K there are kinda big chunks of dialogue in her because they are really hard to break up. Sorry! Also, at the end of the chapter is the Lullaby tune referenced in this chapter, if you guys want to listen to that after you finish the ambient music!
PS- A somewhat hot scene in this chapter, you guys deserve it ;)
Sophie held her breath as she pushed aside the wings on her amulet and revealed the secret compartment. Inside the amulet were a series of silver springs, cogs, and mechanics, which all started to whir to life. Sophie held the amulet tight, Ruy watching nervously from over her shoulder, feeling it slowly grow warm. Suddenly, there was a soft click.
And music filled the stables.
It was a soft little tune, each note sounding like a small piano, combined with other melodies that layered over one another. Sophie tensed up and gasped, recognizing the melody.
"Soph?" Ruy asked quietly as Sophie started to shake.
"It's-it-" Sophie quietly sobbed, a tear slipping down her face. Ruy turned in front of her and wiped away the tear with his thumb, watching Sophie with a worried expression.
"Sophie?"
"That is his song..." Sophie breathed. Ruy looked at the amulet, confused.
"He hummed this melody every time I was scared or tired. It was the one thing that made me feel absolutely safe in the world." Sophie shuddered. Sophie felt a striking pain in her head and groaned, setting down the soft playing amulet and putting her hands on her temples.
"Sophie!" Ruy exclaimed, holding her as she lost strength in her limbs. Ruy slowly laid Sophie down on the straw strewn stable floor, Sophie groaning with pain. A flash of light strobed Sophie's eyes, and she flittered into unconscious.
Sophie watched her memories like she was an outside ghost, seeing her younger self nervously wait outside her father's office in the guildhall years ago. Young Amalia pressed her ear against the mahogany door, trying to listen to her father's muttering.
Sophie remembered this was days before the attack on Inalia, only a few days before her father was murdered. Whenever stressed, Allesandro would pace and mumble to himself, trying to arrange the stray pieces in his head. Young Amalia was worried about her father, he seemed so stressed recently, and she wanted to make sure he was okay. Amalia tapped on her father's door, hearing the pacing and muttering stop.
"Lia?" Allesandro called out. Sophie watched as her younger self slowly opened the door and shuffled into her father's office.
"Candessa, you should be in bed," Allesandro stated, putting down his papers and walking over to his daughter.
"I had a nightmare." Young Sophie muttered, turning her head so her father couldn't see her tears. Allesandro kneeled down and wiped away his daughter's tears, watching her carefully.
"What happened?" Allesandro asked quietly.
"I don't want to talk about it." Young Sophie whimpered, wrapping her hands around her father and hugging him close. Alessandro tightly hugged his daughter, knowing that the dream was probably about the slave trader castle years ago, plagued her mind.
"Pater, how do you deal with it? With the nightmares and the constant fear?" Young Sophie whispered. Allesandro made a tight face, wondering how to answer his daughter's question. Older Sophie paced around the to hugging on the floor, watching the scene with bleary eyes.
"I just have to remind myself." Allesandro reasoned. Young Amalia looked at him, confused. Allesandro picked up his daughter, long shoulder-length hair tied back like it always was, and his face slightly scraggly. He walked over to the couch and sat his daughter next to him, his brown eyes scanning over her carefully.
"Life is full of strife passerota, and with the path our family has chosen, it is going to be impossible to avoid it, but there is a way to deal with it. I simply have to close my eyes and think, I think about the kindness and warmth I have experienced in my life. I think about my mother and father, I think about my uncle Claudio, Leto, Maria, I think about the family of Assassins we built. I think about my daughter, who brightens my life more than anything. My life seems so plagued sometimes, plagued with bad luck and terror, but when I think about the kindness people have given me, I know I will persevere." Allesandro said quietly, his voice a scratchy whisper. Sophie watched the scene and thumped to the ground, hearing her father's words again making her weak.
"But how do you keep reminding yourself? Doesn't it seem like the darkness wins sometimes?" Young Sophie asked.
"We are Morrettis, the darkness runs in our blood. Winning against the darkness isn't the solution, it is swimming with it. Think of darkness as a rushing river, and you are stuck in it's current. The darkness will always win, no matter how strong a swimmer you are, but the darkness isn't always bad. Resisting and yelling against the strength of darkness will never work, but if you learn to follow it and observe every detail about it, you will learn how to peacefully swim out of it. And once you emerge out of it, never forget what happened within it. Lessons are learned from within the darkness, and with those lessons, people create light." Allesandro explained. Young Sophie looked down as she processed her father's words, still a little bit too young to fully understand what he was saying, but modern-day Sophie was watching as an outsider in the memory, sobbing as she carefully absorbed the words.
Allesandro noticed young Amalia was having trouble processing the words, and he sighed, a small smile breaking on his face. He got up and rustled around in his desk, before finding what he was looking for and holding it up to the light. Sophie craned her neck to look at the object and gasped.
Her amulet, Kynarath's amulet.
He walked back over to Sophie and placed the necklace in her hands, carefully wrapping her small hands around the delicate silver.
"This little trinket has been passed down through our family since the creation of the Cyevan assassins. My mother gave it to me as a young boy, and it helped me whenever I had the same thoughts you have now." Allesandro explained, meeting his daughter's brown eyes with his own.
Young Sophie looked at the amulet as if she was holding diamonds, her family's heirloom in her hands. Allesandro reached down his shirt and pulled out a rusty silver key from around his neck, taking the string off his body and handing it to young Amalia. Young Amalia observed as Allesandro moved the blue jewel and slid the key into the amulet, the amulet clicking open and Allesandro moving aside the wings to reveal the hidden frameworks of the amulet. The necklace started to chime the same lullaby it did earlier, and that is when modern-day Sophie realized.
The amulet was a music box.
Young Sophie looked at Allesandro, a mix of emotions plaguing her young face.
"This is the lullaby you sing to me." Young Sophie noted. Allesandro nodded and watched as young Sophie examined the small trinkets inside the amulet.
"My mother sang that song to me, and her father sang it to her, and so on and so forth. Our family takes pride in one thing Passerota, family. We practice our culture, we sing our songs, we dance our dances, because it makes us close. We welcome anyone into our family, blood or not. That is the power of the Vatarians, we continue to evolve in medicine and technology, but we never sacrifice our traditions and community for it. That is one thing that I remember whenever I am swimming in that river of unbeatable darkness, I know that our ancestors are watching us from Kynarath's realm. They are smiling as they see our efforts. I know that when they watch you, they are just as proud as I am. Whenever you are swimming darkness, the most powerful way to swim with the current of darkness, but not drown is knowing that your ancestors are watching you, loving you, empowering you to strive towards greatness." Allesandro said quietly as he took young Amalia's hands to close the amulet. Young Amalia listened to her father, open-mouthed.
"I still swim in that darkness, but with all these reminders of light in my life, I know how to swim with the current and not drown. I want you to have this-"
"Pater!" Amalia exclaimed, amazed her father was giving her such a priceless heirloom.
"My mother gave it to me around your age, and you need it. Lia," Her father tilted her chin upwards, so she met his eyes.
"Life is going to hurt, gods above it is going to sting, hurt, and be unfair. There are going to be betrayals and heartbreaks, tough decisions and unfair moments. But know who in your life is supporting you, and know our ancestors are smiling on you, including me. Whatever path you make in your life, make it with a solid mind and passionate heart, and use your life and talents to not vanquish the darkness, but to teach others how to swim the currents. The one thing you always need to do is remind those who bring light into your life how much they mean." Allesandro smiled at the young version of his daughter, not knowing that the older version was watching as a ghost in her own memories. Allesandro took a small scrap of parchment and tucked it inside the inner shell of the metal wing of her amulet, stopping her as she reached to read it.
"Lia, you read that note in your darkest moments. You read that when life has gone to merda, you read it when all you want to do is scream into the sky and cry." Allesandro explained.
"Now, go to bed, you little rascal. Don't get out again, or I'm selling all your toys." Allesandro threatened (an actual threat my mother made to me)
Almost like smoke, the dream blew away, and Sophie woke up on the stable floor, Ruy nervously watching her and holding onto her.
"Gods above don't scare me like that-" Sophie grabbed the collar of Ruy's shirt and tugged him into a passionate kiss, tears struck down her face. Ruy was startled at first but only hesitated for a second before kissing back, his hands wrapped around her hips and pulling her close to his body. Ruy was carefully propped above Sophie and had his hands tangled in her blond hair, his long eyelashes fluttering as he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss. Their bodies curve around one another, the two of them being both desperate and careful. Sophie ran her hands through his hair, just needing him to know how much he meant to her.
The stress was getting to Sophie and the fact that she will need to eventually confront the demons of her past, her old friends and family, and fight what feels like an unbeatable war was messing with her mind. But every step of the way, Ruy has been there, and Sophie just needed him to know how much she relied on him.
Sophie pulled away from the intense kiss, Ruy on top of her and both of them panting for breath. Sophie ran her thumb over Ruy's lip observing every detail of his beautiful face. Every curvature of his cheekbones and brow, his deeply tanned skin shining in the moonlight, his fangs slightly showing in his parted lips. Sophie imagined every detail of him and pressed it into her mind, wanting to be burned and scarred in her head. Allesandro's words echoed in her mind, reminding her of the strifes to follow in her fight against the cruel in the world. But also reminding her of the light she has in her life.
The Vackers,
Grady and Edaline,
Her elven friends,
Maria, Alexios, and Filomena,
Lilac and Ricin,
Mansi and Alvar,
Nour and Maha,
Her guild brothers and sisters,
Ruy,
"A-are you okay?" Ruy asked, noting how out of the blue the intense kiss was and still quite flustered.
"No. I'm an emotional mess." Sophie chuckled, her hands on his face as he was propped over her.
"I just need you right now," Sophie noted, her hands pushing aside the strands of black hair fluttering in his face. Ruy helped her off the floor and helped her steady herself back on her legs.
"I'm not going anywhere," Ruy whispered. Ruy helped a shaky Sophie onto his horse and got on himself, Sophie holding onto his solid body from behind, admiring her homelands as they galloped from the glittering guildhall and into Grecian countryside. Sophie held the amulet in the palm of her hand, while the other was wrapped around Ruy to keep her steady. The amulet glittered in the dull light, and Ruy's silver key was sitting in her back pocket.
Sophie remembered the old key her father gave her was lost during the attack on Inalia, it was sitting in her back pocket during the attack and had fallen out. Sophie remembered the little piece of paper her father tucked in, but decided, she would look at it when she needed it, right now, she just needed to hold her sister and her dragon.
"So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?" Ruy asked from the front of the horse.
"No," Sophie whispered, leaning closer to Ruy and placing her head on his muscled back, embracing his warmth.
"Okay," Ruy said quietly, his voice warm and accepting.
Sophie clasped the amulet tight in her hand and turned to the star scattered sky. The Inalian sky was streaked with purple, dark blues, and pitch black, freckled with uneven stars and glittering dust.
Sophie's ancestors were in that sky, smiling at her, including her father.
Sophie would continue their purpose, protecting the innocent from the corrupt. But she also knew, her family weren't just Assassins, they were mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons, and she would make them all proud to call Sophie their descendant.
Sophie knew that she had one hell of a war she was fighting. But everyone would stand at her side if she stood at theirs.
They would stand at the side of the ferocious Queen of the Assassins.
Did Ruy and Sophie have a mini makeout session on the stable's dirty floor?
Yes.
Is the Amulet going to play a further purpose?
Yes.
Is Sophie going to meet her old friends and family again?
Yes.
Is Ruy's parentage teasing important to the story?
Yes.
Is the 10k oneshot coming out soon?
Yes, but be patient on this one, it is kinda hard to write.
Am I really sleep-deprived and hungry right now?
Yes.
Is Nour's much-needed character arc happening soon?
Yes, but it kinda a subplot character arc, it won't be taking up the whole story for a couple of chapters.
And finally...
...
How was your day? I hope it was good :)
Here is the lullaby tune for those of you who are curious!
I hoped you enjoyed the newest chapter of AAD, and please remember to vote, comment, share, and follow!
_Sibylline_