The darkness (closed)

Benjamin closed his eyes for a moment and swiped his hand across his face. Somehow, he had a hard time believing that. "I don' believe tha' one can be an Assassin and run a Templar organization," he said softly, his voice pained and confused. He didn't understand and it echoed in his voice.

"Then you have no faith in me" Ember said sadly as she backed away from Benjamin. Tears were streaming down her face, a lump had formed in her throat, her lip quivered, and she began to rub her scarred arms. She stood there for a few seconds, just looking at him before she raced off.

Ember finally found herself a decent hiding place where she sat down, and cried quietly.

Benjamin felt his heart leap and when she ran, he dropped onto the patio ground and buried his head in his arms. What had he done? He'd just meant that one simply could not ride the fence of this war. No one could be an Assassin and still rule a Templar organization. It couldn't be done. "I'm so stupid!" He shouted, his voice muffled before he wiped his face and rose to his feet again.

In an instant, he was running through the house, shouting Ember's name as loud as he could. "Ember! Come on...I...I never said I didn' have faith in you!" He was beginning to cry again. He didn't want her to do something stupid that might end her life. He couldn't lose her. He stopped by her room and spoke again, his voice soft and full of pain. "I'll love you no matter wha' you decide. I trus' you. More than I've ever trusted anyone since Australia. Please...."

"Well you have a very strange way of showing it, Beckett!" Pain was incredibly thick in Ember’s voice. She felt betrayed by what Benjamin had said. He was one of her few friends, and she had fallen for him. Now she thought she meant nothing to him.

"Ember," Benjamin called, pain evident in his own voice. "I jus'...I didn' say I never had faith in you. If I hur' you, then I'm sorry." He hung his head and rubbed his face with his hands for a moment, doing his best to stifle back a sob. He was seriously thinking about leaving London and return to America, but he wasn't about to tell her that. He didn't want that to be the reason for her to hate him any further. "I jus'....I'm scared tha' runnin' Abstergo will tear us apar'. I don' wan' tha' ta happen."

"It won't tear us apart, Benjamin. It'll only tear us apart if you let it..." Ember sounded serious, but still upset. She wanted things to work out between them, but things had become difficult. Why would anyone believe her, let alone stick with her. Ember unlocked the door to her room before diving into a pile of pillows and plushies. "If you really want things to work out between us, you can come in, and we can talk" Ember said sadly as she dug her way further into the pile of softness.

Benjamin calmly opened her door and closed it behind him when he stepped through, the soft click of the door closing filling the room. He took a deep breath and crossed the floor to her bed, sitting down on the foot and keeping his eyes on the floor. He didn't know what to say, so he simply thought of how he would say anything. Then he spoke, his voice soft and careful while rimmed with pain and threatening to make him cry. "I never said tha' I didn' have faith in you," he said slowly. "I'm jus' no' used ta someone havin' ties ta both Assassins and Templars. I'm used ta them bein' one or the other. I'm sorry tha' i' sounded like I didn' have faith in you."

"I was born to both sides of the war, Benji" Ember said softly as she popped her head out of the pile of pillows and plushies. "I see Abstergo as a family business, not a Templar organisation. Hell, I worked in the tech department with John Standish. I'll be just fine."

Benjamin frowned and closed his eyes for a moment. "And if they find ou' where you truly lie in the war?" He asked slowly, raising his gaze to peek at Ember. "I jus' don' wan' ya ta ge' hur'. I would never forgive myself if you were hur'."

"I know the risks, Benji, and those are risks that I am willing to take" Ember said softly as she opened a section of the pile for Benjamin to sit beside her. "Benji, I've survived a precursor temple, Bethlem Royal Hospital for the mentally ill, and being shot by a Templar. I think I'll survive."

Benjamin wiped his face for a moment before he crossed the floor and plopped down on the pile of pillows and plushies. It was soft and he leaned back with a soft sigh through his nose. His eyes closed for a moment. "How will you be able ta help the Assassins?" He was curious now.

"Well, for starters, I can free those being held by Abstergo. No Assassin will ever be forced to use the Animus ever again, and we can better care for those suffering from the bleeding effect" Ember said as she held out her hand for Benjamin to hold.

Benjamin gripped her hand in his and gave it a light squeeze before he raised it to rest against his chest. "Like Austin," he said softly. He had no doubt that Austin would still suffer the bleeding effect, even after what Ember did for him.

"Yeah, just like Austin" Ember said with a soft laugh. Had she finally convinced Benjamin that she would be alright, that running Abstergo wouldn't make her a Templar?

Benjamin closed his eyes for a moment and looked like he was asleep. He definitely looked tired when he'd come in. "Orrigh'," he said quietly, sleep dragging at his words. "Bu' don' be there all the time." Yeah, his words were dragging with sleep and soon, against the pile of pillows and plushies, he'd drifted off, still holding Ember's hand to his chest.

Ember chuckled softly, and gently kissed Benjamin's hand.
"Sweet dreams, my little koala" Ember said softly before she too fell asleep.

Austin had returned to his room for the night and had been resting easy for once when it happened again. Nightmares of blood and of the shadow-wrapped Assassin whose hidden blade was dark with blood. Immediately, he sat forward, shouting, while his hands pushed into his hair. Vixen gave a startled cry and darted out of the little nest at the foot of his bed that she had made for herself before she returned to it. "I'm fine," he said quietly, his voice shaking violently.

Upon hearing Austin's shouts, Ember bolted up from under the pile of pillows and plushies, and raced off.

"Austin? Are you alright" Ember asked as she came crashing through the door.

Austin looked up at Ember as she came crashing through his door and closed his eyes for a moment. He was shaking. Austin raised his hands to his face and rubbed it for a time before pushing one through his hair. He'd have to get it cut soon before it got out of control. "Just...." he said shakily, pulling his knees into him from beneath the covers, which soon fell down around his feet. "Just a nightmare." His arms wrapped around his knees and he buried his face in the center, his forehead more on his knees than his actual face was. He looked...vulnerable and for an Assassin, that was never good. Especially for an Assassin descended from Samuel.

"It's alright, Austin. You're safe now" Ember said warmly as she wrapped her arms around him. She thought of ways to calm him down, and a smile spread across her lips as she remembered something.
"Remember the song Elizabeth used to sing? Do you think it would help?"

Austin stirred lightly at her voice and shifted his head so that his cheek was pressed against his knees. "You mean the song Samuel heard when she was in the crow's nest of the Soul Wave?" He asked, his voice still quivering, though it was lessened. He hadn't been in Samuel's shoes in a very long time, so his memories of Elizabeth's song was faded.

"One and the same" Ember said with a soft laugh, "Who knows, maybe Sam will even like it." Ember kept her arms wrapped gently around Austin as she sang for him. Her voice sounded exactly like Elizabeth's, not only in speech, but in song too.

"Of all the money that e'er I had
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all"

The song had made Austin feel rather sleepy. It sounded almost like a lullaby. But she was right. It was soothing and he could feel Sam stirring lightly at the song. Austin let out a yawn and he felt tiredness drag at his limbs again. "Would you," he yawned again and shook his head. "Would you stay here until I fall asleep?"

"Of course I'll stay with you until you fall asleep" Ember said warmly. She adjusted herself so that Austin could rest his head on her lap if he wanted to. Ember seemed to have a very kind, and nurturing side to her.

Austin nodded his thanks and shifted so that he was laying back down, having forgotten about the covers. At first he struggled, fighting against the black wave that was beckoning him into its arms. He mumbled, asking if she'd sing for him again, just as Samuel had done with Elizabeth. He looked so tired.