Now or Never
Disclaimer: Assassin's Creed belongs to Ubisoft.
Chapter One:
Anna opened her eyes seeing nothing but black. Sitting up Anna looked around she was alone and no longer in Abstergo surrounded by guards ready to kill her. Quickly standing up Anna turned around in circles making her vision spin once she stopped. Clutching her head Anna willed her vision to stop spinning. Once it stopped Anna slowly looked around trying to figure out where she was and how she got there.
"Anna Connolly."
The brunette spun around shocked to see a hovering woman behind her. "Wha- who are you?"
"You know who I am."
Anna stared at the floating woman trying to figure out who the strange and patient woman was. Her eyes widen in shock when it finally came to her. "Minerva."
"Yes."
"What are you doing here?" Anna demanded.
"You touched the Piece of Eden Anna Connolly."
Anna turned around seeing herself holding the Piece of Eden with guards around her poised to fire as she glowed. Turning back to Minerva she demanded "What are you doing? What is the Piece of Eden doing to me? I'm not supposed to be glowing like that?" panic making itself at home in her.
"It is preparing you."
Anna blinked, "Preparing me for what?" she asked slowly wondering if she really wanted to hear the answer that Minerva was going to give her.
"Your body doesn't have any defenses against the illnesses and diseases over two hundred years ago. This way you won't immediately become sick and die before you complete what you have to do."
"Two hundred years? What does the past have to do with what's happening now?" Anna asked.
"In time your path will become clear to you. Now, prepare yourself Anna."
A blinding light forced Anna to cover her eyes. Instantly the smell of sea salt assaulted her nose. Opening her eyes Anna stared wide eyed and slacked jawed. No longer was she in Abstergo or with Minerva, Anna Lyn Connolly was in Boston. Immediately Anna checked to make sure that she was in one piece, also taking note that she was now wearing a white and blue colonial coat with the assassin symbol wrapped around her waist with a red sash underneath it, dark blue breeches were tucked into black boots with leather leg guards reaching up and stopping at mid thigh. "I am so not in Kansas anymore." Anna muttered watching the people go about their day as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"You were never in Kansas to begin with."
Anna jumped before turning around to see a colonist walk though Minerva like she wasn't there. "It was a figure of speech…so why here? Why is this time so important to you?"
"The scales are tipping and you will help restore the balance. Look for a man called Achilles Davenport, he will help you. In the meantime, you should run." And with that Minerva disappeared. Anna blinked at the spot before the sound of someone shouting at her reached her ears.
"Oi! You there stop!" Anna glanced over her shoulder to see several men in red coats walk towards her. Frowning Anna took off at a calm gait away from the apparent guards. Breaking out into a sprint when she heard bodies crash into carts and people crying out in anger "Stop in the name of the King!"
"Screw the king!" Anna shouted back earning cheers from the growing spectators. Wanting to get away from her chasers Anna leapt onto a cart then up to the roof. Once on the rooftops Anna took off jumping roof to roof putting distance between her and the soldiers. Positive that she was no longer being followed Anna leapt off the building landing in a pile of hay. Stepping out Anna brushed herself off and walked down the street looking for a horse to borrow.
At least Minerva was kind enough to give me the information to find Achilles, Anna thought as she weaved through the tense colonists. Even if it was through the PoE, she thought sourly glancing over her shoulder once again to see the same man she saw when she got out of the hay still following her. It seemed that he knew how to track assassin's even if they are blending into the crowd. Then again her style of clothing and the fact that she was a female wearing men's clothing, stood out from the crowd.
"That was impressive young lady." Anna tensed as another man fell into step with Anna as the other moved up to Anna's other side. "There is somebody that wants to speak with you."
"And I take it that I don't have a choice do I?"
"It would be wise if you came quietly and without fuss. The soldiers are still looking for you."
Anna couldn't get her heart to slow down. It started its rapid beat as soon as she realized who was sitting across from her. Haytham Kenway, grandmaster of the colonial Templars. If she knew that escaping from the British soldiers would have led to this Anna would have let the soldiers take her.
Haytham studied the young woman in the assassin's clothes not two feet from him. True, Charles didn't find any weapons on her person, but the burn on her ring finger was real, no amount of makeup could perfectly mimic the rise of the burned skin. This meant that she was still dangerous with or without weapons. She sat still almost like a living statue except for eyes. Moving whenever one of his men moved, taking note where each person was on the second floor of the Green Dragon.
A bar maid brought food and drinks for Anna and Haytham. Anna pushed the plate to the side, unwilling to take the chance that the Templars paid for the cook to do something to the food. She did however; stop the nervous bar maid from taking the tankard of ale. This seemed to please Haytham as he dug into his own meal.
"There are very few, if any, assassin's left in Boston yet you seemed to appear out of nowhere." Haytham said after he swallowed a bite. He looked up from his meal almost jumping in shock. The girls' eyes seemed to glow. Wolf like in color, amber with flecks of brown, but a second later they dulled back to a normal color. He picked up her necklace and studied the crest. A wolf sitting underneath a moon with the assassin's symbol hanging around its neck. "The house of Connolly, a family of assassin's going back to the Dark Ages. What is a member of the Connolly family doing in colonial America?"
"The church never proved that the house of Connolly are connected to assassin's, though they did a fantastic job revealing that they were taking bribes from the Templars." Anna finally said.
"Ah, so the silent assassin speaks." Benjamin Church grumbled from his spot behind Anna.
"Yes it's true that your family were never convicted as assassin's but it never stopped the Order from going after the Connolly family." Haytham said before taking a sip from his tankard. "Though, it doesn't explain why you are here, a member of the Irish upper class amongst the colonial rats."
Instead of answering Anna picked up the knife that the maid had left and slammed it into the table, taking silent pleasure when the men around her jumped at the movement. Taking the knife Haytham dropped she carved two circles around the knife buried in the table. A small one close to the knife and a second one bigger encasing the small circle and knife. "Templars favor guns over blades. It's reasonable since they allow a person to take out targets from a distance without being seen." She balanced the tip of the free blade on the table. "However, did you know at this range of twenty yards the gun is a superior weapon." She pointed at the large circle with the knife. "As the distance gets smaller around the gun, five meters sounds about right, the blades become superior. I can kill you Haytham before your men could draw their flintlock pistols to shoot me." Anna's grin was wolfish as the men tensed at her words. She freed the knife from the table and slammed both knives down catching Haytham's coat sleeves. She then grabbed the tankards and tossed the contents onto the other men. Drenching them and their now useless pistols in crappy ale, she stood up knocking the chair into Benjamin Church forcing him to fall. Anna grabbed her necklace as she jumped onto the table and leapt over the shocked Templars landing onto a table where a gambling game was set up sending cards and money flying. Stumbling, Anna gathering her footing and ran out the open door shoving people aside as she did. With a silent apology to whoever's horse she was taking, unless it belonged to one of the Templars, she scrambled up and took off forcing people to jump and dive out of the way.
Rain.
Anna was soaked to the bone and was shivering. Now she was going slowly to make sure that her stolen horse didn't slip in the mud and break its neck. In the rain hazed distance Anna saw a red bricked him with smoke rising from the chimneys. "Come on, I promise a nice warm stable awaits you." Anna said nudging the horse down the trail letting it decide the safest way down.
When the large home finally came into view Anna couldn't feel her hands and could barely hear the rain falling due to her teeth clattering uncontrollably. However, instead of heading straight to the house she steered the horse to the barn, stumbling when she dismounted. Anna found a stall that didn't look like it wasn't being used and led the tired horse into the stall taking off the saddle and bridle, setting them on a rack to dry. After that Anna found a somewhat clean towel and rubbed the horse down throwing a flake of hay, a bucket of grain, and another bucket of water into the stall for the horse. The task of getting the horse settled for the night warmed her somewhat, but as soon as she stepped out she was cold once again. Jogging up to the house Anna glimpsed movement in the window as she approached the door. Pulling off the hook Anna knocked on the door and wrapped her arms around herself trying to warm up.
The door flew open seconds after she knocked, confirming her suspicions that they were waiting for her to knock or do something else. Standing in the doorway was an elder man with dark skin. Dressed in nicely and was leaning on a cane. Anna tried to speak only to sound incoherent from the chattering teeth. "What do you think you are doing traveling though this storm like a fool? You should know better assassin." He demanded as he grabbed Anna's forearm with surprising strength and pulled her into the warm house. "Connor go get a change of clothes and a blanket for our friend." Anna glanced at the back of the boy as he darted up the stairs before being led into a sitting room where a fire was crackling away.
The heat of the fire reminded Anna how cold and wet she was. Ignoring the chair Anna struggled to remove her gloves and her soaked clothes. "Here," a hand reached down and removed the buckles and sash letting Anna take care of her shoes and clothes herself. "Can you tell me your name?"
"A-An-Anna C-Con-Connolly." Anna stammered wincing as the feeling started to come back into her hands.
"A Connolly eh? I'm Achilles and this is Connor." Anna looked up seeing a boy around her age, maybe a year older holding clothes and a warm looking blanket.
Standing up Anna smiled at Connor and said "T-Thank you." And without further notice set the items down on the chair and began peeling off the under shirt that clung to her body like a second skin. Uncaring if the two males were looking or not.
Connor watched the strange white woman, now without the leg guards and the jacket that he hoped to one day wear as well. Her hair plastered to her skull was dark, but he wasn't sure if it was black or a brown. After she took the blanket and clothes he managed to find, though they were probably a size or two to big on her, she set them on the empty chair and began stripping. Flushing Connor quickly turned away, hearing an amused chuckle from Achilles as he too turned around to give the girl privacy to change out of the wet clothes. Connor did manage to see the paler skin, scars possibly, scattered over her body and a strange marking on her shoulder.
With a sigh Anna sat back down in front of the fire with the blanket wrapped so only her face was exposed. The clothes were a size bigger on her but she wasn't going to complain. She watched Achilles and Connor turn back around Achilles picking up her wet shirt and breeches to hang close to the fire to dry.
"Are you an assassin?"
Anna blinked. Of all the questions that could have been asked first it had to be that one. She didn't have to look at Achilles to know he wanted to slap the boy over the head, he did it anyways. Anna nodded as best as she could, she wrapped herself in the blanket pretty tight. Connor looked excited to have met another assassin as young as he was. It made the thought that he would get to wear the assassin robes more than just a dream, a possibility. He opened his mouth to ask her questions when Achilles slapped him over the head again.
"You can ask your questions tomorrow. It is late and Miss Anna has traveled in the rain, no doubt she is tired and wishes to sleep." Achilles helped Anna stand up as he said to her, "Your clothes will be dry by tomorrow and then we can talk and ask questions."
Nodding Anna followed Achilles up the stairs with Connor behind her. Achilles opened a door and nodded into it indicating that it was to be Anna's room. It was medium in size with a full size bed, a nightstand, a desk, dresser with a mirror over it, and a chair tucked into the corner of the room and there was plenty of room to move around if she wished. A soft if slightly dusty rug comforted her feet as she walked into the room and looked around. It was a little cold in the room but Connor was fixing a fire in the tiny fireplace bathing the room in a soft glow and warmed up the room. Thanking Achilles again Anna closed the door and sat down on the surprisingly soft bed. She was out for the count the moment her head touched the pillow.
Connor peaked into the bedroom where the mysterious Anna continued to sleep. Even though the sun had already risen and breakfast had been eaten and put away. Why was she asleep? She couldn't be sick could she? She did ride during the thunderstorm so it was a possibility that she had become sick. Connor opened the door more intending to check their new guest only to be pulled back and the door closed. "Hold your curiosity until she wakes, I already checked on her and she's not sick." Achilles chided.
"But-"
"No buts you should be working on your lessons now nosing around."
It was around early afternoon when Anna finally woke up. As promised her clothes were dry and folded neatly on the chair. Rubbing her face Anna wiped the sleep out of her eyes and climbed out of the comfortable bed. She found a large bowl filled with water that had steam rising out of it she washed her face and cleaned her teeth. Scrounging around the dresser Anna found a comb to attack the rat's nest on her head. With her hair tangle free she parted it and pulled the strands into a braid only to find out that it didn't want to comply. Huffing in annoyance Anna just pulled it back into a ponytail and left it at that, she could still pull her hood over but it wasn't what she really wanted. Turning away from the mirror she stumbled over the discarded breeches hitting the bedpost as she stumbled and wind milled to keep her balance.
"Damn." Anna muttered rubbing her sore knee. Limping over to the chair Anna got dresses, she was a little confused with the buckles but spending a few minutes on them and she finally figured out how the clothes went together. Inspecting the leg guards Anna saw large water damage and left them on the chair, proving the point that water and leather don't mix very well. Finally dressed Anna walked out of the room and down the stairs. The house was painfully barren and dusty everything looked like they had been neglected for a long time, only to be now exposed to sunlight and use. She figured that it could take her three days at least to air out and free the house of dust. That is if she was going to stay here. Anna still didn't know what to do about her situation and if she should tell Achilles and Connor that she from the future. Minerva didn't say that she couldn't tell them, but then again Minerva didn't tell her a lot of things.
Her stomach growled loudly, Anna made a face and quickly set out to find the kitchen and ultimately food for her empty stomach. Finding the kitchen Anna saw Achilles and Connor eating lunch. Her stomach growled again getting the attention of the two males.
"Ah, good afternoon Miss Anna just in time for lunch, there's a plate set for you." Achilles said nodding to the plate across Connor.
"Thank you and please just Anna." Anna said sitting down. She looked at the spread and picked up a roll and bit into it. It was a little stale but it was still bread. Filling up the plate Anna dove into her food realizing how hungry she was. She didn't register the taste of the food as it went through her mouth and into her stomach, or when Connor and Achilles exchanged looks. At this point food was food and she wasn't about to complain. It wasn't until there were only crumbs left on her plate, she wasn't about to lick them up like a dog, did she look up. Realizing what she had just done Anna blushed and mumbled an apology.
Achilles just chuckled and said "It's not a problem Anna. Now if you can explain why you are here."
Anna frowned, she had no idea why she was here Minerva wouldn't tell her. Should she tell them the truth? Would it be better to get it out of the way now instead of lying through her teeth and be caught in a lie? Anna knew her family history well enough knowing that they couldn't spare anybody to come to America during this time. They were keeping the Templars and the church off of their and the Irish assassin's backs and no one would come over till after the Civil War. She couldn't lie to Achilles he took her in without question.
"Minerva."
Achilles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Connor looked between the two assassins confused. "Who is Minerva?" he asked after several minutes of tense silence.
"Minerva is one of your 'spirits' that your people talk about." Achilles explained as Anna picked up the cup in front of her, sniffed the liquid before taking a sip. Water down tea.
"They created the Pieces of Eden that the Templars want to use to control the world." Anna explained after she downed the cup. She was already beginning to taste the food she had eaten on the back of her tongue. She had the food before but the taste and texture was different, and if what Minerva said about the Piece of Eden was correct, Anna wouldn't have to worry about getting sick and dying from food poisoning. "There was this piece that was in the hand of the Templars and I volunteered to go in and take it back." It was hard to think that this only happened several days ago as Anna gripped the cup to steady her nerves. "I got in with the help of a fellow assassin who had already infiltrated the Templars. She was the one who got my hidden blades in and helped me to get the piece…at least that was the plan."
"What happened?" Connor asked.
"She betrayed me." Anna said "Instead she almost got me killed. I managed to get to the piece and grabbed it before the Templars tried to shoot me and I suddenly found myself at the docks in Boston. I guess I need to thank Minerva for saving my ass."
Achilles frowned at her words. "You speak as if you don't belong here."
Anna nodded "That's because I was plucked from my time and dumped two hundred years into the past like some sort of science experiment." At the end she was snarling making Connor jump in shock. She almost sounded like a growling wolf.
"So you know the future?" Achilles asked looking at Anna warily it was never a good thing to truly know what will happen.
"For the most part." Anna said slowly "But I highly doubt that I alone could truly change the course of history." She paused her eyes widening in shock "I have no home." Looking down Anna suddenly remembered every little thing she didn't do, the harsh words spoken to her mother before she left to do this mission that went horribly wrong. "I'm out of my time taken to what will one day be the past against my will and with no idea why I'm here or if I will ever go home."
Achilles reached over and took Anna's hand. When Anna looked up he said "Regardless if you are from the future I can't turn away a fellow assassin even if I'm no longer one, you are welcome to stay here as long as you help out around the property. I assume by the burn on your finger that you completed your training which means you can assist me in training this one. He still needs improvement."
Tears in her eyes Anna smile and whispered "Thank you."
...I should be working on "Almost Home" but I lost insperation to do that...and I discovered Assassin's Creed in time to fangasim about Connor. There will be spoilers because I'm watching FusionCap as he's doing the walk though/game play (Because I'm too impatient to wait to see if I get what I want for Christmas) I'm also going off of Assassin's Creed wiki pages, which sadly isn't a lot, and going through history texts about the American Revolution.
So please review, there isn't much Connor love yet, and tell me what you think?
Edit: Sorry I spelt Connor's name as Conner _