Assassin's Creed: Winter's Falling

Chapter 32

The man and woman shared a hurt and confused look. Nerida wasn't being completely honest with them. Their voices, their eyes, even the slight smell in the air around them was familiar. She didn't completely remember them, but there was still something about them that was recognizable. She would have even called the feeling comforting if she hadn't been strapped down.

"What about the fire?" Nerida's mother grabbed her arm. "Do you remember the explosion in our lab? The heat from the fire?"

Nerida's eyes grew wide and scared. "Two years ago? How do you know about that? Did you guys start it? Cause if you did I'll beat your ass."

"Of course not, Alice," The way her father spoke to her like a child annoyed Nerida. "Please, calm down."

"Don't call me that!" Nerida snapped. "It's not my name."

"Then what do you want me to call you?"

"Nerida. It's my name. Ner-i-da. It's Greek."

"Okay, Ne-ri-da. Do you remember anything about before the explosion?"

Nerida froze. She hadn't noticed it before, but her father had a slight accent. It wasn't noticeable until he tried to pronounce her name. The accent was clearly Russian. It opened the flood gates of her mind.

"No," Nerida lied to herself. "And I don't see how this is any of your business."

"Two years ago," Her father leaned in so she could see him better. "You were helping us in the lab when the project we were working on detonated. Those idiot Assassins had sabotaged it. We thought you had been vaporized in the blast because we didn't find your body."

"And you think that's me?" Nerida scoffed. "Hilarious."

Her father grimaced. He pulled a photo out of his lab coat pocket and waved it in Nerida's face. It was a picture of a little girl with brown hair and deep cyan eyes. she was in the arms of a young and happy couple; the same couple that stood by her bedside now. Behind the girl was the ocean; blue, beautiful and sparkling; and around her neck was a Templar cross. Nerida remembered that day. Ice-cream by the ocean; the last day before entering the sigma team training academy.

"Holy fuck," Nerida breathed.

"See," Her mother was grabbing her arm again. "Nerida, you are our daughter Alice."

"Even if it's true," Nerida's eyes grew dark. "I don't care."

"You just don't remember," Her father said. "Because you have amnesia. When you remember us, you will care."

"Well duh," Nerida talked back. "But I still don't care! I have a new life now. I have friends whom I love, and they will kill you when they find you."

"Ah... yes... friends...," His eyes darkened. "I don't know how you found them, or how they found you, but I will not allow my daughter to become an... Assassin."

He spat the word like poison from his lips.

With a disgusted scowl, he continued. "But we will fix that soon enough. The doctors here will kill the demon Nerida and bring me back my Alice."

"You can't," Nerida grinned. "I happen to like me. Demon or not, Nerida is here to stay. Your Alice is gone."

"Get me my daughter back," he spat at to the doctors before dragging his wife from the room.