Disclaimer - Assassin's Creed and Prototype all belong to their rightful owners. This story is beta by Trondason.

Last Fight, Goodbyes, and Departure

Alex heard Haytham and his men approaching long before they even came to view. With them complaining about the weathers and the upcoming battle, it would take a huge miracle for no one to notice.

Ziio came into the clearing first followed closely by Haytham who Alex greeted with a nod. The British, seeing the three representatives of the other tribes, commented, 'I see you've been busy.'

'All these men are from many different tribes – united in their desire to see Braddock sent away. The Abenaki. The Lenape. The Shawnee,' Ziio presented those gathered here.

'And the two you? Who do you two stand for?' Haytham asked.

'Myself.' That was the Native woman's answer.

'No one.' That was his answer.

Haytham looked between them, probably wondering why their answer was so different from one another, but he knew they had prepared for Braddock's arrival, so he asked, 'What would you have me do?'

'We will help the others to prepare,' Kaniehtí:io answered before she turned to command the rest of the group. 'Follow.'

Alex went ahead and left Ziio and Haytham in their position, quietly following Edward Braddock and, unless History was wrong, George Washington. Braddock was either stupid or his ego was as big as America was, because he began telling his guide of his plan. 'Just savouring the moment. No doubt many wonder why it is we've pushed so far west. These are wild lands, as yet untamed and unsettled. But it shall not always be so.

'In time our holdings will no longer suffice. And that day is closer than you think. We must ensure out people have ample room to grow and further prosper. Which means we need more land.' Alex was really starting to hate Braddock's attitude, but that might also be his Mohawk victim's thought. 'The French understand this – and endeavour to prevent such growth. They skirt around out territory – erecting forts and forging alliances – awaiting the day they might strangle us with the noose they've built. This must not come to pass! We must sever the cord and send them back! This is why we ride. To offer them one last chance: The French will leave or they will die!'

Alex thought that it was ironic that, in a few moments, Braddock would receive the very same threat he had just announced. The virus paused in his observation and looked back, wondering why they hadn't started attacking yet, because he knew the British general would die in this battle. The general ordered his troops to stop as two scouts came to deliver some news. It was then that he noticed Haytham sneaking down the path to where some of the soldiers were resting. He killed one of them that had a higher rank uniform and hid behind thick bushes. Alex understood why the man did that and mentally applauded the man for his assassination strategy.

Haytham quickly came out, dressed in Redcoat uniform, taking one of the horses beside the small camp, and headed to the front of the army. Alex called out to Ziio and one Kanien'kehá:ka warrior and told them to follow him. While Alex trusted Haytham and his skills, he rather not let the man go in a monster's den alone. If the British failed to complete the task, he or his allies would take the finishing blow.

Alex and his companion watched as Haytham held Braddock at gun point, readied to end the trash's life when one of the soldiers shouted warnings, everyone turned to see a French soldier on a horse coming through the woods, running towards the two on horseback with his gun prepared to fire at Haytham. Shit. Alex thought as he was about to jump into the fray when someone shot the French, Alex looked up to see a Redcoat nodding respectively to Haytham. The small distraction allowed Braddock to make his escape.

'You two stay and kill the soldiers. I'll finish the man myself,' Ziio ordered them as she began running after the general.

'Wait!' Alex shouted, trying to grab hold of her, but doing so gave the soldiers his position. He snarled angrily at the soldier who had shot him, readying his tomahawk, he taunted the Redcoats gathered around him, 'Come and get me, you pieces of trash!'

Haytham dodged enemies and allies, and shot gunpowder barrels in his way as he continued his chase on Edward, until one of the trees fell in front of Braddock, causing him to tumble to the ground along with his surprised horse.

'I never took you for a coward, Edward,' Haytham commented as he pointed his pistol at his old friend. Braddock was once a man whom he trusted with his life, but the current general no longer deserved any of his mercy or pity.

'Come on then,' Edward taunted, which Haytham would have comply if someone hadn't shot his horse from behind.

The Templar groaned as he hit the ground. When he tried to get up, he only found his leg caught under the downed animal. Braddock's lackey reloaded his musket and went beside his master.

'Such arrogance. I always knew it would be the end of you,' sneered Braddock as he approached him. He looked back at the gun and focused on him with a maddened look. 'IS the end of you.'

Haytham looked at two Redcoats defiantly, but he knew his chances were up and it would take a miracle to get out of this dire position. The miracle took the form of Ziio who came out from behind a tree and threw the subordinate off of his horse, holding the struggling man down with her knife. She looked up Braddock as she said warningly, 'Don't.'

The Templar took his chance to pull his leg from beneath the horse's corpse and Braddock took his to run. Ziio, while keeping her opponent busy with punches, shouted at him, 'Hurry! Before he gets away!'

Haytham hesitated, not sure if she could handle a man on her own, but after she insisted, he chased the general once more. He really couldn't believe that this man, who was screaming how he did not deserve to die, was the same person who had fought courageously in many battles.

'You're hypocrite, Haytham,' Braddock shouted over his shoulder as the distance between grew smaller.

'I'm sorry, Edward, but you've forced my hand,' Haytham replied.

Suddenly, out of the wood, a tomahawk came flying out and imbedded at the general's knee. Edward screamed in pain as he fell into the knee-deep water, hands going over his injured leg, while Haytham looked at where the weapon came from to see an angry Zeus standing next to the forest, clothing all bloody and his eyes had a murderous aura in them as he yelled, 'Finish him already!'

The Templar complied and sank his hidden blade into his friend's chest. Edward gasped and moaned painfully as he asked, 'Why, Haytham?'

Haytham stood up as he looked everywhere but his dying friend as he explained, 'Your death opens a door. It's nothing personal.' A contemplative pause before he turned his gaze back on Edward. 'Well, maybe it is a LITTLE personal. You've been a pain in my arse after all.'

'But we are brothers in arms...' Edward gasped out.

'Once, perhaps,' Haytham answered. He had warned him before that all debts were gone between them and that the next time they met, it would be the last. 'No longer. Do you think I've forgotten what you did? All those innocents slaughtered, And for what?' It does not engender peace to cut your way to resolution.'

Haytham bended over to place his hand over Braddock's neck as Edward objected, 'Wrong! Were that we applied the award more liberally and more often, the world be a better place than it is today.'

'In this instance, I concur,' Haytham agreed and sank his hidden blade into the man's side, not removing it until Braddock drew his last and final breath. The Templar got up and went to remove the ring that held the Order's insignia. 'Farewell, Edward.'

Haytham also removed the tomahawk and returned it to its rightful owner who was waiting for him to finish his personal business. 'Thanks you for your help.'

The British looked over his Mohawk friend and asked, 'Are you alright?'

Zeus laughed at his concern as he clapped his back and answered joyously, 'I am alright Haytham. It will take more than a musket to kill me.'

Haytham smirked slightly at the boastful tone of the Native. It had been sometimes now since he last trusted someone. He had started doubting Birch's words and second-guessing everything he said. Zeus was the first person in the New World and in the last few years that had his trust. Perhaps the source of this trust came from the fact that the man was always serious and said what was on his mind.

Haytham decided that, even if Zeus' real name was a pain in the neck, he would remember it. 'So what's your real name then, Zeus?'

'Do you really want to embarrass yourself so much?' Zeus questioned teasingly, which Haytham complied with a nod. 'It's Ratonhnhaké:ton.'

Haytham stuttered the name at his first try and was groaning inside at all these impossible to pronounce names the Mohawks had. His displeasure must have appeared on his face as the Mohawk hunter laughed harder than before and said, 'You don't need to try saying that name. You can just called me Alex.'

'Alex?' Haytham repeated the common name.

Zeus–Alex–shrugged as he explained, 'Zeus is just a name some people gave me. Alex is the one I identify myself with besides Ratonhnhaké:ton.'

'I see,' said Haytham. At the very least this name was better than the other two.

'Beside that is not important. Don't you have to meet up with Ziio?' Alex reminded him. 'She's back at where we were, waiting for you.'

'Thank you, my friend,' said Haytham, giving the man a squeeze on the shoulder, a sign of friendship, as he started heading back to Ziio.

'Friend, huh?' He heard his Mohawk friend whispered.

Alex slowly walked towards the general direction where the Kanien'kehá:ka's sacred cave was located, he expected that Ziio would be there with Haytham. He had just retrieved his entire saving of borrowed money from under a tree he had buried near the village.

During the long walk, Alex pondered on Haytham's word. The British said that Braddock's death would open a door, he wondered if it was literal or not, or was he referring the wall with the pictorgraph of unknown origin, but more importantly the rounded depression on the wall seemed to fit something a round circular object. Haytham's amulet would not fit into the wall if that was the keyhole. Did Haytham have something else in his possession that could open the door? Was that the reason why Haytham approached them and saved Ziio's people?

Alex stopped when he realized that his thoughts were all revolving around the elusive British gentleman. The only times when someone's name was constantly in his mind was when he cared about someone or when they were his obssession. Only two people were ever part of that list: Dana, who was his only family and was still in coma last he had seen of her, and Karen, for a short while, before he had consumed her. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, much like what he had seen in the memories from one of his victims. The breathing exercise helped calm him and lessened his thoughts over Haytham, and it also made him more focused on his task.

When he reached the sacred cave, it was already night. Surpisingly to him, he saw Ziio and Haytham were about to leave the cave, because he half expected that they had already left. Then his sense of smell caught a faint scent drifting from the cave, he sniffed the air again before the many souls in his mind identified the smell as sex, which made Alex gagged like a child who saw his parents kissing each other. The sound he made attracted his friends' attention.

Both acted like two children caught stealing a cookie jar and stuttered excuses before they regained their bearings, but there was still a pale redness on their cheeks. Alex smirked deviously as he asked, 'Did you guys have fun?'

Ziio glared at him for the inappropriate question and Haytham pretended to be focused on their surroundings, but neither answered the question. It was not like Alex expected that they would and he not interested in the answer either. It was just a teasing question. Maybe just a way to lighten the situation before his announcement.

'What are you doing here?' Ziio hissed out in Kanien'kehá:ka.

Alex stole a glance at Haytham who was still ignoring him, probably his way to keep him from turning the awkward question towards him. The virus then announced his plan, 'I will be leaving soon.'

Ziio looked at him in surprise before she asked, 'Why? Where?'

Alex wanted to tell her that soon the Mohawk Valley she knew wouldn't exist anymore and that the American Revolution would begin in twenty years. The virus couldn't announced any of those reasons, Ziio wouldn't believe him. So he settled with, 'I no longer have a reason to stay anymore, Ziio. I need to leave. I'll be going to the other side of the ocean.'

Ziio remained emotionless at his answer, but she closed the gap between them and hugged him, surprising both Alex and Haytham. Alex was unused to someone, other than his sister hugging, so he was a bit at lost at what to do and kept his hands away from the Kanien'kehá:ka woman as she whispered, 'I will miss you brother.'

When she removed herself from him, he replied, 'And I will too, sister.'

Alex turned to look at Haytham, who was still confused by what had happened, and said to him warningly, 'Take good care of Ziio, Haytham. If you hurt her, or she loses even one hair, I will find you and hunt you down no matter where you hide. Is that clear?'

Haytham was shocked for a moment before he asked, 'You're leaving?'

'Yes, I am,' Alex replied coolly. 'You haven't asnwered me. Is my threat clear to you?'

'Yes,' Haytham answered calmly, though his eyes told Alex he was disappointed of something. Of what, he wasn't certain. The British pulled something out of his pocket, staring at it hesitantly for a moment before he took his hand and placed it in his opened palm. Alex realized it was the same ring that was taken from Braddock and looked at Haytham quesitonably. 'If you ever find yourself in England, this ring will provide you some safety and shelter. If someone ever asked, tell them that it's gift from Haytham Kenway,'

'Thank you, I guess,' said Alex, unsure of the meaning of Haytham's word and the purpose of this ring, though he doubted that he would ever need to use the ring. His eyes inspected the small accessory in the palm of his hand, studying the white material before focusing on the red cross pattée. In his mind, he was wondering if it was a family heirloom or something. Maybe Haytham and Braddock knew each other, because their ancestors were both Templars.

'Have a safe journey, my friend,' said Haytham as he grasped his shoulder.

Alex returned the gesture and bidded both of them goodbye before he left for Boston, where he would take of one of the dreaded ships into the sea. He knew he could just immigrate to the southern land of the New World, but Europe was a much safer option and would keep him from being involved in the coming war.

First I am disappointed by the precusor's site and then of Alex's leave. I really don't know what the man is thinking, a Mohawk going to Europe. He will have a cultural disater when he arrives there, but the Templar ring should get him some help. I wish he will heed my words and head for England when he reaches land instead of some place else. What I wish the most is that none of the Assassins will find him. While I don't doubt Alex's ability to fight, I don't think he is above from being manipulated into joining the Brotherhood.

I hope this will not be the last time I will see him. No. I am certain we will see each other again. I will look forward to that day just as my Ziio is. Our friend will return to us. When he does, he will see the new world I will create with the Templar Order's power, where his people is safe and happy just as Ziio is.