Assassin's Creed: Valiance

V: No Return

October 16th

Within the walls of the brewery, a mouse scurried out and into the free and spacious building, hoping to score it's next meal. It's little claws clicked on the cold metal floor as it moved from place to place. Although it managed to find a couple crumbs here and there it still hungered for more.

The mouse concluded his search and went up some stairs to try his luck there. As it's beady eyes peered over the top of the stairs, it jumped in fright as it's sight came upon a huge corpse. It began crawling around it, trying to figure out where it could eat first. As it's tail brushed upon it's hand, it suddenly twitched, and the mouse instantly ran back into it's walls, going hungry for the day.

Michael slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the light pouring into his sight. He tried to remember where he was, or anything that happened, but as he tried to get up, a sharp pain in his shoulder made him recall everything.

He stayed on the floor for a while, remembering the battle he had pointlessly fought in. His rather quick defeat against Rayford also left a bitter taste against his tongue. The memory played over and over again, his prompt betrayal to the Templar's and their shortlived fight.

He planted his palms on the floor and began pushing himself up, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, though he felt the wound opening again and his skin getting wet with blood, his bandages already soaking up what they could. He had some more left but they were in the armory, which meant he had to get up.

As he felt his arms nearly give out twice, he felt like something pushed him up, and he managed to get on a knee. As he breathed, trying to catch his breath, he suddenly felt strength to get up, as if someone was pushing him up. Although he managed to stand up, he stumbled around until he found a wall to lean on.

He caught his breath, and opened his eyes to see somebody. He sighed, almost in a regretful way, as he faced Leonardo, who remained silent but appeared to stare at him, waiting for him to speak. He knew he was only imagining this, but he opened his mouth.

"What have I done?" He whispered, reflecting on all his failures. "I thought I could handle this... but it was just my promise motivating me." Michael felt his voice cracking, "I thought I knew what it meant to be an Assassin." He looked at his hidden blades, releasing Leonardo's blade, "What it meant to follow the creed."

He looked back at Leonardo and he saw him bleeding, where he had been stabbed. His ocean of regret finally washed over him, "How different would it be right now if you were here." He asked, closing his eyes and leaning harder on the wall. "I wield your blade yet I can't even hold a knife to somebody." He said, a silent chuckle added at the end.

"At least if I had you to train me, I wouldn't have to worry about..." He stopped as he shook his head, knowing Rayford's betrayal wasn't all his fault.

"How stupid was I..." He said, his voice breaking into a soft cry. "That Templar. He was giving me information. Willingly. I... got angry and..." His realization that he had done this to himself felt like a stab in the heart.

What good would feeling sorry for himself do. He swallowed and opened his eyes, looking at the floor, "I have nobody to blame but myself; your death, the lost battle, Rayford's betrayal."

He looked up, Leonardo was gone, and a sense of determination flooded over him. "But I made a promise..." He softly placed a hand on his shoulder. As quickly as his determination had come however, it was gone. His hand slowly slid off his shoulder, "But where else can I go from here. Maybe... Rome is all that's left for me. The one thing I came for was gone all along... and I've only suffered for it."