Achilles wasn't surprised that Shay returned from the woods later than night. The boy would disappear into the forest to be alone with his thoughts, but would never be too long. After all, tonight the temperature was far too unforgiving to stay. But something was wrong. Achilles's skin crawled and dread manifested in his stomach as he watched Shay ducking between the undergrowth that surrounded the Homestead, carefully watching his footsteps. A strange heat filled the Assassin's chest. Oh, so that's what it had come to.

The Mentor watched from his study's window as a hooded Shay slipped closer and closer to the manor. The young Assassin would freeze or start whenever he thought he heard a nearing figure or an ominous whistle. Even from here, Achilles could see his breath forming a thick mist in the chilling, still air. How the boy cautiously looked around made the man wonder if Shay could see him. Probably so.

Finally Shay vanished from view as his form crawled under the frame of the windowsill. Sure enough, not even a moment later, the Assassin heard the creaking hinges of the front door, somewhat strained as the intruder attempted to keep it silent. Shay was in the house. The Mentor prowled across the room and out into the hallway, his heavy footsteps no doubt being heard from below. Achilles ducked into another room, slamming the door behind as he stormed to where his pistols were kept. Just in case.

The Mentor activated his Eagle Sense to feel Shay stalk onto the second story, his light footsteps remaining quiet. The Assassin immediately snuck into the study where Achilles had been moments ago. The strange heat flared. The old Assassin soundlessly left his hiding place, walking on silent footsteps as he peered at Shay from the shadows. The rogue had found the locked desk of the Manuscript, wedging his hidden blade into the wood and breaking it open.

"There's no turning back now," Shay murmured.

Oh. So that's how it was. The rogue Assassin snatched the Manuscript and slipped into his robes, oblivious to Achilles looming behind him.

"I had such hopes for you, Shay…" the Mentor rumbled.

Shay whirled around and stopped dead when saw his Mentor. "Achilles." Seeing the senior Assassin's dangerous stalk, the Irishman shook his hand as if in a gesture of peace. "I-I have to do this."

"And what is you are doing exactly? Stealing from your Brothers? Betraying me?"

Shay retreated away from Achilles, looking like the man was holding him at knifepoint. He may as well have.

"Someone must make amends," the rogue insisted, trying to keep the fear from his voice. No student wanted to face their teacher's wrath.

"Make amends?" Achilles echoed. His voice became deadlier. "You have no idea what you're doing. The future of the whole continent, maybe the whole world, is tied up in that Manuscript!"

The Mentor pointed to where the Piece of Eden was stashed in Shay's clothing, telling him he knew where it was. The rogue followed his gaze to his belly, glancing back. Achilles's skin crawled. That glare. That dark glare.

"Perhaps…" Shay hissed, voice dark and low. "But we don't have the right to decide that future."

In a moment of boldness, the young man took a defiant step forward. Achilles couldn't believe this.

"The right?!" he gasped. "We have the responsibility!"

"We are responsible for killing innocents and destroying cities!" Shay's raised voice dropped even lower to a savage growl. "This made grab for power… It ends now."

Achilles shook his head. No! This could not be! His student could not betray him like this! A red haze of fury filled his vision and rage sped up his blood and adrenaline. Shay. His apprentice. His successor. His son. A traitor.

"I will not let you destroy everything we have built!" the Mentor roared.

Without warning, the Assassin snatched Shay's robes in a painful grip, ramming into him. Shay could not have fought back even if he wanted to, submitting to his teacher's superior strength. If he gasped as the wind was stolen from him, Achilles didn't hear it. Instead his hearing was split as he slammed Shay into the window, the glass shattering on impact. Instead of tossing the rogue out of the frame, Achilles hauled him back in, turning around and violently throwing the Irishman onto a nearby table.

The traitor landed at an awkward angle that had him ricochet onto the floor, no doubt sore and breathless. The Mentor didn't care. Seeing red, Achilles charged toward him like a bear, unsheathing his hidden blade to pierce it into Shay's neck. He never got the chance as he underestimated his esteemed apprentice. Just as Achilles closed in, Shay shot a leg out, striking the Mentor in the shin.

The man crippled from the lost balance with a shout of pain, giving Shay the opportunity to leap to his feet. Taking advantage of the Assassin's unstableness, the rogue shoved him aside, slamming him onto the desk. More glass broke as Shay leaped out the window, having the cold, unforgiving wind blast into the study. Achilles didn't care, already leaping onto his feet and lunging for the window.

"Assassins!" he roared into the night, knowing his subordinates would heed his call. "Stop him! Stop Shay!"

To make sure he would be heard, the Mentor bit his lip in a high-pitched whistle. The cry of the eagle. It was then the Assassin noticed Shay scrambling through the underbrush, having Achilles draw out his pistol and fire. Shay cried when it nicked his leg, forcing the rogue right into the open. Immediately a gangster patrolling the grounds noticed him, quickly putting two and two together. The man pulled out a flintlock, but instead of pointing it at Shay, fired into the night sky. Immediately the blazing red light of a flare burned above the Homestead. The reply couldn't have been more immediate.

A familiar popping sound filled the air, although it was faint from distance. Achilles watched a rain of fiery cannonballs fall from the sky of a mortar strike. The Mentor leaped from the window, not knowing to curse or bless La Chevalier's ingenious.

Then the mortars struck.

Snow and debris flew in all directions with deafening slams, throwing anyone nearby off their feet with startled screams of pain.

"Mortars!"

"Get out of here!"

"Has Chevalier gone mad? He'll destroy the manor!"

"He's using the mortars to stop Shay!"

"We'll be blast to pieces!"

No amount of ammunition could have hindered Shay, the rogue racing through the chaos at an impossible speed. He streaked by gang members before they could notice him and mortars missed him by inches. Achilles tore after, cursing under his breath that he was having a more difficulty pushing through it all. He wasn't surprised to see Shay heading for the shelter of the forest, but he never made it.

A mortar struck the base of a gigantic fir tree, having the flaming tower crash onto the ground with a deafening crash, completely blocking Shay's path. The rogue didn't care, already veering off his course toward another angle, successfully staying several paces ahead of the Assassin footmen. Another curse. Achilles never realized his apprentice was so fast. Not fast enough, apparently.

Shay had just torn through an alcove that led into the forest when Liam appeared. With sharp thinking, the Master Assassin tore out a pistol and aimed it a powder keg set next to a boulder. Completely disregarding his friend's safety, Liam fired, creating a deadly rockslide falling on Shay. The rogue took a desperate leap forward, clumsily landing in a tangle of limbs. The rocks had missed him less than an inch. Achilles saw his direct path after the traitor was cut off, having him dart around the inconvenience. He knew he would keep pace though, especially as he heard Hope yell into the wind.

"You will not hinder our plans!"

By now the entire village was in on the chase, footmen crawling all over the forest and Master Assassins dancing through the trees. Along with a rogue. Achilles glanced up to see Shay soaring through the canopy, dodging bullets and shouts aimed at him. How intelligent! The Mentor spotted a swift Kesegowaase streaking after him, steadily gaining pace.

"I will not let you run away!" the native yelled.

"How could you, Shay?" Hope wailed. "Won't you listen to reason? Have you gone mad?"

"Don't do this!" Liam roared.

Their yells fell on deaf ears as Shay did not slow his pace. Or they were swallowed by the wind, which was quickly growing into a blizzard. Possibly another reason Shay was slipping away; the snow was obscuring everyone's vision. But not Achilles. This was his land. He knew it better than anyone. And he knew where Shay was heading. The cliffs, by the looks of it. The traitor was heading for a dead end.

By now the rogue fell from the trees, tearing through ranks of Assassins as they swiped at him with swords and claws. Then sure enough, the edge of the cliff slipped into view. Shay charged right for it like he didn't see it was there, or braced to leap off. He didn't, though, the runaway skidding to a halt at the last moment. His shoulders heaved as he peered over the edge, which was no doubt was a couple hundred feet drop.

Shay was deathly still as the army of the Brotherhood caught up to him, successfully trapping him against the cliff. The gangsters wisely stood back, allowing the Master Assassins to confront the traitor. By now Achilles's inner circle had gathered, the Mentor beside his students Liam and Hope. Kesesgowaase loomed in the background and La Chevalier had scrambled onto the hill from where he had come from the docks.

"That's enough!" Liam roared, raising a flintlock to hold the rogue at bay.

Shay knew he was cornered, turning around to face them as he pulled down his hood.

"Give back the Manuscript, Shay," Hope ordered. "I'm sure Achilles—"

"I cannot!" Shay wailed.

If it was any other situation, Achilles's heart would have broken from the distraught filling the boy's voice. But it didn't, the Mentor watching with a soul colder than the air, face solemn.

"I will not let this happen again," the rogue went on. "All those souls lost…"

Shay backed away like the frightened animal he was, peering over his shoulder at the frigid water below. The barrel of Liam's gun never left him, but Achilles couldn't understand how. Instead of the steady, unmoving grip the Irishman usually held, the flintlock was trembling madly in his shaky fingers. Liam did not see a rogue. He saw his captain. His friend.

"One more hardly matters…"

Achilles looked back to Shay turn around and near the edge, gaze never leaving the sight below.

"Shay!" Liam called after him.

The flintlock shook.

A gunshot filled the air.

Achilles watched as Shay screamed in agony as a mist of blood flew from his shoulder. The force of the impact seemed to create enough momentum to push the rogue forward.

Shay fell.

Achilles snapped his head towards Liam, only to see the Master Assassin's face lit up in alarm and no smoke from his gun. Instead, the Mentor saw a second flintlock, a cloud of smoke blowing from the barrel. La Chevalier.

The air was silent. No one moved. Even the howling wind seemed to die. It was what allowed them to clearly hear the sickening crack of impact. Achilles's chest was hollow.

He had lost his second son.