Author's notes: The first two chapters are before Willow's birth. The two beginning chapters are going be on Willow's parents, for they will be mentioned a lot and important chapters in this story. If you don't want to read about the parents, then I suggest you to wait for at least until the third chapter is out then. The actual event that leads up to where the beginning of the actual story takes place won't be right away. There will be chapters about Willow's past as well that will also be important for the story.
I hope you enjoy, and please ignore any errors. I might had over read them. If you like please favorite, follow, and comment. You're feedback will be appreciated.
The color of crimson red stained the man's light gray cloak. Several deep gashes on his arms, sides, and back. The young man was an Assassin, a skillful fighter who worked for the brotherhood, and for the Creed's order. A light gray colored hood covered his eyes, hiding most of his facial appearance from the outside world.
He had sailed to the colonies to take care of a traitor to the brotherhood, but he never expected for the traitor to be low enough to ambush him with his new group of comrades. Then again, he shouldn't underestimate people like them, they always pull nasty stunts like that.
The Assassin raised a hand up and placed it on his hood, holding his head as he stumbled through the darkened streets of New York, black dots appearing in his vision. His heart beat was unnaturally fast, his muscles were screaming out in pain, and his foot work was becoming sloppy and off balance.
He couldn't rest yet. He still had to report back to France, to where his brotherhood was located. He had to report back to his Mentor, to let him know that the traitor was dealt with. But sadly, his body wasn't agreeing to him and his senses were quickly slipping away from him.
I was careless, I should've known that I would be ambushed. A rookie mistake. He thought to himself as his knees went out from under him, causing him to stumble and fall down to the ground. His sore muscles screaming out in pain more.
He wasn't sure if his tired mind was pulling tricks on him or not, but he swore he heard a soft gasp, and before he could look up to see if he indeed had, that's when his body completely gave out on him. He fell the rest of way down onto the ground with a small thud, his sword making a clanking sound when it came in contact with it. His muscles relaxed, his eyes fluttered close, and his mind slowly fell into the darkness that awaited him.
When the young man came back to the world of the living, he was met by an intense pain in his head causing him to make a small sound of discomfort. As his senses slowly came back to him, he immediately noticed that he wasn't laying on the cold hard ground of New York anymore. No it was warm and even a little soft.
Forcing his eyes open, he blinked a few times to focus his vision. Instead of seeing a sky, he saw a ceiling of a room. He stared blankly at the said ceiling before his body tensed and he jerked up, only to hiss out in pain and fall back down onto the thing that he was resting on.
"Hey, I wouldn't move so much if I were you. You're lucky that I was out when I was or you wouldn't be breathing. Lucky you I had enough bandages to patch you up. Since you're awake, you can tell me how exactly you ended up like that." A soft voice of a female reached his ears, making his attention to shift to her quickly.
A young woman perhaps just a few years less than him sat on a stool not that far away from him. She wore a simple dark colored dress like many women in town wore, but her headwear was absent showing her long golden locks that was held back in a simple braid. She had a gentle smile on her face, her blue eyes holding kindness and a certain gentleness that he wasn't used to seeing. He was used to seeing fearful expressions, angry and hateful expressions, not the ones that she was directing towards him. It was odd, yet also strangely comforting to him.
"Where am I? Who are you?" He asked, his voice rough and scratchy, making him pull a face causing the blonde to giggle softly to herself.
"You're in my house obviously, and if you must know, I am Grace Bradbury. Would you like some water?" She asked.
The man stayed silent, simply just staring at the odd woman. He then slowly nodded. He watched her get up from her stool and walk over to a wooden table that stood a few feet away from where he currently laid. There was a bucket on the table, along with a few decent sized glasses. She put the glass in the bucket and pulled it out a few seconds later.
"I made sure that it was clean, sorry if it may seem odd. I don't have much at the moment, I just got a place of myself, I couldn't burden my parents any longer so I managed to get this place without handing out much coin. Yes, it's odd for a woman to live on her own without her family or a husband, but I do not like bothering people with my presence….Ah, I apologize, I'm rambling aren't I?" She asked at the end as if she just realized it, her light skin tinted a light red, showing her blush from her embarrassment. She then walked back over to him, but instead of giving the glass to him, she placed the glass on the small table besides the bed and made a move to grab him, causing the Assassin to tense up.
"What are you doing?" He asked, his eyes narrowing at her.
Grace blinked a few times before her smile dropped from her face. "Ah, I'm sorry….I didn't mean to send wrong signals to you. I'm just trying to help you sit up, you're wounded and I don't want you to strain the said ones more than necessary. Please, won't you let me help you sit up?" She asked.
Once again, the man stayed silent, staring at the woman with a blank expression. And that's when he looked down at himself. His Assassin cloak was removed along with his shirt, leaving his upper half of his body bare except for the bandages that were wrapped around his chest and back. Finally noticing that his appearance was complete open to be seen, he tensed up more to only let out a small sound when it irritated his wounds. He then let out a small sigh, giving the blonde a nod now.
The smile was put back onto her face, she reached out again and gently pushed her arm under his shoulders, pulling him up with little to no effort which surprised him greatly. He wasn't exactly light, he was an Assassin, a male not to mention. But this woman, Grace, she pulled him up into a sitting position without even asking him to help her.
"Don't look so surprised. I'm not exactly a normal woman around these parts. I don't like the idea of being considered weak and helpless, I want to be able to handle things on my own." She said as she helped him rest his back against the wall, being careful to not irritate his back wounds. She then pulled away from him and grabbed the glass of water, handing it to him.
He eyed the glass before he looked up at the blonde again, he then hummed softly and took it, giving her a nod in his thanks. He then drank it down quickly, his throat immediately feeling better.
"So stranger, will you be kind enough to tell me your name? Or is it against the rules you Assassin's make up for your little group?" She asked.
The man paused for a moment, looking at her again.
He didn't trust her, not the slightest, but he guessed that it wouldn't hurt to tell her his name. If she becomes trouble for him, he could always kill her.
"Alfred Wilard. I see that you figured out what I am."
Alfred Wilard, he was young man who worked as an Assassin to the French brotherhood. He had green eyes and dark brown hair. He had an average built, and weighed a good amount to be able to hold his ground and yet be quick and graceful.
"Of course I did, no normal men carried around that many weapons, nor do they wear such a cloak like yours. You have a bit of an accent that isn't around from here. Where are you from if you don't mind me asking."
"France. I came over here for a mission. I would already be on my way back there, but my injuries delayed such a thing. I am grateful for the kindness that you are showing me, but I can't stay here for long. I need to return home or my brothers and sisters will worry about me." He said.
And he wasn't lying. He was done there so he should be on his way back, and if he didn't report back soon he would be thought dead. And he didn't need false rumors about him to spread around. He was a well-known and well skilled Assassin, and he wouldn't let a silly thing like simple wounds taint his reputation.
"Ah, so a Frenchman. I don't want to hold you back, but you need to rest your body for a few days or you will surely faint again, and not to mention you'll strain your wounds and make them worse. I am no doctor, and I don't have enough coins to fetch you proper care so I apologize. But if you believe that you can get up and go out there to the docks be my guest, I won't stop you." Grace said.
Alfred looked at the blonde, noticing how blue her eyes were since she was closer to him than before. He opened his mouth to protest, but it closed when he realized that she was right about his condition. He let out a small sigh through his nose and shook his head. "You're right…very well then. I shall stay and rest up my body. But do not think that is by choice, I just don't want to risk my health by doing something so careless again."
By his words, Grace seemed to smile more, her blue eyes dancing with an unfamiliar emotion. "Of course, I thought of no such thing." With that said, she moved away from him and started to hum a soft tone.
Alfred took that chance to glance around, curious to where she had placed his garbs and weapons. He spotted his weapons laying on the ground by a window, he also spotted his cloak folded neatly on a chair just a little bit away from his weapons. And from the looks of it, it was cleaned. Alfred frowned. This woman was too kind for her own good, he didn't like that.
"I know what you're thinking, and don't think of it. I didn't do it because I thought that I had too, I did it because I wanted to. Same with how I decided to drag you through the town to get here, I simply wanted to. I guess I don't like seeing people in trouble, so I always end up wanting to help them no matter what the cost would be." Grace suddenly said.
"I'll admit, you're an interesting woman. I never met a woman like you except for my mother who died when I was young. Unlike you and her, every other woman who I had come across stared at me with a fearful expression or a hateful and angered stare. Perhaps you're just more open minded unlike all those other women." He said.
Grace paused for a moment before she turned and looked at him. "Like I said, I'm not like other women, and for that, I am glad." She said smiling at him brighter than before. She then turned her back towards him, humming softly.
"Are you hungry? I could go to and fetch us some food. It won't be anything fancy, but it would be enough to fill our bellies for a while." She said.
The brunette blinked before he made a small humming sound. He shook his head, his frown still on his face. "Please, you shouldn't be so kind to me. I am nothing more than a stranger to you, and Assassin at that. You shouldn't treat me with such kindness." He said.
Grace spun around, her hands now on her waist. Her blue eyes narrowed. She then made a snorting sound, a sound that no proper lady would make. "If I didn't treat you with this amount of kindness I wouldn't consider myself as a human anymore. People who are rude to others just to get through their daily lives sickens me. I don't want to be rude to people, if I am then my parents wouldn't have taught me well enough." She said.
Alfred blinked in surprise. He opened his mouth to protest, but closed it once more. He felt powerless against this woman, he didn't know if that was a good thing for him or not. But for now he would agree with her, might as well. She seemed like the stubborn type.
"Very well then. I do not care what I have, food is food is it not?" He asked.
Grace smiled and hummed. "Indeed it is, very well then. I shall be back with some food. Try to sleep some more."
A few days passed and Alfred deemed it to be enough to heal up his body, but he just really wanted to go back to his home country. If he were to be honest, he missed his brothers and sisters. Both Alfred and Grace stood at docks. A ship was to leave within a few minutes and sail out to France, the thing that he needed.
The blonde was wearing her white cap, hiding the golden locks that the Assassin grew to like for an unknown reason to him.
"Do you have to leave? Can't you stay just for a little while longer?" She asked, her blue eyes casted downwards, staring down at the wooden boards, finding them more interesting than anything else.
The brunette stayed silent for a few moments before he let out a small sigh. "I have to go back and you know this. I enjoyed your presence by my side for these past due days and I am grateful for it. Perhaps we shall meet again if fate allows it." He said.
Just then the Captain of the ship that would sail out to France announced their departure and the Assassin hummed softly, taking a step back.
"I must take my leave now." He said.
Grace looked up from the boards and stared up at him, she then moved forward causing Alfred to tense and his eyes to widen slightly. She reached up with one hand and placed it on his chest, she then went onto the tip of her toes, and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. The green eyed man stood there frozen for a few moments before he let his eyes flutter shut, returning the kiss softly. One of his hands reaching up and holding the back of her head gently. But they had to cut the kiss short, for if they did it any longer than just a short one, he would miss his ship.
They broke apart and stared at one another in their eyes.
"Try to come back?" Grace asked softly.
"I'll try, but there is no promises. Do not wait for me, I cannot say that I would be back or when I would be." He answered.
The blonde hummed before she nodded, glancing off to the side. She licked her lips as red dusted her cheeks.
Alfred suddenly felt guilty and saddened that he had to leave, but he couldn't stay there. He was an Assassin, he had a brotherhood to go home to. But he couldn't help but feel a slight tug at the heart due to knowing that this might be the only time that he would ever see Grace. He shouldn't have let his guard down, if he hadn't he wouldn't be feeling such emotions.
"Goodbye Grace." He said.
The blue eyed woman who he had taken a liking to more than he should looked at him. She put a gentle smile on her lips. She then reached up a hand and waved at him slightly.
"Goodbye Alfred." She said softly.
Turning, Alfred jumped off the dock and grabbed onto the side of the ship, pulling himself up and over the side of it, feet now resting on the boards of the ship. Green meets blue as the anchor of the ship was pulled up and the boat started to set sail.
…..To think, I might actually have strong emotions for a woman who I just met. Heh, how careless of me.
Author's notes : If you enjoyed please favorite, follow, and comment, your feedback will be appreciated.