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

Ch. 23: The Undesired Betrayal

Diana stared at my dumbfounded expression with her blank one, unmoving as she raised her bloody sword to my neck.

"That's right. It is me." She raised an eyebrow slightly, yet kept her blank stare. "Surprised?"

I felt my breath hitch as I watched her, unsure of what to say to her anymore. Why, I wondered. Why would she do this? To us; the people who cared about her, worried about her? How could she go out and tell Abel everything? After everything that we did for her, she decided to pull a stunt like this. Although deep down, I was furious at her for doing such a thing, I could not blame her. She felt betrayed to know at the last minute that we had kept an important secret from her, and she wanted me to know exactly how she felt; betrayed, back-stabbed, deceived. However, although I understood her reason, she had absolutely no right, no right, to find the man I was trying to get away from and tell him exactly where I was hiding. That was not just betrayal; to me, it was playing Judas. In my words, it was the worst kind of betrayal anyone could perform, especially against a friend she had known all her life.

"Why would you do this to us, Diana?" I asked her. "After everything we had been through, why would you go searching for Abel just to show me what it feels like to be betrayed?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she were still hurting from the past.

"You think I wanted to go searching for Abel?" She asked, her voice sounding pained. "You think I just wanted to bring him to you in order to prove a point?" She looked away for a moment before looking back, "I should have known you would still make false accusations about me, especially when you did not tell me about Altaïr and the escape plan."

"We were going to tell you," I said. "We never wanted to keep from you for as long as we did! But-!"

"But you believed I would backstab my own friends and tell someone?!" She interrupted, placing the blade closer to my neck. "I would have never done that! At all! I would have kept my mouth shut and stayed silent!" She calmed herself, "But no; you and the others refused to tell me, and you chose to keep it a secret from me."

"We were going to tell you, I swear…"

"Your timing was too late!!"

"Calm yourself, Diana." Abel cut in, making Diana look at him rather quickly. She lowered her sword back to her side, as if Abel had told her to do so. "Cynthia is not supposed to die, you know? She is getting married, remember?"

Diana did not respond to his words, but instead looked away as my eyes widened with shock.

"What do you mean 'getting married'?!" I questioned, looking back at the brute.

He smirked down at me before saying, "The wedding is still on. We simply postponed it until further notice, until we found you. Now here we are, with you in our possession…"

"No!" I snapped at him, gripping Altaïr's limp arm. "I refuse to marry you! I do not love you!"

"I know that," he said. "But I also know that you cannot love this Assassin."

"HE'S NOT JUST 'THIS ASSASSIN', ABEL!!" I shouted at him, before hugging Altair's unconscious body. Suddenly, he seemed to become lighter, as if he was holding himself up, yet I paid no mind to it. "He is someone who actually cares, unlike you who only plans to use me and everyone else!" Abel's face turned blank, "He cares and respects the innocent! He love me and does not plan to use me or anyone else." My voice turned menacing, "He is nothing like you, Abel, and he never will be."

Abel chuckled lightly before speaking.

"I see that you care about him a lot. How...sweet."

"A lot more than you," I retorted harshly, seeing through his sarcastic tone of voice.

He simply smiled down at me, knowing I heard the undermining tease.

"I cannot believe you would rather fall for an Assassin than fall for me," he stated. "How disappointing. What would your father think of this?"

"Why I should I care about what my father thinks?" I questioned as he placed a hand on his chin. "He never listened to me when I told him how much of a threat you are to the Kingdom, and I no longer care anymore! He treats me like nothing but a child, and looks down on me as such!"

Abel remained silent at that point as he stared at me for a moment before looking past me, his expression intently thinking of something.

"The Assassins are our enemies," Diana spoke up in a dull tone of voice, making me look over at her. "You should not be with one, but eliminating them. They are only in the way of our plans to create peace."

This time, the rage that had been building up with me started to appear as I glared at her.

"No, we should not be killing them," I told her. "They are the only people who actually protect the people. The Templars only force their laws unto others, and kill those who defy them."

She looked away from me, as if she could not longer look me in the eye.

"You are only saying that because Altaïr is an Assassin," she stated in a calm tone. "If you never met him, then we would not be in this situation."

"I still would have thought that way!" I snapped, the anger slowly seeping out of me through my eyes and through my voice. "Altaïr changed my whole life completely, made me see the errors of the Templar ways! He changed my view on all Assassins, taught me the truth of their ways! They do not kill people for their own amusement; they kill the Templars who truly hurt others in order to bring peace in all things."

"Death does not bring peace, Cynthia." She looked back at me. "It only brings sadness, hatred, and brings more wars and fighting!"

"You actually believe that? That is ridiculous!"

"Of course I believe it. That is what we have been taught all our life."

"Then, you will have to consider me an Assassin," I glared up at her, "because I no longer wish to be a Templar and believe such petty lies! I do not wish to believe the lies they forced into your head!" I looked away from her. "Most importantly, I do not wish to be associated with traitors."

Diana shrunk back a bit, appearing to be hurt by my words, but did not become angered. Instead, she motioned for two of the guards to approach me.

"If that is the case," she spoke in a low tone as she pointed her blade at Altaïr's unconscious body, "that means I will have to eliminate this traitor."

My eyes widened as the two guards took hold of my arms, forcing me to release Altaïr's body. I tried to slip away from their grips, but I could not. They were stronger than me at the moment, and I felt helpless as Diana approached his body, her blade grazing against his robes.

"No, Diana! Don't do it!" I exclaimed. "Please!"

"I have to do this," she responded, gripping the blade tightly in her hand. She looked as if she did not want to, but someone or something was telling her to. "This is how I will get revenge not only for what he did to me, but against you for lying to me!"

I felt my heart begin to shatter even more than before as she raised her sword high above her head.

"NO!" I screamed, feeling tears well up in my eyes. "ALTAÏR, WAKE UP!"

As if on cue, Diana's blade was abruptly deflected by another sword. My eyes widened with shock and a hint of relief. It seemed a miracle was being performed in my eyes, as if God had heard my message and answered it in an instant. Truthfully, it would not be considered one in reality, but just pure luck and perfect timing. Still, a girl could dream.

"I believe when she said she did not wish to be associated with traitors," said Altaïr as he got to his feet, his blade held proudly in one hand, "she was referring to you."

Diana's eyes widened with shock as I pulled myself away from the guards, who were also shocked by the sight. I quickly ran over to him and embrace him, as if I had not seen him in many years. I no longer cared if Abel and the other guards saw me embracing him so lovingly. In fact, I wanted them to see me this way, so they knew just how much he truly meant to me.

"Thank goodness you are alright," I said, a smile grazing my lips for the first time in a long while. He simply placed his hand against my back as a small gesture, while keeping his blade toward Diana, who did not move an inch since he had returned to his feet.

"But how were you able to survive?" She questioned. "There was poison lacing my blade!"

"I cannot fall unconscious that easily, you know." He responded. "Besides, it does not seem you used a strong enough poison to keep me down."

She remained silent at that point and simply looked at us, eyeing with a strange expression on her face. It was almost as if she was saddened, but I could not tell. Then, I soon heard Abel chuckle from behind us, grabbing our attention.

"I am truly sorry to break this lovely reunion between the both of you," he laughed as Altaïr and I looked over at him, "but I am on a bit of a tight schedule today, what with the whole wedding"

"You'll have to pry her from my cold, dead hands," he hissed.

Abel simply smirked at the comment.

"I would not say cold and dead. I would prefer it to be 'cold, chained hands' instead."

My eyes widened at those words.

"You wouldn't dare!" His smirk grew at my paling expression.

"I would," he responded. "Get them."

Before I knew, I had pulled out of Altaïr's embrace and pulled out my sword, cutting down the first guard I saw approach me. Altaïr had done the same in matter of seconds, and already we began taking down guards one by one. With every passing second, they slumped to the ground just their comrades before them, and each one was left to bleed to death or they were already dead. I cringed as I stabbed another guard in the chest, hearing his cry of pain before kicking him off my sword and moving on to the next one. I hated seeing all of the dead bodies lying around. It made me shudder with anxiety. Although I was used to fighting, it was never to death like it was now. Altaïr knew this information, but there was nothing he could do to help me. Unfortunately, he did not know just how bad it was when it came to seeing multiple, unmoving bodies at one time. Frankly, I did not even know how I would react myself. I never actually got the chance to experience all of this with my own two eyes. I heard rumors of it, bodies piled on one another, and even that made my skin crawl. Seeing it in person, though, would probably make me shiver like a leaf on a windy autumn day.

After stabbing another guard in the chest, I quickly looked over to find Altaïr holding his own with two other guards. Diana was nowhere to be seen, but I did not seem to care all that much. Instead, my eyes soon began scanning the other bodies of the guards. My eyes widened at the sight as I felt my face turn pale. Pools of blood were surrounding the bodies, staining the once vibrant green grass. My heart rate picked up as I took a few steps back, horrified of the crime I had committed. The vivid image of Amal's crumpled body flashed before my eyes, scarring my mind forever.

I felt as if I had killed her and left her body to decay, not Abel; I felt like a ruthless murderer. Then, my eyes narrowed as I inhaled deeply, ignoring the scent of blood entering my nostrils. No, I told myself. I am not a murderer. I was doing what I needed to do in order to protect myself from Abel's grasp. I killed them because I had to do it, not because I wanted to. This was how an Assassin was to act. They do not kill for sport, they do not kill to show who is better. They kill to defend themselves, to bring peace to the land, to end the tyranny that is the Templars. That was what the Assassins were; that was what I was. I was not a murderer, a killer, an executioner. I was an Assassin.

Suddenly, as I felt my confidence build, something grabbed both of my arms, pulled me back, and placed a blade against my throat. I shrieked at the sudden action and tried to break free. However, whoever was holding onto me was much stronger than I was, causing me to panic. His eyes narrowed before he cut down another guard, and then began sprinting over toward me.

"Cynthia!" He exclaimed, before he was unexpectedly tripped by Diana, who had come out of nowhere, with her own blade. It resulted in Altaïr flipping onto his back with a thud.

"I would not recommend moving too much, my dear." I heard Abel whisper into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. Altaïr would have returned to his feet had it not been for Diana placing her blade to his throat, forcing him to remain in his spot

"Release her, Abel!" He snapped. "Or I will put my blade to your throat!"

"I am sorry, my dear Assassin," Abel spoke in a calm, yet teasing manner as he looked over at the Assassin, "but I cannot do that. After all," He placed his cheek against mine, making me shrink away from him, "she is my fiancé. Therefore, she belongs to me."

"Do not make me laugh!" I hissed. "I no longer belong to you! I belong to Altaïr! I would rather be imprisoned for the rest of my life than to ever be with you!"

Abel chuckled as he placed a kiss against my cheek, making me whimper with disgust.

"A beautiful woman such as yourself," he muttered, "should never be placed in such a horrible place as a prison." He looked over at Altaïr, "An Assassin, on the other hand, would be much better." I gasped before looking up at his menacing gaze.

"Don't you dare!"

"Men," Abel spoke, ignoring my plea, "take the Assassin to Acre along with Ada and Alexandra. And when you have the time, search for that man that escaped in Damascus and imprison him as well. I will deal with them after the wedding."

My eyes widened as I began struggling against his grip once again as they took hold of Altaïr and forced him to his knees. Images of the past flashed before my eyes.

"No! I won't let you!" I shouted at him as he pulled me away from the scene. "I will kill you if you take him away from me again!"

Abel laughed as he pulled on the reins of his black stallion.

"I highly doubt that my dear," he stated. "You are much too afraid of death to even try to kill me."

I growled before shouting, "I will overcome my fear and put my blade to your throat!"

He forced me onto his black horse before leaping onto it as well.

"We shall see about that, my dear lady."

Before I had a chance to retort, he wrapped his arm around my waist and began riding away. I attempted to jump off, but he was much stronger than me and kept his arm securely around me. I looked back and watched Altaïr disappear into the distance, watching helplessly as he too looked back at me. Tears began streaming down my face as his figure started to disappear from my view.

Once again, I felt my life begin shattering to pieces, feeling that I would never have a second chance at seeing him again. Knowing Abel, he would do everything in his power to keep him away from me forever. No way would he allow me to even think of him anymore. That was what made my heart break more than it should have, more than it had to. He could not do this to me, whether he was my fiancé or not. I could not stay away from Altaïr knowing that something was going to happen to him after the wedding. I feared the bastard was going to kill him once everything was over and done with. In fact, I feared he would kill my friends as well so as to keep me from ever trying to escape again. Losing my friends was hard enough, but to lose them along with Altaïr...I would not be able to bear it.

I closed my eyes and screamed at the top of my lungs, almost as if everything would change even though I knew it was impossible;

"ALTAÏR!!!"



Altaïr's POV



"ALTAÏR!!!"

I watched as Cynthia disappeared from my view. For the first time, I felt helpless. My blade was taken, my hands were bounded, and I was outnumbered. I knew I would be able to take them on fairly easily, but how long would that last? Besides, only God knew just what Abel would do to Cynthia. I clenched my fists. If he did anything to her, anything at all, I would stab him where he stood without hesitation. He may have thought that my beloved belonged to him, but I knew for a fact she did not. She was mine; mine and no one else's, especially Abel. It was as I had said before; he would have to pry her from my cold, dead hands if he wanted to even have another chance with her.

I looked over at Diana, who still wore a blank expression as she watched the two disappear from view. After a moment, she lowered her head, auburn hair shielding her blue eyes from view before glancing at me. My eyes narrowed as I began glaring at her, causing her to shrink back a bit before looking away from me.

"Do not glare at me like that...please," she said in a low voice. "It is bad enough that Cynthia is upset with me."

"I should have killed you that day," I hissed, venom etched in my voice. "None of this would have happened if you were dead!"

She did not respond for a long moment before sighing.

"You really think I wanted to do this?" She questioned. "You actually think I wanted to do all of this, bring Abel here to take Cynthia away?"

"Your reasons are quite obvious," I stated. "You wanted to show her how it felt to be betrayed by the people you care about."

She shook her head before looking back at me, her eyes filled with something I did not understand, before speaking.

"You are wrong, Altaïr. You are absolutely wrong."

"How can I be wrong when it is clear?"

"Because you do not know what happened that made me speak of Cynthia's whereabouts!"

I stared at her for a long moment, confusion filling my face as she turned away from me.

"What do you mean what happened that made you speak?"

She remained silent as her gaze fell to the ground, as if she were staring at something that made her freeze in her place. When she did not respond to my question, I followed her gaze toward the floor in the hopes of figuring out what it was that she was looking at. My eyes widened slightly as I realized what it was just as she approached it and picked it up off the ground: the item she picked up was the rose she had given to Cynthia before everything went to hell. It appeared to be in mint condition despite all of the running they had done throughout the city and in the Kingdom. The note was still attached to the stem, unscathed and in perfect condition. It had fallen out of Cynthia's sash during battle; at least that was what I assumed in the first place. However, I was unsure.

Diana brushed off the little dirt that had fallen upon the bright red petals, her touch as delicate as a feather. At that point, her hands began shaking as well as the rest of her body. She appeared to be...greatly upset by the sight of the flower. Clearly, she knew Cynthia was unable to read the note that was attached to it before she had been taken away. Unbeknownst to me, it appeared she wanted her to read it first before Abel arrived to take her away. But why, I wondered. Why would Diana want Cynthia to read it before then? Was it truly important for her to see what it had said? If so, it made me wonder; what exactly did the note say?

As if reading my thoughts, Diana looked back at me, holding the rose close to her heart as if it truly meant something to her. After looking me in the eye, she slowly approached me, opening the note in the process, before stopping in front of me. Watching me for a moment, she sighed and slowly moved the note so I was able to read it with my own two eyes.

"There was a reason," she whispered as I scanned the note, "why I wanted to give this to her as soon as I did."

I scanned the words on it rather quickly before reading through it again after realizing what it just said. Eyes widening slightly, I looked up at her as she slowly closed the note and turned away from me. The words on that little piece of paper stuck to me as she ordered the guards to lift me off the ground. At the point, I did not know what to make of her. I did not know if I should see her as an enemy, or still Cynthia's friend. One thing was for sure, though, one very important detail.

I closed my eyes as I replayed the words in my mind again:

Cynthia,

Please forgive me for the pain that I have inflicted upon you, upon our friends, upon your happiness. Please forgive me for the pain that will be inflicted on you, as well, for it is something I did not wish upon you. No matter how upset I ever become, I would never dream of betraying you.

Diana

She sought redemption, forgiveness, from the woman she still called her friend. Although it may not have said it clearly, due to the events that had taken place afterwards, Diana believed Cynthia would have the heart to forgive her had she read it. Diana wanted Cynthia to know that she never meant for any of this to happen. Unfortunately, she never got the redemption she wanted from Cynthia now...and, from my understanding, she probably never will.