The Target of His Heart (An Assassin's Creed Fanfic)

Ch. 20: The Truth Comes Out [Part II]

Later On...



"THERE WAS AN ASSASSIN IN CYNTHIA'S BEDROOM!" Diana screamed; sitting upright in her seat and making Alexandra, Ada, and I jump in unison at her outburst. "Someone needs to save her before she dies!!"

A good couple of hours had slowly passed by before Diana finally woke up after being knocked unconscious by Ada and the sheath of her blade. During that time period, I conversed with Ada and Alexandra as to how we should explain to her everything without throwing it all in her face as one time. If we did just that, who knew how upset or outraged she would be? As much as I wanted him nearby to keep me sane for a little while, I had to tell Altaïr that it was not a good idea to remain in the vicinity while we explained the situation to Diana, for fear of attempting to kill him or something along those lines. Knowing the situation would probably get out of hand, he gave me a simple kiss before disappearing into the streets of Damascus, saying something about stopping by a “Rafiq,” whoever that was. I knew in the back of my mind that he would be nearby soon, just in case something were to happen, but he would have to keep his distance just to be safe.

Alexandra sighed as she placed her hands on Diana's shoulders.

"Calm down, Diana," she spoke. "Cynthia is fine. There is nothing to worry about."

The French woman shook her head furiously.

"How can I calm down when my friend was nearly killed by an Assassin?!" She snapped at her.

"But that is the thing," I spoke up, approaching her slowly. "I was not going to be killed by him at all."

She looked at me, confusion filling her expression, before saying, "But there was an Assassin in your bedroom! How can you say he was not there to kill you?"

"Just because there was an Assassin in her room does not particularly mean that she would have been killed," Ada said, trying her best to calm her down. "He could have been there for...other reasons."

Diana looked over at her, now becoming frustrated.

"And what would those other reasons be, Ada?" She questioned. "Was he going over to her to join him for a night of tea and crumpets with other Assassins? I do not think so!" We all remained silent at that point, sending one another different expressions. None of us knew what to say to that, since we were still inching our way to telling her the truth of Altaïr. She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for someone to speak up, before she sighed, "Your silence only means Cynthia was nearly killed by the Assassin..."

I sighed and shook my head, pulling up a chair to sit next to her.

"Diana, that is not it," I started to tell her. "If you would let me explain-"

"What do you mean that is not it?" Diana questioned, looking over at me. "Is there something else to all of this or what?"

I looked over at Ada and Alexandra, who nodded as a silent way of letting me know that now was the perfect time to tell her. I sighed and returning my attention to Diana, looking away for a moment before looking her straight in her eyes.

"The...Assassin was not trying to kill me, Diana." I started, hesitating when I called Altaïr 'the Assassin.' "I was...trying to get him out of my room before you came in…"

She raised an eyebrow, thoroughly confused by my words at that point.

"Why were you trying do that?"

I looked over her shoulder and toward a wall.

"Because…because he stayed with me last night…and I did not want you to see him..."

Her eyes widened with shock.

"Wait a minute. Why are you referring to the Assassin as 'him?' Do you know who the Assassin is?"

I cringed slightly, knowing I was getting closer and closer to telling her the truth, before answering.

"That…Assassin…" I paused, "His name is Altaïr Ibn-la'Ahad. The same Assassin who...who injured you back in Jerusalem…"

Her expression changed to one of anger at that point, realization striking her features.

"You have to be joking...are you?"

I swallowed hard, and slowly shook my head. The stress was starting to take a toll on me.

"This...this is not a joke, Diana." I told her. "This is serious."

"Then he found us!" She exclaimed, getting to her feet. "He is after me! I know it! He is trying to kill me again!"

Alexandra groaned before forcing Diana to return to her seat.

"First of all, Altaïr was not trying to kill you to start with. He was after Cynthia," she started to explain. "And second, he is not trying to kill her anymore."

Diana blinked before looking down toward the ground.

"Then, what was he doing here…" She questioned; her voice calming a bit as if she was trying to understand what was going on.

I looked away from her, leaning back in my seat a bit and sighing.

"He was visiting me…" I spoke. "He came to Damascus just to see me again."

Diana looked at her.

"Visiting? Again?"

"Yes..."

She shook her head before running a hand through her auburn hair.

"I still do not get it! What the hell is going on here? Why is some Assassin coming to visit Cynthia? Why would he not want to kill her? We are Templars!" She looked over us. "I want the truth, and I want it now!"

Her only response from the rest of us, since the tension was very high at that point, was silence. Glancing over at Ada and Alexandra, they returned their gazes as a way of reassuring me. Still, I was not sure if telling Diana the truth would ruin our friendship, something I held dear to my heart. I always told her secrets, no matter how personal they were, and she would keep it. However, if it involved Assassins, let alone the one that accidentally injured her, her blood would boil and burst. She grew up believing that the Assassins were "nothing but a bunch of cold blooded killers," just as the Templars wanted. However, she was my friend, and sometimes she understood my reasons for doing certain things. Now, though, it was much different. It involved the Assassins, the people she grew up hating all her life. I just hope, I thought as I inhaled deeply, she will not overreact.

"Altaïr…" I started, "has been...visiting me since the day he injured you. He did not mean to do it, as he was after me, but you must have gotten in the way. Anyway, I chased after him to exact revenge, but...something changed. Although he wanted to finish me off, as I had injured him in order to slow him down, I wanted him to kill me. Yet, he couldn't do it. Then, he came to visit me that night." A pause. "It was...completely unexpected, and I did not know I would see him again until he appeared in my room."

Diana listened to my words for a moment, taking in the information I was giving her, before speaking.

"Why did you not try to kill him? He was there, in your room. So why did you not kill him when you had the chance?"

My head lowered.

"I…could not do it..." I muttered, but loud enough for her to hear me.

At that point, she stood up once again, looking down at me with bewilderment in her eyes.

"But he tried to kill you!" She exclaimed. "How could you not try to kill him if he was right there in front of you, after he tried to kill you off?!"

"I could not kill him!" I retorted, not daring to look in her eyes any longer. "He did not even try to kill me that night, so why would I do the same?" A quick pause, "He said that...that he refused to kill me anyway..."

"Why would he refuse to kill his target?"

I looked up at her, my forest green eyes hazy from the stress.

"For starters, he told me I was an innocent person, and that I did not deserve to die."

She tilted her head to one side, not fully understanding what I was talking about.

"For what reason would he say that?"

"He said killing the innocent was against the Creed."

"The Creed? What's the Creed?"

"The Assassin's Creed. Tenants that they have to follow."

She shook her head, dismissing the fact altogether. I could tell she was trying to keep her nerves in check, but she was failing miserably.

"Alright. I may not understand this 'Assassin's Creed,' but it seems...reasonable, I guess." She looked at me once more "Are there any other reasons that I should know about?"

"…Yes."

"Well, what is it?" My gaze fell to the floor, "I'm waiting to hear your answer! What was it?"

This was it, I told myself. Now was the time to finally tell Diana the truth. In a way, she was starting to piece the puzzle together, but it appeared she was being stubborn about believing it all. Since she greatly disliked the Assassins, she did not want to believe anything that they believed in, seeing them as pointless and stupid. However, in a way, she was trying to understand it all, but seeing as it was the Assassin who accidentally injured her, she found it difficult to do just that. Nevertheless, she wanted to know the truth. Whether it hurt to find out or not, she wanted to know exactly what was going on and why Altaïr visited me for the past month. You wish to know the truth, I thought. Well, now you get to hear it.

Slowly, I stood up, but kept my head lowered so as to not look her in the eye.

"He thinks that my heart is different from what he had seen in the past…" I spoke up after a long moment of silence. “He said he would not kill someone who was so willing to do anything to protect the people she cared about.”

It grew silent at that point as I sensed her gaze on me. I could tell her expression changed to one of shock, but said nothing to express that emotion outwardly. Ada and Alexandra silently stood by, allowing the exchange between us to continue until it was time to interject for whatever reason. I had a feeling that look would come across her face if I told her. At that point, two options came to mind when it came to Diana's reaction to this: 1.) She would lose it and take it out on me, or 2.) Remain calm for a long moment, taking in all of the information...and then losing it. Either way, she would probably be upset. Still, there was always a third option when it came to a situation like this: She would not take out all her anger and frustration. However, as much as I wanted to see that happen right now, I began doubting that option altogether, since it was one of the many impossible things that could happen in the world.

After another long moment of silence, Diana's head also lowered, staring at the ground.

"Your heart is...different...?" I slowly looked up to stare at her lowered head. Choice Number One was out of the picture, I thought. Now, it was either Choice Number Two or Choice Number Three.

"Yes," I stated slowly, keeping my composure as best as I could. "Since that day, we...we have been seeing one another every night for an entire month."

"A month?" She spoke in a low tone, barely even looking at me.

"Yes…"

Her body tensed slightly.

"So…the escape plan…"

"Altaïr was the one who planned it all out," I explained. "I...I simply added a few touches to it in order for it to be set in stone."

A long pause before she spoke again.

"And...and the robes?"

"He gave them to me a few days before we made our escape. I simply stated that we needed a disguise. I never told him to bring them at all."

Silently, her head rose, but to a point where her eyes were seen. They bore into mine with a menacing gaze, sending a shiver down my spine.

"…When were you planning on telling me about all of this?" Her voice sounded like that of the devil himself, yet I kept my calm composure.

"When we...when we got here...to Damascus…"

Her jaw locked into place for a moment, clearly replaying the words in her mind.

"I see..." She paused. "Well...we are in Damascus…"

"Yes. I know we are…"

At that point, I felt her grab me by my blouse and slam me against the wall, her eyes filled with so much rage it made me turn pale. It was clear that Choice Number Two had won once again.

"SO WHY THE HELL DID YOU NOT TELL ME THE MOMENT WE GOT HERE?!" She screamed, gripping my blouse tightly. She appeared to be near the brink of tears, feeling betrayed by us, but held them back.

"Diana! Let her go!" Ada exclaimed as she tried to come over and pull her off of me. However, she was stopped by Alexandra pulling her by the collar of her blouse.

"Don't, Ada!" The dark haired Hungarian woman told her. "This needs to be resolved now!"

"W-we were going tell you, Diana!" I told her, placing my hands on hers. "I swear we were! The reason we did not tell you was because Altaïr was not here in Damascus, and I thought telling you would be pointless without at least knowing he was alive!"

Her eyes narrowed further.

"So you decided to waste your time waiting for the bastard to come back before you could tell me all of this?! That is the most ridiculous excuse I have heard in my life!"

"You saw him get captured by the Templars the same day we got out of Jerusalem!"

"The only reason that happened to him was because I injured him!" My eyes widened as my breathing hitched. "I injured him because I wanted to get revenge against him!"

At that point, my eyes narrowed with anger and rage as I pulled Diana's hands off me before taking hold of her collar, swinging her around, and pinning her against the wall within a few seconds. Her eyes remained angered, but I knew she was shocked by the sudden action I pulled against her.

"YOU WHAT?!" I screamed back at her. "I waited an entire week for him, worrying about his safety, what Abel was doing to him, all because you wanted revenge against him?! I GOT REVENGE FOR YOU, DIANA! I TOLD YOU THAT A MONTH AGO!"

"It was not enough, Cynthia!" She retorted. "I did not want anyone else to get revenge for me for any reason whatsoever! It goes against my pride!" Her eyes narrowed further. "And since when have you ever cared about an Assassin? They are nothing but a bunch of heartless killers anyway!"

"He is the whole reason we're here, Diana!" I argued, the grip on her shirt tightening further. "Be grateful that you are not in Jerusalem witnessing the wedding between me and that bastard of man!"

"How thoughtful of him!" Her voice was clearly sarcastic "Why don't you give him a kiss as a thank you from me, Ada, and Alexandra? I'm sure he would enjoy that!"

"I ALREADY DID JUST THAT, BUT IT WAS NOT FOR ANY OF YOU!"

Diana's eyes widened; her shock now eminent on her face.

"W...what...?"

"We kissed, alright?! On the rooftop! By ourselves! Without anyone else to see us! And you what else I did? I slept with him, too!" Her face paled. "And I enjoyed it! Every little bit of it! I enjoyed kissing him! Hell, I even enjoyed sleeping with him! I wanted to do it again, but I knew I could not! Because I fell asleep in his arms, where I felt safer, the safest I have ever felt in my twenty-three years of living! I loved falling asleep in his arms! I loved seeing him visit me in the middle of the night, and now I will be able to see him as much as I want! I enjoyed staying up late in the night just to wait for him, and now I can do just that again! And my excuse for doing all of this? It is because I love him! I do not love Abel, I do not love Robert, and I do not love any of the Templars I had ever laid eyes on! I love Altaïr, more than anything the entire world!" Tears began welling up in my eyes. "I love him so much I would throw down my life just to be with him, forget everything I grew up learning! I would betray the people I know and love just to see him again, to be with him again! I realize now that would never live with myself if I never saw him again! I love him and only him, and there is NOTHING you or anybody else can do to try and stop me!"

At that point, I slowly released Diana and took several steps away from her, a few tears running down my cheeks and onto the ground. She simply stood there like a statue, staring at me. Rage was clear in my eyes despite having tears falling as I glared at her. She appeared frightened of me as I scolded her. I could not blame her for feeling that way. I just felt so mad at her, so enraged, for acting the way she did. However, I could not stay mad at her forever, as she was my friend and I loved her. Unfortunately, I was still upset that it was because of her that Altaïr was captured by the Templars to begin with. Still, she did not know what was going on in the first place, so it was not entirely her fault to begin with.

A long moment of silence droned on, Diana slowly lowered her head and said nothing to my outburst of anger. My enraged state slowly began to die down as the silence grew between us. Clearly, she was deep in thought about everything I just told her, trying to understand the emotions I felt for Altaïr. My glare turned into one of sadness, but I said nothing to her. After another long moment of silence, Diana raised her head and looked at me. A blank expression was written on her face.

"Why..." She spoke, her voice slightly hoarse, but nothing serious, "did you not tell me all of this...back in Jerusalem…?"

I remained silent for a moment before answering.

"We were afraid that you would become upset about it all and...and tell someone..."

"Is that why you did not tell me?" It was clear she was trying to remain calm, but obviously it was failing.

"It was the only way to keep you from spilling," Alexandra spoke up, her voice low. Diana glanced at Alexandra for a moment before looking back at me.

Then, she hesitantly pushed herself off the wall and stood up straight.

"None of you told me...because you were afraid that I would tell someone..." I remained silent as I looked away from her, tears still falling from my eyes before slowly nodding. "I thought...I thought you were my friends. I thought you trusted me..."

I looked back at her.

"Diana, we are your friends. And we do trust you."

She shook her head at my words.

"This is the reason why I said I thought…" She spoke, sounding as if she was about to start crying, "because you are not anymore."

My eyes slightly widened with shock as she walked passed me, purposefully bumping into me, before grabbing her robe and walking out the door, slamming it behind her in the process. The room grew silent after the long and unwanted fight between one another, mainly between Diana and myself. Guilt began to take over my body as my head lowered. Ada and Alexandra gazes fell upon me; they were unsure of what to say, what to do, to ease the tension that had been built up. I simply stood there, staring at the ground with shame, before moving toward the wall where Diana once leaned upon. Staring at it for a long moment, more tears began falling down my cheeks. Then, without thinking, my fist connected to it, a loud bang resonating throughout the room as if it were echoing. The impact was not hard enough to injure me, but enough for pain to fill my arm for a moment before subsiding.

I am a horrible person, I told myself. I could not even tell my own friend, someone I trusted with my life, about something as important as this. I feared her reaction much more than believing in the trust and this was the result of it all in the end. Diana no longer saw us as friends, but as enemies instead; and it was all because of me. I thought to myself, I did not want to tell her the truth because I feared she would say something to one of the Templars. I did not tell her the truth because I feared she would try and go after Altaïr herself and finish him off, which I doubted knowing Altaïr was much stronger than she was. I did not tell her the truth...because I was stupid and thought of myself, of the plan, of Altaïr, before thinking of the friendship we have. Well, had. Now, it was all ruined, destroyed because I did not want to tell her the truth.

...Wonderful.

"It seems she did not take it very well…"

My head shot up as I looked over to find Altaïr leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. It seemed he had only just arrived there, but that did not matter to me. Without thinking, I ran over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face into his robes. He returned the embrace as I began crying silently.

"I am a horrible person, Altaïr..." I muttered. "A horrible, uncaring person who thinks only of herself..."

"No, you are not." He spoke, rubbing my back. "You did what you believed was the right thing to do..."

I tightened my grip around him.

"And look at what has happened as a result of thinking that way..."

He said nothing more as a response, but instead just held me close to him. It was his only way of trying to calm me down and bring me to my senses. Yet, for the first time, when he held me close to him, rubbed my back in a soothing manner...it did not work at all.