Ezio Auditore (mentore) wrote in the100, @ 2016-04-22 20:31:00 |
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Upon returning to Mount Weather from the fabled (and fake) land of Storybrooke, Jacob Frye had been somewhat concerned about the state of his Assassin skills. His memory of Storybrooke was a shaky, unreliable thing filled with time gaps and holes followed by something recalled with such perfect clarity that it seemed like it could have happened yesterday. It was a baseless thing to worry that the fuzziness in his memory would interfere with his years of training, but that didn’t stop him from spending more hours than ever before either climbing up and dropping down trees or punching his hands raw in the gymnasium during the late night hours. It was nothing more than paranoia in the end - his skills were as sharp as ever, and unaffected by his stint in Storybrooke - but the time spent expending energy helped the anger as well. A good bit of that anger stemmed from having no real control over himself for over two weeks. Back home in London, Jacob had fought Templar after Templar for autonomy, slitting throats in the name of preserving freedom. Losing his own felt like some sort of cosmic joke. There were pettier annoyances that tagged behind his anger - silly things like being slightly jealous of some strange version of himself mooning over another version of Ezio, which was weird and stupid. But most damning of all was the fear that what if - what if - he had stayed in that world, and lost his sister forever? For she wasn’t just a sister; she was a twin. She was his complement in all ways. Hell, one of the reasons they’d beaten the record and become the youngest Master Assassins in history was because they had one another to compete against, and it made them both better. And he hadn’t even known she existed. So yes, he was angry. Jacob was often sloppy and haphazard in his approach to his Assassin duties, but no one could claim that his training was anything but iron-tight. The punching bag had weathered the likes of Thor and Captain America, and it would weather far more than Jacob’s fury, but it was being beaten and kicked with a single-minded focus that nevertheless set it trembling against its chain. The lights of the gymnasium were dim; it was late. Or possibly even early by now. Jacob liked it when it was crowded and teeming with people, but at least this way he could exhaust himself without worrying about whoever was waiting on the equipment. Ezio had suffered a bit of his own self-doubt on coming back, but maturely swinging his sword around for a while confirmed he wasn’t a washed up assassin, struck down by weird magic. Where he felt off was all in his head, but he hadn’t really spent any time unpacking that. Not yet. Claudia was here. Claudia was here with Giuliana. Thoughts of how magic had made him forget his murdered family flared briefly, with aching accuracy, but getting his sister and niece settled had been a powerful, and heartwarming distraction. When that was done, and he’d told Claudia as much as Ezio ever told anyone about anything, he distracted himself a little longer by tracking down his belongings. It took no time at all to sort out that Evie had taken them under her protection. Ezio doubted there was a safer place in the mountain, so he focused on hunting down the other Frye twin instead. He could have messaged and saved himself some time, no doubt, but Ezio used the time to think about what he remembered of Storybrooke Jacob. What stuck with Ezio most was his youth. Not that Jacob wasn’t just as young here. Ezio had let himself forget about that. Almost purposefully in the face of how fond he was. But staring down the memory of a simpler Jacob, just barely starting out in the world and not living up to his potential, likely because he was incomplete without his twin, Ezio couldn’t help but kick himself. That wasn’t even taken into consideration the vague memory of a night spent with Jacob in a past they hadn’t actually lived. Before that uncomfortable thought could creep in and upset his pseudo-calm, Ezio crossed the gym and grabbed some tape from nearby. He watched Jacob quietly as he taped his hands. “Care to direct some of that ferocity at something that can fight back?” He tossed the tape aside and gestured with his fingers, eyebrows tauntingly raised. “Come on, Jacob. Unless you think stuffed canvas is already too much of a challenge…” The interruption wasn’t unwelcome. Even at his most upset, Jacob wasn’t one to sulk on his own for long, preferring to flit between distractions in an attempt to discover the loudest and most-consuming one. “Ezio! Get over here,” he said, flashing a smile that was all teeth. “I’ll be delighted to trade one stuffed canvas for another.” The bag swayed behind him, forgotten, as Jacob approached his friend with his fists up in a pattern so familiar to him he could do it in his sleep. Fighting like this had always been his thing. Evie was always one for the quick little assassinations from the safety of shadows, but Jacob had always preferred good old-fashioned beating the shite out of one another. And with Ezio there was a sense of comfort about it, knowing that he was fighting against someone who knew what they were doing. Sometimes it felt nice not having to hold back. “How’s the family settling in?” he asked, right before striking in a fierce hit, because no one ever said he had to play fair all the time. Having Ezio’s sister and niece around was exciting and a little nerve-wracking - Jacob liked people to like him, and he particularly wanted Ezio’s family to like him. He couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Ezio without his sister - and then that train of thought reminded him of Storybrooke, and he focused once again on the fight, hungry for distraction. Ezio laughed at Jacob’s easy return shot and met him halfway. It was a comfort already, having Jacob’s attention all to himself. Thanks to all the time they’d spent sparring, he wasn’t even caught off guard by the quick opening strike. Ezio knocked Jacob’s fist away with a counterstrike and rolled into him, shoving him back a step with his shoulder. “The family is settling in well enough. Claudia will be bossing everyone around in no time whatsoever, I am sure,” Ezio smirked. Prowling a circle around Jacob, he waited for an opening to present itself. The difference in their fighting styles was always very obvious to him in these first few minutes of a sparring session, with Jacob being aggressive and Ezio being patient. The give-and-take felt natural, soothing oddly enough. But then, he’d always been a creature of habit. Especially when he was a little anxious. As happy as he was to see his sister and niece, they were here now, in the thick of all this madness. Claudia could more than take care of herself, but he would still worry about them, more than he always did. “I would like to introduce you,” Ezio said. “Before my sister digs up everything there is to know about us and introduces herself with stories I’d rather you never heard.” “What is it with sisters and bossing everyone around?” Jacob had stumbled but successfully blocked Ezio’s counterstrike before falling into the same circling rhythm. In some ways, fighting Ezio wasn’t unlike fighting a slightly slower, stronger version of Evie. Ezio had the same careful nature, the same observant fighting style. On the flipside, Jacob had been doing a lot of hand-to-hand with the man since he’d gotten here, and he was pretty sure that Ezio had gotten as familiar with Jacob’s tells as Evie had. Hands in defensive position, taking smooth, measured steps - he knew that Ezio was baiting him into attacking. To be fair, Jacob was very easily baited. As he considered exactly how he’d take the bait, Jacob let his eyes move over Ezio, taking in his watchful stare, the slight crookedness of his nose that had been broken countless times before, the muscular lilt to his shoulders. Handsome, he thought to himself, in a way that he would not dared have entertained only a few months prior. How things had changed. “I’d have been happy to be introduced, but now I want to hear stories of young, idiot Ezio being a tit.” He barrelled forward in a manner of having been baited before pivoting sharply back, hoping to catch Ezio off-guard. Sometimes it worked on Evie, sometimes not. It worked on Ezio, particularly because he’d been enjoying the appraising look. It was unfairly easy to get lost in a look like that. Which was a thought that brought to mind something he’d said to Jennifer in Storybrooke, that it was very easy to be into Jacob. The vernacular was new, but he was all too familiar with the sentiment. He was very much ‘into’ Jacob, and he wanted Claudia and Jacob to get along. He was only a little afraid that the person who knew all the worst things about him might scare away the person he wanted to think best of him. “Look, that goes both ways, monello. If you get terrible stories out of my sister, I’ll have to encourage Evie to tell some about you. Well…more about you,’ Ezio smirked, jumping back from Jacob’s rush and then cursing quietly under his breath when he realized it was a feint. He tried to quickly to regain his center of gravity, but any strike might easily have tipped him right over. And one did. Jacob had been planning this, after all. It was how he’d figured out how to get the jump on his father, years before, who’d always looked upon his brash and aggressive style with disappointment and disdain. Jacob much preferred disappointment and disdain when it was on its arse, thank you. Luckily Ezio was never so judgmental. Jacob wouldn’t have liked him if he had. So one kick designed to sweep to topple him over later, and Jacob reached out an arm to haul him back up. “Yeah…. Evie’s already been pulling her weight on the embarrassing story front, mate. I’m glad it’ll be something approaching even.” His grin faded into something more furtive as he drew up his stance again, readying for payback. “Don’t take this in a weird way, but it’ll be nice to talk to someone who knew you as a person, and not some grand example of being a sodding Assassin. Evie’s not like that anymore, but all those sodding lessons about the ‘greats who came before us’. “ Jacob’s voice tilted into something more pompous and educated, before he rolled his eyes and refocused. “You’re lucky you’ve got a great sword, otherwise I’d have been likely to assume you were a prick and ignored you. I’m looking forward to knowing Claudia. From what you’ve told me about her, she’s going to be loads of fun to have around.” Even seeing it coming didn’t make Ezio roll his eyes any less. He might not be “washed up”, but he was definitely off after their magical kidnapping. He could’ve have gone for the leg sweep and brought Jacob down to the mat with him, but Jacob was talking and he didn’t want to stop him. Taking the hand up, Ezio started circling Jacob again. “Now how could I possibly take that in a weird way?” Ezio teased with squinted eyes. “I mean, I agree, I am quite lucky you were so interested in my weaponry. And I am also looking forward to you meeting my sister.” Smiling, he let his posture relax, as if he was losing focus in the fight with each slow, provocative step closer to Jacob. “I just hope you realize, you are one of those someone’s yourself. You already know me as a person better than most. Shockingly, I have never been all that forthcoming.” Lifting an eyebrow, he abruptly drove forward, crowding into Jacob’s space with a few quick strikes to key points, hoping to drive Jacob backwards into the wall. “But speaking of forthcoming,” he huffed cheerfully between strikes, “are you going to tell me why you were in here moodily destroying a punching bag or do I have to pin...you...first?” Jacob had been caught off guard; Ezio’s seeming to lose interest in the fight coupled with the compliment about knowing him had him concentrating on everything but his defensive positioning. He really was going to have to learn to take a compliment without falling apart, he reasoned as he attempted to deflect Ezio’s blows, some more successfully than others. His back hit the wall before he knew it, and with an annoyed huff, he put his hands up in surrender. Sloppy, Frye. “Fine,” he groused, even if the grin was resigned. “But it’s no surprise, I suppose. It’s just been… strange to reconcile the past few weeks, yeah?” Jacob wasn’t one to really talk about feelings for any length of time, but since Ezio had asked… “I’m just not happy about the idea that with a few lapses in someone’s judgment, I could’ve lost my sister forever. And not even known it! And he - I - I was…” An uncomfortable shrug, and he looked away. “I don’t like my voice taken from me, worked one way or another. I don’t like second guessing what I said, or what I did... so yeah, the punching bag’s got it coming.” Age and supposed wisdom had made Ezio a little less smug, but you’d hardly know it by the smile on his face. Jacob’s honesty softened the edges of his grin, thankfully. Or rather, Jacob softened his edges, period. He lifted one of his hands in a mirrored call for peace, so he could move into Jacob’s space without earning an instinctive knee somewhere uncomfortable. “I figured it was to that effect,” he murmured, caressing a hand up over Jacob’s shoulder and squeezing there. “You have every reason to be unnerved. I am, too. And obviously, you could do much worse than take it out on an inanimate object. I don’t know what peace it will bring you, but I have heard whispers that Emma Swan has turned herself in as the culprit. We shall see what happens now.” And whether more need happen, Ezio thought darkly. Extremes here would not go over well, but they had all been violated by a magic no less dangerous than the Witch they sought to kill only days before this madness started. He would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit he would be watching to see what justice the mountain dished out. Jacob nodded, finding peace in Ezio’s physical gesture as much as his words. Jacob wasn’t the vengeful sort, not like Ezio had once been - he didn’t want to see Emma suffer or anything like that. But laws? Protection for those that had been wronged? Protection for those that had mistakenly committed the wrong-doing? He’d push for those with every shred of stubbornness that he had. “It’s been too often that something’s gone wrong with magic, and there’s no… recourse, or consequence. On the societal level. If everyone’s going to feel protected here, magic-users or none, there’s got to be a system in place to avoid spells going all over or some sort of… sordid mob justice.” Assassins didn’t insert themselves into politics all that much, but well. Jacob had never been a typical Assassin. The thought led to another troubling one, but rather than admit to it offhand, instead he looked at Ezio, eyes soft, curious. “Did you like it?” he asked, brows furrowing. “Being normal. Having a typical life. I know you didn’t know it was any different at the time, but now, looking back. Was it what you’d thought it’d be? Could you have been happy like that?” “Something certainly has to change,” Ezio leaned a shoulder against the wall next to Jacob. “People were taken from their loved ones and their memories were tampered with. It hardly matters that this wasn’t the intended result. My only worry is that justice may turn into corrupted regulation and we’ll have a new breed of Templar on our hands.” Ezio sighed and rolled his neck Niccolo had always been better at diplomacy and planning. Maybe Ezio wasn't the headstrong bull of his youth, but he was still better at killing than politics. He welcomed the subject shift for now. “As for your questions…,” Ezio reached into his back pocket, pulled out two wax-sealed letters and held them up. “My sister came bearing letters from two of the greatest men in history. Dear friends who I only knew as text in a history book two days ago. I didn't remember the family I’ve lost. The friends I’ve found. My purpose.” He tapped the letters against Jacob’s arm, smiled somberly. “Could I have been some kind of happy there? Perhaps. But it would have been an ignorant and empty thing.” The letters temporarily pulled Jacob out of his gloom, and his face brightened considerably. “Letters! From… Leonardo and Niccolo?” He probably would’ve guessed that regardless of Ezio’s glowing description of who had written them; the thought that Ezio might have contact with his friends even as far away as here was a heartening one. “Brilliant.” The rest of Ezio’s words didn’t go unnoticed; Jacob was just mulling them over in his head as he leaned against the wall, fighting temporarily forgotten. His answer was what he’d expected him to say, not simply because he knew Ezio’s nature but because Jacob had arrived at much the same conclusion. “I used to think that maybe I’d have been better off not having been trained,” he admitted ruefully. “Evie was always the better Assassin between us; she’d have done fine on her own. And there’s plenty to be done from the ground up in more administrative roles.” His tone was without bitterness, and he wasn’t digging for compliments. Jacob may have not been entirely sold on Henry as his sister’s companion, but the man was worth his weight in connections. Without Henry, the Fryes would have never succeeded in London. “All the codes, the rules, the rigmarole and the way you’re expected to follow your elders and not strike out on your own! I told Father once I’d rather have never heard of it all. That I could’ve done just as much against the Templars without his obsessions, with just being some bloke who picked fights in the back-alleys of Crawley. He told me to grow up; that there was nothing like having the Assassins at your back.” He made a face, squinting his eyes in a chagrinned fashion. “...I hate it when the man’s right.” Smiling, Ezio nodded and tucked the letters away again. He would put off reading them for at least a few days. They were likely the last contact he would ever have, after all, and he would like to feel one hundred percent himself when he said goodbye to his oldest friends. Listening to Jacob reflect so bluntly engaged all of his attention, anyway. “Perhaps...don't think of it as your father being right?” Ezio frowned. If he ever forgot that that Jacob and Evie were poisoned by their own father as part of their “training”, it would be the day his memory gave out completely. “Perhaps think of it as you being wrong. About your own worth and what you want out of life. I thought I wanted an easy, uncomplicated life before fate took over.” Shrugging, he turned a warm smile towards Jacob, leaning into his shoulder. “I was no more suited for uncomplicated than you were for administration. You are too extraordinary to live any version of an ordinary life.” Well, Jacob at least was well-familiar with the sensation of being wrong. He might have said as much in a self-deprecating fashion had Ezio’s comment - extraordinary, really? - not thrown his composure into the rubbish. Jacob was getting more used to Ezio’s generous nature, but that didn’t mean that a flush didn’t work up his neck all the way to his ears. He regarded Ezio for a moment or two, expression nothing if not purely fond. A million things to say came to mind, ranging from sappy to slightly less-sappy. Without preamble (or taking note of who was near them) he leaned forward and pressed a kiss just below Ezio’s ear as a way of thanks, murmuring, “despite everything, it’s heartening to know that there are at least two worlds where I know you.” What Jacob lacked in eloquence he at least made up for in fits of earnestness. Forcibly ripping himself from being taken over by starry-eyed sentiment, he grinned, showing teeth as he added something more in line with his typical mocking humor: “....that would have been the perfect moment for a sucker punch, you know. My guard was down. You’re getting soft, missing opportunities.” Ezio’s answering grin was two-thirds smug, but the rest, the rest was pure heart-in-his-throat affection. Between reuniting with his sister and the look in Jacob’s eyes, Ezio was feeling like this day was definitely ending on a high note. Pushing away from the wall, he fisted his hands into Jacob’s shirt and started walking backwards, leading him back out onto the mat. “It’s just adorable that you think I'm the only one getting soft here,” he taunted, smirking. “Come on, then. Show me what so-called guard looks like.” |