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A Lasting Silence

Summary:

The story of the Assassin/Templar war is an old one, and for those of us who love the games, maybe even a slightly repetitive one with Pieces of Eden and Grande Temples around ever corner.

What if something bigger is waiting out there that'll change the way we see this war? That could change the tide, break the deadlock and rewrite the course of their bloody history?

With a little death, destruction, romance (bit o' first attempt smut) and mystery, this is my first FanFic ever. Using historical fact as a central theme and just having fun writing!

New minor baddies, original male and female character, and of course, more Evie and Jacob. :) Thanks to Ubisoft for creating our canvas to work on!

Thanks so much for reading!

Warning: This thing is turning into a large novella!

Chapter 1: New Silence

Chapter Text

There was a quiet tonight. Not the kind from too much tension, like a string stretched too tight, waiting to snap. Not the kind that fell across their sleeping train in the dead of night, with just the sound of the steam engine and vibration of the tracks beneath as it wound it's way around the city.

It was actually peaceful here, atop of St. Paul's Cathedral. The sounds of London were so far below, so muted, it could've been under meters of water and he'd never realize. He wasn't used to this. He was always in the thick of things, waiting for the next fight, the next taunt, the next kill. If an hour passed without him firing his gun, he was sleeping on his none too comfortable couch on the train. He should look into a legitimate bed one of these days. Maybe tack on a whole new car just for the purpose.

No. As he waited for Evie up on this man made mountain of a building, he could hear himself think for the first time in too many weeks. The pulse of the city was under his fingertips as they rested on the steel dome. The air whispered and blew at his hair and he drew in a deep breathe, just enjoying it.

"Can't even manage to stay awake waiting for me, brother?" Evie's singalong teasing voice came up from his right as she pulled herself up beside him, gracefully turning and sitting down at his side.

He hadn't even realized he'd had his eyes closed. He never let his guard down, even way up here where only his sister or another assassin could reach him quickly. Even his sister's quiet approach wasn't subtle enough for his keen hearing, yet she had snuck up on him anyway. Must have something to do with that thick silence...

He inwardly shook off the unnerving feeling of vulnerability, and quirked an eyebrow and the side of his lips up in a sarcastic smirk he knew he wore well and often.

"Some days I admire your stealth approach for our devilish deeds, sister," a hint of teasing in his inflection, "but I still think a few brutish Rooks and a gun would've made quicker work of it." He faked a stretch as if he'd actually just awoken and spoke through a yawn. "As it is, you've bored me to sleep for the first time. Congratulations."

Evie rolled her eyes at him and pulled out a long thin tube, the kind that held scrolls of parchment. It was well crafted, with gold filigree and metal fastenings. Admiring it reverantly for a moment as she held it in both hands, she then pointed it at him scoldingly. "You, Jacob Frye, would have found some exceedingly out of the ordinary way to destroy this."

"I?! Why, Evie, how little you must think of me!" At a sceptical look from her as she tucked it back into her coat. "I would've found a perfectly normal way to destroy it, thank you. I can't even imagine why you went out of your way for that thing."

If there was one thing that ruffled Evie's feathers, it was the nonchalant ignorance he pretended to have about the history she found so vital and fascinating. On more than one occasion, he actually thought she would deck him. Good thing she didn't favor brass knuckles. Particularly when he feigned ignorance about Ezio Auditore.

"For your information, this may actually be the most valuable piece of information on our ancestors and the Templars that we've ever come across." Her matter of fact tone of voice and the slight quiver at the end wiped whatever smirk off of his face. She wasn't playing around.

He decided to pretend not to notice and stood up to dust off his coat tails. Jacob started to make his way back down the cathedral, Evie following close by. "What is it that makes you so sure it's the be all - end all?" He asked, as casually as if they were strolling through a park, and not climbing down a gargantuan building with ease.

"I never said that it was the 'be all - end all', Jacob. It's a map that carries more knowledge about who we are and what the hell we've been doing for centuries."

Her voice carried the fervor and passion that could convince anyone of the dire import of the cause. Whatever cause.

"For centuries, assassins have been just chasing after these pieces of eden, hoping to stay one step ahead of the templars. We need to know more about where these pieces came from, and maybe then we can know how to stop their source of power."

"And you think that scroll will help you find that?" He couldn't help the scepticism in his voice, and Evie noted it.

"I think it's the beginning of the end. It has to be..." She almost spoke the last part to herself, as if convincing herself that it must be true.

They had stopped their descent to admire the view of the full moon glimmering on the rooftops of London, everything bathed in a silvery ghostly glow.

"So if this…thing," gesturing to her hidden pocket, "is so precious, why didn't any of our predecessors find it before now? Who are we, Evie? Compared to them, we're just small fry. Get it? Small? Frye?" He grinned widely at her responding grimace.

He knew his fair share about Altair and Ezio, a bit more about Edward Kenway and his traitorous son, and they all seemed larger then life. They were so magnified by their great deeds that it seemed unheard of that his sister, his very own twin, had found something so important when the others hadn't.

Evie seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she suddenly grew very solemn. She knew one hundred times their Assassin history than he did, so the weight must have beared down heavily on her.

He tried to turn the conversation a little lighter as he watched her expression. Nudging her with an elbow, he teased, "I bet there was some lock or mechanism or riddle that no one but you could solve, right? We were all just big oafs until you came around," and he finished it off with a wink.

Evie just heaved a large sigh and fingered the scroll through her coat, suddenly casting her eyes up to the heavens and the billions of stars above.

"There was something, Jacob," she whispered. Her voice was low and distant, and she closed her eyes, as if to remember. "I don't know if I can explain it, but I'll try."