Re-introducing:
Ewan Mcgregor (Star Wars) as Romeo Montague
Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) as Juliet Capulet/ Anne Bonny
Monteriggioni
Many Years Ago
After a long hard day of working in the hot summer sun, the hustle and bustle of Monteriggoni came to a steady calm as the merchants that had spent the day selling their various wares to those passing by their building in the main street of the protected city, and its residents gathered inside the tavern for the evening to relax with a mug of mead in their hands and a courtesan near by to ready to sooth aching muscles and minds from the hard day along with the thieves and mercenaries that based themselves in the city.
This particular night, the tavern played hosts to a group of people that looked for a few nights on dry land after weeks out at sea. However, they were not part of some King's Navy. One of the advantages of a protected city where no monarch ruled, was that those who were deemed less than savory would be able to pass through with a eye un-batted at their presence as long as they behaved themselves and not catch the attention of the Assassin's that did steward the city or the city watch that patrolled the high walls around it and the streets enclosed.
As the drinks flowed the the crowd livened up as maids maneuvered themselves around the tables full of patrons that had started to get a little too rowdy for the owner's liking as he kept an eye on a group of mercenaries that looked like they wanted to start a fight with a gang of thieves across the room as the drink started to get to their heads.
A fight wasn't uncommon in the tavern, if there wasn't at least one fight the evening it would be seen as a quiet night. But these people knew how to take a punch and give one. Calling the city watch usually did the trick, but calling one of the assassin's from the villa was the last resort and with the pirates present, the city watch would only make things worse. Glancing through the window to the private room near the main bar he saw the pair of assassin's that had heard the sudden surge of noise from inside their room.
The tavern owner's saving grace came as one of his hired tavern maids started to sing. Her sweet calming voice cut through the boisterous insults that were starting to be thrown across the room like an arrow in full flight, as they they concentrated on the young long haired redhead that continued to move around the tables picking up the empty mugs to leave full one's behind.
"Of all the money that e'er I had,
I spent it in good company"
Recognizing the song, music swelled from the musician's instruments as the maid continued to sing her calming song.
"And all the harm that e'er I've done,
Alas! it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all"
On one table sat Captain Charles Vane of the Ranger. The redhead maids voice caught his and his comrades ears as her melodic voice rang through the ears of Mary 'James' Kidd and his Quartermaster Jack Rackham as watched the woman control the crowd with simply her voice. Looking-over to his Quartermaster the Captain saw that her voice had captivated the man as soon as he lied eyes on her that evening as she served them, his eyes following every move she made as she sang.
"Of all the comrades that e'er I had,
They are sorry for my going away,
And all the sweethearts that e'er loved,
They would wish me one more day to stay,
But since it falls unto my lot,
That I should rise and you should not,
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call,
Good night and joy be with you all.
Good night and joy be with you all"
At the end of her song the mercenaries and thieves seemed to forget what made them start fighting in the first place as the music continued onto another song as idle chatter filled the tavern once more as the red haired maid made her way back to the bar to drop off the used tankards with the barkeeper. Jack Rackham's feet seemed to have a mind of their own as he followed the woman to the bar to lean against the wooden bar as the maid conversed with the barkeeper.
"Are you a Siren, darling?" the pirate asked the woman that had enchanted the whole tavern with her voice.
"Excuse me?" the woman asked him having been taken by surprise by his odd question.
"A Siren" he repeats himself with a charming smile "A creature that disguises themselves as beautiful woman to lure men into a deadly trap".
"Human, I'm afraid" she tells him "I just know how to temper angry men".
"What's your name?".
"What your's?" she retorts without answering.
"Jack Rackham. Quartermaster of the Ranger" he proudly introduces himself with a prideful grin and puffed out chest.
"Well Jack of the Ranger. I'm not a siren. Just a tavern maid" she tells him with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Does this tavern maid have a name then? Or would you like me to keep calling you a maid, or would you prefer Siren?" he teased her.
Pausing to think of her options the man. No-one in this city knew her real name. It would a death sentence, only three people in the entire Enchanted Forest knew her real name. Her Husband. Her Brother. And the woman who had opened up the door to her business for a roof over her's and her daughters heads. She did have a name she used around this place one that went under the radar so to speak.
"Anne. Anne Bonny".
Like clockwork over the next few months the same would happen. Jack Rackham and his associates would leave and come back a week or two later with tales of their adventures that had the whole tavern listening to them, including her. She secretly longed for a chance to get out of the gilded cage she had found herself in that her love called their home, it was never her home. But it was the safest place she and her daughter could be.
Rackham continued to pursue her despite her warnings of a husband in the picture, but Romeo was hardly in the city, spending most of his time between the Villa at the top of the hill or on his Jackdaw that would take him to any part of the Enchanted Forest. Deep down she was enjoying having his attention all to herself, to have his undivided attention from missions and targets that always played on Romeo's mind of late.
Jack was different. Something new and exciting, something she needed to explore more. There was a man under the suave pirate exterior, but she couldn't get under it no matter how much time she spent with him in the tavern. Went he would leave for these adventures the tavern seemed bigger somehow, she even missed him at one point.
His return was the highlight of her month between looking after her daughter in the bordello and the tavern. But when Jack had mentioned they had been looking for a few crew mates she couldn't let this opportunity to stretch her legs and breath in fresh air go to waste.
If she was going to leave, she had to do it tonight. With her window of opportunity quickly closing, the young redheaded woman quickly packed whatever she could get her hands on as quietly as she could as her five-year old daughter slept soundly in her cot in the corner of the room. Don't get her wrong, she loved her daughter with all her heart, it was the place she was trapped in that was the problem.
Monteriggioni was a beautiful city, and its residents couldn't be kinder, but one wrong move and the Assassin's that ran the city caught wind of her true name then she would be killed, and she couldn't find her adopted family on the other side of the wall that surrounded the city in fear they would discover where she had she been and with who, they would kill her and her daughter.
She wanted Freedom. The sort of freedom that her husband felt whenever he sailed the Jackdaw through the high seas. That's where Jack Rackham came into her plan. The Ranger would be leaving in an hour to embark on their next adventure and would leave without her if she didn't hurry.
Stuffing what she would be able carry in the bag in her hand, shirts, pants, her cutlass sword that was already strapped on a thin leather belt to her waist. Her hand hovered the dagger Romeo gifted her when Amelia was born, not sure if she should take it. In the end she left it. It was never her's anyway. Turning on her heel she caught sight of the thing that had made her heart whole five years ago. Quietly approaching her small cot, her daughter barely stirred as she brushed her long red hair on her head off her face.
"Goodnight my little Nightingale" she whispered into her daughter's head placing her lips upon the side of her head "Mama will be back soon" she whispers into her daughter's hair before making herself turn her back on the person that made her life bearable in this city.
Heading straight or the small balcony outside her window to make her escape, she barely touched the glass pane when a voice at her door made her freeze.
"Going somewhere?" the voice of the bordello's madam stopped her from leaving as she stood right in her doorway. In her signature long dress that brushed the carpeted floors of the bordello as she walked its floors, the older woman closed the door behind her to give them the privacy of any curious ear in the hallway.
"Paola-" she started to explain what she was doing only for older woman to continue.
"A few of my girls saw you speaking to some pirates in the tavern over the last few months" the Madam continued as her eye's saw the bag in the young redhead's hand "I really hope you're not doing what I think you're doing Juliet".
"I am" she defiantly tell the woman keeping her gaze on the older woman even in the dim light of her room.
"Romeo will never forgive for this" the madame tells the young woman. She knew exactly what she was doing. She had seen how unsettled she had become in the last few years and the pirates that had came and went only made it worse it seemed.
Romeo. She did love him. But something happened soon after she gave birth to their daughter. It was like that pull that had brought them together had vanished. He had to keep his distance from them, often closing himself from her whenever they did get a night or two away together on the Jackdaw. But this wasn't the life she envisioned for her and the child that quickened in her womb on Neverland, far from it.
"Maybe not, but this is something I want to do. As much as I wish I was for him, I will never be an assassin. This will never be my life".
"And her?" she says gesturing to the girl that slept in the bed behind her.
"I'll be back" she promised to herself "This is something I need to do. Not only for me but for her as well".
"And how is abandoning her helping her?".
"I'm not abandoning her" she argued to the older woman "I would never abandon her".
"And sneaking out of your window in the middle of the night with bag of your clothes in your hand, is what? A midnight stroll?" she drawled out to the young woman, she saw how unsettled the girl was, maybe letting her go would be the best thing for her and the child that slept behind her. If she couldn't see how lucky she was to be in this position, to be able to have the protection she had living in the bordello and the assassins in the Villa, even if they couldn't know who she really was, then she would never see it, even if she came back. She would just leave again.
And only one person would suffer in the end.
"Go" Paola instructs the young woman in front of her "If you truly think what you think you'll find is outside these city walls, then leave. Leave this place tonight, but don't bother coming back".
5 Years Later
A month on the Ranger turned into two, two month's turned into six and before Juliet knew it, five years had passed her by. Life on the Ranger was good, the adventures never seemed the end as they traveled from port to port with Jack Rackham by her side. With a ship of their own to call home. The William.
The 18 gun sloop was perfect for them as they sailed the seas taking whatever wealth fancied them. She felt free roaming the wooden deck as her Jack manned the wheel at the top of the ship. The sea salt air brushed past her long red-hair that sat on her shoulders, as she let the sun's light warm up her face. This was her home.
And a part of her home was the man that stood at the helm. Jack Rackham had become one of the most important people in her life. She may have not been his wife, but they would be partners until they were put into the ground. Falling him wasn't hard once she joined his crew five years ago, the only hard thing about the last five years was the thought of Amelia being left behind in that place.
"Captain!" a crew mates voice brought her out of her thoughts "Ship behind us! Looks like a Brig!".
Her feet moved on their own as they took her to the standing rigging, climbing up the rough ropes that led up to the crows nest, she held onto the rope as she took out her small telescope from her pocket to take a look at the ship that dared to follow the William from a far. Bringing the end of the telescope to her eye she quickly finds the the pristine white sails in firing range behind them, taking count of the cannons that sat either side of the ship, she found the motor canons. This ship was armed to the teeth for a brig.
"Shit" she swore to herself as she recognized the bird carved at the bow of the brig.
He found her.
Just as she felt her heart stop at the thought of being found by the one person she had been trying to avoid for the last five years, it jumped in her chest as a loud bang is heard from the distance as a a chain-shot flies over the William, narrowly missing the mainsail as it ends up somewhere to sink into the sea in the other side of the ship.
"That was a warning shot!"a crewman yells out. Jack could only smile at the brigs show of power.
"If they want a fight, they get one!" the Captain yells down to his crew "Prepare for attack!" he orders the men as a yell echoes from the main deck as they ran to the cannons that lined the side of the ship as she is set frozen on the ropes as she tries to think of what to do next. If they fired back, the ship would be left to ruin in the middle of the ocean while she is taken away, leaving Jack and how many other crew mates that survived to die. Or she could do something that would unsure her love's survival, even if she was taken away. At least he would be alive.
"Jack!" she shouts after her partner as she jumps from the rigging to run past men rushing past her with taking ammunition to the guns and cannons, the boots thudding against the hard wood deck in rhythm with her thudding heart as she ran up the stairs up to the wheel to find him pulling the wheel to steer the ship around so that they could face the brig head on all the while the Jackdaw quickly gained distance on them, cutting through the clear blue sea around them. Grabbing his shoulder she tries her best to get him to pull the ship into the other direction to run away from the Jackdaw was useless as he pushed the ship to turn around.
"Ready the cannons!" he announced from the wheel as another roar erupted from the crew, eager to fight the ship daring to fire at them.
"Don't fire back!" she yells over the crews yells as he pulls the heavy wheel up to steady the ship on the surface of the water heading straight for the Jackdaw.
"Anne, darling-" he started ready to tell his partner that he had the situation in hand only to get interrupted.
"Jack!" she yells at him "Don't fire. It's him" her word caught him off guard as he looked into her emerald eyes for any flicker of doubt to enter them.
"Are you certain?" he quietly asks her. All she could do is nod as fear flashes in her eyes and face "Then what do we do, darling?".
"Let them board us" she tells him "He's here for me, not you".
"Anne no,-" he tried to protest before he find his head trapped between her hands as he grips the handles of the wheel so hard he swears he'll find a splinter somewhere in his hands tonight.
"Jack, this is the only way that doesn't end up with you and this crew dead" she pleads with him "Please" she adds desperately trying to get him to listen to her.
"Damn it Anne" he growled under his breath as he tried to prepare himself to face his men. Pecking his partner's lips he pulls his head out of her comforting hands to look ahead to him to see the ship he had only heard tales about until now and the Captain that sailed her. He would have to lick his wound later. His love needed him to be strong for the both of them.
"Stand down!" he orders his men with an authoritative voice as movement below him came to a sudden halt as the men looked up to him perplexed at his sudden change of heart, they were looking forward to a good fight.
"What the bloody hell are you looking at!" she snapped at them from their Captains's side letting her anger known to the men, they knew she was as much as the Captain as Jack was and she wasn't afraid to remind them of that if they ever thought otherwise "You heard the Captain! Prepare to be boarded!" she threw his arm and hand toward them dismissing their disappointment. Once the men had turned to prepare the ship to be boarded, a calmness swept over the growing tension in the air for the upcoming fight. Looking towards Jack he stoically looked the looming brig that was quickly approaching them knowing this day would come after she eventually told him her true origins after a year upon Charles Vane's ship. He was just surprised it took the Master Assassin this long to find them.
"Thank you" Anne breathed a sigh of relief knowing no one would be killed.
"For you Anne, darling. Anything. Just come back to me, that's all I ask"
"Always" she sealed her promise with a quick kiss to his lips. She would be back, she just wasn't sure when.
It didn't take long for the Jackdaw to come up along side them, the hooks from the brig quickly caught the edge of the William allowing the Jackdaw to the pulled close enough for ts crew to board them with their cutlass swords in hands as they were met the crew of the William simply stood by and did nothing.
"Stand down" a voice she would recognize from anywhere came from the middle of the Jackdaw crew as they stood aside to let their Captain through, the infamous white hood was the first thing she saw of her estranged husband has he hung he head low as his soft brown leather boots thudded against the deck as he made his way towards his estranged wife and her new love. Her eye's etched over the brown leather padding encompassed his arm's and shoulders and chest. A wide red sash was tied around his waist fastened by a loose hanging belt, paired with white trousers, with two saber's sat on either hip and four flintlock guns strapped to his chest and back.
Her eye's caught sight of the pair of dark brown leather gauntlets that sat on either forearms that hid a deadly blade that had ended many lives, that had been used to protect her and their daughter at times. He wasn't like the other assassin's. Killing was a last resort for him, he never killed because he could, only because he had to.
Lifting his head up, he pushed the hood off his head, to set his eyes on his love for the first time in five years stood before him as she set did the same taking his appearance since the last time she had seen him. His light brown hair was shorter than it had been last time. Parted at the left side of his head with one side longer than the other, his beard had grown true and full around his jaw, chin and upper lip, she could see the evidence of the life he led from the flecks of grey hair starting to make itself present.
"Hello there" he greeted the Captains, not bringing himself to say her name "It's been a long time".
"Romeo" she breathed out seeing her first love in the flesh.
"We need to talk".
Taking her husband to her's and Jack shared Captain Cabin, as she perched herself on the edge of the desk that sat under the widow in the far end of the cabin as she watched her husband take in the all the trinkets she and Jack had collected from the last five years of adventures, to small treasures to jaws of sand and dirt the cabin was full of memories of their time together on the Ranger to the William.
"I have to say, I never saw you on a ship" Romeo mused to his love as he made his way around the cabin.
"As oppose to where exactly?" she bit back.
"Anywhere" he admitted. She liked the forest and dirt to the sea and sky. There would be times he would find her and Amelia in the forest together taking in the scenery. If I known you liked sailing sooner, I'd have you on the Jackdaw".
"Why didn't you come looking for me?".
"Believe me, I wanted to run after you the second Paola told what had happened, but she reminded me I had more important things to worry about than someone who didn't know where she fitted in the world".
"Like what?" she felt stupid asking the question because she already knew what he was going to say.
"Our daughter for start" he told her "Paola told me she had already lost a mother, she could't lose a father as well". The answer felt like a stab in her heart.
"I wanted to come back" she tried to argue "Paola told me not to".
"When did you start listening to Paola, you certainly didn't before".
"Then why are you here now? After all this time?".
"I need your help" he told her "Do you remember the stories your father and Claudius used to tell us about the one's that lived before?".
"Aye I do" she nods along. She did. They were the same stories her adopted father Lord Capulet told her when she was young.
Stories of those that lived before, powerful beings called the Isu, created objects that the Assassins and Templar's had been trying to find for centuries, only to come short every time by either getting in the way of the other or themselves. She had come into contact with one herself.
"I found one" he tells her making her look at him in a mix of surprise and intrigue It's underneath an abandoned temple in the Infinite Forest, near Sherwood Forest".
"How do you know its there?" she asks him.
"It's been calling out to me Juliet" he tells her "I can hear it. I know it sounds mad, but something is drawing me to that place, something powerful".
"Romeo that doesn't sound safe" she cautions the assassin.
"That's why I need to find it. If it gets into the wrong hands or worse your brother,s than the scale between good and evil will forever be at an imbalance".
"Does that include the assassins?" she suddenly asks her husband.
"It does". He couldn't trust the other with it as much as he could trust Templar's or the Dark One.
"How do I come into this, why don't you go find it yourself?".
"Because its never as simple" "When I got there, I was met by a man that went by the Apprentice, he's its keeper. He told me that it needed both of us to be there to open it".
"Why us?".
"He wouldn't say" he answers her with a shake of his head.
"That's awfully vague of him. Do you seriously believe him?".
"I do. He said he served Merlin in his youth".
"Merlin?" she repeats in disbelief "Romeo why do you want to find it so badly?".
"Because I think I may be linked to them".
"Them?" she inquired with him.
"The one's that lived before. The Isu" he clarified "The stories that they interbred with their human slaves, creating hybrid's are true. From the memories I still have of my father, he had the same sight as I do. And if that's the case that mean's Amelia is one as well. That is why I need to find the Piece, to keep it away from her if nothing else".
Juliet sat for a second or two thinking over what Romeo had just told her. The stories were bedtime stories, meant to scare her and the other young children in the Order. But he seemed desperate.
"If I do this for you, you let me come back to Jack" she heard him scoff as she used her loves name "You let me come back to Jack and forget about me".
"Juliet-".
"No Romeo" she argued with him "I left the Templar's because I wouldn't allow my father to dictate the rest of my life to me and I left you because I didn't want my life to go by while I waited for you to come back to me. There will always be another mission for you, another target, another kill. I won't waste my life waiting for you to come back to me. This life, I can control. I control where I go and what I do-".
"Who you love?" he interrupted her looking straight into her emerald eye's.
"Don't" she sternly warns him.
"We have a deal. I'll let you go once I have the Piece in my hand. I'll see you on the deck of the Jackdaw in ten minutes".
"Ten? Why ten minutes?".
"Because that's how long Paola heard you packing your things in your room before she found you. Ten minutes or I'm sinking your lover's ship into the sea, with you on it or not".
Without a second thought the Captain of the Jackdaw left the woman to gather her things to find the Piece of Eden.
Saying goodbye to Jack and taking a bag of her things in ten minutes Juliet Capulet found herself on the Jackdaw watching from the upper-deck the William shrinking into the distance as they headed back to land to where Romeo had 'found' the Piece of Eden.
She felt she was behind enemy lines for the first time being among the people she used to call her friends and family. She was either the dirty Templar or the runaway wife to the people in the know. She wasn't really sure what Romeo saw her as. As someone that broke his heart, or the mother that abandoned their child.
"Anne Bonny" she suddenly heard Romeo call her from the wheel breaking the silence between them since leaving the William behind "You've made a name for yourself these last few years".
"It's served me well I suppose" she says as she joins him at the wheel to lean on the wooden railing with the small of her back to face her husband.
"Aye and a temper if I'm correct" he adds with a knowing smile.
"What can I say? It runs in the family" she smirks at him.
"Oh I know it does" he tells her "I hear it every time Paola tries to sends her to bed without supper".
The mention of her daughter's name made her pause for thought. She would be 10 now. A whole decade old. Was she tall? Short? Did she still have her red hair?.
"How is she?" Juliet asked him.
"She is fine" was all he told her keeping his eye on the horizon.
"No really. How is she? What did you tell her?" she needed to know what her daughter thinks of her.
He needed to tell her what he and Paola had told Amelia to save her from further heartbreak, otherwise she would be waiting for her mother to return for the rest of her life. It was cruel. But it was the kind thing to do. Give her no hope of seeing her again.
"We told her you died" Romeo tell her truthfully "Rumpelstiltskin also".
She felt a cold pass through her body hearing this. Her daughter and brother, think her dead.
"What?" she spat at her husband in disbelief "Why did you do that!" her voice rose with her anger.
"Juliet please not out here" he quietly plead to her.
"No! You told my daughter I'm dead!".
"Federico! Rilevare! (Take Over) he called out to his first mate. Letting go of the wheel he quickly grabbed his wife's arm as a man quickly took over Romeo's place.
"Hey! Let me go!" she protested trying to pull her arm out of her husbands hand he dragged her down the wooden steps to take her to his cabin. He practicably threw her into the cabin shutting the doors behind them.
"You were gone Juliet!" he yells at her, letting all the hurt and anger he had felt over the past five years come to surface.
"How else must I explain of your sudden disappearance to her. She didn't understand on why her mother would suddenly leave without as much as a goodbye. It is kinder for her to think that, then spend the rest of her life wondering why her mother left her or if she was ever coming back. You gave me no choice" he argued.
"There is always a choice Romeo. You just decided the choice that was easier for you".
"Easy?" he questioned her taking in a deep breath to keep his own answer at bay as he took slow steps towards her "Do you think these last few year have been easy? Is it easy for me to see her everyday and lie to her? Is it easy for me to watch her turn into you every time I see her, to see the woman that I loved leave me with not even a note to say why. Someone that would abandon their own child. You Stilskins are all the damn same".
The sound of skin hitting skin echoed in the cabin as Romeo's head whipped to the side and a red mark the same size of Juliet's hand start to appear on his cheek as silence enveloped the cabin. Unshed tears gathered in the redheads eye's as her breath came out in rapid breaths trying to keep up with the rapid beating of her heart.
"I am not them" she started "Don't ever compare me to them ever again. Do you understand?".
Clenching his fists to his side the Master Assassin nodded in understanding as he felt his cheek welt up in pain as he forced himself to take a step away from her. He'd gone too far. Righting his head, he tasted the faint bit of blood on his tongue as he met her eye.
"Was it Rackham?" he asks her "Is he the reason why you left?".
"Not at first" she admits to him "I'm sorry" she tells him as the first tears she let escape her eye's fall down her cheeks. Hearing the apology or an attempt of one didn't make him feel any better. he didn't want an apology. He just wanted an explanation as to why she waited that long to leave him.
"Whats done is done" he simply says "I think the time for sorry's has long gone, don't you think? They won't matter now anyway. Amelia has a new family now to call her own, one that won't abandon her on a whim".
"What do you mean?" she asked with furrowed brows. New Family?.
"Shortly after you left, I petitioned to Claudius for me to take her on as my apprentice. He accepted".
"No, no you can't" she tries to make her views heard on the matter.
"I have. And she's excelling in her training. The others have even started calling her the Chosen One".
"Why would you give her a life like that? You know what they'll do to her when she's older".
"I do" he gulps, knowing what to come if she wanted to stay further than her eighteenth year of life on this world "But someone will start to question her presence in a bordello with no mother. At least this way she'll have a bed she's familiar with to sleep in while I teach her to survive".
"I won't let you give our daughter that life" she puts her foot down at her husbands decision.
"You decided that future for her when you left her" he reminds her "You can have my cabin and bed for the night. I'll send supper to you" turning to leave he made it to the door before her voice stopped him .
"Can I at least see her when we make port?" The nearest port is the one near Monteriggoni. It would be the one they dock in before they found horses to take them to the place they needed to find the Piece of Eden.
"I'll think about it" at that the Master Assassin opened the door and left his wife to her own devices.
Supper came and went for Juliet as she was left to her own in her husbands cabin for the first time in years. It wasn't luxurious but it wasn't completely devoid of comforts as she noticed the changes he had made over the years from renovating the ship. With the small bed she and Romeo barely fit in at the back of the cabin, a small bunk had been added to the right with a simple blanket and pillow resting on it.
To the side sat the same desk and chair that had always been there since she had known him in Neverland. Trinkets from his adventures had been collected on the surface of the desk. The old worn rug still sat in the middle of the room, she could still picture Amelia sat in the middle of it when she was just a year old. Her chubby arms reaching out for the small wooden toys that sat around her as her wispy red hair sat on her head while she and Romeo watched her like a hawk as she had been crawling everywhere. Even bumped her head on the table a few times.
They had watched her pull herself up on the chair that day. Only a few months later they were together in his cabin when they suddenly looked up to see her taking her first ever steps in her life.
And now she was ten, being trained to be one of deadliest creatures in the Enchanted Forest. She should have stayed. She would've been able to stop Romeo from bringing her into the Brotherhood. She would be normal. She would have friends. Be able to fall in love. Have children. And now that would be taken away from her.
Pulling herself out of the spiral of thoughts the former Templar wiped the tears from the corner of her eye's and made herself leave the cabin.
Stepping into the cool night air, the first thing she saw were the stars scattered above her, shining against the blanket of darkness. A skeleton crew were on deck for the night as the rest of the crew could be heard from the hull enjoying the evening out at sea.
Following the sound, the Capulet woman climbed down the trapdoor that would take her into the belly of the ship, the sound of raucous laughter and boisterous cheer's became louder each step she took towards it. In the corner's of the room she saw men hunched over games of Morris and checkers with small stack of betting money nearby.
Slipping into the crew's quarter's she saw a few stray hammocks still hung up around the edge of the room, she saw Romeo sat on a small barrel with a small drink in his hand watching his men play music on violins and flutes as some danced in circles with other men.
Edging herself around the 'dance-floor' she perched herself on the barrel next to him as they watched a couple of crew mates arm wrestle on a nearby table, stuck in a tough stalemate as the other continued to hold his own against the other as men had gathered around them goading their man to win as she saw handfuls of coin being traded above their heads, a growl escaped one of the men as he put every bit of strength he had it beating his opponent, before a hard thud on a wooden table was heard as roars of victory were voiced around them mixed with disgruntled groans of defeat.
"Didn't think you'd come down here" Romeo lent down to her ear to say, taking her attention away from the arm wrestle as another was quickly arranged and more bets were placed on who would win the next round.
"Well you don't me so well" she retorted over the noise.
He stilled at this as the music and merriment continued around them "Your right" he admits with a hint of a smile on his face "I don't".
"Can you tell me something about her. Anything. What she likes to do? What she hates?".
"What she hates is an easy one. She hates early mornings" this made the redheaded woman laugh, she hated waking up in the early morning ready for her lesson's with her adopted father and her tutors "But she loved her studies. Whenever she hasn't got a weapon in her hand she trying to master, she's got her nose deep in a Codex or book that she can ge her hands on. She loves the book you left behind especially The one's about those Gods and monsters. She reads them all the time".
"She does?".
"Even named her horse after her favorite hero. Achilles. After the way he has a white sock on one of his back legs".
"She rides?". It shouldn't surprise her, she would be taught to ride as soon as she could, it was one the Assassin's main ways of travel.
"Hmm" he hummed with a tight lipped smile "One of the best rider's we've had in years. Leaves me in dust every time we race".
"That's because your're a terrible rider" she couldn't help but quip at the sailor. He was always happier on a ship than on dry land and on a horse.
"I prefer the sea to land. I'd happily die on a ship out at sea than in a warm bed on land".
She had to catch herself from telling not to say that. Not to talk about him dying. Ever. It would be the worst thing to happen to her and Amelia if that happened. But he talked about it anyway. Like he was trying to prepare her. He was an angel of death. And one day death itself would be coming for him to pay the same price everyone on this ship had to pay one day. Whether it be tomorrow or in a decade.
Amelia would be taught this as she progresses. She would speak about death like it was nothing to the most important people in her life and there would be nothing they could do to stop it.
"Does she talk about me?".
"Not as often as she used to" he tells her truthfully. She was being taught that all the family that mattered were the ones that were alive in the Brotherhood. One day she won't speak about her at all "She does miss you though from what she can remember" he adds as the crew start up a new song.
"Fancy a dance Captain!?" one of the crewmen called over to Romeo as he was serenaded by cheer's of encouragement.
"I think not, my dancing days are long over boys".
"I wanna dance" Juliet suddenly tell him with a serious look on her face.
"No. You don't" he tells her.
"Come on, you used to dance all the time" she say taking his hand into her as he is half-dragged into the middle of the room on front of all his men. He couldn't back out now. not if he wanted to save face with his friends. They had already seen the palm sized red mark on his cheek from earlier.
"One" he announced to the men "Just for you men!".
A cheer resounded around them as Romeo took Juliet's hand into his, giving it a hard tug he made his dance partner spin towards him before catching herself against his hard chest making a squeak of surprise leave her lips as she found herself looking up at his with both her hands flat on his doublet covered chest as his hot breath fanned against her face.
"Hello there" he drawled out to to woman in his arms as his brown eyes met her green. The ones he swore he would love for the rest of his life.
"Hey sailor" she replied up to him with a smile tugging on her lips.
"I did try and warn you" was all he said before he took hold of her slender waist and her hand to lead her into a dance that was melt away the hard feelings they had for the other.
Her laughter echoed across the main deck of the Jackdaw as Romeo and Juliet made their way towards the Captain's Cabin for the Captain to see his estranged wife off the bed before he made his way back into the crew's quarters to find the spare hammock he would sleep in that night.
Glasses of rum ran through their bloodstream as they walk/ stumbled across the deck towards the former Templar woman's room for the night. In a short few hours they would be docking near Monteriggioni, somewhere she had set a step into since leaving five years ago.
Her laughter continued as he simply watched her. It reminded him of the early days of their relationship when they were both a decade younger, if they could call it that. When they didn't give a damn of what or who was on Neverland as she let her hair down in front of him. Nearing the color pane windows of his cabin doors the redhead spun on her heel mistiming her stop as she stumbled, heading for the hard wooden deck only for a pair of strong arms to quickly catch her from falling onto her face as she met his chest instead.
"Good catch sailor" she mumbled into his chest making him chuckle at her.
"Your Welcome" he says helping her find her feet once more that night. He made his hands leave his wife's person aware that she had someone waiting for her. Someone she could openly love instead of having to hide
"Thank you for tonight. I'm not looking forward to going back to that place" she grimaces to herself.
"You won't be, don't worry. I have someone waiting for us with horses. I wouldn't let anyone hurt you anyway".
The sentence made a familiar warmth spread in the redhead's chest as she gazed into the the eyes she had fallen for in Neverland.
When she first him and found out he had a ship and a way off Neverland, she was going to do everything she could to make sure she was on the Jackdaw when it came time for Romeo to leave. Whether her father knew or not. But as time went by she quickly found herself falling for him, even after seeing his Brotherhood robes that hung on the mannequin in his cabin and the dark brown leather gauntlets that made the assassins stand out sat on his desk.
Feeling the pull she had always felt between them, her hooded eye's caught his in the moonlight, it reminded her of their first kiss in the crows nest and the many more afterwards over the years.
He seemed to be thinking the same thing ass he gazed down at the woman that had opened his eye's to the world around him. To look beyond the same words and saying that were repeated to him over the years as his eye's were drawn to the pair of lips he had only dreamed about kissing again every time he left port.
Pulling on the force that seemed to bring them together her lips barely grazed his in a hesitant kiss before he moved his head back the slightest way to end the moment he had burned for, for five years.
"No" he barely whispered "We shouldn't" he gulped trying to be the reasonable one in this situation. He knew where this would take them, and she had a life and love to go back to, he had a life to go back to she didn't want to fit into anymore.
"Kiss me assassin" she breathes to him, biting her lip between her teeth. Using his thumb the assassin gently pulls her bottom lips free of the edge of her teeth to quickly place his lips on hers. On instant she reaches up and slides her fingers and hand through his hair as her arm hook around his neck before she hears the sound of his cabin door being kicked open before she taken inside to be reunited with the first man she ever loved.
She heard the sound of gull's as she woke from her slumber the next morning, a content sigh leaving her lips as she feels the soft blanket that wrapped around her naked body as she remembered the events of the previous night. She knew they were docked near Monteriggoni by the amount of voices she heard from inside the cabin.
She still loved him. She knew that. She didn't' think she could ever stop loving him. Last night was all the proof she needed to know he still loved her. Her time away had made her heart grow finder for him like she hoped it would, but then Jack happened.
She should regret the night with Romeo more than she did. Jack was waiting for her to continue their life on the William together. But she couldn't help but pull back on that invisible thread that had connected her and Romeo since the day they had met, even if she was covered in old seaweed. She had sworn that even if they weren't man and wife, they would be buried together where ever they handed. Partner's until the end.
Feeling the warmth of the sunlight coming from the window above her the redhead uncomfortably shifted as she began to wake from the pleasant dream she was having until her eyes fluttered open only to find that she as alone in bed with no one to wake up with as she turned to face the empty space next to her only to see a large white feather sat on the pillow waiting for her to find.
A smile graced her lips as she picked it with her finger and thumb by the end of its shaft to gently brush the delicate feather against her face like she did everything she found one waiting for her to find. She had no idea how or why it started or when but each time she found one reminded her of the man she loved.
She didn't love him for the way he looked, but for the way he looked at her, like she was the moon and stars stood in right in front of him.
Making herself get out of bed the redhead quickly found a set of clothes that Romeo had left out for her. It was a set she had left behind. A loosely fitted long sleeved blouse that paired with a blue overcoat and riding pants and brown leather boots, with a dark hooded cloak.
But the thing that caught her eye was the dagger Romeo had left her. The silver wing-shaped rein guard reflected the sun that came into the cabin, her finger smoothing the delicate engravings in the 'wings'.
"Stupid man" she whispered to herself as she got herself ready for the day ahead.
Emerging from the cabin in the clothes Romeo had set out for her and the dagger securely in her belt the redhead was greeted by passing by crew mates giving her a nod in greeting and a polite 'milady' as they walked by securing the rigging while they were anchored.
The redhead tried to find her estranged husband on the deck thinking he was around helping them but with no sighting of the man herself she caught the arm of a sailor passing by her just in time.
"Where's Captain Romeo?" she asked the man. Romeo never went by Captain Montague to his men, always insisted they call him Romeo while they were on the Jackdaw.
A smile grew on the man's face as he lead her over to the edge of the ship to look onto the dry dock that nestled the brig.
"On the dock, milady. With his wee apprentice" he tells her pointing to the figure o Romeo crouched in front of their daughter handing her a trinket he had put aside to give her when her returned.
Amelia. She was here. She swore she felt her heart stop and start again as she looked upon the girl that she had love so much as soon as she was placed into her arms after she was born.
"She's been waiting for us since she saw our sails around an hour ago. I'll warn ye, she's a right terror when she's onboard. Has the whole crew wrapped around her finger".
The sentence made Juliet chuckle to herself at the thought of her running rampart on the deck of the Jackdaw. Like daughter like mother.
She stood double the height she was the last time she saw her with long red hair like hers going down past her shoulders. She was beautiful. Nowhere as close as she imagined she would be now.
"Who's that Master?" Amelia asked her master as she saw a woman with red hair like herself stood on the deck of the Jackdaw looking straight at them. He knew his daughter wouldn't miss the new face, but he had a plan to cover his tracks so to speak.
"A friend, Amelia" he forced himself to say to her as he stood up to his feet "She's here to help me find something. Her name's Anne".
A scoff was heard from behind Amelia as he looked to the older woman stood behind her who had escorted her to the docks as soon as she had seen her master's sails from the ramparts of the city. Poala wasn't looking forward to setting her eye's upon the woman that left her daughter and husband five years ago, but she had to make sure neither of the girls parents do something stupid like tell Amelia that it was her mother stood on the deck of the brig.
"Is she nice?" his apprentice asked him.
"Very nice" he answered with a gentle smile.
"Good. Then I won't have to talk to her myself" she tell her master as she plays with the small trinket in her hands that Romeo had gifted her.
"And what exactly would you say to her, apprentice" he challenged her.
"Nothing mean. Just to tell her to be nice or she'll have to face me" she says with a toothy grin than made him smile at her protectiveness of him "Mater Iago says I'm getting better with my throwing knives".
"And are you?" he challenged her with a raise brow not believing a word his apprentice had told him.
"No" she sighs out in disappointment "He says I'll get better if I concentrated more but I'm trying my best, I swear".
"Then you must. Do or do not. There is no try".
"Yes Master" she answered with a nod of her head and smile that always made his heart swell with pride. It was the same one her mother would make .
"Vieni, Amelia" Paola spoke up fro behind her "Tybalt will be looking for you to start your lessons soon" she gently pressed the young girl to leave as the older woman saw a mercenary nearby to take her back to the city. She caught the eye of a young boy the mercenaries had taken into their ranks and waved him over.
"Si Paola" she followed the older woman's order "Goodbye Master" she said to her master with a deep bow from her waist.
"I'll be back soon Amelia" he promises the young girl of ten in front of her.
"I know" she chimes in reply with a smirk playing on her lips. She always knew he would come back to her. He'd never failed to return once.
"Lance is it?" Paola asks the young boy, eager to become a mercenary when he was older.
"Si signora" he answered with a curt nod with his hands behind his back and is chest puffed up ready to help the woman he knew operated the bordello. He was never allowed in but the older mercenaries visited the building frequently.
"Make sure Amelia gets to the villa in one piece. She has a lesson with Tybalt soon".
"Of course signora" he answered as Amelia's face lit-up seeing the young boy.
"Race you Lance!" Amelia quickly challenged her new friend as they started to run up the hill back up towards the villa.
"Camminare!" (Walk!) she called out to the young girl "Walk like a lady!".
She was going to try and make that girl as much as a lady as she could. But the more time she spent with the assassins her own lessons were quickly fogetten.
"Yes Paola!" she drawled out as she slowed her pace into a fast walk. If she couldn't run she could still walk fast. Looking back at Romeo, she saw him looking up to the Jackdaw with a lovesick look on his face as he saw his wife looking back at him.
She knew that look. Gods give her strength. She knew what had happened already.
"Mio Dio" she drawled out to herself in disbelief as she made the sign of the cross over her head, heart and shoulders, silently praying to any God that would listen to her to give her the strength to deal with the assassin in front of him.
"You fucked her didn't you" she angrily spat at the man in front of her making him snap his head back towards her with guilt and shock etching his face, not caring of who could overhear them.
"Paola-" he sheepishly started feeling like the young man that had first brought Juliet home.
"You idiot" she snarls at him smacking the side of his temple with a flat hand.
"Ah!" he hisses in pain as Paola continues her angry tirade.
"You have one simple task Romeo. Find her and bring her back. Not find her, fuck her and bring her back".
"Paola-".
"It is bad enough that you have to bring her back here for this fools errand but to sleep with her when she has a pirate as a lover to go back to, a dangerous pirate at that, who knows this city".
"It's not like that" she tries to tell her "Like you said she has her pirate. We haven't even spoken since last night".
"That what is it? Do you think that one fuck would heal the last five years? Of the heartbreak you felt when you came back to find she had left. To the grief she caused your daughter when we told her she had died".
"No, of course not" he quickly told her needing her to stop.
"What do you think is going to happen once you find the Piece of Eden hm?" she questioned the assassin in front of her. He may have aged since he was the young twenty year old or so when he first brought her to the city, but by no means did it make him any wiser. The same went for Juliet on the ship, she may have changed in looks, but she was just as ignorant as she was five years ago.
"She will not want to be trapped within the city was again like a caged bird when she's had a taste of freedom, she will leave again, its in her nature. What of Amelia? Do you tell her the her mother has somehow come back from the dead?!".
"Watch how you speak me, your duty...".
"No!" she stopped him from pulling his title on her "My duty is to the girl that she left behind. To the girl that cried every night for her mother to come back to her, that blamed herself for weeks. She only stopped when you petitioned for her to join the Brotherhood, you made her forget long enough for her get some sleep".
"I can put up with you and Ophelia sneaking around the city, but not her again. Never her" she spat at the ground just at the thought of the woman coming back into Amelia's life. "Your horses are waiting for you like you requested, I hope for your sake you make the right decision to that woman. She never deserved your love".
At that the older woman turned her back on the assassin to follow the bust trial back up to the city to continue her day without Juliet Capulet to ruin it.
As Paola left Juliet had joined her husband watching the older woman walk away from them.
"I take that wasn't a nice conversation" she chimes to her husband.
"It wasn't" he echoed.
"Thank you" she tells him "For letting me see her. Maybe on the way back you could introduce me, even as Anne Bonny".
He would want nothing more. But what Paola has said was true. Juliet would eventually want Amelia to know she was her mother. He could risk giving his daughter's hope up if she decided to leave again. It would break her.
Juliet could be as manipulative as any Templar, pushing any boundary that had been set inch by inch until they got what they wanted.
"No" he sternly told her "You're here to help me get the Piece, that is all" he says to her as he goes to find the horses Paola said that were waiting for them, leaving her to trail after him, dumbfounded to what had just happened.
"Romeo? I don't understand. Was is something Paola said?".
Turning on her, her boot covered feet scuffed the stone beneath her as she stopped to meet a hard look on his face "Once we are done. I'll have my crew track down the William and hand you back to Rackham" he repeated he own terms of her agreement to helping him to her "We should go, we should make the temple by midday".
Mounting his saddled horse he quickly kicked it to start moving ready to get this day over with.
Iunonis templum
That's what was engraved on a piece of smooth stone that once stood above the entrance temple ruins Romeo had taken her to. With their horses tied to a nearby tree the couple made their way the small steps that led up to the building.
It seemed odd somehow that this should be here in the middle of the forest.
"Temple of Juno?" she read out the engraving to her husband "Really?" she questioned him as they came upon a set of stone ruins that had been left open the mother nature and the elements as grass and weeds grew out in-between each stone that had been carefully laid out. Green vines encircled what was left of four broken off columns that used to hold up the roof of the temple.
"Doesn't matter what it's called" he tells her as he makes long strides up the stairs to enter what was left of the temple."It's what's inside that matter's".
Following her husband into what was left they found a smooth slab on concrete in the middle that looked like a coffin, but it was too long and wide to hold a dead person.
"This is as far as I got before the Apprentice told me I needed to find you".
"So how are we getting in?" she asks the assassin as she see's the man blink is sight on. Gold irises shine int he semi-darkness as he looked for any clue on how to move forward.
"Here, scrapes on the floor. It pushes open" he says rounding the piece of stone the assassin took hold of the edge of 'coffin' and uses all the strength her had to try and move it only for his boot to slip and slid on the floor beneath him from the amount of effort he was putting into it.
It didn't take long for him to give up and huff as he felt the muscles in his arm cry out in protest. Odin that was heavy.
"Aren't you putting any strength into it assassin?". the former Templar spat at him.
"Actually, I am" he pants up to her as his eye's meet hers "Maybe you could help?".
"I don't see how I would make any difference. Maybe it's stuck? This place does look ancient" she tried to argue.
"Just try please" at that the woman relented and joined her husband side. Her hand met the cold surface of the stone as Romeo re-took his place with his hands. As they pushed she felt the stone underneath her hand heat up as they managed to dislodge the stone from it's place to slid open slightly only for it to suddenly stop as it caught something underneath.
In the small gap he could see through he saw that some of the roots that had overtaken the temple had lodged itself underneath the 'coffin'. It wouldn't move any further than it would. Damn it!.
"Okay" Romeo stopped pushing as Juliet followed suit "It's stuck" he observed out-loud.
"Told you" she muttered to the assassin as he saw a playful smirk on her face.
"Maybe there's another way in. Look around for any crack in the walls" he ordered her quickly taking over the situation.
"Aye, aye Captain" she drawled out as she sauntered over to the edge of the room to see any evidence of a way to get inside. Her search ended quickly as she found a crack that went all the way from the top of the ceiling to bottom were it was easily give way with hard hit
"Here" Juliet called out to her husband as she finds a piece of the wall that seemed to be crumbling. Joining her side he saw the piece of crumbling wall that would be their way in.
"May I?" he asks her, volunteering to be the one to make the hole in the wall. He would be the strongest to do it.
"Be my guest" she tells him stepping away to give her husband more space.
Standing less than a foot way from the wall the assassin hit the sole of the boot on the crumbling stone, each time more and more strength behind the kick, grunts left his mouth as the stone started to break away and fall onto the ground to reveal a crack that was wide enough for a person to squeeze themselves through.
"Damn. It's still not big enough" he pants as a sheen of sweat appears on his forehead.
"I'll fit" she tells him meeting his eye in a silent question. She could go in.
"Fine, just be careful" he tells her.
"Always Captain" she tells him with a playful wink of her eye.
Turning sideways on, the former Templar squeezed her body through the slim crack in the wall. Emerging on the other side she was met by pitch black as she made a step to continue her search only for the ground underneath to give way making a squeak of fright and surprise escape her lips as she was swallowed into the ground, her feet and back met the ground as she slid down a narrow tunnel.
Snatching the dagger from her waist the Templar turned as she continued to slide down quickly stabbing the knife into the dirt slowing down her fall long enough to get her bearing before a the steel blade hits something inside the dirt making it jump out. Thankfully she felt an ending to her fall just in time for her heels of her boots to stop her from falling on her face so she could crawl out of the whole with the dagger in her hand as she found herself in the pitch black once again.
Her only saving grace came in the form of the faintest of light that came in the distance through a crack in the wall at the other end of the tunnel. That was her way out.
"Hey!" a voice she didn't recognize echoed in the tunnel, it sounded feminine from the light tone of it's voice "Hey stop!" it called out again, but she ignored it. Something was playing tricks on her. Pushing forward she swore she heard another pair of feet behind her as she reached the gaping crack in the middle of a wall, big enough for her to easily jumped through to land on the other side.
The former Templar found herself in a large anti-room fully lit with torches on the walls, the large room contained a singular stone pedestal in the center that held a strange object, her feel moved on their own as she took a closer look at the item that was on display for her to find. The spherical object had been seared into her mind ever since she was taken in by Lord Capulet. She knew what it was instantly.
"The Apple of Eden" she breathed out in awe to find the Piece of Eden. The power it held was legendary. No one knew what it could do, meaning both the Brotherhood of Assassin's and the Templar's wanted to desperately get their hands on it.
"Juliet!" Romeo's voice brought her out of her thoughts as it reminded her why she was down here. Shaking her head the redhead found a flight of stone steps that took her to where she heard Romeo's voice finding the cause of the 'coffins' straight away. Vines and dry roots covered the entrance/exit.
Using her bare hands the woman pulled and broke the died or dying root from their place freeing the stone slab to be slid open by the assassin above her.
"Hello there" a smile tugged the corner of his lips seeing his wife alive and well after having to part from her. A little dusty, but she was fine as always.
"Hey again sailor. Were you waiting long?" he asked him as they started to descend the stairs to enter the large torch lit room.
"Not long" he answered her as they entered the anti-room "Did you find anything?".
"Take a look for yourself Captain" she said pointing her gaze to the Apple of Eden that sat in the middle of the room.
"Is that-" he breathed in awe to see a Piece that would tip the scale in the never-ending fight between the assassins and the Templar's, it could even stop it.
"The Apple" she tells him "You were right".
He could feel its power from where he stood at the bottom of the stone steps. The Apple had been calling out for him for months, he'd never felt power like this before. It was more powerful than his numerous encounters with the Dark One over the years. The sorcerers and sorceresses could never dream to hold this much power. It made the airs on his arms and neck tingle as the waves hit his chest as his feet took him towards the Apple, his eye zeroing in on his intended target.
Climbing the steps that lead up to the Piece of Eden his hand hovered over the object only to stop as his wife's voice caught his ears.
"Romeo no!" she quickly stopped the man from touching it.
"What?" he blinked at her in confusion.
"Please don't touch it. I've got a bad feeling" she told him. She didn't know what the Apple could do and she didn't want to find out. Romeo had to get back to Amelia, no matter what happened "Please Romeo".
Hearing the anxiety in her voice the assassin went to take his hand away on for pulse wave of energy to burst from Apple his hand was pulled to touch the surface of the devise. The second he touched the Apple time froze around him as he did his other hand joined the other holding the Apple between his hands as he tried to move, only to find he couldn't.
"W-what's happening? I can't move" he said out loud as a voice he didn't recognize start speaking to him.
"Two orders, both alike in dignity" the voice started "In fair Mist haven, where we lay our scene".
"From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean,
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows,
Do with their death bury their orders strife,
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love".
Seeing movement to his right, his eyes' moved to see a woman with red hair pinned up behind her head he think he recognized in an Assassin's robe he had never seen before. It shone in the dimply lit room as she sauntered around him eyeing the last doppelganger of her late husband that would ever exist holding the Apple in his hand.
"Hello Adam" the voice called him "It's good to see you again my love".
"Who-Who are you?".
"To you. No one" she simply answered him "You share the same face as the man that broke my heart, and she.."she trialed off walking towards Juliet, standing before her frozen state "Share's the same face of the woman that stole my love and threatened my world" she sneered at Eve's doppelganger.
"Get away from her!" he warned the figure.
"Oh don't worry I can't hurt her" she tells the assassin "Yet" she adds to herself as she turns to stand opposite the frozen assassin as power continued to pulsate from the Apple.
"What's happening?"
"Your DNA communes with the Apple. You've activated it" she tells him.
"Let me go!" he demands out of the figure.
"You, birthed from our lions and the lions of own enemy. A hybrid" she calls him as she looks through his mind going through decade of memories until she came to stop as he held a young babe in his arms "Only you can use the Piece of Eden in this realm. You and your.. daughter" she breathes in relief. She had a vessel.
After centuries of waiting and countless pairs of star-crossed lovers that had been born and killed, a pair had finally made a child for her to walk the realms once again.
"How do you know about her!?" he yells at the figure.
"Your emotions let you down Adam, they always have. By activating the Apple you opened the path to my release from my prison. "There is one who would accompany you. She lies not within our sight. The cross darkens the horizon"
He didn't know what was happening until his body moved on it's own accord to turn towards his wife, a hand came away from the Apple as it was held out in front of him and his forearm flex, triggering a hidden blade to spring out of it's place.
"What are you doing?!" he yells out.
"The path must be opened. You cannot escape your part in this. The scales shall be balanced"
With the activated Apple in one hand and an unsheathed hidden blade in the other, his feet was forced forward as pulse-wave after pulse-wave bust from the Apple, taking him closer and closer to his love, who stood defenseless as she remained still.
Pulse. Step. Pulse. Step. Pulse. Step.
He tried to fight it but there was nothing he could do, he had no control what so ever as he saw his wife's emerald eye's looking straight at him.
"Stop. Please" he begged the figure as he steep agonizingly closer to his wife.
"You know very little. I must guide you" the figure tells him "Cease you struggle" the figure demands out of him.
Once he was close enough he stopped moving has his arm moved back poised ready to make the fatal strike like he done hundreds of times before.
"NO!" he yelled at the top of his lungs knowing he couldn't stop what was going to happen as he tried to take in every little detail of his love's face in that moment.
In one swift move his hidden blade buried itself in Juliet's belly as the light dimmed from the Apple and he saw the pain that etched his wife's face. Her eye's glistened with pain and heartbreak as tears gathered in her bright eye's as blood pooled from the fatal wound.
"It is done" the figure states as time caught up to itself his knee's buckled to the ground with Juliet as his world went dark.
Juno watched as Romeo fell onto the floor unconscious along with Juliet, the Apple falling out of his hand as blood pooled from her stomach. Approaching the dying redhead she saw the woman shakily reach out for her love next to her, struggling to keep herself up as blood leaked out onto stone floor.
"R-romeo" she stuttered out as her whole body came out in chills "R-omeo".
Crouching down in front of Juliet the former Templar looked up at her in fear as her emerald eye's met hers.
"Goodbye Eve. I look forward to meeting Amelia" at that the Star-cross lover met the same fate like every star-crossed lover did over the centuries as she fell lifelessly on Romeo's chest. The same way she had lied on his chest the previous night when she decided she wasn't going back to Jack. That she was going to stay with her daughter, the true love of her life.
It had barely been a day since Romeo returned to Monteriggoni with only his wife's body in his possession. He ignored everyone as he made his way up to the hill that overlooked the city, to the headstone they had made, as a place Amelia could visit to morn her mother five years ago.
The ground underneath it remained empty for five years until Romeo spent the night digging a grave by himself to place the only woman he could only love in.
The next morning Paola made the trek herself to the spot holding up the skirt of her long dress the whole time as she held her heels in her hand to walk barefoot on the lush green grass that surrounded them. The mound of disturbed dirt was the only tell that the plot had been disturbed once again as Romeo sat crossed legged at the foot of the grave like he been for the last few hours.
"Amelia is looking for you Romeo".
"I-" he started only for his voice to falter. He couldn't face her. Not now. Not possibly ever again after what he did. It was his fault her mother was dead. He should've made himself forget about the Piece of Eden that remained where he found it. He wasn't going to touch it ever again. At least until he knew who that figure that spoke to him was and why she made him kill Juliet.
"I don't know what to do" he tell his old friend that had become the closest thing to family he had left.
"Yes you do" she gently tells him joining him on the grass as her heart ached for the young man next to him "You just don't want to see it at the moment".
"This isn't the end Romeo. There is a young girl in the villa that needs you more than ever. She needs you to be strong for her and you need her just as much, if not more".
"Not here" he replied "I have to get her away from this cauldron of greed and selfishness".
"Maybe, but Monteriggioni is the safest place for her. In plain sight, right in front of the people that would kill her as soon as they discover who her mother was. I even think there's one person in the Brotherhood that would die for her even if she found out the truth. No, the only problem we have at the moment is the grave, she will notice the grounds been disturbed" she points out to the young assassin.
"I'll take her on a trip. On the Jackdaw. We'll be away for a few month's. It'll give time for the ground to settle. She won't notice the difference".
"That sounds...wise" she tells the man picking herself up from the ground "I'll have her things packed and taken to the ship. You can leave when you want".
The madam turns to leave only for his voice to call her back.
"Thank you" he suddenly tells the older woman "For looking after her".
"Well, she has a certain kind of charm. One she gets from her mother" she drawls out in annoyance before continued her journey back into the city.
Once he was alone again, the master assassin pulled out a long brown eagle feather from his person, one he had taken from Ikaro's back. Climbing onto his knees the assassin used his hands to dig a small hole into the already disturbed ground, placing the feather into the hole, he quickly covered it back up to bury it under dirt as he whispered the silent prayer:
"Requiescat in pace Juliet. Until we meet again".
AN: Yay! we made it!
Been working on this chapter for too damn long. LOL
The song at the start of the chapter is The Parting Glass (Don't own it blah, blah, blah) The version that played in the ending credits of Assassin's Creed Black Flag. So feel free to look it up.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Gives you a bit more background on Juliet's 'death' and her double life. If you hadn't read The Apple of Eden chapter (Chapter 80) some of the scenes in his chapter correlate with the events of that chapter.
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PS.
GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! (Futurama reference)
I may or may not have been writing another OUAT Fic in between writing chapters for this story. I've been pondering whether to publish the first chapter ONLY to see what kind of response it would get and get a feel for it. If I was going to pursue with it, it would be very slow updates as I would be focusing on Amelia and any other fic's that would be associated with it.
It is a slowburn(ish) OC Male/ Emma fic, starting from Season 1 that I'm enjoying creating and putting together. Let me know what you think.
In the meantime I have some free time coming up, which, mean more time to publish/ polish future chapters. Woohoo!