AN:
Reintroducing:
Ricky Whittle (The 100) as Tybalt, Master of Theives.
and
Introducing: Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Game of Thrones) as Cornwall
Monterggioni
Many Years Ago
She knew taking Monteriggioni back would be difficult, but luckily for her there was only one assassin in her way to take back the city that she had forced to flee four years previous.
The Queen Regina, or as she went by now; The Evil Queen, had been good on her word on providing her with fifty of her best knights as she stood a mile away from her old home in an encampment filled with the faceless men that would move on her word. But she couldn't risk a single civilian death. They needed to trust that she had their best interests in to heart while they lived in the only place in the Enchanted Forest that magic couldn't touch.
A grey cloud permanently hung over the once bright city as she tried to think of the best way of taking the city. From what she had heard the city had been left to fend for itself, it's economy had crumbled by it's poor management, it's coffer had been run dry from overspending and under-investment, as it's street's had been taken over by its corrupt city-watch, who would rather line their own pockets with coin than to protect it.
That would be the first thing to go once she had taken over.
With the money she would make from contract with The Dark One, she would be able to start turning the city around into something she once she once remembered.
Stood in the robes she had once run in the assassin stood in her tent with a rough plan in her head of how she was supposed to enter the impregnable city, she would have to do it under the cover of darkness without being seen, but once inside if anyone recognized her that wasn't her friend she would quickly be taken to the one assassin that stood in between her and the city.
Tybalt.
A former thief from Agrabah, the story went that as he lived as a simple street rat, taking everything he could get his hands on, he came across Mentor Claudius and stole a pouch of coins. Stealing from the man was no easy feet, even for someone from that particular kingdom. But he took a young Tybalt under his wing like he done with all the assassin's in the Brotherhood, having seen his potential.
She knew from her own experience in Agrabah. having had something she needed stolen from her by her own street rat, that they were slippery especially if you found yourself in a chase after them.
Named Master of Thieves, the man was put in charge of the thieves guild inside the city. From there, he managed the guilds that were situated all over the Enchanted Forest. Allowing them to be available for any assassin in the area to wave for their assistance should they need a guard or two distracted.
Which reminded her. She would need to build one from scratch once she had the city, one ran by someone she could trust. There was one man in Sherwood Forest she could trust, but finding him would have to be put to the back of her mind for the time being. She had to get her home back first.
Tybalt was the fastest assassin out of all of them. The expert free-runner would be able to beat you in any terrain either roof to roof or in the tree's. But like anyone, he had his own demons. He liked to gamble just a little too much for his own good. Which is probably why Monteriggioni was in such a dire situation, he would've allowed the city to spiral out of control, and without Angelo there to keep things steady, she wondered why it had taken almost four years for it nearly come to ruin.
"Milday" the Queen's Huntsman caught her attention, taking out of her deep thoughts "The men are ready. We attack on your word" he tells her, ordered to report to her by the Queen.
"That won't be necessary" she says as she heads for he entrance of her rather large tent that stood in the middle of the camp. It felt more like she was trapped within more like protected as she and the Huntsman made there way to the edge of camp, men sat around preparing for a fight that was not happening "Tell your knights to stay here, if they come anywhere near the city wall, I'll kill them myself" she warns him.
"Are you sure that's wise?" he reply's, think back to what the Queen had ordered him to do. He was to make sure the redheaded woman kept her word to infiltrate the city and not go back on her word "The Queen-" he tried to discourage the woman only to get interrupted.
"I don't care what the Queen says, as long as you're here with me, you take my order's" she tells him as they reached the edge of camp.
"Yes milady" he hesitantly agreed with the redheaded woman in front of him.
"I'll go into the city myself. I'll be returning soon" she says before pulling the lilac hood over her long red hair to climb up in the trees that surrounded the fortress. There was only one person she could go to to get the help she needed to re-take the city without any bloodshed. She just had to hope she'd be willing to help her once again.
Scaling the walls of Monteriggioni felt like she was in a dream she would have while she was on the Godspeed, but instead of the wall going on and on until she finally woke up, the assassin thankfully found the edge of the wall, pulling herself up just enough to check for guards on sentry duty, but just she look over a city guards coming to stand between the merlons that littered down the whole rampart.
With a single movement the assassin pulled herself up and over enough to take the guard by surprise, sinking a hidden blade deep into his chest, before tightly grasping the top of his armor to pull him up and over the rampart to let him drop from the great height, hearing a sicking crack coming from the bottom of the wall.
With the rampart free of guards the assassin swiftly climbed back over to run across the poorly lite rampart to drop back onto a roof of a nearby building.
She was in.
Her old home was worse than she first thought. The once vibrant and colorful city had been dulled a sickly grey by the sky that hung overhead as she roamed the almost empty street. Even the fountain that sat at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the villa looked sad as overgrown ivy almost covered the Brotherhoods insignia as the water in the fountain stood stagnant from years of neglect as putrid smell wafted off its surface.
No one seemed to give her a second look as she roamed the almost empty streets. They didn't seem to care as she pulled up the scarf to cover up the bottom half of her face as a pair mercenary's walked right past her. The only businesses that had survived the last few years were the blacksmith, the Apothecary and the Tavern.
The street's were bare like a sickness had driven the residents out of the city, everyone she passed had a sullen look on their face like they hadn't smiled in months. They were miserable. But they stayed because they knew it wasn't much better outside its wall than it was inside.
Her stomach churned, at the state of her childhood home, which only made her more determined than ever to put an end to it's suffering as she headed to the building she would find the woman she could easily call her mother.
La Rosa Colta was the place she was born and raised. The three story square, building lacked the vibrant energy that once surrounded it, as forced feminine laughter floating through the air. She didn't even need to see the bruises that covered the woman's exposed arms in the low cut dress to see that she didn't want the city guardsman she was entertaining for the evening to touch her.
Looking up the side of the building, the redheaded assassin found the small balcony that lead right into her room. If she had to fight Tybalt one-on-one, she would need more than the weapons she had on her person when she first ran for her life.
Scaling the building, the master assassin easily picked the lock on the set doors that led into her bedroom. The same bedroom she and her mother once shared for the first five years of her life, the room she once thought she would never spend another night in when she left.
Stepping into the dark room, not a single thing had been moved out of place as the floor creaked under her weight. Thick layers of dust wafted through the air from the chilled breeze that swept through the open doors. The simple bed opposite the door's had been made like they were waiting for her to return. Maybe someday Poala had hoped that she would return one day.
She felt the most at ease in her room. Away from the villa and the other assassin's, she was in her own world where she could forget about everything that had gone wrong that day. Her curiosity got the better of her as her feet took her to the bookcase full of books her mother had collected over the years she spent in Monteriggioni. Her hand instantly found her favorite out of all of them
Homer's The Illiad.
Stories of war, love and friendship, revenge, fate and free will and honor. The stories captivated her young mind in what little free time she had. She even named her horse after it's main hero, a fierce warrior with the strength and courage to take on an entire army and win. It was the only thing that ever connected her and her mother.
Her mother's old books helped her imagine a world the wasn't real, full of gods and monsters that roamed the earth. She wished that world was as real as the one she lived in. The stories never had a happy ending to them as someone would always fall short of their mission, it be by a God or someone that called themselves a hero.
On the inside of the book was an inscription her mother had made in her own hand before she died suddenly. the only thing to date that proved her mother's existence in this land.
"If they are hero's, does that make us the heroines?".
Caught up in the memories the redhead hadn't realized light illuminated room from behind her as the hairs on the back of her neck sprung up on end, warning her of the danger behind her.
"Do not move, you piccola merda"(Little shit) Poala sternly told the intruder in front of her with their back to her "Did you really think you could steal from me?" the madam added keeping the crossbow in her arms aimed straight for the figure's heart "Now turn around and show me your face vigliacca!"(Coward).
The figure ignored her first instruction and lifted up their free hand to reach the hood that covered their head only for the Madam to quickly stop them "Ah, ah, ah. Lentamente (Slowly)" she instructed as her finger hovered over the trigger. The figure slowed their actions down as the older woman saw a flash of metal work on the figure's forearm in the light that came from the corridor, when the hood fell, Poala saw a shade of red hair she thought she would never see again as her.
"Usignolo" she breathed like a prayer as Amelia turned around to face her for the first time in years.
"Poala" Amelia breathed out her name in relief seeing the one woman that could help her when she needed it most. Dropping the crossbow onto the wooden floor the older woman quickly closed the distance between them, to gather the girl she had practicably raised into her arms, holding onto a girl she would easily call her daughter, only to quickly pull out of the embrace to send an open handed slap against the young woman's forehead making her flinch back in pain.
"Ow!" the redheaded woman hissed out in pain as she rubbed her head as the skin stung.
"What are you doing here you stupid girl!" the Madam seethed at the assassin.
"I came to get my home back" Amelia simply stated to the woman that raised her.
"You need to leave Amelia. It is not safe for you here" Poala frets to her "What if they find you?" .
"They already have!" she angrily tells the older woman making the woman flinch back in fear at the anger in her "Angelo already found me. He took my three-year old son from me, before before killing the man I loved. He hired a one handed pirate to sink our home into the sea".
That is where the caretaker had been of late. The slithery man had suddenly left without warning with whatever the city had left to it's name and not returned since.
"That is why I'm back, to take whatever the most valuable thing they have away from them, to make them feel the same way I have felt every since I saw them kill Romeo. I don't care if take me a year or ten, I will make sure they suffer for letting taking away the thing I loved the most. I will hunt each of the assassin's down until no one is left, then and only then I will finally be free of them. But I need Monteriggioni to do it, otherwise the last four years of my life would've been for nothing. I would've lost my son and my truelove for nothing".
She wanted revenge. That is what Amelia wanted more than anything in the world, she should send the girl away, or better yet hand her over to Tybalt for her own good, she would be imprisoned by she would be alive. But this girl was just as stubborn as her mother, perhaps worse, and she had inherited her father's determination and fighting spirit. If she left the girl to herself, she would get herself killed as soon as she stepped out of the Bordello.
"Okay" the older woman relented "But we are doing this my way. Luckily for you I know a few people who might be willing join you on your fool's errand. Come back here this time tomorrow night. And I will have the numbers you will need to bring Tybalt down for good".
"Thank you".
"Do not thank me yet girl, you will need to be ready for whatever Tybalt will throw at you, he will not willingly give this place over in fear of Claudius's wrath and then if by some miracle you manage to get this place, you will need to be ready to lead this place out of the hole".
"I know. Just get me the keys and I'll get our home back to the way it was".
Camelot
Year's Later
With the celebrations of the newly appointed knights of the round table going further into the night, the redheaded assassin had to finally give into her drowsy state as celebrations continued around her as her eyes kept drooping shut as she tried to listen to a story one of the dwarfs was trying to tell, knowing it was a losing battle knowing her condition, she quickly made her excuses to the others before making her way back to her's and Regina's shared room alone. Unaware of a hooded figure was also following her through the dark hallways.
The long corridor's were illuminated by the candles that flickered in the slight breeze that gently fanned through the castle as her feet took her closer to the rest she needed after the long day of dead ends and near misses.
The girl under the hood knew she would have make her move sooner than she first thought,but that didn't deter her from what she needed to do. She just had to be patient. Her patience was rewarded when dead into the night she made her way through the quiet corridors of King Arthur's castle as its residents and guests slept
With the other's guards down for the evening, MJ waited for the other's to go to bed before leaving her room to enter the dimly lit corridor's to navigate her way towards the assassin and former Queen's room, easing past King Arthur's guards by ducking into the dark alcoves the candle light or moonlight didn't touch.
Turning a corner she was only meters away from her destination only to see the redhead's own adopted sister's prowling the corridors with her hood on her shoulder's, only to disappear around another corner. Letting out a sigh of relief the teenage continued her journey until she was stood right outside the Black Widow and Evil Queen's room.
This was it. This was the moment she would get her revenge for her father.
The redhead's own son had been too easy to look her way as she indulged in his innocent text messages, she had him in the palm of her hand, like a little love sick puppy. But at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little bad for what she was doing just to get closer to his mother. He genuinely liked her and deep down, she liked him. But that didn't matter, she'd been planning for too damn long to give up at the last hurdle.
Coming the door, the teen girl carefully opened it, to quietly slipped into the room to see the two figure's sleeping soundly underneath the covers of the four post canopy bed. The Black Widow was slept on her side with her back to the Evil Queen, as the older woman hand absentmindedly reached out for the assassin's waist, before settling back down to sleep next to her partner.
Reaching into the long robe she wore to hide her figure in the darkness, the teen took out one of the redhead's own flintlock guns she had taken from her adopted sister's apartment to aim straight for the woman's heart.
She only had one shot at this, and she wasn't going to miss. This was for her father, for the life she should've had if it hadn't been for the woman's own sense of vengeance to blind her.
Pulling back the hammer with her thumb the teen hovered her finger over the trigger knowing she would have to run as fast as she could as soon as it went off. But the risk was worth the reward if it meant she found some sort of payback for her father, to make the assassin's own son feel what she felt when her parent was ripped away from her.
Her felt her heart thumping in her chest as she made her finger pull the deadly trigger, only for a hand to grab her wrist at the wrong moment as her the barrel of the flintlock was aimed high into the ceiling of the canopy bed as the resounding loud bang and bloom of white smoke emitted from the weapon alerting everyone in the castle to that room as the former Queen was startled awake from her slumber as she sat up to find a hooded figure stood over their bed with a pistol in their hand as Amelia held onto the person's arm having woken up only a few seconds earlier.
Not even a second later the door burst open as Anastasia barreled into the room to see a figure stood over her sister with a flintlock in their hand. Using the bed as leverage the seasoned assassin sprung herself forward over the woken Queen and her sister to attack the hooded figure as the gun fell onto the bed.
"WHAT THE HELL!" the former Queen exclaimed in surprise to see Amelia sat up on her knee's next to her as the pale moonlight coming through the window was the only light to illuminate the fight.
"Regina! Amelia!" the newly appointed knight called out to the pair as he ran through the hallways from his and Mary Margaret's room.
David was the first stumble into the room with his sword in his hand as he tried to find the source of the loud bang he knew for a fact that had come from a gun as he found Anastasia in the throws of fighting the assailant on the ground as Hook quickly joined him, with his own sword in his hand looking like he had quickly thrown on the black shirt and leather pants to hurry towards the source of the gun shot as Emma and Mary Margaret quickly joined them with a crying Neal in her arms.
"Yes! Please bring more people in here!" Regina exclaimed at the crowd had gathered to see her and her partner in only their night gowns as the fight between the blonde assassin and the hood figure continued, only it had started to escalate as they had started to grab whatever they could get their hands on to smash or hit onto the other's head.
"Enough!" Regina exclaimed as she waved her hands out to freeze both Anastasia and the hooded figure where they were on the floor as the candles in the room lit up around them as Henry and Tom finally made it to the room to see all the adults, in various state of their night clothes the teen stood in a loose pair of pants and a loose shirt as his the leather gauntlets sat on his forearms he saw what he and Henry had heard from their shared room.
Waving her hand once again, the former Queen unfroze Anastasia and the hooded figure allowing David and to step into the room to take a hold of the hooded figure before they thought about jumping out of the window to escape as the blonde assassin wiped the blood that trailed out from her nose as she slowly stood herself up with the help of her sister who held out a helping hand for her sister to take.
The older assassin in room didn't get a chance to interrogate the hooded figure herself as a number of footsteps approaching the open door as Regina summoned a robe for both her and her partner as King Arthur and a number of his guard to march into the room including John as they tried to figure out what had disturbed the whole castle at the late hour.
"What is the meaning of this?" the King demanded to know out of the Storybrooke residents as he see's David and Killian holding a hooded figure between them and a pistol with the redheaded assassin as Anastasia zeroed in on the King.
"Is this another attack on my sister your majesty?!" the blonde assassin spat at the King "If you really want her dead, you'll have to go through me first!" she growled at the King before a hidden blade shot of her gauntlet as she stepped forward to attack the King only for her sister to quickly pull the woman away from the King.
"Anya!" Amelia called out to her sister as she shot off the bed to face the hooded assailant herself "It's not them" she tells her, already knowing who was under the hood.
"How do you know?" Anastasia asks her sister. Her sister was keeping more secrets from her, she just knew it.
"I just do, okay? Trust me" she says seeing her younger sister take in a calming breath as the redhead turned towards her son.
"Tom. I need you to wait in your room. Take Henry. You can't be in here right now".
"What? No! we're staying here" Tom quickly protested as Henry quickly nodded along with his cousin "They just tried to kill you Mom! Whoever they are-".
"Tom please" she pleaded with her son, he was in no state of mind to find out who was really under the hood as she heard quiet sniffles coming from her 'attacker'. She wanted to save him the heartbreak, just this once if she could help it.
"No!" he tells her, going foot to foot with his mother as Regina saw the desperation in her partner's eye's for her son to leave the room for them to unmask their would be murderer.
"Tom" John sternly called out to his son, only for the redhead to quickly see the losing battle with their teenage son.
"It's okay" the redhead tell her ex, before looking back to David and Hook.
"Take off her hood" Amelia instructs David who gently pulled the back of the hood to reveal the girl that she knew would come after her sooner rather than later.
Audible gasps resounded around the room as MJ kept her eye's firmly on the redhead in front of her. The pair stood in silence as the groups tried to understand why the teenage girl had tried to kill the redhead in front of her.
"Michelina-Jeva" she called MJ by her true name seeing her father's eye's looking straight back at her, she seemed surprised that the redhead knew her true name "It's been a long time" she greets the girl.
"Amelia" MJ almost growled out at the woman that ruined her and her mother's life as she tried to pull her arms our of Prince Charming's and Captain Hook's hands.
"Escort the girl to the dungeons" King Arthur ordered to his men.
A couple of knights stepped up to carry out their King's orders only for the redhead to quickly stop them, holding out a hand to stop them. She needed to know something to confirm who she was really was.
"What was the last thing your father said to me before he died?" she asked the girl in front of her.
"A plague..upon both your houses!" the teenage girl yelled in the redheads face as the woman stood before unperturbed by the girls attempt to intimidate her as she simply just stared back at the girl she should have done better by.
"Take her" at that David and Hook let the guard take MJ out of their hands to be taken away as Tom could do nothing but watch as the girl he liked be taken away by King Arthur's men.
"Tom" Amelia tried to call out to her son, she knew how much MJ meant to him, and she knew how it felt to be hurt by people she cared about the most. But her attempts to comfort him went unheard as he made his way out of the crowded room as Henry followed his cousin out. She felt helpless at what to do for her son at that moment as she looked to the one person that would be able to get thought to him at that moment.
"John" she needed him to go after him, someone to stop him if he thought of going down to find MJ himself.
"I've got him" the Captain nodded knowing what his wife was asking of him.
"No" the King stopped his knight from going after his son "My apologies milady, I must insist that we must discuss what happened tonight".
"And we will, when I make sure my son is okay" Amelia tells the man who dared to stop her from trying to get to her son.
"While she resides in Camelot it is a Camelot issue. She has attempted to take the life of one of my guests and must be investigated at once".
"And I insist that no King has any business that concerns the Brotherhood of Assassin's especially any business that concerns my son, you bull-he-".
"Amelia!" Regina quickly stopped the redhead from further insulting the man as the woman swallows down the insults she was ready to give the man.
"I expect to meet everyone in the throne room in ten minutes" he tells the residents of Storybrooke before leaving them to contemplate their next move.
Returning to La Rosa Colta the next day liked planned, the redheaded assassin let herself into her old room from the balcony once again to find Poala already waiting for her, sat on the edge of her old bed as the young woman closed the door's behind her before pulling the hood that concealed her face from everyone in the city.
"So?" she asked the older woman in anticipation.
"You still have friends here it seems. Took some convincing but they are willing to help until they have some assurances given to them" the older woman reports to her.
"Assurances?" she questions the madam.
"Some of the mercenaries found an encampment of fifty of the Evil Queen's knights about a mile from the city wall. They say even her heartless huntsman is with them. Tell me they aren't with you?".
"I can't" Amelia answers knowing she couldn't lie to the woman when she needed her help more now than ever before.
"Amelia" she drawled out in disappointment as she stands from the bed to pace the room "Half the people here are here because of the Evil Queen!".
"She won't have anything to do with this place, she can't even get through the front gate without losing her magic".
"Who says she won't lay siege on this place once she finds out what you've done, even the shield around the city won't protect us forever" she argues as she stops pacing to look at the young woman in front of her.
"She won't. We have a deal, once I take this place back, I will work with her to find her vengeance against Snow White while I find mine".
"And this place?" she scoffs at Amelia "Will you just leave this place to rot while you go off killing those you called you family".
"No, I have a plan for that as well, I made a deal with the Dark One as well he will give me any reward I ask of if I fulfill a contract of his of people that have gone back on a deal with him. I can bring the coin we need to get this place prospering once again. I took his deal when he gave me Iago in good faith, not even a week ago".
"Iago? He's dead" it was more of a statement than a question. She knew the old Master of Weapons had found the Evil Queen like Amelia had just done to further his own influence within the Enchanted Forest. He was smart in knowing where power lie in the land, and at the moment it was firmly held by the Queen hunting down her step-daughter.
"I killed him with his own whip, if I can kill him, I can take on any of them, what I need is this place is to find them with. But more importantly I can bring this place back from the dead, make it safe for anyone looking to escape people like the Evil Queen and The Dark One. I just just need once chance Poala, that is all I ask".
The older woman paused thinking over Amelia's words, but every word she spoke she believed in. The girl stood before her was the same girl she had to tell everything she had been keeping from her to keep her safe, and now she had to pay the price for those secrets being revealed.
"One chance" Poala sternly tells her "That's all you get Usignolo, the same chance I gave your father when he brought your mother here. If you fail-".
"I won't fail" the young redhead tells her but the older woman continued neither the less the girls confidence in her ambitions.
"If you fail, than may the gods have mercy on what left of the light that's in your heart, for it won't go unscathed on the path you've chosen for yourself".
Amelia silently nodded in understanding, knowing the madam would easily let her drown if she ever broke her word to her.
"Come, I've closed the bordello this evening for those willing to give you that chance to meet and plan our next move".
Briefly returning to their rooms to dress and to put Neal back in to his cot with a sleepy Granny to watch over the infant. His parents joined the other's in the throne room to hear what their friend had to say about the last twenty minutes of the never ending drama that was their adventure in Camelot.
Regina sat next to her partner as she tried her best to comfort her as the redhead would have to dredge up a past she would rather forget, to retell in front of her family and strangers sat around the infamous table the surrounded the equally infamous stone that Excalibur that been taken out from.
"Her real name is Michelina- Jane. She's the daughter of my seamstress back in Monteriggioni. She was born, maybe a couple of years before I left" Amelia started as she sat around the Round Table with everyone that was in the room except from Tom and Henry who had been sent back to their room with Belle, who had been woken up to mind the pair while the others talked.
"So, she's been lying to us about who she really is?" Emma voiced from her spot next to Killian "But that doesn't explain why she would want to kill you?".
"What other reason is there except for revenge Swan" Amelia reminded the woman.
"Who is she trying to avenge then?" David spoke up next from his seat, next to the King with his wife on the other side.
"Her father" Amelia tells them others as she looks towards her first love across the table "Years ago when I lost you and Tom, when I started to work with the Evil Queen" she added as she gently gave her partner a gentle reassuring squeeze of her hand mentioning her darker side on the table beside her.
"In order to hunt down the rest of my old family I needed to reclaim my old home, Monteriggioni, and the influence and connections it held with the rest of the realm, I needed its influence to hunt down and kill the rest of the assassin's that had once resided there".
"Influence?" Hook spoke up from next to the blonde Dark One.
"Mercenaries and thieves would use it as a base between jobs. With a wave of a hand any assassin would be able to hire them anywhere in the Enchanted Forest to use them to distract or attack a guard. They had eye's and ears everywhere, which what I needed in order to find the other's".
"How does the girls father come into this exactly?" the pirate questioned further
"He was the only assassin guarding it when I went back with fifty of the Queen's knights to take it back. Tybalt" she gulped.
If there was one assassin she regretted killing it was Tybalt. He was always the easiest to learn from and deep down he had a good heart, always had her back when Iago was being too hard on her, but she had push down her sentiment for the man in order to get what she wanted.
But as much as she loved him, he was part of the bigger problem and he had run their home to the ground. He stood in the way of what she needed to do, to make her old family suffer.
"You killed him" John concluded for the group out load, she could only nod as she saw the disappointment in his eye's hearing this from his ex-wife.
"How did you know he had a daughter though?" Mary Margaret voiced "Why wasn't he ever caught out like you and Romeo were?".
"I only knew because the day she was born, there had been an accident in one of the fields outside the city walls and all the city's doctors had been taken out to treat the wounded, leaving no one in the city when my pregnant seamstress suddenly went into labor. In a state of panic Tybalt, found me and begged me to help, like I was the only person he could trust. He didn't need to tell me, but I made the connection the way he acted after she was born".
"Why didn't you ever tell anyone?" David asks his friend.
"Because he was my friend" she simply tells them "If Claudius had found out, he would've been either killed or sent back to Agrabah in exile" she explains to the others.
"Excuse me if I don't understand" the King spoke up "But isn't having children forbidden in your order?". Out of everything the King had heard from this conversation was that the redhead herself was a child of an assassin, who herself had gone on to have a natural child herself.
"We're assassin's not monks and nun's" she tells the man sending the man sarcastic smirk before continuing "With all due respect your majesty, this is a Brotherhood matter that needs to dealt without the autocracy of a ruling monarch. We have given you the necessary respect of a King that is expected, but we are not ruled by you or any other royal that sits at this table" she tells the King "Once your guards took her to a cell this no longer a Camelot issue. Michelina's motive has been found and I will deal with her in a manner that is appropriate for the circumstances".
The round table was sent into a tense silence as the King contemplated the redhead's request. If MJ had any chance of getting out of her cell, she needed the King to agree to her stance that the Brotherhood stood alone without a King or Queen to rule over them. An independent entity that governs itself without a bloodline to interfere with its running. That was Altair's vision, the King must know that if he already know's so much about the Creed.
"You are right Milady" the man relents knowing he had no power in the matter as he stood from his seat "This is a matter for the Brotherhood to solve, and no one else's. You are free to do with the girl as you see fit and offer my knights to assist you. But she will remain in her cell until you deem it fit to free her again, but if she disturbs the peace again under the name of the Brotherhood, you will find you will have no authority here".
"Understood" she tells him "Thank you" at that the King leaves the throne room leaving the Storybrooke residents to deal with the teenage girl.
"So what the plan?" Anastasia asked her sister as the all looked to her for the answer. Now that King Arthur had taken a step back they would be able to deal with MJ themselves.
"For now, go back to bed, get as much sleep as we can. I'll deal with MJ in the morning" she tells the other's as she and the rest of the group went to head back to their rooms for the rest of the nights only for Hook to stop them.
"And if you can't?" Hook speaks up from his place knowing what length's children of assassin would go to, to get some sort of payback for their parent "We all know the lengths you went to find your vengeance for your own father Widow".
"Killian" Emma warned him as the redheaded assassin looked straight at the pirate.
"I'm well aware of the lengths I went to, pirate" she snapped at the man who held her hard gaze "That doesn't mean that MJ needs to go down the same path I did to find some sort of closure. She has a better chance than anyone in this room with a darkened heart had, when we needed it" she points out to the man who had spent a century trying to find his own vengeance "I have a chance of saving her fate, and I am not missing it for anyone who thinks otherwise. Especially to someone who's bold enough to ask me that question when he himself sent me down the Black Widow's path in the first place".
The Captain's gaze faltered, knowing the woman was right, his contribution to that night on the Godspeed was what pushed the woman to find her vengeance against those that harmed her family. The former Widow stormed out of the throne room as the room went deadly silent at her accusation towards the pirate. Only a handful of people truly knew what happened on the Godspeed that night, and four of them sat and stood in that room at that moment.
"What did she mean by that?" Mary Margaret questioned the other's not understanding what her friend was talking about as Anastasia and David just looked just as confused.
"Don't worry about it" John quickly silenced the question as he gave the pirate that was hired by Angelo to ambush their merchant ship a pointed look as he rose from his seat at the round table "We should all head back to bed" he suggested to the others "Tomorrow's going to be a long day" at that the other's followed the man out of the throne room to prepare themselves for whatever the next few hours brought to them.
By midday the same day, she would have her home back. With the mercenaries and the thieves to back her, she would be able to relinquish power away from the Tybalt and the Brotherhood of Assassin's of her childhood home and the influence that came with it.
With the plan they had spent hours going over, they would take the city with no civilian casualties. But nothing she ever planned went smoothly as their meeting was interrupted by the city watch in the early hours of the morning forcing themselves into the bordello to round up the traitors that had plotted behind the Brotherhood's and Tybalt's back.
One by one Amelia, Paola, Lance and LeBeau were escorted by the guards towards the fountain where Tybalt was already stood there in his forest green robes waiting for the them to be presented to them. Next to him, stood the current head of the mercenaries of Monteriggioni, a man named Cornwall that overshadowed every man in front of him in stature and strength, who would snap a mans neck at a simple squeeze of his hand. He was a mountain of a man. Not even Lance bigger psychic could compare to the man stood next to them with a large double bladed axe in his hand.
"Amelia" Tybalt greeted the young redhead he hadn't seen in years approach him and his comrade with a toothy grin as he held out his arms in a welcoming manner "Welcome back. We've missed you".
"Wish I could say the same Tybalt" she reply's as she and the other's were pushed on their knees by the city guard that was firmly in the grasp of the Master Assassin stood in front of her.
"Now, now Amelia, that isn't how you greet an old friend isn't it?" he drawled out as he approached her and her co-conspirators, only he turned his attention to the older women of the group of conspirators.
"Poala, mia cara" he almost purred out as he crouched down to speak to the older woman "Didn't you learn that associating yourself with traitors brought you nothing but pain?" he told the older woman before cutting the material that covered her arms with a dagger to reveal warped scars that come from the hours she had spent being punished for her part of keeping Romeo's secret.
The sight made the redhead sick to her stomach to what her discovery had effect on those she most cared for that were left behind. So much blood already covered her hands, she hadn't even started her mission.
"Leave her alone!" the young redhead yelled to the man that she once saw as her family "This is between us".
"I don't think it does Amelia" he replied taking his attention away from the older woman to walk towards her "We all know about what happened to Iago, I must say I'm impressed how easily you killed him. But you did have the Evil Queen to help didn't you? She's not here to help you know Amelia".
"I don't need her help to kill you" she growled to the man as he crouched down to speak to her.
"Really? Because the Queen herself sent a message ahead of your arrival to warn me of what you want to do. Something tells me she doesn't believe in your fool's errand as much as you do".
"Then let me prove her wrong. You're a betting man right? Let's make a bet right here and now and settle this between us. High stakes, winner takes all" she proposed to the gambler in front of her as he listened closely to what she was going to say.
"What are your terms?".
"If I beat Cornwall, then you hand Monteriggoni over to me, your men are free to leave the city with their lives".
A boisterous round of laughter left the men around the conspirators at the woman's proposal, before they sobered enough for Tybalt to speak.
"And when he beats you?" he asks her.
"You get to hand me over to Claudius" she tells him "Imagine what he'll be willing to offer you if you hand him over the thing he's been obsessed with for the last four years. Probably name you his successor now that Iago is gone" she continued to plant the seeds of his eventual downfall into his head, before the redhead moves her lips closer to his ear so that only he could hear her "He'll probably even forgive you for fathering a child. A daughter if I remember right. Something he couldn't even forgive Romeo for" she whispers the silent threat that laced the sentence before he jerked away seeing a knowing smile grow on her face.
Her old teacher would have to agree to her terms knowing she held such information. He needed to silence her for good. And what better way than under the crushing hand of Cornwall.
"I agree to the terms. We fight at midday".
With terms agreed, Amelia entered the small training ring that she had been trained in from the rank of Novice to Master Assassin with the same weapons she had left Monteriggioni with. Her hidden blade's on wither forearm, the incomplete set of throwing knives and one of her cutlass swords.
She knew Tybalt wouldn't fight her one-on-one, he knew she would beat him easily, that's why she decided to challenge Cornwall instead. He always hid behind other's when it mattered, he hid behind Iago's domineering presence as The Prince Regent of Monteriggioni and Richard never cared about his positioning within the Brotherhood, too busy with his own ambitions of grandeur outside of the Creed.
The training ring felt smaller than she last remembered it, as Cornwall's large structure seemed to take up more than half of the ring as mercenaries and thieves gathered outside the ring to watch the fight themselves.
Poala, Lance and LeBeau at stood on the steps that lead up to the Villa that sat above the rest of the city with city guardsmen stood in between them as their hand's bound together in front of them. Tybalt was trying to spook her, with the visible threat they imposed. The second she lost they would all be killed and strung up outside the city gate as a warning to anyone else that dared to fight the Brotherhood of Assassin's along with her.
With a helm over his head and leather armor over his chest, Cornwall's presence was made known to her as he swung his heavy axe in smooth, precise movement's that even made her jealous of the way he could use the axe. The weapon in his hand would be able to cut her head off with one strong swing to her neck.
At least she wouldn't know much about it.
But it was the hands that held the weapons that worried her. Even if she did managed to get the axe out of his hands, his hands would be the next problem. He would be able to break any bone once he got it in his grasp. And if he got your head, the strong fingers would be able crush any skull. She'd even witnessed it herself when she was younger.
But she wasn't going to let that stop her from what she wanted. Her smaller structure would have the advantage over his strength. Unsheathing her sabre from her side, to face the man head on as she started to circle the inside of the ring, around the man stood in its center as more mercenaries gathered around he outside to watch the spectacle
"Do you remember who I am?" she taunted the larger mercenary in the center of the ring.
"Some dead girl" Cornwall answered from behind his helm before he lunged forward bringing his axe high into the air to bring it down onto the female assassin only for the redhead to smoothly step away from the edge of the sharp blade to continue its journey into the ground as she walked unscathed from the attack.
"I'm the daughter of Master Romeo Montague" she tells him and every other mercenary in the area that could hear her "But I don't need to tell you that do I, Cornwall?" she questioned him as he wildly swung around with his axe leading him to try and reach her once again, only for Amelia to calmly duck under the swinging blade.
"While you've all lived here reaping the benefits of living under Tybalt's leadership, your people have been starving!" she yells towards the crowd that had started to gather in front of the villa, word had reached of what little had remained of the townspeople that the fight for control over the city was taking place. They wanted to witness the return of Romeo Montague's Apprentice and daughter. And she was more that willing to let them hear her as she fought for the city she loved. But she wouldn't be able to do it alone. She needed it's people.
"Your city cries out for help!" she exclaims as Cornwall lets out a battle cry hoping to drown out her words as the axe missed her before ending up in the wooden railing that surrounded the training ring, embedding itself into wood. Just the same way Iago's axe did the same day she had to run from her home. The larger man grunted with effort as he tried to pull his axe out of the wood as the redheaded assassin continues to speak to the city's people behind Tybalt.
"And yet you ignore it! For what?! Protection? He is no better than any Evil Queen or King on the outside of those walls! No better than any Dark One! Only difference is that while your children starve, he sits in the villa with your taxes, gambling every coin away!".
Tybalt couldn't let her continue further as the murmuring behind him became louder with each word she said. With a quick flick of his hand more mercenaries joined her in the training ring with swords and daggers on their hands ready to put an end to her speech, or at least distract her long enough for Cornwall to pry is axe out of the fencing.
Her first attacker ran at her with a sword low to to floor before swing towards her, allowing her to under under the quickly approaching blade as his momentum took his sword arch up, using her sword the Master Assassin cut the man unprotected legs as she cut a deep wound into his leg making him fall onto the ground on his back before her sword found itself plunging into his chest.
The next mercenary was ready to strike next as he swung his sword toward her only for the seasoned assassin to quickly meet it and parry it away from his unarmored torso, leaving his open for the redhead to send her sharp blade through his stomach as he doubled up in pain before the Master assassin jerked him up to slide the sword back out, letting his dead body to fall onto the ground.
The last mercenary that jumped into the ring with her holding a spear in his head ready to put an end to her rampage. As the redhead lifted her sword to swiftly dispatch the mercenary, she didn't see the large double axe being swung towards her head making her duck at the last second, the axe sailed above her taking sword out her hand away from her, the sword sailing out of the training ring leaving her unarmed against Cornwall as his axe ended up in the remaining mercenary's chest as she plucked the fallen spear from the ground to face Cornwall and his axe once again.
The spear wasn't her favorite weapon to use, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to use it as the larger man. Spinning the spea in her hands the assassin was the one to step forward as the larger man watched what she was going to do with the speak against his axe as she made herself skid along the dry dirt under her boots as she aimed the tip of the spear at her target, thrusting it forwards to make the mercenary parry it away form his face in the opposite direction.
Her body followed the movement of her spear as she spun to attack the man for it to be pushed down as Cornwall took a hold of her robes on her back with one of his large hand to send her flying around the ground of the training ground, landing heavily on her front as she held the spear in her hand.
The redhead managed to get herself on her back as the man advanced on her, lifting the heavily ax into the air before bringing it down to her right side only for the man to miss her as she leaned on her left side as the heavy built man slide the blade of the axe across the ground where her feet and legs were as the young redhead lifed her legs out of way of the weapon, allowing her to lift herself off the ground on her knees to thrust the tip of the spear pierced his leather armor to stab him to draw the first blood between the pair..
A collected gasp resounded through the crowd that she had managed the impossible. She had hurt him as Tybalt looked on with worry in his eye as she stood from her knees to pace the injured mercenary and hit the man with her spear as she started to angrily pace the training ring, that had ready been soaked in his men's blood.
"The Brotherhood killed my father!" she bellowed out at the top of her voice as anger coursed through her veins like it did when she finally had Iago on his knee's. "They killed my husband!" she yelled as the mercenary came out of his stunned stupor to run at her with blood soaking through his leather armor, easily brushing him aside to spin herself around the man as she found the back of his calf with her spear slicing through his calf high boots and Achilles tendon, sending him down onto one knee as she faced the man ready to take the killing blow.
"They took my son away from his mother!" she yelled out as she sprinted forward, jumping into the man to land on top of him as the end of her spear disappeared into stomach as he fell onto back as she let go of the spear that was impaled in his stomach she flicked out a wist as a hidden blade jumped out of it's sheath as lowered knelt down beside the dying man on the ground, as blood trickled down from his lips, his eye's met hers as she saw the pain that
"You fought well. For that I will grant you a quick death. Something the Brotherhood would never have granted me. Requiescat in pace Cornwall" at that the hidden blade cut through the leather armor into his heart where he wouldn't suffer any longer than he would have to because of the actions of Tybalt and the Brotherhood of Assassin's.
Stepping away from dead mercury she turned to face Tybalt, he looked like he had seen a ghost as he stared down at his old student who had just beaten his right hand man in combat.
"A deals a deal, Tybalt" she addressed her old teacher "Surrender Monteriggoni to me and your men go free. Just like we agreed".
The man stilled as he thought through his old students request, he saw something behind her eye's that wasn't there before, something dark, inching it's way to the surface each time she killed one of his men.
"The city is yours" he concede's to the redhead before turning to leave as Poala, Lance and LeBeau ties were cut from their wrists. Seeing the shift of power the city watch soldiers that held her accomplices quickly stopped the older assassin from leaving as they seized the Master Assassin by his arms dragging him towards the victorious assassin the training ring as he was practicably lifted over the railing and thrown into the ring with her alone to face his old student.
Pushing himself up onto his knee's the Master Assassin looked up at the redheaded woman that had once been bestowed the title of the Chosen One looking down at him like he was nothing but an obstacle in the way of her greater mission easy to brush to one side.
He couldn't run, couldn't hide as the girl he once trained free running to across the very roof's behind her now stood before him, now held the will of the people, the mercenaries, the thieves and the city watch in the palm of her hands after beating his one and only weapon he had of stopping her.
"What are you doing?" he growled up at her from the ground through gritted teeth.
"Our terms never included you being free to leave" she simply tells him as she flicked out her right hand to see the hidden blade that would end so many lives in the name of vengeance.
"A plague o' both your houses!" he raged at the young woman in front of him "A plague upon the houses of Montague and Capulet".
"Requiescat in pace, Tybalt" with a single thrust of her hidden blade the disappeared in the mans chest as Amelia's world was once again pulled into a world she had only been to once before a week ago...
The Land of Endless White
The bright sky blinded her once again as she was taken back into the endless field of white, that was matched by the solid ground underneath her feet. Once she opened her eyes once again she found Tybalt sat on his knee's in front of her with his head held down in defeat.
"Why?" he simply asked his killer.
"You know why" she simply tells him, after a pause he nodded in understanding.
"I didn't know where Angelo was going" he informs her "All I knew is that he found you and was leaving to capture you. He took all the money the city had and left".
All the coin that Captain Hook threw back onto the deck of the ship was all that Monteriggoni had. And now it was at the bottom of the ocean. Gone. Forever.
"He has my son".
"For that, I am sorry. I would do the same thing if anyone took Michelina, let alone that snake. I wouldn't know where he has taking your boy, he has friends still throughout the entire realm" hie informs her "What will happen to Michelina?".
"Nothing. My grievance is with the Brotherhood, not to your daughter. But if she ever come after me for killing you. I will take matters into my own hands. Do you understand?".
"I do" he answers nodding in understanding knowing the young redhead would keep her word. She was like her father like that.
The air was once again sucked out of her lungs as the white surroundings disappeared as she found herself back in the training ring with Tybalt's body at her feet as cheer's resounded around her. Taking his silver ring from his wedding finger the redhead pocketed it before vaulting up and over the training ring to join Poala at the top of the steps waiting for her as a new page of Monteriggioni's history was being written.
With Monteriggioni now her's, the young redhead was now the sole protector of the shielded city as she got to work that same day. The grey sky that hung over the city even cleared for blue clear sky to sit above them. Perhaps even the All-father and the Gods saw a new day was dawning on the city that had forgotten about them.
Her first order of business was to appoint Poala as her new caretaker, Lance as her head of mercenaries and of the city watch and LeBeau heading the thieves faction of the city. Despite how much she hated the City Watch she lacked the numbers to patrol the walls for any threats magical or not that sat outside the walls.
She had her work cut out for her as she looked over the endless list of things that needed to be fixed around the city. All would take a lot of time and effort from everyone involved. But with Poala overseeing everything she knew she would have Monteriggioni back to its former glory. And after rescuing Senu from her captivity of the one of the watchtowers, she would soon have the means to receive contracts from Rumpelstiltskin.
But with everything, she needed to make her stance clear with the Evil Queen clear that she and no other sorcerer had any business with the protected city.
Not even a day after she retook her childhood home Amelia waited at city gates as she watched the Queen's carriage quickly making its way down the dirt road as the fifty men that accompanied her to the city traveled behind her.
Tybalt was right when he said he had received a letter from her, informing him that she was there plotting to retake the city. But the assassin didn't see it as a betrayal, she hardly knew the Queen, and she her. No, the Queen wanted to test her new partner, to see if she would truly live up to her promise of retaking the city, if she could do that, then the assassin would be able to help her to hunt down Snow White.
But she was going to send a message to the Queen herself, one she wouldn't forget. One that would tell her that she would do anything to get what she wanted.
The Queen's Knights arrived first ahead of the carriage as they dismounted their horses and lined up as the carriage finally came to a stop right in front of the tall gates of the shielded city. Quickly approaching the carriage Amelia was the one to open the door for the Queen, holding out her hand for a pale hand with dark painted fingernails to take it as the Evil Queen emerged from the inside to look upon the city her new assassin had taken over.
"Welcome to Monteriggioni, Your Majesty" she greets the Evil Queen as she steps out onto the dusty ground.
"Amelia" the Evil Queen greeted her with a bright toothy smirk as she looked upon the majesty of the walls that stood tall and strong, protecting the city within.
Ever since she had met the redheaded assassin she had made it her mission to know more about the Brotherhood of Assassins and more notably their home. With the stories she was told by her father and whatever the Dark One was willing to tell her about the hidden gem during her lessons. She had learnt that the city had it's own unique magic, in that no magic could be found within it's walls.
"I hear a congratulations is in order, dear" the Queen continued as she surveyed the stronghold herself in awe of the assassins achievement. Her huntsman had reported that the woman had use none of the men she requested on the night their partnership started, instead the assassin got in herself into the city herself and fought over it with a man twice her size to do so.
"Thank you, Your Majesty" the assassin curtly replied.
"I must say this place is magnificent" the Queen tells her as she continues to look upon the "I also hear you've even dealt with a one of Iago's former colleagues".
"That's right" Amelia answers before a loud whistle sounds out from the redhead before the Queen saw movement from the tower that housed the giant gates that opened the city up to everyone willing to use it as a sanctuary from the dangers of the Enchanted Forest.
The Queen watched as the lifeless bodies of the mercenaries fell like rag-dolls from the wall either side of the tower that held the gates only to stop from he rope that was tied from their necks. Their heads covered by knapsacks as they hung from the walls as the Queen caught the eye of the man that she had to defeat in order to gain control of the city with the word 'Traditore' written across his chest in bright red paint.
Another suddenly fell from the tower that held the gates, this one was different from the other's as he wore a robe similar to the one Amelia wore, only his was forest green as the hood stayed over his head as he freely hung for all to see. An Assassin.
The Queen's head leaned to the side in curiosity as she stepped towards the corpse that had been displayed for all to see.
"A message" Amelia speaks up from behind the Queen, making her look back at the redhead to see a hint of smirk appear on her lips "To tell the other's that I'm coming after them. That none of them are safe".
The Queen couldn't help but mirror her smile as she rejoined her assassin. Her gamble had certainly paid off. She was worried that the woman was still too soft to be able to help her with her own vengeance, that she lacked the conviction to be able to keep up to her darkened heart.
But she was glad she had proven her wrong. She was exactly the person she needed to bring her Snow White's heart. And she only getting started with her vengeance, she shuddered to think what she would be capable of once she had completed her mission. Whatever the reason the assassin had behind her plans on killing her former Brotherhood was exactly what she needed to drive her. She had the potential to be something truly evil.
She was right about Iago. His own ambition would be his eventual demise. She simply couldn't have the man coming after her own throne after all.
Sauntering back to the assassin, a satisfied smile grew on the Queen's face at her partner's achievement in a matter of a fortnight , she could only imagine what the woman would be able to achieve for her given more time.
"I must admit, I wasn't confident in your endeavor to retake you home" she mused to the assassin "But now that I see what you are truly capable of, this partnership will be worth my while".
"You're right" the redhead replied with a tight knowing smirk "You really do have no idea what I'm capable of now I have my home back" she replied as another whistle sounded out from the ramparts above them, the Queen watched as men appeared above them with loaded crossbows in their arms all aimed at her.
Seeing the threat the knights behind her drew out their swords as they stepped away from their horses to face the threat poised at the Queen. It was a trap. Her magic would be useless against them as they stood at the threshold of the dome like shield that protected the city from people like her.
"What is that supposed to mean dear?" she calm asks the assassin as she feel white hot rage fill her veins at the woman's gall to threaten her.
"A message, your majesty. One you will never forget" she tells the Queen as the men on the ramparts pull the trigger above them. The Queen flinched as she heard the bolt fly through the air expecting hit her, but as she heard the sound of gurgling behind her she turned to see all fifty of the knights Amelia had requested now either dead or dying from a single bolt that had pierced the small gaps in their armor, leaving only her and her coach driver alive.
"How dare you!" the Queen glowered at her assassin.
"Just in case the message isn't clear, Your Majesty" the redhead starts "Monteriggioni is mine, and mine alone. I now have the men to match your army. In the future, if you should ever need more, for the right price I will gladly provide my mercenaries, and my thieves will be able find out whatever information you might need for your vengeance against Snow White. Monteriggioni will never be your's nor the Dark One's. For as long as it takes me to find my former brother's, this is my home and no one, not even you will take that from me. Do you understand?".
She had underestimated the woman after all. Amelia watched as the anger on her face relaxed as the corner of her lips twitched up into a tight smirk.
"Understood" she chirps in response as she slowly approaches the assassin as she closes the distance between their faces doing her best to try and intimidate the younger woman, only for the stoic look to never falter as she kept her head held up against the Evil Queen "But if you ever do that again. I'll crush your heart".
"I'm glad we came to this understanding" the assassin tells her "Now if you don't mind, I have a city to run" at that the assassin didn't give her a second look as the gates opened just enough for the assassin to enter, leaving the Evil Queen to be locked out of the city, knowing their partnership would be one that would be feared by everyone that dared to come up against.
Morning wouldn't come soon enough for MJ as she waited for whatever punishment awaited her once the castle had woken up. She was closely guarded all night as she sat on her cot contemplating how she had failed to bring some sort of justice to her father. The anger steadily simmered in her veins as her failure to be able to hurt the one person that hurt her and her mother swirled in her mind.
She hardly remembered what her father looked like now, all she could remember was the way he was on his knees as a blade disappeared into his heart. She remembered the cheers around her as her father's lifeless body was hoisted up and over the city walls by a rope around his neck. She remembered how broken her mother became after seeing her love was displayed to the Evil Queen. That's all she could think about for the next few years as they scrapped enough coin together to leave Monterggioni in the middle of the night to start again somewhere else.
And then the curse came. The curse ripped them away from their home to watch as Amelia was granted a second chance she didn't deserve. She had heard what she did before the curse, but it was nothing compared to the things she did while under the Evil Queen's employ.
But then Tom came. The kind, sweet, funny boy that the Black Widow had no right to call her son. She liked the way he was so protective over Henry, even when he knew he didn't need to, and she was so jealous of how close they were. It made her wish she had a sister to have a bond like that. But as much as she tried to stop her getting close to him, she couldn't help but fall for the boyish charm he held.
"Stupid" she spat at to herself as shelf her held in her hands. her mind kept wondering to what he was thinking about her. He hated her now, there was no going back for them at this point. She tried killing his Mom and she got caught.
Her thoughts came to an end once she heard once she heard a guard come along to her cell with the sent with the keys that unlocked her cell.
"A visitor" he grunts out to her as he turns the key in the lock it to allow her visitor to enter the cell. She didn't even lift up her head to acknowledged her visitor knowing who it was as the door was closed behind her visitor. Then she saw the long trail of the red dress brushing up the dirt on the ground, making her head snap up to see the Evil Queen stood there instead of her partner. Snapping to her feet the teenager girl stood from the cot to practicably throwing herself to the back of the cell to put as much distance as she could between her and the former Queen making the former roll her eyes at the girls actions.
"What are you doing here?" MJ asked Henry's mother "Where's Amelia?".
"Sleeping, thank god" the woman answered her as she took a seat on the cot MJ had just vacated "She spent the rest of the night thinking of ways of helping you" she tells the teenage she had, the assassin looked dead on her feet as the first sign of the morning peaked over the horizon. while she slept the assassin had stayed up going over every scenario of how to get MJ out of her situation. She had no idea until she woke up from accidentally falling asleep while helping her.
Only after a stern order from her the redhead relented to finally get back into bed as she began to start her day. One minute Amelia was talking her ear off of her plan and the next she found the redhead dead to the worlds as the stress of the night finally took over. As she watched her partner sleep, that was when she decided to head down to MJ instead of her, because she was just as responsible for Tybalt's death as Amelia was. She pushed the redhead to hurt one of the only assassin's she loved as family.
"Why?".
"Because, believe or not. She's worried about you".
"Me?".
"How old are you MJ?" she asked her changing the subject "Sixteen? Seventeen?" she guessed trying to gauge how old the girl was in front of her.
"Sixteen" MJ answered the former Queen taking a seat at the other end of the cot.
"Amelia wasn't much older than you when I first met her. At the time she gave me a chance to choose a different path than the one I was taking, even at such a young age she saw something I hadn't. She said that I needed to have more faith in myself, to see that things would get better, only if you wanted it to get better.
"Then why are you here and not her?" she asked the Queen. Why wasn't she here, telling her these things herself.
"Because what happened to your father was my fault, not hers" she admits to the girl "When she stated her intentions of re-taking her home, I..the Evil Queen wanted to test her, to see how far she would truly go if pushed. So I sent a messenger ahead of her, telling your father what she wanted to do. What happened to him was because I pushed her to make a leap of faith into the part of herself that only wanted to see her old family burn, and I kept doing it for years after, until it was too late to stop a curse that devastated an entire population".
"You two are very similar that way. Pushed into doing something by outside forces. She never wanted to become the Black Widow it was only because of what other's did to her she ever became what she was. She darkened her heart to the point she ignored the pain she felt each time she hurt one of her old family, instead she fed into something that help ease the pain of losing everything she had gained from Romeo being exiled".
"I think, she saw herself in you last night, it terrified her. Someone who is scared to face the world alone without the one person who would be able to bring you back from the edge. Because she knows there's only way you go from here, and it's not where you think MJ, its somewhere she's been so tempted to go back down again".
"You don't know anything about me" MJ tried her best to push the older woman away.
"You're right we don't" Regina agreed "But we want to, because there is a boy upstairs that is so smitten about you, she was willing to let the past go because of what you meant to him, and I think you feel the same you about him".
Tom. She knew the Queen would try and use him against her. But the thing is, it was working.
At the mention of Tom, the girls face softened seeing the girl was just as taken by him as he was with her, the guilt that etched her face was all the former Queen needed to see that Amelia's hope of stopping her from going down the path she did was possible. She could be saved. That's why Amelia had been so adamant that King Arthur had no sway in the matter.
The former Queen felt like she was speaking to Amelia once again, only this time, the tables had been turned. She was the one telling her that she needed to take a leap of faith onto a path that wasn't' filled with darkness.
"MJ, I am so sorry for what happened to your father, but vengeance is not the answer here, just look at Amelia and I. Everyday is a fight for us for the world to see us as anything but the villains we became. And killing her, won't bring Tybalt back, no matter how much you think it will".
"So you have two options in front of you. Option one, is that you remain here for the remainder of our stay here, and then put somewhere you can't hurt anyone once we're all back in Storybrooke".
"And Option two?" she sniffed looking at the Queen with tear stain cheeks.
"We walk out of this cell together right now" she says pointing to the locked door behind her "And get a chance Amelia never got by being trained by the Assassins and from her time with the Evil Queen, a chance to change your fate, but be warned, you only get one. Because if you try again here, Amelia won't be able to help you anymore, King Arthur will choose it for you".
With the girls options explained laid out in-front of her the former Queen waited for MJ's answer only to be met with silence as the girl weighted out her options in front of her. She never wanted someone to choose option 2 as much as she did now, its something she wished she had taken years ago, then maybe she wouldn't have had to wait for so long for Amelia to come back to her. In a world neither of them chose vengeance over the love they shared for the other.
But as the seconds stretched between the she knew what the girl had chosen. Rising from the cot the former Queen headed for the locked cell door about to call the gaurd to let her out only for MJ's voice to stop her.
"I'll do it" Mj tells her as she meet's the Queen's gaze from the cot "Option two. I want a second chance. I won't hurt Amelia. Just let me talk to Tom".
"We can do that".
With MJ's decision allowing everyone to let out a sigh of relief as they returned to the matter at hand. Freeing Merlin from the tree.. As the day wore on Regina took a break for her own sanity after being stuck in the tower with her mute sister as she found her soulmate looking well rested for the first time in weeks as she stood watching Tom and Anastasia sparring in the courtyard that held Merlin, with a sword each as the blonde assassin pushed her nephew to his limits.
Despite what happened at the ball, he needed continue his training, only this time he was being pushed harder than ever before by his mother and aunt. He needed to learn self-control, learn his triggers, where he might be pushed into killing someone in a split second decision.
Anastasia was ruthless as she struck her nephew's sword with her own, she didn't hold back as Tom was being pushed all around the tree until he finally pushed back against her attacks sending her sword flying across the ground until she found the tip of his sword poised at her neck.
A sheen of sweat covered the teen's forehead as the former Queen saw the look in his eyes the night of the ball after killing the hooded assassin. Hard tired pants left his lips as he stared down the length of the sword as he tried to pull back from the feeling he needed to hurt his aunt.
The frustrations of the night before hadn't helped as his mind replayed the moment David pulled back the hood of the figure that tried to kill his mother, only to see MJ underneath it. He wanted to let out the anger he felt towards the girl that had used him to get to his mother. The couple waited for the teenage boy to make his next move, only to see him push down the instinct that told him to hurt his aunt as he lowered the sword from her neck, before placing it against the tree as he looked to his mother for the next set of instructions.
"Take a breather Tom, you did well" she tell him as he visibly relax from the fight against his aunt before the blonde assassin jumped on him to take his head into a playful headlock as they retreated to the water they had brought with them as MJ slowly made her way towards Tom and Anastasia in a fresh dress.
They watched as Tom looked back to see the girl that had hurt him, only to shake his head at her. He wasn't ready to hear what she had to say for for now making her stop. Turning she caught Amelia's eye as she stopped once again to acknowledge the woman that killed her father with a firm nod as Amelia silently mirrored her.
"You got through to her at least" Amelia mused to her soulmate as they watched the girl walk back into the castle.
"I did. I just hope Tom will be able to forgive her in time" she tells her soulmate, glancing back to the broken hearted boy meters away from them, trying his best to move through the pain of having someone he cared about hurt someone he loved.
"He will" Amelia tells her "Montague's can't help but to fall for people like her".
"People like her?" Regina curiously asks her partner.
"Stubborn, bold, audacious, touch of self loathing" she listed off to the former Queen next to her, making her chuckle to herself, remembering she had used those words to describe her before.
"I could say the same about you dear" she playfully retorts to the redhead.
"Thank you" the redhead suddenly tells her Queen "Whatever you said to her worked".
"Your welcome. I know you had to do to get your home back".
"I didn't though. I could've let him walk away with the others" she argued to the brunette.
"I know" the former Queen told her partner knowing whatever she could say wouldn't allow her partner shake the feeling she carried with her everyday. All she could do was stand by her and support her for whatever came their way next, like they always had. That was the only thing they could do for the other, as there as something that was coming for the redhead would rock the very foundation they both stood upon.
Something only one half of a pair of Star-crossed lovers understood. To lose the person that you had been destined to be with forever. Their love. Their soulmate.
AN: Hello!
Apologies for the late chapter. Been extremely busy with work, so this has had to be put to one side for a bit. That and a tiny bit of writer's block, but I hope to at least get a chapter up at least once a fortnight now.
But as always if I'm not writing a chapter, I'm editing older chapters. Last updated Chapter(s) were 7 & 8 if you having already seen them. I'm planning on going down in order to edit chapters that need some improvement.
Anyway I hope everyone has had a nice Easter/Spring break and everyone is happy and healthy.
Thanks for reading!
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