Disclaimer: I do not own Assassins Creed lll.

Bad Blood

Can you imagine a free world? A world where any person is free from rule that they did not agree on? Is there such a place where they could live under their own constitution of their own ideas? Questions among questions. Turning into riddles of what-if scenarios that even I could not believe in where even the most possible of ideas can be impossible.

The smartest; the intelligent of men are the bravest for standing for their ideals. They wanted to create something. They wanted their ideas to become reality when the impossible was thrown right into their face. They were seen as crazy waiting to be shunned or even hanged in the gallows with a rope tightly secured around their neck. If it was not for people that wanted to protect what little they had left, we would be nothing. We would have nothing.

Our possessions, our homes, our families, our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers; what we wanted most was what could not be taken from us… our freedom.

It all began on a ship leading to a new world. A world that, to some, was a place that a man could start a new life. Leave his past behind him and never set foot into the danger that once played him. The man aboard a small vessel crossing the sea was my father whose journey would become one of tragedy, but his story would never be forgotten.

Before I can start my journey, this is his short tale of his first meeting with a man that will become my enemy and the enemy of another. The beginning of a problem that had haunted the very depths of his soul.

He was a young man in the year 1754. A young man that has seen much and what he has seen was not the life he wanted for himself. He wanted to start over with a new beginning and a new name in a place he did not know. No longer will he have to run from the lawmen searching for him with intent to hang him until his neck broke or have the ropes suffocate him with intent to prolong suffering.

For too long he has been running from port to port stealing ships with value to them or to reach his destination. With gold and treasures for trade; for much more. He was a brave and courageous man, but to others he was a pest. It was a life he once enjoyed until he decided on his own to leave the seas to trade for land legs. For too long he wanted to get away from his name, his reputation, everything that he once stood for.

They called him Salty Bones.

A pirate in his own right; he has seen it all for a young life. Killing, stealing, whoring, adventure, but it all came to a halt when he was twenty-five. He wanted to live a peaceful life in the new world where he can seek new adventures. Stories traveled to his ship where his crew spoke of people with skin darker than their own. Savages as one sailor called these natives. They did not live like any other civilized people. Their language, the way they walked, so much caught the young pirate's attention and Salty wanted a part of it until he was asked to be part of a massacre.

...and it all changed once he went mad.

He no longer craved the seas but it did not mean he will miss Her. The mistress will always tempt him to go back and sail Her as he did before. She was always a part of his life since he first stepped foot on a sail. The thrill of his first adventure when he was sixteen was something like never before. Sailing the untamed seas with sailors who enjoyed the waters more than they loved the land soon granted Salty his love for the sea.

It was a month after gaining his sea legs that his sail was attacked by bandits. For the first time Salty killed someone and saw others die before him. With his sail burning he had no choice but to jump to the sea where he believed he would meet his death.

"Retiring from the sea? Where is your ship?" A stranger asked.

Salty stopped right on his tracks. His dark hair swayed with the sea wind blowing and the smell of the ocean was strong. Brown eyes looked to the red coats walking amongst the piers but it seemed that it was not them that were talking to him. In order to not rouse too much suspicion, Salty had to dress differently but not like the rest of the civilians. Even if he no longer wanted to be a pirate, he kept the look, but only to a minimum.

Still, it would not be surprising if any of the soldiers knew of him. He had a bounty for his head but it would have been more of a pleasure to see him hang. Though, some of the soldiers that walked the port and streets were no ordinary soldiers. These men were Templar's and on close inspection a man who was standing by a stall of a merchant, Salty grew suspicious of the said man staring at him. Salty has come across these men before when he raided a Templar ship one year ago and these men were not like any he has fought before.

These men were an opponent he took interest in and vice versa. The Templar's knew of him and they wanted him for their own use. They wanted to use him and Salty did not want that.

"She beckons for new victims. I can no longer keep her entertained for my ship will not sink." Salty voiced lowering his pack on the ground once he was close enough to the man in question. "My ship is what legends state it to be. One of the very few ghost ships to continue Her terror. Alas, pirates have become legends of the sea."

The man walked towards him in a steady pace. His boots lightly hitting the ground beneath him. There was a look in his eye that sparked once he saw Salty. The man had black hair that was tied and a large forehead with a black mustache. A few years younger than me no doubt, Salty observed.

This man was a shady character which almost stopped the blood in Salty's veins. A once famed pirate-whose blood has run cold by a man he did not know-did not suit to well for Salty. Both men looked each other in the eye sizing one another until the man cocked a smile. A very nasty smile that told Salty that he was not to be trusted.

"Aye, you must be him. The one they call 'Salty Bones' of the ship Ghost of Davy Jones. My name is Charles Lee, in case you have been wondering." Voiced the man called Charles Lee.

"I have not, but I am surprised to see that a man such as you can look through my disguise but do you always greet people such as me?" Salty kept his eyes on Lee with keen eyesight. There was something dark about this Lee person. Something sinister and Salty was not attracted to it. In fact he wanted to keep away from the man as far away as he could get.

"I have but only with a man whom you do not know. He made shore here just three hours ago." He said rather bluntly trying to lure him in like a hook with bait.

"Clearly you did not walk hear to the port for a day stroll. Men like you have a purpose and whatever it is I am not interested in such." Salty picked his pack from the ground and placed it over his shoulder once again. Walking past the shady character named Charles Lee the man stopped him with the palm of his hand lightly squeezing it.

"It would be wise to let me be on my way, sir. I have no business with the likes of you or your kind." Salty stated with a dark look in his eyes.

"My kind you say? Salty, there is a high price for you but my kind can use someone like you. With that knowledge deep inside of that skull." Lee was not going to budge if the former pirate was keeping still.

"I do not want to be used by anyone. I do not want to be used by... people like you. Leave me be as I have stated before or risk losing your arm." Salty roughly shook off Lee's hand from his shoulder.

The port of Boston was busy with new arrivals, merchants, traders, men, women, orphans, animals, it was full of life. The young man has seen ports busy and there was never a time where he would terrify the people with his ship locals near and far called Ghost of Davy Jones. It was a name that has stuck with the ship for it was nothing like a ghost ship, but with it darken color many believe that the fog of the sea covers it. Salty always smiled or grinned at the stories people would make about his ship and he. But now, he was standing beside a man he did not like.

"You will seek for us. Someone of your skills can be used for our cause."

Salty walked past Lee keeping caution in the busy streets. Looking over his shoulder Lee was gone lost in the crowds. He had a sinking feeling that this would not be the first visit from the man as he would want to recruit him. Disgust is what he felt but he walked on through the streets on the search for a horse. He did not want to stay within Boston or anywhere near it. With Charles Lee within the vicinity, Salty could not risk running into him or stirring trouble in a place he wanted to begin his new life.

My father had to go by a new name, had to go by a new past, everything that he did as a pirate would have to be pushed aside in the dark shadows never to be unlocked. What he did not know however was that when it came to a new land there came people who were not like that of Charles Lee. Some were not shady, vile, disgusting people; there were people who were civilized trying to live their life as peaceful as can be.

…that was until he met my mother.