said. "Come, Suna. Let Ahdara rest."

I nodded and smiled at Ahdara. "I will visit often."

"I don't doubt it."