Knives Don't Have Your Back: Chapter XVI

[rainjewel]

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Rated: R (NC17 overall)
Word Count: 3,533 / 90,339

I can't believe I'm posting the last chapter! I feel strangely sad and happy all at the same time.

Thank you to everyone for your continued love and support. Special thanks to bionic, who left me my first comment and sweetly left feedback for each and every chapter.

Comments

[felicememoria]

This. THIS STORY.
I don't think I can even try to explain all the feelings this invoked in me. Not having read the warnings - just saw the rating, thinkin oh, nice - I thought this would be just a nice story to pass the time. I also have never read Teodor/Malfatto before, so I was kind of simply giving this pairing a chance. Two awesome characters together mostly can't be bad.

Welp, I was both proven right and oh so very wrong. Right in the pairing aspect, yep, it's an amazing thing; wrong with the story. I didn't expect any of them to be quite as cruel, was torn between understanding the objectives and moral views. Especially the part with that girl and her father, that Juliana… it just killed me. I'm having enough issues with children dying before their parents do, and that… whoa. I was wincing through the paragraphs and grateful when it was over. However, that didn't make the whole thing any less enjoyable. Most likely, it just added to it.

After all, well, you've said it yourself. They're the people who are worse than those who already are murderers. They can't be happy and shiny and rainbows. The darkness was perfect. And then there were all those moments in which you couldn't help but smile, the interaction between Malfatto and Teodor, or when the relationship with Donato seemed to slowly mend itself.

A few paragraphs later, you successfully destroyed all traces of said smiles more than once. Actually killing Donato… just like that other friend of Teo's, the French guy whose name I can't remember right now, ummm… well, nevermind, all those things!

And another specific scene, in this chapter… what with Teo wanting to go, despite Malfatto obviously not wanting him to. I was reading it just when I got out of the subway and can hardly go on reading without walking straight into the next person, so I had to stop for a little while… and my thoughts were going all crazy about how Teo's an ass and stupid and that he just CAN'T do that… so when I finally got into the tram and was able to read on, I had a huge grin on my face. Loving how our dear dottore was more than prepared for the situation. While it was everything but the conventional way, it's an effective one, isn't it? Hehe. Nice.

Yesterday, I've been reading this till 3AM, by the way. During the time I could have studied for my history test today… I think I didn't fail it though, so this was more than worth it. (and even if I would. This. friggin. story. Again.)

So… all in a few short sentences. Wonderful relationship dynamics, realistic up's and down's, one can just feel that they love eachother without ever saying so. Malfatto's home came to feel like a safe zone, a home for me, as a reader, too.
Huge bonus points for whenever the plague mask got wired into the sex scenes, it seems I have a hidden kink for that without ever knowing. You never stop learning, hmn. ;)

Tl;dr, if you ever write anything again, I'll read the hell out of it. That's some incredible talent there. (:

[rainjewel]

Wow! Thank you for your wonderful review, my dear. I'm -- I don't want to say "glad" -- but in a way I am pleased about your reaction to the darker content of this story, especially for mentioning the section where Teodor murders Julianna and her father. I know that Teodor's betrayal of Donato and Donato's death were the parts a lot of people found to be the darkest parts of this story, but I always have felt that scene with Teodor and the inn was the most traumatizing chapter. He's very removed and cold in that scene, because I always felt that while Teodor is sickened by his own monstrosity, he's very accepting of it. This fic deals quite expansively with the subjects of evil, of cruelty, and I think that scene is Teodor at his worst. I liked exploring what makes people monsters. I would say Teodor is a monster, but not because he's a sadist or a psychopath, but rather because while he may know the difference from right and wrong he will still choose to do something terrible -- in fact he usually chooses that option without considering other, less convenient methods. ANYWAY, I'll get off my soapbox, I just wanted to thank you for sticking with the story and feeling that while that part might have been awful, it was necessary for the story.

Poor, poor Donato. I love the guy. But I tried my absolute darndest to stick with the canon of AC:B and unfortunately that meant Donato had to die. I hadn't originally planned on offing him within the timeline of this story but then I realized that thematically we had to see his death, especially since it came at the hands of Ezio. I'm so glad you stuck with me through the end. I'm glad that you felt that Malfatto and Teodor's relationship was realistic -- it's hard to make a believable romance out of two murderers without them being completely insane. And THANK YOU for the bonus points regarding the freaky mask sex. I never planned on freaky mask sex in this story, it just sort of happened and I almost took it out a couple of times but my darling stumphed insisted I keep it. She's wise beyond her years.

Thanks again, not only for reading but for leaving me such a wonderful comment. I truly appreciate it.

[felicememoria]

Oh dear lord, ultra-late reply; I'm sorry! I don't usually log into lj and only just remembered, because we have a pineapple at home. Then your descriptions of when Theodor bought Malfatto one came into my mind and… well.
Really, your story more than kind of corrupted me. The thing with the pineapples and, of course, every friggin time I'm online in multiplayer. I fail and start to rage while playing Malfatto? Think of that story, calm down and control that rage into a more useful direction… and I suddenly kill lots of people while staying sneaky and scoring quite a lot. Whoa. Thanks.

All the stuff with Donato was just terrible, sure, but the inn chapter was the worst. They all were, as far as we all know, completely innocent people. People, that definitly don't have to deal with death on a daily basis. Donato was a man of war, he's more or less used to facing it. But that girl, her dad… for gods sake, the old lady there, too.
It was rather obvious that you enjoyed writing this. I don't think anyone who just writes a story like this without enjoying it could ever make it feel so real and oppressive. Hell, I think that even if people would enjoy writing it, it'd be hard for them to manage this.

Oh yes, I think you've made us all love him. He's probably one of the best friends anyone could have, isn't it? He even puts up with almost anything Theodor does (or doesn't do, seems more fitting in his particular case) and is willing to forgive him even when he almost had cost him his life.
But I have to admit a little thing here… until recently, I didn't know that he actually is the Captain. When someone in the Manhunt mode chose for my team to play as him… I had a huge moment of 'ASKDLFJWAIIIIIIT WHAT' and a strange feeling of oncoming depressions. Alright, that may be a bit exaggerated, but you know what I mean. Gosh.
I can just imagine how hard it was, but yes, it was incredibly realistic. And not just realistic in the 'It's just like them and fits into the setting'-way, but in the 'if they hadn't been killed by Ezio, it could've happened'-way. If you get what I mean.
Okaaay, send her a big thanks from me for her advice then! Freaky mask sex was brilliant and very much appreciated.

Write another story and you'll get lots of long comments from me. /bribe bribe
Ehem, no, that's your choice. I'd really love to read more though.