Prompt One: Introduction

It was raining when they had met, the weather seemingly appropriate for the occasion. They were a part of the large crowd gathered to honor the man who had saved all of them. So many assassins in one place was a strange sight, but after Francis had explained just what he had accomplished, she could understand why so many came so far for one man. His name was Desmond Miles, he was born into this life and raised in it, and after he had tried to leave he was dragged right back in to it. She'd been stunned to learn that they had shared common ancestors and after learning that she knew she had to go to his funeral.

She stood at the back of the group of people as they watched and waited for the casket to finally be buried beneath a mound of dirt. It seemed she was the only one who felt horribly out of place. She knew a handful of people but all of them were off with others, trying to offer and accept some form of comfort in this painful moment. It didn't take them long to finally bury him, and as it came to an end the mass of people drifted off to warm up and eat inside of one of the halls that was set aside for the occasion. Leaning against a tree she remained until it seemed that the last of the mourners had finally left, it was then she approached his grave. Despite the snow on the ground, she knelt next to his grave and spoke in soft Italian. She stayed kneeling there for some time before finally standing and brushing off herself, speaking once more before leaving. "Requiescat in pace, Desmond." A sharp turn on her heal, a final salute to the man laying under her feet, left her surprised when she realized she had not been alone.

"Hello."

His voice was soft and cracked as though he had not had taken a drink in days, but from the redness that was obvious in his eyes, she knew it was due to crying. It took her a moment to identify the accent, but after a quick process of elimination she realized he was English. From how distraught he seemed, or rather she assumed, he had known the deceased as more than just a fellow assassin. "Hello," she took a moment to smooth out her robes before speaking, "I am so sorry for you loss."

The laugh that came next was a bit of a surprise, but it was short and bitter in tone. "Didn't even know him, did you? Just another assassin come to pay their respects to the man who saved all of our asses. And now you're here, talking to a corpse of someone who you never cared about in life. You disgust me. Why pretend that you care when all you're thinking about is how you're glad it's not you?" They both stood there for a moment, silent and unmoving before he spoke again, "Look, I'm sorry. He was a friend."

"You don't have to be sorry for anything, a lot of people are how you described. I'm not much different, though believe me if there had been a way for it to be me there instead of him I would of done it. I guess I just wanted to apologize to him, for not being the one there. It's stupid I realize, though we shared common ancestors there was no way for me to be in his place, but I felt it was necessary. He was so important, and had so many people who loved him, and he died so I-so all of us- could live." She spoke quietly, hesitantly, knowing her words-her wishes- were foolish but expressing them anyway. Francis had told her such when she had relayed this to her, telling her that she could not of possibly changed what had to happen.

"Not like it matters now."

"No, I guess not. Were the two of you close?"

"I was a part of the team who worked with him to find the Apple and then later find the device that saved our lives, and took his." His head bowed as he spoke, but lifted when she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want to be left alone?"

His brown eyes glanced over to the gravestone where his fallen comrade lay before returning to meet hers. "No, he wouldn't of wanted me to grieve over him. We were never the buddy-buddy kind of friends. I was always very sarcastic and he always purposefully annoyed me, but we were friends." The only noise for the next few moments was the sound of the branches in the trees being pushed through the air by the strong winds and the sound of children far off, playing as their parents talked amongst each other. They stood in silence as the snow whipped around them, wetting their clothes farther. "I haven't told you my name yet, how rude of me. I'm Shaun."

"Claire, pleasure to meet you, Shaun." They shook hands before she turned to look at the building. "Do you want to go inside? It's a bit freezing out here, I'll even make us some tea if you'd like."

"You go on ahead, I'll be inside in a moment, if a woman named Rebecca or Francis asks where I am just tell them I'm out here, will you? I think... I think I will stay here for a minute."

A brisk nod was the answer Claire gave, and she walked to go inside before turning back to look at the man behind her. "He may be gone Shaun, but you still have your life. And if you are half the man I believe you are, you have a lot of people who care about you. Don't let the tragedy of losing your friend destroy your life. That is not what he would of wanted. And please, don't ever forget that he did what he did because he loved you, he loved all of us and knew he had to do it. I know my words don't help, and I know they may make you sick to hear them right now, but they are true. You are loved, that much I know. And you have a long life ahead of you, don't throw it away."

She was gone before he had a chance to reply. Shaun wiped back tears as he knelt by Desmond's grave, in the same spot she had not twenty minutes prior. "Look at what you did to me, I haven't cried in years. God Desmond, I miss you. I know I never acted like I cared but you knew that I did, didn't you? I'm an ass, I'm sarcastic it's just who I am. I just hope you realize that I did consider you a friend, and that I miss you. The war between the Templars and the Assassins isn't over, not even close, but thanks to you we have a chance to keep fighting, we have a chance to keep living. Thanks, mate. Try and not be too much of a pain wherever you are." With that he stood and headed inside, determined to find the Claire girl and get the tea he had been promised. Desmond was gone, but she was right, he still had his life. He wouldn't rest until he knew that Desmond's death was not in vane.