Apologies if this isn't coherent. Anon is sleep-writing...
Strange Fates
Chapter 22 - Triangle
Charles walked into the room on the third knock. At his entrance, both occupants looked up at him, a near identical frown on their faces.
Charles briefly froze, struck by the uncanny resemblance.
For a split second, it was as if Master Kenway had split himself into two for the sole purpose of doubling the force of his displeasure with him.
Despite Master Kenway’s gentlemanly demeanor, he was a very forceful and commanding man. His disapproval was not easily borne, and Charles always hated having it directed at him.
For there now to be two sources of that sentiment, both directed at him...
It was enough to make a grown man tremble.
Thankfully, the moment passed quickly enough, and the little differences that differentiated the two registered in Charles’s mind.
Master Kenway and the Assassin were not the same. Of course they were not.
But Charles still remained somewhat shaken.
“Charles.”
Master Kenway was the first to address him.
“I had believed you to be occupied.”
It was a thinly veiled command to explain himself for intruding so.
“I—“
How to explain his sentiments, his motivations? How to make Master Kenway listen to him and capture the attention of those amber-brown eyes that had turned away in disgust as he approached?
It was a difficult task, approaching his mentor when the son he had wronged sat curled in a chair not three feet away, but he had asked for this.
There was little else to be done now anyways.
“There is something very important at stake here, and I mean to contribute in any way I can.”
Master Kenway’s frown deepened at that, and Charles could see the Assassin tense.
“I thank you for your...enthusiasm...” and it was rather clear that his mentor had had another word in mind, “but your contribution is not needed.”
Such a brusque response.
Brushing Charles off completely.
Had he truly fallen so far in his mentor’s eyes?
To be dismissed so was...
It meant things had fallen more than Charles had thought.
And it meant that it was even more important that he gain back as much ground as possible here and now.
“With all due respect sir,” Charles carefully noted the very brief flinch from the Assassin boy as he took a step closer, “this is a conversation I cannot sit out.”
If the boy had been tense before, he was absolutely rigid now.
“Charles...”
It was a warning.
A warning to back down. A warning to leave and pretend all of this never happened.
Charles had always followed Master Kenway’s instructions in the past. He may have interpreted some of them rather...creatively...but he prided himself on his ability to follow orders and deliver results above and beyond what was asked of him.
Espeically when it was Master Kenway doing the asking.
Charles took a few steps forward, pulled out an extra chair and seated himself in it.
This was one instruction he could not follow.
Already, he could see the Assassin’s lips thin in anger. Already, he could see Master Kenway’s eyes narrow in disappointment.
Charles did his best to ignore it.
This was too important.
“I want to cl—“
“—Did you plan this?”
The Assassin had interrupted him, looking straight at his mentor.
The Grandmaster shook his head.
“No, I did not. I meant what I said earlier. My goals at this point are—“
“Then why is he here?”
Charles decided to step in.
“I am here because the child in you is mine and—“
Both Kenways ignored him.
“Surely you do not think I invited him here now, after all that I’ve said?”
“I have noticed that you say a lot, but your actions rarely correspond to your words.”
“I do not lie, Connor.”
“I do not believe that.”
“Must I apologize once again? I had no way of knowing that Charles was quite so fixated on you and that he would force himself on you a—“
“—I am not so naïve as to think that a worldly Alpha such as yourself would not realize that lodging someone who has already been forced to...entertain...unwanted advances once with the Alpha who initiated those advances would not result in such an outcome!”
Charles tried to defend himself here.
He really hadn’t planned on taking the boy again. It had taken him by surprise almost as much as it had taken the boy by surprise.
“Really, I wasn’t planning on—“
And once again, he was ignored.
“You cannot mean to suggest that I planned on having my own son raped.”
“That is exactly what I am suggesting.”
A silence then.
Charles was shocked at the temerity of the boy to say such a thing.
And to Master Kenway.
“You...” Master Kenway looked shaken then. Pained even. “You think me capable of that.”
It was not a question.
“I think that the man who ordered the death of my mother and knowingly forced me into an engagement with the Alpha who raped me is capable of such a thing.”
Charles started.
The boy thought what?
“I did not order your mother’s death.”
Master Kenway was so stunned at the last accusation that all inflection and emotion left his voice.
“My mother burned to death within hours of Lee and the rest of your Templar ilk ambushing me in the forest and demanding the whereabouts of my village. Lee and the others never do anything without your orders. You cannot possibly expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with it.”
Master Kenway stared at him.
Charles stared at him.
He knew that the boy blamed him, but to shift that blame onto Master Kenway...
“We acted alone that day.”
And finally, finally the boy looked at him, acknowledged his presence.
“Master Kenway had traveled back east for some Order affairs in mother England. We were left with instructions not to pursue your village any longer, but I could not help thinking that Master Kenway was letting his sentiment for that—for your mother to cloud his judgment. And so I gathered the rest of the inner circle and went to make my own investigations.”
Silence again, and Charles could see the anger begin to build in Master Kenway.
“We had nothing to do with your mother’s death.”
Those amber-brown eyes bored into his own.
“It was more difficult than we thought to find your village. By the time that we finally found it, most of it was on fire.”
Charles debated telling the boy that his beloved Washington was responsible for the inferno that took his mother’s life, but decided that it would be counterproductive. The boy would not believe him, and it would throw doubt on his account of the events.
“I do not believe you.” It came out as a whisper. The boy was shaken by the news.
“You may ask that clan mother of yours. I spoke to her to extend my condolences about the tragedy.”
Both Master Kenway and the boy looked skeptical at that.
“I do not like the natives, it is true, but I do not wish for the indiscriminate slaughter of helpless people either.”
“And yet, you would force yourself on someone who was at a severe disadvantage. Twice, no less.”
Charles winced.
It was a valid point.
“You were the enemy the first time, and—“
“—do you usually go around raping enemies?”
...no.
“No. But—“
“Then I must ask what earned me the...distinction.”
Charles swallowed his words, and then looked briefly at Master Kenway.
“I wanted to break your resolve. You are our enemy, and it seemed like the fastest way of stopping you from protecting Washing—“
“Do not lie to me.”
Charles snapped his mouth closed.
“You had already come up with the plan to hang me at that point. There was no need for you to ‘break’ me as it would not have mattered. You could not have known that my friends would save me, nor could you know that I would kill Hickey before he was able to kill the commander. Why did you force yourself on me?”
Charles wetted his lips nervously.
“You are very attractive and—“
“—you have made clear your distaste of all natives. And I have not heard of you attacking other people you find attractive.”
Because those other people did not remind him of Master Kenway.
“...you should have been one of us.”
Both Master Kenway and the Assassin looked startled at this.
“Pardon?”
“You are Master Kenway’s son. You should have been one of us. You should have been mine from the start.”
The boy stared at him, eyes wide.
“Of all people for someone as distinguished as Master Kenway to entangle himself with, it has to be some Native bitch. And then she has his son. A son who, by all accounts, is extraordinarily clever and accomplished and beautiful and talented as Master Kenway himself. An Omega son who seeks to derail the very organization that Master Kenway gave his life to. And then, that is not all, and then that Omega son falls for the most worthless Alpha in existence, giving him victory after victory in a position that he does not deserve. And now, that Omega son is pregnant...with my child. And he still seeks to marry that worthless Alpha who does not deserve him. And you ask me why?”
Charles pauses briefly.
“You should have been our ally! You should have been my fiancé at the beginning! That is my child in you and—“
“That is enough, Charles.”
Charles blinked, then looked at Master Kenway.
“What did you come here for? What did you barge into this conversation for?”
Charles started, then looked back at the Assassin boy staring at him with wide eyes.
“I want to make sure that my child is not given away. That child is mine, and even if the engagement is broken, I want to raise the child once it is born.”
Because...because if he lost the boy to Biddle or Gerhard or anyone else, then he would have something, at least. Something of Master Kenway’s.
Strange Fates 22
Strange Fates
Chapter 22 - Triangle
Charles walked into the room on the third knock. At his entrance, both occupants looked up at him, a near identical frown on their faces.
Charles briefly froze, struck by the uncanny resemblance.
For a split second, it was as if Master Kenway had split himself into two for the sole purpose of doubling the force of his displeasure with him.
Despite Master Kenway’s gentlemanly demeanor, he was a very forceful and commanding man. His disapproval was not easily borne, and Charles always hated having it directed at him.
For there now to be two sources of that sentiment, both directed at him...
It was enough to make a grown man tremble.
Thankfully, the moment passed quickly enough, and the little differences that differentiated the two registered in Charles’s mind.
Master Kenway and the Assassin were not the same. Of course they were not.
But Charles still remained somewhat shaken.
“Charles.”
Master Kenway was the first to address him.
“I had believed you to be occupied.”
It was a thinly veiled command to explain himself for intruding so.
“I—“
How to explain his sentiments, his motivations? How to make Master Kenway listen to him and capture the attention of those amber-brown eyes that had turned away in disgust as he approached?
It was a difficult task, approaching his mentor when the son he had wronged sat curled in a chair not three feet away, but he had asked for this.
There was little else to be done now anyways.
“There is something very important at stake here, and I mean to contribute in any way I can.”
Master Kenway’s frown deepened at that, and Charles could see the Assassin tense.
“I thank you for your...enthusiasm...” and it was rather clear that his mentor had had another word in mind, “but your contribution is not needed.”
Such a brusque response.
Brushing Charles off completely.
Had he truly fallen so far in his mentor’s eyes?
To be dismissed so was...
It meant things had fallen more than Charles had thought.
And it meant that it was even more important that he gain back as much ground as possible here and now.
“With all due respect sir,” Charles carefully noted the very brief flinch from the Assassin boy as he took a step closer, “this is a conversation I cannot sit out.”
If the boy had been tense before, he was absolutely rigid now.
“Charles...”
It was a warning.
A warning to back down. A warning to leave and pretend all of this never happened.
Charles had always followed Master Kenway’s instructions in the past. He may have interpreted some of them rather...creatively...but he prided himself on his ability to follow orders and deliver results above and beyond what was asked of him.
Espeically when it was Master Kenway doing the asking.
Charles took a few steps forward, pulled out an extra chair and seated himself in it.
This was one instruction he could not follow.
Already, he could see the Assassin’s lips thin in anger. Already, he could see Master Kenway’s eyes narrow in disappointment.
Charles did his best to ignore it.
This was too important.
“I want to cl—“
“—Did you plan this?”
The Assassin had interrupted him, looking straight at his mentor.
The Grandmaster shook his head.
“No, I did not. I meant what I said earlier. My goals at this point are—“
“Then why is he here?”
Charles decided to step in.
“I am here because the child in you is mine and—“
Both Kenways ignored him.
“Surely you do not think I invited him here now, after all that I’ve said?”
“I have noticed that you say a lot, but your actions rarely correspond to your words.”
“I do not lie, Connor.”
“I do not believe that.”
“Must I apologize once again? I had no way of knowing that Charles was quite so fixated on you and that he would force himself on you a—“
“—I am not so naïve as to think that a worldly Alpha such as yourself would not realize that lodging someone who has already been forced to...entertain...unwanted advances once with the Alpha who initiated those advances would not result in such an outcome!”
Charles tried to defend himself here.
He really hadn’t planned on taking the boy again. It had taken him by surprise almost as much as it had taken the boy by surprise.
“Really, I wasn’t planning on—“
And once again, he was ignored.
“You cannot mean to suggest that I planned on having my own son raped.”
“That is exactly what I am suggesting.”
A silence then.
Charles was shocked at the temerity of the boy to say such a thing.
And to Master Kenway.
“You...” Master Kenway looked shaken then. Pained even. “You think me capable of that.”
It was not a question.
“I think that the man who ordered the death of my mother and knowingly forced me into an engagement with the Alpha who raped me is capable of such a thing.”
Charles started.
The boy thought what?
“I did not order your mother’s death.”
Master Kenway was so stunned at the last accusation that all inflection and emotion left his voice.
“My mother burned to death within hours of Lee and the rest of your Templar ilk ambushing me in the forest and demanding the whereabouts of my village. Lee and the others never do anything without your orders. You cannot possibly expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with it.”
Master Kenway stared at him.
Charles stared at him.
He knew that the boy blamed him, but to shift that blame onto Master Kenway...
“We acted alone that day.”
And finally, finally the boy looked at him, acknowledged his presence.
“Master Kenway had traveled back east for some Order affairs in mother England. We were left with instructions not to pursue your village any longer, but I could not help thinking that Master Kenway was letting his sentiment for that—for your mother to cloud his judgment. And so I gathered the rest of the inner circle and went to make my own investigations.”
Silence again, and Charles could see the anger begin to build in Master Kenway.
“We had nothing to do with your mother’s death.”
Those amber-brown eyes bored into his own.
“It was more difficult than we thought to find your village. By the time that we finally found it, most of it was on fire.”
Charles debated telling the boy that his beloved Washington was responsible for the inferno that took his mother’s life, but decided that it would be counterproductive. The boy would not believe him, and it would throw doubt on his account of the events.
“I do not believe you.” It came out as a whisper. The boy was shaken by the news.
“You may ask that clan mother of yours. I spoke to her to extend my condolences about the tragedy.”
Both Master Kenway and the boy looked skeptical at that.
“I do not like the natives, it is true, but I do not wish for the indiscriminate slaughter of helpless people either.”
“And yet, you would force yourself on someone who was at a severe disadvantage. Twice, no less.”
Charles winced.
It was a valid point.
“You were the enemy the first time, and—“
“—do you usually go around raping enemies?”
...no.
“No. But—“
“Then I must ask what earned me the...distinction.”
Charles swallowed his words, and then looked briefly at Master Kenway.
“I wanted to break your resolve. You are our enemy, and it seemed like the fastest way of stopping you from protecting Washing—“
“Do not lie to me.”
Charles snapped his mouth closed.
“You had already come up with the plan to hang me at that point. There was no need for you to ‘break’ me as it would not have mattered. You could not have known that my friends would save me, nor could you know that I would kill Hickey before he was able to kill the commander. Why did you force yourself on me?”
Charles wetted his lips nervously.
“You are very attractive and—“
“—you have made clear your distaste of all natives. And I have not heard of you attacking other people you find attractive.”
Because those other people did not remind him of Master Kenway.
“...you should have been one of us.”
Both Master Kenway and the Assassin looked startled at this.
“Pardon?”
“You are Master Kenway’s son. You should have been one of us. You should have been mine from the start.”
The boy stared at him, eyes wide.
“Of all people for someone as distinguished as Master Kenway to entangle himself with, it has to be some Native bitch. And then she has his son. A son who, by all accounts, is extraordinarily clever and accomplished and beautiful and talented as Master Kenway himself. An Omega son who seeks to derail the very organization that Master Kenway gave his life to. And then, that is not all, and then that Omega son falls for the most worthless Alpha in existence, giving him victory after victory in a position that he does not deserve. And now, that Omega son is pregnant...with my child. And he still seeks to marry that worthless Alpha who does not deserve him. And you ask me why?”
Charles pauses briefly.
“You should have been our ally! You should have been my fiancé at the beginning! That is my child in you and—“
“That is enough, Charles.”
Charles blinked, then looked at Master Kenway.
“What did you come here for? What did you barge into this conversation for?”
Charles started, then looked back at the Assassin boy staring at him with wide eyes.
“I want to make sure that my child is not given away. That child is mine, and even if the engagement is broken, I want to raise the child once it is born.”
Because...because if he lost the boy to Biddle or Gerhard or anyone else, then he would have something, at least. Something of Master Kenway’s.
It would have to be enough.