-bangs head against table- I am so, so sorry! Things just got hectic here. We got our apartment, and now were trying to get things moved from Texas to Mississippi. And on top of that, we have to start out from scratch on all of our furniture. So I have to by a bed and that doesn't mean the whole bed, might just be the mattress.
Like I said though with the update thingy I posted a couple days ago, it might be a while before I get another chapter out. I will be trying to get past it. This is the real chapter 12 though. Its about 400 words short of 4,000, without my authors notes.
Please enjoy the chapter!
The door opens and a white covered head peeks through the opening, sweeping back and forth before settling on her naked form covered by the bubbles in the bathtub. Megan's face turns red as she sinks further down in the soapy water. The man stares at her for a few seconds more before he rips his head out of the doorway, hitting his cranium rather hard on the doorframe, and she hears a loud thump followed by what she could only guess as cursing and him groaning.
The door was still open.
Thinking about it, the hood looked eerily similar to not only Altair's hood but Ezio's as well from the outfits they first showed up in a year ago. Megan, worried about the man despite her not knowing if he was a danger to her wellbeing or not, decides that the best thing would be just to see if he was alright. So when she opens her mouth the door slams shut the man's groaning still being heard. Well, he had some form of decency then. Unsure Megan grabs her towel off the rack beside the tub, wraps it tightly around her person, pulls the stopper to the drain, dries off, and gets dressed in less than 2 minutes. Taking a deep breathe she opens the door and finds him sitting up against the bed with his hood down and head in his hands. He had a dark skin color, not black or white or a combination of them but maybe Native American perhaps?, and his hair was about shoulder length and half was put up with braids ended in beads (which gave more credit to her thinking him a Native). He seemed to be solidly built but she didn't know if it was because of the amount of layers or if that was just the way he was.
She crosses the space quietly, her bare feet sinking into the carpet, and kneels down beside him; biting and chewing on her bottom lip she wonders if she should touch him. He seemed to be in pain and, her being female (despite all of Des and Ezzy's whining that she enjoyed causing them pain), didn't want others be hurt around her. She knew it was the mother in her, the instinct that caused her heart to race and her feet to bring her to the place of the child or person and to nurture and cause harm to the one or thing that caused harm.
"You okay?" She questions softly, carefully placing her hands over his and removing them so she could see. His fingers felt callused but she attributed that to the bow and arrows strapped to his back. She saw the tomahawk and really old pistols belted to either of his sides but she puts that to the back of her mind, he was hurt and she doubted he would harm someone who was helping him. He had scraped the side of his head causing beads of blood to well up and she could feel the knot forming underneath that. She chews on her lips some more and then stands while turning around to face the bathroom. She could feel his eyes on her form and it just caused the little hairs on the back of her neck to raise. She goes into the bathroom, grabs the peroxide and a clean washcloth, and returns to her room to kneel down beside him. She shows him the brown bottle. He eyes it warily and she resists the urge to roll her eyes at him. She pours a little on the cloth, tilts his head so she could see the scrape, and gently daps at it. It bubbles up, fizzing as it cleaned, and she watches it to make sure it didn't get near his hair. That was all she needed, his hair to white out and him to freak.
She holds back the laughter this caused her. She had tried it once and it had hilarious results. But she puts that to the back of her mind and cleans off the peroxide, drying it off and seeing if the blood welled up again. When it did she cleaned it off and when it finally stopped, she sits back with a smile on her face. The man looked at her, pulls his hood up, and stands. She scrambles to her feet. The man towered over her, like the others did so that was nothing new, but he seemed more… unsure she guessed. Like he didn't know how to act around her.
"'m Megan." She says, holding out her hand. He looks between it and her face, which has a small smile on it. He nods to her and she drops her hand. Maybe he was going to be a tougher cookie than what she thought, the others had accepted her rather quickly and… That actually might have been due to her boyfriend having broken her arm and thus proving she was no danger to them.
Huh. Several good somethings had come from that.
"Ratonhnhaké:ton."
"Uh…" How the hell did he expect her to say that!? She now had no doubt about him being Native American. He sighs, as if he had gone through this before.
"You may call me Connor." His English was… proper to say in the least but was also hollow, as if he had to think about what he was saying before he said it. There was no real emotion in his voice, well there was when he gave her what she assumed was his name the first time, but the English was false or non-existent. But she gives his a small smile, and takes in his appearance; a white jacket and hood, the bow and quiver strapped over his chest from his left shoulder to his right hip, the jacket was lined with blue on the edges outside and inside, a white buttoned shirt, a red sash across his waist with the assassin symbol tied over it, blue pants, and leather boots that went half-way up his thighs. She nods in understanding.
"Um… are you hungry?" She questions him after a few moments, if only to break the awkward silence, and she swore he was surprised. She motions for him to go first and then once more to the stairs. She follows behind him and good grief! How much did the man weigh? Her stairs didn't creak this bad even with Alex walking down them. Then again, they could be getting worn down by the men living here.
Pushing the thoughts aside she takes the lead, heading around the bar and pulling out cold cuts, bread, tea, and chips for something easy to make. She didn't know if he knew what it was but she really felt lazy to tell the truth. After throwing a sandwich together for him and putting it infront of him (of which he looks at strangely before taking a bite) she made herself one, all bet more chips than sandwich. She stands against the counter, waiting rather patiently with the bar acting like a barrier. While she didn't think it would be much help if he really wanted to get to her, it still gave her some semblance of safety.
"Why does the dog talk?"
"Because he's Scooby-Doo. And he's a cartoon character. Anything happens during a cartoon." Megan answers for the fifth time. She had gotten bored and ended up looking up a Scooby-Doo movie and once it started, so did the questions. It was kind of annoying really. He had no understanding of the world he was now a part of. And she had no one else around to help her ease him into it. With the older Assassins, Shaun and Des had taken care of it. The only time she ever had to do anything was when either of them weren't around and it was simple, like pushing buttons on the microwave or using the toaster. Now it was just her.
"That does not make sense." He scoots over, closer to her and into her personal bubble. She twitches slightly and goes to push him out of the way. Instead, her computer is removed from her lap and she is pushed face first into the floor. Her arm was twisted behind her back, not painfully but so she couldn't move, and his weight was being used for the same purpose.
Unfortunately for her, and him, the other men in her life decided to come in right then and freeze when they see the position she was in. Then, all hell broke loose. Alex used his Whip fist to get a hold of her, after Alty and Des tackled Connor off of her, and removed her from the tangle of arms and legs and teeth. It was actually comical and she half expected to have a cloud of dust well up and obscure then, instead she just watch entranced by the fray. Eventually though she does get annoyed with it, after only seconds, and either has two choices; to walk away and allow them to continue or get them to stop somehow. Sighing, she puts her hands on her hips and yells, "STOP IT!"
All movement ceases.
Staring at the intricate knot of bodies tangled together, faces staring in bewilderment and confusion and even innocence (Leo, who was a pacifist at heart, was giving this look and made her nearly burst out in laughter) and she realizes that she has somehow, in a rather saddened way, pretty much adopted overgrown children (though these children could easily over power just about anyone). This didn't bother her but what did was the fact that they were acting like children who had their favorite toy taken away. Quickly they arrange into a line, each with a rather sheepish face. Connor was included, with a little blush to go with it.
"What are you doing?"
"Bu-He was-he was on top of you." Des says, pointing at Connor who shoots him a dirty look. Megan taps her foot twice catching his attention and returns to looking at her. Alex watches her intently, eyes burning for her attention. He was not amused that she had been entertaining some weirdo.
Megan scoffs. "It wasn't his fault. I went to push him out of my bubble and he reacted." She shrugged. The other men looked between Connor and Megan, eventually coming to the conclusion that she was telling the truth.
"Assassin?" Altair questions him, crossing his arms over his chest. Connor looks taken aback by the question, going so far as too give him a rather nasty look. Altair chuckles, shaking his head and walking to the kitchen. Connor shoots Megan a look.
"That's just Alty for ya. He's the 'Master'." She does the air quotes and ducks the plastic ladle tossed at her. She looks between it and him, laughing. "Holy shit, I did it!"
"Very well done. Now we move on to the metal one." She groans and puts her head in her hands. Alex walks over and wraps her in his arms, shooting the Native a look that told him the girl belonged to him, before moving her to the couch. He closes the lid to her laptop and moves it, sitting and pulling her into his lap.
"Did you have fun today?" He questions softly to her. She smiles.
"Are they like that all the time?" Connor questions taking a seat at the bar. He hadn't yet decided if he really trusted these people or not, but for now he would. The man she called 'Alty' snorts.
"She may call me that name but it is Altair Ibn-La'Ahad child. And yes, they are like that. The relationship is still new." Connor's look darkens when Altair calls him a child. He was not a child.
"Names Desmond, she calls me Des. It's the puppy stage, though not really so puppy-ish." The young man with short-ish brown hair says a smile on his face as he looks over to the girl.
"So, what year are you from?" A blonde questions him, digging through shelves and pulling out things.
"Why?"
Another of the men chuckles as he sits down beside Connor while a one armed man does the same on the opposite side, a red head taking a set just after him. "Leonardo, please. He's confused and doesn't trust us. Give him time." He then turns to Connor. "I am Ezio Auditore da Firenze." He says with flourish, accent changing. In fact, Altair and Leonardo had accents unlike the Colonials. "He is Malik and that is Shaun."
Malik nods at him, taking the cup offered by Leonardo. Shaun seemed more inclined to hackle Desmond and ignore Connor, but upon hearing his accent Connor lets loose an inhuman snarl. Everyone looks at him confused.
"Uh, that was… weird." Megan comments.
"You, Templar sc-"
"He isn't a Templar." Comes the chorus from all of the men and the woman interrupting his rant.
"Hey Connor, where are ya staying?" Connor looks at the woman in surprise, completely forgetting what he had been about to rant about.
"Uh- Out there." He points to the white world outside.
"You live in the woods!?" Leonardo questions loudly, nearly dropping the wooden spoon he was using to cook with. Connor nods.
"Not no more. There's a spare room here and I know I couldn't live with myself if you were to freeze to death." Megan says, a frown marring her features.
"No it is fine. I ha-"
"No arguments. Go get whatever and be back in an hour." Megan says while making shooing motions with her hands for him to go and do as told which he does.
"You have a strange power to get Assassins to do as you say." Mal comments, turning in his chair to observe her. She shrugs.
"I'm a girl, what do you expect?"
When Connor returns, Megan was being chased by Ezio. They were laughing so he assumed it was some kind of play, though he didn't enjoy being used as a barrier by the woman. And her clothes, they were men's clothing. He was going to question her about it and why she wasn't being supervised by a family member when she was so enamored with that man. There was an obvious age gap but these white men had different rules concerning things like this.
Once the girl moves away, dancing under outstretched fingers reaching for her, he sets his things down beside the door. His attention focuses on her. "Where are your parents?"
The one question causes everyone to stop and stare. They had gotten some of the answer to the question a few days before Christmas but the curiosity was still there. The girl's posture changes, like she was curling in on herself. She sits down on the couch hard, tucking away into the corner of it. Connor immediately regrets voicing this question, the pain it caused her seemed to be rather painful for her.
"Err, Megan?" Desmond ventures forward after several minutes she remains in the position she was in. Her head had even been tucked in between her knees which were pulled up to her chest.
"They died..." She whispers, the words barely able to make it past her self-made barriers.
"You think you could tell us… exactly what happened?" Shaun questions softly, kneeling beside her while Alex sits on the couch once more. Everyone else migrates over infront of her, taking seats on the floor. When Megan looks up and nods, tears gathered in her eyes but not fallen, does he join them on the floor.
"I was 20, lived on my own since I was 17. Before that I was living in Texas with my family; my two older brothers and my older sister had already moved out, gotten good jobs, married, stuff that adult's do. Our tradition was to always be together for the holidays but my book was coming out and I was already behind schedule. I had taken time off to go see my new little niece who had been born in June, almost 2 ½ months' time actually.
"My agent was hounding me, telling me that the story had to come out and to work through the night and just get it finished because I owed it to the readers. My book before had ended open and this one was going to continue with that ending. I had tried to get them to come up for the holiday but they couldn't, saying other things had come up and this would be the first one I would be going through alone. I had really missed them and it was weird to think about it. It was probably the first time I had actually thought that moving so far away was a horrible idea.
"Little did I know my family was actually going to be coming up. They had gotten flights together and piled everyone onto a small aircraft. Halfway here they called me and told me that they were nearly here. You have no idea how happy I was to hear that. The phone got passed around to everyone, each telling me something or asking me something. The last one to talk to me was my 5 year old nephew. He was asking if it was snowing yet when I heard the alarms going off in the background. Someone was telling everyone to get their seat belts on."
She takes a shuddering breath, whipping away the tears that had started to fall but more just replaced them. Her voice chokes, fighting past sobs. "I heard them telling everyone to get into the crash position."
Alex pulls her against him. There was nothing he could do other than give her emotional support so she could continue. It was something she had been avoiding and this would help her with her grieving. "I could hear screaming, theirs and mine. And then there was nothing. The connection ended and I didn't know what to do. I don't know how long I stood there with the phone pressed against my ear.
"I called the FAA and told them what happened, that I had been on the line when it crashed. They asked me what the flight number was and when I couldn't tell them, they thought it was a joke. A couple days later they called me back and told me that there were no survivors. That they were investigating it. It was nearly a year after that they said there had been engine complications and it caused the plane to drop out of the sky."
"So, just like that you became an orphan." Desmond says and she nods, burying her face into Alex's side afterwards.
"That's… horrible." Leonardo says, his own heart aching because of the pain this girl had to go through. And to hear it all going on at the same time? She deserved everything to make up for it.
Malik and Altair exchange looks. This girl's life had changed so drastically, on just a simple thing.
"Bloody FAA. Their heartless." Shaun comments harshly, already making plans on just what he was going to use to get back at them for this.
It took some time but Megan got out of the funk mostly. It was several hours later, along with many explanations for Connor and him getting settled into his new room. Megan and Alex were relaxing in their room, the door shut and locked. She was curled up on her bed with a body pillow, waiting for Alex to finish with his shower. She didn't have to fake around him, he was willing to deal with her depressed mood. She didn't want to force this onto any of the other men.
And she didn't know what he thought about what she had said. It was just so painful; the wound now open once more, torn and raw and bleeding. She could hearing the screaming in her head and she didn't know if she would even be able to fall asleep. She curls up tighter around the pillow, trying to protect herself from something that had no form, that had no way to cause her physical harm but hurt just the same if not more.
Alex's hand coming to rest gently on her arms causes her to jump and flinch, turning quickly to hug him round the middle. His warmth was real, the feel of skin and muscle an anchor for her, a tether holding her emotions at bay. He waits a moment before prying her off so he could sit beside her and look into her eyes. He could see it, the pain and anguish and loss from just telling the tale.
"It's ok." He says and the gates open. The tears just spill over her lashes, making wet trails down her face to drip off her chin or continue further south to soak her shirt. Her sobs follow, the same ones that he had heard her give when they found her holding onto a box. It must have had something to do with her family for her to have had the reaction she did. He knew that it would take many, many years before the wound would heal enough for her not to break down crying but never completely heal.
When she wraps her arms around his neck, still sobbing and crying, he finds himself just hoping that he didn't go back.
They were her new family.
Alright, Connor has now joined my brood of Assassin's. And you have not idea how hard it was to rope him into this. Lol.
But now we know what happened to Megan's family. I wanted to cry the entire time I was writing it. I really, really have a problem with causing self-made characters pain. Its horrible. But it was fun at the beginning, I was rolling laughing when I was writing it.
As always, I wanna thank anybody who has decided to review or fave or watch. I have 2 new followers and faves: Prihnex and Alexander J. Mercer. I got a laugh way to early in the morning when I read the emails saying you had faved and put me on your alert list.
And now for the Reviews!
Prihnex: I am so glad you like this story and find Megan likable. Its hard not to make her Mary-Sue and keep her based in real life.
MoonlightMeeting: Yeah, you would think they would but they aren't. And thank you for your support! It is greatly appreciated.
Raychaell Dionzeros: I know, I don't really like cliffies either but this one finished it! YAY!
And has anyone else read the latest chapter of Bleach? Am I seeing things or does that Hollow at the end of the chapter look like the creature Ichigo turned into when Ulquiorra punched a hole through his chest and Orihime decided to cry out for his help? And am I the only one who's mind got blown finding out Isshin is a Shiba and Misaki was a Quincy? Please tell me what you thought!
And also, a question for you guys. Whats your favorite video game and the system its on? I love hearing about games!
As always please review, fave, follow (add to alert list XD), e-mail, or PM me.
Thanks!
Edit: Oh my goddess, I am so sorry Raychaell! I was so scatter brained when I uploaded this I forgot to mention that the part with Connor on Megan and the guys coming in was suggested by you! I kinda tweaked it since you had asked for Ezio but the guys all kind of know one another and they don't know Connor. So yeah, thank you for suggesting that! I'm gunna have an outtake just special about it though with Ezio as the fall guy! Please forgive me!