A/N: Thanks for checking out Further. Since a preface about how I don't own anything would be pointless, let me just finish by saying that I hope you enjoy reading Further as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Prologue

Casa di Aquila

*Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.*

Quill moved across parchment as letters formed into words, words into sentences, then finally sentences into paragraphs. The movements of the writer's hand were slow and deliberate, careful consideration going into the thoughts and feelings that willed the instrument to move. Pain, Regret, and Love. In this case, none of them were important on their own; Only when they came together did Aquila realize that they made his writing have clarity.

Clarity. This was something that he had prayed would come in his final moments. Clarity, and a restful sleep. Three weeks he had gone without knowing a comfortable bed, and he had feared that it would get the better of him before tonight. He wished above all that he had received respite from his waking nightmares. They haunted him even now, as he could tell by the ghosts that continually berated him with idle threats and statements of how he had failed them in their final moments of life.

Alas, they will follow me to my grave. I am not angry that they will not rest, but I am...sad. Sad that they would choose to hound me instead of following whatever beliefs they hold and pass on.

He nearly smiled as the last words filled the bottom of the page. His name and title that he held after what seemed like so long ago. He doubted most would even remember it, even smaller the number that would hold it in such high regard. After all, I did fail an entire kingdom...no, an entire race of beings. He would take everything to his death, and the ghosts of that terrible past would never let him forget.

"Well, perhaps not everything", Aquila said as he rolled the parchment and tied a red ribbon around it to keep it secure.

"And for the seal..."

The doomed writer took a ring out of his desk drawer and slipped it on. He then pulled a candle that had been burning and dipped the ring into it, then placed the ring onto the ribbon, sealing it in place on the aged parchment.

That should do.

Aquila looked around at his darkened study, but was searching for something in particular. More like someone. "Razor, to me!"

A white and black bird poked her head out of the stacks of papers and books and flew rapidly over to her human friend. The Osprey landed smoothly onto his hand and rubbed her head into it as the human smiled at his only friend on Earth. Aquila took the scroll and tied it to the bird's leg with a length of string. His friend shuddered at his touch on her legs and stared up at him with a questioning gaze.

"Razor, I need you to deliver this to Equuleus. I trust you know where to fly. Oh and one last thing", Aquila placed his free hand on her chest as his words failed him for a moment before he regained his composure. "I...I forbid you to return to this place. You must live your own life now. You are free, my oldest friend."

The Osprey made no move to indicate that she understood, but simply stared back at him. This time however, she stared into his eyes, something that Aquila had never seen her do before. The writer nodded his understanding and placed his lips in a kiss upon her avian head. "Fly now Razor, fly!"

The bird flapped her wings once, twice, then finally took off out of the open window, and into the night sky without a sound. They had been together for more than twenty-two years, longer than is average for an Osprey, but he was thankful for every day he spent with her. They had met in Equestria not long after he had first arrived there, and before tonight, had become inseparable. Though he suspected that what had just occurred had hurt her deeply, as Osprey generally "mate" for life, Aquila didn't have the heart to doom her to share his tomb with him in his final moments. He got up slowly from his chair and walked to the open window where the moon's glow shown brightly upon him.

"Fly away, and live well."

He knew that she would do her best, just as she had always done. Aquila laughed heartily as a tear began to form in his one good eye. He turned back and looked around at his study one last time. Just one thing left to do before the end.

A/N: Preferred Listening for this Chapter is:

The Library

Assassin's Creed Revelations Original Soundtrack: Volume One

watch?v=N7NADp7C9O4