Inspired Tracks: From the Assassin's Creed Revelations OST – Animus Island, Infiltration, and We Talk Together

In the year 854, The Monarchy passed a law to all the factions of the military. While Humanity celebrated its complete victory and liberation as prey for the Titans and uncovered the secrets within, it was faced with an all new kind of threat. The threat of extinction by their own hands. In order to ensure the survival of all who had outlived the victims of the Final Conflict, it had been decided that any and all officers that carried the capacity to procreate, were not invalided by the final war, and maintained the loyalty to the Crown, would be mandated to fill out a Survey of Compatibility. Such was the way of ensuring the strength of the next generations to come. However, discord threatens to rip through the last tethers that hold the government together, power struggles slowly consume the weaker minded… and while the Mandate itself was designed to ensure the control over humanity, humanity's very soul was never meant to be leashed.

Nimbus

Prologue

There was a certain stench in the air. Acrid, vile, and just bearable enough to allow people near its vicinity but, not enough to keep them close for long. Breaths broke through several pairs of nostrils in uncomfortable bursts, all save for one. Dark blue eyes blinked, unwavering despite the foulness of the air and the silence ebbing from the other side of the prison bars that felt almost as violent as the stench threatened to become.

The thing about putting an animal in a cage for most of its life is you'll come to notice how it often dreams of being free. It will stare out through the bars, miserable and at one point you will see it attempt to escape, chewing at the bars, rattling them to find a weakness in the stronghold… but then…little by little you'll notice how soon it grows to accept the cage.

When you finally open the cage door, you'd expect it would rush out. Only… it doesn't.

There was a cough given by one of the guards, whether it was caused by the persistence of the smell or the uncomfortable atmosphere, who could tell. The sound echoed. Pronouncing each passing second of patience and seeming build to a spoken word between the two figures sitting opposite one another.

It stays put, watching curiously and blinking, wondering if freedom is really there. If it has finally come. A flavor that they have been wondering for years and years on how it would be is finally there and suddenly… it's not quite as sweet as they had hoped.

It's subtle, but real.

To the guards, it was a simple visit between soldiers. Both pronounced figure heads, one a hero, the other a usurper. The guess to who was which was as easy as a glance to take in their apparel. In this case, though, simple appearances would be wrong. Very wrong.

"Leave us." The command was given, surprisingly, not by the hero. Yet the soldiers exchanged one glance, nodded and filed out in a series of echoing steps that did nothing to lessen the tension thickening between them.

Most of the time, you will see it slowly move forward, peek its head out and sniff the air. Eventually, you'll notice that it will take maybe one or two steps outside its cage and look about in wondering silence. Now, here's the interesting part because it honestly takes a couple of scenarios to see the point.

"You summoned me," the owner of the blue eyes spoke, watching with thinly veiled curiosity.

Dark eyes rose from their position against the floor, burning with an intense hatred that was so strong, anyone else would've wilted beneath its fury. "Summoned? You mock me. Even now, you mock me. Have you no shred of human courtesy, Commander Erwin Smith?"

In one case, the animal could be frozen for a short period of time before deeming their freedom as a good thing and they will take off, running forward and expanding their zone as much as possible. Like a beggar finally given food.

There was no response from the Aryan, save a simple exhale that exposed nothing. This lack of reply seemed to infuriate the prisoner, making him lean forward from his rickety chair to burn violence against the bars and the man separating him from freedom. "Even now, you cannot even pull up enough dignity to give me a straightforward answer, can you?" he sneered.

In the other, the animal could very suddenly return to the cage, spooked and not at all prepared to rush out and enjoy its freedom.

"What do you want, Nile?" Erwin asked, betraying absolutely nothing to the jab. The ex-officer leaned away, shrugging casually as he leaned his head against the head of his chair.

"You cannot answer a question with a question, Erwin. That's no fair at all." Nile Dawke chuckled, nearly giggling with a strange hysteric undertone. Still, the blonde man refused to react.

But why?

There was another tense silence before Nile suddenly pushed himself up and grasped at his seat. Tugging it forward, the wood screeched against the stone brutally until the former Military Policeman slammed it back down, dangerously close to the bars and to the man waiting for him to speak.

I'll tell you why.

"I've been in here long enough, Commander." Nile sighed, leaning his head to rest against the bars. "I've lost count of the days, the seconds…the moments that bleed into each other without care for the rise or fall of a false sun…"

Erwin's blue eyes narrowed, "I'm sorry to hear your stay hasn't been pleasant."

Because it all depends on the environment. See, once that animal realizes that the only safe place is within its cage, it will retreat to it and no longer do those bars represent restrictions, but sanctuary. And once the animal is certain this is truth…

All too suddenly, Nile was pressing his face fiercely against the spaces between the metal. "You're apologies mean nothing to me, Commander." The man spat. "They mean nothing because you are responsible, we both know who should really be behind these bars, don't we?"

It will probably never leave the cage out of its own wish again…

Again, there is no response from Erwin save a simple glance of blank emotion. Nile pressed on, "It is I, who should be celebrated. Me! You used me and tricked me and because of you…I am dishonored. You!"

And in the end…

"You make such violent claims when all the evidence pointed to you." Erwin insinuated. Yet, despite the calmness of his voice, the unaffected gleam in his gaze, his fists still gave a small clench and his mouth gave a twitch that told the dishonored man he was completely affected. "Even now, the evidence points to you."

It would choose to die within its cage, perfectly content to never have tasted different air and seen different things...

A slick smile slowly melts through Nile's filthy lips, his eyes narrowing cruelly before asking, "Is this because of Maria?" There is a single pause where none exchange breath. This was a low blow. One that made the darkness of Erwin's eyes only tighten in an almost threatening gleam. In the space of dim lighting and dank atmosphere, the expression was lost on Nile as his lips curled into a vicious smile—taking Erwin's silence as an admission. "Even now, you can't let go of the fact that I married her?"

"I am not a petty man, Nile," Erwin replied evenly. "The coup was investigated thoroughly. Letters were found. You failed."

"That was YOUR PLAN!" Nile roared, throwing himself to the bars and clawing at them until his fingers bled, spittle flying from his mouth as he attempted to reach the blond Commander. Erwin did not even blink. "YOU were responsible! YOU wanted to take over the government! It was you!" He cursed, wroth and nearly foaming with such seething anger. "We both know the truth, Erwin! But instead of admitting defeat, you used me to save your own wretched ass! You did this and I will not sleep until I see your face properly rotting in a cell darker than mine!"

All because it was too afraid. Because its soul had been broken.

Erwin face was a perfect slate of flat emotion; unaffected, bored. This seemed to infuriate the imprisoned man to an even higher extreme and he was shaking the bars and beating them with bloodied fists as he spat insults and violence through his darkened teeth. "Coward! Usurper! You! YOU!"

The desire to fight all too gone after years of wearing its teeth down on metal bars and voice gone from having shouted until it had gone mute.

It took three minutes. Three minutes until Nile collapsed to his knees, gasping and wheezing angry grunts and broken sobs. Three minutes and Erwin was standing to his feet, blinking at the former Military Policeman's body without pity, without mercy. There was no cruelty or malice in his expression, however. Just the simple cold observance of a man watching another crumble to his darkest shells.

"…I will be in touch." Erwin stated after a moment. "Do not get used to your cell, Nile."

He didn't give the man any more attention after that, and with a swift turn of his leather boots Erwin was marching out of the prison cell. Footsteps echoed past him yet Nile made no more cries against him, and it was that sound that proceeded to end whatever meeting they had left.

…But we can't allow that… can we, Erwin?

No, Hanji. Erwin thought as he strode past the guards and the door they opened for him before saluting firmly. We cannot. The sound of his feet colliding with the ground was the only sound that followed him as he walked down the prison's halls. When he did escape the enclosed spaces of stone and brick, Erwin was met by the silver casting of the evening's dim moonlight.

There was no mercy in the moon. Not this night. Not when there were secrets weighing in the heart… accusations still burning within his ears and shooting knives at the base of his head…

Where once, it's large and silver face would cast a gentle glow over the land much like a loving guardian keeping watch while those in bed were cast in dreams and the whimsical twinkling of starlight, it would bring soft light through the crevices of carelessly thrown curtains, offering a silent promise of protection and even blessing over thrashing bodies giving in to throes and cries of passion all because I can't ignore you. Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. But not now… In the dark, moonlight had been a simple cast of silver that enlightened curves and heated gleams in eyes that were too drunk in each other to care for impending doom and quickening fate…

Now…

Now there was no face.

Only a sliver of a grin hanging in the sky; betraying all trust and laughing without mercy at the fools who had believed in the promise of its fullness.

She was not with him tonight. Her lack of presence casts such contrasting emotions through a broad chest and dark blue eyes. Longing, because if there were ever a time he needed her it was right now. Especially now. After having to face an old demon that refused to wait. Yet, there was a grateful acceptance as well, because if there were ever a time he could not possibly handle looking into her eyes it was right now. All because of one single symbol hidden within the folds of his pockets.

How is it… that this single symbol – a stretch of curves and dips in color – could burn such a bitter hatred in his heart? Single, red, and displaying the proud animal that the Monarchy had only ever heard stories about in old history books. Once—long ago—blue eyes had marveled at its creative genius, at the ability of using such an interesting creature to embody an ideal—to stand for protection and order, he had grown to bow to its simple design only to slowly gather venom to spit at its feet. In the past few weeks—more like the past few years—the symbol had changed. Not in style or detail, but in meaning to all those who had fought under its control. Its face no longer carried the visage of order and power that its keepers and enforcers had once believed in.

Now, it seemed to stare into the eyes of each man and women stripped of their ethical freedom with the same gaze a snake would give to a cornered mouse.

Personally, Erwin had believed he had attained a kind of immunity to its appearance, a sort of detached appraisal per se. As he had called in soldier after soldier, delivering the news of their match and who would be spending the rest of their lives with whom in raising a child (maybe more) because it was necessary rather than hoped for. The Commander of the 13th Legion of the Survey Corp had been able to exact a surgical disinterest with each revelation of names and destiny.

Of course, that came with no difficulty to his part at all. To him, it was just reading names out loud. To him, it was only calling a verdict without realizing the extent of the sentence. He had dabbled in being called a murderer for the sake of ensuring Humanity's Survival. Literally, the blood of hundreds of soldiers stained his hands and all of their names were marked in deep black over the pounding of his heart, darkening his blood and drowning him in an emotional darkness. He knew that had been necessary. The day the last of the Titans had fallen and thousands more saved, Erwin knew that all that sacrifice had not been in vain. For a while, it seemed as all those names were finally lifted from the wrangled organ, pulsing slowly purifying blood through his veins. In the end… all those lives had counted.

Yet, his liberation, his freedom from the shackles of guilt and lives lost was as short-lived as was his hope for marrying the woman who gave him reason to let himself smile again.

So quickly had he been given air to breathe only to be forced back under the weight of new names, different lives now horrifically forced to bow down over an unspoken right to choose who to love and who to live with. He had truly believed that, like he had been able to shoulder the lives of many lost in the fight against their predators, he had enough strength and experience to shoulder this new situation.

But that was, obviously, an idiotic idea. It seemed life thought so too, and scorned him of his ability to detach himself because now, he was forced to understand the rage of all those new names and eyes and faces, because right now—in this moment—he felt it all as clearly and as powerfully as if it was his own.

And it was his own.

That hateful symbol was etched and painted over a slim white surface of a file hidden under a cloak that carried his fate and the face of the woman that would be called to be his wife until the end of his days.

To Commander of the 13th Legion of the Survey Corp,

Erwin Smith,

We extend a hand of gratitude for the duties you have completed for your people, government and King. With much expressed admiration, we would like to also thank you for giving such skill over to the Military, specifically your leadership to the Survey Corp. Without your efforts, many lives would have been lost and we further extend gratitude for your ongoing loyalty to the Crown in participating in this mandate.

Some say the world will end in fire… others say in ice.

Did it burn? Did this rage burn through his veins? Erwin wasn't sure, it was seldom he felt the emotion unravel him. But if there was time to compare, he could easily side it to a freezing in his veins. A stillness unlike any he had ever felt before had spread to every cell in his body, as if the very news standing before him had cast him in a timeless void where all that stood and glued him to reality was the name and the picture of the end to his freedom.

Firm hands pressed tight over the wood of a polished desk. Blue eyes stared, unblinking and lacking all the previous euphoria he had felt in his body from being so close to her again.

No longer will the moon glance down over their bodies again and be a silent witness to their love filled words and gasps of wild and careless self abandon.

Now it was grinning down. Just one sliver of a hateful grin as terrible as the crimson mark staining his future.

Time was up.

Ice…

Fire…

What's the difference between them anymore when the main concern was trying not to drown in the deluge that made no show of ending any time soon?

A/N: Get your wine, chocolate and tissues, ladies and gents. This is going to be a rough feels ride.