Assassin's Creed Oneshots

℘ Behind the Desk ℘ Claudia Auditore

Claudia sighed, temporarily filling the silence that surrounded her. Monterigionni was prospering once again, all thanks to her big brother Ezio bringing in money and paying for buildings and shops to be repaired for business. The villa was quiet, however, as usual. Her mother was upstairs, presumably at the bed in that catatonic state since the deaths of her father and brothers…

Hopefully Ezio would bring back more feathers for her as he had taken to doing. Just like little Pertruccio had once done for their mother.

Mario was out and about helping those around the area and Ezio was once again out on business, in his quest to avenge their family against the people who had taken their loved ones away from them: the people who had taken their way of life away.

And while they were out helping, defeating these men Claudia was stuck behind this desk keeping track of businesses under Mario’s demand. It wasn’t glamorous and she didn’t expect what her brother and uncle were doing were glamorous, either, but at least they were making a difference in a big way. They were out and getting their hands dirty while she was stuck in the villa marking numbers and letters down in a book.

She heaved another heavy sigh, placing her chin in hand and fiddling with the quill in hand as her eyes stared at the pages before her, seeing and yet unseeing. Everyday she would get up and check on their mother before coming down here and getting behind the desk once again. It was tedious and anyone with half a brain could do it, so why was she stuck here while they were out there risking their lives?

She wasn’t stupid, she knew what they were doing was dangerous. But Claudia didn’t find it fair that she didn’t get a chance to prove that she could help in that way as well. She didn’t like being stuffed away from sight. She had even tried rebelling, tied to get her way when Mario had declared her to do this tedious job when they had arrived. Claudia had hoped he would spoil her at least one last time, like her father had done. Needless to say, it hadn’t gone that way.

She had been spoiled in life, she knew that. She had chased away all of her suitors back before the tragedy had happened. She was strong and confident, just like Ezio was. Their father even had to raise her dowry to 1,000 florins just to get more suitors!

So why was he the one who had been trained to fight? Why hadn’t she been offered to do so as well? Was it because she had acted immaturely in life? Did she do something wrong to be stuck at a desk? Maybe it was because she had taken things for granted in life before they had been taken away…

Her expression dropped and her shoulders shagged at the line of thinking her mind had taken to producing. She knew that eventually her brother would return and he would need finances for new buildings, repairs, and medicine and weaponry… Claudia knew that her brother might come home injured and she worried for him, making it all the more unbearable to be in the safety of the villa.

Her fists clenched and she shook her head angrily. One day she would fight as well. She would make sure of it. She would not let herself be forever confined behind a desk just so that her family could have peace of mind over her safety, when she could not have peace of mind over theirs as well…