A/N: Sorry about the long update. I started writing this with a different idea in mind, but I started again because it felt like I was rushing the overall plot too much, Then I forgot about it entirely. I plead forgiveness, dear readers *Bows apologetically*. Anyway, please review, it helps me a lot!
Also, I forgot to mention in the first chapter but the assassin has messy black hair like Lelouch from Code Geass .
Chapter 2:
Lynelle arrived at the village early the next Sunday morning, just in time to catch the morning announcements from the village priests outside the church. She skipped in behind her friends, some of them offering a quick greeting, and the others watching the announcements. Her eyes travelled to the small cluster of people in front of the church; on either side were two guardsmen as protection for the two priests in the middle, and at the front was the High priest; Evnidni. The man's face was pale and his skin was drooping like candle wax. His large nose appeared to have melted slightly and his pink robes did a poor job of hiding his frail frame. His nasal voice and sickly appearance made Lynelle's skin crawl, so much that she had to look away to prevent a disgusted shiver. She zoned out of his nasal droning until…
"…And as for the rumours regarding the half-enderman 'black murderer'. It has been confirmed he has been spotted in the woodlands 10 minutes to the east of here." He drawled. Lynelle's attention immediately snapped to him, listening out for anything that might harm her enigmatic rescuer. She owed him that much.
The priest continued. "Worry not, we have called for an increase to the guards, as well as sending a few patrols in to the woodlands to deal with him and any co-conspirators he may have gathered."
Lynelle frowned slightly, partly out of the worry of getting caught but mostly out of thought. She'd need to warn the assassin about the hunting parties, and he should probably know about the increase of guards around the village just in case. Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder, and she turned around. Tiffany grinned and Lynelle smiled back at the group before following them back to Mitch's house to hang out for a bit.
At about mid-day, Lynelle made a quick excuse to go home and was just about to leave the village walls when a guard stopped her. "Hey, little miss. I'm gonna have to stop you there. Where are you heading to?"
Lynelle smiled slightly, albeit a little forced. She didn't want to waste time chatting with a half-witted guard. "Well, I live out in the woodlands, and I need to get some things."
"What, All alone? A cute girl like you?"
Lynelle rolled her eyes. "It's alright, I'm not as helpless as I might seem." She smiled innocently, but I didn't reach her eyes.
"Sure, sure. Why don't me and my buddies go with you, to keep you safe." He replied with a lecherous grin.
'This guy doesn't know when to quit' she muttered in her head. "No, it's fine," she said out loud, unclipping Tomarch from its sheath on her waist and holding it up slightly "I can handle myself."
The guard, realising his petty flirting was going no-where, just scoffed.
"Yeah, sure, okay."
Lynelle responded with an icy glare and brushed past him, muttering under her breath about 'stupid guards'.
Later, in the woodlands, Lynelle was crunching along the worn dirt path, towards the large oak tree in the clearing, when she heard a familiar pop and feel a familiar presence. She turned around and behind her was the ender-assassin, sitting casually on a thick branch above her, one leg hanging loosely below him. He looked at her for a moment, pulled his face cloth down but kept his hood up and then spoke in with an even tone.
"I take you've got something to tell me?" He asked casually.
Lynelle frowned a little. "I came to warn you. Someone reported seeing you here, so the Church is going to send some guards in to get rid of you."
He nodded back. "That's not going to be a problem. Thank you for the warning, but why? It would better for you to not get involved with me for… obvious reasons." He said, absently touching the black, hardened skin on his cheek with his opposite hand.
"Enderman or not, I thought you should at least have fair warning."
"Oh, are you worried about me, girl?" He smirked, a hit of amusement in his cold voice.
'That's the first time I've seen him smile, even a little bit' she thought before his words actually sunk in. She blushed slightly, partially from embarrassment and partially from annoyance. "I-It's not like that, I just kind of owe you…" she slightly stammered, before she gave a little frown "… and don't call me 'girl'."
"Well, what else should I call you?"
"How about my name?!"
"You haven't told me it."
She blinked in realisation. "Oh… right. Well, It's Lynelle Haynes, so call me Lynelle, or Lynn for short."
"Gladly, Lynelle." He said with a slight smile.
She met his eyes for a moment before dropping her head. "What about you? What should I call you? I can't just call you 'assassin' or something like that…" she trailed off
He dropped his head for a moment as well before looking at her, head cocked slightly. "What do want to call me?"
"Huh?" Lynelle squeaked, her face also showing her evident confusion
"You said that I should have a name, so it's your responsibility to find one." He stated matter-of-factly. He continued to watch her reaction as she cycled through being confused, then embarrassed then thoughtful. After a moment she raised her head slightly with a quizzical look on her face.
"I-I know it's not very… subtle, but It's the best I can think of. How about 'Ender'?"
"Ender? That's definitely… to the point." He gave an incredulous look, chin resting on the palm of his hand, which in turn was resting on his bent knee.
"Well, I think it suits you. It's sharp, to the point, much like you, and it's a double meaning, if those stories about your revenge against the village priests have much truth to them."
He contemplated this for a moment. "I am an Ender-man and an Ender of lives, correct? I think I see your point." He nodded slightly to himself and hopped down from the tree smoothly.
"I can accept that. It's nice to formally meet you Lynelle." He smiled warmly, his first real smile for a long time, extending his hand for her to shake. She did so with a little hesitation and smiled back.
"It is, Ender." There was a moment of quiet as Lynelle processed that she had given this faceless assassin an Identity, and the newly-named Ender was committing this name to memory, while their eyes watched each other's with calm and respect.
"You should get going, or your friends might get suspicious that you were gone for so long." Ender broke the silence with a professional look on his face. Lynelle down-cast her eyes in thought before looking back at him.
"I should grab some things from home so I'll have an excuse for going off." Suddenly an idea popped into her head. "Hey, how does your teleportation work?" she asked.
"Um, It's sort of like a localised spacial distortion connecting the place I'm currently stand at the time and the nearest solid surface to where my eyes are focussed, resulting in anything I'm in contact with and myself being pulled to that place in an instant." He explained, with finger curled to his chin in thought.
Lynelle was lost. "Er… so… you can teleport yourself and people and things that you're touching to wherever you're looking? By sight, right?"
"I guess so… I've never had to explain it before." He said, giving her a long glance.
"Okay…can you do me a favour, please?" She asked brightly, tilting her head and giving him her best puppy dog eyes. Ender raised a questioning eyebrow but said nothing, silently asking what her request was.
"Take me home using your teleporting powers." Both his eyebrows shot up in surprise, one still higher than the other in question as he stated simply.
"Why?"
"So I can see what it's like. Plus, if I have to walk home and then back to the village, it'd take too long for my friends not to get suspicious."
Ender just let out a slight groan and shook his head a little in resignation. "Fine, just don't throw up on my coat, this thing was expensive."
Lynelle gaped slightly at him with a huff before he turned to look at her. On his face was a small smirk, a real, actual smirk. A dark jade-green spilled into his amethyst irises, fading into a pale teal at its outer edge, like ender pearls. His put his hand on her shoulder.
"That was a joke. But seriously, don't throw up."
And with that, the air shifted around them. Purple sparks assaulted Lynelle's eyes and she screwed them shut and the air rushed around them. Just as suddenly as they had moved, they stopped for a brief moment, before they shifted again.
Several shifts later, Ender removed his hand and she opened her eyes. She found herself in front of her door. She gasped at how far she had travelled before a wave of nausea hit her like a tsunami and she dived for the nearest shrubbery. After spewing her breakfast into the greenery she muttered a few curses at the violet-eyed young man standing impassively at the gate before letting herself into the house. Several minutes later, she re-immerged in fresh clothes that complemented her companion's appearance a little too well to be accidental. In place of her red blouse was a slim fitting dress shirt in a deep purple, with a black waistcoat that hugged her waist and chest, and her knee-high socks were replaced by tight black leggings and ankle boots under a clean (and vomit free) black skirt. Her auburn hair was tied into a waterfall braid, meeting in the middle at the back of her head. Her emerald eyes quickly scanned the area outside her door, finally settling on the 19 year old assassin casually napping on a tree branch above her.
Her face became drawn and she sighed outwardly before calling out to him. "Ender, we're leaving. Get up."
His eyes opened slowly and he tilted his head slightly to look at her for a full few seconds, eyes shining their usual amethyst, before he gave an approving whistle and wordlessly and smoothly dismounted the branch, landing in front of her. She absently noted just how quietly he moved, his weapons barely making an audible sound and his footsteps barely louder than the flap of his coat.
"Are you ready? Now that you've been through the whole teleporting thing, it won't be as bad this time."
"I'm not convinced." She muttered in response. Ender extended his hand to her with a calm, levelled expression and gave her slight nod. She searched his face for a sign of a joke, saw none and gripped his wrist. When his hand closed around her wrist, she gave a slight sigh and spoke again. "Let's go, I guess."
He gave a slight nod and she screwed her eyes shut as the air shifted around them again. The movement stilled and Lynelle heard the peaceful rustling of leaves in the wind directly below her. She opened her eyes to take in the sight of the tops of the trees spread out below her. She was standing on an old wooden platform, the wind a cool breeze on her skin. She was faintly aware of a slight unsettledness in her stomach, but like Ender had said it wasn't as bad this time. A heavy breath caught her attention and she turned to a slouching Ender with a light puzzlement on her face. He noticed the look and laughed a small, shallow laugh.
"Teleporting around takes a lot out of me, so I use platforms and hunter's huts like this one to rest for a bit." He explained with a breath before popping his back and straightening out. "Let's get going again."
She nodded again and took his hand wordlessly. The world moved and moved again, and then they were standing at the edge of the woods. Lynelle's head spun again and she swayed slightly, but before she could fall, Ender stepped in front of her and lightly grabbed her arms to keep her steady. She stood up straight and took a step back, giving him a slight smile. He replied with a slight nod and the pair departed in opposite directions, Ender retreating back into the trees and Lynelle began to cross the grasslands back to the village, Tomarch bouncing at her hip.
The air was calm and the atmosphere was peaceful as Lynelle strolled around the torch-lit streets late that night, her arms folded behind her as she walked. She was taking a walk to clear her head after spending such an exhausting 3 hours being interrogated by her friends. They'd noticed the change of clothes, then came the barrage of questions. What she told them wasn't necessarily lying, just mostly half-truths about meeting with a friend, her clothing getting dirty so she needed to change and then him walking her back, omitting details like that her 'friend' was a half-enderman assassin and the whole teleporting thing. Now she needed some air. Absently, her mind wandered back to Ender. 'I wonder what he's doing round about now?' she thought to herself.
A piercing scream ripped Lynelle from her musings and she snapped her head up, towards the direction of the scream. Her body was moving before her mind caught up, and when it did she pushed herself faster, running towards the source. As she rounded the corner of a run-down house she was them and pressed her back against the rough cobblestone corner, peeking around the corner to get a proper look: A city guard was pinning an older teenaged girl about Lynelle's age up against the harsh stone wall while he groped her chest with his free-hand as his three friends leered at her from behind. Her face was held in a silent snarl and tears of anger, frustration and rage pricked in the corner of his eyes and she struggled and struck out the best she could. Her eyes locked with Lynelle's for a split-second in a silent plea for help, and Lynelle grit her teeth and stepped fully out from behind the corner, Tomarch sliding smoothly into her hand.
"Hey, what are you ass-holes doing?" she called out, fixing the guard in the middle with a hardened glare. He sneered at her and dropped the other girl, turning to face her. When he did, she recognised him as the sleazy guard from earlier. Apparently he recognised her as well as his face contorted into a cruel, lecherous grin.
"Well, well. If it ain't the cocky bitch from the gate. It's a shame that you happened to stumble across our little entertainment, but we can't have anyone spreading rumours that we, upstanding officers of the guard, were taking advantage of this lowly little slut now, can we? How about you forget this ever happened, and you get to keep your pretty body all in one piece. That sound like a good deal?"
Lynelle scowled in response. "You really are disgusting, you shameless pervert."
She stated, raising her axe in a fighting stance. The hard look in her eyes didn't falter, even if she was actually really nervous that she might get hurt. Even so, she couldn't abandon this girl to these pigs, so she stood her ground. The guards were irritated by this and the leader stuck his nose up slightly, so he was looking down at her.
"Tch, little Bitch. Get her." He ordered and one of the other guards lunged at her. She dived under his arm and rolled underneath it, then ducked quickly to dodge another swipe at her as he turned around. She started backing away until she hit something cold, rough and hard. The wall! Shit! The guards began to skulk closer to her and her nervousness rose to borderline panic. She was trapped, with no way out and her death, or worse, was creeping closer. The closest guard lunged for her and she yelped, trying to preparing for the worst possibility…
But it never came. Instead, the guard dropped to his knees, spluttering and drowning from the blood filling his lungs with a gleaming, blood-soaked black arrow severing his jugular vein and impaling his throat. All eyes turned to a roof across the street, to black hooded man standing with an obsidian-black bow pointed in their direction, the soft silver moonlight silhouetting him like a wraith. The three guards shouted a plethora of colourful curse words as they drew their swords and tried to un-nerve the shadowed assassin.
Their taunting was cut short as a polished diamond axe tore into a second man's skull, his mouth hanging limply open as he stumbled. Before he fell, the assassin's eyes flashed a haunting amethyst and he disappeared from the roof, reappearing in an instant in front of the two living guards and the falling corpse. In a single, fluid movement combining grace and raw strength, he wretched the axe free and whipped around in a full circle, the axe's blade ripping through the third man's throat and tearing his blood vein right open, warm crimson liquid draining from the head and jetting from the body, miraculously and grimly avoiding the wraith-like assassin as if it too was scared of him. The last guard, the ringleader, fell numbly into his butt, an obvious patch of liquid staining the crotch of his trousers as he shook uncontrollably. The assassin morosely wiped the bloody axe on a fallen guard's uniform before sliding it back into its sheath behind his waist. After he retrieved and cleaned his arrow, he turned to regard the shivering mess that was the emotionally ruined guard. His voice was hauntingly chilling, so much that Lynelle shivered in spite of herself.
"It's been a while, Mikhael."
Ender said with a voice as dark as the aura he seemed to produce. The guard in question stammered out a horrified response
"N-no…not you! Anything but you, you monster!"
Ender chuckled humourlessly, drawing his mysterious jade green sword from behind his back and pointing at the ground next to him. He said nothing, but twisted the sword so that the light reflected threateningly off of it. Mikhael's eyes followed the light to the sword, to which his eyes widened.
"Is that… It can't be…"
"Ender-Termina." Ender interrupted with an ominously clear voice. "A blade forged from countless pearls of slaughtered Endermen infused into diamonds, forged by your father's 'monster-hunters'. Made by him, for him… and ultimately took his life from him."
"No…" the guard weakly protested. Ender ignored him and pressed the tip into the man's neck, just shy of breaking the skin.
"Why were you attacking that woman?"
"Huh?! I, uh..I.."
Ender scowled under his face-cloth and growled audibly. A swift flick of the wrist and the man's coin pouch tore open, spilling out a small fortune of emeralds and gold coins.
"I'll rephrase that. Who Paid You?"
"I… I Can't tell you…"
Ender pressed the sword back to his throat, this time a bead of crimson running from its tip.
"Who?" He almost roared. The guards immediately wet himself again and tried to hide behind his arms, except the blade threatening to end his life told him that would be a bad decision.
"Th…the… priest. It was high priest *nervous swallow* Evnidni."
"The Church?" Ender thought out loud before turning his attention back to the guard. "Why? What was the purpose?"
"I, I don't know… something fear, an…and winning 'hearts and minds', I…I wasn't really paying attention, I just got paid to do the job…"
"I see. If that's all…" Ender almost growled, re-positioning the sword at the side of his neck. As he was about to strike, he spotted the young woman from before, with long brunette hair that faded to blonde about halfway, leaning around the corner as subtly as possible, which wasn't very well, with a determined expression devoid of fear.
"…I'll let the wronged party decide your fate." He finished with a quick look to the teen-aged girl, who quickly hid around the corner. "I've already seen you, you can come out." He said, directed to the girl.
As she stepped around the corner, Ender could see her fully. She wasn't that far from Lynelle's age and she had a similar build, and her outfit was mostly white, with a white shirt with cut-off shoulders and white shorts, with a spot of colour coming from her flat-soled blue ankle boots. She didn't shrink under Ender's evaluative gaze, instead standing a little straighter and rolling her shoulders slightly. Good, that shows she's got a backbone. Ender thought wryly to himself.
"So you're really him? The Black Assassin?" she asked, not without fear but instead buried behind steely determination.
Ender nodded slowly a single time. "I see you're well informed. On to the task at hand, what of the accused?" He asked venomlessly, trying to avoid scaring the girl and Lynelle any more than he needed to, but Mikhael was still guilty and needed to be punished.
"Aside from the awful things he was very vocal about doing to me, what else has he done?" She asked with slight shudder and an edge in her voice.
"Murder of numerous innocent people under the orders of the highest bidder, usually the Church, including my mother." Ender replied with a bitter edge as he lowered his head so that the shadows of his hood covered his eyes. Wordlessly, the girl crossed over to him and embraced him in a silent hug. He froze for a moment before he returned the gesture with his free arm and she spoke in a low voice. "I'm so sorry. He deserves to die, so kill him for me."
Lynelle felt a pang of jealousy before she noticed the sleazy guard trying to escape slowly. In response, she walked over and tapped the side of his head with the flat edge of her axe, to which he froze and looked up in absolute terror.
"Going somewhere?" she asked sarcastically before she raised her voice to regain Ender's attention. "Your friend here's getting impatient."
The two strangers broke the comforting hold and Ender went back up to the snivelling guard. When he spoke, his voice was cold and unforgiving.
"Mikhael Mich-herilov, you are guilty, as was your father, of the slaughter of numerous innocent people and shall be punished accordingly. Your sentence… is Death. What are your last words?"
The guard in question paled to a shade that could rival clean chalk as he stammered out excuses and pleas for mercy, only to be cut short by Ender's command.
"Stand up."
He stood up, hopeful for a show of mercy, but his judge wasn't as forgiving as he had hoped. In that moment, the judge became the executioner as the blue-green blade of Ender-Termina sank deep into his stomach and protruding out of his back, piercing several organs and ensuring a slow, agonising death.
As his body cooled on the ground, Ender turned to his company and pulled down the cloth covering his lower face. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, Lynelle. You too, but I'm afraid I don't know your name."
The blonde-brunette merely smiled and held out her hand for him to shake. After a short pause, and only after he did so, she answered his unasked question. "My name's Marie Kurono."
"I go by the name 'Ender', and the young woman next to you is Lynelle Haynes. She's, indirectly, the one that saved you. I wouldn't have made it in time if she hadn't distracted those guards."
Lynelle nodded and gave a small wave. "I don't know about that, but Ender does have a habit saving people just in time. I mean, that's how we met for Notch's sake!" she chuckled. Marie just smiled at her and turned her attention back to Ender.
"Can you train me to fight?" she asked with determination. In response, he was quiet for what seemed like a small eternity, when in fact it was no longer than 6 seconds, with piercing violet eyes slowly evaluating the two girls in front of him. After a second more of silence he spoke.
"You've both seen what the Church is really like now. I've known about this for a long time, but have been unable to do anything about it. Now that you two know, I'll ask you simply: Are you willing to fight?"
He received his answer in the form of two solemn and determined nods. He nodded in return and his face jerked into a small, wry smile.
"Then let's get ready for the revolution."
I hope you enjoyed this (much delayed) chapter, and again I'm very sorry for the delay, but unfortunately I have an infinite number of reasons, from A-level exams/course-work to the dreaded writer's block. Anyway, see you in the next chapter!
