A Guild of Moonlit Shadows (A KOTLC FanFic)

~14~ A Traitorous Deal

Unedited

7343 words

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People often don't talk about the aftermath, the silence after the storm. It is one thing Alexios hates more than anything. The agonizing silence afterward, the shock settling in your bones.

The silence made him squirm as he watched Filomena comfort her mentally decaying wife. They only had a couple of hours in the Guildhall before they needed to move again. They were only supposed to grab the important documents and such, making sure the Assassin secrets stay out of Neverseen hands. Inalia was silent. The only people in the streets were corpses and Neverseen scum. They didn't have a name for the attack yet, but the Fall of Inalia has started circulating. So many things fell during that attack.

"Honey, can you go grab some sentimental things? It may help calm us all down when we have to leave again." Filomena whispered to her son, combing a strand of his shaggy hair behind his ear. Alexios nodded, shrugging on his coat.

Filomena kissed his forehead, "Good boy. Make sure to stay away from windows and keep your face covered. Don't leave the building, Angioletto."

He silently walked down the hallways, hugging himself tightly. Sentimental, sentimental. Something that would make his mother happy again!

He meandered into the Grand ballroom. This was his mother's favorite room. She would host balls and soirees, gossiping amongst the socialites and nobles, soaking up their secrets for Assassin gain. Alexios spotted Grandfather Damien's piano sitting on the stage, and he ran over to it. This was the same piano Amalia practices on. Her homework was scatted over the stage, along with her personal books and sheet music. She never finished her math homework, it seemed. A gentle glint of silver caught his eyes.

Her astronomy books.

"It's just a bunch of stupid dots." Alexios scoffed as Amalia flipped through the pages of her new book, squealing in delight even as the festival continued around her.

"And you are a stupid nuisance. Look, you have something in common with the stars." Amalia retorted. Amalia got that gift from Maria during the Autumnal birthday festivals when they were, gods, when was it? Amalia just turned seven, that's right. Alexios never understood her fascination with the twinkling lights.

But she wasn't here now to explain the constellations to him. Alexios tucked some of Amalia's sheet music into the pages of stars and planets, holding it in his arms as he shuffled further through the empty Guildhall towards his Uncle's office. He perused Uncle Allesandro's keepsakes. A couple of scrolls, his collection of artifacts, plenty of correspondents. His desk was lined with photos.

One of Mansi and Amalia at their girls-only sleepover, where the two of them made panettone and smiled wide at the camera, covered in flour. The other was of the Morretti family trip to the woods, where Amalia and Alexios were getting scolded by Maria for getting covered in mud, Allesandro trying, and failing, to hold back his laughter behind her. The tip of Filomena's finger was in the frame, but Allesandro had it on his desk anyway. Another was of all of their friends, gathered in the Renisanca plaza during the Festival of Fools last year; even Alvar and Alden made it that year.

The final one was Grandma Hypatia, Grandpa Damian, Great uncle Claudio, young Maria, and Allesandro smiling at what looked like one of the temples. Alexios picked that one up, staring at his grandparents. He and his sister never got to meet them, did they?

Alexios fingers brushed behind the frame, freezing at feeling a lump. He turned the frame around, pulling out the small scrap of paper sticking out.

Alexios struggled with reading sometimes; he has something Filomena has. Dyslexia or something like that. Letters and numbers jumble around in front of him. Spelling always was a pain in the ass.