Hey, I decided to write two chapters to make a huge update for y'all. You can write individual reviews, or make one review for the two chapters. Heh, well hope you guys enjoy.

...And here's Chapter 20, guys. Err, I took time in this chapter to elaborate on Tsau and Zi's relationship a lot more, and as a hint...they're taking a step up. Hope you like it!

Chapter 20: Hints of Remorse

Tsau walked down the dark alleyways the next night, searching for his last target of the Manifest. He had already taken care of the third one earlier this morning, getting him with a shuriken while he opened his doors. The Falcon crept up on the rooftops, and waited on the building across from the Manifest headquarters. They were conspiring something in there, and whoever Tsau's client was didn't want it to happen, but these people didn't seem like much of a threat. Whatever it was, Tsau was being paid, and the people who wanted this "Manifest" dead were lucky to have chosen him.

Observing carefully, there was a man at the front, sitting on a bench and sleeping. He was probably a homeless beggar, but every time Tsau came by, he was standing there. If the Manifest was helping this homeless man, then they must be quite benevolent. Tsau watched again as a robed person walked out the front door, and the woman that let her out seemed to tell her to be careful before she shut the door. He wondered why most people in this city were stupid enough to walk by themselves under the midnight moon. Nevertheless, he followed her while on the rooftops. As she walked down the alleyway, Tsau shook his head. What a stupid person he or she must've been.

Experimenting, Tsau picked up a rock and tossed it towards the wall nearby, causing the person to turn around. Judging by the gasp they let out, Tsau guessed that the person was a female. She had to be well equipped if she was walking down the alleyway. Tsau stealthily followed her and waited for the right moment to pounce. Well, this was an alleyway, the perfect scene to make a murder. As he was about to pounce on her, she turned around and spotted him up on the rooftops. Tsau's jump wasn't complete and he landed in the ground in front of her. Thanks to her sudden awareness, her death will now be harsh and brutal, instead of quick and easy. Tsau didn't want it to be this way, but he adapted, and swiftly went up to her and grasped her by the neck.

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Ramadi was still healing up after a few days. The road home was going to take another few days, because the Dutchman was quite fast. Zi walked out from the room that held Ramadi, and noticed Tsau leaning against the wall on the way out, but only gave him a subtly sweet smile, walking away. Tsau watched her walk away, and the way she walked was odd, as if she was happy or excited about something.

"She's waitin' for you, mate," Bootstrap said from behind while mopping the floor. Ramadi's room was below deck, and the only sense of sight came from the brightness that the afternoon light gave.

Tsau looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"I said she's waitin' for yeh," he repeated in his gruff voice. "By the way she moves and such, and the way she looked at'cha. I know when a woman is in love."

"But can the man return it?" Tsau asked, looking forward.

Bootstrap smiled. "That's up for you to decide, lad. A man like ye seems a tad bit too busy to go on an' be havin' love affairs."

"Then I have my answer," Tsau said, walking up to the top deck.

The old man smiled as Tsau walked up the stairs. "But you always have a choice," he mumbled.

Tsau walked up and followed Zi, who went and leaned on the shipside, staring out to sea. She looked troubled, but Tsau didn't know why he suddenly cared about her feelings. He didn't understand why he was troubled because she was.

"Tsau…" she said, still looking out to sea. She sounded like she wanted to say something important, but couldn't quite say it. "I…I'm sorry about Hassan. I know that he was important to you."

"He was the closest thing to my father," Tsau stated. "But I prepared myself for this day. I knew it was coming, and I've no remorse."

"Doesn't his death make you angry at these people?" she asked curiously. Zi turned around to him and looked at him. "Punishing the ones who killed him is all you should think about. Justice, Tsau."

"The day you bring your morals to work is the day you don't come home," Tsau said.

"But you have no morals," she said in slight joke with a smile.

"Exactly," he said. "That's why I'll always come home."

She bit her lip to his response. Before she could speak to him, Will and Elizabeth both approached him.

"Tsau, I think there's something you'd to know about what happened to your Order," Will said to him.

Tsau turned to them and shrugged. "What can you tell me?"

"Well, your friend told you that everyone was dead," he started.

"Yeah, and?"

Will looked down. "There was no trace of any outside force that killed the members of your Order. I inspected the wounds. They killed each other."

Tsau raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What the…"

"The customers in there were drained," Elizabeth said. "It had to be—"

"The Necromortalis," Tsau said, cutting her off. "I've seen that happen too many times…and the Falcons. If they killed themselves…"

"Hey, Tsau," Zi said. They all turned to her. "Wasn't that guy you signed up to kill psychic or something? The Psychic or something…"

"Psychosis," Tsau corrected. "The last of Zhao's Deaths. He had psychic and mind-controlling powers. He probably went after Hassan..."

Will scratched his head in thought. "Zhao's Deaths…the ones he spoke of when they took the chest from us. If the Deaths work for Zhao, and Zhao works with Blackwell, then why would the Necromortalis be at the same spot?"

"Maybe the two events happened at different times," Elizabeth said. "That hooded figure leaving the Gilded Fountain must have been it. He was dressed in all black."

The captain shook his head. "No, no. The wounds were fresh, as if they happened minutes ago. One Falcon was still alive…and he killed himself."
"The Psychosis must've been still present," Tsau stated. "All of the Falcons are hard-trained and mentally and emotionally durable."

"Wait," Elizabeth stopped. "There were three Deaths, right? What happened to the second one?"

Tsau looked away and pointed at Zi. "She did it."

Zi looked at him with an open mouth and shoved him. "Shut up!"

"Hey, come on, now. No need to be rough," Tsau replied.

"Anyway," Elizabeth said, getting back on topic. "When we meet up with Jack, what will be the plan?"

"Jack better have that chest," Will said. "My heart's in that chest."
"No," his wife said. "We have it. It's in my room."

"What?!?" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?!?"

She shrugged. "You never asked."

He rolled his eyes. "This situation is oddly familiar."

"He's coming here," Tsau said. "The Psychosis is after me. Keep a watchful eye. If your eyes are sharp, your blade will be sharper."

As soon as Tsau left back down to the deck, everyone split up and got back to their duties.

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"You don't understand what you're doing! Everything in the world hangs in the balance! Please let me go! I'm still very young, please, sir, please!" the woman begged as Tsau threw her against the wall. The force was so strong that she could hear one of her ribs give out a sickening crackle on impact. The beating had gone on for about a minute now, and he was sure that he had already broken a few bones with his hand-to-hand attacks. She just wouldn't accept a quick death.

"I don't care what you think," Tsau said coldly. He popped the blade from his wrist out.

Right as Tsau was about to stab her, she quickly, but barely gouged him in the eye, causing him to be temporarily blind. The robed woman ran down the alleyway at midnight, nearly drowned in fear. The cold, chilling presence of the assassin that followed her was gaining on her. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she could barely see where she was headed. After another second or two of running, she finally turned around to see if he was actually following her. He was gone, but why so easily? The young lady knew that he could still be on her tail, so she decided to make a turn to the right, and just as she turned so her back was exposed to the left side, the faint whistle of a soaring arrow was the last sound she'll ever hear. The arrow pierced her in the back, and straight through her spine, piercing her heart.

Tsau put his crossbow away and stood up from his crouching position up on the rooftops. He hopped down quickly and checked on her body to get that servant's pendant. Right as he turned her over and held her in his arms, he took a hard gaze at her face. She looked only a few years younger than he did, and very beautiful. The quiet of the night completely froze the moment in time as Tsau had her in his arms, watching her dead body, knowing that the spirit of this person can no longer be restored. She had a lot to accomplish in life, and why she picked this road was beyond Tsau. This was only a kid. As an emotional wave was about to hit him, Tsau fortified his mind and let go of the moment, telling himself not to care for his targets. This was his job, and he has to see it through.

The day you bring your morals to work is the day you don't come home.

He quickly removed the pendant from her neck and carefully removed the arrow so that it wouldn't insult her parents when they find her. Tsau reached into his coat and pulled out a feather, representing the freedom that a Falcon had, put it in her hand, and rested her hands on her chest. Lastly, Tsau carefully set her on flat ground and kissed her lightly on the forehead, and spoke in a soft prayer. Another moment passed.

"May your soul rest in peace," he whispered last.

He stood up and walked away, back to his house above Father Demetrius's church. Along the way, he wondered about the targets he was given. The current targets of the Manifest seemed to be all innocent people, and Tsau was almost never given any innocent targets. He didn't enjoy taking the lives of innocents, for they are not supposed to die. But then again, if there was one thing he learned from this city, it's that no one is innocent. No one.

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Tsau almost woke with a yell in the middle of the night, sweaty, but cold; the chill of that flashback gave him horrible thoughts. Just another nightmare. He could remember almost every detail of her face, from her beautiful skin, to those hazel eyes. Sitting up on his bed, Tsau couldn't handle these thoughts much longer. His eyes almost watered up, but he kept strong and fought the tears. Breathing heavily, Tsau tried to regulate his body and calm down. The road will soon end. A knock on the door almost startled him as it broke his train of thought.

"Tsau?" a voice said from behind the door. "It's Izzi. Are you okay? I thought I heard you."

He opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. He was going to tell her that everything was fine, but honestly, he wanted someone to talk to. Someone who was going to listen, and Zi was that person.

"Come in, come in," he said.

She opened the door just slightly. "You're not naked, are you?"

"Would you like to see me?" he said jokingly, but his chuckle immediately died. "No, I'm not. Come in, please."

Zi came in dressed in her pajamas and shut the door. Tsau quickly lit up a candle that illuminated the room. "It's pretty cold tonight, don't you think?"

She sat down next to him and looked at him in the eye. Tsau had a light smile on his face. "Yeah, pretty cold."

"Hmm?" she noticed a look in his eye. "What's wrong?"

Tsau immediately noticed that she detected that look he had. "Oh, what? Um…"

"Something's gotta be wrong," she said. "Letting me in the door in the first place isn't quite the Tsau that I've seen the past few weeks. What happened? You look like you saw a ghost or something."

"Just a nightmare," he said. "I just…had a…nightmare."

She sat up on the bed and embraced her knees. "Tell me."

"Uh," Tsau started, looking down. "Okay. There was a contract one night I had. I am standing on a rooftop, watching the building that neighbored it. Um, I see this person walk out, who's definitely my target, so I stay on the rooftops, following the target down the street and into an alleyway. I found out that my target is a woman, who is venturing in the middle of the night and into the darkest corridors."

"And…?"

"And so I'm ready to pounce on her and make the death as quick as possible so that she can't feel it," he explained in detail. "As soon as I'm about to jump, she sees me, and I land right in front of her. The lady pulls out a knife, and I smack it away from her, and start countering every attack she throws at me. Eventually I fracture her arm and toss her against the wall, breaking one of her ribs. She gouges me in the eye luckily and starts running out into the street and down it. I get up and scale up the building again, waiting on the rooftops. She, not suspecting me, finally turns around after she gets fatigued and looks for me, down the streets and up on the rooftops."

Zi raised an eyebrow and took the situation fairly lightly. "She got away, didn't she? Is this about a failed contract?"

He shook his head. "I watch as she is observing her surroundings and I load my crossbow that I once had. As she turns her back against me while I still wait, she starts walking down the other street, and I shoot her with the crossbow, killing her instantly. Quickly, I run up to her lifeless body and inspect it. I turn her up and hold her in my arms. She's just a young lady, about 19 or 20 years of age. I look at her for a moment, and she looks absolutely beautiful under the moonlight…completely gorgeous. I take another moment to look at her, and I feel like I'm losing myself. Everything around me is frozen, and my hearing is blocked out by silence. Before I fall apart, I repressed the remorse and sorrow, and removed the arrow from her body. I put a Falcon feather into her hands and kiss her on the forehead, speaking a prayer to her ears. I stand up, and move on. The young lady is just another memory…another horrible chimera from my past."

Zi watched him as he began breaking apart, almost feeling sorry for his heartless soul. "Does this happen with every life you take?"

He nodded, and kept his head down for another few moments. "I see them in my dreams. I see their faces…I hear their voices…I see their families growing up without them…I see myself killing them…I see a demon. I know their faces, but not their names. I know that…I…can never forgive myself. I'm praying, Izzi. Everyday I pray that I'm forgiven. That's why I live with Father Demetrius. And the more I kill, the more I lose myself each time…and I did kill… above anything else, I just want to live knowing that I can redeem myself, but I find it hard to stay away from this life."

She couldn't speak. He was completely spilling himself to her, giving her almost everything he had to give. Zi saw a man that was completely lost now, someone who is no one. "Tsau, I…"

"You don't have to say anything," he said. "I just wanted someone to listen. The world's a lonely place, that's all."

"Your vulnerability is scaring me, Tsau," she said with a nervous smile. "I've had a bad dream, too, a few nights ago."

Tsau gave her an almost caring smile. "I'm here to listen."

"Well, it's not really a dream per se," she started. "I lied to you about something, Tsau. My parents…well…they're no longer alive."

"What happened?"

"They were taken from me right after you left," she said. "I wanted to visit my friend one night, because we were going to go on a pirate run together. She was my best friend, too. So, before I left, I stole my father's pistol, the one that he always used. We went out, caused mischief, and had some fun. On the way back home, I stopped at my house, and heard a bunch of screaming coming in from the doors. It had to be my mother. I also heard the voice of the pirate that visited my father often, and was probably my dad's former captain or something. When I went inside, it was too late. My father was shot, and my mother was taken away, probably sold to a brothel to be a prostitute. The odd thing is, I could hear my father shuffling through the cabinet that had his gun in it. The very same one I took his gun out of. And he got shot because of me."

Zi had a tear roll down her cheek. Tsau shook his head. "No. His death was his fault, and his fault only. He was in business with pirates. He ended his business with pirates, therefore, pirates came to kill him. There's no reason why you should blame yourself."

She looked at him and smiled gently. "It's been a long time since I took a hard look at the past. I ended up joining the Pearl a year or two later. I wanted to look for that man, but Jack insisted not to. He told me that, 'in order to make a future, you must leave the past,' and I took his word for it. I never looked back until now."

"What did he look like?" Tsau asked.

"The man was about your height, with a braided beard and a queue," she described. "He had this scar on his cheek that formed a Z."

Tsau thought for a hard moment. "Hmm. Oh, that guy. He's dead."

She sniffled and wiped the tears away. "What? You killed him?"

"Uh…about 4 years ago, I think," Tsau said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Hassan said that there was a Chinese ship in town, and someone wanted him dead for the murder of their daughter or something. Talk about karma, huh?"

Zi let out a laugh, and noticed that he laughed along with her. She had to admit, she was getting a lot more comfortable around him, and he seemed more approachable than usual. Maybe she can save him from falling. Maybe she can change Tsau for the better. But, she couldn't think about changing him. Zi was falling for him. It is definitely hard, because at times Tsau is very hard-edged and cold, but at times like these, he's heartfelt and caring.

"See," Tsau continued with a grin. "Assassins don't always do bad deeds in the world. Sometimes, to do some good, you'll have to do some bad. It's just—"
He stopped as she leaned over and pressed her lips against his. Tsau noticed her hand feeling up against his thigh. After that quick moment, she drew backwards. The two were left in an odd moment.

"Uh, I'm sorry," she said, standing up. "I think I should go…"

As she was leaving, he immediately stood up and reached out to grab her arm, stopping her. She gasped quietly at the touch, but didn't move away or shrug it off. Slowly, he raised his other hand to brush against her face, moving aside her bangs, and pressed his lips against hers. Her eyes widened and she felt herself tense, but she didn't push him away. Tsau felt her kiss him back, completely in submission to the moment.

She moved him over to the bed and he sat down. With her heart rate increasing, Zi pushed him onto the bed and started stripping him, removing his undershirt. He reached behind her pajamas and unknotted the ties behind her, and felt her hands run down his chest. Before they completely lost themselves in the moment, Tsau slowly rose up and blew out the candle. Zi giggled as she pulled him back to her for more kisses, and the perfect moonlight shined brightly.

Well, ahem…there's Chapter 20. And...in Chapter 21...the Psychosis is coming, so keep yourselves tuned in!