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

Chapter 18 : First Steps

Monday, 10th of November 1794
The Next Morning

Rosalie could not get any sleep that night, she was too excited about the next day. As soon as she heard the roosters crowing outside, she jumped out of her bed and got rid of her nightgown to wear her Assassin uniform for the very first time. The young woman still tried to be as silent as possible, as Arno was surely still sleeping upstairs. Once she wore her bottoms and shirt, she was surprised when she realized how perfectly her clothes fitted her. Arno had not lied, those were made for her.
As soon as she put her boots on, she looked at herself in the little mirror standing at one corner of the room and admired her new uniform. She even tried her new coat and its hood to analyze her outfit completely. She was satisfied by how great the colors matched and could not stop but to stare at her own reflection. At some point, she even started to think she was becoming narcissistic.
As soon as she took her eyes away from the mirror, she started to hesitate about whether she should check on Arno or not. But her heart missed a beat as she heard a door open downstairs. The first thought that came up to her mind was that it was an intruder. But she tried as hardly as she could not to jump into conclusions so quickly and started to carefully walk down the stairs. Unfortunately, the wood kept cracking under her feet at every step she took, ruining her discretion.
"Rose ?" she then heard a familiar voice coming from the kitchen, making her freeze.
"Arno ?" she responded hesitantly. "Is that you ?"
Once she arrived on the ground floor, she saw Arno wearing his own blue Assassin uniform. He was lightly chuckling. "Who else would it be ?" he replied as he put down a bag full of what seemed to be vegetables and cereal on the table, keeping his back turned at the young woman. Once he decided to finally look at her, he directly noticed Rosalie's clothes. His smiled slowly vanished for a moment, but then came back instantly, probably to cover up his surprise. "I can see that you're already prepared for your first training." he then noticed.
Rosalie then approached the bag Arno brought and glanced inside. "Actually, I might need to eat something before we start."
The young man giggled. "Of course, I would not want you to suddenly pass out on the top of Notre-Dame."
Rosalie then turned her gaze towards Arno as her eyes widened. "The top of... Notre-Dame ?" she echoed.
"Well, maybe not today, actually."
The young woman then let out a sigh of relief.
"Probably tomorrow though." he then playfully added.
Rosalie then looked back to him, but as soon as she saw he was not serious, she rolled her eyes and shook her head while both of them chuckled. Rosalie then took an apple out of the bag and bit in it. She then pulled the chair next to her to sit while Arno leaned against the counter, watching her with his arms crossed upon his chest.
"You woke up early this morning." she remarked with her mouth half-full.
He shrugged. "I don't sleep a lot usually."
"Why is that ?" she asked, then continued after a short pause. "Are you thinking too much ?"
"I don't know... maybe."
« Here comes the mysterious Arno again » Rosalie thought. She then instead asked. "Aren't you tired at all ?"
He shook his head in negation as he looked down. "For a couple of months, I had no more energy to do anything. I just had given up. But now, I feel better."
"I can see that." Rosalie replied with a little smile. She then continued as she stared at her apple. "The first time I met you, you looked quite tired. Physically... and mentally too I suppose. I even remember asking myself what you could possibly have lived to be in such bad shape." She then raised her gaze towards Arno and their eyes met. "For I have recognized that tiredness in you, it felt so familiar..." She then paused for a moment, her gaze lost somewhere in front of her, and continued. "I too have been in a dark place for years, and I've found my way out thanks to Louis. But after I lost him, I thought I was probably going to return to that place."
She breathed deeply as she silently stayed still. Arno did not take his eyes away from her, on the contrary, he was trying to read her mind, know what she was thinking about. But he never did. The young woman stared back at him and finished with a little smile. "But I haven't. Thanks to you." After the man returned her smile, she added. "Still, I keep thinking about Louis everytime I go to sleep. I think I always will."
"That's normal." Arno replied. "You cared about him deeply and he cared about you."
Rosalie looked down and smiled to herself. "Yeah." she whispered. Soon enough, she raised her head and asked. "And you ?" The man frowned at first, so she hesitantly explained. "Do you think about... Élise ?"
Élise. As soon as he heard that name, numerous memories unlocked inside Arno's mind. Those memories all now seemed so distant to him, as if centuries had passed since Élise was gone. But no, last summer, she was still alive and standing by his side. Last month, he had not even met Rosalie yet. And now, he had stopped visiting her grave, reading her letters. He even was starting to forget her voice, how it sounded like, and Arno was now terrified. How could he forget her voice ?
"Arno ?" Rosalie shyly called him and Arno realized he had zoned out for too long. The young woman could see the worried look mixed with sorrow that he gave to her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." she then apologized with embarrassment, gathering that she might have reopened a deep and painful wound inside the man's heart.
"It's fine." he lied with a little smile. "And yes, I do."
Rosalie slowly nodded at him, not wanting to insist any more. She tried to change the topic as she took a deep breath. "So, what do you have in plan for me today ?" she asked as she put the apple core on the table and turned her gaze towards Arno who straightened up and uncrossed his arms.
"Well, I first have to teach you the basics." he replied. "You must learn how to hide in plain sight, detect your enemies from a certain distance and all. Then we will get into more serious stuff."
"Like ?"
"How to kill."
They both stared at each other with silence for some time. Rosalie tried as hard as she could to look serene but Arno could feel her tension.
"So, as I've told you yesterday, you will have to learn how to use your hidden blade correctly, and other types of weapons, which means that I'll also teach you how to fight." he added.
"Right." Rosalie answered in a monotonous voice.
Arno tried to decode her thoughts, thinking that her lack of expressiveness was a form of defense mechanism, but then just said. "We will take our time. As I've said, this part is for later."
"Yeah." she just nodded in the same tone.
The young man then decided to act normal instead of forcing her to speak her mind, and continued. "So, today, we are going to test your Eagle Vision. See if you were born with it or not."
"D'accord (Okay). And how are you going to do that ?"
"Well, there's something I want to show you upstairs which might help." Arno said as he led towards the stairs.
Rosalie frowned at him, confused. "What is it ?"
Ignoring her question and then seeing that she was still standing at the middle of the room, the man stopped on the stairs and looked back at her. "Aren't you coming ?"
The young woman sighed and decided to follow him, knowing that he was not going to say anything more anyway, unless she obeyed him. They then both silently climbed up the stairs and, as soon as he reached the upper floor, Arno started to move away Rosalie's dresser that was standing against the wall
"What are you doing ?" she asked him, but — unsurprisingly — did not get any answer.
Once he dragged the dresser far enough, he turned back towards the blank wall and seemed like he was observing something on it. His eyes then fell on Rosalie who was still standing near the stairway, observing him.
"Approach." Arno told her.
The young woman frowned at first, but still listened and slowly stepped closer to him. As soon as she was near enough, the man grabbed both of her shoulder and gently made her turn towards that same wall. Rosalie's body started to tense, not expecting that contact from Arno.
"I want you to look at this wall." he told her.
"To look at what exactly ? There's nothing..."
"Open your eyes widely and concentrate." he calmly cut her off.
The young woman sighed with annoyance. She was getting tired of Arno not telling her clearly the point of what he wanted her to do. He always was so vague about everything, and Rosalie was exhausted of trying to guess his thoughts all the time.
Arno then slowly took his hands away from her but she still felt his presence right behind her back. He then said in a soft voice. "Please, just trust me."
Rosalie then started to relax and decided to give him a chance by doing what he said. She started to forget everything around her and put her entire attention on the blank wall and, soon enough, its blankness started to be filed with a couple of drawings. Childish drawings, actually. The young woman could not hide her shock as she observed them with this strong feeling of familiarity. She slowly stepped closer to them and then crouched down in front of the wall to analyze the drawings more properly.
As she passed her fingers over a figure of a little girl, she murmured. "How is that possible ?"
"I suppose this is a representation of you and your parents." Arno remarked from behind.
"Yeah." Rosalie whispered and a smile grew on her face as she added. "I've even drawn them with their hoods on !"
A wholesome smile grew on the young man's face as he noticed that detail.
"I remember when my mother saw this. She scolded me because we did not own this house." she then turned her head towards Arno. "But I guess it was worth it, wasn't it ?" The man then approached as she stood back up. Her eyes were still looking at the old wall. "I can't believe that they haven't erased them."
"I think they did try to erase them, actually." Arno replied. "But the traces still remained. For us, at least."
"When did you notice those drawings ?" she then asked him.
"Yesterday, as soon as I've walked in the room. A part of the drawings was sticking out from behind the dresser. When I've seen what it was, I instantly knew you made it." he said with a smile which she returned.
"I truly wonder what other surprises this house has for us left."
Arno nodded back, and then continued. "This has at least proven to us that you indeed have an Eagle Vision. As you know now, your Eagle Vision can help you to see things that average people cannot see, but not only representations on walls." Rosalie kept listening as a student would listen to its teacher, waiting for him to continue. "Now, I'm going to ask you something tougher."
He then approached the thick curtains nearby that were hiding the window giving a view on the street below, and the young woman followed him.
"I want you to spot as many people that are down in the street as you can."
Rosalie looked at him at first, and then started to turn her head to look through the curtains, but as she raised her hand to do so, Arno gently grabbed her wrist and lowered it before she could.
"Non. Without looking." he smiled.
Rosalie still had her eyes on him as he looked back. "You cannot be serious." she said.
"Deadly serious."
"Arno, that is impossible."
"The impossible is the purview of every Assassin." he strongly affirmed. "Now focus."
"And how will you know that I'm not cheating ?" she then asked with a smart smile on her face.
He smiled again. "Nice try, but let me remind you that I have an eagle vision too."
Rosalie rolled her eyes and sighed as Arno let out a little chuckle. The young woman faced the curtains and closed her eyes to concentrate as she took a deep breath. Once she reopened them, she first tried to delimite the appartements nearby inside her head. The street wherein they lived was not so narrow but not very busy either. And as it was early in the morning, there were practically no one outside. That was, at least, what Rosalie thought until she felt the presence of one of their neighbors.
"I think there's someone..." she started as she frowned. "Yes, it is a woman, she's standing at the front door of the appartement across the street. I think she's sweeping the dust away. I can hear the sound of the broom."
The light of a smile grew on Arno's face as he observed the woman she was talking about. Rosalie's attention then turned to the laughter of a child followed by a conversation between that same woman and the little boy.
"Léon, don't go too far ! It's cold outside !" she heard the woman yell and Rosalie stopped breathing, thinking for a second that it was Madame Margot.
"Oui maman (Yes mom)." the boy replied, making the young woman let out a sigh of relief. Léon never called Madame Margot « Maman ». Besides, the child's voice did not sound like him at all.
Rosalie remarked that the last time she had ever talked to Madame Margot was during Louis' funerals. Rosalie even forgot that she had to make new mittens for Léon as she was not knitting a lot lately. Even if she did, she could not give them to him as going to Franciade and visiting the orphanage would mean putting the little boy and the old woman in danger. Rosalie still felt terrible for not being able to talk to Léon and explain to him why she could not come to see him anymore. She did not want him to think that she had forgotten or abandon him. But he probably hated her right now for disappearing so suddenly.
"Rose ?" Arno called her, making her wake up and look back to him. "You've been quiet for a while." he added with a little smile.
Rosalie glanced at him with her mouth slightly open, but it took her some time to finally speak while she blinked several times. "I'm sorry... I was lost in my thoughts..."
"It's fine." he reassured her. "Maybe we should continue this later. We probably will have to train your eagle vision a little bit to improve it though."
He then gently held her left shoulder, making her turn her gaze at him. Once she quietly nodded and smiled to him, he did the same and let go of her before he led upstairs, leaving Rosalie alone with her worries.