A quick preface:

Assassin's Creed 2 is an old game and this story is about as old. It's not the best, and clearly wish fulfillment, but I'm at a point where I don't really care. I discovered it in my drive the other day and had fun reading it so I figured I'd edit and release it into the vast world so maybe others can have fun with it too.

I'll tell people who want to rail about OCs and Mary Sues right now to just leave. It's really exhausting for everyone to deal with fandom police.

Part of why I want to release this now is that there's such a lack of women in color in the earlier assassin's creed games that teenage me resorted to creating my own. That's how Miriam was born.

Have fun with this if you can. It gets pretty dark, but there will be appropriate trigger warnings.

...

Miriam pulled her hood up over her black curls, bidding farewell to Teodora. "Thank you for dinner, my friend." After their dinner, Teodora had shared some of the coffee she had in store. It was a treat Miriam didn't know she'd enjoy.

"It was my pleasure, dear. We must do this once more before you leave Venice." Teodora smiled. On a rare occasion, she wasn't wearing her costume of a veil, revealing her fine dark hair. "Do you need an escort? It's quite late."

Miriam answered with a low laugh. "You ask me this every time, Teodora." She pulled up her sleeve to reveal her hidden blade and indicated to the scimitar attached to her back. "I'll be fine."

"I don't doubt you." With that, Miriam left la Rosa della Virtù, waving to Teodora before she turned the corner.

Ezio had been surprised to see how quickly a camaraderie was struck between the two of them. She had marvelled at his assumption that she didn't like prostitutes. She had nothing against them. She only got annoyed when his fascination with them intercepted with a mission.

She and Teodora had long winded discussions about faith, discussions that she could only remember having with her father before he was taken from her. Since she was a child, she had been surrounded by her mother's Hebrew teachings and her father's Islamic ones. Growing up in Spain and travelling throughout Italy and France had given her a strong Christian perspective as well. Before she had been dragged into her father's secret life of being an assassin, she had wanted to be a scholar after all. Maybe someday, the dream would be possible. But that day would have to be after her and Ezio's enemies were vanquished.

The streets of Venice were quiet at this hour. Quieter than she was used to in the time she'd resided here. Did the time go by so fast at Teodora's brothel? It must have been into the hours of the morning then. But no. There should have been guards out at their posts on the roof at least, if not a few drunk men wandering home.

Something was wrong.

Miriam quickened her pace and put her hand on her blade, getting prepared to pull it out if the situation required. Making a split-second decision, she decided to go to the rooftops. With that, she grabbed onto a ledge and climbed up the top of a closed shop. Once she was on the roof, she ran.

She dearly hoped she was imagining things. But her instincts had never been wrong before. She was proven right when she saw the shadows of men running on an adjacent roof. She continued to leap from rooftop to rooftop, until she could see the boarding house she and Ezio were residing in. He was in that night, probably fast asleep. If this was an attack, then he was in danger too. If she could only get there and warn him…

But the next roof she jumped to had three men standing on it, blocking the way. Miriam pulled out her scimitar as the men following her stopped to surround her. They weren't dressed in guard uniforms, or had any visible signs of associating with the templars. "I don't have any money." She said slowly, lowering the tone of her voice into the more masculine one she used to hide her gender.

They ignored her, pulling out their blades. She tensed as they circled her. While she had to do it often, she hated taking lives. "I offer you this warning. Leave me be or forfeit your lives."

One of them laughed loudly at that. "Make this easy for us, bitch."

Her eyes widened at that. She was wearing her armour. How did they know of her gender? Her hood was up so her growing hair was hidden. It must have been that wretched Carnivale where she had to dress as one of Teodora's girls to infiltrate the event. How many other visibly Arabic people were in Venice that weren't travelling merchants?

Now was not the time to dwell on that. She whispered a short prayer for their souls before launching a throwing knife at the throat of the man that just spoke. His blood gushed out and he choked on it as he fell to the ground, trying futilely to stop the flow of his life's blood.

The others rushed her then and she stood patiently as they approached. When the opportunity presented itself, she stuck her blade in the chest of the first man to get too close. While he screamed in shock, she slashed her hidden blade across another man's neck before pulling out her sword, causing the holder to fall to the ground.

There were five of them left. She had taken out the eager ones, leaving these men to be more cautious. "I will give you one last chance to flee." She snarled, her accent becoming more pronounced as she readied her stance.

They did not heed her words once again as they charged her. Before she could attack, an arm grabbed her by the neck. She gasped and fought the grip as a gloved hand covered her mouth. She kicked backward to no avail, watching the five men in front of her who stood there without attacking her. Before she could pass out, she knocked her head back and jammed it into the man's chin, giving her the change to break from his grip.

Miriam stumbled into the center of the circle, gasping for air. She shot a vicious glance at the swearing sixth man who had snuck up on her from the shadows. A rush of dizziness hit her, and she saw with panic the white cloth in the glove of the man who had grabbed her.

Beginning to feel shortness of breath, she reached into her pocket for a small round item and threw it to the ground before covering her mouth and nose. The men around her spluttered as smoke emerged from the bomb and covered the area. Thank you, Leo.

She didn't think she'd need to use her eyes, but whatever poison the man had used on her left her no choice but to finish them all off before she fell. She couldn't let them get to Ezio. Her sharpened vision highlighted the six men in a red hue and she rushed forward and picked them off with her scimitar, throwing knives, and hidden blade.

By the time she was the only one left standing, she was forced to fall on her knees. It felt as if a weight had been chained to her arms and legs. Before she could think of the next course of action, her heightened eyes saw several more figures in red approaching from the ground and from the roofs. Fuck.

With her last bit of energy, Miriam reached t o her neck and pulled off the small locket that had belonged to her mother. She threw it on an adjacent room that had no approaching men. They surrounded her, and she could only pray for a quick death. However, one of them came up to her, and despite her feeble struggling, only tied up her wrists and legs before another man slung her lean frame over his shoulder.

She watched the frame of the boarding house grow smaller as she was taken further away and lost consciousness thinking of Ezio.