*(Disclaimer: I do not own the Assassin's Creed franchise. All characters and places associated with the Assassin's Creed series are all own by their respective creators and I have no made a profit with them in any shape or form)
Jason9000: Been a while hasn't it? Well let's just say a lot of stuff happened. But, I now have a laptop again so I'll be able to write. Hope you all enjoy this one. I've had this one in my mind for a while.)*
Edward Kenway stared out at the horizon. Today was an important day. His grandson Connor had finally been made into an Assassin just a short while ago. Now he was receiving his own ship from the personal fleet the Assassin's owned.
Edward was immensely proud of Connor. He had shown great courage, conviction, strength, all admirable qualities that any Assassin should have. He was a born leader that would take charge when needed. He was a skilled sword fighter that could fight in multiple environments. His marksmanship with a bow or a rifle were among the best the Assassins had. He could track animals and people far better than Edward ever could, because of his upbringing in his village. Finally he did his best to help those in need. Whether it was to help his neighbors with small chores or to help cut down trees and hunt.
Edward sighed wishing things had turned out differently. It all started years ago when he found out that Birch was a Templar and they got into that huge argument. Later bandits broke into his house and he had to fight his way through them. He nearly died that night. After a long and prolonged fight he just noticed that one of the two bandits he was fighting attempted to stab him in the heart. He moved out of the way and was stabbed through the ribs. Before they could finish him off, he killed both of them as they stupidly stood there gloating at the fact they had stabbed him.
Edward blacked out and collapsed. He didn't awake till weeks later in a bed in the local hospital. He was told the sword just missed the lower part of his lung and heart. The fact he pulled through was amazing. However, his luck crashed around him. He found out his daughter had been kidnapped, his son missing, and his wife went into a cationic state that she would never recover from.
His Assassin allies had informed him that his coded journal was missing along with other important documents detailing the First Civilization. All of his hard work for the past decade were taken away from him and most likely in Templar hands. However, he did not care. His focus was finding his daughter and son. When he was deemed fit to travel and tracked down some of the mercenaries that escaped he left England with his wife.
For years they both traveled all through Europe looking for the mercenaries that had taken their daughter and tried to learn about what happened to Haytham. After almost six years they learned that she was sold as a slave to the Ottomans. Edward then sent his wife back to his old hideout of Great Inagua in the Caribbean to be protected by his Assassin allies and traveled alone.
After another four years of searching he found her in the hands of a governor. During his time he had aid of the Assassins in the region and discovered that she was a concubine. After scouting the home for a week he was able to sneak in, disguised as one of the servants and rescued her. He had found his daughter in bed with the governor. It took every ounce of restraint he had to not beat the man to death. Using his old blow darts, he hit him with a powerful poison tipped dart that sent him into a deep sleep and killed him over night.
At first his daughter thought he was a political rival of the governor that tried to take her, however when she realized it was Edward she cried in his arms apologizing for everything. How she should have known who Birch was and how she had failed him as a daughter.
Edward did his best to comfort her, but they had to hurry and leave before they were discovered by the guards. They snuck out through the back and met his Assassin associates that saw their way out of the Ottoman Empire and back to the Caribbean.
Over the following months traveling with Jennifer, Edward learned how she was treated as nothing more than a sex slave to the various masters she had. How she was beaten for not properly cleaning plates, not preparing the food properly, or they beat her just for their sick pleasure. He comforted her as best as he could. He apologized for not being able to find her sooner and promised nothing would happen to her again.
When they arrived at Edward's old hideout they were met by his old friend Adéwalé. There the old friends caught up on what was going on between the Assassins and Templars while heading toward his old home. There Edward reunited with his wife and sat with his family for the rest of the night. Adéwalé left after a little while to give the family space and told Edward he was welcome to rejoin the Assassin brotherhood.
The next day they met and Adéwalé informed Edward of the new Assassin brotherhood growing in the British colonies. Edward expressed a desire to head there and help the growing brotherhood as the new leader Achilles needed more experienced teachers to help with the young novices.
While talking he learned from Adéwalé that Haytham was most likely alive. The Assassins in London sent word to Great Inagua to inform Edward that he was seen with Birch. This upset him greatly as he knew that Birch would mold him into a Templar. Most likely Birch would use some of the Assassin teaching that Edward taught Haytham and would mold it into Templar ideologies to show that both could work, but the Templar ideologies were far superior.
As of right now they had no idea where they were. There were conflicting reports that they were in London, Germany, and even in France. With no concrete leads Edward decided to go and meet with Achilles. Until he had a real lead he couldn't go all across Europe looking for Haytham.
For the next decade he helped Achilles brotherhood grow. He trained some of the new recruits such as the promising Liam O'Brien and Shay Cormac. However he was called away back to London as Birch had been confirmed responsible in aiding of the death of the Assassin Milo that held an important key to pre-cursor site nearby.
Until 1760 Edward spent his time chasing Birch up and down Western Europe. He finally tracked him down and dueled him to the death in Birch's private home. Dying he informed Edward that Haytham was long gone and that he had all but, destroyed the American colonial rite with the help of the turncoat Shay Cormac.
Wasting no time Edward raced back to the Homestead and found his words true. Achilles was the only survivor as Shay and the Templars had killed everyone, including his old quartermaster Adéwalé. It took him a while to pull Achilles out of his depressed state. But, together they slowly began to rebuild the Order. Training only a few people at a time to not arouse suspicion from the Templars. They improved their relations with the natives and Edward was introduced to the clan mother of a village and met a woman named Ziio.
When he was introduced to her she asked if he was related to Haytham. He confirmed it when she said his son was a Templar Grand master. He found out they were in love a while ago, but she left him when Ziio discovered his true nature as a Templar. She did not agree with his ideologies and left him not knowing she was pregnant.
And so Edward discovered he had a young grandson that was four years old. He was hesitant to introduce himself as he didn't know what to expect from Connor, but he grew to love him. He was a bright young lad that had a habit of getting into trouble. Edward visited as often as he could and introduced Connor to Jennifer and his wife.
However, everything changed when the village was burned down during the Seven Years War and Ziio was killed. Edward spent more time with the young man as he tried to console him over his mother's death. For years he and his grandson had taught each other many things. Edward taught him how to fight with different weapons, Ratonhnhaké:ton taught him to hunt better than ever, Edward taught him the main tenements of the Assassins and Ratonhnhaké:ton taught him his native language.
Finally Ratonhnhaké:ton decided he wanted to join the Assassin brotherhood to help protect his people. With the clan mother's permission Edward took him to the Homestead to be trained.
Over the years Ratonhnhaké:ton grew into a strong young man and made Edward proud. Achilles had nicknamed him Connor so the other recruits would not have a hard time pronouncing his name.
"Ship sighted ahead!" One of the crewmen shouted.
Edward was pulled from his thoughts and took out his spyglass. He looked out over the horizon saw it.
In the distance was the Assassin ship the Aquila. He recognized it from its time being docked at the Homestead and was surprised to see it out here. Last he heard it was getting re-fit at Martha's Vineyard with Robert Faulkner.
"At ease men, she is a friendly. We'll wait for her to join up with us. Get ready we're going to have visitors soon," Edward called out.
Ten minutes later the Aquila pulled up next to Edward's ship. A plank was set down and Robert Faulkner walked across to greet him.
"Captain Edward Kenway, it is great to see you again. How is this frigate treating you?" He asked.
Edward smiled. "While my Jackdaw will always hold a place in my heart as the best ship I've ever held. This one is quite good. She's faster than the Jackdaw so I'm still getting used to her speed.
Faulkner grinned. "You never forget your first, especially when you command it for so long. I've heard stories of that ship. A shame she was sunk over two decades ago in the Caribbean. I would have loved to see her," He told him.
Edward nodded and looked past him. "Where is your captain? I know you would never take the position, but I thought Achilles had assigned a new captain for the head of our fleet?" He asked.
Faulkner looked behind him in confusion. "How odd, he was right behind me when pulled up to meet you. I wonder where he went," He said looking around.
"Up here Mr. Faulkner! I was just enjoying the view!" A voice shouted above them.
They looked up and saw a figure jump onto one of the pulley's that carried him down to the deck of the ship and he landed next to Edward. The person dusted himself off and ignored the older man's look of surprise.
"This is quite a ship. I hope you are satisfied with it. You do deserve the best," The captain of Aquila said.
"Co…Connor? You're the new captain of the Aquila?" Edward asked in disbelief.
Connor's mouth formed a small smile. "You sound green grandfather. Is it envy? That mine's bigger than yours?" He asked the older man.
Edward shook his head in amusement. "Connor you have no idea how proud I am of you. You are now the captain of our rite's flagship. You truly are my grandson," He exclaimed.
"Well you refused the position on the grounds that you believe a new generation should steer her. Achilles and the others agreed that I was the best man for the job, so they appointed me as her captain," Connor told him.
Edward looked up and down at Connor's outfit with a grin. "Well you certainly look the part, but can you back it up? I was told you would have a mission for us to complete?"
Connor nodded. "Yes the Morrigan has been spotted near Boston. Achilles wants us to go after Shay Cormac and try to bring him in," He told him.
"Shay? He's still in the colonies? I thought he left for Europe? What's he doing back here?" Edward asked.
"I am not certain; however I believe we can find out and stop him. We know he was tasked with an important mission. It is up to us to find out what it is," Connor told him.
"Are you ready for this Connor? I know you have faced few combat situations on the open seas. This will be extremely difficult," Edward asked him.
Connor nodded. "I am ready, I will trust my instincts. Since I do not have mortars on my ship, I was told not to engage until you had Shay occupied. I plan to come behind him and hopefully we shall put an end to his ship and capture him alive," Connor
"Very well captain let's get started. I shall make the Aquila ready to take off at a moment's notice," Faulkner told his captain while walking over to his ship.
"Grandfather, I know Shay was once your student. Will you be okay confronting him?" Connor asked him in a low voice.
Edward nodded his head. "I know that he has changed and is not the young man I knew. Perhaps I can learn more of why he betrayed us. I just hope I can handle it. I'm still angry at him for killing Ade," Edward responded.
"Very well Captain Kenway, I shall return to my ship. I will let you take the lead and follow you. Shay's location was last seen twenty miles south of Boston. He may be trying to head into New York," Connor said in his normal tone.
Edward chuckled. Connor was all about professionalism in front of others. He rarely made a joke and grew annoyed when others did not take their job seriously. In fact he made it clear to Edward that he did not want to be treated any different from any other recruits as it would look like nepotism. So he always called Edward by Captain or Mentor when they were not in private together.
Edward however, did not care and put a hand on Connor's should and spun him around. He then proceeded to hug his grandson in front of everyone, much to Connor's annoyance.
"Be careful out there boy. You know I worry about you and I don't need you to do anything reckless. You hear me?" He said in his ear.
Connor slowly returned the hug with a small smile. "And where do you think I get it from old man? I have heard of your stories. You certainly are not one to talk," He responded.
Finally they let go and Connor walked back to his ship and took the wheel. Edward did the same and called out the sails to be let go and anchor raised. After a minute they started sailing.
"Try not to go to slow Captain Kenway. I would hate to have my ship wait on you," Connor called out
Edward laughed at the statement and knew that Connor would grow into a great captain. Hopefully he would be better than he ever was.
*Jason9000: And that'll do it. Yeah I changed some events concerning Jennifer Scot and Shay Cormac, but I wanted to have some history of Edward surviving. Sorry no Haytham this chapter. This was to focus on Connor and Edward's love of sailing. Hope you enjoyed*