Me: I hope you all enjoy this chapter! It's a little longer than my normal chapters.
Desmond: I'm not being harassed again, am I?
Me: Nope, not in this chapter
Ezio: Awwww! No fun
Me: Lol, I do not own anything having to do with Assassin's Creed. I only own my OCs.
A/N: This chapter is from Christine's point of view
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I looked at Karoline in disbelief, it wasn't the first thing I planned on her saying to me.
"What do you mean 'we need to talk'! I haven't seen you in weeks, and that's the first thing you say to me!" I yelled. All she did was give me a blank stare, her face void of all emotions. It was scary how she seemed to be exactly like Altair, except in female form.
"Oh sorry. Hi, how are you? How's your training coming along? Did you go on any missions yet? Blah, blah, blah. Okay now let's talk business," she said sounding bored. By now I was bristling in anger. Altair must have done something to her! There was no way in HELL that Karoline would ever treat me this way, we were like sisters! I could feel a headache forming behind my eyes, it was probably because I was stressed or something, and it wasn't making my mood any better.
"Fine, what do we need to talk about," I sighed in defeat as I walked over to the chair adjacent to the bed.
"We're in danger. Someone has been following me around and I know that they're following you to. Don't try to deny it either, you've been extremely paranoid since this morning," she said as I tried to object before she continued, "Ezio has been wanting to send you on a mission, but the only one that has come up is difficult. The mission is tonight, so Altair has a short amount of time to decide. They will send you and I in to kill the intended target, with Desmond, Ezio, and Altair watching to make sure things go smoothly. If you want to prove yourself, the time would be now. I don't know the details of the mission yet, but they will debrief us when they are ready. Any questions?" Karoline finally finished up. I thought for a moment before asking what was on my mind.
"Ezio said he's punishing me for being late today, is my tardiness his excuse for sending me on the mission?" I asked genuinely confused.
"Ezio wouldn't punish you for being late if it was your first offense, and he would listen to your reasonings before he dealt the punishment. According to my intel, today was your first tardy, and he didn't listen to your reason so . . . yes it's his excuse," she said stiffly. I groaned at my own stupidity, of course Ezio wouldn't punish me without listening to my side of the story, how could I forget that. Shaking my head, I thought of another question.
"How difficult is this mission? Why aren't our mentors going to be helping? And why are you acting like Altair?" I asked as I tapped a finger for each question. Blinking slowly again, Karoline took a few moments to respond.
"This mission is supposed to require two master assassins to complete it successfully. Our mentors want to check our progress, and see if we have what it takes to become true assassins. As for your last question, Altair told me to keep my head straight so I could focus better. I'm only like this for tonight, then I can return to being a happy women with a crush on her mentor'" Karoline stated. It took a couple of seconds before all the information sank in.
"A crush, huh? Can I ask a favor of you? Don't listen to Altair, you can keep focused with all your emotions in tact, so can we please talk like civilized ladies, not emotionless robots?," I pleaded. She must have agreed, because a huge smile broke out on her face and we were soon laughing hysterically. "S-so you li-like Altair?" I gasped out through my laughter.
"Y-yeah, at f-first I thought I-I was sick or s-something. B-but then I f-figured out it w-wasn't," Karoline responded. Waiting till we stopped laughing, we decided to head back downstairs. When we entered the main room, Altair and Ezio had finally come to an agreement.
Christine! Karoline! Come here for un momento. We have matters that need to be discussed," Ezio shouted to us. Following orders, Karoline and I listened as we were debriefed on the mission.
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The whole mission in short was this; Karoline and I had to sneak into a Templar camp, steal some maps, find the two captains of the camp, kill both of them, and then leave with as minimal awareness and injuries as possible. It was easier said then done. I was nervous, but Karoline managed to calm me down enough to function properly. As soon as the sun set behind the horizon, we headed to our destination. Running at top speed, we jumped from roof to roof until we reached the camp. From up high, I could see how big the camp actually was, and it was huge! How were we supposed to find anything in there!
"Altair scoped out the camp before hand, he marked where the targets are on this map," Karoline said as she pulled out her map, "And by what it says, the captains and the maps are all close together. This should be an in and out mission!" she smiled. I looked from the map to the camp a few more times. I needed to know every escape route before I went in. Once satisfied, I followed Karoline to a roof overhanging the camp's stables. Quietly we both climbed down, making sure not to scare the horses as well. With that accomplished, we checked for guards before darting to the next building. The process continued until we reached the map room. Inside the room there were shelves and shelves of books, maps, and any other important document. While Karoline grabbed the maps and put them in her bag, I looked out the window of the room. Outside, I couldn't see any guards, only a large lake on the outer edge of the camp. My headache had still refused to go away, and it was beginning to tick me off. I only turned away from the window when Karoline signaled me to follow. With her bag full of maps, I had to be the one to fight of any guards we encountered. I mean, Karoline could still fight, just not as well when she was carrying something. Luck was on our side, because we reached the two captains' quarters with no fighting what so ever. Carefully, I picked the lock to the door, and soon I was standing over one of the captain's sleeping forms. I pulled a dagger from my thigh, and held it above his throat. This was it, the time to see if I had it in me to be a true assassin. It was a lot scarier than I thought it would be. I mean, if he was fighting me then I would have no problem finishing the job, but he was sleeping. How could I kill someone while they were sleeping? "It's less painful if you kill them in their sleep," Karoline whispered into my ear. Looking over, I saw that she had already taken care of the other captain. Turning back I took one last deep breath before swiftly cutting his throat. He made a few gurgling noises, had muscle spasms, and then went completely still. Spinning on my heels I was heading to the door, when our mission took a turn for the worst. Out of nowhere a guard burst through the door and saw the bodies of his late captains. Seeing us, he alerted everyone in the camp.
"Assassins! They have murdered our captains! Kill them! Kill the assassins!" he shouted. Soon the whole camp was charging towards us, and were in a whole lot trouble. Stabbing the guard, I shoved his body aside, and ran for the door. Karoline was hot on my heels as we ran to the closest escape route, which happened to be the lake. Wasting no time both of us were on the roofs once more, heading to safety. I could see the lake from where I was, and it gave me hope. I wasn't going to die on my first mission, and I was going to make sure Karoline didn't either. We finally made it to the roof above the lake, but we didn't have time to celebrate. Less than 50 meters away was the Templar soldiers, and they didn't look very happy. Our escape couldn't be by just jumping in the water though, because we couldn't risk the maps getting wet. Looking around I saw a tower near by, which I started pulling Karoline towards. It was a huge tower with an eagle circling above it, which meant only one thing a viewpoint of the entire camp AND a leap of faith. We both couldn't climb it without being shot at, so I looked around for somewhere for Karoline to hide out while I found another exit. Beneath the tower, and under an overhanging roof, was a compartment small enough to hide a person in. Elbowing Karoline, I pointed to it and mouthed the words 'hide there' to her. She disagreed with me, but complied because we couldn't argue. We were almost at the tower, when BANG. A bullet flew in between us, causing me to lose my footing. I slid across the roof tiles, trying to get back up. I was still struggling when there were a few more shots fired. They all missed me except for one, which skimmed my shoulder. Crying out in pain, I clutched my shoulder trying to slow the bleeding. I managed to stand after a few moments, and when I looked up there was chaos. Karoline was trying to fight her way to me, but she was severely outnumbered. Swallowing my pain, I ran over to the closest guard and sliced at him with my dagger. When one guard was down, another filled his place. I kept slicing and killing until I saw Karoline again. I was standing near the edge of the roof near the lake, while Karoline was more in the center of the roof. I started to walk over to her when another gunshot filled the air. This time it pierced right through my abdomen. Screaming out in pain, I keeled over onto the roof, I could hear someone screaming. Looking up I saw Karoline make a run for me, she would have made it too, until the guard caught her by surprise. He had managed to get behind her, and he stabbed at her. I tried to warn her but it was too late, the sword plunged through just below her heart. I could tell it wasn't life ending if she got help fast enough, but who knows both of us could die right here and now. My pain was slowly increasing with each moment that passed. My shoulder was stinging, my gut felt as though it were on fire, and my head was pounding. I gasped out as a muscle spasm went through my body, which made me slide down the roof. I grabbed the edge of the building to keep from falling off. I managed to keep my upper body on the roof, but my legs were dangling over the edge. Taking another look at the ending fight, I saw Karoline in the ground clutching her wound while still protecting the map. This really could be the end! Out of the corner of my eye I saw flashes of white, turning quickly I saw that reinforcements had arrived. Smiling I began to let myself relax, Karoline was in good hands. The master assassins could handle it from here. I felt myself slipping slowly over the edge, and the last thing I saw before I let go, was Desmond running towards me with a look of fear on his face. Then the cold hands of the lake below dragged my body down. The darkness of the water, easing me towards death. I hoped Karoline wouldn't be too mad at Ezio for letting me come on this mission. I let the darkness slowly take over, and the last thing I remembered was something pulling me, pulling me towards the light.
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