A shift in the wind, figuratively and probably literally since they were now underground, made Isabella's skin crawl. It was as if the whole place had been electrified, and she had walked too damn close to the open current. Seth walked beside her, favoring his leg where the wound was. She had to slap him the day before as he pulled out one of her small throwing knives, and was about to cut the stitches out of his own leg. Yeah, that led to a fight.
"What the hell are you doing?" Isabella asked him as she looked up from the pad of paper she had in front of her.
Seth held the knife in his hand, sitting in one of the chairs in their motel room in only his boxers and a t-shirt. "What does it look like? I'm going to take these damn stitches out of my leg. I can't sit down right without pulling them. Walking is a bitch at the best of times, and you seriously think I can run with them there?"
Standing, she snatched the knife from him, and thumped him on the head with the notebook. "You are the biggest moron I know, Seth. You can't cut the stitches out with this. You'll most likely slice your leg open more before you got them out." Walking over to her small bag, Isabella pulled out a manicure kit.
Her brother raised a brow when she came over with it. "We're about to go up against the biggest bitch in history, and you have a nail kit in your bag? Wow, you really are such a girl, sis. What, afraid you're going to break a nail while fighting her?"
Whacking him once more, she smiled at the grunt that came from him as he rubbed the top of his head. "And you, my dear sweet idiotic brother, don't know a damn thing." Opening the small case, she pulled the little pair of scissors out, and handed them to him. "I carry it with me because the nail file can be used to put a small edge back on a knife given the chance. Makes a pretty good eye gouger as well." Seth cringed. Holding up a small metal rod with a chiseled end and a point, she spoke. "This is for your cuticles, but in the right situation, you can use it as a makeshift screwdriver, or even a hole-punch. And you see another use for the scissors."
"So what you're saying is, take a woman on an infiltration mission. Their manicure kit could save your life." He grinned, causing her to roll her eyes heavenward. "Nice to know."
"Ugh." Isabella groaned, going back to the other side of the table. "You're impossible. You know that right?"
Laughing, Seth began to cut the sutures from his flesh. "So I've been told on numerous occasions. Mainly by family, and a few friends."
Laying the tweezers out as well, Isabella sat back down and went about her writing.
Granted, her brother was able to move a little better without the sutures hampering his movements, but his leg was still not in the best of conditions. The wound was inflamed, telling her that a small infection was still present. If not treated, it could result into a few things. Amputation, illness, or even death. If she walked away from this, she was going to make sure that he got taken care of. Seth was her only brother, and family suck together. That's why he followed her into the Grand Temple without a thought when he knew there was no talking her out of it. That's what family did.
"So what do you think we'll find in here?" she whispered, trying to stop herself from running back to her husband and son, grabbing them, and diving headfirst off the face of the Earth for all times. The urge was great, but she knew that there was only one thing she had to do at that time, and that was to stop Juno from destroying everything she had in her life.
"Don't know, but I have a feeling we're not going to like it one damn bit, sis." The gun in his hand wavered slightly from him holding it at ready, but Isabella knew he wasn't about to put it away, and be unprepared for what they were about to face.
But there was a question that was burning at the back of her mind, something she needed to know before they went any further. So grabbing his arm, she pulled Seth to a stop and looked up into his face. "What are you going to do if you have to face Tori?"
Seth diverted his eyes if only for a split second, but it was enough to know he may hesitate. "I don't want to think about that, Izzy. But I want you to know that whatever may come of this, I'm going to make sure you walk out of here to raise my nephew right. To keep him safe, and I know you are able to do that."
"Seth…" Isabella's hand tightened on his arm, and she also knew right then and there, he would die to make sure she walked away from this. But only one person was going to lose their lives in this, and she knew it was going to be her. Juno had said as much. The thing was, she was going to take the bitch out with her no matter the cost.
Her brother gave a smile that never reached his green eyes. "Don't worry about it, sis. We're both going to walk away from this. Then one day, maybe, we'll look back and chalk it up as a grand adventure."
But if only either of them believed that. So, taking a deep breath, exhaling, they set off once more into the bowls of the Grand Temple, and possibly to their last days on Earth. "Yeah, a grand adventure."
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
He didn't know how, call it a gut feeling, but something was going to go wrong. Desmond massaged the pain in his temple, knowing he was about to enter a blood bath. They were a few hours behind Isabella and Seth, but that didn't mean they were going to catch them. This had to be the dumbest thing he had ever heard of the duo doing, and that was saying a lot. Sarah had told him of many said adventures the two had done when they were training and even before. How many times they had to be either sewn up, or a bone set. They were rational alone, most of the time, but together, more hotheaded than anyone on the planet.
So now he was stuck looking out the window, watching the trees pass by and wonder if she was even still alive. He just didn't know, and that was the most frightening part of the whole drive. Was he going to lose his wife, and best friend, to all of this? Was Collin going to lose his mother to a monster from another time? It was something that swirled around in his head like a storm, causing the voices to stir to life once more.
These voices were different. They called out, telling him he wasn't fast enough, good enough. Voicing his doubts in his abilities, and his chances. When they became too much, Desmond reached for the bottle of pills he had been prescribed. The feeling the medication gave him was something he disliked, because they made him sluggish, but the alternative was a flip out of epic proportions. That wasn't what was needed, and so with a deep sigh, Desmond downed the two pills with a gulp of water. Leaning back, his eyes went back to looking out the window, waiting for the medication to kick in, relieving him of the voices once more.
"So when did you get medicated?" William asked as they headed down the highway.
It was a secret that he and Isabella had been keeping from everyone. She wasn't as bad as he was, but it was understandable. She hadn't been in the Animus as long as he had been, and she was only subjected to one ancestor. He had three running around in his head, unchecked. Yeah, on the Animus Island, Desmond had formed a wall to block the remaining of Altair's and Ezio's memories from colliding with his own so he could awaken from the coma, but that didn't mean there wasn't irreparable damage done.
"A few months ago." They younger Miles didn't elaborate any further. It was his own battle and no one else's. There was only one other that knew about his hidden struggles and she was going to get her ass killed if not careful.
"Are those things safe to take before what we're about to do?" His father asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
With a bark of laughter, Desmond answered truthfully. "Probably not, but the alternative is having me go nuts at the wrong point. Not able to discern friend from foe. So to answer your question, I guess taking the pills and being a little out of it is better than killing the wrong person, huh?"
William looked over at him, shock written clearing on his lined face. "You're that bad?"
"Am I that bad?" Desmond spoke in a condescending voice. "Let's think about this for a minute, alright. I was shoved in an Animus by Abstergo and Lucy to relive a few months in the life of Altair. That wouldn't have been so damn bad if I hadn't been in there for several hours at a time. Then, when I think salvation is at hand, no, I'm freed just to go back in as Ezio and relive twenty plus years of his life. Basically, Dad, I was in the Animus off and on for three and a half damn months. Oh and the months they threw me back in there when I was captured after Isabella and I came back. Half that time caused Clay to bleed himself dry to write on the walls of Abstergo in his own blood. So yeah, I'm that bad." Shaking his head at the stupidity of his father's last question.
"I'm sorry, son. If I had known that it was going to be this bad, I would have shut it all down." William turned back to towards the road, his voice far softer than Desmond could have ever remember it being. "I should have never allowed all of that to happen after they took you from Abstergo. It should have never happened. I should have relived Ezio's memories. And Connor's. They're my ancestors too."
Sighing, Desmond let his eyes slide shut, but it brought on a mass flood of relived memories. Maria Thorpe's death, the destruction of Monteriggioni, the last breath Altair took alone in that chamber, Connor and the fight with Haytham. It was horrid to know that those events happened so long ago, but he could relive it any time that he closed his eyes.
"No, you wouldn't have lived long enough to get through Ezio's, let alone to Connor's. I knew what was going to happen if I stuck with it. Rebecca warned me. Lucy warned me. I had enough training that I could have slipped away at any time without alerting someone, but I stayed. If anyone's to blame, I should hold most of it." And that was truth that he knew. It would have been easy to slip away all those nights he explored the Old Italian town, but he stayed. Why he stayed was a reason he would keep to himself, and that was because, at one time, he had thought he was in love with Lucy. Now, looking back on it, he didn't know if it was love, or gratitude, but he knew it was something.
Silence filled the car as they drove down the highway. Only a few hours until they reached their destination, and then, hopefully, it would all be over. He was only hoping that they would all walk away.
*/*/*/*/*/*
Minerva watched as Tori was pulled by force from the cage they were both kept in. It was hard to keep herself in there, but somehow Juno had found a way. So, watching helplessly, she wished for a miracle to happen. Juno was going to destroy the world, if she didn't destroy herself first. That was the hope, but it was not high. The woman had a team of people trying in vain to keep the machines in the Temple alive long enough for her to permanently take possession of Tori's body.
Juno stood beside the door, body flickering uncontrollably now. Her systems were failing, and there was nothing she could do about it. The time would come when the mainframe would fail, and everything in the Temple would fall, but that would not come soon enough for Minerva's liking. It would take weeks for the systems to fail. So far the only thing that would not come back online was a few lightings and the security system that had been in place for eons. Since they had sealed Juno in there. Her and Tinia so long ago.
"The end will come soon for you, Juno. You know as well as I that you are only prolonging your death now. A stagnant beast that knows the end is coming, with predators on your heels. There is not enough time for you to 'settle' into the host. They must be willing, not forced as you are trying." Minerva spat out. "These humans you believe are helping you? I have watched them. They are only hoping to study our technology. To find out what we know. They do this to advance themselves, not to help you. You are nothing more than a trace of the ancient world." They may have been friends, sisters really, once, but time, and anger, eroded away what was left of that bond.
The other woman merely smiled. "You know nothing, Minerva. Your peaceful ways are what has bound you the way you are now. I have taken everything you fought for, and left you empty. Now, you will see as I ascend, leaving what was once my prison behind for good."
Shaking her head, Minerva let out a breath. "You and your ascension, Juno. Hah! It has blinded you to what will come, and you cannot stop fate. It was prophesied eons past that you would fall. You may destroy me, but you know as well as I, that my temple is the only one still functioning. And it will stay that way until the end of time, or until I shut it down. As is yours is failing. You will be dead in a matter of weeks. Look!" Pointing to her static like form. "You can barely keep the projector from destabilizing your form. Even now you are barely keeping it together. Admit it, you are losing, and it is all because you failed to listen long ago."
"I will have my revenge!" She screamed, and faded for a moment, but then she was back, a bit more composed. "I will have a vessel, and I will rule these simpletons. I will have all for what they took from me! I will have Aita back, in his true form, and there is nothing you can stay to stop it. You are trapped her just as I once was."
"Maybe not, but I have one thing you do not, Juno, and that is time." And with that being said, Minerva glided to the back of the cage, and watched. Observing the operations, and how they strapped Tori to the table, her fighting them as they proceeded. It was the Animus that allowed the transference of Juno's mind into Tori's body. If there was a way to destroy the power to the unit, there would be a way to save the young woman.
Looking around the room, she began to formulate a plan to take down Juno once and for all. Her only hope was that help would come soon.
I can't believe I had such trouble writing this chapter. It's like when I sat down to write, my whole mind would go blank. Well, in my defense, it's blank most of the time, except hearing the song "Let It Go". I have a four year old. She wants to be Elsa. Anyway, back to this. I had a few kicks to my brain, and an hour of peace in my house. So I finally finished.
Also, thanks to black dragon once more for dealing with me, and my issues. You have been a great sounding board, and I thank you from the bottom of 'ittle heart! And y'all should check out her story 'Broken Wings'. Great story! Now, gotta run, Christmas cookies aren't gonna bake themselves!