Assassin's Creed Drabbles

↳ damned love

in which deimos has feelings for you, perikles's daughter, and must come to terms with his past actions. 

THIS LOVE WAS doomed from the start, you both knew that, but it didn't make a difference. You knew who he was —the weapon and champion of the Cult of Kosmos, violent and merciless. He knew who you were, too —the bastard daughter of the Athenian leader, Perikles, puissant and sweet-tempered. If the gods had made opposites attract, then there was no better example than you and Deimos.

Fate had you meet at sea. Pirates had taken you and the Athenian crew of the Chelone captive during the voyage to return to Athens, claiming you'd make good ransom upon realizing who your father was. They took the golden necklace pressed with the Owl of Athena and lock of your hair to send to Perikles, demanding more drachmae than a bastard daughter was worth.   

It isn't the Athenians who come for you, but men wearing dark steel armor and masks molded into the visage of a bearded man. He looks like war made flesh. Gleaming in white-and-gold armor under the sun and covered in blood —moving like Ares. Then he finds you, cowering at the stern of the galley, bound to a post. "Are you hurt?" He asks after cutting through the rope, dark eyes flitting across your face.

Aside from your raw and bloody wrists, you're unharmed. You shake your head. "Thank you–" you croak, parched voice trailing off as you do not know your rescuer's name.

"My name is Deimos," he supplements, slipping an arm beneath your knees and another around your back. A startled gasp escapes your lips when Deimos lifts you. Cradling you against his chest, he starts toward the two-masted trireme bearing purple and black sails emblazoned with two entwined yellow serpents. He sits you on one of the benches at the stern of the ship and calls for freshwater, bandages, and medicine.

Deimos kneels in front of you, taking one of your hands he starts scrubbing away the dried blood on your wrist with a piece of damp linen. You flinch —it's obvious he is not accustomed to caring for other's wounds. Though upon seeing your discomfort, he adjusts the pressure and the way he holds your arm. His concentration does not break, not until he's applied a cool salve and wrapped both your wrists in clean strips of linen.

"How did you find me?" You wonder aloud.

"Aspasia," he replies, rough hands still resting on your knees —tawny-gold eyes boring into your own.

THE FEELINGS YOU share for one another develop slowly over secret meetings and are forbidden, but it doesn't stop you. He always meets you at your cousin's villa, just to the north of where Perikles himself resides. Alkibiades is rarely there except for when he hosts symposiums himself. This time he happens to be in Korinth —paying his muses a visit and offering tribute to Aphrodite.

Deimos leans back, resting his head upon one of your thighs —eyes turned toward you and the heavens. He wears the faintest of smiles. "You're so much different when we're alone," you breathe, tracing the scar starting above his brow and crossing over his eye down to his cheek. Deimos doesn't say anything in response, but he knows it's the truth. With you, he can let his guard down. He can be with you without judgment. With you, he regains his humanity and finds himself believing love is not some terrible thing like Chrysis had told him as a boy.

Often, you find yourselves talking about anything and everything well into the night. Now is no different. Deimos tells you of the Southern Sporades —the white sands and turquoise waters. Sunrises and sunsets that could make the gods weep with their beauty. One day he vows to himself I'll take you there.

The question he poses to you catches you off guard. He asks what you want —what your future holds. You aren't sure. You're past the prime age for marriage and too outspoken to make a good housewife. Aspasia and Perikles both had taught you of diplomacy. You'd spent months as an emissary for Athens, traveling Hellas, from Korinth to Makedonia. It was during a return trip from Argos when the pirates took you for ransom. You don't have a complete answer for Deimos, but as long as he's part of your future, you don't mind facing the unknown.