A/N: *deep sigh* yes I'm a total dick for publishing another fic when I already got another to finish first. But my only alibi is that THIS one, Beyond Blood, has been running in my mind for almost a year and if it wasn't for my friend – Stoj – who helped me to develop even more this idea, this idea would have never seen a glimpse of the AC fandom.

So thanks Stoj for helping so much for this fanfic, you the best m'lady!

Tiny things to know about the fic first;

- Some interactions WILL bring confusion at the beginning, but fear not, fellow readers, everything will be put in places as the story goes.

- This is a Modern!AU

And now: enjoy this (very short) chapter 1

Beyond Blood

A woman's strength isn't just about how much she can handle before she breaks. It's also about how much she must handle after she's broken.

Chapter 1

The Gym

I gasped as I tried to get the air pass into my lungs and kept running into the crowd. I kept pushing and squeezing my way between the passer by, mumbling barely audible apologizes before keeping my mind into the main mission I had to do. Get away from him.

''Florence, wait!'' a deep voice called behind me. I turned my head to see who was calling me and I winced as I saw the main person I was desperately trying to avoid.

The man was fairly tall and well-muscled. His short blond hair was caught in the wind and his blue eyes were drawn with confusion behind his enormous glasses. To anyone, he would be your average young man studying in college, but not for me. He was... well, a very awkward person with a deep, deep obsession on me. And right now, I was trying to run for my life, hoping he would soon give up being after me. My line of thoughts was cut sharply as I ran into a person and fell down with the stranger.

''Son of a...'' mumbled the person I was on top of. I quickly got up and gasped as I saw the familiar face of the said 'stranger'.

''Desmond!'' I gasped, ''hide me!'' I ordered immediately as he sat up. He looked at me in confusion and then frowned.

''What?'' he asked. I rolled my eyes and looked at him in despair as I heard once again the voice of the said person I was trying to avoid was getting closer to us. I grabbed Desmond's white hoodie and forced him to stand up.

''Tabarnak, Desmond! Just fucking hide me from that jackass, calice!'' I swore in irritation at him, my accent was getting thicker than before.

''Hide you from who?''

''From -''

''Florence!'' a hand grabbed my shoulder and I felt my heart skip a beat for a second before starting to hammer against chest. I turned around only to see him. I slapped away his hand and quickly hid myself behind Desmond who was, mind you, a wall compared to my petite frame.

''Ah, huh, hi, Lewis?'' I said nervously, my hand grabbed the tissue of Desmond's hoodie and got closer to my best friend. There was no way I was getting closer to the blond man. ''Uh... how... why, ah, were you following me?'' I asked through two deep breaths that were actually difficult for me to do.

''Well, I wanted to talk to you, ya know? But you just ran off,'' Lewis said with a strange smile on his face. I nodded silently and hid a bit more behind Desmond. At this point I chose to say nothing and waited. I was already feeling sick after running in a constant sprint, I was feeling the bile climbing up the inside of my throat the longer he was standing near me. It wasn't the first time that he did things like that to get my attention but he was getting to the point it wasn't just being friends and it was scaring me to no end. Desmond took a look at me and it was only now that he decided that maybe it was the good moment to finally stop this really awkward conversation.

''Uh, look bud, she's not feeling too well, so, you know, better give her some space,'' Desmond said with an inch of coldness clear in his tone. I bumped my forehead on the back of my friend and mumbled a 'thank you' as Lewis left after trying to mumble an apologize or something. I heard a whistle and I knew that it was coming from Desmond. ''What was that all about?'' he asked after I let out a sigh in frustration. I knew he was smirking like an idiot at the moment. I stood straighter and glared at him.

He had a smirk on his face.

I punched Desmond's arm.

''OW! What was that for?!'' he rubbed the victimized area and stared at me in disapproval. I huffed in indignation and looked away.

''That was for laughing at me,'' I deadpanned. He chuckled a bit but quickly stopped when he saw me raising my fist in the air.

''Jesus, touchy-touchy aren't we today, huh?'' he teased. I said nothing, knowing that answering him would only prove that he was right. He let out a sigh before dropping his arm around my shoulders. ''C'mon Flo,'' he started, using my nickname only to thick me off even more. ''You don't even want to tell what's the deal to your best buddy?'' I rolled my eyes and wiggled my way out of his grip.

''I wouldn't go that far, with you Desy,'' I said, with a smirk, knowing he hated it when I used that nickname. ''But to answer you, that was Lewis if you haven't figured that out yet and, uh, he's a stalker.'' I stated as I brushed the non-existent dust off my shoulders.

''Wait, what?'' he said in disbelief. ''He looked like you average dude who spends time playing Dungeon Dragon!'' I cringed at his remark, he was spot on the guy for that. ''He couldn't be a stalker, he looks way too lazy to do that!'' A laugh escaped my throat before I even knew it and startled the poor guy in front of me.

''He was capable of obtaining my address before I even thought to give it to him!'' I said indignantly. ''Bitch is crazy!'' I added with a funny accent. ''And you know what?! He lives in Laval and he went to my place in bicycle! He pedaled twenty five fucking kilometers to get to my apartment! Twenty five kilometers between Montreal and Laval! Can you believe that?! I swear I was about to yell at him when he got to my safe haven!'' I stopped my rant as I only heard Desmond laughing even more at me. ''Shut up!'' I snapped.

''Ahahaha! I'm sorry but this is gold!'' He said between two laughs. I puffed my cheeks in frustration.

''It's not funny! He got into my bedroom!'' I shouted. At that last statement, he stopped laughing and stared at me worriedly.

''Did... did he...'' he started carefully as he dropped his hands on my shoulders.''Did he... tou-''

''Of course not he didn't you idiot!'' I wooshed his hands away from me. ''I have my hockey stick in my bedroom, I could've beaten him before he even touched my clothes you dumbass!'' I let out a sigh. ''But yeah... he got into my bedroom because my sister allowed him in my apartment, she tried to get him away from my room but in the end she gave up. I swear to god, he was standing right a few inches away from my sacred underwears and I was ready to bet my school manuals that he was about to grab one of those sacred underwears that was lying on the sacred ground of my sacred bedroom!'' I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out another sigh. That event happened a month ago but it was still fresh in my mind and it was still pissing me off whenever I thought about it. ''But hey!'' I cheered happily, clapping my hands together at the same time. ''I kicked him out of my apartment five minutes after that and he was stuck to pedal all the way back to Laval!'' I added in a lighter tone.

''You're evil,'' Desmond said, a smile glued on his lips. I shrugged it off and kept a smug expression on my face.

''Eh, I try.''

Desmond shook his head, still smiling, and bent down to pick up the orange sheets lying on the ground. I quickly realized that they were probably a pile of papers he was holding before I unceremoniously knocked him down by running into him. I dropped on my knees and started picking up the closest ones around me.

''Sorry, I didn't realized that you had stuff in your hands when I bumped into you,'' I said.

''It's cool, Flo,'' Desmond said with a shrug. I nodded but then frowned as I took a better look at the orange paper in my hand.

Garden of Eden Parkour Gym

Opening hours:

8:00 to 5:00 during week

11:00 to 9:00 during weekends

Address:

7854 - Rue Pi IX

For more information visit our website:

.com

'''I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff,'' I said in surprise. He looked over my shoulder and shrugged before grabbing the pile I had in my hands.

''Eh, it's just a part time job, ya know,'' he said indifferently. I mused for a second but then I remembered an important detail.

''Don't you already have a part time job at the coffee shop near University McGill?'' I asked in confusion. He rolled his eyes and lightly hit my forehead with the stack of paper. I mumbled a few incoherent words in French before I started rubbing the area he attacked a few seconds sooner. ''And anyway, couldn't you give me your other job? You know I need one,'' I added.

''Like you said, it's a part time job,'' he insisted on the three last words. ''And no I'm not giving you my job because I need money too.''

''What, now you're a beggar selling pamphlets?'' I asked in a snicker.

''Oh shush you!'' he grinned. ''I opened the gym with a bunch of friends -'' he stopped as I gasped loudly.

''You have friends?!'' I questioned in disbelief. My hand met his forehead and I faked taking his temperature. ''By Gods! It's the end! The world has come to an end!'' I ran to a few passersby who had children with them and I gave them the best scared expression I could muster on my face and said; ''hide your children! The whole world is in danger!'' One of the women stared at me like I had grown up a second head before she led her kids as far as she could from me. I chuckled lightly, not feeling any guilt or shame in what I just did. I felt something hit the back of my head though, compared to last time, that one actually made me wince a bit. I turned around to see Desmond looking at me with what seemed to be a frown on his face.

''Could you not?!'' he asked in frustration.

''What's wrong loverboy? You can't actually be angry after me!'' I said, battling my eyelashes at him, a sly smile on my lips. He was about to snap a remark at me but he was stopped when my thumbs met his forehead and I forced the skin to go upward. ''And strop frowning, you'll get wrinkles before you even turn thirty!'' I said very seriously. Desmond, to my surprise, dropped the stack of paper he had in his arms and he did the exact same thing to me.

''Says the girl who's older than me!'' he said. I brought his eyebrows higher on his forehead and he grimaced. ''Would you stop it already?!''

''Not as long as you don't let me go!'' I replied. And we kept like this, trying to bring the eyebrows higher on each other's forehead for a good minute, ignoring the passerbies who were glaring at us like we had both lost our minds.

''You know Flo… you gotta go with the flow,'' Desmond said at one point. My eyes widen and if looks would murder he would probably have gotten stabbed multiple times by a newborn baby by now.

''You didn't…'' I said in a dangerously low voice. He smirked, though it kind of looked like a crazy one with his eyebrows up in his forehead.

''Yep, I did,'' he answer nonchalantly and pushed even more my skin upward.

''You little shit.''

Not so long afterward, Desmond let out a shout of frustration and slapped away my hands from his face. I smirked and flipped my hair over my shoulder. ''Weakling,'' I commented.

''Shut up,'' he said before picking up the stack of paper. ''How come am I still friend with you?''

''Because you'd totally fail at life without me, Desy,'' I deadpanned.

''Anyway,'' he said, re-adjusting the stack of paper in his arms. ''I gotta keep giving these out so... yeah, take one!'' Desmond handed one to me. I grabbed one cautiously and eyed him.

''Alright,'' I said.

''Yeah, if you wanna pass by and say hi, don't feel shy to come!'' he explained. I rolled my eyes at him and punched his arm once more.

''Like hell I'm shy! I'm the definition of fun and outgoing, Desy!'' I said in a huff. He chuckled lightly.

''Right, right, my bad. See you soon, Fall!'' he added before walking away. I waved at him and watched him disappear in the crowd before I stared at the orange pamphlet I received from Desmond.

''Garden of Eden Parkour gym, huh?'' I muttered to myself. ''Sounds interesting enough...''

A/N:

Yay chapter one is done! Lemme throw confetties as I hide in the corner of shame. I'm still not satisfied with this chapter but hey, gotta do watcha gotte do right?

Small detail: Florence is a French Canadian so you should expect a lot of French references and LOTS of swears coming from the region of Quebec (yay for their very vast vocabulary of swears!)

Anyway

Like and fave if you enjoyed it – yadda yadda you know the drill guys

If this fics seems to pick up, well fear not I shall try to upgrade this as often as I can.