Embracing The Light (Arno Dorian x OC), an Assassin's Creed Fanfiction

Chapter 23 : One Less Problem

Rosalie explored this fake Payen's memories : after finding and killing an assassin agent who was sent to search for the Apple of Eden in Franciade a week before Arno was, Payen stole his uniform to infiltrate the Brotherhood. The night when the masters decided to send the artefact to Cairo, he caught the two assassins who were in charge of bringing it to Marseille and told them that he had to join them too.
"The Mentor has sent me with you." he lied to the two agents who did not question him.
On their way, while they were still not too far from Paris, Payen killed the two agents inside the fiacre and stole the artefact. As soon as he got out of the vehicle, he noticed another carriage who had followed him during the whole trip. Once it had stopped, a young blonde noblewoman came out of it. Payen smiled and handed her the box containing the Apple of Eden.
"I will hasten to bring this to my mother in Vienna." she then told him. "You try to stay undercover as long as you can and, with Madame de Marbeuf, eliminate the Assassins one by one, especially this Arno."
"Of course, Mademoiselle (Miss) de Lévis." he obeyed.
"May the Father of Understanding guide us all."

At Louis' tavern, the night the bartender was killed, Payen remained at a corner, staring at Anne de Marbeuf who waited on a table for Rosalie to lead towards Arno. Once she left the counter with her wine, Anne nodded at Payen before she threw her bottle on the floor. He then looked at the barmaid, who was being distracted by the noise, and approached her to pour down a flask of aconit inside Arno's wine on her plate in the blink of an eye, then quickly walked past her.

A few days afterwards, Payen informed Anne that Arno was still alive.
"He knows who we are." he explained.
"Diable, it is only a matter of time until he finds us then." she answered. "We have to get rid of him fast."
"Maybe we should not rush things."
"Henriette must be in Vienna by now, we were supposed to kill that damned Assassin already." she said with anger.
"Calm down, my love." Payen softly said as he held her tensed shoulders. "We will figure this out."
After she took a deep breath, she finally faced the man with the same expression on her face. "You said it was that barmaid who told him about us ?"
The man slightly nodded.
"I'll take care of them both." she then left without glancing at the man.

The next memory was when Rosalie had arrived inside the sanctuary for the first time. With her eyes blindfolded, she admitted being the one who killed Anne De Marbeuf.
"I've never killed anyone before. I did it only because she was threatening Arno !" Rosalie explained while Payen was watching her, hidden behind the other agents. It was that day he promised himself that she would suffer the same way he did.

A few months afterward, he volunteered himself to infiltrate the Palais de la Cité in order to locate the archives' room and all the ways to get inside the Parliament. After encouraging Arno and Rosalie to use the roofs to infiltrate the palace, he dressed up as a nobleman in order to easily walk inside the building, leading towards the floor where the archives' room was. He then trapped the duo by calling the guards and then instantly left. It was the perfect plan to get rid of both of them at the same time and without getting noticed, but Rosalie had managed to escape. Payen felt even more relived to know that Arno was locked up at the Conciergerie, as his chances to escape from there were minimal. But then, he caught Rosalie visiting the armory and leaving rapidly the sanctuary that same night, and his curiosity aroused. He followed her to the Conciergerie where he gathered what she was planning to do, which was driving him crazy. After he found out where she and Arno were staying, he returned to the sanctuary to get one of the guillotine guns, ready to end them once and for all.

"Repose en paix (Rest in Peace)." Rosalie murmured to him.
The imposter let out a weak groan of pain before he let himself fall on the ground. The woman watched him for a moment : it was the very first time that she had lived the memories, the thoughts, the emotions of someone else so intensely, she breathed deeply while she got on her feet, finally realizing that she just took the life of the man who poisoned Louis, trapped Arno and attacked her.
She completely went back to reality when she heard the door open behind her brutally.
"Rosalie !" she heard Arno call her stressfully, so she quickly turned her head towards him.
Followed by the masters and a couple of other agents, the man neared Rosalie who still had a hint of confusion on her face as she glanced at the dead body in front of her.
"Are you hurt ?!" Arno then asked as he visually checked on the young woman, who just silently shook her head.
"Mon Dieu (My God)..." Trenet gasped as she looked at the imposter lying on the ground. A couple of agents behind were whispering a few words to each other. Everyone seemed to stare at the corpse lying on the floor. Everyone but Arno, who was too concerned about Rosalie. When she finally met his gaze, her adrenaline decreased and her left arm started to hurt again, making her wince as she held it. The man tried to instantly approach her, but she stopped him.
"I'm fine." she whispered. "It's just my arm."
She then led towards her bed as Arno stared at her from where he stood with a sad look on his face. He was unsure about how to act with her, but he still tried to near her while she sat on her bed, holding her wounded arm and keeping her head low.
"It seems like the traitor is no longer a problem." Trenet said as she walked towards the duo who glanced back at her and noticed Quémar and Beylier standing beside her. A few assassins behind them were moving away the dead body and cleaning up the now messy room. "We'll re-examine your arm." she then added to Rosalie who slightly nodded in return. "Have you been able to find out who that man was ?"
"Payen." she almost whispered as she gazed downward.
The four assassins looked at each other and Arno echoed with a frown. "Payen ?"
Rosalie then explained every single part of Payen's memories that she experienced, from how he infiltrated the Brotherhood to the incident of this morning. The four assassins stared at her and carefully listened to her monologue. She did not dare to look at them when she mentioned Louis' death once again and Arno felt for her. He wanted to show his compassion by putting his hand on her shoulder, but decided not to as he felt like it would make her feel even more uncomfortable. Then she talked about the Apple of Eden.
"The night of the ambush, Payen gave the artefact to a young blonde woman that he called « Mademoiselle de Lévis »." she explained.
"Like « Gabrielle de Lévis » ?" Beylier asked.
Rosalie shook her head. "Henriette de Lévis."
"Anne de Marbeuf had mentioned someone called « Henriette » in her letter." Arno remembered.
"Oui." Rosalie agreed while she looked at him. "That was her niece, Gabrielle's daughter if I remember well."
"Could those be fake identities as well ?"
"Possibly." Quémar responded. "We have to check the records. If they are actually dead too, they must've been condemned after Anne de Marbeuf. That's what her last letter was insinuating, at least."
"So Payen gave the Apple to Henriette de Lévis. What for ?" Trenet asked.
"So she could bring it to her mother Gabrielle, or whoever she is... in Vienna."
"Vienna ?" Arno repeated with astonishment, and Rosalie nodded as she glanced at him.
"And this happened more than three months ago." Trenet sighed. "The Apple could be anywhere in the world right now, I'm starting to highly doubt that we will ever find it back."
Rosalie frowned. "We have a lead and we must follow it, see where it gets us !"
"You want to go to Vienna ?" The Mentor questioned her and raised her eyebrows.
"I want to go as far as I can to get this Apple back." she explained.
"That seems a bit risky." Beylier remarked. "We do not have any allies in Vienna and the Templars have a massive influence there. Besides, that city is immense, and your chances to find the artefact there with the few clues that we have in our hands are very poor."
"I'm ready to take that chance." Rosalie answered back with determination. "We haven't come this far to just give up now."
"Rose..." Arno softly called her. "I don't think that's safe..."
"I've nearly died today, Arno." she cut him off as she looked into his eyes. "Twice. I don't think I'm safe anywhere anymore."
She saw that the man's face relax, and then show a hint of sorrow as he slightly glanced down. "I suppose you're right." he sighed.
The woman then looked at the masters and the Mentor took a deep breath. "We will talk about this later. Try to rest a little bit."
After Rosalie nodded silently, she watched the three masters quit the room, leaving her and Arno alone. While she lied down on her bed and breathed deeply, Arno who was standing next to her seemed like he did not dare to look at her, and Rosalie kept staring at him with a frowning face.
"How are your wounds ?" she directly asked him to break the silence.
The man finally gazed at her and his face relaxed. He cleared his throat to reply. "Better. And yours ?"
"My arm still hurts. I've accidentally torn my bandage earlier, I have to change it."
After hesitantly looking at her arm, Arno proposed. "I can change it, if you want."
"Sure."
The man then led towards the table nearby where the first aid products were and grabbed the bandage before he backed towards Rosalie's bed. He also took a chair to sit next to the young woman's bed. Once he did, he took his gloves off and gently grabbed Rosalie's arm to take off her used bandage. As he did, she kept staring at him, and instantly noticed the sorrow in his eyes when he finally saw the open wounds on the young woman's arm.
That was when she understood.
"Arno..." she murmured, making him look at her. "About what you've said... earlier this morning."
"I'm sorry." he quickly responded.
"No, I am sorry." Rosalie answered back and Arno frowned. "I have misunderstood you. Once again." she then sighed.
"What do you mean ?"
"When you've said that... if anything happened to me, you would be to blame." As Arno looked down, she added.
"I thought you were talking about the masters blaming you. But now, I've realized. You meant that you would blame yourself, right ?"
Arno did not move, so she continued. "I just want you to know that... if anything really had to happen to me, you do not have to feel guilty. For I am the master of my own decisions."
"As far as I know, It was my decision to turn my back on you back at the house." he responded as he glanced back. "I have decided to leave you behind, and..." he stopped as his gaze locked on her wound. His face then relaxed and his expression softened. "I let it happen, again." he murmured. "I'll never learn... I can't even make you feel safe..." he added.
The young woman noticed that the words she said impacted him more than she thought they would, and now she regretted saying such things. She shook her head as she felt sorry. "Arno... No... This isn't about me not feeling safe." she straightened to face the man properly. "This is about us not being safe. I'm not the only one who got in danger lately, you were locked up inside the Conciergerie last night, and I was terrified for you !"he then hesitantly looked at her as she continued. "There are things that we cannot control. Things that happen and we don't see them coming. At first, we might ask ourselves how we let those things happen, how we failed at foreseeing them. But those questions that are haunting us are useless, they won't change the past. The best and only thing that we can do is to be there for each other right now, and face whatever is supposed to happen in the future... together."
She said the last word with a tender smile which Arno returned while they softly and silently looked at each other.