This fanfic is a crossover between the storylines of Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and of course, Katawa Shoujo. I'll be changing most of the Assassin's Creed lore to fit this, so familiarity with Assassin's Creed is not that essential. However, familiarity with Mass Effect is necessary to understand this fic. This is also my first long term planned fic. This prologue just sets up how the three stories connect.
Constructive criticism, or even outright harsh criticism is welcome. I'd like to know whether my writing is any good.
Note:
Commander Shepard is a female Sentinel (Colonist, War Hero backgrounds) named Elizabeth, as in my latest ME3 playthrough. But this story doesn't focus on Shepard, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Hisao's story is post Lilly good end.
Well, then, on with it.
Table of contents:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Prologue:
"Commander, Admiral Anderson's available on vid-comm," said communications specialist Samantha Traynor as Commander Elizabeth Shepard walked over to the galaxy map. "However, he suggests that you contact him via the private terminal in your cabin as he wishes to discuss a classified matter." "Alright, patch him through," replied Shepard as she walked over to the main elevator of the Normandy SR-2.
Arriving at her destination, she fired up the holographic interface on her cabin desk and waited as the calm face of Admiral David Anderson appeared on it. "Shepard, any news from Admiral Hackett about the Crucible? Have they found any intel on the Catalyst yet?" Anderson went straight to the matter at hand. Rightly so, as every second they wasted reduced their chances against the reapers. "Not as far as I know, Anderson, " said Shepard. "But I assume this is not why you contacted me? You would have contacted Admiral Hackett directly, if so." "Yes, and no," Anderson gave a dry chuckle. "Indeed I have contacted Admiral Hackett, but there is something that you should know, and yes, it is about the Catalyst. Or so we believe," he paused for a short while. "First, check your armor locker. I had a package delivered to you from the Citadel." "Not you too, Anderson!" Shepard gave an exaggerated sigh. "I really didn't like the Illusive Man sneaking stuff into my locker either." With that, she left Anderson with an amused expression on his face to get the "package" out of her armor locker.
What she found, however, surprised her. She wasn't sure what she expected, but it sure was not... "A helmet?" began Shepard as she walked back to her terminal, "wha—," but was quickly interrupted by Anderson. "Put it on." Driven by curiosity, she carefully slid it on to her head. The computerized interface in it quickly sprang to life. "Welcome to the Animus Project," an almost monotonous female voice spoke. "Please authorize connection to your omni-tool". The voice was oddly soothing. "Shepard?" Anderson's voice was heard over the terminal. "Link it up to me." Raising her left arm, Shepard entered a few details on her omni-tool. "Done."
Suddenly, the world around her was no more. She was staring into a greyish-white abyss that seemed to go on forever. More than that, looking down at herself, Shepard saw that she was no longer herself. She was, in fact, a young man, dressed in odd clothing. Somehow, she knew that the clothing style was an old Italian, though she had no idea how she knew this bit of information. "Anderson?" she called out. "This... simulation... or whatever it is, seems to be unable to detect my gender. It's kinda weird to be a man..." she said dryly. "That would be because this is not a simulation, Shepard," came the reply. "Just calm yourself down and pay attention. It's easier for me to show you than to explain." "Alright, I'm calm," said Shepard, though 'calm' may have not been the right word to describe her state of mind at the time. Nevertheless, she tried to relax her mind and stared into the empty void that surrounded her.
Some text appeared in front of her eyes [Animus Project ver. 11.0: Loading memory from file /source/S17.anima] as the previously heard female voice said "Beginning synchronization," and the endless void began to fill with detail. Shepard instantly knew that she was looking at 15th century Italy. Florence, to be specific, though just like earlier, she had no idea how she actually knew that. The young man was hurriedly climbing the side of a tall building with surprising dexterity. Next moment, he was running across town, jumping from roof to roof, with another young man, his elder brother, in hot pursuit. It was a race, and the destination seemed to be a church nearby. A quick flash. The scene had forwarded to atop the church. The young man and his brother appeared to be in high spirits as they looked down over the city. "It is a good life we lead, brother. May it never change," the elder man was saying, to which the younger man was replying "May it never change us." Flash. The man was looking into the eyes of his lover. Flash. He was dashing through the crowds, screaming, as his father and brothers were hung unjustly. Flash. A sharp blade emerging from his armor at the wrist. Flash. Thrusting the blade into a guard's neck in anger. Flash. Sneaking across the Sistine Chapel. Flash. "When I started this fight, I did not think it would span a lifetime." Now much older, walking into a dark room with a glowing orb at the end. "But I soon discovered, it will span many more." Touching the orb. And then, as soon as they came, the visions were gone. Shepard, still in the form of the man, who was now rather old, was back in the greyish-white void, with the orb she saw in the final vision floating in front of her. As if by instinct, she reached forth and grabbed it.
Once again, the void was filled. But this time, Shepard knew the relevance of the visions. The visions were brief flashes of a reaper attack. The planet seemed to be Earth, but the structures on it were nothing like the Earth she knew. Yet, it was Earth, possibly of an earlier cycle, before the protheans. The flashes indicated a species, physically very much similar to humans, struggling to hold off the reapers, and also trying to build what looked like the Crucible. And then, the 'simulation' ended. "Synchronization complete," the voice of the Animus spoke. Shepard quickly pulled off the helmet, which she now felt was suffocating her, and realized that she was sweating and panting.
"Anderson..." she struggled to form the words. "What did I just see? I mean I think I know what it was, at least the last bit, bu—" "Calm down, Shepard," said Anderson via the comm link. "Your reaction, and obvious confusion, is understandable. I too learned this recently, and of course, had a similar reaction. What you just saw was a memory. A memory of Ezio Auditore, a man who lived in Italy, about eight hundred years ago, long before we discovered galactic civilization. Actually, a few parts of his memory. The most important part being the very last bit where he found a certain artefact—" "Is that the Catalyst?" Shepard wasn't feeling very patient at the moment. "That might be jumping the gun, so to speak," came Anderson's reply. "It is possible that it could be the Catalyst, but it could also be a part of the Catalyst, or at the very least, a device that could give us much more information including its location."
"Alright, you want me to retrieve it?" asked Shepard. "I assume it's no longer on Earth, seeing as you contacted me." "I believe this is when it gets... let's use the term 'interesting' for now" said Anderson. "There are obscure records of several of these artefacts being present on Earth during various stages of human history. However, most of them were destroyed in the year 2012 due to a certain incident. But there are also records of one of them, just one, surfacing a little while later, though that is the last we have heard of it." By now, Shepard was feeling quite confused. "So how do I help you with this?" she wondered. "After all, maybe that artefact was also destroyed, just like the others, but later on." "That is what I need your help with finding out. You see, this memory you just saw, was not extracted from the man himself. Are you familiar with the concept of genetic memory, Shepard?" Anderson was looking pointedly at her. "Yes, but it has so far not been proven." said Shepard, as she really wasn't sure what to make of it. "Are you saying that what I saw was actually a memory taken from a descendant of that man?" "Yes," replied Anderson. "Unless there were memory retrieval and saving technologies in the 15th century, that is the only way we can come to possess this memory after all." Anderson paused for a slight moment. "Look, I know all this can be a little hard to take in. But the basic thing is this. To find what happened to the final artefact, we need a descendant of the man who had it finally. And lucky for us, we have found one. Which is where you come in."
"Who is that, and how am I connected?" Shepard was quite intrigued by this new developement. Some development was always better than none, and this seemed to be much more than 'some'. "Your former crew member, who I hear is already working to help build the Crucible," said Anderson. "Kasumi Goto." "Just out of curiosity, Anderson," began Shepard, as a plan formulated in her mind on how to get the elusive thief's attention once again. "How did you find all this? And how trustworthy is this intel in the first place?" "Well, it wouldn't hurt to let you know some things, I believe," said Anderson, and Shepard's omni-tool beeped. [Codex updated. New entries: The Assassin Order, Knights Templar, Abstergo Industries] "Read up on these when you have time."
Two weeks later, master thief Kasumi Goto was in the AI Core room of the Normandy SR-2 with Commander Shepard herself. "I don't know how I let you get me roped into this, Shep," whined Kasumi in an exaggerated manner, though Shepard knew that she did want to help. "Let's get this over with." With that, she popped on the Animus device. Shepard raised her left arm and entered some details into her omni-tool. "You ready to save this, EDI?" she spoke to the ship's AI. "Ready to record data, Shepard," came the AI's electronic voice. "Do it."
Kasumi stared blankly at the void surrounding her. "Searching for ancestor data," said the voice of the Animus. "Ancestor name: Hisao, Family name: Nakai. Ancestor data found. Data recording started." And then, she saw the first glimpses of her ancestor's life as the text [saving memory to file /source/S65.anima] scrolled across her vision.
Next chapter =>
This is the kinda thing that happens when someone is really really bored and is not feeling like studying for his upcoming exam. To be honest, I really don't know how I came up with this weird idea. 
