A/N: You guys want to know something big? I don't know if anyone noticed, but a week ago from Saturday a few days ago, this fic turned a whole year old, and we're still not done here! I'm amazed at the support I've gotten from this, and want to give a big thank you to all those who follow this fic or me. I don't just do this fic because it's what I like doing, but because of you, my readers! I am so excited with only one chapter left in the Oz arc after this one.

I'm currently working on a smaller fic with the Frye Twins that I am hoping to release and finish within the coming month, and as such, I am going to be taking a small break from Faith so that I can get it done after I post the final chapter for Sequence 2. Sort of like a small holiday for Christmas and New Year's.

Now on to the chapter. This one serves as a small series of one shots of things that have happened to Asgeir both before he met his sisters, and after Ingrid froze Arendelle. It's meant as a way to show people of how Asgeir now thinks because of how much pain he has gone through because of Ingrid. A lot of what he learned from his brothers at arms, and Elsa and Anna was contradicted by Ingrid and what she did to him, that he has had to abandon a lot of his beliefs. Each of the one-shots here show a little something that he took for his beliefs, what they had meant to him, and what they mean to him now.

And homework for people who read this. With Sequence 3 starting up, there are a couple things that you will need to see to understand some things. I ask who reads this to read my other fic, Blood Runs Cold, watch a walkthrough of Assassin's Creed: Rogue, and finally, check out the amazing mobile survival horror game Year Walk. They are all important pieces of fiction and gaming that guided me towards doing this crossover.

Chapter 25: Then

December 21st 2011

I'd never forget both Solstices, and always mark them appropriately. To me, they were more than just the shortest and longest days of the year. They were Elsa and Anna's birthdays. Eevry Solstice since Ingrid killed them, they became days of living agonizing hell for me, but I always took a moment to myself to light a candle and set it afloat wherever I was.

It was Elsa's birthday, so that night I decided against trying to get warm by the fire and instead say my prayers to them down by the river.

The bundle I carried had all I used every time I set a candle afloat. Every time it was the same except for the candle. It changed with either sister. If it was the Summer Solstice, I would light a pink candle for Anna. The Winter Solstice, a blue one for Elsa.

I sat down on the rocks by the river and took a moment for myself. The river was always a slow mover in this spot. Downstream they would turn into torrents of rapids that only got worse with the winter. And British Columbia was facing one of it's coldest in years. I couldn't help but cry at the thought of that. Elsa was more than a queen of her people. She was a Queen of Ice, the harsh and unforgiving cold obeying her at every turn ever since she learned how to control her magic. She couldn't live without the cold, but clearly the cold could live without her. And from what I could feel from it, it felt it was better off without her if it could think.

I got up and walked towards the river's edge. It was iced over a little ways from the shore, but I didn't care. I had survived impalement, my neck getting sliced, getting shot countless times, and whatever else the Templars could throw at me. It wasn't when they were trying to kill me when they actually did. It was when I was tortured by some of them that they completely shattered my spirit, if Ingrid hadn't done that already to me. Falling into an iced over river was the last thing I expected to kill me.

When I reached the water at the ice's edge, I knelt down and opened up the bundle. A small bowl to keep the candle burning and afloat, and the blue candle itself. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I felt my eyes sting with tears. Then I took out my lighter and lit the candle, placing it into the bowl.

"I have a confession to make, Elsa. One that I know wouldn't have surprised you because I'm sure the same can be said for you to me: between the two of you, I cared for Anna more than I did you. She meant so much to me because she had a bubbly sense of blissful innocence I never saw in anyone else. That in mind, it doesn't mean I didn't like you. I never understood even after all these years why you didn't trust me when I saved our sister from those Templars in the night, and then the Gemini Twins. What did it take for you to accept me as a brother? Maybe if you were still alive, we could have truly patched things up after I protected you both from Ryan. ]"

I pushed the bowl out towards the water. "So much has happened these last couple decades, and so much more since my exile, and if I ever leave, too much will happen. I doubt I will ever escape The Gates, but if I do, I will do whatever it takes to kill Ingrid. I have lived for far too long in the pain and suffering that she put me through, and I would give anything to make her feel it before killing her. I don't think I will ever survive my final confrontation with her, though. In fact, I mean not to. I have nothing left to really live for, and if you saw the things I did, it would be enough to make you understand that I am not fit to live on this earth anymore with no family left to care for, and no brothers left to fight alongside. Everyone I ever loved has either died or abandoned me. So why should I live after Ingrid will die? After she dies, my mission will be complete. The torch won't be able to pass onto anyone else, since Arendelle's brotherhood is all gone, and it's prodigal son is ready to die."

I pulled out the envelope from the package that I received mysteriously only two weeks ago at my door, instructing me to open on this day, and I quote: "After you have released the candle". This sender knew of my custom, which scared me, but I guessed correctly who sent this.

Taking my knife, I slit the envelope open and unfolded the contents. Two papers came out, but I knew that one of them was meant to be read first judging by what the other one said. It appeared to be a list of actions to follow.

"Well, Elsa. Someone at least remembers me, instead of caring for me enough to get me out of here. Time to find out what this says."

Master Asgeir

You remember who we are and what we stand for. We are an inner circle of Assassins that only a handful of the Brotherhood know, operating in the shadows within the shadows. You would have thought that your mission in the Rebellion several years before your exile would be done, but it is far from over. Your part to play begun long ago, and is still long from being finished.

You must know that we have not forgotten you, nor do we intend to let Bill Miles keep you here for eternity. You will be released when the time is right. Until then, you need to know the truth that has been hidden from you by your father, Daniel Swortssen, and your Mentor, Matthew Lund. The truth that we only gave you a small taste of the first time we met you. It is time for you to learn everything that was hidden unjustly from you and the Arendelle branch.

There is an ancient magic custom that had died out over a hundred years ago, yet is still possible to perform under the right circumstances. Practiced in Ancient Scandinavia, it is know as the Year Walk. The Year Walk was an act that the Norse practiced often on notable holidays, for it was believed that a successful walk could give the participant visions of the future. We have been studying the signs for a long time and have seen what is to happen. The next Year Walk in over a hundred years is about to become possible again, and only one will be able to take it. We would like you to take it, because the Curse that afflicts you will help you in the Year Walk, and in doing so, your eyes will be opened to the truth. The grounds that you stand on in The Gates are ancient and potent enough that we know the Year Walk will have to be preformed there.

In the package that we have sent you along with this letter, you will find all you need on the Year Walk and how you will have to perform the practice. When New Year's Eve comes, you will take the Year Walk, and see what you should have been shown long ago. You may not see the future, but you may see what you were meant to, and something else of a future that could have been if fate had been crueler.

We wish you luck in the Year Walk, Asgeir. And leave you to know that you are not as alone as you believe yourself to be.

The Masters.

A Year Walk? Now that right there was something I hadn't heard of in a long time. I couldn't even remember when I last heard of it, or how. All I did remember from the little I had read or seen, it was a dead Norse practice, and what it was called. Some of the Ancient Swedes even called it the Vision Quest.

I would have then headed back to the cabin by then, but instead I just sat down on the edge of the ice. It cracked a few times under my weight, but I still didn't care. Instead, all I really could think about was the first of many wars I took part in. The mountains and forest of British Columbia reminded me too much of the Enchanted Forest and what I saw from it during the War against Regina. Times change so much. Things were different before I knew my sisters, and even worse after Arendlle froze. I was still an Assassin back then, but I was something else. I was a knight in a white hood.

During "The Cricket Game"

Over a whole year of fighting her and George furiously as a soldier in Snow and David's army, and it only took us two hours to find Regina and capture her a few nights ago. George, however, was never found. By the Assassins or the soldiers. He just seemed to vanish off the face of this world.

I stood outside the cell watching her curled up in a ball on the cot of her cell. She was holding something small in her hand, turning it over in her fingers.

"Can I get a minute with her?" I asked he guards.

They nodded and stepped out as I opened the cell door and closed it before locking it behind me. Then I sat down on the chair across from her.

"You know, there's worse places you could have been locked up, I will admit. At least you got four walls and a roof. I've been chained to dungeon walls covered in my own blood and no food at all. Sometimes that was even under your orders."

Regina made no noise as she sat up and glared hard at me.

"You should consider yourself really lucky. Snow and Charming are both taking their damn time to decide if you're not being executed or exiled. If it were up to me, you'd have been with your mother the second you got in here."

Regina sniffed a little. It almost looked like she had been crying. "So what's stopping you right now, Reaper?" She managed to get out.

I held out my hands to show her, and even held open the front of my hood. "You see any weapons on me? The jailer had them confiscated from me exactly for that reason. Plus, even if I had a knife in my boot, I'm not here to kill you. No, I'm actually here for two things, and you're gonna give them to me."

"Oh really?" Regina smirked a little. The she jumped up and lunged for me, but the chain she was locked up in tethered her to a bracket on the wall. "And why would I do that? I've always hated your kind, even before I became a Templar. Did you know that one of you gave me this?!" She fingered the scar on her lip. "Assassins know nothing but ruthlessness, same as Templars. But at least we can stand in the light and face our enemies, unlike you cowards. So tell me why I should give you anything besides death?!"

I didn't even blink. I knew very well that an Assassin disobeyed his orders and tried killing Regina long before she became a Templar, but he was executed for this; for tarnishing his ethics by not ending her suffering, and deciding to try and kill her instead of Cora, the Templar that actually mattered. "Come on, Queenie." I replied. "You're gonna be here for either a few more days or what will be left of your life. You might as well."

Regina sat back down on the cot and growled. I leaned back in my seat and put my hands behind my head.

"First thing. I'm going to ask you a question and all I want is the answer. Now, there are some things I understand here, Regina. Why you and I are fighting, and why George and I were fighting in this war. You're Templars, and I'm an Assassin. I think my kind and yours are destined to do this forever. We may never face conflict resolution, but it won't matter to us because all we care about is what happens with us in what little time we have on this Earth. And you? You chose to spend your time by joining an Order of control freaks, and chasing after an innocent girl."

"Pft."

"You say something?"

"Oh, me? Well, maybe I did let something slip out. I mean, after all. What you just said was just a big lie."

"Alright then" I said in slight surprise. I never thought she would start to spill the beans this easily. "Now we're making progress. Care to elaborate? You don't think Snow is innocent, so that's my question: Why do you hate her so much?"

Regina scowled at first, but then smiled a little. "I was in love, once. That's how these stories usually start, right? But he was a commoner, and my mother would not have it. I have half a mind to believe that it was her that manipulated everything that happened in my life that led to me meeting the girl. She was on a frightened horse that was galloping out of control and would have died if I had not have saved her. As a reward for saving his daughter, King Leopold offered me his hand in marriage. But I did not love him." She sadly looked down at the small object she was holding tightly in her hand. "I wanted to run away with my real love, but unfortunately the girl caught us in the act. And then, despite my clear instructions towards her, she still blurted out the secret. To my mother, no less. And then when I was about to leave with my love, Daniel, she killed him…" She started sobbing, then angrily looked up at me. "I should have let her die on that horse."

I sat there, somewhat stunned. Behind every evil Templar, there's an even more evil story. A lesson I would learn many times over.

"Daniel, huh? My father's name was Daniel, but I doubt he's the same one. My mother and her Templar shite husband chopped off his head. Who was he? A miller? A blacksmith?"

"No." She replied. "Just a stable boy."

My mouth dropped open, but then I nodded solemnly. "I understand."

"Understand what? That my mother was a horrible woman for killing him? She was more than horrible. He was innocent! SHE PULLED OUT AND CRUSHED HIS HEART!"

I shook my head. "He was the furthest thing from innocent, Regina."

"How would you know?"

"Because he was the Other Daniel."

Regina stopped. She stared and looked at me with wonder. Everything in this world always seemed to connect to our eternal war, and all this time I never knew that the man a Templar mourned was someone on the other side of the coin.

"My father raised me from an early age to know of the Assassins and their struggles. I was very young, but he still taught me what little I could understand from the earliest age. And I was quite smart for my young age. I remembered meeting some of his contacts that visited from all kinds of realms, but the one man who I saw once and never ended up seeing again, I would always remember as the Other Daniel. Think about it, Regina. Why else would Cora have killed a young man like that in cold blood aside from furthering you up the ladder of power? She was desperate to prevent him from 'poisoning' you with his ideals and beliefs, so she killed the only Assassin who had decided he would rather spend his life making peace than killing Templars. Your true love was an Assassin, Regina." I got up and started for the door. "And you belittle his memory by wearing that Red Cross as your symbol. I hope you're proud of yourself."

I opened the cell door and called for the guards. When they came back in they locked the cell door. Regina called for me at her cot.

"And the other thing? You said you were here for another thing?"

"Well, I was going to also take your Templar ring to add to my chain, but then I realize there's no point to it. You made your choice, so now you're just going to have to live with it until they execute you, or I kill you when they exile you." I spat loudly at the door. "May the Father of Understanding forgive your failure."

When I was younger, my father taught me that all life is meaningful. The good, and the bad. It can't be taken for granted, and there should always be room for mercy. Learning to forgive, but never forget is one of the hardest lessons ever. Too many of us even confuse one for the other.

Father was a wise man, but there was one thing that he died too early to learn. Life is cruel and cold blooded. Not one person outside your family cares about you, and most of them will stop at nothing to hurt you and those you hold dear. That's why mercy is worthless and will almost always come back to haunt you. If you don't kill someone, without hesitation, who wishes death on you as well, then you might as well turn the blade onto yourself. I hate to say it was her that taught me it, but Ingrid was the one who taught me that. Because she was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I'm a monster that has lost any mercy because of her.

10 years before the Eternal Winter

I never was someone who really liked magic. Even as a kid I was raised to know that anything that was worth doing with magic could be done just as well with your own hands. Sure, people with magic can do all sorts of things that most can't, but it's worth it to walk or run instead of fly around magically. "Laziness" is the word that comes to mind. Very rarely has magic ever gone well for me. That's the irony of it all, considering one of my oldest friends was a fairy, and my sister was the Ice Queen.

Most fairies hate our way of life. They don't understand how we can be so violent, and inflict so much pain on other people, yet still call ourselves "protectors" of this world. The Blue Fairy hates us the most, as I have come to know, and the feeling is very much mutual. To see her stand above all the fairies and say that all of them must obey her rules or suffer is hard enough, and the key of many reasons why I began hating her.

At fourteen, I had taken the ranking of a Veteran Assassin, spending most of my time working small jobs for the brotherhood. We were on the run most of our time and our branch was always moving from place to place. I often wondered why we could still call ourselves the "Arendelle Branch" when it would be considered lucky if we could even stay in Arendelle for more than a week

"It was once the safest kingdom for Assassins, Asgeir." Matthew told me. "It's now become a shadow of it's former self underneath Agdar and Gerda and their Templar friends. But we shouldn't forget ourselves in where we used to serve. As long as Arendelle still stands, we will cease to call ourselves 'Nomads'."

I often thought about all Matthew said about how we were going to fix the branch one day on my first hunting trip. Almost every job or mission I went on, I went working with another Assassin from another branch. But this time, I asked that I be let go, into the wilderness of the Enchanted Forest for my own time. Having proved myself to Matthew enough times ever since I took my hood, he agreed so long I return within a week.

This was my third night alone, and it had been a long couple of days to start off. I had yet to learn just how ruthless King George truly was, and yet I was right in the middle of his own kingdom. I had no idea of the dangers, but I would soon enough. However, this night in all my days of pain and misery, was one where I instead met someone who would become one of my oldest friends.

Walking through the dense forests in the darkness, I came across a lonely pond. I sat down at the edge of it as I saw the full moon that night reflect off the surface into my eyes, like a giant illuminated golden baseball.

I often took each chance I got when I was at this age to talk to my father. Just in general, really. He had been dead for eight years by this time, and I felt lost afterwards. Matthew was nowhere near as wise as my father, often finding difficulty in trying to explain and teach the Creed to other people. He found his footing as Mentor, but everyone that was part of the Branch knew that Daniel was the one who knew the Creed better than any Mentor in a long time. Almost everyone who was part of the Brotherhood when my father was Mentor were now dead, with only Matthew and Keif left. Kevan was another elder Assassin that worked with my father before he died, but he moved branches to the Enchanted Forest one under Keaton. Even now I wonder if it was all part of his plan, my father's, to eventually install me as the Mentor one day when I was ready. Every generation in my family that I knew of were Assassins, and it was safe for me to assume that most of them became Mentor to whatever branch they were a part of. But Matthew never showed me the signs that it was what he wanted me to take up. He only showed concern of making sure the Branch was safe and secure from the Templars, only focusing on the present instead of keeping a safe plan for the future.

"Hello, father." I began, thinking hard as I spoke. Even I wasn't sure what I was going to ask out of him this time. "I know it's been a while but there's things that keep bugging me. We have responsibilities to the people of this realm, and yet I find us spending more time killing small time Templars instead of maybe trying to take down Agdar. We could save those girls that you told me are my sisters from being poisoned into Templars, because the last thing I want to do is kill the only blood family I have left. But I may have to if they make that choice. I just wish you had left behind the answers for me, like how Altair wrote the Codex for future generations. How we can fix this fractured branch and bring it back into what it used to be for the Arendelle Assassins."

There was no sound aside from a small breeze of wind. I sighed as I placed my face into my hands, and spoke more, feebly hoping I would get some answer.

"I just don't get it sometimes, Father. I'm asked to obey Matthew and whoever orders me without question, yet Nothing is True. And I cannot go after whoever I choose or hate, yet Everything is Permitted. What can the Creed really mean if we break it with most actions we make?"

"Feeling lost?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as I leapt up and extended my blades. I looked fearfully at the girl who sat on the rock in front of me. She smirked a little mischievously at me as she spoke. She had curly blonde hair tied back, and a sparkly green leotard.

"I feel lost as well sometimes." She said, an accent present in her voice. "I want to do good with the magic that I hold, yet Blue always says that I need to listen to her and always obey." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "All her rules are so boring. Spending our days wasting away instead of helping mortals."

"You're…you're…" The words caught in my mouth.

She giggled. "I'm Tinkerbell."

"A f-fairy?"

I had never met one before, but many older Assassins told me everything they could of that they hate our kind. Or more specifically, they hate Assassins and Templars alike. I never understood why, but I always thought it was because Blue thought that her power over light magic gave her the right to judge us. I still believe that.

Tinkerbell got up and looked closer at me. "You know, Blue warned me never to approach one of you. Said you'd rip my wings off and steal all my dust. But I've always been curious as to what the deal is with your kind. Assassin."

I kept my blades extended. I'll admit it, I was bluffing on looking to kill her, considering I was also in a state of wonder at seeing her. My instinct told me that all fairies hated us because Blue hated us, but Tinkerbell seemed different. She was badmouthing her, and she seemed just as curious about me as I was of her.

I retracted my blades. "Unimpressed?"

Tinkerbell smirked. "Kinda. Yeah."

I brought Tinkerbell back to my camp. Only my small tent and a cook fire were there, but she and I still talked while I kept the fire going.

"Humans interest me. Why, they can't all be bad. And I often think of how life is for mortals. It must be very different."

I poked at the fire pit with my sword. "No, you're right. It is different. None of us can fly, or shrink, or do anything aside from kill everyone who comes across our path. Or, I'm assuming that it's what you heard from Blue."

She nodded. "Why does she hate Assassins? Is it how you kill people?"

I glared, but more towards Blue than Tinkerbell. "The men and women that we kill are monsters. Templars, who want to control the world and snap chains onto every thing that breaths, or ever will. But your teacher can't see that. She only sees people who do the worst crimes imaginable killing nobles."

"But I saw you. Killing people is wrong, but you're still a person like everyone else in this world." She said. "But why is it that you do it?"

I looked off as I thought of what I would say. It all came to me through what I had learned in all this time. "Too many people want to take the freedom of others in this world. And even more will gladly give it up. People that know of our Brotherhood say that we made the choice to do what we do, but I don't ever remember making that choice. I knew when my time came that I had to take the hood to honor my father, who laid his life down to save mine and several others'. So when the time came for me to make the choice to take the hood, I took it for countless reasons, but one enormous one: If I didn't do it, who would?"

Tinkerbell nodded. "I think I understand it. Blue doesn't want to even try and get to know humans. I guess she thinks they're inferior to us, or something. But I don't think we should judge. What is it that people say: You're only human?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Tinkerbell."

"Oh, call me Tink. And you are?"

"Asgeir. Asgeir Swortssen of Arendelle."

Tink was right all along. Even with how personal I made things with the Templars, building rage against them and the other monsters that hurt me and those I cared for, I still did what I did because I had to. Because I hold a responsibility to this world. If I don't kill Ingrid, this world will die until she gets whatever she wanted when she was trying to kill Anna and me. If she is here in Storybrooke, then she has found something else.

9 Years Before the Eternal Winter

I heard that Altair became a Master Assassin by the time he was sixteen. After Matthew and the other elders promoted me at fifteen, I swore to one day do everything in my power to become one of the "greats" if that didn't do it already. But how can you uphold a promise when you have no idea where to start? All I seemed to do was kill people I was told were "high ranking Templars". Yet, I've learned that Templars consider their numbers to be much more expendable than we do. For every man I killed, another that seemed even worse than him took his place. Sometimes there comes an Assassin that brings us out of the pit that the last long line of fools buried us into, and other times the rest of us feel that no matter what we do, the Templars have too thick of skin. For the first half of my life before I met the girls, I was having my time of doubt. Not in the cause, but the strength of it. Unless we took real action towards the Templars, we may never win the war.

Six months before Rory and I first met, I was on another manhunt for a high-ranking Templar. Troy said that there was another slave driver in deep with King George, and could know some of his secrets. I was in a tree just outside his mansion, scoping out the guard situation. A five-foot tall fence, and two guard towers that gave a clear shot for every guard on the property. Easy.

I pulled off my air rifle and snapped a clip of beserk darts in. I had done something like this before and it worked every time.

When the guard on the closest tower had his back turned towards the tree I was in, I dropped down from it, rushed over to the fence and vaulted over the fence. When I was down in the tall grass, I made my move. I aimed carefully and shot the guard up in the tower with the berserk dart. The guard grabbed his head between his hands and screamed violently for a second, but then he got together his bearings and drew his crossbow. He aimed low and fired right at his guards, as I knew he would. The poison never failed.

It took a minute for the rest of the guards to realize what was happening. Despite the alarm bells present for situations like these, the guards decided instead to take out their own bows and try and take down their sharpshooter. However, he was much quicker than them, and was able to take down another handful of them before the poison got to him, and his heart gave out. He fell right in the tall grass beside me. As the remaining guards went back to their patrols, I checked the guard's body for anything useful, thankfully finding three more sleep darts to use for my rifle.

A window was wide open into the mansion within running distance from, but I just needed a distraction for the rest of the guards. Carefully moving through the thick grass, I saw the other tower on the other side of the plot of land, and took a clean shot for him. Like the one before him, the guard clutched his head and writhed in agony before regaining his focus, and succumbing to the poison's effects of making him think everyone within range was a target. I was just climbing up into the window by the time he was about to shoot the next guard.

I could feel that most of the guards were outside, and that the head Templar was right in the room at the end of the hallway. Seeing him through the walls, he was at the window looking out at the chaos in the yard below. I wasn't going to waste any time. I needed to get him immediately.

I sprinted right down the hallway and smashed the door in, pulling out one of my flintlocks.

"On the ground, Templar!"

He didn't turn for me, but slowly raised his hands, still standing. "You made a grave error, Assassin."

"I said get down!"

"You know, what fascinates me the most about your kind, is the Sense that most of you wield. Do you know what kind of power that can be used for? And instead you don't hone it strong enough to realize when a room is laced with the newest development in sleep gas."

"…what?" I said, starting to feel dizzy.

He turned around and put his hands down, smirking. "You really should have learned by now that actions by your kind don't go unnoticed. Instead, we endure them, and adapt as we always have. Then we take a pair of sharp tweezers and find the thorns in our side. My Master will be pleased to know I just captured the son of Daniel Swortssen. You-"

He was still speaking, but I couldn't make it out as the room around me got darker and started drifting away.

"This is the son of Swortssen? This pathetic excuse for a Novice, much less a Master Asssassin?! Wake up!"

I just barely heard this, and not two seconds later, I felt a heavy fist nail me right in the nose. I winced as I forced my eyes to open up, and looked around.

I was in a tower cell with windows behind both the one who punched me, and the one who was speaking, as well as four guards split in two on either side of the cell. The speaker was dressed in a red velvet doublet with a familiar coat of arms on it: Seven blue roses above a red chevron with a blue lion below it: The Eastern Reach. He was a balding man, the little hair he had left so gray it was almost white. And despite how pleased he clearly was, he was still scowling at me. The torturer was the typical brute of a man with a black hood covering most of his face with the exception of his cold, angry eyes.

"I must say, Son of Swortssen I am unimpressed." The older man said. "Your father killed hundreds of my soldiers, and many of my close brothers. Long have I hated the craven, so it gave me great pleasure to know King Agdar of Arendelle took him down and executed him right in the town square. But that victory was short lived, because history has been repeating itself for the last six years with his bastard son, also the son of Agdar's wife Queen Gerda, only this time it was much easier to catch you."

I chuckled. "You know, the feeling is very much mutual, King George." I knew very well who this was, even though I hadn't seen any photos of him before. "I'm unimpressed as well. Here I thought the Templar hated by many Assassins, but feared by less was someone, I don't know, a little less old and geezer-like."

The torturer took another punch at me, but I only laughed when I tasted blood. He had a black hood covering his face, with only a hole for his cold, dead eyes. His dark green canvas apron on his front was splattered with blood, and it looked to me from this that I was not his first victim today. So many would cower at the sight of him, but even after taking in all of his appearance, I laughed even more.

"You don't seem to understand how dire your situation is, Assassin. I have captured you and have you down ready to die, and yet, you laugh as thought this means nothing to you." King George sneered.

"No!" I replied. "I laugh because it means everything to me! Because it means that I now have a face to the Templar that I will eventually kill, accomplishing what my father did not! And then I will do the same to Agdar!"

The hooded man kept punching me as I felt the sweet copper taste fill my mouth, blood dripping down my face. I only grinned as I looked up at him. "If punching me repeatedly is going to make you feel better, than by all means, continue. Although, if you could please get my right cheek. I got an itch there!" I chuckled.

I knew I had every skill at my disposal to break out of my bindings and take as many of these fools down as I could, but I wanted to take a smarter approach, and see what it would take to make George let his guard down even further.

"Arrogant bastard." George growled. "Your kind is filled with nothing but explosive anarchists and idealists. We Templars know the world for what it really is-"

A sudden cloud of smoke exploded in the cell as two dark shadows slipped in through the windows on my right, and took down the guards by the windows.

"You know, I always knew that Templars are foolish, but I didn't think our nemesis as stupid as this. Taking a brother of ours!" I heard a voice in the smoke.

I couldn't see anything, and started to focus my sight when I felt an arm grab me from behind and force me into a standing position as a knife got jabbed towards my throat. I gagged as I tried for another breath.

The smoke cleared in a few seconds, and the two other guards lunged for the white hooded figures as they whipped out their flintlocks and unloaded on them both. They lowered their hoods and eyed both George, and me. George had me by the throat from behind, holding the knife at my throat as a hostage.

"They all are stupid, brother." The other said to the first.

The first was tall with spiked up brown hair and a small stubble around his cheeks, a smug grin present on his face as he had his hatchet raised, as though he was ready to toss it right at George into his skull.

The other was a few inches shorter than the other, had messy blonde hair, and was clean-shaven, but also had a grin present on his face with his bow aimed at George.

The Broken Chain Brothers, Troy and Rabbit.

I smirked along with them. "Oh, George. You think I'm bad?" I gloated. "You don't know these guys."

"Please stop beating Asgeir. He's only got that pretty face left, really." Rabbit laughed.

Troy glanced back at his brother. "So, we agreed I got George?"

"What're you talking 'bout? I got the bastard like we agreed."

"When did we ever agree on that?"

The interrogator, who I was worried about as I saw the brothers argue, started advancing on them, but Rabbit let an arrow loose right into his neck, and he fell to the ground right in front of Troy.

"See?" Rabbit said. "How can you top that?"

"As I'm the older, bro, I insist that-"

"HOW DARE YOU?!" George thundered.

Both brothers looked back at George, mildly shocked at the volume of his voice.

"You intrude on my moment about to kill your brother at arms, and you stand here bickering in front of me saying who gets to kill me, as though it's some kind of contest!"

Rabbit shrugged. "Well, it kinda is…"

"SILENCE!" George shouted back as he jabbed me by the throat with the knife. "I will kill him right here if you both do not drop your weapons, Assassins!"

Troy grinned. "Oh, you don't think either of us have a shot?"

"Either one of us will take the shot if it please us, Your Majesty."

"Guys, don't!" I shouted. "Don't take the-"

"Hey! Lemme focus, Asgeir!" Rabbit snapped.

"Enough!" George spat. "None of you will get the chance. I mean, who the hell do you think you traitors are?"

Rabbit lowered his bow a little. "Did I just hear that right?"

Troy nodded. "I think you did. Son of a bitch just asked who we are!"

"Oh!" I groaned. Those guys were both the funniest and most annoying members of the branch. They treated our war like some kind of game sometimes, but there was no denying that they were two of the branch's best fighters.

"We art the Broken Chain Brothers, King George!" Troy shouted, as though reciting some dramatic passage of Shakespeare. "Raised in the salt mines of thine shitpit of a kingdom, we were broken free as young boys by Daniel Swortssen, and along with our brother who thou hide behind with a knife in thou hand like the knave thine art, we have sworn to break the chains off every man, woman, and child under your boot until we take you down once and for all!"

George loosened his grip on me a little, realizing who they were. "You bastards! You are the ones who are ruining all the slave runnings in my kingdom!"

Troy bowed his head. "At your service, Your Majesty!"

"And you brought all this on yourself, dear King George! Our parents were killed by Templars under your contract!" Rabbit sneered.

"Sons to a murdered father and mother, and we will take our revenge! From the Creed's heart, we stab at thee!"

This was my chance. When the brothers cried out and charged for George, I flung my head forwards, then slammed it backwards, right into his face. I closed my eyes when the force of impact shook me, and I felt something cold and sharp slide just under my eyes and across my nose. I felt dizzy with the pain, but this was no time to be shaken. Both brothers were grabbing for George, but one thing they always proved to me was that their loyalty always trumped their desire for vengeance. They saw the blood rushing down out of the wound on my face, and Troy grabbed me by the shoulder just as Rabbit headbutted George, breaking his nose. Then they both helped me to the window.

"C'mon, Asgeir!" Rabbit called out. "We gotta leap for it!"

I just managed to nod, and leapt (or really fell out the window if I'm being honest) out the window to the screams of the eagle and the wind.

After climbing out the pile of mulch, I started feeling really dizzy, but Rabbit grabbed me by the shoulder.

"Stay with us, man!" He called out as I felt the blood drain from my face even further, down my nose. Most of the lower half of my face was caked in the stuff from the beating I took from the hooded interrogator, but too much of it was coming from the deep slash now present on my face. The rest of it went in a blur. I know I was conscious the whole time, but I just cannot remember anything happening for the life of me after Rabbit yelled for me again. I could hear the bells of the castle courtyard ringing as we rushed for the exit, Troy leading the way with his crossbow out.

The next thing I knew, Rabbit was sitting me down on a stump, checking out the cut on my face. Troy was off to the side, keeping watch.

"We should use the beans to get back to Matthew. He isn't going to be happy we let this happen."

"The prodigal son is still alive, isn't he? We're going to be okay."

"Have you seen what George did to his face? It's a miracle he's still alive from all that blood loss. I can only just hear his heart beating."

I looked up at Rabbit. "What happened?" I mumbled.

"We just barely escaped them, Asgeir." He explained. "We got you out of there, but George has almost sliced your face in half."

He looked back at Troy. "I'm shit at making stitches, Troy. We need to get him to Kevan. He can help us."

Troy looked around hard. "I don't see anymore of George's knights. Ok, let's get out the beans and get him to Kevan."

Ever since we escaped Arendelle when I was six years old, our base for the branch was a small camp a few kilometers west of Sherwood Forest, where Robin and the Merry Men branch worked. Troy and Rabbit spent very little time here except when incidents like these occurred. And despite how good they were as Assassins, things like these happened with them too many times. While they both were kind and caring for people under the boots of Templars, it was their passion to free slaves that proved to be their weakness often. Troy was always the one to quickly jump into action and try to free everyone without really thinking, and even Rabbit proved to be reckless a few times, even though he tended to be the voice of reason for the two of them. But despite all their difficulties and devil may care attitudes towards how they handled things, they were accepted by our branch for several reasons, the biggest being that they never violated the Creed, and always put honor and loyalty above all else. They even said a lot of the time how they drew inspiration for their efforts and strategies out of the pages of legends like Adéwale and the Frye Twins.

Kevan was waiting for us at his tent, and he was furious when he saw the sight of me.

"This is what happens when you don't listen to my advice, boys!" He snapped as he sat me down and got out his supplies. "What the hell were you three even doing to end up going against King George?!"

"Asgeir was hunting down one of George's head Templar slave runners when we passed information onto him, and we wanted to help." Rabbit explained. "But when we got there, they were dragging his unconscious body out and taking him to King George. We followed and agreed we needed to intervene and get him out of there when we heard George was interrogating."

"And he is dead?" Kevan said as he sat down in front of me with his kit.

I shook my head. "No." I wheezed. "Not dead."

"Getting Asgeir out of there was more important than killing George, Kevan." Troy said. "We'll get another chance to take him down."

He looked up at the brothers, but nodded. "You two surprise me. Even impress me sometimes, you know." He said. "And here I thought you would jump at the chance to kill George, even if it meant sacrificing Asgeir." He looked at me. "I'm going to give you a shot, Asgeir. You're going to feel a pinch, and unfortunately, it's going to leave a scar. But you're still alive, so that's something."

Before he jabbed the needle in my arm, I held up my right hand to Kevan without ssying anything, showing how little I cared about having the scar on my face. My right hand had two burn marks, both to show what I am to the world: the burn on my ring finger when I was inducted as a Master, and the diagonal slash across the back of my hand, the Bastard's Brand Agdar gave me when he left me in the woods to die.

I wasn't left behind much in terms of books or instructions on what the Creed meant by my father. I had to take what it meant to me from everything that happened around me, and almost everything that I learned from my brothers was contradicted when Ingrid killed Troy, Rabbit, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff. The brothers showed me that they could look past personal vendettas to really help those that they cared for, the priority being protect the innocent, not punish the guilty. But look what it got them: dead at the hands of the worst demon Arendelle ever saw. She will wish that she had never touched the face of the Earth when I am done with her, and that she hadn't have killed all the wrong people in her efforts to achieve her "perfect family". There is no more mercy anymore. In order to survive, it means sinking to their level and doing the bad things, no matter what others think. That's all that matters.