The Fifth Life: Revolution Bound

Hello, hello!

College is proving to be not that bad. It's just that I got this videogame called Hades for Christmas and it's really addictive. And Inspiring. I can already see a new story in the works with Percy being the son of Zagreus.

BUT I need to finish this one, finish poor Sea Devil, and then somehow find the time to go back to Void Walker. Not to mention Promised Year. How many of you forgot about Promised Year?

We also breached 2k Follows and Favs last chapter, making this my only story with 2k in all categories, making this, by the numbers, my best and greatest story ever.

But Backup Plan is still my favorite. Shin'en for life!

Oh, and seven sales on the novel so far according to the little report thing Amazon shows me.

Oh, yeah. Business is booming.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or AC

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Inspired by historical events and an over-active imagination, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a single-cultural team of one religious faith and belief, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

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February 10th, 1868, marked the day in which the fate of the London Templars changed for the worse. Less than a month after the death of Ethan Frye from pleurisy, a disease of the lungs, his twin children Evie and Jacob were geared up and being deployed by their superior, Master Assassin George Westhouse, to assassinate a couple of Templars in nearby Croydon.

Jacob's target was Rupert Ferris of Ferris Ironworks, an alley of Starrick Industries responsible for the production of iron for the city and the broader market. Evie was to kill Sir David Brewster, a scientist tinkering with a Piece of Eden, which was always bad news if the entire Cormac episode was anything to go by.

"The iron ship from here," George said in a timid rush. His eyes were darting around, his head on a swivel as he rapidly scanned the railyard for spies and Templars. "Target one is Rupert Ferris. Target two is David Brewster. Think you two can handle them?"

"What a question," Jacob said with a smirk.

Only, the answer hadn't come from behind George, but from above.

George looked up to see the twins had climbed atop the nearby boxcar of the train. "Oh, right, my mistake! Ladies and gentlemen, the miraculous Frye twins! See them nightly at Covent Garden!"

George climbed up to join them.

"Honestly, George," Evie said. "I've studied the map and have every route in and out memorized."

"And I've got all I need right here." Jacob flicked his left wrist and his Hidden Blade popped out of the underside of the leather gauntlet he was wearing.

If that didn't paint the clearest distinction between the twins, then keep reading.

"I'll send Ferris your regards, George," Jacob said.

From the other side of the tracks came another train, the one heading into Croydon.

Evie waved. "Chat later. We've a train to catch!"

The twins jumped when said train got close enough, and George shouted at them as they rode. "May the Creed guide you, you vagrants!"

"Poor man," Evie said a few seconds later when they were quite far enough away to not be heard. "More afraid than ever. The years have not been kind to him."

Jacob rolled his eyes, his blood hot. "Tragic, truly."

Evie rolled her eyes in turn.

The train rolled on, approaching factory grounds.

"This my stop," Jacob chirped. He hopped off the train, as Evie called to him.

"Don't die!"

Jacob tipped his hat to her.

In these modern times, it was no longer socially acceptable for the Assassins to be walking around the public with an armory visible on their person. Gone were the days of swords and daggers sheathed at the waist. Gone were the days of spears and bastard swords held across the back. Gone were even the days of having guns holstered along one's belt.

The Assassins adapted, of course.

Jacob's clothes were drab and boring. A dark brown jacket that went down to the middle of his thighs, plaid trousers tucked into worn-out boots, fingerless gloves, a couple of belts with supply pouches, a blue waistcoat, and a newsboy cap.

To anyone who looked at him, they'd immediately write him off as just another worker of the iron mill.

Jacob scaled the backside of the factory's red brick wall to the open window above. He climbed in and surveyed the interior, eyes locking on a little boy that couldn't be older than ten that was stuck under a piece of machinery, screaming and bawling his eyes out.

Jacob winced, and not necessarily because of the fact that there was a child laborer being crushed. Peter….

Jacob hadn't seen the runt in over a year now. He didn't even know where Peter was, or if he was even still alive. One part of Jacob said that it was all the better if the little nuisance was gone forever, but another part said that amends needed to be made. Jacob shook his head and got focused.

Some men rushed over and hauled the metal off the poor boy and pulled him aside.

That's when the door burst open to reveal none other than Rupert Ferris himself. Overweight, plump, tall, and big. Dressed nicely, with a bowler hat the same color as his bushy beard.

"Will someone shut him up!?" Ferris barked. "Get him to shut his trap—he's disrupting the other workers. Dock his wages and get this machine fixed. Now! And bring me some laudanum for my head…"

Ferris left this part of his property before anyone could bring him some laudanum.

"Coming right up, Mr. Ferris," Jacob muttered.

The young Assassin thought simply and worked his way through the factory to the front door. Jacob jimmied it and found it locked.

"Of course," he muttered, annoyed.

A pair of voices sounded from the other side of the door.

"What're you doing!?"

"Stop that, now! Or we're going to feed you your mother's teeth!"

Jacob's eye twitched.

One of the workers behind him approached. "No one goes in or out 'less there's a problem."

The Assassin smirked. He went through the factory and turned some of the wheels, causing malfunctions and shutdowns. Loud noises were heard throughout the place, and the locked door banged open, one of the red-clad Templar grunts barging in.

"What in blazes is-"

Jacob dropped on him and sliced his carotid artery open. He had buddies on the other side of the door in a small courtyard.

"What the-?"

"Who in the hell are you!?"

"I'm the health inspector," Jacob said. "I'm afraid this man is dead, and I need to have a chat with Mr. Ferris about this."

"Kill him!"

Jacob cracked a grin. From within a pocket of his jacket he produced his favorite weapon: a pair of brass knuckles with two slots for his four fingers, and five sharp teeth along the top. Based on his official rank as a Rank 3, a Novice, he was allowed this particular weapon. Jacob put his brass knuckles on his right hand and rolled his shoulders.

The Templars must've had some kind of training, because they crossed their arms in front of their faces after drawing knives and approached Jacob with the intent to kill. The first one got close enough and made a move, breaking his defensive stance to raise his knife for a stab.

Jacob grabbed the wrist with his free hand and slammed his knuckled one into the man's throat. Blunt force collapsed the trachea and esophagus, and the teeth of the brass broke skin and spilled blood. The transfer of energy from Jacob's arm into the Templar's neck sent him flying back several feet to land hard on his back. He didn't get up, but he did writhe.

Jacob paid him no more heed. In fact, he wrote the man off as soon as he punched him and was already advancing on the other guy, who was standing there in stunned horror at Jacob's brute strength. The Assassin attacked by first grabbing the guy's head, jamming his thumbs into his eyes, gauging them out. Jacob yanked him forward and slammed his knuckles onto the back of his head, causing death by cerebral trauma.

Jacob left the bodies where they were and proceeded onward up the stairs out of the small courtyard to a larger one where a foreman was delivering a speech. Jacob ignored it in favor of climbing. He reached a high enough point where he could jump the fence and gained access to another part of the property, the part where Ferris's office was at.

Jacob moseyed across the courtyard, blending with all the people milling about, avoiding the eyes of the guards. He made his way to the main building, where the door was luckily unlocked and open. Jacob slipped in to find more guards and more workers. He tried to blend his way through, but one guy just had to say something.

"Hey!"

Considering the venue, Jacob picked up his pace, heading for the ladder to the upper floor.

"Hey, you!"

Now there were about a dozen eyes on Jacob, and men were coming for him. Jacob found himself surrounded soon enough, and all the workers were stopped and watching.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, just the health inspector," Jacob said innocently.

"Yeah? Inspect this."

He pulled a knife and Jacob grabbed the arm, bent it, and redirected the blade up into his attacker's throat. Then Jacob was on the move. He yanked the blade out and sent blood flying into the eyes of the next closest guy. Movement exploded all around, and Jacob only moved faster, a whirlwind of fists, legs, and metal. Within the span of thirty seconds, Jacob was surrounded by bodies.

After the last man fell, Jacob turned around.

"'Scuse me, gents. As the health inspector, I must inform Mr. Ferris that the presence of dead bodies means that this place will have to be closed immediately, and then he is to be…let go."

There was a whole lot of cheering, clapping, and whistling.

Jacob made his way through the iron mill, eventually finding the melting pool of hot, boiling, red-orange-and-white liquid metal. Ferris was across the large chamber in his office. Jacob decided he'd probably broken the "hide in plain sight" part of the Creed enough today, and he climbed to the rafters and jumped from spot to spot until he was standing atop the office itself.

It had this convenient opening on top that dropped straight into the space. Ferris was busy rattling off words to a typist for a letter to be sent to Starrick in London. Jacob waited only for a more seconds, before he got tired of waiting and dropped, plunging his Hidden Blade into Ferris.

Then the world around them faded away.

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"It is done," Jacob said.

Ferris scoffed as he died. "Oh? What did you accomplish, boy? A bolt loosened in Starrick's machine, a large bolt, but not enough!"

Jacob grabbed Ferris's lapel. "Your Grand Master will fall," he promised.

"You Assassins can circle London to your heart's content. The mechanism we have built has been going strong for a hundred years, and will run a thousand more. It is the very city itself."

Jacob honestly struggled for a proper comeback to that one, and so settled for another threat. "We will take London from your hands!"

"From Croydon?" Ferris laughed. "I doubt it."

Jacob pulled a white cloth from his pocket and wiped the dead man's throat, staining the white with the red.

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The typist screamed at the top of her lungs, and Jacob bolted.

"Get him!"

"Kill him!"

Those were the shouts Jacob heard from behind as he ran out the backside of the iron mill. His timing was perfect, because a train was rolling past. Jacob leapt and managed to steady himself upon the moving roof. Things were going fine for about ten seconds before Jacob saw other Templars jump aboard as well.

"Tickets please!" he called to them.

"Fuck you!"

"No, thanks. That's what your sister was for last night!"

That guy took exception to that.

Jacob fought off the Templars, killing them in series with his melee skills. He kicked what seemed to be the last of them right off the roof of the train, and he noticed a couple of Templars racing past on a carriage drawn by a pair of horses. Being the 1860s, a couple of horses could keep up with the old model of locomotive.

"Lost your nerve, boys?" Jacob taunted from the train.

The Templar not driving raised a stick and slammed it into the lever switch and changed the tracks, sending the train onto the wrong rail.

Jacob's eyes widened when he looked further down and saw the rapidly approaching cliff.

"Oh, no…"

The conductor saw it too and slammed the breaks, but trains were notoriously hard to stop. The sound of screeching metal filled Jacob's ears as he turned and started sprinting across the train, jumping from car to car. He almost made it, but ended up dangling over the cliff from one of the cars.

He looked at the wreckage below and said, "We seem to have made an unscheduled stop."

Disregarding the pile of burning wood and metal, Jacob dropped and made his way to the ground via a conveniently made path through the wreckage. When he reached solid earth once more, he experienced a miracle in that the carriage he had been hanging from fell down and landed mere feet away.

Jacob flinched. "Maybe next time I'll walk."

The train car then fell over on its side with a loud crash, making the Assassin wince.

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This was how Evie did things:

Sitting in the train car behind some crates on her way to Brewster's laboratory, she inspected a map that every worker at the facility had in their back pockets.

"Yard…guard quarters…Brewster's lab. This is where the Piece of Eden will be located." Evie struck a match and lit the map aflame. "No loose ends," she said quietly with the utmost seriousness.

Evie made her way up the train, killing Templars as she happened across them, until she got to the engine. Exhaust billowed up her nose.

"Ugh, smells like Jacob's cooking."

She decoupled the train, leaving all of the cars behind. The train arrived and the present Templars in the yard all panicked and went running down the tracks, clearing the majority of the area.

With her head down and hood up, Evie crouched and stalked her way to the nearest building. She climbed to the top to gain the high ground….and continued moving. She was quiet as a mouse and her eyes were constantly darting to and fro as she scanned for Templars and hidden things.

And then she happened across some Templars standing under some barrels left suspended by a strong length of rope. There were several more about, and Evie had the perfect idea. Drawing one of her throwing knives, she took aim and flung the little blade. Now, there was a whole lot more to throwing knives than just throwing a knife.

One had to be precise in their throw, actually getting the blade to cut through or pierce the target. You also had to be accurate, getting the knife where you wanted it to go. You needed strength as well, enough strength to make the blade slice and pierce. Evie had spades in all three categories, and her knife cut right through the rope.

The heavy barrels dropped straight atop the Templar's heads, killing them almost instantly. Evie winced at the bloody mess she made, though she was quickly moving once more when the nearby Templars swarmed to inspect.

Evie crept across the trainyard until she got to the laboratory. From her vantage point, she saw a rather eccentrically dressed young man in a top hat, a blue checkered coat, and tan and brown trousers tucked down inside of tall boots. He seemed to have been caught sneaking around, and the Templars took him inside the lab on the orders of Brewster.

"Pity," Evie said dismissively. "But no deviations from the mission."

As opposed to Jacob, who took the time to fight ten men at once in the middle of the iron mill.

Evie infiltrated the building that was supposed to be the laboratory, only to quickly realize something: there was no laboratory. Only some catwalks with patrolling Templars.

"Where is it?" she muttered to herself, frustrated and almost on the verge of panic as her map and intel seemingly failed her.

Then she heard voices coming down the way from the office. The Templars and the captured man. Evie disregarded them and was about to climb back to the roof to reassess and replan, but she heard a snippet of the conversation.

"How did you break into the laboratory? The entrance is hidden!" one guard insisted.

Evie's brow rose. "A secret laboratory? Well, well. Perhaps I can aid this interrogation."

The Assassin made her way to the office, hung out by the entrance, and then entered. She killed the two Templars without batting an eye and stared down her nose at the intruder tied to the chair.

"Well, 'ello, Miss. Name's Toppings."

"Splendid. Where's the secret laboratory?"

Toppings grinned innocently. "Uh, untie me and then we can parlay, m'lady?"

"I'm pressed for time," Evie said with an edge to her voice.

"Ah, in that case, the place is underground. Needs a key. Guard nicked mine, the cheeky sod."

"Thank you," Evie said. Then she turned and left.

"Uh, untie me?" Toppings pleaded.

Evie didn't even turn around when she said, "You got yourself in. You can get yourself out."

"Ah, right you are, miss! I still recall a couple of tricks from me carnival days!"

Evie went a few more steps before she heard a noise behind her. She turned and was honestly shocked to see that Toppings was gone, along with the rope he'd been tied up with. The Assassin quickly put the matter aside and refocused on the mission.

Once again she was back out in the rainy evening, going from roof to roof as she used Eagle Vision to identify the guard with the needed key. She found him easily enough, killed him, and looted the key off his warm body. Then she was on the move again, crossing the train yard to the main building, quietly, unseen, her hood up and hiding her face.

Getting inside the building was easy, only requiring some climbing. Getting across it was just as easy, what with all the conveniently placed catwalks and hanging beams. The thing that probably helped most in keeping her anonymous was the fact that a fight was going on below, the workers cheering on a couple of brutish men as the fought shirtless in a match of bareknuckle boxing.

Evie made it across the building to the door that led to the secret lab below, and entered. Then she had to wind her way through yet another convenient pathway of obstacles until she reached the actual lab. And what a sight it was.

There was the fabled Apple of Eden, suspended in a magnetic field generated by a huge device that was very loud and took up most of the lab. Brewster was down there, giving orders to his assistants.

"Increase the electricity!"

"But sir! It'll become unstable!"

"You heard Miss Thorne!" Brewster shouted back over the machine's whirring. "We need results, and we need them now!"

The assistant nodded and yanked a switch. There was a flash from the Apple, and the machine got louder.

"By Jove!" the assistant gasped. "Under blue light, it becomes completely transparent!"

"The nerve of that woman!" Brewster scoffed. "I ought to seize the blasted artifact for Edinburgh…"

"If you don't me saying so sir, that would be an exceptionally bad idea!"

"Why?" Brewster returned. "It's God's Apple, not hers! I will display it in public! Darwin will be vanquished, banished in shame to the blasted Galapagos to roost with his beloved finches."

"Miss Thorne will have your head, and Mr. Starrick the rest!" the assistant cried.

"You know, Reynolds, it just might be worth the risk…"

God's Apple. It was strange to Evie, a Templar in this day that still believed in the divine. Ironically appropriate, though, given how the Templars started in the first place, but still. The gods of myth? Ra, Odin, Jupiter? All just powerful Precursors that humans revered as gods for their powerful technology. Sure, Jesus was a great and kind man, but that was all he was.

Just a man with a Piece of Eden that let him heal people. The power of the artifact went to his head, and he thought himself the incarnate Hebrew God. Poor man.

Oh, well.

Evie made her way through the rafters of the lab until she was crouched on a beam above Brewster. She looked around and noted all the Templars milling about, looking at the whirring machine with fear and awe. No way around it, she was going to have to do it here, if only to shut the machine down before the Apple did something.

Evie dropped from above and assassinated Sir David Brewster.

They entered the word between worlds together.

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"It is time to lay your head down," Evie said gently.

"But I have so much more to discover," Brewster protested in a weak voice.

"Do not be afraid," Evie said.

"I am not afraid. God will protect me."

Evie pursed her lips, sad that she was sword to secrecy on matter like this, and therefore unable to tell even this dying man the truth of his faith. As such, she settled with a promise. "I will continue your experiment."

"You will not stop Starrick," Brewster made a promise of his own. "Miss Thorne has already found another Piece of Eden, more powerful than the last."

"I will take that one, too."

Brewster smiled a small, sad, bloody smile. "We fight to gain what we cannot take with us. It is our nature."

He went still in Evie's arms. She brought out her own white cloth and dabbed it red.

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The world returned to Evie's senses, and her eyes widened at what she saw. The Apple was sparking and releasing jagged bolts of electricity. It had become too unstable and was about to blow. Everyone recognized it as well, and they all went running for the exits.

Evie took off, bolts of light blasting through walls, causing massive amounts of destruction. The Apple was going to bring down the whole lab.

The eldest Frye child sprinted through the collapsing lab. A sudden bolt struck overhead, causing a heavy pipe to drop just next to Evie, breaking the metal girder, causing her to fall into some water. With an annoyed grunt, Evie surfaced and pulled herself up with ease despite her soaking clothes. She ran forward and slid under a mostly blocked exit, and just in time as the lab exploded behind her, debris cascading down she had just been standing.

"That was far too close," she said to herself. "I must find a way out."

Conveniently, in this collapsed section of the lab, was a narrow, linear path that required some squeezing (and an appreciation for how muscular her hindquarters were) that led straight to the surface.

Some time later, Evie met up with Jacob elsewhere in the train yard.

"What was that explosion?" asked the Frye brother.

"What explosion?"

"Evie," Jacob prompted.

The big sister sighed. "The Piece of Eden detonated and took the lab with it."

"The magic lump of hyperbolic metal?" Jacob hopped off the crate he was sitting on. "I'm shocked."

Evie rolled her eyes. "Just because you never valued the Pieces-"

"All went according to plan, hmm?" asked Master Assassin George Whitfield, seeming materializing out of the ether.

Evie turned with a tight smile. "There was a slight complication."

"How slight?"

"The lab exploded," Jacob said flatly, instantly ratting his sister out because that's what brothers did.

Evie rounded on him. "Jacob!" she hissed.

But George wasn't having it. "You derailed a train!"

Evie instantly perked up, her voice climbing a few octaves, "Oh, he did?" then it dropped below ground level, "Did he?"

Jacob defended himself. "The train derailed and I happened to be on it. I killed my target."

"Brewster is also no more," Evie reported.

"All in all a successful mission, then, in spite of you two."

Jacob stepped forward. Ferris's words were ringing in his head. "What about London?"

George stepped up to Jacob. "What about it?"

"We're wasting our time out here!" Jacob insisted.

"You know as well as I do that London has been the domain of the Templars for the past hundred years thanks to that madman Arno. They are far too strong. Patience," George implored the twins.

But Jacob turned with a wave of his arm, disgusted.

"The Templars have found a new Piece of Eden," Evie revealed, trying to help build the case that it was time to begin their counterattack.

"Sir David is dead," George said as if it were some kind of excuse to avoid action. "The Templars will not know how to use it. The Council will guide us, sound advice your father would have seconded….I shall see you back in Crawley."

The timid Master took his leave.

"Patience, Evie," Jacob scoffed.

The sound of an approaching train whistle was heard by the twins.

"Ah, the gentle sound of opportunity slowly passing us by," Evie sighed.

Then the daring lightbulb went off in Jacob's head. "So what's stopping us? London is waiting to be liberated. Forget Crawley."

"Father would've wanted us to-"

"Oh, Father," Jacob rolled his eyes. "You could continue his legacy in London."

That did it for Evie. "Freeing future generations from a future ruled by Templars? You know, Jacob Frye, you might be right."

"Then shall we?"

The train rolled passed, its cars empty and its doors open.

Evie nodded. "Yes, let's."

The twins ran forward and jumped aboard the first open car. Like children sneaking out at night, their hearts thundered in their chests with excitement, apprehension, nervousness, and determination. What was going to happen, what would become of them, were they going to die, were they going to fail, would they succeed—who knows?

But what they certainly did not know was that their little brother was in London. Had been for the past year. If they had known Peter was operating in the city, it probably would've been enough for them to hop off the train, or not even get on the train in the first place.

As it was, the Frye twins were heading into the rest of their lives.

But notice something about them.

Jacob favored brass knuckles, a brutal form of melee combat. In the iron mill, instead of putting forth better effort to remain anonymous, he'd exposed himself and ended up in no less than three separate fistfights, two on the mill grounds, and on the derailed train. Yes, Jacob was right that he hadn't personally derailed the train, but it was his actions that led the Templars to do it.

Evie, by contrast, had devoted herself to the shadows, sneaking around the train yard to not get caught or engage in a fight. She did remain anonymous, never exposed, never detected—she was the antithesis of her fight-loving little brother. Yet, despite her efforts, like her brother, her actions also led to wholesale destruction. Killing Brewster when and how she did had startled the assistant Reynolds into flipping the wrong switch, which led to the explosion.

Two Assassins, siblings, with different methods and approaches, yet ultimately authors of the same ending.

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Right, this was going to be much longer, actually featuring Peter, but I decided to call it here in light of circumstances and the fact that it's been so long since the last update.

As of 11:52 PM, January 24, 2022, I still have not received word back from the support team about which chapters need to be edited to fit the guidelines here, so this could very well be the last chapter I ever post to . I hope not. I've been here for seven years this year; I don't want to leave, not like this.

But if I have to, I will move to Ao3. I have made an account there yet in hopes this smooths over, but it will be under this name.

Unless there's someone I don't know about on Ao3 with my name already.

Fav, Follow, and Review please! It might be the last time on this platform unless the support team gets back to me on what specifically needs to be done.