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

Chapter 34 - The Finish Line (Part 2)

It was over.
Arno was still on top of Shay when he raised his head to check on Rosalie after the collision between the Sword of Eden she was holding and the energy blast that came from the Apple. But when he saw her on the other side of the room, lying on the ground and not moving, only those three words came to his mind. He had been too late, once again. He had failed to stop it from happening, once again.
It was over.
The Assassin momentarily let down his guard as he was staring at his late friend and his opponent took this opportunity to punch him in the face and get away from his hold. Arno fell to his side but instantly got back on his feet to face Shay as he was holding his chin with an expression of pain on his face. The Assassin then noticed that the Apple was no longer in the Templar's hand : Shay had dropped the artefact when Arno had jumped on him and it was now too far for him to get it back.
Each of them were now equally armed, with a single blade. But mentally, Shay had the advantage : Arno hardened to think straight because of the sudden loss of his partner. The Templar could not say what kind of feelings his opponent was going through, but he knew it would be giving him the edge either way : if Arno was devastated, that would mean that he was more vulnerable, therefore eliminating him would be a piece of cake. If he was enraged, then he would try to jump on Shay without even thinking first, and all that the Templar would have to do would be to cleverly dodge all of the Assassin's attacks and find the right moment to plunge his blade into his throat.
But Shay was quite surprised to see Arno so calm. Actually, the Assassin was expressing no emotion whatsoever. He only and silently kept his eyes on the Templar without even moving an inch. Soon enough, Shay got tired of waiting and decided to attack first by punching him again, but Arno managed to dodge it this time by briefly leaning back. He then kept his eyes into Shay's, as if he was trying to provoke him. The Templar clenched his jaw with annoyance, then tried to punch him one more time, but Arno grabbed his fist midflight and pulled it to make Shay lose his balance and hit the ground.
Just when Shay thought that he had underestimated the young Assassin, the latter tried to get back on top of him but the Templar quickly stopped him by kicking him in the stomach. The hit bent Arno in half and Shay got back up to hit Arno once again, making him lose his balance. Although Arno was the faster of the two due to his young age, Shay was by far the strongest one, and he was not hesitating to use his strength when he needed.

At that same moment, a weak cry of pain came out of Rosalie's mouth and the young woman slowly opened her eyes as she tried to remember where she was. At first, her vision was blurry and she could only hear a dull thud coming from nearby and felt her hair, loosened because of the collision, partly covering her face. She then tried to move and her entire body felt like it had been crushed by an entire mountain.
After she took a deep breath and her muscles relaxed, her eyes wandered towards wherever the noise was coming from and she first saw two silhouettes standing and moving fast. She then understood that they were fighting when she saw one of them fall on the ground after the other one hit them severely. The latter got on top of his opponent and it was only then that Rosalie recognized the man who was being dominated as Arno due to his uniform. The woman also noticed that the other man was actually Shay which meant that Arno was in great danger.
Rosalie knew that she had to do something, but she barely could move. As she glanced around, she saw the Sword of Eden only a couple of feet away from her right hand. So, the woman tried to mobilize what little strength she had left to crawl towards the weapon. While she kept approaching it, she was at the same time glancing at the two men, but none of them seemed to be noticing her. Rosalie then saw Shay putting his hands around Arno's neck and the Templar started to strangle his enemy to death. The woman realized that her partner was running out of time and hurried to use all the energy she had left to reach the Sword of Eden.
Once she was close enough, Rosalie could not tell if she had hit her head too severely and became sensitive to the light, or if the sword appeared brighter than before. But when she finally grabbed the weapon's hilt, she realized that something had changed indeed.
An unfamiliar energy ran from Rosalie's hand to the rest of her body as soon as she touched the sword, and this energy was not only vanishing the pain she was feeling and healing her wounds : it was making her feel more powerful than she had ever been her whole life.
She was being reborn.
It was then that Rosalie realized what she was experiencing was the doing of the Apple's energy. Not only did the collision repair the Sword of Eden, but it had upgraded it to a weapon capable of empowering its owner. And now, the Sword was shining brighter than ever inside Rosalie's hands.
The weapon's light finally caught Shay's attention who slowly started to loosen his grip on Arno as he stared at Rosalie with astonishment. The woman was standing straight on her feet as she analyzed the Sword of Eden closely. Her eyes then met Shay's, and she knew what she had to do.
As if she had been doing this her entire life, Rosalie pointed the Sword at the Templar, and an energy blast that came out of it instantly threw him backwards the same way as the woman had been hit a moment ago. Except this time, it was much more violent and Shay severely hit the wall behind him before he immediately fell down.
Freed from the Templar's grip, Arno was coughing and breathing deeply as he was trying to understand what just had happened. But then, his gaze fell on Rosalie and he felt like he was being choked again. He hardened to believe that his partner — the woman he loved — whom he thought he had lost for good just a few seconds ago was standing at the middle of the room, holding tightly the Sword of Eden in her right hand, with an aura around her that he had never seen before.
"Rose ?" he whispered, but Rosalie did not even give him a glance.
Instead, she kept a menacing look as she was staring at Shay, then suddenly disappeared from Arno's field of vision only to reappear near the Templar who was trying to get back up, in vain. With his knees still on the ground, Shay slowly raised his head to gaze at Rosalie as she was silently approaching him, keeping her back straight and her head high. Once she stopped, a heavy silence fell upon the room during which the Templar was staring at the woman, trying to decode her thoughts.
But something about her felt different from before.
And Rosalie was also feeling this difference within herself. She had this weird sensation that another spirit was inhabiting her body with her at that moment and making her use the Sword of Eden against Shay. For Rosalie had no idea that this weapon had so many great powers, there was no chance that she would actually know how to use them against her enemies.
Suddenly, the words Shay had told her yesterday at the ball came to her mind.
« The Assassins love to think that they own the Apple. » he had said. « What you don't realize it that the Apple owns you. The power that comes out from it cannot be manipulated so easily, and even if you do manage to use it, it will end up possessing you, making you do things you can regret. »
Could the Sword, just like the Apple, be capable of controling those who were manipulating it ? Had Rosalie just lost her free will by using this weapon ? Was she about to do something that she could regret in the future ?
But no. Rosalie knew deep down that she was doing what she had to do to save her partner and herself, and get the Apple back. The Sword was only giving her the courage and the strength to achieve her goal. Even when she raised her weapon, pointing it to the Templar still on his knees before her and letting it slowly drain the already weakened man's energy to death, she was aware that it was mostly her own doing. She did not take her gaze away from Shay as the man agonized while his soul was being sucked through the beam of energy coming from the weapon and wrapping the Templar's body.
Once the process finally stopped, Shay let himself fall on his back, defeated and barely breathing. Rosalie remained expressionless and silent as she knelt next to him and paused to watch the man for the last time. Without waiting any longer, she raised her Sword and plunged it into Shay's chest in order to end his suffering for good.