A/N: Glad to be able to update so soon, and I'm already more than halfway done with the next chapter

This note right here is more of a mini-review of Syndicate since I last updated right before it was about to release out.

Was Syndicate good? Oh, man. When I heard the next game was going to take place in Victorian England, I was hesitant at first. It's a very important part of history that I had wanted to see for a very long time in Assassin's Creed, but after the shitstorm that was Unity, I didn't want them to spoil such a great part of history with another bad game. Fortunately, Syndicate was one of the best Assassin's Creed games easily making my top 5 favorites (From best to least best, Brotherhood, Syndicate, Black Flag, 3, and Rogue.) Great main characters with great dialogue exchanges between them, a solid story with excellent historic figures (that also had good comedic moments as though it didn't have to take itself so seriously) , a refined stealth system that actually made stealth a fun walk in the park instead of a stupid chore like in Unity, and a pretty good ending. IGN bashed the ending in their review, but I enjoyed the ending for the Frye twins and how it played out. I will agree that now the modern day parts of the game make no damn difference anymore ever since Desmond has died and we are now playing a string of random, nameless, faceless, voiceless, computer operators with no end in sight, waiting for Juno. Seriously, every game she says "I am close to being ready for this world." Hey Ubisoft! Crazy idea I came up with! If you're saying that Juno is almost ready to come into this world, THEN DO IT ALREADY! It's been three years since AC3's ending! GET ON WITH IT! No one cares about the modern day events anymore!

I will however credit how I was excited to see both Otso Berg and Violet DeCosta appear as I both think them to be badass Templars and I simultaneously hate their guts and idolize them. At least they're the kinds of villains that are cool enough with understandable motivations. They make way better sense than some villains. Ahem, ahem, Zelena and Ingrid.

So was Syndicate better than Unity? That's not setting the bar high in any way, so instead I'll say that it brought back all my fond memories of playing Brotherhood and then added in a cleverly written story with great protagonists (and antagonists). And it was so good enough, that I am checking everyday on news for Jack the Ripper. That was the one thing that I needed more than anything else for Syndicate. The two things I needed in it were Queen Victoria, and Jack the Ripper! We get both!

Hope you guys have tried Syndicate or at least consider when I say that I liked the Twins so much that I am working on incorporating them into Faith as well as working on a small side project with them as the protagonists that should be coming on in the next month. Syndicate gets a 9 out of 10 for me!

Chapter 23: A Curious Thing

Hallucinations aren't just visions that haunt you. For me, they showed me things I think I always knew, but refused to believe. And even when I knew he was a ghost, my mind was so broken; it believed that Shay was real because I could really feel him. You see, most people can't feel or touch what they see in theirs. I learned several times over that while I couldn't really hurt Shay, he sure could hurt me. Some might say it was I punching myself from their point of view, but it truly was him punching me.

I had ended my nightly parasomniac sleepwalking with my face down on the table of the bar in the pub like any other drunk passed out. Only difference is they got a much more pleasant wakeup call. I woke up to having Shay grab my shaggy hair, pull my head up, and slam my face down on the table.

"Wake up, Reaper!" He called in a singsong voice. "We got some dyin' to do. Or in your case, to not do."

I rubbed my face, my ears ringing from what had just hit me. I shot a murderous look at Shay, but did not say anything because Kevan was pulling the chairs down from the tabletops and wiping them, readying to open the pub for business. How would he react if he saw me awake and talking to myself?

"Ooh! I'm soo scared!" Shay laughed.

"Asgeir. Glad to see you were passed out and not dead." Kevan said as he got up to the bar. "I got the cooks making breakfast as we speak. Care for one of my special omelets? There's a hidden ingredient in it instead of a hidden blade."

Jason and Zar were walking in from the inn as I nodded. "And coffee, too." I added.

"Thank heaven, Asgeir." Jason said as he sat down on my left side. "We feared we'd have to go looking for you again, asleep in a ditch."

"Sleepwalking?" Zar asked.

I nodded without words as Kevan poured the three of us coffees.

"Jason told me what's wrong with you. Did you ever consider strapping yourself to your bed?" He asked.

"Several times while I was exiled in The Gates. That was when the nightmares started, but even tying myself to the bed made it impossible to keep myself from leaving. I'm always having to find my way back to where I had originally fallen asleep."

"That's rough." Jason said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"This guy must be genius of the year." Shay said as I sipped my coffee. "Quick! Someone get him a Nobel Prize!"

I ignored him. "Was there any updates on Zelena and her monkeys last night?"

Zar shook his head. "It's been a week, and nothing. She doesn't have much to do left except protect the items she already has and wait until the Charmings' baby is born. Granted we're also still looking for her new hideout, and that hasn't gone well either. She must have figured out how to blind the drones we have sweeping the woods."

"From what I remember hearing, neither of the Charmings have gotten so much of a glimpse of any flying monkeys. We have at least two Assassins close by them in every waking hour, and Emma and Regina are both doing what they can alongside us. It's quite impressive to see us fighting alongside one of the worst Templar Queens in our history."

My phone suddenly rang as Kevan placed my breakfast in front of me.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Asgeir." It was David's voice. "We could use your help here. Can you come to the loft in 15?"

"Be right there."

As I hung up, Zar got up.

"I'll head over with you, too. It's Jason's turn to stay here to oversee today's operations."

Zar and I headed up the stairs to Snow and David's loft and I knocked on the door as I opened it up. They must have fixed the frame from when I kicked it in a few weeks ago, because it looked brand new and freshly painted.

"Asgeir." Emma said somewhat curtly as we walked in. She glanced at Zar. "And you are?"

"Salazar Cortez, Emma. But everyone calls me Zar."

Emma sighed a little angrily. It was no mystery how she didn't really trust me considering most of what she was seeing of me was personal anger towards Zelena. Still raw over blowing up the farmhouse, I figured.

"What do you guys need our help with?" I asked.

"It's a book that we're looking for." Regina said. "Henry's book."

"You mean his book of fairy tales?" Zar asked.

I was confused. "I don't get it. What's an ordinary book got to do with taking down Zelena?"

David opened up a drawer and started going through it. "It's more than a book, Asgeir. It's almost something that this world of ours seems to revolve around. Everything that has happened to us has been written down in this book. Everything as it happened to all of us."

"So you're thinking that whatever we need to defeat Zelena is written in the book?" I asked.

David shook his head. "No, not exactly. We think that this new Curse that brought us over and our erased memories means that we already should know how to defeat Zelena."

"But in order to break it, we think we need to get Henry to believe again." Snow added.

Zar's eyes lit up. "So he believes, and this whole Curse gets broken."

"That's right." David said. "And this book was Henry's true source of belief. With his memories erased, this might be the only way to restore them."

I had barely seen much of the boy, and he didn't mean that much to me because of that, so why I should track down his bloody book escaped me at the moment. But I kept my mouth shut as I saw Zar start to help the others look around the loft for the book. I almost thought for a second that this book might have a mention of me at some point. But I would ask later.

David grabbed a briefcase from under the bed and placed it on top of it as he opened it. "Why do women keep all their shoeboxes?" He asked, out loud.

I chuckled. "I would sooner try to solve the mysteries of every Precursor artifact ever found, than try and figure out a woman's logic, Shepherd." I then glanced back at Snow. "No offense, love."

"It's fine." She said. "It's because after true love there is no more powerful magic than footwear. It must be protected."

"Of course." I muttered, opening a trunk at the end of the bed and looking through.

"Any sign of the book?" Emma asked.

"No. I don't think it's here." David said.

"You don't know that." Snow called from the closet.

Emma came out with another box. "Maybe it's in this thing."

As she opened it, Zar got up from the box he was working on to come over and help.

Emma opened the box and rummaged through the contents. "Ah. Some winter coats, some scarves." She sighed. "The book is not in here."

"Isn't this thing magic?" Zar asked. "It's possible it's just going to appear out of thin air like a myth."

Emma shook her head. "I don't know, Zar." She said, sitting down on the bed.

Snow looked over at the box. "Here, let me check." She said, reaching over to the box. Emma looked doubtfully as she saw her mother rustle through the clothes, but neither she, not I could understand it. The book suddenly fell out of the inside of a tweed jacket and landed in the box.

"How the fuck…?" I began.

Snow picked it up, gazing at the title with wide eyes. Once Upon a Time.

"I…don't understand." Emma said, confused.

"Can I see that?" Regina asked, reaching her hand out. Without words, Snow handed the book to her. "I know there are chapters on Oz in here. I want to know whose heart Zelena crushed to enact this Curse. Because if there's something she loved, then that's her weakness."

I looked back at Regina with slight horror as she walked out of the room. When Zar noticed me, he waved to David.

"We're gonna head back to Cormac's." He said. "If you need us, just call."

David nodded, going after Regina.

As we walked down the stairs and out towards the lobby door, Zar stopped point blank and looked back at me.

"Something you not telling me?"

I shrugged one shoulder, taking a cigarette out as I kept walking. "There's plenty I'm not telling anyone here, Zar. A lot of it's personal stuff, but what you mean is what Regina said back there."

"She said she wanted to use Zelena's love for something against her as her weakness. You reacted like you heard something like that before."

"Aye." I replied. "I did. Or rather, my grandfather Norik did."

"Norik of Yurness? What did he have to do with Regina?"

"Nothing. It was her mother, Cora that Norik was involved with. What do you know about Cora?" I wanted to test his knowledge of that ruthless Templar.

"Uh…" Zar thought hard, squinting his eyes, trying to remember his history lessons with Matthew. "She took the reins of Grand Master of the Templar Order in the Enchanted Forest a year after the assassination of King Xavier, where she threw the Order into a state of fear as their ruler. Not long before Regina became Grand Master, she disappeared for a while before showing back up as the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland. We've never really had a solid branch there, so we never bothered to go after her."

"Right." I replied, opening the door as we stepped outside into the crisp, early spring air. "But there's more to it than that." I took a drag off my cigarette. "I was actually asking what the earliest recording of her in our war was."

"Didn't I say that?"

"No, but you have no way to know the truth because Norik never told anyone what happened that caused Cora to become a Templar, and the worst part is that she blamed him for it."

"What? Why?"

"They were friends, a long time ago. Norik had met her while he spent almost two years of his life tracking down his fiancé's father's murderers. When she was wronged by two different people, Norik took pity on her and killed one of them. But she wasn't satisfied with just one of them, and wanted the other one killed as well. That one was the then-Princess Ava of the Northern Kingdom."

"Wait, Snow's mother?!"

"Indeed. Shocked me to say the least when I saw what she once was. That day that Regina's spell brought Cora's spirit back from the dead, she transferred most of Norik's memories of those 2 years into my mind. I remember things I shouldn't, and a lot of it was pain for that woman and the corruption that touched and rotted her to the core."

Zar shook his head. "I don't even know where to begin from all you've told me, but I think we got other stuff to take care of. C'mon. Let's at least see if any of the sensors picked up another lab."

I pulled the truck up close to the curb and shut the engine off. Zar and I got out of the truck and he pointed.

"There! That house right there."

He was pointing to the beige house a few doors down. I followed close behind as he crossed the road.

"How is it that we were even able to set up these sensors in the first place on other people's houses? Surely, someone would have noticed us setting them up here."

"Not really. This is Geoff's home. We've done some work into moving our own homes around Storybrooke so that we have as much tactical coverage as possible. Of course, Geoff didn't mind that the sensors be put up. Most of the others think Project Boden is just a pet project for Jason and me. All that matters to most of us is that we're protected enough to take down Zelena and Ingrid. Since he hasn't really done much in the last year, no one really gives a second thought on George."

Zar and I walked down the alleyway behind Geoff's house. As we vaulted over his fence I spotted a white van from Cormac's pass by.

"We're on the edge now that Zelena is starting to squeeze Storybrooke harder for the Charmings' baby. More troop patrols about town and everything." He said as he started climbing the drainpipe. "Let's just hope that that baby is coming a lot later than we think. I don't think we have any way to kill Zelena yet."

When he was up onto the roof, I quickly climbed up right behind him. I hated irony like this. Zar just mentioned how we had no way to kill Zelena, and I had been holding the Bullets for so long.

The Bullets of Eden were not exactly what you'd expect out of a Piece of Eden. While most are treasured artifacts that only a handful of exist, the Bullets are a lot different. They can be made with a combination of standard metals that bullets are made out of, and the energies that release out of a number of Pieces. I learned how to forge them long ago whenI grabbed an Apple I had been searching for while Snow and Charming fought their war against Regina.

The Bullets are the one thing that I needed the most in this fight as a last resort. They cannot be stopped once they are shot out of whatever gun fired them. No magic can freeze them in midair, protect oneself from the shot, or even destroy it before it hits them. The Dark One can die from the wounds from a Bullet, but I didn't entirely want to use them on the people I planned to kill. When I finally would have each of those devils in my hands, I would make it nice and slow so that they could suffer as I have.

Still, the others had their plans for how they wanted to take on Zelena and Ingrid. But I had a different one. And if I wanted to have my own agenda fulfilled, I needed to start trusting people who could support me. Zar might be a start.

"We could try and kill her, Zar." I said. "But she's not what's stopping us entirely. Even if we wanted to, I doubt anyone else in this town would ever trust us again."

"Well, that'll be their problem, not ours. We can't really say that we're the good guys here, but what we do is for the betterment of everyone else considering who we fight are even worse than us."

"See, that's what I always knew." I said. "Ever since Anna and Elsa were killed, I know now that there's no more room for mercy to those that wish harm on us. It's more than just kill or be killed. It's burn them or suffer. You understand, right?"

Zar took hold of the sensor's box and inserted his key into the lock. "I understand- yes!" He interrupted himself and pulled out another paper with random numbers and letters all over it. "Another lab to find." He folded the paper up and put it into his backpack. "I understand that we need to be better people even if that means doing what most others of our conviction will not. It's what being an Assassin means. Many hate us, including those that we seek to protect for the sole purpose of ensuring their freedom, but still we fight to stop the Templars, and even people like Zelena and Ingrid."

"So if I was given the chance to kill either of them, you wouldn't stop me?"

Zar looked at me, puzzled. "No, Asgeir. There's a lot that we all have gone through over the past decades ever since Arendelle was thrown back into it's frozen ruin. Matthew has lost his faith in you, but that is his problem. You were the one who found me as a lowly pickpocket on the streets and you brought me back to Arendelle. Jason and I still believe in you, and so do Ashley and Ruby. I trust you still where everyone else who voted against you do not."

I replied by pulling my satchel off and opening it up. I dug down to the bottom of it until I found the bundle. I then placed it into Zar's hands and pointed at it.

"You trust me. So then I feel that you should know about these things."

Zar unwrapped the bundle and looked at the pile of them. I forged at least eighteen Bullets in the last thirty years and had only used two. These were what remained.

"What are they? Pieces of Eden?"

"Of a kind. These are bullets charged with the energies of a Piece. They can kill anything regardless of the protection of magic that surrounds a soul."

"What, like the Dark One?"

"Anything. Any being mortal or immortal can be killed by these Bullets. There is no way to truly stop them."

"So these are a way how we can kill Zelena?"

I nodded. "This is one way, but I think of them as a last resort."

His eyes lit up in somewhat horrified understanding. "You don't want to just kill those who we are targeting. You want to break them."

I scowled, although more at the fact and not at Zar. "They have all done things worse to me than killing me. Zelena had Rory turned into a monkey, and even though I had just met him, I never got the chance to truly make a warrior as brave as him my brother. Rumplestiltskin took away Anna's innocence and laughed when he did it. And he did it all so he could open a goddamn door. And Ingrid…"

Zar was about to say something, when we heard a loud shriek. We both looked up to see three flying monkeys dive bombing the roof.

"Go!" I called out. "Get the truck! I'll hold them off!"

Zar gave a quick nod and leapt off the roof of the house, doing a slow front flip as I heard the familiar screech of an eagle. The air also filled with the screeches of the monkeys as they repeatedly swooped down and tried to claw at me. It was useless to try to kill me, but even some things like those monkeys still frightened me. The biggest thought that filled me with the sense of dread was wondering if Rory was one of those monkeys, or if he was even still alive.

Shay was sitting on one of the roof's vents. "Hey, I just thought of somethin'! Maybe you shoot and kill one of them, and they turn out to be Rory! Yet another one's blood on your hands, and this one would be an Irishman's, no less!"

I drew my swords and kept swiping at the monkeys just enough to keep them from diving at me again. After a couple swipes they gave up and began to hover around the house in a circle. I looked angrily up at all of them, daring them to try and attack me once again.

"C'mon, you feathered Kongs! I'll slice you up like a banana if you try and kill me again!"

I heard the screech of tires in the street below and the honking of the truck's horn.

"Ta ta!" I called out, and ran for the edge of the house. As I jumped off the roof I turned to face the sky, pulled out my revolver and unloaded towards them as I fell into the back of the truck's cargo bed. Keeping what Shay had said in mind, I only shot towards them, but not at them.

Falling point blank on the truck's bed did hurt; I won't lie. But I was more focused on the monkeys as they slashed through the air with us flying down the streets. As we turned off the residential road and onto the street leading into the center of town, I saw two vans pull up beside us. Keif was driving one of them.

"Those bastards are coming from all over!" He called out as the back of his van opened and I saw bullets whiz out. His load of troops were trying to keep them at bay.

"What do you reckon we do?!" I called out.

"I saw a bunch of them heading for the shipyard! Something is there that Zelena desperately wants!" The Assassin in the shotgun seat called out as Zar took a sharp left turn. Sending us into a drift, us and the other vans followed behind as Zar called out.

"Then that's where we're headed!" He said as we sped past Granny's Diner.

As the truck screeched to a halt just outside the boathouse, the two vans opened up and six Assassins from each van poured out with their hoods raised and rifles raised.

"Go, go, go!" Keif called as he got out with his shotgun drawn.

I jumped out of the truck's canopy as Zar got out. Keif then pulled out an M4 from the van's cab and passed it to me.

"Let's get her." He said, determinedly.

I nodded, pulling back on the lever. "Zar, stay here and wait for backup. Jason and a couple others should be on their way."

He gave me the thumbs up as I saw the yellow bug pulling up along with David's pickup. Him, Emma, Regina and Snow got out of their cars.

"I said no guns!" Emma snarled at me.

"Arrest us later, Savior!" Keif shot back. "We have a Witch to take down, and no one's stopping us!" He headed in with Emma right behind.

I groaned and sprinted in beside Regina and David. As we headed through the boathouse, I saw Hnery crawling away from a winged monkey that was lunging for him. Emma pulled out her own handgun and shot it point blank, the monkey dissolving into ashes. Another jumped for the boy, but David tossed his sword right at it.

Regina summoned a fireball into her hand. "I never liked pets." She sneered, throwing the fireball at another monkey.

The whole boathouse seemed to be swarming with them. I pointed at several of them as a couple Assassins came up behind me.

"Incoming! Fire!" I called out.

The monkey was down in seconds and was left to ashes. After he was done we coordinated fire at every one that flew right in from the open end of the boathouse. When the rest were gone, Emma ran for her son.

"Henry!" She said. "Are you okay?"

Her son got up, looking more confused than relieved. "Yeah! Y- what were those things?!" He exclaimed. He looked at David and then us. "And why does he have a sword? And them, guns?"

Emma placed a hand on her son's shoulder as she took the book out. "It's all gonna make sense in a minute, I promise."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry I was keeping secrets from you. You were right." She handed the book to him. "You deserve to know the truth."

Henry looked down at the book with even more confusion. "About fairy tales?" He said with a hint of mocking. "I don't understand."

Emma looked at her son, uneasily. "Do you trust me?"

Henry looked back up at her, and then nodded. "Yes, of course I do."

"Then I need you to believe."

"Believe in what?" Henry said, his belief just about to return.

"Believe in magic."

She held out the book for him, but Henry was still so confused, he was practically laughing. "From a book?!"

"It's more than just a book. Do you believe in me?" She asked.

Henry looked solemnly at his mother for a few seconds before saying "Yes".

He took the book, and suddenly, he looked up, his eyes lighting up with a familiar pulse of magic rushing through the air. The rush of memories going back into his head.

He looked up at Emma, then Regina. "Mom!" He cried. "I remember!"

Regina smiled as she ran for her son and embraced him. As he cried over and over how his memories had come back, Regina let go of him and looked to Emma.

"Do it, Emma." She said. "Break the curse."

Emma nodded and took Henry. She was about to kiss him, but suddenly he vanished.

"So sorry to interrupt."

I drew the rifle and advanced forwards, aiming it at Zelena, who stood before us, with Henry in her grasp.

"Now, who wants to say goodbye first?"

"Let the kid go, Zelena!" I snapped.

"Who are you?!" Henry exclaimed at her.

She smiled, evilly. "You can call me Auntie Zelena."

Regina gnashed her teeth. "Enough of this!" She said, raising her hands.

Zelena only pushed her hand forwards, tossing Regina back.

"Assassins! With me!" I called out.

"No! Don't shoot!" Emma exclaimed. "Let him go! He had nothing to do with this."

"Don't blame me." Zelena replied. "The Captain failed me."

Wait excuse me?

"Damn you, Zelena." He growled.

"Hook what's he talking about?" Emma questioned.

"He knew the price of that of that failure was: your son's life!" She held onto Henry's throat tightly as I started forwards slowly.

"Don't think I won't take the shot, Zelena!" I snapped.

"I know you won't, Assassin!" She shot back. "If you shoot, Henry dies. 'Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent!'"

"And I did! I stayed my blade from the flesh of an innocent!" A voice from long ago said. It terrified me in that moment. Was I about to make the decision that would turn me down the same path Ryan took?

I saw Shay suddenly appear beside her. "Uh oh! Henry's in trouble and the solution is right in front of you! Decisions, decisions! You can shoot both of them now and end Zelena's tyranny, forever branded a traitor to the Creed and yer hood stripped away, or yah can lower the rifle and let someone off yer list go, betrayin' everythin' that yah swore in memory of yer sisters!"

Emma didn't give me a chance to make the choice. She summoned her magic and cast down a ray of light, forcing Zelena to let go of him. She screeched as the light burned her grip on him. As soon as she let go of him, Henry ran for his mother. Then I open fired. Zelena deflected every shot and even sent one right back into my shin. I gasped as I fell to the ground.

"NO!" She screamed. "Enjoy this moment together! Because you don't have many left!"

The bitch waved her hand and vanished in green smoke.

"DAMMIT!" I yelled. "Let me at her!" I ran for where she was, even though I knew that she was long gone.

Jason came running up behind me. He grabbed me on the shoulder "Don't Asgeir. You'll get your chance on her later."

I noticed Henry down on Regina, trying to wake her. "Mom! Mom! Please! Wake up! Mom!"

She started to stir before getting up and smiling at her boy. "Henry!" She whispered. She got up and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Henry!"

I saw something that I was astounded to see. Regina, the Evil Queen herself, hugging a young boy with true happiness. I never thought I'd live to see such a day. Never, and yet there it was right before me as clear as ice.

She pulled away and placed her hands on his cheeks. "I will never let you go away again." She promised, smiling. "I love you, Henry."

She pulled in and kissed his brow. I didn't feel the whole effects of it, but there was no mistaking the pulse of more memories flooding back into the cursed heads of everyone that lived here. The Second Curse was broken. The rest of them looked around and rejoiced as their memories returned.

I understood as Emma said it. "It wasn't me. It was you!" She said to Regina.

She looked at her parents. "Mary Margaret! David! Did it work? Do you remember the missing year?"

Snow nodded. "Yes. Everything."

"How did Zelena cast the Curse?" She asked.

Snow shook her head. "She didn't, Emma. We did."

Another thing I never thought I'd see the day of: Snow and David casting such a spell with such a high price.

"Wait, hold on." I said. "You cursed yourselves?"

"Zelena's weakness is light magic." Snow explained. "I mean, it's clear now, more than ever, you are the only one who can defeat her."

"It's why we paid the price of Regina's curse." David said. "To find you."

Emma looked uncertainly at her parents. "The price of the curse is the heart of the thing you love most. If one of you cast it… how are you both still here?"

On that thought, I focused and my Sight kicked in. I saw David and Mary Margaret, but their hearts looked strange. They looked smaller than most. And the shape of them looked broken. Almost as if….

"One of them broke their heart in half!" I exclaimed. "Amazing!"

I slammed my foot onto the ground in surprise. I never knew such a thing could be done and yet here they stood, two people with half a heart each, still alive and kicking.

Jason and I started back to the vans as Zar was passing the paper to one of the Assassins.

"Take this back to the Bunker, Torren." He said. "I'll see you there." He looked up at us. "What the hell happened in there? I'm waiting outside for backup and now we got our memories back?"

"Regina broke the Curse." Jason said. "We know now what it'll take to defeat Zelena. It's Emma."

"Well, of bloody course it is." I said as I handed Keif the rifle back. He got into his van along with the other Assassins getting ready to head back out onto patrols.

"So what's the plan now?" Zar asked.

"Zelena's made her biggest move in the last few weeks by threatening the boy. That doesn't happen again, not on our watch." Jason said. "We need every one of us focused on taking her down as soon as possible. I'm headed back to Cormac's to regroup with the rest of us. This ends soon enough, one way or another."

Jason called over to Keif. "I'm headed back to the Bunker." He said as he climbed into the van. Keif nodded as he started the engine and backed away, then turning back onto the road and heading back towards town.

"Asgeir?"

I looked behind me. The boy, Henry was looking up at me, almost as if he was meeting a personal hero of his.

"Henry, right?" I asked. "A pleasure." I held out my hand for him to shake.

Henry took it with amazement. "It's an honor. You're an amazing warrior."

Regina came up behind him with a small smirk. "I figured he would want to talk to you when he got his memories back." She said.

"What the hell does he mean?" I asked, confused. "How does he know me; am I in that book of his?"

Henry grinned, dumbstruck as he took out his book. He opened it and turned to page 272 in the book, then handing it to me.

The painting of the book was very well done as it captured just how the Templars saw me. It was a picture looking up towards the night sky in the woods from the point of view of a fire pit surrounded by Black Knights. They were looking up at the sky in fear of what was lunging down at them. White hooded and furious, with half of my face looking normal, and the other half, the shadows making my face look like a skull, I had my blade extended as I was jumping down on them.

"The book made you out to be a villain, Asgeir." Henry said. "But you always seemed to be a good person in my eyes. Mom didn't really see it like that."

I looked up from the book. "Go figure."

Regina smirked. "If there was any story I didn't want my son reading aside from Emma's it was yours, Asgeir."

I looked back down to read what was on this one page. As I read, there was little wonder why she wouldn't want her son to read this.

"They say that he came from a faraway kingdom across the sea." One of the Black Knights said to his companions as they warmed themselves by their fire.

"Ah, there's plenty they say about him, and half of it is all a load of sod. Last week Maurice was saying that he is the god Hades in human form, and we all know how superstitious that idiot is." Another said. "The point is that he is a savage that has spent the last few years slashing his way towards our fair Queen with his blades. He is a traitor to the Crown if he is protecting Snow White."

None of the Black Knights could bother to even notice that the White Reaper of Arendelle, Asgeir Swortssen was perched above them on the large boulder they were using for shelter for their campsite. He breathed slowly as he prepared himself for what came, and then extended his blade.

"LAAAADE!" He cried in his kingdom's native language as he fell on top of the Black Knight bringing his blade down on his throat. The other Knights went for their swords, but the Reaper only stood up and flicked both his wrists in their directions, the blades shooting out of his bracers on their ropes, and into one's throat, and the other's leg. The one who was hit in the neck died almost instantly, choking on his blood as the Assassin retracted his blade, but the other one knelt down into the dirt as his attacker approached.

"Where is Regina?" He snarled under his hood as he held a pistol to his face. "Tell me where she is!"

"You want information? Go talk to one of your scouts!"

"Try again!" He replied as he shoved the gun into his eye socket.

"No, wait! She's moving North on Snow White's camp! She's throwing all her strength at taking her down!"

"Thank you!" The Reaper smiled as he pulled the trigger.

I closed the book after reading one page. Whoever wrote this clearly didn't think highly of me, even if all of this was true on what I did, showing how ruthless and savage I had become whilst fighting Regina.

"Are you sure that it's me that you show admiration for, Henry?" I asked. "All that is true in that book."

"I know." He replied. "But you're friends with David and Snow. You must have had a good reason why you did those things. Where did you come from, anyways? The book only started mentioning you around the time you met Red Riding Hood."

"I came from a kingdom called A…" I began. I stopped and then shook my head at the boy. "It doesn't matter anymore, Henry. Where I come from is a kingdom that has been dead for a long time."

"Oh." Henry said simply, getting the message.

Zar flipped up the door of the back of my pickup. "Alright, Asgeir. What's next?"

"All the teams are regrouping at Cormac's as we speak, which means that Snow and David are unprotected." I glanced at Henry. "Mind if we tag along, boy?"

Henry grinned. "Awesome!"

"What's awesome?"

Emma was just walking up to her son. She gave him a small hug as he explained.

"Asgeir and Zar are wanting to help protect us against the Witch."

Emma frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Emma, you're going to need some level of help." Zar said. "All the rest of us are regrouping at the pub and you need someone to cover you."

"Zar." I said. "Allow me." I gestured for Emma and I to step aside and we walked back into the boathouse where no one else was.

"What is with you, Asgeir?" She asked with a mix of anger and concern. "I've had more than my fair share of trying to take down Cormac's gun running business for the last two years because of their unethical methods and vigilante justice. Then I hear that you come into town because you are apparently meant to help out. Since then you've withheld information that could have saved Neil's life, blown up Zelena farmhouse, and whatever else that gave the Assassins reason to kick you out of their circle."

"Nothing you've said isn't true, Swan." I replied. "But here's one thing you don't know about me." I took out my lighter and pack of cigarettes. "This may be personal for you, but not as much as it is for me. I've seen too much shit go down where the ones who make the real sacrifices end up getting stepped on like an ant. I saw what it was like for Cora when she was a Miller's Daughter, and much more in the eyes of one of the worst Templars in history. But nothing compares to what I have felt. Your love died in your arms, but my whole family was slaughtered in front of me, and I have to live with the guilt that they are all dead because I hesitated. Zelena didn't do it, but she did turn an Assassin who I am proud to have known into one of her flying monkeys. To chain an Assassin up is one of the worst things that a person can do to an Assassin, and I want to hurt her for it. You need to understand that. I'm not someone who came here to fix your mess. All I am left is a cursed man with nothing left to live for except the memory of his dead family, and the burning will for vengeance. Don't try to support it, but at least accept it. I need this."

I lit a cigarette and took a long drag. Emma had been watching me and appeared to listen. She took a few seconds, and then spoke up. "Your brotherhood is made up of a bunch of outlaws and criminals. Laws and rules don't mean anything to the Assassins in the little time that I have known about them. But if you let me do what should be done about Zelena in the right way, then I will at least accept some degree of justice for you. The condition is that you start thinking before shooting."

"Agreed. Now, about keeping your parents safe…"

Henry wanted to visit Neil's grave, as it was the first time he would have seen it since recovering his memories, knowing Neil for the brave man that he was. Zar and I stood by my truck in the parking lot as he gave his moment of respect to his dead father.

"Hey." I said to Zar as we sat in the bed. "You were gonna say something to me before the monkeys crashed the party. What were you saying?"

"Oh right!" Zar laughed a bit before going back to serious. "You're right about Ingrid, Asgeir. She has done things that no Assassin should, or in your case, could ever forgive. She's worse than any Templar any of us have faced before because… well, she's…"

"Lost her fucking mind." I finished.

"Right." He chuckled a little more. "I don't think you hate Zelena as much as you think now, Asgeir. You're angrier at the fact how you're so close to the one who killed Anna and Elsa, and you can't even touch her yet. It kills you how much you've waited for this chance for vengeance, waiting a few more weeks would be ironically even harder than waiting for the last thirty years. But here's the thing: Us Assassins, we don't kill people because we want to. All these people that we hunt and kill, we do it to protect them." He pointed to Snow, David, Emma and Henry. "You tell me that Cora fused Norik's memories into your head? Then you know something that all of us know about your grandfather. Every Assassin in Arendelle who ever bothered to hit the books knows that he spent two whole years hunting down Xavier because he killed his future father in law, Winch. He eventually decided that he was killing him not to satisfy his personal bloodlust, but because he had seen too much injustice from his hands, and needed to stop him in the same way that a wound needs to be cleaned from infection. When your chance finally comes, and you are given the chance to finally kill Ingrid, don't do it because she killed your family. Do it because she killed two innocent girls, two brave Assassins, and her own sister. That's five too many souls lost by her hands."

I shook my head, looking down at the blades on my wrists. That evil bitch noticed her niece and nephew asking questions about why she suddenly came up from out of the blue, and to her that meant that they needed to be punished. I was cursed because I tried to protect them. All I was doing was what anyone would do to protect their family, and look where it got me. Soon enough there would be another war after Zelena would be done. One where chaos would rage through this town, and the whole of it would be covered in ice and snow with one monster being faced down by a small army of warriors in white hoodies.

"Winter is Coming…" I murmured.

"Yes it is." Zar said.

Suddenly, we heard a cry out. We both looked up and saw Snow. She was keeling over with the pain that we were hoping wasn't coming today. Zar and I jumped out of the bed of the truck.

"Is that what I think it is?" I called out as we ran for her. Emma and Henry started helping her towards the truck.

"Yep!" She gasped. "It's the baby! It's coming!"

Zar glanced at me. "Scratch that. Winter's come early!"