Chapter 28: There's No Place Like Home

A/N: Well, here we are. The end of Season 3. This was a great 2 hour episode when I first saw it, and I think that it was a good part for me to include Asgeir in for Season 3.5. Now comes the big battle. And as I said, with me working on the short Frye Twins fic, I won't be working on Faith for a while. I promise I will come back to it by New Year's or sooner, but I want to get this fic done by the end of the holidays. The reason is this: Some of my favorite stories about Victorian England take place close to Christmas, and my favourite Christmas story, A Christmas Carol takes place around that time. So, using elements in the fic I never finished with Asgeir around Christmas last year, I will be doing a special Christmas fic featuring the twins after they have taken down Crawford Starrick. First chapter should be coming soon! And as a bonus, there is a special epilogue chapter I wrote a few weeks ago right after this to set up what will happen next Sequence. Shay will become a POV character!

"Stealing from a prince?" I said. "Shame on you, Snow. You should know better than to do that. Especially with Regina tearing this kingdom apart for you."

"It's what I need to do to get out of this kingdom, Asgeir. The pirate that has offered to smuggle me out of here wants this ring."

I had been hunting that afternoon when Snow had found me and given me the offer. There was a Prince close by that had a special ring, and that was the price for a one-way ticket out of this place.

"You're a skilled thief." I said. "Why do you need my help?"

"The Prince is currently staying at his future father in-law's summer palace. I need someone to watch my back, because the walls are said to be near impregnable."

I still wasn't convinced. "But you told me that you don't believe in killing people. If I were to go with you, I can't guarantee I'll take anyone alive."

Snow sighed. "I know, Asgeir. But you're the only one that I know that can get in and out of a castle like that. Please."

I sheathed my sword. I had it drawn when she caught me by surprise a few minutes ago. "Alright. But if I am about to kill anyone, you don't stop me."

"Fine."

"Now, who is it that we are robbing?"

"Prince James. He's currently at King Midas' summer palace."

I gulped. She meant David, my old friend. "Alright then." I said, smiling. "Let's get to it."

We had reached the castle by nightfall. It amazed me how gold the castle was as Snow shot her grappling rope up onto the wall, and I climbed up with my Rope Blades. When we reached the top, we headed for the door into the castle. I heard voices in the courtyard below as Snow explained.

"Prince James and Princess Abigail are having a ball to celebrate their engagement." She said. "It makes it easier for us to get the ring with most of the guards near the ballroom."

"Still need to be careful." I replied.

There were no guards by the time we got to the bedchambers. As Snow went for the trunk to start looking through for the ring, I shot my Rope Blade and climbed up into the rafters.

"I'll keep watch from above, Snow. If someone does come, they won't expect me to drop down from indoors."

"Sounds good." She replied. "I'll have that ring before we know it."

She started tossing various objects from the trunk as she rooted through it. This was wrong, as I knew very well. Stealing from the only inside man we had left with the Templars. But as long as David never saw my face here, he would have no reason to blame me for the theft.

Snow finally grabbed a small leather pouch from the trunk, and opened it. She pulled out the ring, a small gold engagement one with an emerald, or peridot. Could never truly understand the difference.

"My ticket to freedom." She breathed as she looked at it.

She spoke too soon. The door opened and I saw David walk in right below me. He eyed Snow, and took a step forwards.

"Who are you?" He questioned.

Snow jumped and rushed for the window.

"Stop, thief!"

He tackled her and pinned her to the ground while I remained hidden up above. It was all about timing here, and this was not the right time. She could take him.

I assumed right. David turned her over to face him, and was stunned.

"You're a…girl!" He exclaimed.

Snow grinned. "Woman." She corrected as she grabbed a small jewelry box close by and smacked him in the chin with it. She got up and opened the window as David groaned.

"James what is taking you so long!" I heard a whiny voice cry out.

I smirked. Now I could do something I had been asked to do months ago. Scare someone from this marriage.

Snow looked back at Abigail when she was in the doorway, and smiled.

"You're…Snow White!" She cried.

I dropped down from above and stood right in front of her, my hood hiding my face under it's shadow.

"You really should be more worried 'bout me, little birdie!" I said in my best gravelly London accent.

Abigail screamed when she realized who I was. She started to run, but she didn't get far. She had made it just outside the tower onto the wall when I caught her.

I grabbed her by the neck and started pulling her to the edge of the wall.

"Please! Don't do this, Reaper! My father can pay! He can turn anything to gold! You know my father!"

I laughed. "You think I care 'bout gold?!" I sneered, still in my fake voice. Best to have my surviving victims think that the White Reaper had a different accent than my real one. "No, I don't. You fucking royals 'ave enough of it already. I'd prefer it if you did a little favor for me instead."

I pushed her onto the half wall, dangling over the edge of the castle walls.

Abigail whimpered. As if I was actually going to do it.

"You're going to say some things to your father. This match between you and ol' Prince Jimbo is attracting you some unwanted attention from people like me! You're going to call it off and say that it wasn't going to work despite everything and there should be no 'ard feelings for King George and Jimmy. And then you're going to show Georgie this symbol." I pointed to the insignia on one of the buckles on my hood. Then for good measure, I extended my blade, just barely brushing up against Abigail's nose to make it clear what she would get if she didn't.

She got the message. She cried and squirmed.

"Please don't kill me! I'll do as you ask! Please! I will do it!" She kept whining and whining.

I rolled my eyes and put both my hands on the collar of her dress. "Oh, shut up." I said, finally. I slammed my head right into her nose, knocking her out.

As she fell to the ground, unconscious, I looked down into the woods below. Snow had made her escape, and was riding away. I gave a quick wave as she rode away, but a sharp pain in my back cut me off.

"I have the Reaper! HE'S MURDERED THE PRINCESS" A guard behind me yelled. He had stabbed me in the back. "HE'S OVER HERE!"

I groaned and kicked backwards, hitting the guard in the chest. I spun around and extended my blades.

"You murdered our fair princess, Assassin!" He said, seeing how bloody Abigail's face was.

"She's unconscious. Can't say the same for you, twenty seconds from now."

The guard desperately tried to stop me as I grabbed him by the neck and brought my blade close to his throat.

"Drop your weapons, Assassin!"

I looked over to my sides. King Midas and his guards were walking towards me with their crossbows out on my left, and further more guards on my right.

"What do we do with him, Your Majesty?" The guard to his side asked.

"You take him to the dungeons!" He snarled. "He will pay for assaulting my daughter!"

I still held the guard at my throat, but then I realized someone else I could threaten Midas with. I went for his daughter.

"No!" He cried.

I hoisted Abigail's unconscious body up and held her in front of me with my blade to her neck. Yes, I was bluffing, but he didn't know that. "You'll let me go, Your Majesty!" I cried out in my gravelly voice. "Or I'll reap what you admit you love more than all your precious gold!"

Midas held his hands up. "Easy, Assassin!" He murmured as he tried approaching us. "Easy. What do you want from me other than your freedom?"

"This match between your daughter and Prince James is attracting people like me. Call it off or I'll come back to finish the job!"

"Be quiet, Assassin!"

I suddenly felt like my hands were being tied together by invisible rope as I started floating in the air. When the force holding me up turned me around, I saw what held me.

"The Evil Queen Regina!" I gasped. "A pleasure."

She chuckled as she walked towards me from among the guards, her hand raised to my throat. "Not as much as it is for me. King George told me himself that he killed you months ago. Simply incredible how you could come back from being burned alive and tossed into the lake. Are you some wraith in human form?"

I was going dizzy from the pressure on my neck. "No." I wheezed. "I'm the thing that wraiths check under their bed for when they go to sleep."

I fell to the ground, completely gone.

"-saw it myself! My son stabbed him in the back, then we burned his body and tossed what remained into the lake!"

I couldn't move or talk. I was in another iron maiden like the one Ingrid had me welded into, except the only opening it had was one for my eyes. They had me lying on the ground, or a wagon as King George and Regina looked down on me.

"Clearly you didn't do a good enough job if he's alive enough to attack Midas' daughter! Guards! Take him to the castle! He dies tomorrow."

It was a long journey to Regina's castle. I couldn't see anything aside from the sky as I was wheeled through the woods on the trip over.

When I first saw the indoors, it looked to be the dirty and rusted ceiling of a dungeon. They wheeled me into a cell, then two big guards lifted me and hung me upside down on a chain, just like the last time. I could only see out the front of the cell, but I could hear voices. One I recognized from long ago, and the other I had no idea.

"What's that?" I heard the first say.

"It's my parents'" the other whispered.

"And they entrusted you with it?"

There was no doubt in my mind now. The voice I knew belonged to Marian, Robin's wife. A fair maid to the court she lived with, but just a deadly fighter as her husband. She recently had had her first child with him as well. Little boy by the name of Roland. But if I was hearing her voice, it meant that perhaps Regina had caught wind of her affiliation with the Assassins and had her thrown here to punish her husband.

"Sort of." The other woman replied. "I need to get it back to them."

"Being away from family is a terrible, terrible thing." Marian said.

"Yeah it is."

"The longer I'm separated from them, the pain doesn't dull. It worsens. Maybe, cause I know I'll never see them again."

The blood seemed to rush to my head even faster in my anger. Marian was now in the same boat I was, except she was the one who was going to die. I knew I'd never see either Elsa or Anna ever again, but I would not let any Templar sorceress stop me from taking down that freak, Ingrid.

"If my mom was here, she would tell me to have hope. Maybe you should, too." The woman said. "Who knows? Maybe you will end up with them again."

I still could only see right in front of me, but I was hearing the voice ever so faintly to my left. The iron maiden was keeping a lot of noise from outside it getting in, but I could still just barely make out the voices.

"I don't think so." Marian replied. "I'm fairly certain they already thing I'm dead. And soon, that'll be true."

For both of them, not me. Regina could try for as much as she could to kill me, but it would never work. All anyone could really kill that was left of me was my spirit, and that was still going strong.

"Maybe not. Give me your spoon." I heard the woman say.

Her spoon?

"What are you doing?"

"It's all about the tumblers…" She replied.

Tumblers? That was a pretty modern term to describe the workings of a door lock. Unless…

I heard a click and swinging of the cell door. Whoever this woman was, she had opened the door.

"You did it!" I heard Marian cry, happily.

A moment passed, and Marian was becoming worried. "What are you waiting for? Go! Get out of here! Go!"

I heard more clicking, and another cell door opened. The woman was getting Marian out of the cell.

As they ran out of their cells, I tried calling out for them. I swung the maiden as much as I could, and Marian noticed me in the cell.

"Who's that?" The woman asked.

"I'm not sure. But he should be very dangerous if he's in a cell like that!"

She kneeled down to look at me closer. When she caught my eye, realization filled hers, and she turned to the woman.

"Please get him out of here! He may be considered one of the Enchanted Forest's most dangerous criminals alive, but he doesn't deserve what the Evil Queen will do to him!"

I could feel the woman nod as she opened the cell door with her lockpick. She walked over to the maiden and started to examine the chain.

"It's too thick. Nothing I have on me with open it."

"Swan?"

I heard a man's voice this time.

"Hook!"

"What the hell are you doing? You're depriving me of a dashing rescue!"

"Sorry." The 'Swan' woman replied. "The only one who saves me is me."

"What's going on here?" It was David's voice.

"We don't have something strong enough to break open the maiden or the chain." Marian said.

Suddenly, I heard a growl and a roar as something slammed right into the maiden. Whatever it was, it climbed up onto the top of it and clawed at the chain. The whole thing fell to the ground within seconds, and the maiden broke like almond brittle once the chain was gone.

I gasped as the shadow of a large dog suddenly forced itself into my face. It growled and snapped at me, before starting to lick my face.

I laughed. "Red! Enough!" I gasped. "Thanks!"

The man that I didn't know threw Red's hood over her, and she turned back into her human form. As I stood up, the blonde 'Swan' woman smiled.

"Asgeir!" She said,

I was confused "Sorry, lass." I replied. "Do I know you?"

"Oh, uh. No." She replied. "I'm Princess Leia."

I only chuckled. "Alright then." As I walked out of the cell, I whispered to her. "Bullshit."

I had seen the movie. It was clear to me from that alias that she was from the Land Without Magic.

"I'm not gonna be around much longer unless we find where this belongs to." She pulled a ring off of her finger. The ring that had ended up landing me here in the dungeon.

"I think that belongs to me!" David said, taking the ring away from Leia.

"You guys have a way out of here?"

"Follow me." Red replied. "Snow told me where to meet her."

Marian smiled at Leia as she passed her. 'Thank you, Leia." She said.

She and I both gave each other a look of what needed to happen. Despite her being broken out of prison, and safe from harms' way for now, I couldn't tell anyone who Marian was, especially with these two people I had no idea who they were, but seemed to know plenty about me and the others.

The six of us headed out of the dungeon and started through the winding hallways of Regina's fortress. As we reached an end that split the hallway going in opposite directions, the 'Hook' man looked down out the window."

"What is it?" Leia asked. "Did you find Snow?"

"I'm afraid so."

I ran over the window, and my breath caught in my lungs. "No!" I whispered.

Snow was being tied to a large stake in the courtyard above a pile of wood. Regina stood before her, no doubt smiling, despite her back towards the window.

"We have to get down there before it's too late!" Leia cried.

"I don't think we can." David replied.

I could see her down there. Snow wasn't crying or begging to be released. She just seemed to have accepted her fate and was preparing for what awaited her.

The memories came back to me. First my father, appearing to notice me on that hilltop as I saw everyone in the town square yell and jeer at him as his neck was brought to the chopping block and Agdar taking it off with his greatsword.

Elsa, refusing to kill Anna despite all the things she was saying, and what she was going to do. Remaining faithful where that monster who had tried to manipulate her had lost it. Being sucked into that urn for that.

And Anna, Troy, Rabbit and Kristoff. The last people I had standing beside me when Ingrid made her last move that would send her to the top of my list.

Now this. Snow, one of my closest friends ever since Arendelle froze. I could only watch in horror as Regina summoned a ball of fire in her hand, and sent it flying into the wood, burning Snow alive at the stake.

She had been just a regular Templar queen in my books before, but now she had been moved to the list.

Splinters flew as I slammed my sword against the tree for the thousandth time in the last fifteen minutes. All I could do was yell and cry and do my best to pretend the tree was Regina's neck. Red had gone off to howl at the moon for a while, and I knew Leia and her Prince Charles (yet another sign they were not from here. How did they even get here?) were sitting by the fire. David was tending to the wagon they had commandeered to help us escape with.

I slammed my cutlass into the tree so hard; I could seem to pull it out. I groaned angrily, and dropped my other one, and put both my hands around it to try and pry it out. As I did, I felt a tickling in my ear, and heard a buzzing. A bee, or some other bug. I batted my ear and felt it fly away, then went back to work on trying to get my sword out of the tree. As soon as I got it out, I heard David yell.

"Wait! Don't harm that thing!"

I ran back to the campfire as Red returned as well. David had noticed a ladybug that had landed on Leia's shoulder that Charles was just about to swat.

"When we were coming to rescue you, Snow told me what her dust would do to the Queen." David said as he approached Leia slowly to get the bug off her shoulder. "She said it would turn her into a form that could easily be squashed. A bug!" He plucked the ladybug off her shoulder and looked at it on her finger.

"You think Snow turned herself into that?" Leia said, doubtfully.

"How can you be sure, James?" I asked as well.

"If she timed it right, she could have escaped that fireball. Faked her death, and flown away." David said. "Asgeir knows a thing or two about that." He looked closer at the bug. "Yeah, that's her. Just need to find a way to bring her back."

We heard the ladybug buzz quite loudly.

"She's saying something." I realized.

"Wonderful." Charles sighed. "Anyone fluent in bug?"

"She's calling for me."

I turned my back at the voice. I could not even stand to look at the Blue Fairy ever since she had clipped Tink's wings. I could feel her float down, ignoring me and focusing on the others.

"Blue!" Leia exclaimed. Did she know her too?"

"That's right." She replied. "And you are?"

"Leia."

"No." She chuckled. "That's not it. But your secrets can be yours. I sense it's better that way."

"Yeah, no shit." I muttered.

"Can you bring Snow back?" Red asked.

"Dark magic did this to her." The Blue Fairy said. "Light magic can undo it."

Right! So easy! She has no problem with helping those she deems worthy of her bullshit rules. Makes total sense! She raised her wand and light rushed from it to the ladybug. The bug glowed and in an instant, turned back into Snow. David laughed in triumph as I grinned. Weirdly, Leia suddenly jumped over and hugged Snow.

"You're alive!" She cried.

Snow looked at her strangely, but then she pulled away.

"It would appear so." She replied, still shaken by that awkward exchange. "Thank you." She said.

"Snow!" Red cried as we came for her.

"Red!" She exclaimed as she hugged her friend. "I'm so glad to see you!" She noticed me. "And Asgeir! You're alive as well!"

"Don't ever ask for my help like that again, my old friend." I laughed as she hugged me. "Iron maidens are terribly uncomfortable."

The next morning, I was getting ready to head out.

"You sure you can't stay with me any longer?" Snow asked as Red and I were getting ready to head out. "Swords at our sides, the long road ahead."

"Gotta keep moving, Snow." I replied. "But I'll keep an eye on the cabin in case you ever fancy going back there."

"I'm not sure." She replied. "I might find another kingdom to hide in. You know of any place good?"

"Want somewhere warm? Try Corona." I replied. "Although I can't really go there. The brotherhood there doesn't think too highly of me."

"I'll consider there." She pulled me in for a hug. "Oh, I'll miss you, Asgeir. You're the closest thing I have to a brother."

"Aye." I replied. "That I am."

As I was about to leave, I realized I was missing something. "Ah, shit." I exclaimed. "Forgot my ammo pouch."

I walked back to camp alone as Snow headed down to the river to fill her canteen. I found my pouch on one of the logs, but as I was leaving, Leia stopped me.

"We need to talk, Asgeir."

"Aye, I think that we do." I replied. "You're not fooling me, love. I know you're from the Land Without Magic. Nice alias, by the way."

"How do you… never mind." She said. "I will just tell you as best I can. You don't know me, but you will. We're from the future."

"No kidding?" I replied. "How long it took for them to make a time machine?"

"No, it's not that." She said. "It's a spell. One that took us back in time to now. And you take the news well, I might add."

"If you had seen the things that I had seen, time travel would never shake you. And so I know you in the future?" I asked. "Don't tell me your real names for the sake of not fucking up the timeline."

"Agreed." She said. "But more on her." She pointed to Marian, who had her back turned to us. "She was supposed to die hours ago. I need you to not tell anyone she knows that she lived so that the timeline doesn't get messed up any further."

I shook my head. "I'm not saying no to that, lass. But I don't think it will be an easy fix. I'll look into trying to get a forgetting potion. Better I forget she lived than spend a lifetime lying to her family."

"Fine." She replied. "Just do what you can."

I tucked my pouch into my belt and gave Leia a quick nod. "You better find a way to get back to your time soon enough, lady. Else things might get screwed up even further."

"Don't worry. We have that taken care of." She replied. Then she looked at me strangely. "You know, you're different now. Something happened to you between now and when we met."

I raised my hood. "Whatever it is, telling me what it was will only make things worse."

"That's the thing: I don't know what." She said.

"Then it's best kept that way." I replied. "Uh, goodbye 'Princess Leia'. May the Force be you, I guess?"

Leia smiled. "Doesn't your order say 'Nothing is True'?"

That caught me off guard, but I only smiled. She and I must have been close friends one day if she knew of the Assassins. "'Everything is Permitted'." I replied, setting off into the woods for another day of fighting.

I think I was out for about two seconds, because almost as soon as I fell to the ground, I was awake again. Emma and Hook and their captive were suddenly flying out of the portal, which closed behind them, and I felt the memories connect there. They were Leia and Charles all along. And Marian. She was still alive! I could remember it all even after drinking a potion to forget it all!

"Oh god!." She groaned. "Hey, do me a favor. Fill her in. Make sure she doesn't freak out." She said to Hook.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I have some people I need to see!" She said. She grinned at Jason and me as she passed us. "Asgeir!"

"Princess Leia!" I shot back, grinning.

Jason looked at me strangely as Emma got into her car and drove away. "What's that about?"

I shook my head. "Ah, the Force works in mysterious ways." I only said. "I'll tell you later."

Hook hoisted Marian's unconscious body up over his shoulder. "Spre a ride back into town, mate?" He asked me.

I nodded my head to the pickup. "Throw her in the backseat and get in."

As Hook carried her past us, I heard a whispering; The whispers of my Sight. My first thoughts were Ingrid was close by, so I focused my Sight. I was alarmed when I noticed who was really glowing red: Marian. Something was different about her, and she still glowed red as Hook opened the door of the backseat to my pickup, and placed her inside before clambering in himself.

"Hey! Asgeir!" Jason said as he was walking for the truck. "Are you okay?"

"Uh…" I replied hesitantly. "I'm not sure." I said, mostly to myself as I climbed in.

When we got back to the diner, Emma was laughing and talking happily with her family. She was showing them the pages in the book that had been added due to her trip through time.

"A fairy tale princess at last!" She beamed.

Emma then grinned. "And as my first princessly request, I would like to know the name of the baby."

Oh, finally!

"Right, that." David smirked. He stood up and held his pint up. "Uh, excuse me! If I could have everyone's attention." He called, and everyone settled down. "This coronation ceremony is something we looked forward to for a very long time. The arrival of our son has been a cause of great joy for our family. And we hope you can share in it as we name him for a hero." David sighed, mist in his eyes. "Someone who saved… every one of us. We loved him and he loved us back."

I beamed as tears came to my eyes. Named for a brother, a friend, and an Assassin.

"People of Storybrooke…" Snow began. "It is our great joy to introduce you to our son, Prince…Neil."

Jason and I applauded along with the rest of the diner. Rory got up from his seat as I walked over, Jason heading back to talk with Zar and Matthew, who had gotten here while we were gone.

"It's so nice to meet you, Neil." Emma cooed to her new brother.

I could have sworn I saw the little baby wave in reply.

"Congratulations, you two." I said to the happy couple.

"Yes, indeed." Rory said. "May I say a prayer for the little prince?"

"Of course, Rory." David replied.

He kneeled down to Snow and the baby, and whispered it. I didn't understand it, though; he said it in Irish.

"Is féidir leis an bóthar ardú suas chun bualadh leat . Is féidir leis an ghaoth a bheith i gcónaí ag do chúl . Go dtaitní an ghrian go bog bláth ar do aghaidh ; titim an bháisteach bog ar do ghoirt agus go dtí go gcasfar le chéile sinn arís , Dia a shealbhú tú ar an dtearmann a lámh ."

"It's an old one where I come from." He said as he got up. "I might say what it means one day…"

As the table went back to chatting, I saw Regina and Robin walk in. I then realized what it meant, but it was too late for me to stop it. Marian was alive and kicking as far as I could tell, and even though she was glowing red to me for some reason, she was back from the dead.

Emma got up to introduce Regina to Marian, but what followed was not pretty.

Robin noticed his long dead wife. "Marian?" He cried standing up from the table he had just sat at. "Marian!"

"Robin!" She gasped, rushing over and embracing him.

"I thought you were dead!" He exclaimed. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"And I you!" She replied.

Roland just noticed his own mother, now. "Mama?" He asked.

Marian grinned as she knelt down and hugged her little boy. "Roland! Oh, my baby, Roland!"

Regina had been at a loss for words. Then she turned on Emma. "You!" She snarled. "You did this!"

Emma was just as shocked as her. I wondered then if I could have done something back then to stop this from happening. Marian had been destined to die, and she had been. Now she wasn't even when Robin and his family had moved on and he was now with Regina.

"I…just wanted to save her life." Emma said.

"You're just like your mother." Regina snapped. "Never thinking of consequences."

"I didn't know."

"Oh, of course you didn't." Regina replied. "Well, you just better hope to hell you didn't bring anything else back."

Rory stood up. "C'mon, brother." He said to me. "This is gonna to go bad and I'd rather not be here."

"Agreed." I replied, heading past Regina and straight for the door. "Assassins, we're leaving!" I said to the others. Jason, Zar, Matthew, Rory and I headed out the door. We had work to do.

Matthew had brought up blueprints of Cormac's and marked them how we were preparing the defenses. "We found two sentry guns at one of the Outposts, so we set them here." He marked two X's near the front entrance. "Also we took back the sentry guns that the Merry Men borrowed from us a few weeks back, so we'll set them up soon enough. We'll have snipers on 24 hour watch from now until Ingrid dies, and in case of extreme emergencies, The Bunker has lockdown protocols in place. They were installed when we built it during the Curse."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Nothing much except that we are locking down in 1 hour from now." He said. "Whatever you want to get done outside here, I suggest you get done, now."

The only thing that came to mind, I did in that instant. I took out my phone and sent texts to Red and Cindy.

"Cormac's is locking down for what is coming. If you still want to help us, pack everything that you need and come to the inn. We'll find rooms for you."

Red came twenty minutes later with her bag, and Cindy ten minutes afterwards with her husband, Thomas and her baby girl, Alexandra with their stuff.

"Thomas." I said, shaking his hand. "Glad to have you with us."

"I couldn't leave Ashley alone with the baby. She gave me the short answer as to what the Assassins are doing by locking down the pub, and if she's in, I'm in too."

"Good. You're here because the next few weeks are going to bring some heat to the Assassins, and because you're family. We don't want to see any of our family get hurt."

Kevan came up to us from behind the bar. "Help you folks out with anything?" He asked.

"Kevan, set them up with two rooms in the inn. We lock down in thirty minutes." "Excellent. A lot of our field troops have taken most of our rooms, but we should have two more at least. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you so much, Kevan." Red replied. "In the meantime, I wouldn't mind a drink."

Kevan got her a glass and while she ordered her drink, Rory came out of the kitchens from the Bunker with Jason and Zar.

"Last chance to go outside for a while, Asgeir." He said, holding up a six pack of Guinness."Make the most of it?"

Fifteen million, seven hundred and seventy eight thousand, four hundred and sixty three. That's how many minutes are in thirty years. Thirty, long, hard years. I waited and used them doing little aside from hunting and killing Templars, and searching for any lead, any clue where Ingrid could have been. Wallowing in my hatred for her, and how I would make her pay for everything that she had done to me, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Troy, Rabbit, and even my Templar mother. And now she was here. In the town of Storybrooke, Maine. I could see her quaint little shop that I was looking forward to burning to the ground just like Zelena's cottage, from the bed of my pickup. A flamethrower, or even a Molotov. One toss, and boom. Nothing but ashes.

Cormac's had a small parking lot beside it, and every transport van used by our troops, and every other car owned by the Assassins was now crammed inside it. Only a barbed wire fence would protect the vehicles when lockdown would be initiated, but the snipers would make sure no one would go behind them once the fence closed as well. We had gone as all out as we could. We had no idea how powerful Ingrid was, but hopefully our guns and steel could match her ice. Rory, Jason, Zar and I sat in the bed of my pickup as we drank our beers.

"Night's pretty cold." Jason said, breaking the silence.

I didn't laugh. "It's going to get colder still, with Zelena out of the picture." I replied."It's long past time we finish what we started."

"Amen." Zar said.

"Cheer up, lads." Rory replied. "We faced and survived the feckin' Wicked Witch of the West. We can take down Blondie the Snow Queen."

As long as there is no hesistation, and no mercy.

"I think we should at least have a toast here." Zar said.

"Aye." Jason replied. "To the Creed."

"And to wishing we were someplace warmer!" Rory added.

The three of them laughed as I chuckled a little bit. It was funny a little, but it felt more like laughs of fear to me. Because we all had every reason to be afraid of Ingrid.

Zar sighed. "We may never see Arendelle again, will we?"

I shook my head. I was the last person alive to escape Arendelle's freezing, and even to this day, I still had no idea how I wasn't frozen while Anna and the others were. "Ingrid froze it all at least ten times as worse than when it happened with Elsa. All that remains of Arendelle and her Northern beauty are the refugees living in Corona, and us. But our chances for suvival are thinner than the sharpest blade."

"Then I guess we better make the most out of this." Jason said. "It wasn't enough to take her down with you, Troy, and Rabbit, Asgeir. Hell, it may not be enough with all the might of the Arendelle and Enchanted Forest Assassins combined. But at least we'll give that bitch a fight."

He sat up and jumped down off my truck. "Lockdown initiates in ten minutes. We better get inside soon."

Zar nodded. "I'm heading back in, too." He said. "Good night, guys."

"Good night." I replied along with Rory. Soon enough it was only him and I out at my truck.

"Rory O'Dre?" I asked, out of the blue to him.

Rory chuckled. "After me mam's maiden name. If I'm to help you out with all this, Asgeir. Fightin' Ingrid, stoppin' George, and then headin' out there into the big world to take on Abstergo, I'll need a new name. I was high on the Templar's most wanted list for a long time, but now they think I'm dead. It makes things a lot easier to fight them."

"Yeah, don't I know it." I replied, taking a long swig of my beer.

Rory glanced at me. "I know what the rest of those pages will reveal, Asgeir. What happened after Shay killed Charles Dorian. I don't need to read any further."

"Then you know why I hate Ingrid just as much as I do."

"Aye. The Spell of Shattered Sight revealed to you everything through it's pain."

"It did more than that." I said. "I can see him. The ghost of Shay. He spends his time taunting and torturing me with the memories of it all."

"And tryin' to ignore it all is only gonna kill you even faster, lad." Shay chuckled.

Rory looked where I was, where Shay was standing, then back at me. "He's here, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"What's he saying?"

"Ignoring it all is only going to kill me faster. Because it is."

"What are you talkin' about, brother?"

I looked back at Rory. I was keeping track, and we had five minutes left before the pub locked down completely. Not enough time to explain. "Go to bed, Rory." I said. "I'll tell you more about it in the morning."

Cue "Nothing Left To Say" by Imagine Dragons

He looked at me doubtfully, then nodded and got up from my truck and jumped out. Soon enough I was alone out by my truck. I took a long drink, finishing off my beer before tossing the can over the fence towards the town. It rattled loudly as it bounced off the pavement and down the street towards that little ice cream hovel. Then I took out a cigarette and lit it. I had just enough time for it.

"It wasn't enough to curse me with the worst cancer of all: knowledge, But then I have to realize something in my nightmares of seeing your stupid face every night." I whispered, taking a long drag off it. "The ice in my heart from you? I'm dying from it. It's killing me slowly and painfully every day, and I know that unless I kill you, it will spread through my body until it finishes me off in the worst way it can. My hair hasn't started to change yet, but I know it will. And I know that I will soon be as dead as a fly. So let's finish this, you fucking whore. Let's finish what we started."

As if she could hear me, I felt the wind pick up a little, and blow right at me. Then I saw something flutter through the air. It was small and white, and floated in front of my eye for a few seconds before settling down on my cheek right below my eye, and melting into water. I scowled, and tossed my cigarette butt out of my truck before jumping out and crushing it with my foot. Then I walked out of the parking lot and inside just as the gates to the lot started to close, the locks turned on, and the sentry guns went online. Cormac's was now in full lockdown for the coming storm.

I had only my mission left. The only thing keeping me alive was my ever growing need for revenge on Ingrid. I didn't care now if it meant getting my hood back, killing her. I had nothing left to live for once my list would be clear. Either way, I would be dead by the end of all this. Everything was coming together, and now the only thing keeping my fire of life alive was now in her home, beginning her plot to destroy Storybrooke. The only thing keeping me alive was now ready to be taken down, and I would be the only one to do it.

Outside the town was shutting down for the night. Cormac's security doors were being set up, the doors getting double locked and a guard placed at every entrance. Even the party at Granny's was wrapping up, clearly needing to after what had happened not an hour ago. What I didn't notice, what the town didn't notice, was that as the clock tower tolled for midnight, something changed. Among all the places and parts of the town, the people, the buildings, shops, businesses, forests, and other sights, the first sign of the oncoming storm arrived. Every thermometer in town felt it as a new arrival walked out of the barn that we had thought was abandoned ever since me, Jason, Emma and Hook had left it behind. And every thermometer in town could only do one thing as the girl in the ice dress walked out of the barn. At midnight, on March 14th, 2013, the temperature of Storybrooke, Maine dropped one degree.

My name is Asgeir Daniel Swortssen. I am an Assassin