Chapter 11: Help from The Trenches

(George's PoV)

As I slowly closed the room's door behind me, I was immediately surrounded by Andr, Riley and Cupa, but no Shepherd was around to be found. That was a relief, but not for long.

"We heard noises coming from upstairs. Is everything alright?" Andr asked with a worried tone.

"Yeah, everything's fine, don't worry about that." I quickly answered and headed to pass them, but Cupa stopped me with her right hand.

"If everything's fine, where's Ashley?" She asked too, but with suspicion on her voice.

"She's inside. She had hit her leg quite badly on our way back and I was taking care of her, that's where the noises came from." I lied.

Suddenly, Riley started smelling the area around me and the door. Then, she looked at the girls and told them with a serious tone:

"Nothing's fine. Something's up and Master is trying to hide it. I can smell it from the hormones on his sweat. We should check inside."

As I heard her words, I slowly gulped and left the doorway. But when Riley managed to make a step forward, I thought of quickly going downstairs to avoid the upcoming and instantly teleported in front of the main door, leaving the girls behind. I was surprised a bit, but I got back to my senses, when I heard a scream coming from Andr. Then, almost instictively, I made a run for it and got outside. Before I even passed the gate leading to the woods, I heard a teleporting sound behind me and I saw with the corner of my eye Andr chasing me.

"Come back now, you coward!!!" She shouted to me with pure aggression, as she was about to teleport again.

'I'm sorry. All of you.' I thought and reached for some Flashbangs I had forgot to put off me. When I felt three of them with the tip of my fingers, I instantly pulled all pins and threw them down. After a while, I heard them exploding and Andr leaving a grunt, meaning that she was successfully blinded. I felt a sad sigh and kept on running, heading eventually towards the Snow Biome.

When I finally reached the Biome closely enough, I took a look around me, just to see if Andr was still following me. Fortunately, she wasn't, even though she wouldn't stop the pursuit this easily in that state. I left a sigh of relief and sat down on a tree nearby.

"Why did things have to go this way...?" I said to myself, as I rubbed my hands on my face. "Now all of the girls will think that I actually raped Ashley and I will go back to my lonely state. Dear God, why did I even have sex with her in the first place? I mean, if none of this happened, we would all be happy and I wouldn't go rogue in the wild, like I do now. Only if..." Once I finished my sentence, I slowly got up and headed to the snowy lands. Just when I stepped my left foot on the snow, a teleporting sound echoed behind me and I felt sonething hitting me from behind. I left a shout of pain and fell on the ground, while I was trying to turn myself around and see the one responsible for this. It was -who else- Andr and she was holding the M1911 I got from Arne's shop by the barrel. That's when I noticed small blood stains on the handgrip, before they get covered by her hand, as she was aiming the pistol on my head.

"Why did you do it?! Why did you rape her, you sick bastard?!" She shouted from the top of her lungs.

"I didn't..." I answered weakly, as I felt the snow around my head getting painted with my blood. "It happened during our intercourse. I didn't mean to act u-..."

"Shut up!!!" She shouted again, interrupting me in the process. "Do you seriously think I will believe anything you'll say after the scene I've witnessed, you fucker?!"

"At this point, I don't even know..." I replied with the same weak tone as before and looked her in the eyes. "But if I can say anything right now to my supporting, it'll be that I hate it... I hate the fact, that I was announced as "The Chosen One" who will save the world, when all I actually did was to cause more harm... I hate the fact, that I had to cause all of you so much trouble, when you were clearly better without me. I hate the fact, that I didn't stay dead..." When I finished my sentence, I coughed a bit and took some deep breaths.

"After what you did, you do deserve death, you monster. You deserve the worst death possible at this point." Andr spoke back and shook the weapon as a way to emphasize her words.

"Why haven't you pulled the trigger, then...?" I asked, feeling my body getting heavier and heavier. "Why are you still holding yourself back, when you can just- *cough* just end it all...? Why do you even have mercy on a pig like me...?"

Suddenly, she began shaking and her grip got loose enough to let the gun fall down.

"Why do you care about me, even though I behaved so inhumanely on your friend...? Why didn't you finish me off, while you still *cough* could...? Why didn't you leave me here and die, when you hit me in the head...? Why...?"

Then, her purple eyes began watering, as she tried to repeat my last word with a stuttering voice:

"Wh-wh-... Wh-wh-why...? B-because I... Because..." That's when she lost control of herself and started crying.

'So vulnerable, yet so caring...' I managed to think, before darkness eventually covered my eyesight.

*Time: Unknown, Location: Unknown*

Once again, I was greeted by my buddy, Leo, in my subconsious. This time, though, he didn't seem to be in a great mood.

"George, we need to talk." His loud voice echoed in the endless void of my mind.

"Let me guess. It's about the incidents, where I became a madman?" I asked, knowing already the upcoming answer.

"Presicely." He said, still keeping a serious tone. "The new ability you unlocked, during your intercourse with Riley, is called 'Hunter's Vision' and it enhances all your physical and mental abilities, including your senses. In under normal circumstances, it would be activated during times of great danger as a survival instict of sort. Although, a malfunction on your aura distorted this mechanism, causing it to activate uncontrollably, with the ultimate finisher being your training with Sir Edward. Also, you aren't strong enough to put a stop to it by will, but you can still delay its activation time. I'm sure you have noticed that."

I nodded and asked with hope:

"Is there any kind of way -natural or man-made-, though, to help me take control over it?"

"The answer will be given from the one near you." Leo answered in a mysterious way and faded away, as I was coming back to my senses.

My head hurt like hell, while I was slowly opening my eyes, but not enough to give me a blurry eyesight. My ears were buzzing, though, but this wouldn't last for long. I took a look around the area I was in and I noticed, that this was some kind of Medieval Laboratory, but it had some modern equipment too, as well as many drawing of simple and complex machines, which confused me even more, not to mention some skeletons of small and big animals. After a while, I saw an old man, probably on his early seventies, doing something on one of the many tables the room had. I tried to get up and take a closer look on him, but something tight was holding me back. Fortunately, that thing made enough sound to attract the man's attention.

"Ah, you're finally up!" The old man said in a casual tone. "Good thing, of course, because I couldn't keep the medicine fresh anymore." Quickly, he came closer to me, with a blue/purple potion of sort. I took a look at it with suspicion and turned my head to the man.

"It's for your headache. Now drink up." He insisted and, with experienced hands, carefully placed the bottle in my mouth.

To be honest, it reminded me a mixture of berries and meat, but it could be just my idea. Once I had drank up the whole potion, the man smiled and headed over to the table he was a second ago.

"Yeah, could you please let me go now? My wrists begin to hurt like hell." I eventually asked him.

"I can not risk something like that, my friend. Although, I can answer some of your questions. I'm sure you have many by now." The man replied and began cleaning up the bottle I drank the potion from.

"I guess that works too. Well, let's start with your name and the place we are at the moment." I told him, without being too happy about his answer.

"There's no way you haven't seen me or heard my name before. Besides, being one of the best inventors history has ever met does give you some reputation." He responded with an enigmatic tone and placed the bottle back on its shelf.

"One of the best inven-... No, there's no way!" I said to myself in surprise.

"So you found out at last. Heh, it seems that tall girl really did some damage to your head!" The man confirmed my thoughts and laughed with his own joke.

"And may I ask how Andr managed to send me to you, Sir Leonardo Da Vinci?" I asked him again with a more relaxed tone.

"Oh that's a long story. You see, Arnold -or Arne, as you may know him- is a student of mine and he had told me much about you, including your dual fight against the raiders. After he was informed from that Andr, however she's called, he told me to go and help him pick you up. Besides, an Assassin is more than accepted in my lab!" He explained with a smile in the end and took a look at one of his papers.

"Wait. Arne was an Assassin all along?! That explains it..." I told myself out loud, while looking up the ceiling.

"Yes, he is. In fact, he came on his own and found the Order. Once he was one with our cause, they put him under my protection and knowledge. I'll tell you that, George, this kid has a natural talent in crafting, like you do in fighting. And then I heard about the incident with Kenway, which explains my safety measures." He responded and looked back at me.

"Do you know any sort of way to help me prevent this from occuring again, Leonardo?" I asked him with hope. "Maybe one of your gadgets can do the trick."

"I'm sincerely sorry, George, but my inventions won't be of help..." He answered with pure sadness.