The first thing M'gann pulled to the forefront of Shay's mind was one of the few fond memories he had with his father. He must have been about eight years old at the time and his father had actually taken him out on the sea with his whole crew and had taught him a whole lot about the sea life. That was when Shay had taken the one phrase he would repeat most in his life.

His father had stood at the helm of the ship with a broad smile, right hand on the ship's wheel with his left on Shay's head. The beautiful day that had once been perfect for sailing had become darker and the waves started to become much more violent. Shay, of course, had been afraid at first, and his father had caught up on that fear in almost no time.

"Shay, are you alright?" His father had asked with his thick Irish accent, smiling down at him even as the sounds of the crew yelling at one another were heard all around them.

The young boy shivered slightly in the cold and held tightly to his father's coat, but nodded with a straight face. He didn't answer with his voice, though, because he knew that his shivering would be heard too clearly.

His father smiled down at the boy, his heart swelling at how brave his son was trying to be, then looked at his first mate and nodded for the man to take care of the wheel. As soon as he had, he led the boy over to the side of the ship and clasped a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Tell me, Shay, what do you see out there?" The man asked as he got down on one knee, holding onto his son.

The boy looked from his father out to the sea, scrunching his eyes to try and see the hidden meaning his father was trying to make him find. But after a few seconds, the child relented, "I see the sea, father."

With a chuckle, his father hugged Shay, then shook his head, "You know what I see, son?" He asked, receiving a shaken head from Shay. "I see endless possibilities. Limitless opportunities and a lot of luck to make."

Young Shay had cocked his head to the side at the odd words, and asked, "Luck to make? How does that work father?"

Once more his father chuckled and now ruffled his son's slightly long hair. "It just does, my son. I don't wish for the best to happen, but I make it happen." As he saw his son's confused eyes, the man stood up and patted the boy's head, "You may not understand now, Shay, but you will when you're older."

Shay had felt his heart stir in a way it had not in a long time, but that memory was soon replaced by another and much more hurtful one. His father's funeral. He had felt a crushing sense of loneliness as his father's first mate and a few more of his loyal crew members gave him their condolences for the man that had been taken much too soon. He had been older and wiser, but still he had felt so alone. And once more Shay's heart stirred, but this time it wasn't in a pleasant manner.

Luckily for him, M'gann merely skimmed over that one memory and a few more of him getting into fights in the streets to try and prove he was the man his father had thought he would be, but soon enough Shay was on the memory of when Liam first found him after a long period of neither having seen each other.

It had been after Shay had gotten into yet another tavern brawl and had been thrown out by the patrons that had grown annoyed with his drunken antics. As he lay on the floor, bruised and slightly bloodied, two boots appeared in front of him. He had groaned deep in the back of his throat and cursed whoever it was that wanted to annoy him now, but bit back any kind of insults when he heard a click of tongue coming from the person above him, and the heel of both boots rise as the man crouched down in front of him.

"Tell me, Shay, do you like feeling hungover?" The person in front of him asked with mirth in his voice.

To Shay's clouded mind, the voice sounded awfully familiar. So familiar, in fact, that the image of his once best friend Liam popped into his mind, but he shook the thought away because he knew that Liam was as good as gone. Liam had disappeared after the murder of that shipping merchant and of his own father and it hurt that his friend have left him without so much as a goodbye, but he knew that there was no way he would be seeing him again.

"Oy, Shay, didn't you hear me?"

Shay grunted in surprise when two hands raised his hand up, only to have one slap him lightly on the cheek.

"Are alive to the world, Shay, or plain old dead drunk?"

The voice had an Irish lilt, Shay noted, but still shook his head. He just wanted to be alone and miserable. "G' 'way..." He slurred, trying to move his head to get away from the prying hands.

But they only held on tight and Shay heard a sigh come from the man above him. "Well, there's not much more I can do."

There were noises of shifting that Shay didn't pay too much attention to, then suddenly he found his sense of balance being shot as he was rapidly hoisted upwards. A strong arm wrapped around his waist while the person that was trying to help him threw Shay's left arm over his own shoulders. Shay was stunned by this, but was much too drunk to actually question what was going on.

He could hazily remember having walked somewhere and having been laid down on some type of comfortable material, but even the reconstructed memory M'gann was using couldn't seem to explain to either of them just what transpired between the time Shay had been picked up from the floor to the moment in which he had awoken, but Shay was much too entranced by seeing his own life before him in a manner he could have barely remembered.

Still, he remembered clearly how excited and elated he had been when he found Liam sitting in front of him, smiling down at him with a tray of food and a mug of ale by his bedside, having predicted the terrible hangover his younger friend would have suffered.

"Liam!" Shay had yelled out as soon as he had regained his bearings from he past night's drunken state, throwing himself at his friend to wrap his arms around the older's shoulders.

Liam had chuckled at his friend's enthusiasm and reciprocated the hug without much hesitation and Shay could feel himself grow as happy as he had been in that specific memory.

Without much warning, M'gann's presence in his mind was gone and the memory was pushed far into the back of his mind once more. Shay felt hollow once more, alone, now that he didn't have M'gann looking into him or the warmth of those nice memories filling him up.

"I... Am sorry."

Shay was puzzled with the girl's sudden change in demeanor, she now stood back with her shoulders sagging and her head down, and stood up from the chair, "Did I do something wrong, M'gann?" He asked, only to have her shake her head.

"I did not mean to pry into such... Special memories, Shay. But it was as if your mind was screaming at me to remind you of those moments." Now she looked up, and Shay was surprised to find that the girl had tears in her eyes. "I didn't mean to pry so deeply."

It took him a moment to notice, but Shay himself had wetness running down his cheeks. He raised his right hand to his face to gingerly grope at the odd sensation, then found that he had actually been crying. Because of those memories? He had not been prepared for that. But, in truth, there was not much he could have actually prepared for when it came to such a new thing.

"No, M'gann. Don't apologize for that." Shay told her with a soft smile as he wiped at the tears. "You asked for permission and I gave it. You did nothing wrong."

Even with Shay trying to assure her that everything was fine, the girl was clearly perturbed by what she had seen. Apparently, she had not expected such clear emotions to have been felt by someone as closed off and private as Shay. They had hit her without much warning and she was affected by them.

Shay had wanted to say something else, anything else to try and comfort her, but before he could, she looked outside of the ship and towards where her teammates had been fighting.

"They're finished. And they're coming this way." M'gann informed Shay, who nodded and sat down where he had been seated for the 'mind reading session'. "... If you wouldn't mind, we could continue later. You know, if you're still up for me finding out about your life."

For a moment, Shay wanted to tell the girl he didn't want to continue resurfacing old memories long suppressed. But he knew that this would get him a step closer to the kid's trusting him. And if he wanted to keep them safe from the trouble Desmond would undoubtedly bring, he would need for them to trust him completely.

"Aye, M'gann."

Inside of his own body, he felt a type of warmth he had not allowed himself to feel in a long time. The same warmth he had felt when he was on the ship with his father. The same type he had experienced when Liam had reappeared in his life after years of absence. The same warmth he had not allowed himself in so long because he was a monster that hadn't deserved it.

Shay closed his eyes and breathed out, trying to calm himself as a wave of unease washed over him. His breathing quickened and his heart began to thump in an almost painful manner, but he tried his best to calm himself down. Those memories were just that, mere remembrance of a past that had already come and gone and left Shay with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"And we gave those guys a 'one-two-hit-'em'!" Wally laughed loudly as he jumped into the ship, Zatanna behind him with a soft smile on her face. "And did you see how Zee trapped that girl with trash cans and rope?!" He asked as he wore the smile Shay had gotten to expect on his face.

"It wasn't that great, Wally." Zatanna mumbled, then looked at Artemis. "I mean, did you see how Artemis got her in the right place for me to get her?"

Artemis smiled broadly at the praise, all the while Conner smiled softly at his friends. One by one they all sat down where they had once been seated and Shay found himself wondering just why they had become so quiet all of a sudden.

"Where to now?" He asked after a moment in which no one spoke.

He did notice, though, that Conner had looked at M'gann with worry. But the green skinned girl only smiled bravely at the teen and looked at Shay.

"Back to the Cave. I'm sure our friends are wondering just where we went off to."

Shay nodded and settled in his chair once more, making himself comfortable for the ride as he tried to push the feelings those two old memories had brought to his conscious being.

When they arrived back at the cave, Robin and Kaldur were waiting in the hangar for them. Robin had a small smirk on his face while Kaldur stood with a passive face that betrayed no emotions.

"Would you mind telling us just where you disappeared to?" Robin asked in a voice that spoke of annoyance but held a bit of mirth inside.

Wally ran to stand beside his best friend and wrapped an arm around him, "Oh, we just went on a small impromptu mission. Nothing too big." Wally smiled at Robin, as if hoping to egg the younger on.

And normally, Robin would have been annoyed that his friends had gone off on some adventure and left him all alone in the mountain with Kaldur and Desmond, but Robin only smiled back at his friend, and not frowned like Wally had expected.

"Really?" Robin asked, then looked at Kaldur. "Look at that, Kal, we weren't the only ones to get something done today."

Kaldur smiled at the young hero and nodded, then looked at the rest of his teammates as they came down from the ship. Artemis was laughing about something or another with Zatanna while Shay smiled at what had been said, even though both M'gann and Conner looked much more serious and sober than their teammates. This caused Kaldur to wonder just what had happened with them, but didn't question it too much. He would ask about it later, after they had met their newest guest.

"What do you mean 'something done'?" Wally asked his friend, even though Robin was busy ignoring him with a smirk in place. "Did you guys go on a mission or something?"

Kaldur ignored him as well and instead opted to speak to the other members of the Team, "While you were off on your joy ride-" He began, only for all of them to suddenly hear a loud crash come from the mountain's main room.

Without a doubt, Wally, Artemis, and Zatanna ran towards the noise, even though Kaldur only sighed with a shake of his head and Robin smiled broadly.

"Shouldn't we go investigate that noise?" Shay asked after a beat in which none of the other kids moved.

"Yeah. I think you'll be happy to meet the new person, Shay, he's like you." Robin informed him as he began to move, the rest of his team following along.

Shay hesitated to follow them for a moment, but still walked behind them, "Like me? What does that mean?"

There was a sudden yelp and Robin took off running towards the room, but Kaldur, M'gann, and Conner all walked calmly towards their destination. The dark skinned teen, though, was nice enough to answer Shay's question.

"A time traveler." The boy stated simply, then turned to Shay with intense gray eyes. "And an assassin."

For a moment, Shay felt his body freeze, then remembered that neither Kaldur nor Robin knew that he wasn't an actual Assassin, but none of the kids knew just what it meant to be an Assassin or a Templar. He would have to tell them the next time he got them all alone without Desmond or this new assassin getting in the way. But the fraction of a second Shay had his body tense soon ended when he saw just why the odd noises had come from this room.

Apparently, this new Assassin was much more lighthearted than those Shay had met before, if Shay was deducing correctly from the wolfish grin on his face as he grappled around the floor with Desmond, who seemed more confused than entertained.

Okay, so, there isn't too much information on Shay and his life as a child or really anything about those younger years until about 1752, which is the year the game starts. So I made this history up for him out of the limited information I was able to find. Please don't judge it too harshly because I really tried to keep it as in character and plausible as possible. Still, this is the longest chapter I have written for this story, and I'm proud. Hope you guys liked it. Please review.