#3-The Assassins- A lesson in History
Type: Deleted Scene (EOME 1)
Summary: Maya gives the kids a history lesson on the Assassins
"Whatcha looking at?"
Maya glanced up then down at Raf. She smiled at the young boy as she answered the timidly asked question, tilting what she was working on.
"Decoding some Codex pages." She answered, resituating the papers. Maya sensed, rather than saw, Raf get situated next to her on the couch. She repressed a smile when she noticed the inquisitive young man crane his neck to bet a better look.
"That …. that looks like Arabic."
"It's an ancient form of Levantine Arabic. Written in the twelfth century by the greatest Assassin in the history of our Brotherhood: Altair-Ibn La'had."
Raf was silent for a while. Behind her, Jack and Miko were playing some video games. Maya Reveled in the silence as she scribbled some notes on a separate piece of paper. After jotting down a couple more notes, Maya placed the pen down and flexed her cramped fingers. Maya sighed tiredly as she moved from where she had been hunched over at the table with the Codex Pages and her notes to where the kids were hanging out. Raf glanced up excitedly as she plopped down on the couch, lounging back as far as she could. Through half-lidded eyes, she watched the kids scoot themselves in front of her, staring up at her with anticipation. May only stared back, blinking down at them blankly.
"What?" she asked, confused.
"Can you…. can you tell us the story about the Assassins?"
"Which one?"
"All of them!" Miko declared.
On one hand, Maya was happy that the kids were interested and she had been wanting to tell the history of the Assassins, but Eric has always been hovering every time she made to open her mouth.
But on the other hand, Maya didn't want these kids, still wide-eyed despite the fact that they were smack-dab in the middle of a war, getting interested in something that would no doubt destroy that last little light of naivete that they still possessed.
Maya wilted immediately under the gaze that Raf pierced her with.
"Okay. Okay." She relented. She sat up a little straighter, leaning forward.
Her eyes scanned the three pairs of eyes that stared back at her. She took a deep breath opening her mouth to speak.
X X X X
The History of the Assassins, to our knowledge, starts in Egypt.
At the end of the Ptolemaic Dynasty and the start of the Roman Occupation, a man known as Bayek of Siwa and his wife, Amunet started the Order of the Hidden Ones, a precursor to the Assassins. Together, the two helped fight for those who couldn't but sticking to the shadows, becoming the mere whispers of legend, laying the foundations for the next several generations.
Fast forward, the Assassins have become a powerful force of power, laying down roots to watch over towns and villages. They built fortresses and castles, fortified them against the enemy. But corruption found a foothold and it started to grow, slow at first and then it started to infect the Assassins. It came to a head with Altair Ibn La-had, in the twelfth century A.D. during the First Crusade. A long and hard life he endured, going form a spoiled favorite to the most hardened and stoic man ever seen in the Assassins. He fought against the Knights Templars, and brought to light the Artefacts of Eden, which would start the never-ending war we fight today.
Altair eventually became Mentor after defeating the Mentor that was consorting with the enemy.
Generations pass until the next great Assassin appears, this time in Italy during the Italian Renaissance. Ezio Auditore da Firenze, after his father and brothers were falsely accused and executed for treason, began his long and arduous task of removing the corrupted Borgia family from their seat of power. His early years were centered around reconstruction the Codex Pages, which were separated and hidden throughout the world by Niccolo Polo centuries before. When all the pieces were recollected, he discovered a map on the back which marked all the First Civilization Temples that were hidden all over the world.
Even, in a country that, at the time, had yet to be discovered.
Nothing major happened between 1511 and 1715 as far as we can tell. However, the next Assassin that would leave his mark on history hailed from England and was, ironically, a pirate.
Edward Kenway has always fascinated me, because he never was officially inducted into the Assassins. He only ever worked beside them on occasion, always acting on his own accord and desire for riches. He wore the robes, used the Hidden Blade, was targeted by the Templars and such.
But never took the oath, never swore allegiance to the Creed. Edward di a lot of things to help the Brotherhood, though, which I guess makes him an honorary Assassin.
His grandson, however, was indeed the most famous in all of American History. Born and raised by the Mohawks until the death of his mother, Ratonhnhake:ton searched for the disgraced mentor of the Colonial Brotherhood, Achilles Davenport to be trained in the ways of the Assassin in order to take revenge on those that burned his village to the ground. Ratonhnhake:ton changed his name to Conor and worked with the Continental Army to kill his father, Haytham Kenway, born Assassin turned Templar Grand Master, and his second in command Charles Less.
He eventually succeeded and became the new Colonial High Mentor after the passing of Mister Davenport.
There were talks of peace during this time between Haytham and his son Connor. It carried over to 1791, during the French Revolution. Assassin and orphaned son of the French Mentor, Arno Dorian unknowingly fell in love with the daughter of the French Grand Master, Elise de la Serre. Together, during the bloodiest time in French history, bloodshed and turmoil, the two pushed against the ingrained doctrine of both orders to bring a real lasting peace to the Assassins and Templars.
And…. they were so close too.
There undoing was Pierre Bellac, an English Assassin who murdered both Elise's Father, Francois de la Serre and the Parisian Assassin Mentor, Mirabeau. Bellac was suspected to be working in tandem with Francois-Thomas Germain, a long-suspected dead man who was the Grand Master of the Templars before de la Serre. Arno and Elise confronted him in the underground chambers of Paris.
Elise didn't survive and neither did the talks of peace.
Decades later, when the Industrial Revolution is in full swing in the late-19th-early-20th century, the Templars are in control of Victorian England. Not only that, but they were looking for and experimenting on any Piece of Eden they could find, including the Shawl of Eden.
A Piece that supposedly gave unending life.
Sibling Assassins, Evie and Jacob Frye, along with Indian Henry Green, worked to undermine Crawford Serrick, the English Grand Master at the time. They quickly brought down Serrick and his Templars, using all their know-how and skills that they were taught, and especially with the new technology that was available at the time.
We really don't know what happened to Evie and Jacob Frye later in their lives. We now that both Assassins lived far beyond their life expectancy due to their interaction with the Shawl of Eden, but we really don't know when they finally kicked the bucket.
"But that's the history of the Assassins. More of the condensed version anyway."
"That was the condensed version?!" Miko demanded. All three kid had an overwhelmed and exhausted look on their faces.
"There were dozens of other Assassins that aren't considered as important as the others that I mentioned, but there were others." Maya nodded. "I don't know what Brother and I would be in the history books, whether we'll fade into the margins or have our own chapter. But whatever happens, we don't do it for the recognition. We do it because we want to win this war."
Miko dragged her hands down her face in an overdramatic fashion. "Gawd, this was TOOORRRRTTTTUUUURRREEE!"
The Groundbridge activated, cutting off what Maya was going to say next. She blinked as Arcee, Optimus and Eric walked in, empty handed.
"Saved by the bell, kids." Maya whispered. She pushed down the bitterness that had risen during the lesson and put on her happy bubbly self. "Yo! What's up, Brother! How'd the reconnaissance go?"