Chapter 9 - Very Important Notes

Ned wasn't home, Jacob concluded, after making his presence known from the get go, making sure to be loud and attract attention, calling Ned's name and being clumsy to the point of tripping over his own feet… If his father could see him now.

He had considered, for a second, that the thief had hidden from him, but, despite everything, that was option he kinda doubted simply by who Ned was; From Jacob's point of view, Ned was far more likely to come out and point a gun at him, which the youngest Frye would have considered to be perfectly fair with everything that happened between the two recently.

The fact Ned wasn't there, however, made things a bit more complicated. What would, or rather could, Jacob do? Just sit down and wait?

No, he couldn't, he felt agitated, he had so much to say, but without Ned there to hear, he was afraid it would slip him, as much as he was also afraid Ned wouldn't listen.

Jacob looked around the room and saw Ned's cabinet, opened it and, seeing pen and ink at the ready, had an idea.

Sitting down he set off to write a short note, asking Ned to come and see him. It couldn't be that hard, Evie wrote all the time after all, and there was nothing his twin could do he couldn't.

Even if in some cases, he admitted, he couldn't do AS well as she could, but that was a two way street between them.

"Ned," he started "this is Jacob" And found himself a bit stumped after that. He had to stop to think for a second before adding; "Frye" and then "Sorry about wasting your paper" he stopped, frowning "and invading your house." He gave it another paragraph and found himself adding "Again..." Cringing slightly to himself.

Jacob groaned to himself, but pressed on with a deep breath and bit more of confidence, he put down another paragraph; "Could you come and see me at the Black Bird?" That was a good way to put it, he thought. "I will be waiting there around seven tomorrow night, if you can." Jacob stopped again, realizing that maybe Ned wouldn't want to see him. "I know you might not want to see me after what I've done, but I would like that opportunity to" he frowned, realizing he sounded just like Evie for some reason and cut off everything starting from 'but'. "Look, I still see you as my friend and I don't want me being stupid to end that. I need to apologise, actually do it, not just write some damn stupid letter!" He punctuated the exclamation with a bit of anger.

"I am not Evie!" he added, feeling it necessary! "Just come and see me please. We need to have a man to man about this." He wrote down and that was supposed to be it, it really was. There was nothing else he could say in the paper… Even if he kind of wanted to.

Jacob felt something strange in his chest, a sudden urge to write down everything, put in the paper his feelings, the things happening right now, just fully explain himself in letter form, like Mr Darcy, but he stopped… He was sure he would be able to, so he just signed the letter "Your friend, Jacob Frye." and stood up, moving to the window when he suddenly feared that maybe, Ned wouldn't see the letter… Or rather the note, it really wasn't a letter, Jacob told himself. He walked back into the apartment and tried to get a good place to pin it, somewhere that Ned would see as soon as he came in.

Jacob decided to pin it to the wood part of the window, putting it at this head's height, which he then lowered so Ned would be able to see and reach it.

"Perfect!" He told himself, loudly and went to fetch a throwing knife from his pocket, just then realizing he didn't had one on him and groaning in frustration, just then remembering the golden knife that the Russian had thrown on him and deciding to use it to pin the note.

After making sure it would hold, he left, hoping that it would work.

Morning

Evie Frye woke up slowly, with her face buried in Lucy's loose hair, her smell filling her lungs in the most amazing way, making her take a deep breath and recall the night before;

It was mostly chaste. They talked more than they did anything else, punctuating every change in subject with a small kiss, finding out differences and things in common, questions and answers about each other, up until the talk reached the person that had tied them together even before they knew each other.

It was when Lucy brought up Cecily that Evie had discovered that she had more questions about her mother than she ever knew. She did sometimes inquired about her to her father and grandmother, but the thought itself seemed to cause them so much pain she had given up on asking to the point she convinced herself there was nothing to ask. She thought wrong, as it turned out.

The night before she had lain besides Lucy on he bed and asked about her mother, questions poured from inside her, from the most insignificant things such as her favorite food and color to questions about her relationship with Lucy and how she was as a governess, perhaps in the hopes that those would have given her a clue of what having her mother around would had been like.

Evie had lain there, just listening to Lucy's voice as she spoke fondly of the woman, of her intelligence, grace and strength among may other good qualities that, deep down, the assassin was certain had been magnified by the fact that Lucy obviously saw Cecily as a role model, which she didn't mind really. It was good to hear the redhead speak, the young woman felt she could lay there and listen to her voice for hours, until both dozed off to sleep, in each other's arms.

Now it was morning and the assassin forced herself to sit up, slowly slipping her dormant arm from under Lucy, almost wanting to laugh at the fact she didn't even notice how numb it was until she started moving to stand up, quietly getting out of the wagon into her own and getting herself ready for the day.

As she changed clothes, she thought about how it was just a few hours till the party to get the shroud and Evie felt she trusted Lucy more deeply now than ever. Still, there was something she couldn't shake off; the feeling that there was a lot more to learn about Lucy and the idea of doing it was both exciting and scary, Lucy being at the same time an amazing woman and, once, an enemy still made matters complicated.

Among all of those thoughts she continued getting herself ready, searching around her room looking for the pieces of her equipment, frowning. Having the redhead on her mind since she woke up, she now couldn't help, but think she was forgetting something and patted at herself for her equipment, trying to bring her mind back to assassin business while checking if everything was place. Hidden blade, throwing blades, bombs, brass knuckles, cane and her kukri… And that was when she realized what, or rather, who, she was forgetting.

As if by cue, Henry came in with George at that very moment, with the first one stepping forwards with a serious expression on his face that sent a chill down Evie's spine, almost like she expected him to know, like he was going to hate her forever for it;

"Evie, are you ready for tonight? Have you found a dress for the ball?" Henry said, looking around the wagon, not really noticing she was nervous.

In that moment she felt a strange relief from those words. The assassin nodded; "Yes, did you find the clothes for Jacob?"

"Yes." George showed the bundle to her and frowned "Where is he?"

"He'll be here at night, that's all that matters." Evie said with certainty, but stopped suddenly and a bit more unsure: "I hope."

"What about Lucy?" Henry asked suddenly and Evie jumped:

"What?"

Green looked at her surprised; "Is Miss Thorne going to be involved in this?"

"Of course I will." Lucy said, coming out of the wagon and nodding towards the present, with just perhaps a tiny bit more softness when her eyes when she looked at, Evie. "I will not miss this opportunity for anything."

"Absolutely not!" Evie and George said at the same time, him calm, but firmly adding "We still don't know if we can trust you around the shroud." while Evie continued with far less pragmatic; "You could get hurt!" which caused, George to look slightly surprised at her.

Lucy raised an eyebrow; "I appreciate the vote of trust on both accounts," she said, sarcasm dripping from every word; "But I am neither a child that can't protect herself, nor foolish enough to think I could go against all of the Brotherhood of Assassins alone."

"And didn't you say that Venus said Miss Thorne had to be there?" Henry asked, standing by Lucy. "She called you both 'heralds' from what you told me..."

Evie frowned; "She didn't say she HAD to be there, she just-" She couldn't finish, not quite remembering what was said, but being pretty sure that that was, in fact, what was implied. "Doesn't matter! How is she even going to get in? She doesn't have any training and if Starrick sees her-"

"I am right here, Miss Frye!" Lucy sneered. "As I said, I do not enjoy being treated as a child!"

"Well, I guess..." George interjected, before Evie and Lucy could start fighting "Miss Thorne and I could find a way inside to give you and Jacob some help." He looked at Green: "Henry will help Abberline to infiltrate the palace as well. Starrick will probably get his men inside somehow, we need all the help we can get."

"George is right!" Henry added, realizing quickly that Westhouse was pairing himself up with Lucy because he needed to know if he could trust her. He looked at Evie; "I'll help Abberline, you stay with Jacob, and Lucy and George will follow you two right after you get to the vault. We work as a group, that means no underestimating or fighting!" He gave Lucy and Evie significant looks. "Now… We just have to wait for Jacob."

George sighed; "As usual."

~0~

Pearl smiled at him, handing him the package.

"What is this, cousin?" He asked, getting as close to a smile as he could ever get.

"A little present for becoming Grand Master." She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant; "Father said it was traditional to get a present that would be useful in the order, usually given by the person who first introduced you, but Aunt Pearl is no longer with us, so I believe, since I got her name, might as well share her duty." She smiled.

Crawford undid the lace and found a wooden box and inside said box a revolver with everything you would need to maintain one in good working order.

The same box was now empty.

Crawford Starrick was a patient man and of all the troubles he had lately, the loss of that revolver was certainly not the greatest, yet, that empty box bothered him more than he would be willing to tell anyone or admit to himself.

Then again, his feelings were not things he spoke off often, to anyone. Feelings were easy to manipulate and use, from time to time even Pearl played around with his' for her own ends, and even his beloved mother would do it; feelings where a powerful weapon, and while his cousin had, unbeknownst to most, a deadly aim with any firearm she could put her hands on, she had never needed to use that.

His mother would had been proud, having help raise Pearl since her beloved sister, Cassandra, had passed.

Aunt Cassandra, he probably remembered her face better than even Pearl herself did. Round and friendly, a stark contrast to his mother, but Pearl Starrick always did surround herself with contrast, from his father to his aunt, while making things in her own image as much as she could, as she did with Crawford. It was what some might have wrongly called "contradiction", but to him it was just another testament to how perfect his mother could be, striking a perfect balance.

On the subject of feelings, still, even Crawford Starrick would find himself in moments like these, when his head would be flooded with memories, things he had, things he lost, the questioning if he was doing the right thing, if his plans would work in the end and even if he wanted them to, with all things he lost it was hard to tell in reality, which was something that Crawford Starrick was never supposed to do.

He didn't remember much of his father. Robert Starrick had died in a horse riding accident when Crawford was still a child, old enough that he should remember his father more than he did, but maybe deep down he didn't want to. He saw his mother and brother suffer for him, so instead of memories he just had this uncomfortable feeling that he just didn't like the man very much, like he was too harsh to him, even if he couldn't remember examples of it.

In his mind, his father was more of a ghost that his mother and brother longed for, than a person, but still, he had one clear memory of his father in his head and it was of an imposing man with one hand on his shoulder;

"Crawford, the only things a man has in this world are his name and his word. Those are the only things you take to your grave." He pondered, in an unusually serious tone; "All the rest, the things you leave in this world are your children, your work, your legacy… We'll all die one day son, be careful what you do and honor your word."

He remembered that day very well, with his father if not any other. It was his grandfather's funeral and Mr Starrick seemed strangely cold, quiet, grim and despite not remembering his father very well, in those impressions children can have of the world around them, even without understanding or being able to put into words, Crawford knew that wasn't how his father was, in his feelings there was the impression of a good humored sort of man.

"We'll all die one day, son." Crawford remembered again; "You were wrong, father." He thought with irony, but the irony was taken by a sudden thought; "Unless I fail…"

Standing at the edge of the moment when everything could go right or wrong he couldn't help it, about to take a plunge he wondered, if everything went wrong, which it wouldn't of course, but IF, he would leave this world with nothing. Pearl was gone, as had almost everybody from his rite, except for Lucy, that betrayed him and now here he was, in his 40s and if he was gone, what would he leave aside from his name and deeds as a grandmaster?

~0~

Nellie was running in the garden, up and down in those highs kids get sometimes when they are some of the few creatures in this world that are truly free; If they could run till the end of the world and back they would.

Unfortunately for them, their legs are too short for that and she finally fell, right on top of a bunch of leaves, breathing hard and looking up into the sky, unaware she was being observed.

Olga raised an eyebrow at the young girl from her spot behind the trees. She herself had never been carefree, no breaks from life, working since she was a child to help a family that at one point tried to be honest and good only to see that it would take them nowhere in that world.

Octavia was harsh and demanding, strong and imposing, kicking aside any idiot that stood in her way, having no mercy for anyone, not even for her sister; She was as harsh and demanding of Olga as she was of everybody in her gang and that caused Olga to hate her at first, because she was young and foolish.

Her sister's treatment was no longer judged for being right or wrong, all that she saw now was someone who made her strong, who made her who she was, and for that she was thankful and would avenge her sister... First, however, she had a job to do first and that job involved following the old woman that lived with the kid and getting a few answers, violently, if need be.

So,Olga followed the old woman as she left the house alone for the market, she left a small signal to the Blighters hiding nearby as she briskly walked off, her hand inside her pocket, fisting a brass knuckle.

Just in case.

~0~

Ned read the note, his face making a journey, from curiosity to surprise, to one raised eyebrow and finally to an expression of bored disbelief with a side eye. He sighed and put the note down, rubbing the hole in the wooden panelling with the tips of his fingers with a frown. He looked at the small golden knife Jacob used to pin the note and pocketed it, thinking at least he got a nice present for his troubles.

On the other end of things, he didn't know what to do about Jacob. Before the gang leader had kissed him, Ned hat do admit, he was starting to think of Jacob like that, which was a strange feeling since he never felt like that about any man ever, but the fact he had been kissed against his will filled him with so much anger he found it hard to think of those things again even if he tried and he wasn't trying.

Still, he didn't hate Jacob. A part of him was happy the gang leader seemed to regret what had done and other times he had been a good friend so far. Maybe he did deserve a chance to explain himself, and did punched him… Maybe after another one, Ned would finally be able to forgive.

Afternoon:

The blonde wiped the sweat from her brow, a little bit of blood on her forehead as she did so. She walked to a table nearby and cleaned her hands in a rag, ignoring the small whimpers of the bloodied up old lady tied to the chair nearby, too satisfied with herself, with what had she discovered, to care.

She washed her face and hands in a small basin, looking back at the old lady.

"You did the right thing here. You'll get to live, despite the pain." She said, drying herself. "Pain makes you stronger, don't you know? I just recommend running away, Thorne will not like to know you betrayed her." Olga walked off after that, turning to one of the blighters in the entrance. "I have a wire to send to Mr. Orlov." She put on her coat, buttoning it careful "I'll be back soon enough, keep guard. I have some good news to send..." Olga walked off, hands crossed behind her back and a small smile on her face.

~0~

Lucy examined the dress with a clinical eye, hand under chin and haughty expression. She frowned.

"This won't do." She told Evie, causing the assassin to look up from her blade, interrupting the long process of cleaning and sharpening it;

"What?" the assassin looked puzzled.

"Where did this dress come from? The French revolution?" The redhead held the hem of it with certain disgust examining it with a wrinkled nose; "Is that a cage? Those have been going out of fashion for two years now, the queen will probably be wearing one, but you're a young woman, you'll be spotted in a second."

That vexed Evie slightly and she managed a teasing smile; "I never imagined you to be the fashionable type, Lucy."

"You can't be friends with Pearl Attaway for almost ten years and not learn a thing or two about it." She responded, still distracted over the dress, which she suddenly let go to hold Evie by the waist, lifting the woman up and making her blush with the sudden movement. "You won't be able to breath in it either, that corset is too stiff." She slowly moved her hand up Evie's abdomen, stopping just below her ribcage, making her blush deeper. "It will compress your muscles and you won't be able to undress quickly in case you need to."

Evie couldn't help, but chuckle at how that sounded and that finally gave Lucy some pause, causing her to grin and nuzzle Evie's neck, whispering; "Focus, my dear..." into her ear. "I do believe I have something better for you to wear." She kissed her neck and pulled away, leaving Frye shivering before pulling her away by the hand, almost dragging her to her own wagon. There, Lucy opened her wardrobe and started messing about the clothes.

"What are you looking for?" The assassin asked, as soon as she recovered her composure, a little.

"A dress, obviously." The redhead said, pulling out a red dress. "This one will do. I bought it in the beginning of the year in Paris, but Pearl wouldn't let me wear it to the event I intended to."

Evie raised an eyebrow; "Why not?"

"She said it would look dreadful with my red hair." Lucy sighed. "She was right of course and in the end I couldn't go to the event anyway." She walked towards Evie and held the dress up to her neck, imagining how the girl would look in it. She bit her lip slightly, an analytical look on her face. "It will look gorgeous on you."

"If you say so." The assassin gave a soft smile. "I have to admit, it's a pretty dress."

"And that's not even the best part." The redhead lifted the skirt to show a hidden compartment to the side of it. "It's a pocket. You can easily fit a dagger there, this one." Lucy pulled out her own dagger and put it in place. "I believe your mother would wish you to be safe."

"So, you changed your mind about coming?" Evie asked hopefully, making the other woman frown.

"Of course not!" She put the dress aside, looking displeased. "Why must you insist on that?"

"You're still being hunted down by Starrick. Plus, Jacob did mention that man being after you..."

"Orlov? Don't worry about him." Lucy dismissed with a gesture.

"Do you know him?" Evie asked, starting to undress.

"In passing." She responded, while suddenly very interested in her dagger. "He helped me in a search for something that Napoleon lost in Russia, probably cost him the war."

"The Apple?" The assassin looked interested, pausing for a second.

"Yes, turns out it wasn't there, but I got to met him. I didn't like him there either, sounded like a bit of a blowhard, a little too proud of killing his own sister when she betrayed the order."

"So you disagreed with that even before you became a traitor yourself?" Evie gave a teasing grin, finishing getting undressed.

Lucy scoffed: "I was betrayed first!" She took a deep breath to calm down. "But yes, as a matter of fact, I always had the impression that insane, stupid amounts of loyalty to your order was an assassin thing." This was her Lucy's turn to give a teasing grin.

"Might be because we actually believe in the creed… And have a creed and a handful of principles." Evie dismissed, before looking at Lucy again and speaking before she could respond to that: "Should I try your dress on?"

Lucy sighed and nodded; "Well, you already have your undershirt on so; first the corset." which made Evie groan and herself laugh.

"Do I really need it, I just want to see how I look in the dress."

Coming from behind, Lucy put the corset around Evie's torso; "Yes, and you won't know that without putting the corset first. The dress won't fit otherwise." She pulls the strings, tightening the corset, taking small peaks over Evie's shoulder at her breasts with a small grin, at least until she got caught by Evie, causing her to clear her throat and say; "Put your arms up, please." to put a collapsible cage on Evie and then slip on the dress.

"How often do you wear these hellish things?" Evie asked.

"Only for balls. I would avoid it every time I could." Lucy stands behind Evie and looks at them both in the mirror, hands touching her abdomen to make sure everything was in place, she was then surprised by the girl cupping her cheek and turning her face towards her own to give her a deep, lingering kiss to which the redhead didn't resist for one second, hugging her.

Evie pulled from the kiss; "Do I look good?"

"Gorgeous." Lucy whispered into her ear, making Evie shiver slightly, before saying deadpanned.

"Great, now help me out of this damn thing!"

~0~

Ned had finished his own note in response, a short and simple, "I'll be there" that certainly took him far more time to put down than it would seem, and gave it to one of the young rooks he saw with the simple instruction of taking it to their boss, knowing the note would find it's way to Jacob or Evie soon enough.

He walked down the streets pondering about the gang leader and how angry he was at him still, even if the anger was now subsidising a bit. The thief did not liked to be pressured or have things forced on him against his will, it was something he had dealt with most of his early life and sworn he would never take again from anyone! Still, he wanted to see Jacob himself and plan from there accordingly; either listening to him or punching him in the face, that was still to be decided.

However, at the moment, Ned was trying to keep his attention at the intimidating blonde man following him with a dog which he pretended very well to not notice while the casually walked through the streets, keeping in the public eye while he did his best to duck out of the way of the man using all of his usual techniques, but the man always seemed to find him one way or another, until finally, Ned decided to go for a more direct approach and turned around with a pleasant smile; "Gentleman, have we met?"

Orlov was surprised for a second, but soon flashed a smile back at him; "I believe not yet, sir, but allow me;" He bowed down, "I am Leonid Vladinovich Orlov and this is Tatiana." He pointed at the dog standing obediently in attention besides him.

"Can I help you, sir?" Ned asked.

"Perhaps. I believe we have a friend in common."

"I find it hard to believe."

The Russian laughed: "I can understand that, however; Mr Frye, you know him, yes?

Ned gave a cool shrug: "Vaguely… I do not play with those criminal types." he grinned.

Orlov let out a more sinister laugh that made Ned rather uneasy.

"I see… Well, Mr. Wynert, as much as you try not to play with the criminal types, the criminal types are always willing to play with you."

Before Ned could retort, he noticed something move at his side and before he could say anything, a bag was slipped over his head and all he had was what he could hear;

"What do we have here?" He heard the Russian man say. "Very interesting. How about we change this meeting place, huh? Take him to the warehouse, make sure he is well treated, after all, Mr Wynert is our guest." He made a gesture and the men started to drag Ned away.

"Sir, we got a wire for you, from Plumb!" One of the men said, running towards the Russian, whatever it was, made him laugh in glee.

"Well, those are some good news!" was the last thing Ned heard before he propped up in front of a small improvised cell and with that, Ned was punched in the stomach, lost all of his wind and lost consciousness.

Evening

George walked into the train, meeting with Jacob getting dressed; "One of your rooks brought you this." He said, examining Jacob up and down; "You don't look bad. I am still trying to adapt to you not wearing socks over your pants." he added with a teasing smile.

"That's in the past, my friend!" He grinned, opening the message and reading it, a smile growing in his face.

The older assassin pulled his hood from his head. "Good news?"

"You could say that." Jacob folded the paper and put it on his pocket. "A good friend is willing to forgive an offence, that's good news, right?" He smiles and moves to Evie's door, knocking on it. "I am ready, are you?"

Inside, Evie was still having her corset tightened by Lucy as she responds between grinded teeth a little angry; "No, I am not, can you be a little patient!"

Jacob jumps back a little at her tone and looks at George; "My, my, someone is angry."

George raises an eyebrow; "Don't mock her, you have no idea how terrible it is to be wearing a corset." he said, sitting down on the sofa.

"And do you?" Jacob asked sarcastically, really not expecting the look that George gave him, making him go wide-eyed; "Oh god, you did? When?"

George laughed "Your mother and I had a mission once. She needed someone to pass as a young lady she was teaching, I was sligh and tall, no hairs growing on my face yet and my voice was still changing, all and all I looked like a teenager at the time and really wanted to help, so she dressed me as a girl." He shrugged. "Can't say it wasn't an interesting experience, unpleasant in some aspects, but very introspective."

However, the youngest Frye looked a bit uncomfortable at the idea; "Still, didn't it feel… Strange?"

Westhouse smiled; "It's just clothes, Jacob, the mission was more important and wearing a dress once didn't change who I was inside. Your mother dressed as a man a few times, didn't change her. You could put your friend Ned in a dress he would still be a man."

"Well, of course." Jacob shook his head and thought a little. "Did people treat you differently? Did you notice something?"

"Of course I did. That part was the unpleasant one;" He frowned and sighed. "I couldn't be alone for a second without having some 'gentleman' approach me."

Jacob raised an eyebrow; "They approached you?"

George shrugged; "I guess I made an attractive young lady… Still no reason to approach an unknown girl that is a third or a fourth of your age or or so. Fortunately, Cecily was there to play my no nonsense governess, scolding me for running off and such." He smiles at the memory. "She apologized later, of course, pretending it was my fault that they harassed me was a good way to not offend the old windbags and keep us on the down low, but still, when she spoke." He shivered a little and then chuckled. "Cecily could had been an amazing actress if she wished so."

Evie suddenly opened the door and walked in, followed by Lucy; "We're done, finally!" She said, with a sour expression. "Let's get going, and hope this night is done quickly!"

"You look nice…" Her brother looked her up and down. "Are you not going to do anything different with your hair?" And only after saying that Jacob focalized in her expression, which made him, for one moment, be thankful she wasn't wearing her hidden blade while on their part, George and Lucy were looking at him with their best 'You're an idiot' expressions, of which Lucy's was the more devastating one, as devastating as her voice was tired when she spoke;

"Just go get the carriage, Mr. Frye." She stepped aside, wearing a heavy black overcoat and a very familiar hat.

"Hey, thats mine!" Jacob looked offended. "Why are you dressed like that, Red?"

"You need a coachman, don't you?" She adjusted the flat cap, her hair pinned up and hidden under it, then adjusted the black cravat. "Don't worry, rarely do those people even look people of lower standing in the eyes. I'll keep in the sidelines with the other servants. George and I will keep an eye on Crawford's men from within."

"How is George going to-" Jacob stopped when he saw George slide under the carriage and disappear under it, holding on to something there, Jacob didn't know what.

Lucy opened the door to the carriage, letting Jacob get himself in and offering Evie a hand with a dashing smile that made Evie blush, which made her brother rather confused.

~0~

Greengrove Park.

The old Attaway property now didn't even looked like it had once almost burned to the ground, killing it's mistress and her three elder children, sparing only the youngest one, giving her tirdy more years to to build herself up as her own woman with just the help of her father and her very dedicated aunt.

Still, her time was up, as it was with all living things and so she was laid to rest in the ground, between her elder siblings that perished on the fire and her parents, finally reunited again in the peace of a grave.

It seems that nowadays one can't even have peace in their own graves. In the private cemetery in the Attaway property, a graverobber named Terrance dug the freshest, and possibly last, plot in the property while he whistled a jaunty tune, unperturbed by any ideas of the revenge of the dead or curses from disrespecting the final resting place of some rich lady.

Mostly because he knew better.

Pearl Attaway's grave had, just recently, received its inhabitant, the rich former tycon of transport was laid to rest by her cousin in her family plot as she requested, not without some grief over not being able to deposit her in his own, under his name, but life obviously didn't went as he wanted. Much like Terrance's.

After vigorously digging, he finally reach the cover of the casket, ripping it open with his shovel, he came face to face with the pale, lifeless body of Pearl Attaway and immediately and shamelessly started to to work on stripping it from all which looked of some value; starting by the rings, usually the hardest ones to remove, then the gold and black pearl earings and finally, the object that attracted the most attention in it; the golden necklace with the purple stone in front of it, so big and attractive, he licked his lips as he reached for it, ripping from the lifeless neck easily.

"Now, that doesn't belong to you, does it, sir?" A voice behind him suddenly said and Terrance turned around to be confronted by something that made him scream, drop all of the jewels, run and promise to never rob graves ever again, a promise he became even more willing to keep as the figure laughed at him running away.

The figure wasn't alone however, and one of her companions approached the jewels, picking up the necklace and bringing it back to their leader.

~0~

Lucy traded a look with Evie as she came down the carriage, one in which she tried to say all the things she wish she could say in words; Be careful, don't get hurt, don't do more than you have to, Crawford is dangerous, but all she could do was look and hold on to her hand as she felt that Evie was trying to tell her the same before they parted ways and Jacob offered her his arm as they marched inside.

She followed the instructions until she reached the stables, coming down from the carriage and looking around before lightly knocking on the side of the carriage.

"They are in." The ex-templar said, looking around.

George came from under the carriage and stood up besides her. "Don't worry, they know what to do."

"I am not worried about them." She replied.

"Then why are you looking around like that?"

"I wonder where it is."

"The shroud?" George crossed his arms and leaned against the carriage, looking relaxed.

Lucy nodded; "I've been looking for it for years, I can't help, but be curious right now."

"You know, the shroud doesn't actually makes people immortal you know." George said, trying to sound flippant and unpreoccupied. "It only heals you really fast, the Templars seemed to-"

"I know it doesn't make you immortal." She cut in. "I know the conclusions of the Templars were wrong, I researched it for years! I know everything, I know about the one that Mario Auditore found, I know the effect it can have after years of being used." She sneered. "Despite of what Crawford thought when he betrayed me, I never wanted the shroud to wear it or have it for my own."

"I am sorry, I made an assumption." George paused for a second. "What did you hope to accomplish with it?"

She crossed her arms as well. "To study it, to reverse engineer what it can do and use it to help humanity." Lucy looked around again. "Think of every disease we don't know how they work, think of the ones we do, but we lack a cure to them, think of how many people just fall sick and no one knows why, and the ones that get sick once as a child and then they never quite recover or develop beyond being a child and all the women who die at childbirth, that's how most women die. If we could recreate something like the shroud, all of that would be gone."

"Sounds great." George thought of both Cecily and Ethan, but even farther back, there where his parents, both of which he couldn't even remember. "We have never been able to reproduce what they did however. The First Civilization is so far beyond our grasp, they might as well had been wizards all along."

Lucy nodded; "And that was why I had Brewster. We were studying the artifacts to find out exactly that… At least until the lab exploded." She looked at him. "I know Evie killed him, but she wasn't responsible for the explosion, I believe that was on me." Lucy admitted, looking a little regretful over it. "Brewster was a good man, even if he had me at the end of my wits with his delays."

"Was he a friend?" George observed as a group of maids walked by, doing their best to stay out of the sight of guests, a few flirting with the carriage drivers in passing as they did.

"No." She said, crossing hands over her back. "Colleague. I never had many friends." Lucy stopped and thought for a minute. "I used to think I had two, now one is dead and the other was waiting for me to get him everything he wanted and kick me out of the order and now has Hunter after me."

"And no lovers or family either, I suppose?"

"I imagine you're speaking about my uncle being one of you… Yes, I found that out sometime."

George cleaned his throat; "I actually just meant family and lovers, I didn't mean to hint at anyone specific..."

She paused, thinking for a second, before speaking slowly; "No family..." She smiled. "Lovers, however, I had quite a few. I bet if I walked in that ballroom right now, there would be quite a few nobles and maids that would remember me fondly." Her voice sounded a bit cocky and George couldn't help but chuckle a little, even if he had the feeling he was trying to bring things away from the family talk.

"And you remember them like so?" George asked.

"Of course!" Lucy said. "It was never love back then, my luck in the end." She looked at him. "Being in love with a woman that will either marry or already be married to a man is not for me." She paused. "Almost happened once in the past."

"Didn't went well, I presume?" George said, his voice sympathetic.

"No… She did found a husband that loved her and has a rather lovely young daughter of her own." She took a deep breath. "He has passed now, but she has a good fortune for herself and I… I don't feel that love for her anymore."

George nodded and they quietly observed things, Lucy a little bit more distracted, at least until he touched her arm and pointed at a group of Templar soldiers sneaking in, they exchanged a look and followed.

Night

All the players in their places, Evie danced with Crawford, Lucy and George sneaked up upon Crawford's men getting explosives ready and Jacob got the palace guard free after taking down the Templar impostors, giving Evie the signal.

In the position I am right now, I assume you already know how must of these go down, your previous voyage into the animus has showed you so, exploring memories, of the brother and sister mostly, but there is this funny thing about the animus; You've been lied too about it.

I address you directly now, my dear audience, as the person who wrote the the script you read before this one, a version of the facts, a not completely, but a version of it, in which I added somethings; lies, fiction, that had to be told to throw our enemies off, to convince those who wish to enslave humanity that they could have it.

Well, they can't.

I lied to you before, and I am sorry, but it if makes you feel any better, I lied to our heroes as well, because I needed things to be facts up until a point, up until a certain spot, a certain node in time, until a fact that seemingly couldn't be changed, because despite what legends say, lying to Juno is very very hard.

The good news is; It's no longer the time for lies, so here is what really happened.

Lucy was almost stabbed in the back, but George managed to interfere and killed the man responsible.

"Thank, Westhouse! We need to stop them before"- There was an explosion and Lucy was thrown clean off, just in time to see Crawford run towards the newly opened hole in the ground, their eyes meeting for a second as he went down the hole. She grinded her teeth and stood up, ignoring the pain all over her body as she ran in after him.

"Thorne, wait!" George screamed and tried to take after her, but found that there were still a few men of Crawford's ready to go in after her and he decided to stay back and take care of them. "Be careful!" He screamed, stabbing another man.

"Crawford!" Lucy roared running after him. "Come back here, you traitor!"

"You're the traitor!" Crawford screamed back, sounding honestly offended. "I am the Grand Master, you should have obeyed me and accepted your fate!"

They reached the chamber, he dashed towards the altar, opening the vault with the key

"You selfish bastard! How can you wish to have the shroud all to yourself? What about the betterment of humanity, Crawford?" As she finished talking the defences were activated and Lucy saw the beam of light coming right for her so she ran away, hiding behind a column.

"It will be achieved, with the right leader." Starrick took the shroud out and put it around his shoulders. "One that won't perish at the hands off-AAARGH!" He jumped back when Lucy shot at him, hitting him right in the ribs.

She smiled as he doubled over in pain, but soon enough he stood tall once again with a smile, happy it had worked. "Yes… Don't you see Lucy? You can't hurt me!"

Jacob ran in, eyes focussed on Crawford, so much so he didn't noticed the beam of light that threw him back, making Lucy slap her hand against her forehead.

"Either you weave between the beams Jacob, or you take cover!"

The assassin jumped back to his feet, shaking his head and doing as Lucy said, reaching Crawford and attacking him with everything he had, slicing his chest open with his kukri before Grand Master managed to hold his hand back, regenerating right in front of Jacob's eyes. Starrick smile and kicked Jacob's knee, making him fall down to his other and pulling his own knife.

Lucy took aim and shot again, unloading the revolver, but this time the bullets were stopped by a wall of light, making her curse and start to reload it as Evie ran in and saw Jacob, at Crawford's mercy, running to them, knowing to avoid the beams, having read about them in other reports about the artifacts.

As she weaved between the beams and walls of light, Starrick saw her, and threw Jacob back just as she reached him, jumped and kicked Crawford in the belly, making him fly back, she proceeded then to attack him in a similar manner as her brother, using her cane, Lucy ran to Jacob and dragged him out of the way of a beam, just in time.

"Jacob!" Lucy slapped him several times. "Wake up!"

"Ugh, those beams are hellish! I am never doubting Evie and you about the damn artifacts again!"

"Good! Because the only way you two will manage to kill Crawford is by taking the shroud from him!" Lucy held him by the collar. "Understood?" Jacob, however, wasn't looking at her, as he kept his eyes in his sister, now the one to be at Crawford's mercy. Once again, he dashed towards them, Lucy cursed under her breath and went back to observing the fight, when she heard George. "Lucy!"

She looked, but instead of George at the entrance, she saw Orlov, rifle aimed at her head and it was for a millimeter he missed. He laughed and cocked the bullet away from the riffle, Lucy looked from her hiding place seeing George fallen to the floor behind Leon, bruised, beaten and bleeding.

"Miss Thorne, what a pleasure to see you again!" He said gleefully, starting to go around the column carefully, keeping his distance. He knew his odds, she had a revolver, he had a rifle, his precision from that distance was far greater than her's, so he would be fine. "Now, if you come out, I promise I'll make this quick and painless."

Lucy looked around, aware of the same thing as Orlov, trying to think of a way to escape that. "I rather not, Mr. Orlov." She looked up at the beam emitter getting closer. "Might not seem like it, but I am rather cozy right here." She pointed her gun at the emitter as it got closer, having an idea, she pointed her gun at it and pulled back the hammer.

"Oh, don't be playful like that! This cold floor can't possibly be as good as-" He was cut by a bang and the beam emitter being short upwards and going out of whack. In a split second decision, Orlov held the rifle up, so it took most of the frontal damage, curving the barrell and rendering it useless before throwing Leon against the wall.

Lucy ran by him, foregoing the opportunity to kill the Hunter in the place of running to George and helping him move.

George was spluttering as he said; "Lucy, you didn't hav-"

"Just stay down, we'll get you help, don't worry!" She got back to the anti-chamber to the main sanctuary, looking for Leon, but he wasn't in his spot anymore. Lucy put her back against the wall and pointing her gun out, at least until it was kicked from her hand and Leon attacked her with his dagger, making her kick him away and pull out her own dagger.

"So we finally meet. I must admit miss Thorne this was a lot of fun!" Leon attacked, but the ex-templar could deflect his blade with the side of her own, pushing him away and lunging at him herself, but he jumped out of the way.

"Can't disagree, seeing you bumble and stumble around without being able to reach me." She grinned and he laughed back at her.

"Oh, may look like it, but I may have discovered a few things you didn't expected anyone to." He attacked, thrusting his dagger towards her, she managed to hold his wrist down as she stabbed down at him, which resulted on them ending up in an impasse, a position that Lucy knew she couldn't hold since she was still weaker than him, so she started to think fast, going for the classic and kicking him straight in the balls. "ARGH!"

She ran and got on top of him, kicking his weapon again as she did, dagger against his throat. "I doubt it."

"Is that so?" He still smiled despite their position. "Does the name Nellie means anything for you?"

Lucy's entire face went pale, expression a full range of emotions and Leon noticed, he smiled and unleashed a hidden blade, going with it right towards her throat, but she reacted sooner than he expected, stabbing his arm, dagger going between his bones and stabbing it into the stone floor. He screamed in pain and tried to attack with his other blade, but she held his arm with both her hands, forcing the hidden blade down towards his throat, her eyes burning in fury and her voice sounding almost demonic as she said; "Touch her and I'll kill you!"

"Olga already went to fetch her! She'll be left alone when you die!" Leon said, looking scared for the first time, his strength failing him for the first time in his life, desperately trying to free his arms from the dagger and Lucy's grip.

"No! You die! You die for even getting close to her, you bastard!" Lucy screamed back in fury, putting all of her weight into stabbing him with his own hidden blade, but Leon broke free from her dagger managing to stab the redhead on her shoulder and taking her strength to hold his arm away.

Orlov threw her out, unfortunately right on top of the revolver, which she took and pointed at him, shooting without hesitation, but missing all the shots as Leon found he had no choice but to run away.

"COWARD!" Lucy screamed after him as he ran away, but she couldn't go after him, all of her muscles were destroyed and weakened after the strain. "Nellie..." She mumbled to herself. "I have to reach Nellie…" She fell to her knee, tears coming to her eyes as she forced herself to stand up again.

She heard a familiar scream, she looked back and saw Evie and Jacob finish Crawford, stabbing him several times after removing the shroud. The shroud, it was her only chance, so she started to drag herself to where they were.

"Henry!" Evie said, running towards him, not noticing Lucy dragging herself towards it, when, on top of the altar, Venus once again, manifest herself, looking straight at you.

As I promised you, dear reader, no more lies.

"Who are you talking to?" Lucy asked, breathless.

Evie looked over her shoulder, seeing her battled and bruised; "Lucy?" She ran towards her and held her up. "What happened."

"Orlov, he was here, he tried to kill me, as he does." She responded, flippantly and looked up at Venus. "Who were you talking too?"

"You, of course… All of you. I know you're worried right now" She hesitated for a moment "Lucy, but trust me, there is time for this."

"Time for what?" Evie asked, confused.

"To take the shroud, to meet with my followers and then leave for Pompey. Hidden inside of Vesuvius is what is left from the city is my beloved Volcano's lost workshop, there you will find my next message."

"What are you talking about!" Jacob jumped back. "Evie and I found it and we-"

"-Would not have kept it. I know what happens now, Jacob. Neither of you wish to be eternal and unbeatable. Starrick might had been a fool, but he was right, as it is, only one can wear the shroud and neither of you wants to be the one to see the other suffer with age and pain. Trust me, I know how the story goes. Plus, as simple humans, wearing it for a long period of time is harmful"

Jacob frowned; "I don't like this..."

"Of course you don't, you are assassins, you exist to challenge all of this, but I need you to trust me, as Ezio one day trusted and one day Desmond will trust Minerva. It's the right moment for that." She looked at the women; "Evie, Lucy, my heralds in this world, left and right hand of Prometheus, Father of Understanding, this was the task." She stated, knowing what would come next.

"I don't have time for this now!" Lucy reached for the shroud and put it around her shoulders, surprising Evie and Jacob, both of which, for a second, thought that would mean another betrayal, emotions rushing over their heads for a second, until Lucy felt fully cured and simply took the shroud off and threw it back into the box, before holding Evie by the shoulders and kissing her deeply, lowering her arms to hug her waist, until Evie was responding to it enthusiastically, throwing her arms around Lucy's shoulder. However, Thorne cut the kiss abruptly; "If I am lucky, I'll be back tomorrow." And ran off, ignoring Henry and Jacob's stunned expressions.

"BE CAREFUL!" Evie screamed after her, not knowing what else to say. She turned to Venus, but she couldn't get a word out.

"Tomorrow, a my emisary will come to your train. Take the shroud with you, keep it hidden and safe until then." Venus reached her holographic hand and touched Evie and Jacob's heads, emitting a light into their eyes, throwing the view from the animus into blinding white. "This should throw Juno off until the right moment"

~0~

She didn't had the time to wait for a train, she had to run, Lucy rode the whole night long, arriving at the village before the early lights of dawn and saw what she was afraid of; The house was surrounded by Blighters, a short blonde one being seemingly the one to call the shots. She resisted the impulse to run in and tried to get her mind cleared; They were still there, they were still looking..

"Sorry, Plumb, we couldn't find her!" One of the Blighter's said. "We looked all over the house, we killed everybody else, but we couldn't find the damned girl!"

Lucy smiled and sighed in relief, thinking to herself; 'Good, Nellie… I am proud…'

The blonde groaned. "She must have ran away…" She thought for a second. "You two! Keep an eye on the house! The rest of you, come with me! She can't be far." Olga walked away with the rest of them, leaving two to stand guard at the front door giving Lucy an opportunity to move.

Of all houses, she chose that one to keep Nellie in because it had a very good characteristic; a few hidden passages, all of which, Lucy made a point of knowing very well, what she didn't know well, however, was Nellie's hiding spots, which she had heard were a bit of a problem for her caretakers, both having asked her to reprimand Nellie for it and force her to reveal where those were… Which Lucy could never bring herself to do and that could be a problem.

Or maybe not.

"Miss Thorne?" She heard a voice call in the dark, as soon as she walked by a beam of moonlight coming from the window.

"Nellie?" Lucy asked and walked quickly towards the voice, picking the girl up and hugging her tightly, catching the girl by surprise. Hugging was not something Miss Thorne ever did… Well, hugging and calling her 'Nellie' instead of 'Cornelia'. "Nellie! Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Where were you hiding?"

The little girl hugged her back, enjoying the feeling very much when Miss Thorne lift her up and took her through the secret passage. "I hid in a lot of places around the house, just as Miss Attaway told me." Nellie explained. "She warned me about this." Lucy smiled to herself, being careful like that was just like her.

"Very smart for you to listen."

Nellie nodded. I was up in the attic most of the time, "When I saw you coming into the house I came down." She slumped forwards, laying her head on Lucy's shoulder and yawning.

"You're tired?"

Nellie nodded again. "I couldn't sleep all night." She snuggled up closer to her. "Nervous, but I feel safe now..."

"You're always safe with me, Nellie." Lucy ran towards the train station. "Always." She kissed her forehead and rubbed her back. "Go to sleep." Thorne threw her long coachman coat over Nellie's shoulders, bringing her close, keeping her warm.

The little girl looked up at her face and gave her a small smile "I like your new hat..." she whispered, eyes heavy, closing as she fell into a deep slumber.

(tbc)