Get in the mood by listening to .com/watch?v=vSkb0kDacjs whilst reading :)

Enjoy! R + R appreciated.

EDIT: Thank you to people who pointed out that Maria had already died :'D I know it sounds awful but I had actually totally forgotten, so thanks for reminding me! :) I've adapted it now.

...

Everything had gone so terribly wrong. I knew it, but didn't want to acknowledge it.

As I walked across the snowy wooden blank, I looked down into the deep ravine below. No stack of hay allowing me to perform a leap of faith, just ice cold water and walls of rock. Glancing over my shoulder I saw armoured Templars bristling with pikes, spears and various other weapons at the ready. All of their beady eyes were boring warily into my skull.

I carried on.

When I looked around at the other planks I saw a figure clothed in white with a face as blank and emotionless as mine.

"Altair." The word was on the tip of my tongue, waiting to be spoken, but I remained silent. Small white snowflakes drifted across my vision and he vanished into the wintry mist of Masyaf. The air froze and spiked at my lungs as I breathed in. I watched the sky for a moment, wondering whether this was to be my fate.

I stopped at the edge of the plank. Below me was a long drop. I was starting to run scans through my mind. I'd gotten out of near-death situations before, as every assassin had. Why couldn't I think straight? What was wrong with me?

Then the Templar behind me tore the hood away from my face. On my cheeks landed small, wet patches of snow. They appeared as the tears that I was unable to make myself. Next a noose was thrown around my neck and I felt the rope being tightened. It burned at my skin, in deep contrast to the icy climate.

It made me think of Frederico, Petruccio, Father, and all the people I had lost since their deaths, most of them who had died for me. This wasn't the ending I was going to give them. I was going to give their lives a meaning; I was going to make them proud. I thought of Claudia back in Rome. I was never going to leave her on her own for good. Never.

I wasn't going to let my kin, my friends, die for nothing.

So I whirled around, and the eagle attacked. Suddenly I was once again a weapon of mass destruction, a murderer for the good of mankind, a killer, a warrior, the Listener of Florence. It was in my blood.

Because everything had gone so wrong, and I still wasn't going to acknowledge it.

...

Inspired by the Assassin's Creed: Revelations trailer.

Thanks for reading.