October 15th, 2014 - Night
15th of October, 2014 - Night
As Alfred crouched down on a thick branch of the tree he'd scaled to observe the come and go of guards around the mansion, he realized that infiltration would not be as easy as he'd hoped. He'd probably have to kill one of the guards patrolling the gates, and then maybe kill the one standing by the bushes, and he was always at risk of being spotted by marksmen despite the dark of the fallen night.
"I'll be surprised if you can pull that off by yourself," a voice suddenly interrupted his planning, and Alfred whirled around, the instinctive jerk of his fingers activating the hidden blades in his sleeve. Alfred tucked them back into the shadows when he recognized the mocking grin of his ally and adversary, Captain Arthur Kirkland.
"Jones," Arthur nodded and jumped down from a higher branch he stood on, in order to lean cockily on the branching of the trunk. "I didn't think we'd both have the same target."
"Sounds like more than one person wants this Carriedo guy dead. Shame. He sounded like a nice guy to me when I eavesdropped on him this afternoon," Alfred shrugged. "However, the difference between us is that I am doing this for justice, and you are doing it for money."
"Both are valid reasons, don't you think?" Arthur shrugged, and sat down on Alfred's branch. "I think we should stop arguing and cooperate on this one."
"Sorry, but sneaking in alone is going to be a challenge. Don't think we'll do well together. Sit this one out, won't you?" Alfred rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I'm not sneaking in," Arthur huckled as if he knew something the other didn't. "I'm getting you in." And he pulled his hairband off, letting his shoulder-length blond hair tumble down his back.
"What?" Alfred watched, confused, as Arthur fixed his fringe in a way that made his eyes look wider, like a scared deer. He noticed the black pencil on his upper eyelids as well as his lower, and he suddenly realized that Arthur had been planning this since the beginning. "Oh, so your plan is crossdressing and seducing the guards into your bed while I kill our target. Very elaborate, Kirkland." Alfred rolled his eyes. "You really are desperate, aren't you?"
"No, lad. I assure you that I could get anybody I want in my bed at any given moment." And the look he gave Alfred made shivers run down his spine. "I just get a bit picky, seeing as I have so many possible choices," he smirked, and Alfred suddenly felt too embarrassed to look at him in the eye.
"Yes, sir. Of course," Kirkland squeaked in such a low voice that Alfred completely fell for his ruse for a moment. The final touch was the cut he made on his arm in order to paint his lips red with his own blood.
Alfred didn't dare say it, but Arthur was both terrifying and devastatingly alluring.
"Here's hoping the good masters will take pity on a poor lass like me," Arthur pouted in the same voice, and Alfred was left speechless.
"You won't fool anyone, Kirkland. Spare yourself already," he breathed, cheeks completely red.
"Watch me." And Arthur had the gall to wink at him before he gracefully leapt off the branch, to the ground.
And Alfred did, and reminded himself to just breathe when Arthur practically draped himself on the bars of the gate, speaking to the guards in a soft, pleading voice. The guards laughed at him at first, but then Arthur began swinging his hips, going lower and lower, and for hell's sake, Arthur really knew what he was doing. Alfred was ashamed in his stead, seeing as Arthur seemed to have no shame in finally convincing the guards to open the gate to get a grab at the pleading 'woman'.
And said 'woman' let them take her by the shoulders and guide her behind a stone pillar, and for a moment, something like white hot anger flashed through the assassin's veins when one of the guards unexpectedly grabbed Arthur's ass. Arthur himself flinched, but quickly regained his composure and guided the hand off of his backside, pulling the guards into the night instead. As soon as they were gone, and their fate at the hands of the pirate captain were sealed, Alfred leapt off the tree, landed with a roll, and ran past the gates, up the main staircase, and into the courtyard. There, he ducked into the nearest bushes, and watched the guards do their rounds, analyzing their patterns and trying to figure out how to sneak past them without being seen. One person identifying him could have the devastating effect of setting the alarm bell off, which would cause incredible trouble for both him and Arthur, if the man was still around.
So he jumped past the path to the small plantation, where he ducked in the leaves and the night to evade being spotted. Considering the number of guards around, he actually did make a lot of progress before he made the mistake of moving around a bush when the guard was too close. The Spaniard turned around and spotted his white robes through the darkness, and immediately let out a cry. He was silenced by Alfred a second later, but the damage was done. Another soldier had heard, and was going for the alarm bell. The assassins was too far to catch up with him, though, so his best bet was to rush to his target and do his job before the reinforcements could do theirs.
He assassinated two guards and shot sleeping darts at a marksman on the roof before running to climb the manor. He knocked out the sleeping marksman on his way across the rooftops, and finally he reached his target, the Templar Spaniard. Sheathing his swords, he triggered his hidden blades, and he jumped. Like an eagle, he swooped down from above, hidden by the shadows of the night, and brought justice upon his enemy without remorse. Once the man dead, he shut his eyes in respect, and grabbed the key to his warehouse on his way out of the gardens.
Strangely enough, no guards were waiting for him, and his flight out of the plantation was an easier trip than his entry. He could not help but notice, though, the telltale shapes of bodies in the tall grass or bushes, and the self-explanatory occurrence of the sabotaged alarm bell. Arthur had been around, and by the body count he'd left, he sure had done his job right.
Not right enough, though, for a couple of hundred metres away from the gate, Alfred was spotted by a marksman. He barely avoided the shot that followed, but worst of all were the guards that spotted him, and began chasing him. Although Alfred usually loved the chase between the streets of the city, the climbing and crawling and jumping and blending in with the night, this time, he was mostly worried about Arthur's whereabouts. This many guards was not a good sign. He just hoped that the pirate captain hadn't gotten into any trouble.
He was able to exit the plantation safely, but the guards did not let him get away so easily. They chased him down the dirt path, into the first set of houses. And as Alfred took a turn in a back alley to try and ditch them, a hand suddenly shot out of an abandoned shack and dragged him into the shadows of the doorless house.
He was smacked against a wall and tried to protest, but then his assailant kissed him, and Alfred barely even heard the guards' footsteps thundering past the shack. When they were completely gone, his mouth was released, and he squinted at his attacker, only to recognize him by the cocky smirk on his face.
"Are you serious?" he groaned, but did not object when Arthur roughly grabbed his chin and kissed him again. Alfred tasted Arthur's blood on his lips, and instead of being disgusting, it was strangely exciting. He was snogging the pirate captain everyone spoke of, the ruthless, fearless, powerful Captain Arthur Kirkland. And he was liking it.
"I know the way you looked at me," Kirkland breathed in his ear, pressing up against him. "Those perverted men... Oh, the things they would do for a pleading lady out of her wits," he chuckled, and a shiver rippled up Alfred's spine. He breathed out shakily.
"You're no better, dressing up like a woman-" Alfred was interrupted by Arthur's lips and this time, he didn't resist. He grabbed Arthur by the waist and pulled him close, and delighted in the hum of his voice vibrating through his kisses. Arthur's hands ran all over his body, tracing his chest, his ribs, and Alfred was incredibly satisfied, until Arthur pulled away completely. "W-What?"
"Come here," Arthur invited in a sultry voice, green eyes glinting in the night as he beckoned him forward, and stepped backwards towards the windowsill. Moonlight rained upon his face, his lips bleeding red, his eyes sharp and alluring with the pencil work, his body lean and firm from years of freerunning and fighting for what he wanted... and Alfred could not refuse the invitation.
"Arthur..." he sighed, wanting nothing but to slip back into the pirate's embrace, but the captain stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"Oh, Alfred," he chuckled, and put a hand up. In the moonlight glinted the cold metal of the warehouse key that Alfred had taken from his target. "You're no better, falling for someone like me..." He smirked, and backed up until his back met the windowsill. "And, well... I suppose I am not any better for falling for you, in every sense of the term. I will see you around, Captain Jones," he nodded in mock respect, and then threw himself backwards.
"No!" Alfred cried, and rushed to the window, just in time to see Arthur's thin form complete its freefall off the cliff and plunge into the black waters. Alfred cursed himself for letting his guard down, and watched Arthur swim away towards his ship anchored not far off. A cloud passed in front of the moon, and the next moment, Arthur Kirkland had melted into the night.