-- round one.

[throngs]

NIGHT ONE. NIGHT TWO. NIGHT THREE.

Comments

[auditor]

[ another groan. this would be her luck. of course. (the good assassin alighieri must be torturing her, too.) she doesn't stand. ]

I would like to wallow in peace.

[s16]

Wallow in peace and you die in pain, girl. [ Clay's chuckle is heartless. ]

[auditor]

[ sighing, shifting to push herself to her feet, ] What do you want?

[s16]

[ He knows that voice. That doesn't mean much to someone like Clay, who knows millions of voices, all of them packed into his head, waiting for processing. ] Why aren't you running?

[auditor]

[ another noise, soft. she wants to spit, but the mask... instead, she swallows the taste of copper as she reaches for a wall beside her. truth of the matter, it's too dark to run. ]

Why aren't you?

[ THIS GUY... ]

[s16]

[ because whatever's out there wouldn't bring him back just to kill him again. Clay keeps that to himself. ]

What's your name?

[auditor]

Oh, dio mio. How many questions must you ask?

[s16]

[ And suddenly everything slots into place. Where he knows that voice and how. Jesus. He wasn't the only one brought back from the dead. They had to touch his sister, too. ]

Claudia Auditore.

[auditor]

[ she stills, breath and all. this man might know her name for a hundred reasons. but she is alone, now, and standing in the dark, and god knows the reason for her being here. — for him being here. if she had a dagger... claudia wets her bottom lip. ]

Have we met?

[s16]

No, but we have something in common, Sister. [ Clay notes the nervousness in her voice. it's in his as well. ]

[auditor]

[ but shouldn't she know him, then? is it a trick? — unless he is from astor, too. she hadn't spoken to anne or connor before the coffins had reclaimed them, after all. ]

I'm afraid I do not know your name.

[s16]

You won't. Just call me Clay. [ Clay wishes she would. ] I know your brother, Ezio. I knew your father, your mother. Your other two siblings.

[auditor]

[ that might have comforted her as a girl. and she would have been so quick to trust him. (that girl isn't dead. claudia feels a lurch in her to ask for his help.) but federico and petruccio have rotted in the arno for decades, now. she should know this man. claudia takes a careful step from him. her hand itches for a blade. ]

Clay. Who else do you know?

[s16]

I know the Assassin's, sorella. [ Clay tightens his jaw, thinking of how to convince her, Claudia, his sister. ] We work in the dark to serve the light, or however that goes.

[auditor]

However —? [ her shoulders rise, but she doesn't laugh. ] You know the Templars, too?

[s16]

I would think so, considering they captured and tortured me for a year and a half. [ Clay's voice is dry. Templars. The hands that try to control all. He'd rather be dead again than be grouped with them. ]

[auditor]

[ that might be true, but that doesn't make him an assassin, either. she falls silent, then. takes another step backwards. ]

[s16]

Laa shay'a waqui'n moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine. [ Something sacred to them, offered like an olive branch. ]

[auditor]

[ stillness. infiltration, she thinks. but the order's secrets are ancient, and she doesn't believe it. not a single bone in her can trust him. ]

How do you know the Auditore?

[s16]

Do you know of the Apple? [ He knows she doesn't trust him. Shit. ]

[auditor]

[ hesitating, ] Is it here?

[s16]

It's how I know your family. Or at least-- why I know your family. How is just another piece of Eden. [ Or the tech from it. The same thing, in the end. ]

[auditor]

[ silence again. the girl in her trusts him. the assassin in her hears truth. but those things feel wrong, still, and claudia feels an itch beneath her skin. in her hand for a blade. in her shins for her to run. her stomach twists. ]

[s16]

[ He's not going to be able to convince her yet. That Clay knows. He's not an idiot. Instead Clay reaches into his pack and tosses down the rope he'd been gifted upon waking up in front of Claudia. ] Take it, from Brother to Sister.

[auditor]

What is it?

[ can't see shit captain ]

[s16]

[ for fucks sake. ]

It's a rope. Sturdy, long, good for whatever you want it to be for. Take it.

[auditor]

[ fuck sake urself, creep!!! ]

Keep it.

[s16]

I insist, Claudia Auditore. [ Clay stares at her, even if she might not be able to see it through the mask. ]