A/N: Getting sick of these types of stories yet? If you are, I'm sorry. :/ This was honestly the best idea out of the others I had, so I decided that it would be the one I wrote. I will be taking this one slow, Haytham getting a few good chapters, then Connor once he is introduced. If I am butchering the characters in any way please let me know and I will do the best I can to correct it. I won't be writing out scenes from the game word for word, but I will be following the events of the game. Though, I will also be taking some creative license on certain things.
Anyway, feedback is encouraged. :) Let me know if my character is too much of a Mary-Sue, as it is something I am trying to avoid.
"Charlotte Kenway, pulled along by her father to the colonies, knowing that everything there that involved her would have to be played by ear. That is, until she introduced to an age old war, her father a Templar, and her half-brother an Assassin."
Blood Runs Thick
Chapter One
Light from the fireplace bathed two figures sitting in chairs in faint light, a man, who was looking over the chess board with a rather intense look on his face, and the girl, who was sitting back in her chair, also looking at the chess board, but the look in her eyes seemed off somewhere else.
She looked troubled, though the expression on her face didn't really mirror such emotion. The man, who looked to be about twenty years her senior, brown hair pulled back in a tie that rested just at the base of his neck, his face aged and naturally looked quite serious. Though, for him, chess is quite serious.
He picked up one of his pieces and moved it across the board, plucking up one of the girl's pieces with a bit of smugness in his expression. The girl remained where she was, staring at the board with that distant look in her eyes.
The man's expression became one of annoyance, waiting for the girl to make her move. He waited...and waited. She didn't move.
"It is your turn," he stated, his voice showing his impatience,"you have been still for the past two minutes."
The girl seemed to break away from her thoughts, her gaze becoming more focused as she sat up more to look over the board.
"I apologize," she muttered, picking up a piece and placed it down on the board.
The man made a disapproving noise, picking up a piece of his and placed it down on the board, pulling her recently moved piece off the board with ease. It almost seemed like the girl wanted him to win.
"You are a better chess player than this," he said, the girl looking up at him with a frown, "something is troubling you. If you are afraid of telling me, Charlotte, please don't be. I am sure your issue is not one I haven't heard from you before."
Charlotte placed her hand on her chin, looking down at the board again. "It is only a small issue," she said, picking up her piece as if she was going to move it, then paused as she looked at the board more closely.
"If it is such a small issue, it would not be causing you such distraction."
Trying to keep her face neutral, she placed her piece down, trying not to reflect the frustration growing inside her. She placed her piece down with a rather loud thump, not really caring where it was placed. She had lost interest in this game a long time ago.
"I am just thinking of unpleasant things again," she said, leaning back a bit and looked up to meet his gaze, "there is really nothing I wish to share."
"Perhaps it is about your father?" the man asked slowly, knowing that he was touching a rather sore subject with her.
Charlotte narrowed her eyes, causing the man to smile slightly at her. She merely looked back down at the chess board, brushing back some light brown hair from her face that had gotten loose from the top of her head.
"Yes," she said, "I have had yet another disagreement with him, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Do you wish for me to speak with him about it?" her mentor asked.
"No," Charlotte stated quickly, letting out a soft chuckle, "it never helps. It has been settled, there is nothing I can do about it now. We are just too different, he and I."
"That, or you are too similar," her mentor remarked casually, placing another one of his pieces on the board.
"I have grown tired of this game," Charlotte snapped, mentally denying the idea that she had any sort of similarity with her father, "I wish to go to sleep, may I be excused?"
Her mentor seemed annoyed that she wished to leave in the middle of yet another game, but he couldn't do anything about her moods. Honestly, he was growing quite tired of dealing with her in a sour mood so it was best to simply let her go deal with it. He gestured for her to rise, Charlotte doing so quickly before turning on her heel to head towards her bedroom.
She paused, turning back around to look at him.
"Edward?" she asked, "does it bother you as well that you seem to be more of a father to me than my own is?"
"Master Kenway is a busy man," Edward said, standing, "he simply does not have the time to teach you the things I do."
"I understand that, yet he is always too busy," Charlotte said, speaking as if her words left a bitter taste in her mouth, "he is at an opera, I don't see why he could not simply spend a night playing chess with me like we do when he is away."
Edward sighed, approaching her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "I have said all that I can say on this subject. I'm afraid that if you wish to have an real answer, you may have to speak with your father yourself."
"Yes," Charlotte said with a rather defeated sigh, "I only wish I had enough courage to do so."
Edward gave her a small smile, "be honest with me, were you planning to go up to your chamber to think about this all night, or were you really planning to sleep?"
Charlotte blinked at him, clearing her throat, "I think you already have an answer to that question."
"Then, I suggest you come sit back down with me and play this game," he said, "if you wish it, we will not speak about this no longer."
Charlotte paused for a few moments, looking back at the game board before giving him a grateful smile, "I would much appreciate that, thank you."
"You are simply much too great an opponent!" Charlotte exclaimed, watching as Edward pulled her last piece off the board. She chuckled, shaking her head.
"You are getting better," Edward said, standing as Charlotte did, "shall I be meeting you tomorrow morning for more of your lessons?"
"I believe that won't be necessary," a new, yet all too familiar voice said. Charlotte turned around, a little startled, to look towards Haytham Kenway, who stood a few steps behind them with his hands folded behind his back.
"Father. Welcome home," Charlotte said, then paused, "what do you mean by that?"
Haytham looked at Edward, who was standing the opposite of Charlotte and seemed as confused as she was.
"I wish to speak privately with Charlotte," Haytham said, Edward nodding his head and promptly left the room. Charlotte watched him leave, then turned towards her father.
"How was your evening?" Haytham asked, walking towards her.
"Fine," she said, watching him with an almost cautious gaze. If there was something she had done wrong, she certainly doesn't remember doing so...
"What is it you wish to speak with me about?"
"I need you to pack a case," Haytham explained, "take what you think you will need. I am to set sail for the colonies, and since you are still under my care, I am forced to take you with me."
"The colonies?" Charlotte exclaimed, "what in the world are you doing over there?"
"My business is nothing you need to concern yourself with," he said, Charlotte's mouth slightly agape, "you are my daughter, and it would be indecent of me to leave you here while I travel overseas."
"Very well, but I only wish for an earlier warning next time," she said after a few moments pause, her voice shaking slightly. She decided that arguing with him will only result in her either packing a bag, or staying in London under the care of an orphanage.
"This is your warning," Haytham said, "we are to leave within the day."
Charlotte nodded, not happy about this new development. She had never been outside of London in all her life, and leaving was not on her list of things to do in life. Much less so that she would be in this new place with her father, and even if she had spent most of her life with him, he was very much a stranger to her.
"Very well," she said, "I shall start packing my things. Good night, father."
"Good night."
Charlotte quickly turned and walked away from him, the shock starting to fade and was being replaced with her usual anger and resentment she felt for her father.
The colonies? she thought in anger, has he gone mad?
Still, this ''business'' of his was a normal occurrence, but this was the first time it effected her directly.