Chapter 38: Dusk

When the lockdown was first initiated, the whole of the Arendelle, Enchanted Forest, and Merry Men branches almost treated it like a big family reunion. The first breakfast was loud, it was happy, and Kevan was busier than ever as the cook around here, making eggs and bacon for us all.

This morning, even I could notice how quiet it was getting. I hadn't seen Asgeir for days since Keif had shot him with the Taser and he was brought back down to his cell. The entire floor of the pub was becoming quieter and quieter with each passing day. This morning, I found myself sitting with Torren at one of the smaller tables in the middle of the pub while Kevan and a few of the other kitchen hands went around with coffeepots.

Torren tried a few times to make conversation, but it was no use. Just with the pub becoming more and more quiet every day, I too was finding the same thing happening to me.

The doors to the inn opened up, and Marc walked in with Willis and his cousin, Susie.

"Kevan." He called. "Let's do your specialty omelet. Three of them for us."

"Coming right up, Marc." He said, emptying his pot of coffee at one table, then heading for the kitchens.

The three of them took the table next to us, still carrying on the conversation.

"So, then the guy says to him, "Okay, picture this: I'm hiding in a fridge…"

Willis and Susie both burst out laughing at the punchline, echoing through the quieted pub. Torren smirked a little, trying to keep up his spirit, but nothing anyone could say was going to bring my spirit back up.

Marc glanced over at me. "Not in the mood for a good joke today, Jason?"

I shook my head, taking a sip of my coffee. Someone in this pub was tattling on us to the Templars, and the less I spoke, the better. Right now, only Matthew and Keaton knew about George's death. The rest of the town would find out soon enough, once they shifted their attention from Ingrid back to the other threats about the town.

"What's the story of an Assassin sniper, anyways?" Susie said, trying to move the conversation along. Her black t-shirt held the insignia of Edward Kenway, with the skull among the symbol. "You from this world, or another?"

"I'm from the Enchanted Forest." I simply replied, not daring to say more.

"That's it?" She asked. "Nothing more impressive than that? I thought you were the White Reaper's best friend, and he's got quite the story to tell about his life."

"Not me."

Mostly true, really. Only Asgeir and Matthew knew that I ran away from my parents, who both served as stewards to one of King George's lesser lords. I learned to shoot at an early age from Matthew when they found me, weeks of starving after I left. I wish I could say that there was more to it than that, but they were right, really. Asgeir, Matthew, the Broken Chain Brothers, they had the real stories to tell. Mine was just the simple tale of a boy who didn't want to grow up serving a royal shite.

Even at a young age, I could see what kind of person King George was. It was enough for me to leave my family behind. So maybe one might understand how lost I might feel when the one person who I loathed as much as Asgeir hated Agdar. It's not the Assassin way, but I still wanted to be the one to kill him instead of a Templar enforcer.

Knowing that they weren't getting anything from me, the three prospective traitors went back to their conversation.

The front door's lock suddenly deactivated as Keif and a few other Assassins with rifles headed in.

Keaton got up from his spot at the bar, which I only noticed he was sitting at now. He scratched at what little gray hair he had left on the back of his head as he walked up.

"Any luck?"

"Nothing." Keif replied, grimly. "No sightings of her since the night of Glass' betrayal. Let's face it, Keaton: we're sitting ducks in here. Even with all the resources we have here, she's able to counter it with her magic."

His Mentor sighed, looking over the pub. "Matthew and I will be having a discussion about it, this afternoon. I'll address your concerns to him, then."

"Alright. Meantime, I'm taking a few more guns and the men to handle them." Keif said, glancing at me. "And I want the one who doesn't miss on my side."

I got up from my seat, Keaton looking over at me.

"I'm not sure Matthew would be able to allow that, Keif." Keaton said.

"Well, he's proving more and more to me that he's not fit to call the shots anymore." He countered. "I need guns, and who better than him?"

I instinctively felt my fingers twitch in my brace. I realized as they did that they didn't hurt as much as I remembered them hurting a few days ago. Torren looked over at me as one by one, I removed the Velcro straps from the brace before pulling it off my hand. Keif smirked as he watched me.

It was red and moist from the pressure the brace had on it, and it reeked of old sweat. Stiff, too. Very stiff. But I had been called to arms, and I was still an Assassin.

Folding my fingers up until I had my index finger and thumb extended, I pointed to the sky.

"Bang."

The old master of arms smirked at Keaton. "There's your answer."

While Keif had no idea where we were going to start looking for Ingrid once again, we agreed that starting back in the town would be a safer bet than going back into the woods. It wasn't getting us anywhere, so we may have had a better chance of finding her there.

Despite having lost his leg long ago at the hands of Templar thugs, Keif easily led the group, walking fast down Main Street as we passed the Pawn Store. He always carried a slight limp with his metal leg he had forged himself years ago, but had gotten used to over the years.

"Look alive." He said, glancing back at myself and the others. Assassins who I barely knew, only by their faces around Cormac's.

From across the street, I saw David on his phone, walking out of the library from the clock tower. Keif noticed him too, and led us over as he hung up.

Seeing our rifles out and how many we had, David held up a finger.

"No." He snapped. "Stay out of this."

Keif was about to start, but I stepped forwards. He knew me better than anyone else here, and might listen to me.

"David, this is not something that we can stay out of, anymore." I explained. "Is there something up there?"
The Prince looked back, uneasily up at the clock tower. Then to the door. "Trail leading up there. A frozen trail. It goes up, but doesn't come back down." He said. "This is not something that's going to be solved with swords and guns. Give us five minutes for Emma and Elsa to get down here and they'll take her in."

"Absolutely n-" Keif began.

"Deal." I interrupted. "If Emma or Her Majesty need our help, they'll have it."

David gave a curt nod to Keif, then headed back into the entrance to the clock tower. I beckoned Keif to pull the group back a few doors.

"Right now, there's been too much collateral damage by us not playing along with the townsfolk." I said. "We do what they want, and it might get us somewhere with Ingrid."

"What do you intend on doing if she's up there, Jason?" Keif said, suspiciously. "These fools aren't planning on putting her down as she should be."

I shook my head. "No." I agreed. "And neither am I, yet. It's time for answers."

Keif didn't understand, but I said nothing further, instead gesturing for the other Assassins to follow my lead. At the doors to the clock tower, we assembled a firing line just as Emma and Elsa came running from across the street.

"Let them through!" I commanded.

The line parted, and Elsa gave me a quick look of thanks. Emma didn't even bother to give us the luxury of acknowledgement. Both girls hurried through the doors up into the stairs.

Ingrid was slippery. Some part of me knew that she wouldn't be hiding here so obviously in plain sight unless she wanted to get captured. But likely by Emma, and not by the Assassins. I had the skeleton of a plan forming, and one way or another, I had to get what had been missing since Asgeir had arrived in Storybrooke: answers.

Not long after they went up, Emma and Elsa came back out with her in tow. Eyes cold as snow, and insane. Just the hint of a dark smile on her lips as I led the group up.

"You guys want to help?" Emma said.

"Yeah." I replied, not taking my eyes of Ingrid, who only smirked at me. "What do you need?"

"Get Matthew on the phone. We're taking her to the sheriff station. One of your vans will do just fine."

I nodded to Keif, who pulled out his cell and made the call. I walked up to the Snow Queen, my fingers twitching.

"Hello, Jason." She whispered. "It seems you have caught me."

The sheriff station. As Aaron Milburn, I had been called here on many occasions, mostly just to regularly deny the existence of the gun running we made out of this town. Graham was irritated by how aloof and cryptic I was, while Regina was furious. Being cursed was supposed to make it easier for her to catch us, but it did nothing of the sort to us.

It felt strange to sit in the main offices as Emma and David went over their plan. Matthew was on his way over with Keaton.

"She obviously got herself caught on purpose." Emma said. "More of her mind games to try on me."

"What for?" David said. "All that stuff in her truck doesn't seem to lead us anywhere."

"That's what I'm gonna find out from her, Dad. Time to get some answers from the horse's mouth."

Elsa came into the offices, Matthew and Keaton right behind her.

"The Mentors grace us." She said, halfheartedly. "How is my brother, at least?"

Matthew shook his head. "Still under lock and key, Your Majesty." He glimpsed over at Emma. "You took her alive, I see."

"Yeah, unlike you guys, I don't go spilling blood at the first sign of trouble. I want answers from her."

"Begging your pardon, Ms. Swan, but you aren't going to get the right ones from her." Keaton said. "Only her twisted version of the truth."

"Really." Emma said, snidely. "Can you guys say any differently?"

Both Mentors did not respond. Elsa glared over at them, but then her gaze drifted to me.

"Jason?"

I stood up quickly, standing tall. "Your Majesty."

"At ease." She chuckled, raising a hand. "What are you here for?"

I slouched slightly as I answered. "I helped bring Ingrid in." I replied. "I would like to get some answers of my own from her, if it please you."

Her Majesty narrowed her eyes in thought. "Is that all?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"You're an Assassin, Jason." She said. "I reckon that won't be all at the end of it. But as long as you leave your weapons at the table, you have my permission to do so."

Emma turned and gave Elsa a look, who was ready for her. Even David looked ready to protest.

"She got herself captured. She wants to talk to you, Emma. What happens if she's talking with an Assassin, first?"

Matthew was about to speak, but our Queen already knew what he would say.

"No, Matthew. Jason has shown obedience as a soldier. He's earned my trust, which is more than what you can say." She looked back at me. "How much time do you need with her, Jason?"

"Five, ten minutes might be enough."

"Deal." She replied ignoring both Emma and Matthew. "You've earned it."

It seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now as I was walking up to the door of the interview room, I felt my heart beating. Beating like someone trying to punch out of the prison of my ribcage. This woman was the one responsible for us once again getting put back on the lam after we established our roots in Arendelle. We were runaways again, thanks to this bitch. I had to remember that I was a soldier before a hitman, and I had earned Elsa's trust for a reason: I followed orders. And she didn't want any blood spilled by us, yet. But what she didn't know was that I still had a hidden blade under my sleeve, while I had left all the rest of my weapons in the office.

Ingrid had been smiling before I came into the room. I think it was because she thought I was Emma. But when she saw that it was me, her smile faded a little, but then went right back up.

"Jason." She whispered, almost exactly the same as she had done before.

"That's actually getting a bit annoying." I said, sitting down across from her. "We're not on a first name basis, here. We never were. You're our prisoner, and I'm one of the jailers." I raised my hands, gesturing around as I leaned back in my seat. The key here was to make it look as though I was in control, even if I knew that I wasn't.

"Yes. A prisoner. Just like my nephew?"

"Asgeir's broken our rules enough times to be hanged."

Ingrid's smile grew slightly at that. I pretended not to notice.

"You're here for something." She said.

"Answers." I replied. "Starting with the files. What does Emma have that you want?"

"Who said it was something that she had?"

"Everyone's after something. Everyone's got an agenda. That includes the psychopaths."

"What I want is what was denied from me so long ago. What I have always wanted. I can thank the Assassins for taking it from me."

I smirked. "Oh, I'm sure we are to blame for that. Has nothing to do with the fact that you've murdered your way to here same as us."

"I'm nothing like you Assassins." She said, dismissively. "Though truth be told, Matthew offered a chance for me to join you, long ago."

I did my best not to react to that bit of news. But Ingrid noticed it.

"Aha." She whispered in that annoying tone again. "He never told you. What else has your Mentor, or Asgeir kept from you?"

My thoughts drifted to the other file that she left for us. Asgeir's history as Subject 11 in Abstergo's research. What did it mean?

"Are you aware of what Daniel did to me right before Gerda sealed me in that urn?"

Daniel knew Ingrid at one point, I knew this much. I also knew him to be a good Assassin.

"Nothing that wasn't provoked by you, I bet."

"No." She said. "He pointed a pistol right at my head as Gerda sealed me away. I was innocent in what happened and he did it to me anyways. Because they don't understand me."

"Wrong." I replied. "And even if you were innocent then, you've done enough and killed your way to this moment. We've all got blood on our hands."

"Daniel made an innocent suffer just as his son would one day. It's what Assassins do."

I was getting nowhere fast.

"Troy. Rabbit. Anna. Kristoff. Where are they?"

"Three scoundrels and a nosy little brat. I don't keep tabs on them. Why Elsa would waste her time on the one who sealed her in the urn to begin with is truly beyond me."

I chuckled. "You're not fooling me. You controlled Anna to do it, as Asgeir told me. Everyone who can't make a little hocus pocus is better off dead in your eyes, is that it?"

"No. They're only savages compared to people as special as me, Elsa and Emma. Especially the Assassins."

"Wanna back that up?" I snapped. "I've counted the notches on my rifle, and every headshot I gave was to someone who had to die for the greater good."

"Oh, I'm sure." Ingrid replied. "But what about what Asgeir did? Can he truly justify every life he took in the thirty years between now and the Dark Curse? He was sent to this world to find Emma, but he failed at that, and people died at his hands. I found her, and I tried to show her what she was meant for."

Enough was enough. "Tell me about the file. The one from Abstergo."

She grinned. "Does the name Christian Maloy ring a bell for you, Jason?"

It didn't, and I was starting to feel something surface. Something that the obedient soldier in me was tired of holding back. "Tell me about the file, you stupid bitch." I repeated. "I'm not interested in cryptic names."

Ingrid sneered. "Manners, please. You're a soldier, obeying your Queen. He was a high-ranking Templar that oversaw security at an Abstergo laboratory in Rome. Killed a lot of Assassins in his day, and he was rewarded for it. Riches, comfort, a well-earned life that most in this world can only dream of. He was found dead in his Florida home in August 2006, three months after he left his position at the labs."

I could use my imagination. Asgeir killed him. She was telling me this because his death at my best friend's hands was supposed to prove something.

"Yes." Ingrid said, as though she could read my mind. "It was Asgeir who killed him. But how could he, when he was under lock and key by the Templars, and they had already killed his whole team?"

"I don't know why, and that's why I'm asking you, Ingrid." I said, my anger still rising. "I have put up with all this cryptic bullshit for weeks now, and I have had enough of it. Tell me what Asgeir did that led to him killing Maloy."

"Oh, I'm sure he will once you tell him how I know." She cackled. "I'm sure he will find it enlightening that I know everything that happened in his life for the last thirty years. Thanks to the Spell of Shattered Sight, when I used the worst bits of the curse and put them in his eyes. Ask him about Maloy, and what happened on September 3rd 2012. He will fill in the blanks for you. If the curse hasn't addled his mind completely."

I got up from my seat. "Asgeir should have put you down the second he saw you. Elsa may not be a danger to her people, but you're insane."

She smiled. "I only reveal the truth to people. How they really feel under all those fake smiles. I'll show Emma the same to them. Everyone fears us."

I felt my wrist tense up, and then the mechanism in my blade triggered, extending outwards. She was getting to me, but I was losing my ability to even care. I had had enough of obeying every order I was given.

"Everyone hates you." I corrected. "Not Emma, not Elsa. You. I'll find out the truth one way or another, and then when all of this is done, I'll do what Asgeir should have done years ago, and end you."

"Then why don't you do it now, Jason?" She questioned. "I'm sitting right here. A fresh kill waiting for you." She smiled as I hesitated. "No. You won't do it because you know that it'll only prove that I was right all along. And then this town will see the Assassins for the monsters that you are."

I felt my blade retract. I began to feel what Asgeir felt, knowing that she was right in a sense.

"I'm gonna go talk to my brother. Then the next time I have a chance against you, believe me, freak, I won't miss."

She grinned. "I'll be waiting. And you will regret calling me that."

I got up just as the door opened and Emma and Elsa walked in. I looked over at the Savior, and only said two words.

"I'm done."

I sat in the offices, minutes later. Matthew had gone with David to inspect the clock tower, see if Ingrid had left anything behind. Keaton had gone back to Cormac's to regroup with the troops, figure out what the next option would be.

Ingrid had her plan set forth. Emma and Elsa were a large part of it, but she blamed us for a lot of what she went through. I wasn't going to get anywhere with Matthew anymore. I had to see if Asgeir would answer anything now that I had pieces of the truth. A dead Templar's name, and a date from almost a year ago. Would that get anything out of him? One name had been enough to get something from Asgeir. The name of the girl, Ruthe, had made him try to attack his former Mentor, so what would I get with these two pieces?

I felt the room get a little colder, and realized my hoodie was unzipped. I pulled the zip back up, then got up from my seat to close the window. But then I noticed as I pulled up the blinds that the window was closed. And ice was gathering all over it. I heard calling from outside.

"EMMA! EMMA!" Came David's voice from the street.

Then it hit me.

"Ingrid."

I sprinted for the interview room. Ingrid knew her mind games. She was now alone with Emma, one of the two people she was more fascinated in than anyone else. Whatever her plans, I was too caught up to even notice that she wasn't to be left alone in that room with Emma.

I was almost down the hallway and opening the interview room door when I heard a scream.

"SHUT UP!" Came Emma's voice.

A massive explosion blew the room apart, punching a hole in the wall to the streets and sending me flying right back into the hallway. Planks of wood on the wall paneling came crashing down on me, but I wasn't hurt. I could only watch in horror as I saw Emma's hands glowing, Ingrid looking at her with amazement.

"What did you do to me?!" Emma cried.

Ingrid stood from her seat, vaporizing the chains on her wrists. "Oh, all I did is show you who you really are."

Emma wasn't having it. "Then make it stop!" She said, shaking her hands.

"I can't." Ingrid said with glee. She was enjoying this. "It's you, Emma. And…" She sighed. "It's beautiful."

With a wave of her hand, she disappeared in a cloud of flurries.

With effort from the debris holding me down, I got up from where I was.

"Emma…" I said, slowly.

"No, Jason." She said, cautiously, watching her hands. "Stay back."

She carefully stepped out of the hole in the wall, out into the parking lot of the station. I stepped through the rubble into the interview room, looking around at the damage. She really was a bomb waiting to go off.

"Emma!" I heard David's voice again as a whole stampede's worth of footsteps came up. I looked out to see David, Snow, Hook, Elsa, Henry, Gold, and Matthew.

"We were so worried!" Snow called.

"Wait!" Emma said.

"Swan, what did that monster do to the sheriff station?" Hook asked.

"The monster who did this was not the Snow Queen, it was me." She realized, looking down at her hands.

"What?" David said, shocked. He and Hook slowly came up towards Emma, but she backed away as I headed for the group.

"Just keep your distance!" She said. "I don't know if I can control myself. I don't want to hurt anyone."

She started for her car, but David tried to grab his daughter's hand.

"You should heed her words!" Gold said.

"Emma, we can help!" Elsa countered.

"Just stay away. LET ME GO!"

Emma's pulling away only caused more damage. Sparks flew from the light fixtures along the sheriff station. Taking cover along with Matthew, I noticed a light pole suddenly take a hit, and come falling down. Hook was right in the way of it, but David knocked him out of the way, too late to save himself.

"DAVID!" Snow screamed as her husband cried out in pain.

Emma was mortified at what she saw. What she had caused because of her loss of control. I knew it wasn't her fault, but clearly not all parties saw it the same way. Snow helped her husband up, then turned on her girl.

"Emma!" She cried.

Her eyes wide, Emma only did the one thing that made sense to her, no matter what her mother, her father, or anyone else tried to do to correct their mistake. She ran for her car, got in, and drove off.

I spoke very little, only sticking by Elsa's side along with Matthew. We joined up with Hook and David and spent the rest of the day looking through the town for Emma. We came back to their loft with nothing. No trace left behind. David didn't seem to be all that hurt from the light pole, but I didn't say anything.

Snow eagerly awaited for our return. "Did you find her?" She asked when we came in.

"No." I replied. "Looked everywhere."

"Which means only one thing." David said. "She doesn't want to be found."

Elsa looked more miserable than the rest of us, and I had an idea why.

"It's like déjà vu, huh?" I said to her.

"Yes." She said. "I've been through this before. And I saw the same looks on my loved ones faces as Emma did. I saw fear."

Snow looked uneasily at her husband. "David, we failed today. When our daughter needed us most, she looked in our eyes, and... All she saw was fear." She looked around. "This Snow Queen has some mirror that turns us against each other? Well, she doesn't need it. Look at us. We are doing it to ourselves."

I felt my fingers twitch. "We can end this, Matthew." I said, looking at my Mentor.

He looked at the others in the room, then beckoned me outside into the hall. I followed.

"What would you have happen?" He asked. "Would you go down and drive a bullet right through Ingrid's head? We don't even know where she is, now. The thermal scanners we set up have proved useless."

"Yes." I replied. "Next time we see her, we kill her. We can't let Asgeir be locked up anymore. He needs to be with us when we kill Ingrid."

"No." Matthew replied. "Asgeir has forgotten how we do things and you would still let him loose against her? Look what he did to Glass. He would do that and a hell of a lot more to the person who's responsible for the suffering he's endured for the last thirty years."

"Like what happened to Christian Maloy?" I said.

Matthew's eyes widened. "How did you hear that name?"

"Ingrid told me. She also gave me a date. July 17th 2012. Told me to tell those both to Asgeir, and he would give me the rest."

Matthew shook his head. "That's enough. You're showing me more and more that you're not able to separate your emotions from this mission as we Assassins are supposed to do. You're going to cause more people to die if you keep digging into things you have no business knowing."

I was at my wit's end by this point. "And you're going to do the same by keeping these secrets hidden. I need to know what happened to Asgeir that is so bad, not a single Assassin can know the truth. You need to tell me!"

Matthew held up a finger. "You try to find out, and I bench you from this. I take your hood from you and keep you at Cormac's until I put Ingrid down myself as I should have when Daniel had his gun to her head. Your emotions are clouding all your judgement based on what Emma told me she heard you say to Ingrid today. Now I have to fix all of this. I'll be calling back most of our forces to stop them from mucking it all up."

I was without words. I should have seen it from the beginning. All this time it was some sort of petty revenge that Matthew was feeling. The pot calling the kettle black at every turn, he would not let Asgeir get justice for his sisters, wanting so badly to be the one to kill Ingrid. So much so, that now, with me standing in his way, he would remove me from the Assassins to stop me.

I felt my hand go down to the zipper on my hoodie. It had the Assassin insignia carved into it. There was only one thing left for me to really do. I had reached the end of my rope.

"Then fix this shit." I said, pulling the zipper down, and yanking my hoodie off. "But you're not going to do it with me still a part of this fucked up team you call a Brotherhood. I am an Assassin no longer."

I shoved my discarded hoodie into Matthew's arms, and unstrapped my blade and threw that down at his feet. Nothing else left for me to be rid of, I turned and walked down the stairs to the street.

I was done here. Everything that had happened since Asgeir had returned was leading us to being completely torn apart by the seams. Ingrid didn't need to use that mirror on us. We were broken enough as it was. And I wasn't going to be a part of it anymore.

Where would I even go? I had no family in Storybrooke. Since I joined the Assassins, I never knew or cared what happened to my parents. I had no reason to care. And now I had one as I would strike out on my own.

I didn't need to think that far ahead, though. I reckoned once I was done with Asgeir here, then I would have an idea of where to go.

When I got back to Cormac's, most of the Assassin forces were coming back as well. The front doors opening and closing so much that they turned off the electronic lock for the time being and put two guards out front instead. Matthew was so intent on holding everyone back from him killing Ingrid that he brought most of the support back to home base. Our legendary Mentor.

"Anything canned, Kevan?" I said, lightly hitting the beer taps with my fist at the bar.

"Plenty. Most of it is piss, though. What do you want?"

"Two six packs." I said. "Whatever you think will get one drunk enough."

Kevan raised an eyebrow, then ducked under the bar table, fishing out two six packs. Some German beer I didn't recognize the name of, but I was not in the mood for another fucking Guinness.

"Something on your mind, Jase?" He said, handing them over.

"I'm done, Kevan." I replied. "I'm gonna go down there, get whatever answers I can out of my best friend, and then find my way out of this shithole town."

If he was surprised, he didn't show it. "We're breaking apart here, Jason. You're making the right choice, here. One Mentor is making all the wrong choices, one does whatever the other tells him, and the man who should have led us to begin with is downstairs, raging like a lunatic." He paused. "You think Asgeir is going to tell you anything? He wasn't keen on telling us much last week. Matthew won't even tell me who this Ruthe girl is. As if he tells anyone anything, now."

I knew part of the answer to that. "I think she was Asgeir's girlfriend years ago."

Kevan nodded, smiling a little. "I thought as much. Here's hoping the Reaper down there will tell you everything else."

"Here's hoping." I replied, knowing how much hope had really gotten us in the past few months. "Gimme a big plate of nachos, too."

There was a lot of resistance from the guards at the door of Asgeir's cell, but after a lot of negotiating, and lying how I was there on Matthew's orders, they eventually opened the door and let him in.

The inside stunk of human filth, which came from the bucket in the far corner of the room. Hunched in the other corner of the dark room was the shell of my best friend, a white hoodie with crimson spots hanging over him. He looked up slightly at my arrival, but looked back down as I sat against the wall across from him.

"Lunch." I said, rolling a can towards him and dropping the plate of nachos at his feet.

Asgeir didn't say anything. He eyed both, licking his lips, lightly. Weakly, he reached for the can, and grabbed it with a handful of nachos. His hood fell downwards and I felt my breath catch in my throat. He shoveled those nachos into his mouth as though they were all that stood between him and death. I'm sure that they were.

Nearly all his hair had turned completely white, with only a few bangs left on the front of his head. There was even a bit of frost gathering on his face, but he determinedly cracked open the can and tipped it back into his mouth.

"Are they even feeding you down here, Asgeir?" I asked.

Emotionless, he shook his head as he kept drinking.

"No." I scoffed. "Why should they? You're not gonna die of starvation. You're not gonna die at all except from this when Ingrid finally destroys this town, leaving it clear for her and her perfect family. Emma and Elsa, all to herself, to love her for the monster that she is."

Asgeir finished his can less than twenty seconds after he began it. He tossed the can into the corner with the rest of the rubbish. Then he chuckled.

"Murdering its way to get what it wants. And it wonders why Mother sealed it in that urn to begin with."

"Why did Gerda do it?" I asked, remembering what she said. "I questioned Ingrid about it earlier, but she only said it was because she didn't understand her."

"Hah." Asgeir loudly spat to his side. "The worst part about Ingrid is that it'll never accept any fault that falls on it. Mother sealed it in that urn because it murdered their sister, my Aunt, Helga."

Helga, the middle child of those three sisters.

"Why are you here, Jason?" Asgeir said, his voice much different than what it had been for so long. "If you were able to question Ingrid, then surely it can fill in the blanks for you."

"She escaped custody when she got under Emma's skin." I explained. "We had her in our grasp but then Emma's lost control of her magic. She's run off."

Asgeir seemed to find even more mild amusement at that. "It's exactly what happened to Elsa so long ago."

"Why? Why does she want Emma to lose control?"

"So, it can prove a point. How quick did people turn on Emma and demand for her head?" Asgeir kept smirking as he read my reaction. "Okay, maybe they didn't jump to violence that quick, but they turned on her fast enough, right?"

"Yes."

"To Ingrid, there's no one worse than people without magic. Because we don't understand what is impossible to understand, it makes us savages."

"And those who don't do what she expects them to do must be cursed instead?"

"Exactly." Asgeir nodded.

But something wasn't right. "Why aren't you raging uncontrollably now, though?" I asked.

My best friend shook his head. "It's not something I have any control over, Jase." He said, looking towards the corner. "It comes and it goes."

I sighed. "Ingrid told me about something, Asgeir. Something I need to know the whole truth about since Matthew clearly doesn't care to hear your side. What happened to Christian Maloy?"

Asgeir's eyes suddenly lit up with fire. He stared hard at me. "How the fuck did it know about that?!"

"The curse she put on you, Asgeir. She knows everything that happened to you for the last thirty years."

Asgeir looked more horrified than I had ever seen him in both my lives as Jason and Aaron Milburn. Aaron never knew him, but those two lives were a long time to me.

Suddenly, my best friend looked more like he had given up. He stared off into the corner again. "What did she tell you?"

"The man is dead. But then she taunted me with the rest. Like, whatever you have to tell me will break my faith in you, Asgeir."

No response.

"Asgeir, you have to tell me everything. I'm leaving the Assassins because of everything that has happened. Matthew is leading us down the path towards death and you are in no condition to lead us either. So what other option do I have left except try to do what no one else here will do, and listen to you?"

My oldest friend did give a reaction when I told him my plans. He looked up in curiosity. Then sad. More sadness. The Asgeir that sat before me was the one I read in his journals.

"What do you know that Matthew's told you?"

"He only let me see your journals. Last entry was in March 2006."

He nodded. "Forgot about those things. Yeah, it was that long ago that I last wrote. Then a few days later I was approached by William Miles. Said he had a big job he needed me for, and was offering me a lead on Ingrid in return…"