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“Where the hell is she?”

“Kiki, just calm down and I'll tell you.”

“Calm down? Calm down! Don't tell me to calm down! You expect me to calm down after getting a phone call from Ben telling me that my daughter is stuck in a coma?!”

“Kiki, we'll fix it, I promise.”

“You'd better! I want her home right now goddammit!”

“Look, if it were as easy as pulling a switch, I would do it. But I can't. This kind of thing takes a while to figure out.”

“Goddammit… I should've seen this coming… I should've never let her take that Abstergo job. I never wanted her to have anything to do with the Assassins!”

“Why?”

“Because stuff like this happens and she gets hurt! I get hurt! All this stuff has ever brought me is pain! I never wanted her to go through things like this!”

“You don't think I wanted her to be safe too? You're not the only one here that loves her, Kiki!”

“I know! I… I know…”

“What happened to you? Way I hear it, you were such a happy gal.”

“That was before… before…”

“What? Did something happen when Ava was a kid?”

“I… she wouldn't remember it… I spent my whole parenting career trying to scrub those memories clean… I know she wouldn't be able to handle the memory of what happened... that night…”

“...Kiki, what happened?”

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June 5, 2016; Animus Island

Ava gently opened her eyes, fluttering her lashes as her vision unblurred. She rubbed her aching head again and sat up straight. She took a look around the island.

“Des?” she called out.

A flash of light appeared on a rock in front of her as a figure took form, Desmond's figure. He looked at her, his smile not quite the same as it usually is. It was a smile that seemed to hide something somber, very very somber.

“What?” she asked him. “No comedic entrance this time around?”

He shrugged. “Didn't really think it fit the occasion,” he said.

“What occasion?”

“Well, you've only got one more repressed memory to dig through. You've almost got that part of your mind fully synched up.”

“Does that mean I'm close to the end?”

“It does indeed. One more of your memories, a couple more of theirs, and you should be back to the real world. You've done awesome, Ava. There's a good chance you'll make it out before the Animus deletes you.”

“Well that's reassuring. God, I can't wait to get out and stretch my legs. Like… actually stretch my actual legs.”

Desmond laughed. He stood and walked over to help her to her feet. “Well you still gotta make sure you get there first, kiddo,” he said. “Do you think you're ready?”

“For the repressed memory? Yeah of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

“Ava, you aren't gonna like what you see in there.”

Her smile faded as his voice and expression grew much more somber. She didn't like that look...

“What is it?” she asked. “What's through those pillars?”

“Ava, I can't tell you that. You have to go in there without hesitation. You need to do this of your own free will or else the Animus will kick you out early from desynchronization.”

“Desmond…”

“Sorry kiddo. No spoilers.”

“I… Fine…”

He patted her shoulder. “I'll be waiting outside for you,” he told her, and then he began to lead her over towards the final memory column, the final piece to the puzzle that she had forgotten long ago. Desmond sat down on a rock, silently, as though he were at a funeral. Ava still hated the look of dread in his eyes. She looked up at the last pillars. They seemed to look back down at her ominously. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was time she learned the truth. She slowly put one foot in front of the other, inching in as if in cold water. She felt her body pass through the entrance, into the digital limbo beyond. She felt it take her and morph her mind and body. She felt herself shrinking down once more, felt her mind losing years by the second. She felt the heaviness in her eyes as she sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. She was so scared. Even in her parents’ arms, she was more scared than she had ever been in her life.

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December 30, 2000; Minneapolis, Minnesota

“We're going to be fine, sweetie,” her father whispered softly to her. “I promise. We'll be safe here.”

“Daddy, what's happening?” Ava asked him. “I'm scared… I don't like this place.”

“I know, sweetie, I know. We won't be here long, I promise. Daddy's trying to call up Granny Amoldine to see if we can go to her house.”

“When do we get to go back to our house?”

“When it's safe, I promise.”

“Ava,” Kiki called to her daughter, “come to mommy, sweetie. Let daddy think.”

Ava looked up at her father, who gave the biggest smile he could and kissed her on the forehead before letting her wander over to Kiki. Kiki picked her up and carried her towards the kitchen.

Ava looked as miserable as she felt. She didn't like this place. It was an old scary building way out on the edge of town. She hated it. She wanted to go home. She was scared. She had no idea how her mother could stay this calm or how her grandmother could be able to sleep in the basement right now. It was so quiet out here. Her father made it sound like that was the point, but she didn't understand. She just wanted to know what was going on.

Kiki grabbed a sandwich out of the mini fridge and started eating it as she sat down at the table with Ava.

“I wanna go home, mommy…” Ava told her. Kiki gave her an apologetic look.

“I know, pumpkin, I know… Mommy does too. But daddy wants us all to be safe, so we have to stay here.”

“Is somebody gonna hurt us?”

“No no no sweetie, I promise. No one will hurt us while daddy is here. He's a strong man, and he loves us very much.”

Aren came in through the doorway a moment later and sat down with his family.

“Any luck reaching Amoldine?” Kiki asked him.

“Yes. Mum said she can arrange for one of the Brotherhood’s ships to come pick us up in New York. If we're careful, we should be able to make it safely to London.”

“I don't know, Aren…”

“I'll protect you, don't worry. I'd sooner be blasted into swiss cheese than let you two get hurt.” He turned toward Ava and smiled. “That sound fun, princess? Boat ride to granny’s?”

Ava nodded quietly. Aren couldn't help but look a bit more somber. He pulled her close and hugged her tight. “Daddy will protect you, don't worry,” he said.

“Okay daddy…”

Aren sighed and laughed. “God I was hoping this wouldn't be your introduction to this,” he said, more to himself than to his daughter. “I was going to sit you down in the living room when you turned 10 and tell you all about it.”

“About what?”

“Aren…” Kiki cautioned.

“Kiki, she deserves to hear this.”

Kiki opened her mouth, but then simply sat back and nodded, gently stroking her daughter's hair as Aren went on.

“Daddy used to be a soldier, did you know that, Ava?”

“No daddy.”

“Ah yes, it was a long time ago. It was a fight called the Falklands War. A small little war, it was, between the British and the folks down in Argentina. Everyone wanted these little islands in South America for… strategic sheep purposes or something, I don't know. And your dear old dad was a soldier down there. Now you see, daddy has a job fighting a group of evil people.”

“Like a superhero?” Ava asked.

Aren chuckled. “Kind of like a superhero, yes,” he said. “It's my job to save people from bad guys that want to take over the world. Now there's one man—I guess you could call him my arch-nemesis—named Morgenster. Cole Morgenster. He's a very bad man. I met him during the War and found out he was looking for something down there that would help him with his evil plan. It wasn't actually there though and so daddy stopped him. But Morgenster found it eventually, and he had to be stopped again. It's been a constant back and forth and back and forth ever since.”

“Is he the bad guy that wants to hurt us, daddy?”

“He is. He and all of his evil friends want to hurt all of daddy's friends and family. That's why we have to stay here for a little bit.”

“I'm scared, daddy…”

He hugged her tight. “I know, sweetie, I know… And I'm so sorry. But I promise, daddy isn't gonna let anything happen to you or mummy. I'll protect you both, okay?”

“Okay…”

“Good girl. You're very brave. You'll be amazing at daddy's job someday… Now though, how about we get some rest?”

Ava rubbed her eyes. She was rather tired, especially after stressing as much as she had been. She nodded her head, and so her father hoisted her up and carried her to her bed for the night. Both he and Kiki tucked in their daughter, kissed her on the forehead, and left her to fall asleep after saying goodnight.

Ava's eyes felt heavier and heavier. She drifted off to dreamland, hoping that sometime soon they'd be away from this place, hoping they'd be able to go back home.

------------

December 31, 2000; Minneapolis, Minnesota

The creaking was the first thing that woke her up.

Ava sprung up in bed, eyes wide in fear. It came from downstairs. Was it the bad people? Did they find them? Did she need to go get her parents? She decided she had to find out.

She quietly slid out of her bed and wandered toward the door. She did her best to open it without making it squeak, and then she slipped out into the hall.

She had her favorite doll in her hand, and she hugged it tight as she shivered from both the cold and the fear. She slowly walked down the stairs, and she heard another creak coming from one of the lower rooms. She gasped fearfully, but continued her trek. She hopped off the last step, walked around the corner, and froze at the door frame of the closest room. Her breathing was heavy, though she tried to keep it quiet. She looked left and right, trying to make out a shape. She couldn't see anything. She almost started thinking that she had just imagined the creaks. She wanted to run back to bed, and so that's what she decided to do.

And then she was grabbed.

She screamed in fear, but her mouth was suddenly covered up by a big gloved hand. She looked up through tears of terror at the hands owner. He was dressed in a deep black coat with a blood red dress shirt underneath. He was pale, unnaturally pale, with a grin that stretched the wrinkles on his face.

“Shhhh,” he told her. “We wouldn't want to wake up mommy and daddy, now would we?”

She wriggled and squirmed and cried into his glove, trying to break free. The man kept her in a hold as he used his hand to pull a massive knife out of his coat, making Ava cry even more.

“The Assassins are such pathetic creatures,” he menacingly whispered to her as he brought the knife close to her face. “You rely so much on things like love and family. You let yourselves become weak and vulnerable just to protect those values. It's stupid, really. It's no wonder we've nearly annihilated you all already. All it takes is the right push in just the right place…” He brought the knife close to her throat. “And you all fall apart.”

He tensed his muscles, about to slide the knife across her neck, but he suddenly stopped when a bang echoed across the room and something smacked him hard in the shoulder. He grunted in pain as she reeled back while clutching his bleeding shoulder. He dropped Ava, and she immediately started screaming and running. She was grabbed again when she reached the stairs, by a different person this time, a tall man who rushed her behind him. She looked up. It was her father. He had his hood up and a gun aimed at the bad man.

“Stay the hell away from my daughter, you Templar dog!” he shouted at the man. Ava had never seen her father so angry and serious.

The man in black winced in pain as he stood back up, ignoring his shoulder now and smiling with that toothy grin.

“Aren,” he laughed. “It's been a long time, hasn't it? Haven't you heard? There's a purge going on. I just came to invite you to the party.”

“I'm giving you one warning, Morgenster,” Aren spat, “leave my family alone right bloody now before I put a hole between your eyes!”

Morgenster laughed again. “See that's funny, Aren,” he said. “It's funny that you actually think you have a chance of walking out of here alive.” He started walking towards the two of them. Aren kept Ava behind his back as he started slowly backing up up the stairs.

“See, the fates are on my side, Aren,” Morgenster continued as he advanced, twirling his knife for show. “I've been planning this song before you were even born. I've accounted for everything. Right now, I'm exactly on the right course.”

“I don't know what you're planning, but I will not let you hurt my family. They're innocents in this! They don't deserve to be hurt!”

“I'm a Templar, Mr. Arlie. I don't hold the same idiotic sentiments as you and your kind. We spill any blood we need to in order to get what we want. It's been that way since the dawn of humanity.”

“Go to hell.”

“Tell me where the Pick of Eden is, and maybe I will.”

“Never!”

Aren and Ava had reached the balcony at the top of the stairs. Morgenster continued his advance, cutting them off from the stairwell.

“Should I kill your daughter or your wife first, I wonder?” Morgenster taunted. “I just can't decide.”

Aren grit his teeth and turned red with fury. He aimed his gun high and let off a shot. Ava screamed at the sudden bang, and the bullet went smacking into the wood next to Morgenster's face. The villain laughed. “You've lost your aim, Aren. Getting old?”

“Oh I'm sorry. I've been a bit busy raising my family to practice,” Aren snarkily snapped.

“How drab. I was hoping this would be a much tougher fight.”

“Ava, run to mummy.”

“What?” Ava asked.

“Run to mummy now! Hurry! Go!”

Ava hesitated for a split second, but suddenly her father lunged forward and tackled Morgenster to the ground. The two began to wrestle, viciously hitting one another and trying to get an opening for their weapons. Ava's hesitation was gone. She turned on her heels and sprinted towards her parents’ bedroom screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!”

She slammed the door to the bedroom open and went over to vigorously shake her mother awake.

“Mommy! Mommy! Help!”

Kiki sat up groggily and rubbed her eyes. “Hmm? What's wrong sweetie?” she asked.

Her question was answered by the sounds of gunshots from outside. Kiki was suddenly wide awake.

“Oh my god! Aren!” she panicked. She practically jumped out of bed and grabbed her daughter. She sprinted out the door and looked just in time to see Aren and Morgenster tumble over the balcony and onto the floor below. “Aren!” she screamed.

Aren pinned Morgenster for a small bit, trying to use one of his hands to drive his hidden blade down onto the Templar’s neck. “Kiki!” Aren yelled up to her. “Get Ava out of here!”

“I'm not leaving you!”

“Just go! I can handle this!” Morgenster managed to wriggle his arm free and he sucker punched Aren in the face, sending him reeling backwards. Morgenster grabbed his knife again and tackled his opponent. The two went back to wrestling. Both were covered in blood and scars. It made Ava cry harder and harder.

“Go!” Aren shouted for the last time.

Kiki, now crying herself, finally nodded and rushed back into her room with Ava. She set her daughter down on the bed and rushed over to the closet to try and find her emergency supplies. She eventually found the duffle bag containing said supplies, and she rushed over to go pick up Ava before running back towards the door.

However, the door suddenly flew open just as she was about to put her hand on the knob. Morgenster grinned as he raised his gun up towards her face. Kiki screamed, and he was about to pull the trigger, only to be stopped by Aren jumping onto his back. “Leave them alone!” he shouted as he and Morgenster went back to the ground. Kiki instinctively recoiled to the back corner of the room with Ava and cowered in fear.

Aren flicked out his hidden blade again, and tried to slice and stab at his foe to no avail. Morgenster tried to shoot Aren, but only managed to land one shot in his shoulder. Aren still fought like a tiger, however. There was no way he was about to let his family get hurt by a monster like this.

Aren pulled Morgenster to his feet and slammed him against the wall, punching him as he did. Morgenster, face bleeding profusely, snarled, and grabbed Aren by his collar as well. The two struggled, each trying to slam each other into anything hard they could find. With an animalistic war cry, Aren yanked Morgenster towards the window and slammed him into it, shattering the glass and sending shards of it flying everywhere. He tried to push Morgenster out of it, but Morgenster pushed back. The Templar managed to spin the two of them around and swap their places. He grabbed Aren by the head and tried to shove his neck down onto a piece of glass that was still jutting out from the windowsill. Aren grunted in struggle and kicked Morgenster in the shin. The two fell backwards again and continued to hack and slash at one another. Both of them had blood-stained outfits. Both of them had terrible wounds. Both were breathing heavily and struggling to stand. Morgenster stumbled back towards the window, leaning against the frame. Aren fell back towards his family, leaning against the bedpost. He held his gun up and aimed at the Templar.

“I will not let you hurt my family,” he said, his swollen, bloody lip making the words come out a bit muffled. “You hear me?”

Morgenster held his bleeding side and scowled at the three. He looked down at the terrified Ava, saw the utter fear in her tearful eyes.

He grinned. “Loud and clear,” he said.

He raised his gun, the speed surprising for how bad a shape he was in, and he shot Aren in the foot. Aren screamed and bent over in pain, and then Morgenster let off another shot, and another, and another, each smacking Aren straight in the chest. Kiki screamed in terror as her husband's chest became a fountain of red, and he collapsed to the ground. Morgenster used his last bit of strength to push himself out the window, falling to the ground and disappearing into the night.

The room went dead silent after Aren smacked into the floor with a squishy thud. Kiki was screaming, crying vigorously. Ava simply stared in terror, the screams shaken out of her. She went pale as she saw her father painfully try to roll over to look at his family. He tried to lift his hand towards them as he struggled to breathe and blood poured out of his wounds.

“I… I'm sorry…” he wheezed. “I'm so sorry I let you down… I love you so… much…”

His hand dropped to the floor. His whole body went limp. He was still. Completely still. Kiki wailed louder and louder, screaming her husband's name. Ava continued to stare. She felt the tears rolling down her face, but she wasn't able to express the pain that drove them. She felt herself shaking, quivering as her body tried to figure out how to possibly express what she was feeling. The door creaked a bit as Wanbli suddenly ran in to see was going on, followed by her rushing up to hug Kiki in a desperate attempt to comfort her. For what seemed like forever, that's how it was. Just Kiki crying, Wanbli struggling to manage the situation, Ava in shock, and the man they cared about the most lying dead in a puddle of his own blood.

Ava sat there, watching and watching and crying more and more as time went on. She couldn't take her eyes off the body. The scene replayed over and over and over again in her mind and it refused to stop. Even as the world around her seemed to fall apart and be replaced by the digital void of the Animus’s programming, it still clung to her mind like closing her eyes after looking at a bright light. Even as she sat there, growing back to her present size and feeling a gentle hand lead her out to the Island, the image remained. Her lip started trembling and she started breathing in raggedy sputters.

She stepped out onto Animus Island, barely even noticing Desmond was the one leading her out. She felt the tears soak her cheeks as she started huffing and crying as what she saw soaked into her mind. Desmond put a hand on her shoulder, and as she began to break down, he hugged her tight.

“Just let it out, kiddo,” he told her.

And she did.

She wailed like a wounded animal, her cries reverberating across the Island. She clutched Desmond as tight as she could as emotion swam across her whole body and the pain of the truth engulfed her.

“He's dead…” she cried. “My dad is dead… I… All this time I thought he was just gone, that he just left or something. But he's dead! They killed him, Desmond, they killed him!”

“I'm so sorry, Ava…”

She shoved her face into his shoulder and cried even more. Desmond patted her back, trying his best to comfort her. “He died protecting you, though,” he told her. “He died protecting his family. He was a good man, Ava.”

“He loved us so much…” Ava sniffled. “I remember it all… He loved me and mom so much… All he ever wanted to do was help people…”

“And he did. He saved countless lives, including yours.”

“He would've saved so many more if… if…” Her hands balled into fists and her face went red. “If that bastard Morgenster hadn't killed him!” she screamed. “I'm gonna rip his goddamn throat out! I'm gonna hunt him and his stupid Pick of Eden down and… and…” Her anger started turning back into sorrow as her father's face reappeared in her mind. She started crying again.

“He wouldn't want you to carry on this fight out of anger or revenge, you know,” Desmond told her. “He never did. Like you said, he did what he did because he wanted to help people.”

“I know but…”

“Ava, you've seen the truth, the whole truth. Now it's time for you to decide what to do with it.”

“I… my dad wanted me to fight with him. He was hoping to bring me into the Brotherhood when I was older.”

“But what do you want?”

Ava sat there in tearful silence for a long while as the question mulled over in her head. She thought back to everything. She thought back to her mother and how much light Aren had brought into her life. She thought about Morgenster and how many innocent people he had hurt in order to get what he wanted. She thought back to the day Morgenster had her kidnapped and tortured in Kahente's memories. She thought about Ben and Ruby and Carter and Chelsea and how kind they had been to her, about how even when she was such a terrible person to them, they still loved her dearly and are doing everything they can to help her. She thought about the day she quit the Brotherhood, and how much she regretted that decision. She looked over at the main memory gate, her passage out of this mess, her chance to escape. Her chance to make things right.

She made her new decision.

She stood up and walked over towards the gateway.

“So?” Desmond asked her as she walked across the island. “Have you made up your mind then? Have you decided who you want to be?”

Ava stopped right in front of the gateway. She closed her eyes, wiping her tears away.

“I'm done being afraid,” she said. “I'm done trying to run. I'm done ignoring the responsibility I've been given.”

She turned her head. She saw Desmond sitting there, smiling bright. She took a deep breath and made her declaration: “I am an Assassin.”

And with that, she pulled her hood up and pushed herself into the memory gate. She let the void take her, and the last thing she thought before the machine warped her back to the ice age was, “Thank you, dad.”

Description
“Where the hell is she?”

“Kiki, just calm down and I'll tell you.”

“Calm down? Calm down! Don't tell me to calm down! You expect me to calm down after getting a phone call from Ben telling me that my daughter is stuck in a coma?!”

“Kiki, we'll fix it, I promise.”

“You'd better! I want her home right now goddammit!”

“Look, if it were as easy as pulling a switch, I would do it. But I can't. This kind of thing takes a while to figure out.”

“Goddammit… I should've seen this coming… I should've never let her take that Abstergo job. I never wanted her to have anything to do with the Assassins!”

“Why?”

“Because stuff like this happens and she gets hurt! I get hurt! All this stuff has ever brought me is pain! I never wanted her to go through things like this!”

“You don't think I wanted her to be safe too? You're not the only one here that loves her, Kiki!”

“I know! I… I know…”

“What happened to you? Way I hear it, you were such a happy gal.”

“That was before… before…”

“What? Did something happen when Ava was a kid?”

“I… she wouldn't remember it… I spent my whole parenting career trying to scrub those memories clean… I know she wouldn't be able to handle the memory of what happened... that night…”

“...Kiki, what happened?”

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June 5, 2016; Animus Island

Ava gently opened her eyes, fluttering her lashes as her vision unblurred. She rubbed her aching head again and sat up straight. She took a look around the island.

“Des?” she called out.

A flash of light appeared on a rock in front of her as a figure took form, Desmond's figure. He looked at her, his smile not quite the same as it usually is. It was a smile that seemed to hide something somber, very very somber.

“What?” she asked him. “No comedic entrance this time around?”

He shrugged. “Didn't really think it fit the occasion,” he said.

“What occasion?”

“Well, you've only got one more repressed memory to dig through. You've almost got that part of your mind fully synched up.”

“Does that mean I'm close to the end?”

“It does indeed. One more of your memories, a couple more of theirs, and you should be back to the real world. You've done awesome, Ava. There's a good chance you'll make it out before the Animus deletes you.”

“Well that's reassuring. God, I can't wait to get out and stretch my legs. Like… actually stretch my actual legs.”

Desmond laughed. He stood and walked over to help her to her feet. “Well you still gotta make sure you get there first, kiddo,” he said. “Do you think you're ready?”

“For the repressed memory? Yeah of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

“Ava, you aren't gonna like what you see in there.”

Her smile faded as his voice and expression grew much more somber. She didn't like that look...

“What is it?” she asked. “What's through those pillars?”

“Ava, I can't tell you that. You have to go in there without hesitation. You need to do this of your own free will or else the Animus will kick you out early from desynchronization.”

“Desmond…”

“Sorry kiddo. No spoilers.”

“I… Fine…”

He patted her shoulder. “I'll be waiting outside for you,” he told her, and then he began to lead her over towards the final memory column, the final piece to the puzzle that she had forgotten long ago. Desmond sat down on a rock, silently, as though he were at a funeral. Ava still hated the look of dread in his eyes. She looked up at the last pillars. They seemed to look back down at her ominously. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was time she learned the truth. She slowly put one foot in front of the other, inching in as if in cold water. She felt her body pass through the entrance, into the digital limbo beyond. She felt it take her and morph her mind and body. She felt herself shrinking down once more, felt her mind losing years by the second. She felt the heaviness in her eyes as she sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. She was so scared. Even in her parents’ arms, she was more scared than she had ever been in her life.

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December 30, 2000; Minneapolis, Minnesota

“We're going to be fine, sweetie,” her father whispered softly to her. “I promise. We'll be safe here.”

“Daddy, what's happening?” Ava asked him. “I'm scared… I don't like this place.”

“I know, sweetie, I know. We won't be here long, I promise. Daddy's trying to call up Granny Amoldine to see if we can go to her house.”

“When do we get to go back to our house?”

“When it's safe, I promise.”

“Ava,” Kiki called to her daughter, “come to mommy, sweetie. Let daddy think.”

Ava looked up at her father, who gave the biggest smile he could and kissed her on the forehead before letting her wander over to Kiki. Kiki picked her up and carried her towards the kitchen.

Ava looked as miserable as she felt. She didn't like this place. It was an old scary building way out on the edge of town. She hated it. She wanted to go home. She was scared. She had no idea how her mother could stay this calm or how her grandmother could be able to sleep in the basement right now. It was so quiet out here. Her father made it sound like that was the point, but she didn't understand. She just wanted to know what was going on.

Kiki grabbed a sandwich out of the mini fridge and started eating it as she sat down at the table with Ava.

“I wanna go home, mommy…” Ava told her. Kiki gave her an apologetic look.

“I know, pumpkin, I know… Mommy does too. But daddy wants us all to be safe, so we have to stay here.”

“Is somebody gonna hurt us?”

“No no no sweetie, I promise. No one will hurt us while daddy is here. He's a strong man, and he loves us very much.”

Aren came in through the doorway a moment later and sat down with his family.

“Any luck reaching Amoldine?” Kiki asked him.

“Yes. Mum said she can arrange for one of the Brotherhood’s ships to come pick us up in New York. If we're careful, we should be able to make it safely to London.”

“I don't know, Aren…”

“I'll protect you, don't worry. I'd sooner be blasted into swiss cheese than let you two get hurt.” He turned toward Ava and smiled. “That sound fun, princess? Boat ride to granny’s?”

Ava nodded quietly. Aren couldn't help but look a bit more somber. He pulled her close and hugged her tight. “Daddy will protect you, don't worry,” he said.

“Okay daddy…”

Aren sighed and laughed. “God I was hoping this wouldn't be your introduction to this,” he said, more to himself than to his daughter. “I was going to sit you down in the living room when you turned 10 and tell you all about it.”

“About what?”

“Aren…” Kiki cautioned.

“Kiki, she deserves to hear this.”

Kiki opened her mouth, but then simply sat back and nodded, gently stroking her daughter's hair as Aren went on.

“Daddy used to be a soldier, did you know that, Ava?”

“No daddy.”

“Ah yes, it was a long time ago. It was a fight called the Falklands War. A small little war, it was, between the British and the folks down in Argentina. Everyone wanted these little islands in South America for… strategic sheep purposes or something, I don't know. And your dear old dad was a soldier down there. Now you see, daddy has a job fighting a group of evil people.”

“Like a superhero?” Ava asked.

Aren chuckled. “Kind of like a superhero, yes,” he said. “It's my job to save people from bad guys that want to take over the world. Now there's one man—I guess you could call him my arch-nemesis—named Morgenster. Cole Morgenster. He's a very bad man. I met him during the War and found out he was looking for something down there that would help him with his evil plan. It wasn't actually there though and so daddy stopped him. But Morgenster found it eventually, and he had to be stopped again. It's been a constant back and forth and back and forth ever since.”

“Is he the bad guy that wants to hurt us, daddy?”

“He is. He and all of his evil friends want to hurt all of daddy's friends and family. That's why we have to stay here for a little bit.”

“I'm scared, daddy…”

He hugged her tight. “I know, sweetie, I know… And I'm so sorry. But I promise, daddy isn't gonna let anything happen to you or mummy. I'll protect you both, okay?”

“Okay…”

“Good girl. You're very brave. You'll be amazing at daddy's job someday… Now though, how about we get some rest?”

Ava rubbed her eyes. She was rather tired, especially after stressing as much as she had been. She nodded her head, and so her father hoisted her up and carried her to her bed for the night. Both he and Kiki tucked in their daughter, kissed her on the forehead, and left her to fall asleep after saying goodnight.

Ava's eyes felt heavier and heavier. She drifted off to dreamland, hoping that sometime soon they'd be away from this place, hoping they'd be able to go back home.

------------

December 31, 2000; Minneapolis, Minnesota

The creaking was the first thing that woke her up.

Ava sprung up in bed, eyes wide in fear. It came from downstairs. Was it the bad people? Did they find them? Did she need to go get her parents? She decided she had to find out.

She quietly slid out of her bed and wandered toward the door. She did her best to open it without making it squeak, and then she slipped out into the hall.

She had her favorite doll in her hand, and she hugged it tight as she shivered from both the cold and the fear. She slowly walked down the stairs, and she heard another creak coming from one of the lower rooms. She gasped fearfully, but continued her trek. She hopped off the last step, walked around the corner, and froze at the door frame of the closest room. Her breathing was heavy, though she tried to keep it quiet. She looked left and right, trying to make out a shape. She couldn't see anything. She almost started thinking that she had just imagined the creaks. She wanted to run back to bed, and so that's what she decided to do.

And then she was grabbed.

She screamed in fear, but her mouth was suddenly covered up by a big gloved hand. She looked up through tears of terror at the hands owner. He was dressed in a deep black coat with a blood red dress shirt underneath. He was pale, unnaturally pale, with a grin that stretched the wrinkles on his face.

“Shhhh,” he told her. “We wouldn't want to wake up mommy and daddy, now would we?”

She wriggled and squirmed and cried into his glove, trying to break free. The man kept her in a hold as he used his hand to pull a massive knife out of his coat, making Ava cry even more.

“The Assassins are such pathetic creatures,” he menacingly whispered to her as he brought the knife close to her face. “You rely so much on things like love and family. You let yourselves become weak and vulnerable just to protect those values. It's stupid, really. It's no wonder we've nearly annihilated you all already. All it takes is the right push in just the right place…” He brought the knife close to her throat. “And you all fall apart.”

He tensed his muscles, about to slide the knife across her neck, but he suddenly stopped when a bang echoed across the room and something smacked him hard in the shoulder. He grunted in pain as she reeled back while clutching his bleeding shoulder. He dropped Ava, and she immediately started screaming and running. She was grabbed again when she reached the stairs, by a different person this time, a tall man who rushed her behind him. She looked up. It was her father. He had his hood up and a gun aimed at the bad man.

“Stay the hell away from my daughter, you Templar dog!” he shouted at the man. Ava had never seen her father so angry and serious.

The man in black winced in pain as he stood back up, ignoring his shoulder now and smiling with that toothy grin.

“Aren,” he laughed. “It's been a long time, hasn't it? Haven't you heard? There's a purge going on. I just came to invite you to the party.”

“I'm giving you one warning, Morgenster,” Aren spat, “leave my family alone right bloody now before I put a hole between your eyes!”

Morgenster laughed again. “See that's funny, Aren,” he said. “It's funny that you actually think you have a chance of walking out of here alive.” He started walking towards the two of them. Aren kept Ava behind his back as he started slowly backing up up the stairs.

“See, the fates are on my side, Aren,” Morgenster continued as he advanced, twirling his knife for show. “I've been planning this song before you were even born. I've accounted for everything. Right now, I'm exactly on the right course.”

“I don't know what you're planning, but I will not let you hurt my family. They're innocents in this! They don't deserve to be hurt!”

“I'm a Templar, Mr. Arlie. I don't hold the same idiotic sentiments as you and your kind. We spill any blood we need to in order to get what we want. It's been that way since the dawn of humanity.”

“Go to hell.”

“Tell me where the Pick of Eden is, and maybe I will.”

“Never!”

Aren and Ava had reached the balcony at the top of the stairs. Morgenster continued his advance, cutting them off from the stairwell.

“Should I kill your daughter or your wife first, I wonder?” Morgenster taunted. “I just can't decide.”

Aren grit his teeth and turned red with fury. He aimed his gun high and let off a shot. Ava screamed at the sudden bang, and the bullet went smacking into the wood next to Morgenster's face. The villain laughed. “You've lost your aim, Aren. Getting old?”

“Oh I'm sorry. I've been a bit busy raising my family to practice,” Aren snarkily snapped.

“How drab. I was hoping this would be a much tougher fight.”

“Ava, run to mummy.”

“What?” Ava asked.

“Run to mummy now! Hurry! Go!”

Ava hesitated for a split second, but suddenly her father lunged forward and tackled Morgenster to the ground. The two began to wrestle, viciously hitting one another and trying to get an opening for their weapons. Ava's hesitation was gone. She turned on her heels and sprinted towards her parents’ bedroom screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!”

She slammed the door to the bedroom open and went over to vigorously shake her mother awake.

“Mommy! Mommy! Help!”

Kiki sat up groggily and rubbed her eyes. “Hmm? What's wrong sweetie?” she asked.

Her question was answered by the sounds of gunshots from outside. Kiki was suddenly wide awake.

“Oh my god! Aren!” she panicked. She practically jumped out of bed and grabbed her daughter. She sprinted out the door and looked just in time to see Aren and Morgenster tumble over the balcony and onto the floor below. “Aren!” she screamed.

Aren pinned Morgenster for a small bit, trying to use one of his hands to drive his hidden blade down onto the Templar’s neck. “Kiki!” Aren yelled up to her. “Get Ava out of here!”

“I'm not leaving you!”

“Just go! I can handle this!” Morgenster managed to wriggle his arm free and he sucker punched Aren in the face, sending him reeling backwards. Morgenster grabbed his knife again and tackled his opponent. The two went back to wrestling. Both were covered in blood and scars. It made Ava cry harder and harder.

“Go!” Aren shouted for the last time.

Kiki, now crying herself, finally nodded and rushed back into her room with Ava. She set her daughter down on the bed and rushed over to the closet to try and find her emergency supplies. She eventually found the duffle bag containing said supplies, and she rushed over to go pick up Ava before running back towards the door.

However, the door suddenly flew open just as she was about to put her hand on the knob. Morgenster grinned as he raised his gun up towards her face. Kiki screamed, and he was about to pull the trigger, only to be stopped by Aren jumping onto his back. “Leave them alone!” he shouted as he and Morgenster went back to the ground. Kiki instinctively recoiled to the back corner of the room with Ava and cowered in fear.

Aren flicked out his hidden blade again, and tried to slice and stab at his foe to no avail. Morgenster tried to shoot Aren, but only managed to land one shot in his shoulder. Aren still fought like a tiger, however. There was no way he was about to let his family get hurt by a monster like this.

Aren pulled Morgenster to his feet and slammed him against the wall, punching him as he did. Morgenster, face bleeding profusely, snarled, and grabbed Aren by his collar as well. The two struggled, each trying to slam each other into anything hard they could find. With an animalistic war cry, Aren yanked Morgenster towards the window and slammed him into it, shattering the glass and sending shards of it flying everywhere. He tried to push Morgenster out of it, but Morgenster pushed back. The Templar managed to spin the two of them around and swap their places. He grabbed Aren by the head and tried to shove his neck down onto a piece of glass that was still jutting out from the windowsill. Aren grunted in struggle and kicked Morgenster in the shin. The two fell backwards again and continued to hack and slash at one another. Both of them had blood-stained outfits. Both of them had terrible wounds. Both were breathing heavily and struggling to stand. Morgenster stumbled back towards the window, leaning against the frame. Aren fell back towards his family, leaning against the bedpost. He held his gun up and aimed at the Templar.

“I will not let you hurt my family,” he said, his swollen, bloody lip making the words come out a bit muffled. “You hear me?”

Morgenster held his bleeding side and scowled at the three. He looked down at the terrified Ava, saw the utter fear in her tearful eyes.

He grinned. “Loud and clear,” he said.

He raised his gun, the speed surprising for how bad a shape he was in, and he shot Aren in the foot. Aren screamed and bent over in pain, and then Morgenster let off another shot, and another, and another, each smacking Aren straight in the chest. Kiki screamed in terror as her husband's chest became a fountain of red, and he collapsed to the ground. Morgenster used his last bit of strength to push himself out the window, falling to the ground and disappearing into the night.

The room went dead silent after Aren smacked into the floor with a squishy thud. Kiki was screaming, crying vigorously. Ava simply stared in terror, the screams shaken out of her. She went pale as she saw her father painfully try to roll over to look at his family. He tried to lift his hand towards them as he struggled to breathe and blood poured out of his wounds.

“I… I'm sorry…” he wheezed. “I'm so sorry I let you down… I love you so… much…”

His hand dropped to the floor. His whole body went limp. He was still. Completely still. Kiki wailed louder and louder, screaming her husband's name. Ava continued to stare. She felt the tears rolling down her face, but she wasn't able to express the pain that drove them. She felt herself shaking, quivering as her body tried to figure out how to possibly express what she was feeling. The door creaked a bit as Wanbli suddenly ran in to see was going on, followed by her rushing up to hug Kiki in a desperate attempt to comfort her. For what seemed like forever, that's how it was. Just Kiki crying, Wanbli struggling to manage the situation, Ava in shock, and the man they cared about the most lying dead in a puddle of his own blood.

Ava sat there, watching and watching and crying more and more as time went on. She couldn't take her eyes off the body. The scene replayed over and over and over again in her mind and it refused to stop. Even as the world around her seemed to fall apart and be replaced by the digital void of the Animus’s programming, it still clung to her mind like closing her eyes after looking at a bright light. Even as she sat there, growing back to her present size and feeling a gentle hand lead her out to the Island, the image remained. Her lip started trembling and she started breathing in raggedy sputters.

She stepped out onto Animus Island, barely even noticing Desmond was the one leading her out. She felt the tears soak her cheeks as she started huffing and crying as what she saw soaked into her mind. Desmond put a hand on her shoulder, and as she began to break down, he hugged her tight.

“Just let it out, kiddo,” he told her.

And she did.

She wailed like a wounded animal, her cries reverberating across the Island. She clutched Desmond as tight as she could as emotion swam across her whole body and the pain of the truth engulfed her.

“He's dead…” she cried. “My dad is dead… I… All this time I thought he was just gone, that he just left or something. But he's dead! They killed him, Desmond, they killed him!”

“I'm so sorry, Ava…”

She shoved her face into his shoulder and cried even more. Desmond patted her back, trying his best to comfort her. “He died protecting you, though,” he told her. “He died protecting his family. He was a good man, Ava.”

“He loved us so much…” Ava sniffled. “I remember it all… He loved me and mom so much… All he ever wanted to do was help people…”

“And he did. He saved countless lives, including yours.”

“He would've saved so many more if… if…” Her hands balled into fists and her face went red. “If that bastard Morgenster hadn't killed him!” she screamed. “I'm gonna rip his goddamn throat out! I'm gonna hunt him and his stupid Pick of Eden down and… and…” Her anger started turning back into sorrow as her father's face reappeared in her mind. She started crying again.

“He wouldn't want you to carry on this fight out of anger or revenge, you know,” Desmond told her. “He never did. Like you said, he did what he did because he wanted to help people.”

“I know but…”

“Ava, you've seen the truth, the whole truth. Now it's time for you to decide what to do with it.”

“I… my dad wanted me to fight with him. He was hoping to bring me into the Brotherhood when I was older.”

“But what do you want?”

Ava sat there in tearful silence for a long while as the question mulled over in her head. She thought back to everything. She thought back to her mother and how much light Aren had brought into her life. She thought about Morgenster and how many innocent people he had hurt in order to get what he wanted. She thought back to the day Morgenster had her kidnapped and tortured in Kahente's memories. She thought about Ben and Ruby and Carter and Chelsea and how kind they had been to her, about how even when she was such a terrible person to them, they still loved her dearly and are doing everything they can to help her. She thought about the day she quit the Brotherhood, and how much she regretted that decision. She looked over at the main memory gate, her passage out of this mess, her chance to escape. Her chance to make things right.

She made her new decision.

She stood up and walked over towards the gateway.

“So?” Desmond asked her as she walked across the island. “Have you made up your mind then? Have you decided who you want to be?”

Ava stopped right in front of the gateway. She closed her eyes, wiping her tears away.

“I'm done being afraid,” she said. “I'm done trying to run. I'm done ignoring the responsibility I've been given.”

She turned her head. She saw Desmond sitting there, smiling bright. She took a deep breath and made her declaration: “I am an Assassin.”

And with that, she pulled her hood up and pushed herself into the memory gate. She let the void take her, and the last thing she thought before the machine warped her back to the ice age was, “Thank you, dad.”