Ronan ran quickly to the house. He stood face to face with Serena, glaring at her. Jack stood, watching as he asked "what is it, Ronan, do you know her?"

"Know her, yes, yes I know her... I know her father too" he replied rudely.

"Please, stop" she begged as she clung onto Jack, her makeup smudging.

Jack grabbed her arm, rubbing the rest of if off her arm. To his horror, it sat there on her arm, the mark of The Shadows. He pushed her away, hurrying to his maid to tell her to take care of Rowena. Serena grabbed Jack's arm pleading with him as he grabbed a letter from Ronan. Opening it, his face turned white as snow.

"What is it?" Ronan asked as he watched Jack carefully.

"Kahliah has been... taken"

"Kahliah de Balon? Do you mean the Grand assassin, Kahliah de Balon?" Serena asked as she pushed in front of Ronan.

"Yes, I do. Be happy, your kind has kidnapped my mother!" Jack snapped aggressively as he walked to the stable, grabbing a horse.

Ronan grabbed another, galloping off to warn Thomas, to alert him and any others he could find. Miguel and Hannah were around, at a push they could help.

"Let me go with you" Serena begged as she climbed up without warning.

"I have no time to fight you" Jack snapped as he raced on.

The Shadows had given him a place, a location. It felt too easy but he expected trouble. No doubt Ronan, his brother and reinforcements would arrive. He raced down the street, Serena clinging onto him as Thomas and Ronan raced past, followed by Hannah and who he guessed was Miguel.

"We need to get in, Miguel; we will need you and Hannah to take the sides. Thomas, Ronan, stick with me. Ronan, try and bribe the guards if you can but be carefully"

"Do not worry about me, Kahliah is the daughter I never had, there is nothing I would not do for her"

"They will be preparing her for execution, if they have brains they would have drugged her" Serena replied as Jack galloped. Miguel was out of sight, taking a long, easy road but Thomas stayed close to him, almost by his side.

Kahliah probably did not have long left, did not have long before they put a bullet in between her eyes. They galloped through guards, ploughing through most of them before jumping into the large fortress of a place. One gate, too open with a men guarding that were not an issue but there were other things that seemed to be more of an issue, a large man stood in their way, Jack and Thomas galloped past until Ronan slid off.

"Ronan, what are you doing?!" Thomas yelled as his horse halted.

"DO NOT STOP, JUST GO, I WILL BE FINE, GO!" he yelled as he drew his blade.

"I highly doubt it" the man warned as he drew his own.

"Today I avenge my family, today you meet your death" Ronan warned as their blades crossed.

"You heard him, we have to go!" Jack yelled as Thomas's horse galloped on. Miguel met up with them before jumping off at the door.

"Wait, this could be a trap" he warned as he touched the door handle. He let go as he heard a click but Hannah just swung it open. She gasped as an arrow flew into her stomach, blood pouring from her wound as Miguel caught her. He stroked her hair as he whispered "you cannot leave me, do not leave me. Do you hear me, Hannah? I forbid it!"

"Miguel, if you leave now, you forfeit your claim as Grand Assassin!" Thomas warned as Miguel laid her on his horse.

"For her, I would lay down my life!" he snapped as he jumped onto his horse, turning back.

Thomas looked at Jack and Serena, nodding as he drew his own blade. He walked in, keeping to the shadows as he watched, Kahliah with just her gear, no weapons and surrounded by guards. Her chances were not good alone but she was not alone, she had her sons to defend her.

Serena stepped out from the shadows, smiling twistedly as she asked "who is our prisoner?"

"Kahliah de Balon herself, the killer of killers, the assassin we have tried to get our hands on for many years"

"Well then, it is a shame you will not have her for very long!" Serena snapped as she disarmed a guard, throwing Kahliah his blade as Jack and Thomas attacked, slashing as more guards came for them. Kahliah struck a few before being thrown back, hitting her head on a nearby wall, she fell in and out of consciousness.

Kahliah ran down a dark tunnel, following the light as she reached it, smiling as she felt cloaked in white.

She stood in front of a large gate, made purely of white pearl and marble, it was beautiful yet as she tried to push it, it would not open. She watched as a figure cloaked in white came towards her, he extended his hand and touched Kahliah's.

"Kahliah, my daughter" Jack whispered softly, his voice echoing.

"Father, is that you?" she asked tearfully.

"Yes, it is me. This is me, my child, my daughter"

"How do I get through?" she asked as she rattled the gate.

"You do not, not yet. You must turn back!" he ordered.

"I cannot, my fight has been lost and I fear I am not long for the world" she whispered with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"There are others who wish to talk to you, Kahliah" he whispered as he moved.

"Do not leave me" she begged like a child.

Her mother's voice echoed as she whispered "my darling daughter, look at you, you are everything I hoped you would be. Brave and strong like your father with my stubbornness. Just look at you, a vision of beauty"

"Mother, is that you?" she asked, more tears rolled down her cheek.

"You know it is" she replied.

Kahliah rattled the gate, trying to open it. "Let me through, it is my time!" she yelled.

"No it is not, Kahliah, you know that. The war has not been lost, not yet!" her mother replied fiercely.

"But how can I fight when I feel so defeated?" she asked tearfully.

"You are not defeated" William whispered as he held her hands.

"William!" she cried as she stroked his cheek.

"Kahliah, my love, I have come to you many times, each time you have listened to me so do not ignore me now. You have to go back, you have to fight, for our sons, you have to win or my death is pointless. Look at me, Kahliah, look into my eyes and tell me you are defeated!"

"I feel so alone" she whispered.

"You were never alone" Jack whispered.

"GO!" her mother ordered.

"Will you be with me?" she asked tearfully.

"Have you forgotten? We have always been with you!" William replied as he let go. "GO!" he yelled as she ran back, down the dark tunnel.

After what seemed like hours, her sons struggled, Serena did her best but soon felt herself being overpowered. Kahliah picked up two blades, both covered in blood as she dizzily stood up, charging herself at them. If she was going to go, she was going to go, end as an assassin, defeating her enemy.

She did not just fight, she won, her head bleeding as she fought with the strength of her father, the will of her mother and the love of her lover. She fought until she couldn't, until she succumbed to her wound, not yet dead but bleeding severally from her head but that was ok, Jack and Thomas were more likely to survive the attack, more likely to survive the ambush.

"It is over" Jack panted as he slashed the last one.

Serena touched his cheek as she asked "do you trust me now?" Jack opened his mouth, ready to answer as he picked up his blade. He heard a gun being fired but could not see the bullet. "NO!" Serena yelled as she jumped in front of Jack, gasping as she felt the bullet. Thomas turned around, shooting the man in the head as Serena fell into Jack's arms.

"Serena, do not do this... you cannot leave me, please do not go... I cannot lose you too" he whispered as he stroked her cheek.

"Do you trust me now?" she asked as she covered her wound, her hands covered in her own blood.

"I could have trusted you from the very moment I knew" he whispered tearfully.

She held his hand as she whispered "that was all I needed to know. Take care of Rowena, do not let her forget me but do not raise her like I was"

Jack kissed her forehead as her breath left her. Thomas was already at Kahliah's side as she looked into their eyes. She smiled as she whispered "William would be proud of you both, both my boys. I am sorry I lied to you both... I am so sorry"

Footsteps approached as Jack shut Kahliah's eyes, her necklace in her hands as the twins took it, ideas of sharing their mother's title. The man stood, blood covering his blade as he said "none of you will make it out of here"

A familiar voice shouted "I beg to differ" as he plunged the knife into his back before the twins finished him off.

The man stood, staring at the twins before darkness surrounded them both. He looked up at the pair, standing up as he clapped. "Congratulations, you have killed the leader of a group you both by birth belong to. Do not worry, my kind will rise again, this time we will take Rowena. Did you think this war had ended? Did you think it would with my death? No. Your mother figured that out, she wrote that this war would be an endless circle of death and destruction and she was only too right. You both as narrow-minded as she was, obsessed with clinging onto morals and laws. The Shadows will be back and a new fight will begin"

"We will both be there to fight whatever has to be fought, for the world to be rid of you" Jack replied as Thomas stayed silent.

As the man vanished, life leaving him, Jack looked into his brother's eyes. He hugged him tearfully as he whispered "I need you to do something for me"

"Anything" Thomas whispered.

"I need you to take Rowena, raise her as if she were your own. I fear I will raise her in anger, in blood and rage and she will only be like they are... you however, you can raise her outside The Brotherhood, as you promised you would leave it once our task was completed"

"Are you sure?" Thomas asked.

"Perfectly" Jack replied as he carried the dead out.

Kahliah and Serena were both given assassin burials; they had both died fighting, on the side or for the assassins. Hannah survived thanks to Miguel who denied his claim as Grand Assassin so he could marry her.

Jack left his hidden blade, hung his sword and mourned his loss. He knew how his mother felt, losing William, his father. The pain was unbearable, enough to make him want to rip his heart out of his chest.

Ronan survived, not an assassin or a member of The Shadows but a man who avenged the burning of his wife and child, an execution brutal because he himself dared a star-crossed marriage.

Jack was lucky, no man, woman or child judged him for Serena, he did not know that she was a member of The Shadows until it was too late, until months of marriage had passed but he still kept William a secret. The bloodline of not one but two assassins and two members of The Shadows, Rowena would be a walking target, too difficult for Thomas to protect and defend, even with his new status as Grand Assassin. He took the role but never an assassination contract, not one while he had and loved Rowena.

In a way, he got the child he always wanted, treating her like a daughter, acting to her like a father would but all of them, each one of them knew it was not the end.

Kahliah was right, there would always be a war, it would never end but at least she could be at peace with the man she loved, away from the bloody combat that took her life.

The End