Luberto

Venice

Alberto's POV:

"Where are we going?" Luca asked, and I shrugged. Bria responded from ahead.

"Somewhere I haven't gone in a while." We kept swimming for another fifteen or twenty minutes, until I saw lights above the water.  We swam to the surface far enough from the lights that nobody would see us, and Luca looked at the city in wonder

"Wait, is that-?" Bria nodded.

"Guys, welcome to Venice."

We swam to a dark corner and got out of the water. Shaking ourselves dry.

"Come on!" Bria ran ahead, stopping for only seconds to talk with an elderly lady before running ahead again. We tried to keep up, speeding up as she turned a corner. She stopped in front of a door, took a deep breath, and knocked. The door creaked open and a voice from inside said, 

"Bri?" she grinned.

"D!" A boy emerged from the doorway and hugged Bria. He had short, brown, curly hair. His eyes were the same color brown as his hair. He was tall, and skinny, with pale skin.

"How long has it been?"

"A year." Bria stepped back, still smiling. "There are some people I want you to meet." She motioned for us to come closer.

"Are they-?" The boy started, I finished for him.

"Sea monsters? Yeah. What about it?" The boy held up his hands in surrender

"Nothing, Nothing. Me too. It's nice to meet you. My name's Dario."

"Alberto."

"Luca."

"It's nice to meet you all. How do you know Bri?"

"She's my Sister." Dario looked at Bria, eyebrows raised. 

"He's that Alberto?" Alberto smirked.

"The one and only."

"So you two are-" Dario was interrupted by a call from inside.

"Dario! Who is it?"

"Just some friends mom!" Dario shut the door turned back to Bria, and continued.

"How've you been?"

"Same old, same old." She responded with a smile.

"Uh Oh." He laughed. She playfully punched him in the arm.

"Haha, funny guy."

"So where have you traveled?"

"Last month I went to Paris, before that, I went to London. and the US" I couldn't help but stare. It was Luca and I's dream to travel the world together. Bria had been on her own for two years and had traveled more than I had in ten years on my own.

"Impressive." As Bria and Dario talked, Luca was staring at the brightly lit city of Venice.

"It's beautiful. I learned about this place in school." Luca said, his eyes full of wonder. Luca looked over at me, and saw me watching. I smiled, and he smiled back. I walked over to him, putting my arm around his shoulders.

"Should we go explore?" Dario heard me and said,

"I could... show you guys around. A lot has changed." Before I could object, Bria said,

"Would you? they've never been here."

"Of course!" Dario and Bria took the lead and Luca and I hung back a couple of feet, chatting as we roamed the streets. Even though he was all smiles and friendly chatter, I could sense something was off about Dario. Or maybe I was just on edge, being somewhere new with someone we'd never met before today. Yeah, that had to be it. 

"Come on!"I was lost in my thoughts when suddenly, Luca pulled me down a side street toward a street performer doing magic. I looked back, watching my sister, and Dario, grow further away. Luca stopped at the edge of the crowd. The performer continued his show, pulling a steady stream of colorful ribbons seemingly out of thin air. The show ended fifteen minutes later, and Luca took off at a jog down the street.

"Luca! Wait up!" He stopped, waiting for me to catch up. "We should go find Dario and Bria." I panted, out of breath.

"You wanted to explore! We'll catch up with them later." I smiled, Luca wasn't usually this adventurous. It was pretty cute. "I learned about this place at school." He said, looking around as he spoke. 

"Alright, alright. Let's go."

"Race ya!" We laughed, and took off down the street at a sprint.