So now we are on to the chapter than everyone is gonna be upset about… continue reading at your own risk… warning issued… and if you have seen the movie you know what is coming. Anyways, not mine… though I wish they were…

Larry is in his office sharpening one of his favorite combat knives when "

Carla walked in and dropped to a knee. "Rise and report!"

Carla stood and walked over to Larry's desk. "The Assassins' Forest is emptied. Thirty men guard the castle gate." She reported.

"Double it!" Larry barked, "My partner must be safe."

Carla responded with all confidence holding up a key. "The gate has but one key, and I carry that."

Fiona came striding through the door and Larry rose to meet her. "Ah, my dulcet darling! Tonight, we sign our contract." He then turns and addresses Carla. "Tomorrow morning your men will escort us to Florin Channel, where every boat in my armada waits to accompany us on our celebratory cruise."

"Every boat but your four fastest, you mean." Fiona said suspiciously at Larry's look of confusion. "Every boat but the four you sent."

Larry tries rather unsuccessfully to cover up his lapse "Yes. Yes of course. Naturally not those four."

Carla, feeling the tension in the room, scampers for the door. "Sir".

"You never sent the boats." Fiona accused and then after a brief pause stated with bright confidence. "It doesn't matter, Michael will come for me anyway."

Larry glared at her. "You're a silly girl".

"Yes I am a silly girl," Fiona shot back at him, "for not having seen sooner that you were nothing but a coward with a heart full of fear."

Larry responded with pure outrage. "I would not say such things if I were you."

"Why not?" Fiona snapped back at him with a toss of her head. "You can't hurt me. Michael and I are joined by the bonds of love, and you cannot track that; not with a thousand bloodhounds. And you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords. And when I say you're a coward, it is only because you are the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the Earth." She finished with her eyes practically shooting sparks of defiance.

Larry snarled at her and roughly grabbed her arm as he dragged her from the room. "I would not say such things if I were you!" He threw Fiona into her room and locked the door. He then stormed out of the fortress and stormed his way to the Pit of Despair. Storming into the dungeon room where Michael was being kept he began ranting at him. "You truly love each other, and so you might have been truly happy. Not one couple in a century has that chance, no mater what the storybooks say. And so I think no man in a century will suffer as greatly as you will." Larry whirled away from Michael and turning to the control panel of the machine, slammed the power level all the way to the top.

"Not to fifty!" Screamed Vaughn.

Michael's back arched off the table in such a bow that he was bent nearly in half despite the restraining straps and the most horrible primal scream issued from somewhere deep in his chest. Ringing out over the whole of the lands owned by the corporation.

"Jesse! Jesse! Listen. Do you hear?" Sam cried out, hearing the painful scream. "That is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when Vaughn slaughtered my father. The man in black makes it now."

Jesse looked at him skeptically. "The man in black?"

"His true love is marrying another tonight. So who else is the cause for ultimate suffering." Explained Sam as he and Jesse were pushing their way through the gathered crowd of people "Excuse me. Pardon me, it's important." They struggle forward a few more feet. "Jesse, please?" Sam requested.

Jesse let out a huge bellow. "EVERYBODY, MOVE"!"

"Thank You." Stated Sam as the whole crowd cleared out creating a perfect clear path for the two.

Sam and Jesse continue to follow the sound of the prolonged scream until they reach the grove with the entrance to the Pit of Despair, where they come across Sugar pushing a wheelbarrow. Sam addresses him impatiently. "Where is the man in black? You get that from this grove, yes?" Sugar just stared at Sam, startled. "Jesse, jog his memory." Sam requested.

"I'm sorry Sam." Stated Jesse after he had wacked Sugar on the top of his head, causing the white haired man to crumple to the ground. "I didn't mean to jog him so hard. Sam?"

Sam, not one to give up at any cost, kneels on the ground in a praying manner, holding his sword like a cross and begins to pray. "Father, I have failed you for twenty years. Now our misery can end. Somewhere, somewhere close by is a man who can help us. I can not find him alone. I need you. I need you to guide my sword, please. Guide my sword." He stands with is eyes closed and holds his sword like a dousing rod. He weaves here and there and finally stops when his sword sticks into a nearby tree. When nothing happens Sam thinks he has failed and despondently leans against the tree, the secret entrance to the Pit of Despair opens, and with a glance upward in thanks Sam and Jesse enter the Pit.

They find Michael still strapped to the table, Jesse rushes over and places his ear to Michael's chest. "He's dead."

"This is no fair." Sam cries out in disbelief.

Charlie nearly erupts off the bed. "Grandma! Grand,a! Wait, wait. What did Jesse mean,'He's Dead.? I mean, he didn't mean 'dead? Michael is only faking, right?"

"Do you want me to continue this story or not?" Maddy asked.

"Who gets Larry!" Charlie nearly shouted.

Maddy looked at him in confusion. "I don't understand?"

"Who kills Chief Special Operative Larry? At the end, someone's got to do it! Is it Sam? Who?" Charlie is nearly in tears he is so upset.

Maddy patiently pats his hand. "Nobody. Nobody kills him. He lives."

"You mean he wins?" Charlie cries out is disbelief and anger. "Jesus, Grandma! What did you tell me this thing for?"

Madeline gives Charlie a look of patient love. "You know, you...you've been very sick and you're taking this story very seriously. I think we'd better stop now." She replied calmly to his outburst and starting to get up from her chair.

"No. I...I'm okay. I'm okay. Sit down. I'm alright." Charlie begged, trying to sound calm.

"Okay. Alright, now lets see...where were we?" Maddy replied, sitting back down in her chair. "Oh, yes, in the Pit of Despair."

"The Axe's have never taken defeat easily." Sam stated with resolution in his voice. "Come Jesse, bring the body."

Jesse looked at him in mild confusion. "The body?"

"Have you any money?" Sam asked, ignoring Jesse's previous question.

"I have a little." Jesse responded.

"I just hope it's enough to buy a miracle, that's all." Stated Sam.

To be continued….