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

Chapter 29 : Bal Masqué

Tuesday, 7th of April 1795
Ten days later
In the Evening

Arno approached the bedroom's door and knocked. "Rose ?" he called her. "Are you ready ? I've found us a carriage."
After a few seconds of silence, he eventually heard her voice coming from the other side. "Almost..."
He then rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "I'll wait for you outside then."
"I'll join you in a few minutes." she replied.
Arno walked down the stairs and pushed the inn's entrace door. A cold wind weakly caressed his face as soon as he stepped outside and he neared the carriage with the coachman sitting at the front.
"We will be leaving soon." Arno told him and the man nodded.
Arno then turned back towards the inn and noticed his own reflection on the window. He approached it and started to analyze his clothings. He was wearing a rather imposing red uniform with little golden ornaments on his arms. He had a black stock around his neck with a white silk ruffle covering up the middle of his chest. He chose a golden mask only covering up the upper part of his face for the ball.
Tonight was the night. The reason why he and Rosalie came to Vienna. Gabrielle de Lévis was supposed to bring the artefact to the Hofburg tonight and Arno did not want to miss this opportunity to get his hand on the Apple. He was still unsure about whether he and Rosalie should stay and eliminate the remaining Templars or if they should return to France as soon as possible. For he was aware that the Templars would not give up so easily on the artefact and even the archduke himself might want to track him and Rosalie down in order to get it back. This also meant that they would be exposed and, since they had no allies in Vienna, Arno could not take such a risk. He concluded that the right thing to do would just be to obtain the Apple and leave the country without waiting any longer.
Arno's attention was then caught by a silhouette he noticed through the window. He first frowned as he tried to identify the person walking inside the inn and his face eventually relaxed when he recognized Rosalie nearing carefully the entrance door. He moved away from the window and quickly grabbed the doorknob in order to open the gate for the woman. As she took a first step outside, Rosalie revealed her gown in the colors of a partly cloudy sky, with a clear blue skirt and a bodice covering up her arms entirely, and her snow-white lace sleeves matching perfectly her stomacher that was sculpting her thin waist. The only thing on her bare shoulders was her long hair falling in waves over her dress. She wore a blue mask shaped in the exact same way as Arno's, making her dark eyes come out even more.
Rosalie kept her back straight and her head up while she faced Arno who was admiring her as a little grin grew on his face.
The woman could feel her cheeks turn red as she let the man grab her hand and lean to kiss it delicately.
"Bonsoir, Mademoiselle (Good evening, Miss)." he softly said.
Rosalie smiled playfully as she responded. "Bonsoir, Monsieur (Good evening, Sir)."
They then both giggled as Arno hurried to open the carriage's door for Rosalie.
"My ! I never knew you were such a gentilhomme (gentleman)." she remarked as she got inside.
"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to take that." Arno sarcastically responded as he sat right next to her.

Once the carriage finally stopped at the front of the Hofburg, the duo did not wait to get outside. Rosalie held Arno's arm as they both started to observe their surroundings. It seemed like the entire Viennese high society was invited to the ball as the entrance of the palace was heavily crowded with noblemen and noblewomen dressed colorfully and hiding their faces behind masks. Some of them looked quite extravagant whereas others decided to remain discreet. Rosalie and Arno were part of the latter.
The woman asked quietly. "So, what is the plan ?"
Arno kept looking around. "We must find a way to get inside." He then spotted guards at each entry of the palace and sighed. "Of course, they are checking invitations. We must find another way in."
After a few seconds of thought, Rosalie glanced at him. "Not necessarily."
Arno looked back at her with a frown. She then spotted a couple a bit further getting in line to enter the Hofburg with two papers hanging out of the man's back pocket.
"Wait for me here." she then whispered to Arno and let go of his arm as she started to lead towards the two Viennese nobles. Without slowing down, she bumped into the man who instantly turned around to face Rosalie. Before he even had the time to frown, the nobleman's eyes met hers and his face softened when he saw the apologetic expression Rosalie gave him.
"Mon Dieu (My God) !" she exclaimed with wide eyes. "I am sorry !"
"It is fine." the man responded with a polite smile and turned back towards the entrance.
Rosalie took a few steps back as she checked the tickets she placed inside her lace sleeve and walked back towards Arno who was watching her the whole time.
Once she was close enough, she took out the invitations and handed them to the man with a little smile. "Shall we ?"
Arno stared at the tickets he grabbed, then at Rosalie with amazement. "You' never told me about your stealing skills !"
Rosalie held his arm again with both of her hands as she gazed back at him. "Living in the streets had its perks, I suppose."
"You, Mademoiselle, are full of surprises." he then remarked playfully, making the woman giggle lightly. "I can see Léon learned from the best."
Rosalie's smile vanished as she looked down, thinking of the little boy. It had been a long time since she had not heard of him and the sudden mention of his name made her realize how much she missed him.
Arno also noticed the change of her facial expression and understood it might still be too soon to mention Léon. "I'm sorry..." he said.
Rosalie shook her head. "It's fine." she responded with a little smile. "You're right." she then leaned towards his ear and whispered. "He learned from the best."
They then both chuckled and did not wait any longer to queue up in order to enter the palace like everyone else. When Rosalie handed the invitations to the guard, the man's eyes briefly lied on the scar on her index finger caused by her fight back at the Burgtheater. Then, their eyes met and Rosalie's heart suddenly beat faster. She started to wonder if the guard knew who she was, but he just quickly nodded at her and Arno before he let them pass. Rosalie took a deep breath as she gripped onto Arno's arm and her partner eventually noticed something was odd.
He whispered to her ear. "Is everything alright ?"
She only glanced at him and shortly smiled. "Oui (Yes)."
As they were walking away from the guards, they could hear the nobleman from whom they stole the invitations complain behind them.
"I don't understand, I'm sure I had them." he told his partner.
"Well, keep looking !" the noblewoman next to him responded impatiently.
"We should hurry." Rosalie said as she slightly pulled Arno's arm.
The duo quickly entered the Hofburg and the first thing they noticed was how majestic the inside of the palace was. The second thing was the huge crowd leading to the ballroom at their front with its gates wide open. All that they heared was a mix of the violins played by the musicians and the din caused by the guests.
Rosalie asked Arno. "What do we do now ?"
Arno looked around and noticed two royal guards standing in front of the staircase leading to the upper floor. One of the guards who was at the entrance gate earlier walked inside the palace and directly went to the stairs.
"I think it is forbidden for the guests to go upstairs." Arno sighed. "It must be where the meeting will take place."
"How are we going to get in there ? There are guards everywhere."
"I think I can find a way in from the outside. There must be an open window somewhere above..."
"And how exactly am I going to climb up there in that dress ?" she joked as she looked at him. But once she saw that Arno remained dead serious, her smile dropped and she frowned at him when she realized.  "Wait. You don't plan on going there on your own, right ?"
At first, he glanced away, but the man then quickly stared back at her as he said. "I think it will be better if you stay in the ballroom." When Rosalie looked down and sighed in disbelief, he explained. "As you've said, there are plenty of guards around here. We cannot go upstairs together, it would be too risky and not discreet enough. Besides, I need you to check inside the ballroom in case anything happens there."
As the young woman glanced away with a worried look on her face, Arno brought back her attention to him by gently grabbing her by arms. He plunged his gaze into her eyes with the light of a smile on his face.
"« If we split up, we will be more efficient », those were your words, remember ?" he then added.
"Arno, I can't..."
"Rose." he softly said her name to stop her before she could even express herself. He then stared at her with a pleading look in his eyes as he murmured. "Please..."
Rosalie stared back at him as she thought. He was right, splitting up would be the least worst solution and she could not move around easily because of her costume anyway.
"I will go up," Arno continued, "search the Apple and, as soon as I get it, we will leave the palace together. That's it."
"I accept..." Rosalie responded. "...under one condition only."
The man fully listened as he silently waited for her to continue.
"I want you to come back to me... alive." she finished with a serious expression.
Arno's smile reappeared as he nodded. "I promise."
Rosalie wistfully smiled back at him as she watched him let go of her and return outside. Once Arno vanished behind the walls, her smile dropped and the woman sighed as she led nervously towards the ballroom at her front. The sound of the music was getting louder with every step she took and, when she finally passed the gates of the hall, she was amazed to see how big the ballroom was. The center was entirely occupied by the guests dancing synchronously whereas the rest was standing outside of it, talking while their conversations were being covered by the loud music.
Rosalie decided to imitate the others by leading towards the nearest buffet and analyzed the food and drinks on it. She finally grabbed a champagne glass and glanced around to observe the people. As she understood that there was nothing interesting, her eyes fell on that same scar on her hand which did not seem like it was going to disappear anytime sooner.
While she was looking around, she noticed the young archduke sitting at a large luxurious table, all alone. The archduchess was not accompanying him this time and he was staring ahead, completely lost in his thoughts. It was the third time Rosalie really saw Franz II.'s face, and the first time she actually saw him sad. The archduke was young — as young as Arno and Rosalie, and already married, at the head of a whole empire and had to deal with the loss of a child. Rosalie understood that those could partly be the reasons why he was vacantly looking at his table right in front of him, full of so many varieties of food that a person from the people like Rosalie could never get in a whole lifetime.
But the archduke came back to reality when one of his guards approached him and whispered a few words to his ear. After he thought for a moment, Franz II. stood on his feet and discreetly left the ballroom from the entrance behind him, accompanied by two royals guards. As soon as he disappeared from Rosalie's field of vision, two other guards got in front of that same door in order to not let anyone follow the archduke.
As she was staring at the door, Rosalie suddenly felt a hand hold her shoulder from behind.