Edited: 04.12.22
Introducing:
Tom Hiddleston (The Hollow Crown) as Richard III
Ricky Whittle (The 100) as Tybalt
Mark Consuelos (Riverdale) as Iago
Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna Earp) as Ophelia
Monteriggioni
Many Years Ago
The letter in hands greatly disturbed the Mentor of the Brotherhood of Assassin's. In his twenty-five years as the Mentor of the Creed, he had never felt anger at blatant disregard of the sacred tenet's that served as the foundation of the Creed by an assassin under his command. The betrayal was something that would stay with him for the rest of his life. He expected this sort of behavior from any of the assassins but not Romeo. Never him. He brought him into the fold when his family were slaughtered in the night by Templar's at a young age. He brought him into the order and trained him himself everything he knew. He was supposed to be the chosen one. The one that would snuff out the darkness once and for all.
It had come from the young wife of King Leopold. He would have to repay her kindness one day, but first he needed this matter investigated before any rash decision could be made out of his anger at the accusation.
"Angelo!" he bellowed to his caretaker int he other room. We watched as the dark haired man quickly slithered into his study at his master's request, his hair slicked back with no stay hair in sight and his finger nails sharpened to a point on each finger "Close the door" he orders the man, who obliges his order.
"What is it Master Claudius?" the caretaker inquires with the Master Assassin sat at the desk once.
"What I'm about to say must not leave this room, do you understand Angelo?" he tells the caretaker making the man step closer.
"Of course Mentor".
"One of my assassin's has been accused of having a child against their vows. I need you to discreetly investigate the accusation and present me the results to only me".
"Who is the assassin in question Master?" Angelo asks the assassin. He saw the "I must know if I am to investigate further" he tells him.
"Montague" he spits out the Master of ships.
"Montague?" Angelo questions him with furrowed brows "Surely it must be false" he was their most devout assassin behind of course Iago.
"That is why I need you to look into it, before any punishment".
"What about the child? If there is one".
"Leave them be for the time being. Focus on Romeo. Once we find the pieces they will fall into place".
"Yes Master" Angelo says giving the Mentor a deep bow before leaving his office to begin his discreet investigation.
He prayed to whoever was listening that the letter was wrong.
"Ahh!" the young redhead exclaimed as she brought down a heavy axe onto Iago's own making him drop the weapon onto the ground of the training ring outside the Villa. A small round of applause sounding around the ring as Iago surrendered to her onslaught.
The Mentor watched on in pride from the top of the stairs as the apprentice Montague insisted on taking on as his own had once again disarmed the Creed's own weapons master Iago. Since her training had begun she had taken everyone by surprise of what she could do. She mastered every aspect of the Creed quicker than any assassin that currently watched the young girl.
She was faster than Tybalt.
Quieter than Ophelia.
Her aim was truer than Richard's.
She had gained the loyalty and respect of the thieves, mercenaries and the courtesans that roamed the city.
She was truly a force to be reckoned with.
A true Assassin. The one that would rid this world of the dark magic that surrounded it. She would be the one end the Dark One and finally turn the tables on the Templar's that had kept them quiet for far too long. He had changed his mind years ago on who the chosen one was. It was never Romeo.
His eye's found Romeo as the Captain watched his apprentice with a proud smile on his face. Like a father would his child. He had taken the young girl in at the age of five, much to the surprise to himself and the other's. He claimed the child after Amelia's mother, a whore working under Paola at the town's brothel had passed away suddenly claiming she possessed their sight. He was right.
Her loyalty to the Creed was unwavering as well. Assassins are always tempted to never return when they find something better outside the city walls, but when the opportunity presented itself to her when she saved the Queen Regina and Princess Snow from mercenaries only a few short months ago, she didn't take it. For someone so young to resist the temptation of a normal one was a feet to be admired. She was their sister, their daughter. Their family.
He was interrupted when Angelo slithered beside him, joining him as they watched Amelia once again take on his weapons master at his own game.
"Master Claudius" he greets the master assassin.
"Angelo" he curtly replys keeping his eyes on the scene below him.
"I have news on the special assignment assigned me" It had only been two weeks since he had been given his task to weed out any traitors and it looked like he had found one.
"Speak your evidence and be quick about it" he tells his caretaker as they walked away from Amelia's triumph in the training ring.
Claudius ordered his arrest that night. Romeo's betrayal went deeper than the letter stated. Not only had his former apprentice sire his child. It was with a Templar. The Capulet name was infamous with the Templar Order.
He thought he had heard the worst until Angelo confirmed that Amelia was in fact the child Romeo had fathered with the Templar whore. Somehow that cut deeper. She was meant to be their savoir. Now she was just a monster that needed to be killed. They couldn't allow her tainted blood to be allowed to serve the Creed. Even if she was their chosen one.
Under the cover of night while the town slept. Iago, Richard, Tybalt and Ophelia were sent to the Jackdaw that was anchored in the harbor to kill every crew member onboard until they got Romeo alone. By morning the whole town will know that Romeo Montague was a traitor to the Creed. Angelo's investigation revealed more people involved in the cover up. They were to be punished along with his assassin.
The friar that married them awaited public execution in their dungeon.
The doctor that delivered the abomination had already been quietly taken care of.
And the madam Paola. She would be punished for her involvement in the cover up. But she wouldn't be allowed the mercy of death.
The city needed to know what happened to traitors. Even if the blood ran through the streets for weeks.
Day finally broke over the city the silence in his study was deafening as he and Angelo waited for his assassins to bring the traitor to him. The study seemed to shrink each time he paced up and down the length of the room.
He already knew his old apprentices punishment. Filling his poisoned blade with the dream shade poison, Romeo had brought back from Neverland eighteen years ago. He would allow his apprentice to live in the place he called his greatest shame. Banish him forever in his worst nightmare. Forced to re-live that day for the rest of eternity.
"What of the girl?" Angelo asked the Master Assassin.
"She can't be allowed to live. Her blood carries the same blood as our sworn enemy, what's to stop her from joining them. We cannot afford another defection like Cormac".
"Might I suggest something else?" the caretaker gently broached the assassin who nodded in permission "Keep her alive and mold her into the weapon we need her to be" the man tells him "She never need know about her true origins. We can all see her potential. She is the Chosen One. The prophesy-".
"I do not have time for tales of prophesy Angelo" Claudius snaps at his caretaker "I must save this Creed from the enemies that lie within, or it will fall from within. Prophesy or chosen ones be damned!" he roars at the caretaker "You forget your place here" he growls at his caretaker, having grown tired of his stories.
The caretaker meekly broke eye contact with the angry assassin "Yes Master Claudius. My apologies".
"Go prepare the ships for immediate departure I shall bring the beans for our journey to Neverland" at that the man slithered out to his desk down the hall as quickly as he would slither in.
His Caretaker was quickly replaced by his assassin's as Tybalt, Ophelia, Iago and Richard escorted Romeo into his study his hands bound with his weapons taken off him, including his gauntlets from his forearms making Claudius turn his full attention on the traitor before him. Unaware of the young assassin that overlooked the meeting from the balcony overhead.
With his head high, Romeo regarded his old teacher as he came to a stop in front of him, already knowing why he was here. He couldn't stop the others as they slaughtered his crew in cold men to get to him. The blood splatter on his robes was the evidence of the attack as he tried to stop the other's only to fail.
"Do you know why you're here Montague?" his Mentor started.
"I do" he replied without skipping a beat. This was his end but he knew Amelia would be safe. Paola knew what she had to do when this day came. He just hoped Amelia would understand one day, what lengths he went to to keep her safe.
"Then you don't deny marrying a follower of the Templar order".
"I don't".
"Do you deny bringing her to Monteriggioni and hiding her in the brothel".
"I don't".
"Do you deny fathering a child with the Templar?".
"I don't".
"Do you deny bringing said child into the Order and taking her as you own apprentice?".
"I don't" he admits to his Mentor.
"Romeo Montague you have been found guilty of treason by the Brotherhood of Assassin's. You have been broken all three of the sacred tenets that has lain the foundation of this Creed. Do you remember what they are?".
"I do" Romeo answers him.
"Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent. Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd. Never compromise the Brotherhood" he states what every assassin is taught from the day they are brought into the Brotherhood of Assassin's.
"In our investigations, we have found you have broken all three of them. I cannot abide a traitor. Even if it's someone who I've had the privilege of teaching our ways myself".
"I am not a traitor" Romeo exclaims as he is held back by Iago and Tybalt by his shoulders either side of him "I have always been loyal to the Brotherhood, even against my better judgement. It is the Creed that had become twisted. putting it own self interest over people who need our help, our guidance".
"Your actions indicate otherwise, Montague" Claudius states "You leave me no choice. I Claudius. Mentor of the Brotherhood of Assassin's, strip you of your title as Master Assassin and Master of Ships. And sentence you to die. Peace be upon you Romeo" as quickly as his sentence was stated, it was carried out as the older man unsheathes his hidden blade's shoving the poisoned blade into his side unseen by the young assassin above them while he held onto his chest with his other above his chest.
Romeo groaned in pain as his knee's gave out from underneath him as the dream shade quickly takes hold of his body until he collapses onto the floor seemingly dead to the word.
"Nooooo!" the scream was heard above them as they all looked up to see Amelia on the balcony that overlooked his study, horror etched onto her face seeing Claudius's blade sink into Romeo's chest.
"Bring her back here alive!" he roared out to his assassin's seeing the one he once saw at the answer to his greatest questions flee as Ophelia and Tybalt run after the young redhead. They were his fasted runners in the creed they would stop her in her tracks.
"Get him to the ships now. We don't have much time"
Neverland
She got away from them. Not even his best runner could stop her.
Somehow she had slipped outside the city walls and now she roamed the Enchanted Forest with Tybalt, Ophelia and Iago tracking her every movement. But the setback hadn't dampened any plans for the Mentor for his former Master of Ships.
He had more important things to do than to chase after a girl that would barely survive the winter out on her own. After a short meeting with the boy leader on his island to ensure his old apprentices banishment. He waited for Romeo to wake from his deep sleep in the Captain's Cabin of the Jackdaw while his own ship was waiting for him nearby with Richard at the helm and a magic bean in his pocket to take them back home.
His conversation with the boy leader had revealed more truths about his year long stay at the island eighteen years ago. He had met the Templar whore here. Not only was she looking for something that the Templar's could use that would ensure the Brotherhood's destruction, but the woman. Juliet, was the boy leader's own daughter.
Particular's of how that was possible went ignored by the older assassin as they struck a deal. Claudius would dependence of a traitor and Pan would be able to torment the assassin for the rest of eternity of the latter's greatest shame. Abandoning a boy that was promised his help, only to leave the island to save the woman he loved and their unborn bastard in her stomach.
The twenty year old ship creaked as it gently rocked on the water that surrounded the island as Claudius held a water skin that ensure Romeo's banishment forever. A gasp was heard from the bed in the cabin taking Claudius out his dark thoughts as he watched Romeo sit up alive and awake. Cold sweat covered his face as labored breathes left his lungs as the poison set into his bloodstream. He looked around his own cabin not sure how he ended up on his ship onto his eye's landed on his old Master sat in his chair with a water skin in his hand.
"Drink this" Claudius tells the younger former assassin throwing the water skin onto his lap.
"W-where are we? W-what have you done to me?" Romeo asks him ignoring the earlier demand. He had never felt like this in his own life. The room spun as he tried to hold on the edge of his cabin bed for some sort of stability.
"Neverland" Claudius tells him "You came here nearly nineteen years ago as one of my brightest students. I tasked you to study the island and the magics that surrounded it to bring back to the Brotherhood for us to use as an advantage over our greatest enemies.
"Instead you returned with a Templar whore with a child in her belly. But that wasn't thing you discovered native to this island. The deadly poison that you found and brought back to us now courses through your body, inching it's way closer to your traitorous heart".
"Why?".
"Death would be a mercy. Banishment is a much better punishment for you. Away from your home, from your daughter. Never to return".
"How do you know I won't find a way back?".
"Because the only way to ensure you survival from the poison that courses through your veins is in that water skin. It will cure you of your ailments. But you should be aware that you would not be able to leave this place" he tells his former apprentice.
"So what will it be Montague? A cowards death or traitor's survival?".
AN: Hello there!
Thanks for reading Leap of Faith Part II!
The Leap of Faith chapters will be set around Amelia's discovery of Romeo's secrets and the events that transpired from it from multiple POV's. This part was focused on Claudius and the Brotherhood's discovery.
These'll be littered throughout the story. So far I've planned for at least one Leap of Faith part for each half season. Hope you enjoy!
Shout-out to Sabriel00100 for following the story
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