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

Chapter 16 : Welcome

"Rose, wait !" Arno called the young woman.
But Rosalie was determined not to listen to him and started to climb down the stairs as fast as she could, imitated by her friend behind her. Once she reached the floor, she quickly walked towards the entrance from which they had arrived earlier, but Arno managed to finally catch her arm and make her face him.
"What ?" Rosalie groaned with annoyance.
"Just listen to me." he calmly said and let go of her. "Maybe you should reconsider their offer."
"What ?!" This time, she said it in a surprised way. "Are you serious ?!"
"Look, your parents fought alongside my father years ago for this Creed that they were defending so much. Today, you and I could carry on their legacy and complete their work together !"
Rosalie stared at Arno in disbelief. "Arno, I thought you would be the very first person to tell me not to join the Assassins and put my life at risk !"
"I know..." he sighed. "But it turns out you'll be in less danger if you become an Assassin, learn how to defend yourself and have allies who would protect you in case something happens to you." he then gave her a sad look as he added. "Because whether you decide to join us or not, you'll be in danger anyway as long as you're living by my side."
Rosalie's face relaxed when he said those words. "Arno..."
"I won't always be here to protect you, Rose. And I cannot let you on your own because I always have this fear that something bad is going to happen to you. You are now too involved in this fight to just have a normal life, especially now that you've killed a Templar."
The young woman then looked away, saddened. He was right, she knew too much and caused a lot of trouble to the Assassins, in particularly to Arno. But this was not what she wanted. This was not the life she had planned to live.
"I've been searching for my father's murderer for so many years now." The young man then added. "And now that you've said all of those things about this man earlier... We could maybe track him down together, find answers."
"I'm not seeking vengeance, Arno." Rosalie replied as their gaze met again. Once she saw the confused look on his face, she explained. "My parents died eighteen years ago and the only thing I've tried to do since then was to put myself together." Her eyes started to get teary as her voice lowered. "I've been homeless during my entire teenage life, and I've been through hell. I was begging for food and money all day while it was freezing cold. Almost everyday, I was being harassed by some drunkards..." she paused to forget those painful memories. "I don't want to be broken like this again." she murmured. "I don't want to chase that man, even though he's been the source of my misery. I just want to forget it all and have a normal life. A peaceful life."
Arno's face softened and Rosalie remained silent for a moment as she looked down. She could still feel the young man's eyes on her and she raised her head to look back. "My life has turned upside down during this last month." she added. "I've lost Louis, my job, my home. But I've met you and you have saved me so many times, you have saved Léon, you have given me a new home, a shoulder to cry on. You've become my friend, Arno." she then added. "And now you're honoring my parents legacy..."
"So could you !" he insisted as she looked away, quite annoyed.
"I'm not a fighter, Arno." she replied. "I always run away from my problems, I never have the courage to truly face them. I cannot be a part of... this." And it was the truth. Rosalie never really tried to track down her parents' murderer, nor Louis'.
"I was like that too, before I became an Assassin." he answered back and she stared at him, listening. "My carelessness led to the death of many people I had cherished deeply and I've been incapable of facing my own mistakes. But the Brotherhood, the Creed, it all has changed me for the better." he then took the time to look deep inside the young woman's eyes before he continued. "I've tracked down every single one of them. Except my father's murderer." he said with regret. "But you can change that, Rose. You and I, we could help each other and find the one behind all of this, end him for good. Because if we do not stop him, he will keep hurting us and others even more."
Soon after, the three masters reappeared on the balcony they were standing earlier. They were looking down at Arno and Rosalie who was staring back to them. What Arno was proposing sounded tempting, and he was right : her life was never going to be a "normal" life anyway. So, what did she have to lose ? Pretty much nothing. And what did she have to gain ? A new family, self-confidence and skills, a chance to find out what really happened to her parents and who they were dealing with to finish what they had started, with the help of Arno. Maybe this would help her to finally find her inner peace.
This ideal of trying to move on, forget it all and live for herself only was actually a way for her to hide away from her trauma. She wanted to move on without even making peace with her own past, and that was the reason why her past caught up to her now. Rosalie knew deep down that she would only be happy for real once she would solve this mystery behind her parents' death. The Brotherhood was not only proposing her to join them, they were giving to her a chance to face her issues once and for all.
"If you have made up your mind," Trenet said to Rosalie from the top of the stairs, "then follow us."
Rosalie turned her gaze towards Arno, who slightly encouraged her with the light of a smile on his face. She then glanced at the Mentor and slightly nodded. Then, the three masters and them returned to the very first room where they were earlier. Once they took their places and put back their hoods on, Trenet and Rosalie stared at each other.
"Drink." The Mentor then pointed the chalice that was put behind an Assassin emblem, on a seashell-shaped support below the balcony, in front of the young woman who stared at it doubtfully. Arno was not too far and watched her slowly approach the chalice. Once she was close enough, she lifted it with both of her hands and analyzed the liquid inside. It did not have any particular smell and was transparent, just like water. She had the exact same impression when she brought it to her mouth and drank the entire beverage down under the gaze of the Assassins.
But as soon as she put the empty chalice back down, her head started to spin and her vision was becoming more and more blurred. Rosalie tried to look for Arno, but it seemed like everyone was suddenly gone. At that moment, the young woman thought one thing : she had been poisoned, they had tricked her. But she strangely was not suffering, nor feeling anything else. It seemed more like she was hallucinating, as the chalice disappeared and a tunnel leading underground appeared before her eyes instead. Rosalie slowly started to walk towards it, then carefully downed the stairs.
She was so blinded by the intense light coming from the lower part of the staircase that, as soon as she reached the floor, she almost fell down into the void right at her front.Rosalie then observed the many different paintings that were floating all around her. Five of them were precisely representing different periods of her own life : her birth with her parents, her childhood at the orphanage, her teenage life in the streets, her adulthood with Louis and... her death. This last one was a representation of herself, standing at this very exact moment. Rosalie understood that, if she would decide to go further, it would mark the end of who she was, and the beginning of who she was going to be afterwards. The young woman hesitantly looked behind her.
"Maybe I'm making a mistake." she told herself. "Maybe I'm not ready for this."
But then she thought otherwise. If she did not feel ready, she would not have drunk down that chalice. If she was here, it was only because she felt ready to finally endorse this role that she had inherited from her mother and father. Besides, if she gave up now, she would only dissapoint them, but she would also let Arno down. So Rosalie closed her eyes, slightly raised her arms and let herself fall endlessly.