Hello everyone and welcome to my story. In this story you will go between my OC and her ancestors. This will be distinguished in italics and the change in tense. I hope you like this story, and please let me know what you think in the reviews! Enjoy!

A Knight's Vengeance

Ghosts

Amelia James

He approached the other men he was to call his brothers. They had fought together and they had died together, and tonight, they would create the oath that would bind them together. He looked upon his brothers with a sense of pride and admiration. Together, they would bring understanding to the world; teach the uneducated, feed the starving, nurse the sick, house the homeless. Their cause was just, and they would bring forth a new admiration for the holy Lord.

Andre de Montbard stood before his brothers as they circled one another. Seven men all bound together by their love and devotion to God and His creations on this holy earth. De Payens spoke to his fellow soldiers of the importance in their presence there in the catacombs of Jerusalem. He told the men that their deeds would be remembered by many, and their charity to those in need would not be overlooked by God when judgment came. Andre's heart swelled with the pride at his association with this noble cause.

De Payens told the men before him, that they would be the forefathers of a righteous world. The brothers had called out in cries of agreement and cheer. De Paynes said the words. The tenants of the Order the men were to live by for the remainder of their lives. Andre's chest swelled with pride as he repeated after his Master.

"May the Father of understanding guide you."

I inhale deeply as I lift my body from the Animus. My vision blurs as I try to look around and assess my surroundings. My eyes focus on my sister as she approaches me. She gives me a pressed smile and I frown at her.

"How long was I in there for?" I ask with a hoarse tone from not using my voice for a while.

She scrambles at my harsh tone. "Uh… three hours, and—"

"Why did you pull me out?" I ask her in an angry and low tone, swinging my legs from the Animus and standing for the first time in a few hours. It takes a moment for my legs to adjust to my weight on them, but they finally do. I look down at my twin sister as I tower over her while she sits in her wheelchair. "You know I can safely be inside the Animus for five hours before experiencing the Bleeding Effect."

She swallows hard at my unforgiving tone and wheels herself to her desk. "It wasn't my decision. It was his." She says motioning with her head at the doorway where I see him peaking in. My eyes lock on his and he shoots me a smile that crawls up the side of his burned face. "Juhani," I say in a surprised tone. "You're back."

"How are the dark ages?" he asks me with a laugh. He motions me to join him and I leave the room with him. I look back at my sister who has wheeled at herself to her desk and types away at her computer.

"How was your mission?" I ask him once we have left my sister.

"Unsuccessful," he says in a grumbling tone. "How about yours."

"The same," I shamefully admit.

Because of my ancestral tie to one of the founding fathers of the Templar Order, Andre de Montbard, Alan Rikkin has tasked me in locating any Pieces of Eden the Templars came across during their rise within the Order. Andre's memories have been hard to access for quite sometime, as my DNA was not syncing with his very well, however, the longer I am in the Animus, the easier it is becoming to sync with Andre and his memories are becoming more readily available.

"Don't have anything to bring back to Rikkin?" Juhani asks.

I shake my head, "Nothing so far." I say in a defeated tone. "What of you?" I look up at him, "You said your mission was unsuccessful?"

"We were unable to locate any further Assassin hideouts." He says quietly, "My team has been unsuccessful since the attack on Florence. I fear Rikkin will see these recent defeats and find another to lead Sigma Team."

I look over at his burn, that still continues to heal. It has only been a month since Juhani led Sigma Team into Florence, killing 3 high-ranking Assassins Masters after a raid on their hideout. The Templars have been grateful to Juhani's service and though he did not kill his main target, Harlan Cunningham, he did take down their master Adriano Maestranzi who cowardly deployed a bomb on the hideout, killing all of Sigma Team and scarring Juhani.

"I am sure Rikkin will see your worth and reinstate Sigma Team into a meaningful mission once more. At least you are going on the field." I say begrudgingly.

He looks down at me with a frown. "How is your conditioning within the Animus going? Has your skill improved?"

"I have been training with Rizzo. He says that I am getting better, and the more I sync with my ancestors, the better my fighting skill gets."

"I am proud of you." He says flashing me a sly smile. I smile back at him when something catches his attention behind me. He frowns and I look behind me. Through the door walks a disoriented and aggravated Daniel Cross.

He comes in and two men come rushing to his aid. He pushes the men off of him and calls out for Warren. His eyes flash at me and he gives me a hateful look. I return his gaze with the same amount of hate as he walks past me and up to Warren's office.

"I heard he failed in retrieving Desmond Miles." Juhani says, explaining Daniel's erratic behavior.

"Maybe if Vidic or Rikkin used me, I could bring in the Miles men, no problem." I say lowly. Juhani reaches out for my hand as a comforting gesture, but I walk away from him, wanting to be alone.

Unlike all the high-ranking Templars that walk these walls, I was born into this Order, and my lineage goes back to one of the first Grand Masters of the Templar Order. Throughout the hundred of years that followed, adopting the Templar way has always been instilled in my ancestry. My father was a Templar and though he only had my sister and I, he taught us everything he knew about the Order, and ensured that we were active members within the Order, until his death. The memory brings a lump in my throat, but it is clear in my mind. I was only ten years old when it happened and after seeing the Nutcracker one stormy December night, we were ambushed by a group of Assassins while driving home.

I can still hear the soundtrack to the Nutcracker that we forced my father to play on the way home. I remember the warmth of the car as we drove down the stormy road. I remember the smell of my mother's nutmeg perfume; the memory bringing a smile to my face and for a moment, I don't remind myself of how the night panned out. However, every time I remind myself of the happiness and warmth I felt in the small moment of my life, I soon remember the hell that I was put through that night.

I remember the lights of the car behind ours. The car that slammed into the back of our car and pushed us off of the bridge and into the iced over lake. I remember the water being so cold, and my fur jacket soaking wet. I remember looking over at my sister—my twin—and seeing her face contort in fear as a piece of the car impaled her spine. I remember the blood staining her white dress. I can still smell the rusty smell of her blood as it filled the car. I remember looking at my mother and seeing her head split open on the dash. I knew right away that she was dead. The way that she was looking at my father with wide, lifeless eyes; the unmistakable look of death in her eyes… it was nothing like in the films.

I remember my father looking back at us with fear in his eyes; something I had never seen in his eyes until then. I remember him commanding me to unbuckle myself and my sister and to swim from the car as the water rushed in. I remember being frozen in fear of his demanding voice. I was unable to move, unable to save myself or my sister. He had to cut his seatbelt and maneuvered to the back of the car as the freezing water rushed in. He cut our seat belts and he forced me from the car, as he struggled with my sister. I swam to the shore of the lake and watched for what felt like an eternity waiting for my father and sister. After they sprung up from the water, I assisted my father in getting my sister to the shore safely.

I thought the nightmare was over, however, the Assassins watched us come to shore and met us where we sought refuge. I remember my father begging the Assassin to spare him and his children. He told the Assassin that he was all we had left. I remember the Assassin's face. He looked me in the eyes, and then my sister, and then my father. And with no regret in his eyes, he pulled out his hidden blade and drove it into my father's lungs. I remember screaming for my father and kicking the man that stabbed him. After he knew my father dead, he dropped his lifeless body to the ground, and he looked at us with his cold grey eyes. He pulled out a phone and called the police. He told them it was an accident and to send an ambulance. I remember the look he gave me; the look of nothing…no regret, no sorrow, no worry… just lifeless.

I bury my face in my hands at the memory. Alan Rikkin had visited us in the hospital that night. He was a good friend of my father and loved my father who was his Grand Master. He was the one who told me that my sister had been paralyzed from the waist down. He told me that she would never walk again, and he cried with me in the waiting room. That day he promised me that he would do everything to deliver the man who killed my father to justice. I remember asking Alan for the name of the Assassin who killed my father, and I remember the way he looked at me when he told me his name. William Miles.

Since that night, I have dedicated my life to killing William Miles. I have trained in the Animus, and I have trained with Rizzo to ensure that I am a worthy adversary to the Master Assassin. I have gained many skills within the Animus through the Bleeding Effect and with the new unlocked memories of Andre de Montbard, I will have William Miles' blood all over my hands.

Alan has been apprehensive to send me out to the field as he raised my sister and I after my parent's death and sees us as his own children. He worries about us and shelters us from the Assassins. I long for a field mission, as my growing skills within the Animus push me more towards being a soldier.

I decide to enter my room again where my sister, Lilly is at her desk. When she sits at her desk, she looks normal, and exactly like me. We are identical twins, and share the same emerald eyes, chocolate brown hair, sharp jawline, arched eyebrows, pale skin, and soft nose. As children, we used to trick everyone by pretending to be the other. No one was able to tell us apart… except for my father. He always saw the differences in the two of us.

Lilly looks over at me and smiles. She rolls from her desk and turns towards me. The sight makes me frown and I look down at her frail and weathered legs. They are so small and turned off to the side. She is now smaller than me, weighing only 96lbs against my 130lbs. She is not as healthy looking as I am and her body does not have as much muscle as mine holds. Alan wanted to pay for the best physical therapy he could find, but Lilly wanted to help the Templars with her mind, rather than her body. She is a brilliant hacker and has a mind for computers unlike me. She always joked that she didn't need legs to hack into the Assassin's servers.

Regardless of the situation that she has made of it, every time I see her, I want to take us back to the night it all happened and sit in her seat and have this happen to me.

"Did you hear Daniel is here?" She asks me, and I pull myself from my memories of the night.

"Yes, I saw him." I say coldly. Daniel and I have never seen eye to eye. Daniel has always been jealous of my ability to withstand the negative effects of the Bleeding Effect from the Animus. I have never liked his arrogant way of going about the facility, and it is finally catching up to him as his mind becomes more and more unstable due to the Bleeding Effect.

"How is he doing? How are his spirits?" She asks. Lilly is working with the Animus, trying to make it safer to enter without the psychosis of the Bleeding Effect. She has been working with Daniel intimately, trying to reverse his symptoms. I know that Lilly has developed a liking to Daniel and I do not approve or like it. He is a danger to her and all those around him, and if it weren't for the fact that he is a hero amongst the Order for killing the Assassin Mentor, he would not be held in as such high of a regard as he is now.

"Unstable, "I say and she frowns.

"I have been working on pushing you more in the Animus." She says turning her chair from me. "Right now, you are able to stay in the animus 4 times the length that Daniel is with just 2 more beats per minute. Once your heart rate reaches 189 BPM, I pull you out. With Daniel's condition and his age being almost twice as yours, I have to pull him out at 166. I am working on getting him to stay in the Animus longer but… the Bleeding Effect has already effected his brain too severely and he just has extreme brain damage."

"What is the likelihood that I will be on track to end up the blubbering mess that he is?" I say harshly and she shoots me an angry look.

"Why would you say such an awful thing?" She asks me but I just cross my arms over my chest. She has always been more sensitive than I have been. "If you stick to my schedule, you'll be fine." She says sternly.

I shake my head, "I don't like your schedule. It doesn't give me enough time in the Animus to gain our ancestor's muscle memory. If I am going to prove to Alan that I am a well-trained field agent, I am going to need to stay in there longer."

I sit down in the Animus and give her a demanding look. She frowns as she maneuvers her chair and rolls to her desk. She begins typing and I lay down in the Animus. I wait for a moment, then feel myself slipping from my body as though I am slipping into a dream.

Andre took to the crowded streets of Jerusalem searching for the audience of a very important man. Their eyes had locked in the streets and the man had given Andre a subtle wave of the hand. Andre pushed through the crowd and approached the man. He told Andre to sit, and he did.

"Nephew," Andre said respectfully to the man.

"Uncle." He acknowledged. "You are looking well."

"Quiet the contrary Bernard." Andre had said in a low tone, "The Order is failing." He said in a drier tone. "We are impoverished. Our purses are empty, our bellies cry for nourishment, and our clothes tear from our bodies. All while our very affluent and very indebted allies sip the blood of Christ from golden chalices!" His voice whipped the man who sat down next to him.

The man had chuckled with uncomfortable fear, "What is it you would have me say, Andre? I am but a—"

"You are the founder of the Cistercian Order of monks." He said with a pressed tone. "You have your polished hands inside the church's purse." He grabbed the collar of his nephew and spoke lowly to the boy. "Have you forgotten what my brothers have done for you? The coin we spared, the tongues we stopped from wagging hateful lies of your Order? You will do it best to return the favors we gave you."

"What would you have me do?" The man said with fear in his tone.

"You are a scholar, good with your words. Write to them and speak persuasively on our behalf. Tell them of our devotion to God and His holy path. Give praise of the New Knighthood." He told the man. "And if you do not," the Knight pulled a small dagger from his belt and placed it between the man's legs. "And if you do not, I will rob you of everything you hold, because you see, my good deeds have gifted you with more to lose."

I open my eyes and feel a piercing pain coming from my left eye. It feels as though I am being stabbed in the eye. I press my palm to my eye and grown at the pressure. I stay laying within the Animus, waiting for a moment to gather myself. After exiting the Animus, it takes a moment for me to gather my own thoughts.

After a moment of gathering myself I look around the room and see my sister typing at her computer. I swing my legs over the side of the Animus and moan at the movement. "How long—"

"Alan asked me to pull you out." She says without looking at me. "He said he would like to speak with you."

I rub my head and get up off of the Animus. My legs aren't so weak, which gives me an idea that I was not in the Animus for too long.

I enter his office as he is on a video chat with his daughter, Sophia. She calls out to me when Alan tells her I entered his office. We spend a moment exchanging petty conversation with each other until Alan finally wishes her luck in her studies and ends the call. He finally looks at me with a warm smile.

"How are you doing, my child?" He says in a warm tone.

"I am doing well." I tell him.

"Lilly tells me that you are doing well in the Animus. That you have unlocked Andre de Montbard's memories."

"Yes, Sir. I have just started watching his memories, seeing him say the oath for the first time."

He looks at me longingly, "How was it? To hear the founding fathers say the tenant of our Order?"

"It was inspiring," I admit.

He smiles at me, "And what of the Piece of Eden? Have you seen anything from his memories?" he asks eagerly.

"No, nothing yet." I say and his mood turns less enthusiastic.

"Well," he says pursing his lips, "Keep at it, and come to me when Andre has led you to the artifact."

"What about William?" I ask him and he grows tense. "I know that you sent Daniel to retrieve Desmond Miles. Desmond and William have reunited; you catch Desmond, you catch William."

"And as you are well aware, Daniel was unsuccessful in his recovery of Desmond." He says in a pressed tone.

"Yes…" I say, "But if you send me, then—"

"Absolutely not." He says sternly and I try to argue with him. "You are not ready for a field mission. Let alone one as dangerous and important as the capture of William Miles."

"And yet you send Daniel? He is an unhinged timebomb. Send someone more composed. Send Juhani and myself." He looks at me with tense eyes when I mention Juhani. "He and I work well together. Bring Rizzo in here and he will tell you of my growing ability." I beg.

"I did not call upon you to have you beg before me." He says in a disgusted tone. "I brought you here to discuss your ancestor."

"I haven't found the Piece of Eden!" I yell at him and he looks shocked. I too am shocked at my reaction. I look down at my hands and see that my nails are digging into my palms. I take a deep breath and look up at Alan. "He is so close… I can feel him." I sigh in a defeated tone.

"I know, child." He says with a soothing voice. "You will have your moment with him, but it is imperative for the time being, that you focus on your ancestor and finding the Piece of Eden."

I swallow hard and am no longer able to look at him. Without another word I leave his office and head to my room. When I reach the door to my room, I can no longer bottle up my frustration and I begin to punch the wall. I scream as I punch the wall, no longer feeling the pain. I close my eyes and see Andre. He looks at me as he sits inside a library, surrounded by books. He takes a silver cup full of wine and looks me strait in the eyes. He lifts the cup at me as if he is toasting to me.

"Amelia!" I hear my name being called out as I am ripped of my vision of my ancestor.

I look at the voice that calls my name and see that I am in the arms of Juhani who holds me tightly. I look up at him and see a concerned look in his eyes. I look down at my knuckles to see that they are bloodied and bruised.

I sit down on my bed across from Juhani while he cleans my hands and wraps them in bandages. He does not say a word to me because he knows what is happening to me; he saw it happen to Daniel. I look at him and when he finally meets my gaze, he shoots me a small smile, then looks back down at my hands.

"He told me I wasn't going on the mission to retrieve William." I tell him while looking down at my knuckles. Juhani knows more than anyone how important it is that I kill William.

He continues to wrap my hands and takes a moment to respond. "He wishes to protect you."

"He wants me to focus on Andre de Montbard." I correct him. "He wants the location of the Piece of Eden. Nothing else." I say in a cold tone. "If I get him what he wants, he will give me what I want."

"The memories are destroying you." He says finally looking at me with his icy eyes.

"I am not Daniel." I say lowly, "I can handle the Animus."

He shakes his head, finishing wrapping my hands. "You continue to use that machine and you will be just like him." He threatens.

"I have to kill him, Juhani." I say in a sad tone. "I have to have my revenge. I looked into his eyes and I watched as he killed my father with no regret. I want him to suffer for what he did to me… to Lilly." I swallow hard and the thought of my sister and Juhani put his head down.

"Rikkin will let you have your way with William, but when the time comes. Do not rush it." I sigh and he smiles at me.

He pushes strands of my hair behind my ear. He leans in and gently presses his lips against mine. I accept his kiss. It has been a while since I have kissed him, and I have missed his lips so much. He grabs my legs and separates them as he crawls on top of me, not letting his lips leave mine. He begins to explore my body with his lips, wandering down to my chest. I moan with acceptance as he kisses my chest. I open my eyes and look behind him to see Andre de Montbard standing at the edge of the room. He does not appear to me as a ghost, but as material as Juhani before me. He gives me a cynical smile that creeps up the side of his face as he lifts the silver cup, toasting to me once more.