The Forest Chapter 1

{A/N Hello once again and welcome to The Forest! I updated really quickly because this was already written and I wanted to get it out as soon as possible.

If you are new to this story then by all means read on, it will only slightly confuse you!

I will be doing a review section as usual on this story and I would like to thank all of you who reviewed the epilogue of What the Hell! You guys made my day :D

There are quite a few characters in this so I will give a character list:

Altair Ibn L'Ahad

Malik Al-Sayf

Kadar Al-Sayf

Giovanni Auditore (when he was in his mid-twenties)

Mario Auditore (Same applies though he is slightly older than Giovanni in this)

Ezio Auditore (Four years older than in What the Hell)

La Volpe (Like in AC:Brotherhood)

Bartolommeo D'Alviano (As above)

Caterina Sforza (As above)

Desmond Miles (As above)

Rebecca Crane (As above)

Shaun Hastings (As above)

Abby Freilich-Jones (Four years after What the Hell)

Most chapters will either focus on Ezio or Abby however I will post chapters keeping you update with the others too.

I know a lot of you readers joining this from What the Hell will have questions about the gap in between WTH and this and I will try to answer as many of them as I can during the story.

The idea for this came from the Hunger Games (which is a really good book) so some things may be a little familiar though I am trying my very hardest to develop this into my own idea rather than ripping it off.

Please review and I hope you enjoy reading!}

There was a knock at the door and Daniel Cross looked up from his computer. In walked a red headed woman who he knew to be the head of their latest mission. Project Hunter. It was the biggest project Abstergo had ever launched and now the final pieces were falling into place. They had a Piece of Eden and all that was left was to fit the final puzzle piece.

Abstergo was now more powerful than ever. They now controlled almost half of the world through business and industry as well as politics and governments. Of course they had more focussed efforts on the richer countries of the world as well as those with the most supplies of the world's resources but now their influence was beginning to spread to the poorer countries too as wealth and development was shared and traded and their companies branched out further.

Project Hunter was hoped to be a way to celebrate the success and eliminate their most... resilient enemies who had stalked them through the passage of time never really going away no matter how powerful Templars became. The Assassins. Killing two birds with one stone was the figure of speech given to the project. The woman standing before him now was the head of that project which Abstergo's best minds had been working on.

"Hello Helena, I'm guessing you have news about the project?" he said looking at the woman. The woman cleared her throat and spoke to him in her always perfect English accent.

"Yes I do, yesterday we managed to get the Piece of Eden to co-operate and our Subject 1 successfully made it to 1191 AD without any problems whatsoever."

"That's quite a lot of progress, what about the Forest, is that ready yet?" He was excited about this, it would be go down in the history books as the time the Assassins were destroyed forever.

"Yes sir, the final parts have been fitted and everything is live. All that's left is the Prey."

"And the Hunters? When are you going to get them?"

"They are being collected as we speak sir. We plan to have the Prey in the Forest within the next hour."

"Good, lets see how they cope with this." he said smiling in anticipation of the hunt.

...

As soon as he got to his room, Ezio went over to the bed and collapsed on it fully clothed, completely exhausted from all of the free-running and sword fighting his brother and father had made him do. He still had no idea why it was necessary considering he was now a banker.

Why would a banker need to fight or run over rooftops?

Still he was glad at least that it kept him in shape for the pretty ladies of Firenze. Four years ago he had felt something in his heart stir and became reluctant to go out and flirt but still he did, after all he had an image to uphold.

A couple of hours later there was suddenly a rather loud thump as something heavy stomped on the floor. He stirred at the commotion but was not completely awake. When he eventually opened his eyes he was greeted by a man's face inches from his own. He almost jumped at the sight and closeness of such a thing but did not. He only had a few seconds to register the face before he felt something sharp prick his wrist and his eyes closed again.

...

In the time he was unconscious he had a disturbing yet strange dream.

He stood in a dark room only to view, right before his eyes, a young woman lying in a pool of blood. Alive but only just.

It took him only a moment to recognise her and when he did, he wasted no time rushing to her side and cradling her in his strong arms, brushing her hair away from her wet eyes.

"You came." Her accent was still as beautiful as he remembered it to be. She put a weak hand on his cheek he took it and kissed it, feeling the coolness of her skin beneath his lips.

"I did." He said his voice cracking. She was so pale and weak, he knew it wouldn't be long before she was gone completely. Her smile at him made it so much worse. "Don't...don't go."

"I have to, I'll find you again." She said her voice nothing more than a whisper.

"I love you." The words slipped out of Ezio's mouth naturally since he'd said them to her a million times before.

"I love you too Ezio." She said giving his hand a weak squeeze, the life draining from her eyes just after the last syllable left her lips.

He held her, tears slipping silently down his face for a few moments before the dream faded and he regained consciousness in a place he didn't recognise.

...

Abby was in her office as usual completing her update report on their progress with the reconnaissance mission in London. Her Assassins were trying to gain information a new P.O.E and a big conference was coming up in the financial district about it –top secret of course. They had already set up bugs in the conference room that was to be used and she was preparing some of the assassins to go there disguised and transmit information back to HQ via a secure line. They had also accepted novices from all over Western Europe to increase their numbers and unite the countries under her guidance.

However it was almost one o'clock in the morning, her eyes were stinging because of the bright screen before her and her office looked like it had been through a hurricane.

It's impossible to write like this, maybe I will have to do this tomorrow... no I HAVE to get this done. It's important that the others know how we are getting on and what information we have gathered and this has to be done tonight otherwise they will not get the information in time.

Because of possible Abstergo spies watching communications, she would have to send a series of messages with only a few of the phrases from her actual report in them. And even then the code had to change each time. It was good though that the man on tactical support was good at decrypting hidden codes but still it required a lot of effort from them both. She was midway through the report when she felt her eyelids really droop.

I can't do this, I can barely keep my eyes open let alone think about encrypting a message.

She tried to carry on though but then something pricked her neck and she couldn't keep awake anymore.

...

A cool, damp breeze greeted Abby as she slowly regained consciousness. She was about to sigh in delight at it then her mind snapped awake. She had been in her office before so there couldn't have been a breeze.

She opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of masses of trees as far as she could see and as she stood up the mist around her swirled as it was disturbed. This was not a place that anyone associated with forest walks and fresh air. This was the type you saw in all the horror films, the scary type.

The forest itself didn't scare her, she'd been watching horror films with interest for years (well the ones before she became an Assassin) and if anything the scenery reminded her of all of those films. No the thing that slightly scared her was how she got there. Either someone managed to infiltrate their base or one of her Assassins was a mole. Both were extremely bad news.

Once she was satisfied enough with her surroundings she checked herself over. She looked down at herself and noted that she was still in her normal clothes (slightly heeled black ankle boots, black skinny jeans, grey vest top and her hoodie, black to signify her Master Assassin rank with a gold embroidered edge on the hood to signify her higher rank) though when she went to test her hidden blade she realised that it was gone along with the rest of her weapons.

"Well wherever this is, someone certainly didn't give me much to survive on." She commented dryly as she looked around, she hoped there would be some sort of plant and animal life somewhere around, not to mention water, otherwise she was going to die without having any of her questions answered.

"That is because we have no intention of letting you live." A sneering voice said as a young man stepped out from the shadows and mist around her.