Assassin's Creed 1. Prologue

My story isn't one that's told over generations. Very few people know my name, and even less actually_ care _know it. I wasn't one to really stand out amongst the crowds. To be brutally honest, standing out was something that made me feel rather uncomfortable.

Just let me start off now by telling you that I'm not important. I'm not the savior of the Holy Lands, nor did I lead the Brotherhood through the Renaissance Era. I've never once seen a Piece of Eden with my own eyes, let alone control it like they did. I did, however, suffer tragedy. Yes, this tragedy led me down a path I unknowingly traveled until I was already in the middle of something I never fully understood. But really, that's just classic repetition. That's happened to many of our brothers and sisters, since the very beginning. It's kind of an occupational hazard- we've seen it happen so consistently that most of us are used to feeling anguish and watching the light of someone's life snuff out without batting an eye by the time we achieve a rank past novice.

What makes my story stand out, compared to others? It's just a tale about a young girl who grew up under an abusive father, whose mother would eventually be taken away from her, and who would then be sold into something that would change her life forever. When she would begin to think that that was the end of her tiring journey, it would prove to only be the beginning of something rather… intriguing.

So, to answer the previous question… I guess I'll let you decide.


	2. Facing the Demon

((I'd like to give a shoutout to **Monique Seiei **for being my first reviewer! Thank you very much, and I'm really glad you have high hopes for this story! Thanks for the follows, too!

And I'd like to give you guys a fair warning, as well. The first few chapters are gonna drag slightly; I have to go into Elizabeth's history a bit before things begin to pick up. It won't be long, though! I promise! ;3;

This chapter contains physical and emotional abuse. Don't read if those things upset you easily.))

"_ELIZABETH!_"

A guttural, slurred snarl echoed down one of the various hallways of the huge estate, ripping through the pristine silence that filled the home only seconds before. Thunder rolled gently outside, highlighting the soft rushing sound of rain hitting the roof. The man the voice belonged to trudged down the hallway, eyebrows knitted together in irritation and a frown carving his features as his fist clenched around an empty mug of what was previously rum. His arms swayed slightly as he walked, almost as if the momentum helped him move. He wore classy garments, his dark brown doublet lined with white and displaying shiny, golden buttons down the front. The first few seemed to have been ripped apart, and the fabric was long soaked and limp from a lengthy walk in the storm. The man's hair was disheveled, the wispy, gray sprigs sticking to his forehead as he left a long, soaked trail in his wake, the excess water rolling from him and onto the wooden floors and rugs. Dark circles underlined his aged, bloodshot eyes.

A few seconds later, a young girl stumbled out of her bedroom located at the end of the hallway. Her hazel eyes were wide and darting around in the dark, arms wrapped securely around a tattered stuffed horse. She shut her door behind her gently, turning her back toward it as she stood, waiting. She held the toy in an iron grip with one arm as the other hand wondered unconsciously to the hem of her frilly, pastel blue nightgown, fingers fiddling anxiously with the thin fabric. As her wide orbs flittered toward the end of the hallway, lightening cracked, illuminating the black corridor just enough for her to see the outline of father's hunched figure hobbling toward her. Her heart dropped into her stomach.

This was a consistent routine, and the sense of fear was never something she grew accustomed to. She inwardly cringed as he neared, the stench of alcohol and bile practically smacking her in the face. He grunted at her reaction, ignoring it.

"Where is your mother?"

Elizabeth hesitated, frantically weighing her options, her eyes finding their way to her feet in desperation. She knew that in his current state, he would definitely hurt her mother. He always did. It scared her so much when she would lie in bed at night, listening as her father made his way to their bedroom. Tears would stream down her face as she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hands against her ears, trying to will away her mother's screams and sobbing, her father's shouts and strikes… it never worked.

"_Where is she?!_" he roared suddenly, jarring the young girl into a stuttering mess. The small flames from the candles that were attached to the walls highlighted his crazed look.

"I-I… I don't know, I-"

"What do you mean _you don't know_?" he hissed lowly, leaning down on her level and staring her down. Elizabeth never broke her gaze away from the floor, both arms now strangling the toy she held onto dear life for. Her lower lip quivered as her throat closed up in fear.

"I-is she not in bed?" she suggested timidly, her small voice cracking.

The monster before her stared her down, his glassy, mossy green eyes searching intently. His intoxicated mind was in a stupor, and he was trying to process whether or not what he was just lied to. Elizabeth quivered where she stood, trying to blink away the hot tears that pricked her eyes.

After what felt like hours, he sniffed, righting himself before sloppily wiping his nose and mouth on the back of his hand, dropping the empty mug to the ground. Ellie remained frozen, not daring to look up at him, lest she wished to be ripped apart. Even though this man never physically touched her, he didn't hesitate lashing his tongue out at her. He was always arriving home with harsh words, sneers and angry growls, always bringing her at or over the verge of tears.

Elizabeth _hated_ him. Oh, _how she hated him_.

He then proceeded to turn around, slowly making his way back down the dark corridor. He muttered something along the lines of, "Stupid half-breed… Mistake… Burden…"

Elizabeth dared to peek up at him after a few more seconds, watching warily as he turned the corner. As soon as he was out of her line of sight, she choked a sob and flung her bedroom door back open, slamming and locking it before she threw herself into the soft sheets of her bed. Bringing her knees to her chest, hugging onto the old toy, she wept. She wept for her mother, guilt shredding her stomach as she tried to muffle her pathetic cries in the horse's ratty mane.

Elizabeth had vowed to protect her mother in any way she could. She knew she should've lied, but she also knew that that would only serve to anger the beast further. When he did find her, her mother's beating would've been ten times worse than what it would have been in the first place.

She tugged the covers up over her face, her small fist tangling up in the fabric as she tried desperately to make herself smaller. Even though she'd never met another child in her short eight years, Ellie knew that normal fathers never acted like this. Normal fathers never vanished in the afternoon, not once sending word as to where they were or why they'd left. They never barged into their homes in the middle of the night, only to hunt down and beat the people they were meant to protect. Normal fathers stood by their families, like guardians. But this was _her_ father, and even though her mother always reminded Ellie that she should love him, she never would. She'd be overjoyed, actually, to find the man's body lying in a ditch somewhere. He'd deserve it.

As her sobs dissolved into soft whimpers, the young girl noticed something; silence. Unease began to twist her stomach into knots. What was he doing? Surely, he'd made it into the bedroom by now… It was just a little down the hall next to the one she was currently in.

Slowly, she rose from her bed, shifting the sheets and blanket back over her legs, staring at the wall in front of her in concentration as she listened. With careful movements, she hung her legs over the side, still waiting for the slightest sound. When she would hear the shouting, she'd immediately jump back into her bed, and pray for it all to be over soon.

Ellie sat there for a long, anxious five minutes, eyebrows scrunched as she attempted to listen closer. Nothing.

Giving in, she cautiously crept out of her bed, her feet slowly pressing into the wooden floors of her bedroom. She winced when the planks creaked in protest, but continued onward toward her door. Silently pulling it open, she poked her head out, slyly looking around the dark hall, the soft, flickering orange light from the candles that lined the walls being the only reason she could see. Carefully, the young girl tip-toed out into the open space, and a vulnerable, anxious feeling almost caused her to turn on her heels and go back to bed. When she eventually reached the long rug that covered the floor, she lightly jogged toward the end of the hallway, balancing her weight on the balls of her feet in order to remain silent. She planned to sneak her way around the corner and peer down at her parents' bedroom door.

That was until her foot caught on something damp, bulky, and reeking of alcohol.

She immediately stifled the surprised yelp that tried to shoot past her lips, her arms catching her right before she crashed into the heap that was her father. She frantically maneuvered her way right side-up again, and took a few long strides back away from him. Looking ahead, she noticed that her parents' door remain untouched not even ten feet away. Her father must've passed out before he could turn the corner. A relieved sigh sounded from her as she turned around, making her way back to bed with a hand over her racing heart.

At least her mother would be safe tonight.


	3. Family Ties

((Yeesh, I'm really sorry for not updating in forever. e_e Christmas had rolled around, and then I caught bronchitis, and _then_ final exams came along, and everything just… sucked the motivation right out of me. BUT I've been playing through AC3 again (trying to get 100% synch on everything :U) and it's inspired me to start working on this again. :3

Thank you everyone for your reviews and favorites! Seriously, it makes me really, really happy to know that people actually enjoy reading this. 3))

The Hanon mansion was once home to one of the most renowned men in all of London. Not much was currently known about William these days, as he always kept to himself, and whenever he felt "social" it usually involved heavy drinking and angry yelling. The servants that worked under him had only been there for ten or so years, as he had fired all of his previous staff for whatever reason. The employees often took the liberty of his usual absences from the property to snoop, their biting curiosity hungry for new gossip material.

Shortly after his daughter's birth, he went out to the local tavern down the street for "celebrations." After he took his leave, one of the nursemaids snuck through his private study and found a strange, handwritten letter addressed to him from over a decade ago. Carefully, she peeled back the wax that had enclosed it, and read through its contents. What she discovered had cost the woman her job, but not before she ran and told the whole household.

His current wife, Catherine, was his second wife. The letter had turned out to be a will from his first wife, Annette. She had apparently had complications from giving birth a week before, and she wasn't expected to survive them. She'd been given a week left and decided to leave all of her belongings to William, telling him to do with them as he wished. There was no evidence that the child had ever been a residence of the home, so the staff just assumed that it had been a stillborn or something of the likes. The subject was never brought up again.

Years later, when she was sneaking around the house one day, Ellie had heard some of the workers in a hushed argument. Curiosity piqued, she pressed herself against the wall on the far corner of the hall, and pointed her ear in the direction of the conversation.

"You know were aren't supposed to speak of this! You're going to get us both fired!" the rather husky, older woman hissed, furiously wiping down the short, wooden table below her, her eyes focused solely on her work.

"Oh, take the boot out of your arse, Diana. I'm only curious. You've worked here a lot longer than I have, and I've just… heard some things." the younger lady replied, slight exasperation lacing her voice. She smirked up at the older woman from her place on the floor, legs folded underneath her with a rag in one hand as she cleaned the wooden planks. A small bucket of water was placed beside her knees.

Diana huffed, rolling her eyes in irritation before she glared down at the younger woman. "Isn't it obvious that Catherine isn't Master William's first wife? She _is _twenty years his junior! Older men don't normally marry this late, let alone to a woman that young, anyway." Her attention returned to the table. "They'd met somewhere in Spain around three years before young Elizabeth was born. I do not recall _why_ Master William was in Spain, but he apparently 'rescued' her from the streets."

Ellie pressed harder into the wall, straining to hear the last bit of the conversation as the volume dropped to a murmur. Diana bent down closer to the young woman's level and whispered, "If you ask me, she was just a lowly whore from whatever tavern he'd taken residence at, and she somehow wormed her way into returning to Britain with him."

Anger twisted Ellie's stomach as she listened to the two women snicker. Rounding the corner before she could stop herself, she'd yelled at them to shut their mouths if they knew what was best for them. When their laughter turned to cackling, she promptly stomped over to them, took the bucket in both hands, and dumping it on the younger woman's head. Not only had her actions earned her a beating from Diana, but later that night, when her father had caught word of what she'd done, he didn't miss the opportunity to strike the fear of God into her, never taking the time to listen to her as she tried telling him what the two women had said.

As she lay in bed that night, she wondered if she should tell her mother. Admittedly, she was curious if what they'd said was true, but she didn't want to upset or anger her mother. She'd do anything in her power to make sure she was happy.

Standing on her tiptoes as she strained to reach the mare's mane with her brush, Ellie braced one hand on the animal's shoulder as she drug the bristles through the coarse hair. The pale gray horse was speckled with darker gray spots on her rump, her mane and tail the same darker gray. Her belly was also swollen, showing that she was expecting any day now.

Soft chuckles sounded from behind Ellie, but she ignored the sounds, determination flashing in her eyes. She blinked when two hands scooped her up under her arms and brought her around to sit on her mother's hip, the woman smiling fondly as Ellie grinned. "When do you think the baby will come?" the girl asked curiously, tilting her head slightly.

Catherine's emerald orbs glanced off to the side, giving her own head tilt as she mulled things over. Her skin was slightly darker than Ellie's, thanks to her origins. Her long black hair that was parted down the middle was streaked silver in some places, the contrast striking and giving her a wise air about her. She was tall and slim, but her features were soft and caring, the corners of her eyes and around her mouth only showing a few wrinkles. Finally, she shrugged, looking back at her daughter with a smile. "I do not know, _mi querido_. It should be any day now."

Ellie giggled, leaning into her mother to cup her hands around her ear and whisper, "_Más vale que sea__pronto,__porque__se está poniendo__muy__gorda!_"

Catherine gave a theatrical gasp, lightly tapping her daughter on the nose as she laughed. "Be quite! She might hear you!"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, gesturing to the animal. "She can't understand what we're saying, mama. She only speaks horse."

Catherine chuckled softly and lowered her child back to the ground, stooping down to readjust the rumpled up places on Ellie's green dress. It had always been her favorite color, and nearly everything in her wardrobe was either green or had green in it. "I see you have been practicing your Spanish. You are doing well, _mi hija_."

Ellie smiled as she stood still. "You sang Spanish lullabies to me when I was a baby. It's easy."

Catherine beamed, taking Ellie's wrists in her own hands. "You still are a baby."

"Am not!" Ellie protested, but not before Catherine gently jerked her forward, playfully pretending to eat her as Ellie squirmed, squealing to be let go.

While mother and daughter played, they took no notice of the shadow looming over toward them. Feeling the atmosphere tense, Elizabeth looked up and froze instantly. Catherine glanced behind her and immediately snapped up, shifting her hair behind her shoulders and adjusting her sleeves to look more presentable. She gently moved Ellie behind her legs, the young girl's fingers clinging to the fabric of her mother's dress.

"Good morning, dear." Catherine greeted formally, though her back was ramrod straight and muscles tensed. "What are you doing in the stables?"

William snorted, shaking his head as he brought his hands behind his back. "I own these stables, do I not? I don't need to explain myself." He replied tersely, his words as cold as his stare. Ellie bristled; rarely did the man ever show himself in the morning, so it was certainly odd having him come out to the stables before he took his leave to go "work."

"However," he began, eyes narrowing as he took a step closer to Catherine, who impressively held her ground. "I _do_ know that _you_ should be inside, managing the accounts and keeping the house in check. Not outside, playing with _animals._" At the last word, his eyes fell to Ellie as she hid behind her mother. Scowling, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Jaw going slack for a split second, a growl rose from William's throat as he raised a hand toward Elizabeth, all intentions toward smacking that defiance right off her face until Catherine's own hand shot out and took his wrist in an iron grip. Her other hand remained in a fist at her side as she said lowly through clenched teeth, "You. Will not. Hurt. _Our _daughter."

Wrenching his arm out of her grasp with enough force to make her stumble forward, William brought an accusing finger to her nose, his face a deep crimson from the effort of containing his anger. "And _you_ have no right to tell me what to do! You are nothing, but seeing as how you think _differently_, I'm going to have to put you in your place once more." he snarled, his eyes burning a hole through Catherine's. She idly brought her hands in closer to her body and diverted her gaze from his, shrinking under his rage. Elizabeth remained glued to the spot, eyes wide in terror.

William turned on his heel, fuming. Without saying anything else, he left the two standing there.

Timidly, Ellie touched her mother's hand, and was surprised to find it shaking. Moving to her front, the young girl took her mother's hands in her own as the woman slowly dropped to her knees in defeat, her head bowed and face twisted in a grimace as she tried desperately to keep her emotions under control.

"Mama? Please, don't cry, it'll be okay. He's gone now, it'll be okay." Elizabeth pleaded, her small hands holding her mother's face and tucking her hair behind her ears before her arms wrapped around Catherine's neck. Tears stung Ellie's eyes, and she bit the inside of her lip to keep them back.

Her mother returned her hug tightly, one hand pressing into the back of Ellie's head and combing through her hair comfortingly. "I know, Ellie. I know. Shh…" she whispered when Elizabeth's body racked with silent sobs, her small frame engulfed in her mother's embrace. Gently, Catherine pried her daughter off of her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Look at me." she said firmly, her daughter's watery eyes and trembling lower lip making her heart clench.

"Whatever happens to me, whatever happens to _any_ of us, always remember that I love you with all of my heart. Everything I do is to protect _you_, _mi amor_. Soon, everything will be okay and we will both be free of this, okay?"

Ellie nodded silently and clung to her mother once more, openly crying into her shoulder. Catherine could only rub her back and hold her tighter.

"I promise."


End file.

Assassin's Creed, Adventure, Romance