Here's a preview of the sequel to 'Path to Eden'. Read the rest over at AO3!
He still dreamed of it even now. The anxiety. The dread. The fear. He would be lying if he said he was fearless. He felt fear when an arrow missed his head by merely an inch. He felt fear when a stab wound in his side didn't stop bleeding. When sickness had spread over his people and friends. But never had he felt fear as overwhelming as back then. Not for himself but him. The screams of pain were still ringing in his ears. His heart bled and felt like it was being wrenched from his ripcage at the sound. And the worst hadn't even been over. The way that body just crumbled to the floor like a doll. The pulse under his fingers slowing rapidly and the heart pumped the last of its blood through the veins.
He had seen so much death in his life. But never would he forget the eyes of his beloved staring blankly, empty back at him as he cradled the lifeless body like the world would fall apart below his feet if he let go.
Suddenly, he saw those once lovely eyes focus on him and fill with tears and slightly parted lips twitched into motion.
"Altair…" he croaked out. Altair had to strain his ears in order to hear him. "Why did you let this happen? You promised you would never let harm befall me. And yet you let me die right in front of you."
He gasped for air as he shot up in bed, his hands fisting the sheets as he panted heavily and tried to shake the dream from his mind. He waited for his breathe to even out before climbing out of the bed on slightly unsteady feet and made his way to the bathroom outside his room. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed before splashing freezing water onto his sweat slicked face.
He barely registered the other figure eying him from the open door. The Italian didn't look better for wear and he must've come here for the same purpose by the way the beads of sweat glistened on his temple. They shared a sympathetic look before Altair brushed past the other in order to head for his room but was stopped by the Italians voice.
"Do you think we could have saved him?" they didn't look at each other as Altair contemplated on what the other might have wanted to archive with that question. He didn't dwell too long on it before answering with a short "No." as he dragged his sleep-deprived body back to his room and settled down on the bed again.
He was certain they couldn't have done anything to prevent what happened. They had been separated from Desmond and the barrier had only lifted when it had been already too late. And although he knew they couldn't have done anything, he still felt a strong guilt. He felt like he had failed the boy horribly. And Ezio felt it, too.
Altair draped an arm over his eyes as he lay in bed. They missed him. Words could not describe how much.
"Desmond." he whispered into the empty room. Chanting the name over and over like he could summon the boy this way.
Times since the end of the world was somehow prevented were not easy. Even though it had been rather peaceful until now they couldn't be careless. The pieces of Eden appeared to be gone completely from this planet since then and with that the Templars lost their means to control humanity and needed to come up with an alternative, which kept them busy and away from the Assassins and they were grateful for that.
But even though they had won, some of them still felt like they had lost. They lost the most important thing in their lives and the two time traveling Assassins were stuck in a time that was not their own, stripped of the one thing that had held them here.
William had drowned himself in work to not think of his lost son. He had led them to a newly established Assassin compound away from the eyes of the Templars and Altair's heart clenched painfully when he noticed the resemblance to his home back in Masyaf. It was smaller of course and modernized but the resemblance was there and the few Assassin Brothers that walked about gave the compound a feeling of home and Altair, for the first time since he came to this timeline, felt like he belonged. If only the biggest part of his home hadn't been missing.
Shaun, Lucy and Rebecca also focused on their jobs and getting the newly gathered Assassins settled. From the three of them, Rebecca suffered the most from Desmond's death. 'He was like a little bro to me. I just wish I had tried to make things easier for him until the end.' she had cried into Lucy's chest some time later.
They didn't make a grave. It would feel like giving up hope, even though they knew there was no possibility Desmond survived. The moment he touched the Apple the structure around them had crumbled. They tried to rip Desmond's body away from the orb but as soon as they had made contact they had to pull away lest they would have burned themselves. And even when Altair and Ezio struggled through the burns, the other's body wouldn't budge and as the temple fell apart around them they knew they had no choice but to leave.
Since that day nightmares tormented him more often than not. Ezio and him had been tiring themselves out with training more than ever to help vent out their negative emotions but it didn't keep the nightmares at bay.
If anything they missed their lover more than ever after a tiring day.
Altair lay awake another hour before he gave up on sleep and headed outside. They had a yard that was mostly used for training or gathering before large scale missions. He stood before the training swords that consisted of wooden ones and steel ones. The wooden swords were mostly used by novices so he choose a steel sword before he made his way to the training dummy. It was less training and more an outlet for his anger and frustration as he hacked away at the stable wooden puppet.
He was aware of the footsteps approaching him but he choose to ignore them until the person spoke up.
"If a wooden puppet can make you this angry I really don't want to offend you, ever." quipped a female voice from his side and only then did he glance towards her briefly to signal her that he had acknowledged her. A moment of silence fell over them, the man not stopping his attacks, before she spoke again.
"We have sleeping pills somewhere, you know." she informed him. This wasn't the first time she caught one of the two time Travelers in a nightly training session.
"No need." he grunted out shortly. As bad as the nightmares had been, it was the only time where he could meet Desmond, even if it wasn't reality. Before, his biggest fear had been losing Desmond. Now, it was forgetting about him. His eyes, his smile, his voice. Even if it was distorted by pain in his dreams. He didn't want to forget.
Rebecca shuffled nervously on her feet.
"Did you two ever think about what Des would have wanted?" she asked carefully. They may have all gotten closer to the two Master Assassins but they still feared getting on their bad sides.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'm pretty certain he would've wanted the two of you to move on. You know, find someone that makes you happy and all that." she knew she was treading on thin ice here but she still flinched when a particular loud clang rang out through the chilly night air as the man finally stopped his movements, his hand clenching around the hilt of the sword until his knuckles turned white. He turned towards her with a sharp glare.
"I do not need 'someone to make me happy' if it's not Desmond." he growled out slowly but his expression relaxed when the woman took a step back, fearing she may have crossed a line. He sighed, his free hand raking through his sweat drenched hair. "This connection we share with Desmond… It's not that simple." he stared, honey colored eyes boring straight into hers that told her he was not going to go deeper into detail.
She opened her mouth to apologize for sticking her nose into other people's business but before she could speak they were interrupted by a young man running up to them, a novice by the looks of it.
"Altair." the boy greeted in a reverent tone. Of course mostly everyone here knew about the great Eagle of Masyaf, Altair. The Mentor had explained their situation early on as to avoid any complications later. "We found a guy passed out not too far from here. He doesn't seem to be in a good shape but…" he nervously bit his lip and glanced between Rebecca and his idol.
Of course he worried about bringing some stranger into the compound. Especially if they didn't know if it's an enemy.
Don't compromise the brotherhood.
Altair was glad and proud to see the Assassins still stood true to the creed even now.
"Lead the way." Altair said and followed after the novice.
End of Preview!
You can read the rest over at Archive Of Our Own because double posting is annoying and fanfiction .net does not appreciate smut enough.
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