The Grand Assassin sat with his hands on his desk, listening to Jack, looking at the evidence collected, the attempt on her life. He nodded once as he peered at it.

"We need to call a truce, something must be done" Jack snapped.

"Remember your manners, boy!" the Grand Assassin bellowed, shaking the windows.

"My apologies, Grand Master but please, this my child, what if it were your son?"

"Then I would help which is what I am doing. I shall make the arrangements but no good can come of this, it will be a meeting on neutral territory, no weapons allowed, do you understand me?"

"Yes of course, Grand Master. Do you have any contracts for me?"

"One, I left it on your desk, hurry with it, my boy, he likes to vanish for long periods of time"

"Keep an eye on Kahliah, you may need to" Jack replied gently before he left the room. He walked outside, pulling his hood up. He did not want the water to hit his hair, drip from his hair. He hurried towards his target, grabbing him before his blade forced itself into him, piercing his throat and killing him instantly. He wiped the blood on a handkerchief before hurrying away. He left the man laid there, bleeding to death from his wounds, the pain of it all too much for a few split seconds.

He put the handkerchief in his pocket before buying a bunch of white roses, her favourite flower; one that she said reminded her of peace and prosperity, love and happiness. They were the flowers she had in her bouquet when they married, the same flowers that she was buried with all around her.

He walked to her grave, weeping like a child at the name Elizabeth de Balon carved into an expensive headstone. He took out the slightly aged flowers from their vase and replaced them, leaving one white rose on her grave.

"I kept my promise, my love, Kahliah is safe but I cannot shake the feeling that I have. I have that feeling every one of me gets when we are reaching our end, the feeling that soon I shall be joining you. If I do join you, I ask that you meet me, my love, come for me in my final minutes and hopefully guide me to Heaven. I know Hell is real because Hell is a world without you but if Hell is real, there must be a Heaven. One day we shall reunite, I know this to be true. You would be proud of our daughter, she reminds me so much of you, every day she grows stronger, every day she makes me a more proud parent, a double edged sword because each day she becomes like you and each day I am reminded of how I lost you, my love". He touched her grave as he whispered "rest in peace, my love, we shall meet again soon"

He could not face his Brotherhood that night, he wanted to keep away from it all, all the pain they had caused by fighting a war. They were bred and trained to be soldiers, bred to be the best killers imaginable but no one warned them about the possible risks that lay ahead. The pain of falling in love, losing the one you loved and knowing it was your own fault, knowing that if you had not taken a job, it would not have cost them their lives. Hell was real, every assassin who dared to love was in it but Hell was not a burning pit of smouldering fire, Hell was a place of anger, torment and pain, Hell was loving someone and losing them, feeling the guilt eat them up inside as they broke down slowly. Hell was being born into a world where your job was to be a soldier, an assassin. It was a job that put lives at risk, put the things most precious to you at risk but you never really knew just how precious that thing was until you lost it, until you faced a lifetime without it. Hell was real, for him at least, he dared to risk it all to love and he lost... lost everything.

He walked home, back to the place he rarely visited; he could still see Elizabeth, her smile as bright as Venus, her young eyes smiling at him. Home was with her, in her arms, their daughter a permanent stamp on the world, on their own world. They loved each other, he and Elizabeth, she stayed up night after night, waiting for him to come home. When they had Kahliah, they became a permanent part of each other, not just a married couple, not just a childless married couple but a couple married with a daughter they doted on, one they loved more than anything in the whole world. It was his duty to love her and protect her and try as he did, sometimes he failed and sometimes he fell prey and victim to the great evil that stood upon him.

"My love, are you here? Does your ghost still haunt this place? Is it your presence I feel here? Do I feel you or have you gone forever?"

He expected to feel something, an answer perhaps but there was just emptiness, nothing but an empty room filled with broken memories and a broken promise. He swore he would protect her but in the end, that was a lie, all of it was a lie. He could not protect her, he merely watched as she died cruelly. He was helpless, he lost her because of that, he almost lost Kahliah because of that but whatever the reason, it was personal, someone wanted her to see them before she died, to know their face otherwise they would have served her poisoned wine and been done with it.

He left the house and walked home, he sharpened his blade as Kahliah walked inside, her dress covered in mud, soaked by the rain.

"Are you ok, father? Does your wound hurt?"

"No, leave it be, I am fine" he replied quickly.

"You do not look so fine" Kahliah commented.

"Where were you?" he asked as he put his blade down.

"Refilling my gun, why do you ask? Has Ronan robbed us?"

"I heard that" he yelled from the kitchen.

"No, nothing like that, I just worry about you and that is all. As long as you are safe and happy, that is all that matters to me". She walked upstairs, to bed no doubt. He sat for a few minutes, sipping a glass of wine his servant brought over. Ronan sat by him, looking into his eyes. "I feel old, Ronan, I am not the man I once was, the man who could run up buildings and feel freedom, the freedom of life, no, I am not that man anymore. The pain I feel within, that is something I cannot ignore... I feel like an old man, Ronan, my body is breaking, I am losing a battle I knew in my heart that I could never win"

"I never thought you would give up, what shall you do now?" Ronan asked.

"I cannot go out without finishing a job; I cannot go out without exposing the leader again. If he is going to attend this meeting, I then need to find him before it is too late or I shall die"

"Sounds like you are already planning to" Ronan commented.

"I told you, I am old. I never thought I would live to see my fifty sixth birthday, my father died before he hit forty three, I thought I would do the same. I suppose fate wanted me to last until now"

"What are you going to do? Stop fighting and become some grief-stricken man down in the taverns? No, I will not let you and neither will your daughter"

"No, nothing like that, I am to suffer a worse fate, walk a different path. I believe I am meant to die, cousin of mine, I believe I am meant to finally feel the end of my life and be reunited with my lost love"

"Love is a fairy story, just like God is; there is no higher power, no one to sit in judgement of us, not a single person"

"Have you ever actually loved?" Jack asked rudely.

"I have buried two wives, one son, infancy but I doubt I shall be reunited with them, not after all that has happened to us and between us. The best I can hope for is to become a master thief, steal that which I am not supposed to have and be somewhat grateful for what I have"

"I am sorry" Jack replied.

"Many years ago, old news on an old street, just a mere painful reminder of how things can be if we do not watch out for life, our lives have changed, will change again and will keep changing, there is nothing we can do about that, it is the way of the world" Ronan replied almost instantly. He took a long breath before he said "I shall send word out, see if I can find this leader for you both"

"Why would you help us?" Jack asked.

"Because I liked Elizabeth, she was a good friend to me when I needed one; it is time I return the favour"

"Thank you, stay safe, Ronan and remember to stay hidden"

"Do I not usually?" he joked as he pulled out his dagger, very fine with a very sharp edge.

"You do not know what these people are like; they are monsters, pure monsters. If they find you, if they suspect you were there, they shall kill you"

Ronan shrugged before he left, for days no one heard much from him, proof of life but nothing more, just the way he liked it. He liked to be mysterious, strangely so sometimes and yet it seemed to be just the way someone liked it, he liked to vanish in a crowd, he enjoyed playing to the crowd, playing the crowd's sick games while he stayed out of it all. The pain of losing family was not one of the things he felt.

Jack was a broken man, if he were a sword; he would be a cracked one, broken down from years of abuse. He was a sick man; he looked old and ill compared to how he once looked. He was once a bright man who would do anything to lend someone a hand, now an ill man who slouched and stumbled, struggled to walk. Kahliah was his legacy, the daughter he dreamt of having was his to train, to teach, to love and look after but it was becoming clear to him, she no longer needed him. The end was near for him, he was going to go out as an assassin and dressed as an assassin, he was going to fight for the freedom of the people, for his daughter and hopefully be embraced once again by Elizabeth.

William and Kahliah grew close, closer in love again; a proposal for marriage was made and accepted. Reluctantly, Jack gave his permission and the two were married, reluctantly he gave his daughter to the enemy, knowing he was not his true enemy. He did not kill Elizabeth, he would not do it. The wedding day and night came and went; Jack received a message from Ronan, an address written in his hand.

He knew what he had to do, where he had to go, it was simple to him. To save Kahliah, he had to finish what was started. If the address was real, he would find a monster there, the leader of The Shadows, the monster that caused so much hatred and pain, so much loss and devastation. He grabbed his armour, pulling his hood up before he looked at a painting of Elizabeth.

"I shall be with you soon, my love" he promised before he kissed her picture. "Be there to collect me, please" he begged as he touched her picture, as he stroked the picture's cheek.

The journey was long and tiresome; he struggled in the rain as his loyal horse raced on. He galloped towards the target; Ronan forced him to stop in his tracks as he asked "are you going alone?"

"Alert my daughter if I do not return" Jack ordered as he galloped on, galloping harder and faster. His black horse galloped wildly as he tried to reach the place, the address. He knew there would be untold dangers facing him but he did not care, it no longer mattered to him. He could feel the wind on his back, the feeling of untold danger in the air as he reached the house. It was not too heavily guarded, one or two guards with little to no experience. He stabbed the two guarding the entrances in the neck, their blood splattered the walls as they dropped to the ground, paralysed and dead.

He was close; he could feel it and practically taste the anticipation in his mouth. He smirked as two guards ran towards him; they were nothing to him, smoke made a great silent partner and smoke bombs packed the punch he needed, the thing he needed to keep himself from being observed by the guards as he slipped in and out the house, dispatching any and all guards. The house was huge; a mansion of some kind, one he recognised, one he had been in a long time ago... this was where she died, where Elizabeth died.

"I never could resist a good drama, could you? Poor sweet Elizabeth, she was shocked, horrified when I dug the knife in. It was such a shame, she did not recognise this face, she could have told you and it would have all been... unravelled"

"Who are you?!" Jack yelled. He unsheathed his sword that was as sharp as his tongue.

"You do not recognise me, do you? No, I do not suppose you would either. My name is Charles, Charles Davenport"

"YOU, IT WAS YOU ALL ALONG?!" Jack yelled, his voice amplified by the room.

"Yes, it was all me, I am the great mastermind, the one that you left broken when you killed my brother. He was influential, a great success and set the order back years and all because you murdered him like a good little lap dog then I saw you, saw how proud you were of your new life, of your daughter and your wife"

"So you killed her?!" Jack yelled.

"Yes, so I killed her, I had planned to kill your daughter but... plans never work out completely"

"You were there, at her birthday party?!"

"Yes I was, ironically. I saw what she had become, saw how... brilliant she had become and thought to myself about how I would take my revenge. Killing her seemed offensive to her, to her talent but making her into one of us? Now that was going to be the ultimate revenge, to see you fight your own daughter" Charles laughed hysterically as he blocked Jack's attack, Jack's sword merely sliced at Charles's coat.

Charles tutted as he threw Jack back. Jack sprung back to his feet and asked "where did William come into this?"

"William, you mean William Holton? He did not. My son, Henry Davenport was meant to seduce her, to marry her and make her see things our way, my plan was to force you to watch your child and grandchildren become members of The Shadows but it seems I forgot how idiotic, how stupid my son can be. He chased her away but fate gave me a second chance, if only William had not been so in love, he might of accepted my offer, joined me"

"I will make sure no one ever finds you, never finds your body!" Jack promised as he stabbed Charles through the stomach, two hands on his blade, he was not concentrating on Charles's blade.

"Neither of us shall be found!" Charles yelled as he stabbed Jack in the stomach, lighter than he was. Charles lay back, coughing up his own blood, laughing hysterically as he said "the irony is, you have not finished your task, I am not the leader of The Shadows... just second... in command, your leader and my own... were the same man"