A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! This time of year has always been a special time for me. You likely saw that two years ago with my AC Syndicate Christmas story. I can absolutely say that right after I posted the last chapter, I got swamped with work. This is because of two reasons. One is that the store I work at is a local giant in Christmas decorations and home appliances. We're always busy around Christmas, and I needed the shifts for school and Christmas gifts. I do apologize for this, but I hope that you enjoy the first chapter in Troy's eyes. I like to think of him as a smarter, less arrogant version of Jacob Frye. This is to serve as a final wrap up and lead into the big battle for Arendelle with Assassin's Creed Resurrection. It will be coming sometime in January-February 2018, so please don't forget to hit the follow button to stay up to date and be notified when the next installment comes out. And now here we go, the grand finale...

Epilogue: Conflict Resumption

Rabbit isn't a real rabbit. Though most people already know that since we are notorious enough. And I say that I am proud to be the other half of the Broken Chain Brothers, Troy. More than proud, in all honesty.

Like our surrogate brother, Asgeir, we are Assassins fighting at the highest level of passion and courage for the freedom of all. Rabbit and I were taken from our family when we were very young, and sold into the slave trade to work in the slate mines of King George. We don't know how old we were when it happened, but our Master said he bought us from slavers when I was 3 and Rabbit was only an infant named Jack at the time. And yes, Rabbit gave himself the name to be funny as well as appropriate when he chose it. Jack. Rabbit.

It was a very young age that he stole us away at, but these devils believed that the younger they found their slaves, the easier it would be to brainwash them into becoming sheep for them to herd away into their caves.

I was 8 and Rabbit was 6, but we knew how the world worked at those ages. Despite my attempts to protect my brother from the beatings, we both got them plenty. We worked in slate mines. Throughout our years, I worked hard to be sure that Jack and I could survive among the poor people in there, provoking the guards to hit me anytime they showed interest in giving my younger brother the stick instead of the carrot. It worked. Most of the time. We had been taken to several different mines throughout the kingdoms, learning that slavery was one of the driving forces of the kingdom, with very few nobles even trying to fight for our basic rights. I at least can be happy that I didn't have to worry about having to pull my baby teeth out myself when I was young. One guard started to advance on Jack one day, so I spat at him, and rest assured, the Tooth Fairy still owes me a good stack.

But there was one day when the guards were on edge. Then some of them were whispering to each other. I heard "intruder" among their indistinct words, and less than an hour later, a figure in a white hood was slashing his way through every guard that came across him. Even ones that ran, he dashed their heads against the walls, knocking them out. He smashed the chains off of Jack and me, then led us out of the tunnels with the other slaves. The stranger fought with the ferocity of a demon, but with enough humanity for me to know he was still a man. If anyone fell to him, it was quick and clean. Jack and I were young, and therefore could not do much. But when the stranger saw us and how we were able to handle ourselves in that place, leading the charge as what few slaves could fight held down the masters for him to kill. I was very young when it happened, yet I can still remember Jack clinging to my hand, asking me questions in his discernable young child talk. Even I wasn't sure what was to become of us after the man took us with him as the mine was caving in on itself. Most of the slaves he freed had families somewhere else, but the people who took us to the mines killed our flesh and blood. We had no one else left to go to. The man looked at us with curiosity when we refused to go with the other freed slaves, but he said nothing as he guided us. The next thing we knew, he had taken us to his camp, where other people wore hoods like his. He went into his tent, hiding his face under his cowl. We heard voices from within as we sat, eagerly waiting with wonder as to what would happen to us following this life changing day of ours.

Eventually, the man walked out of his tent, another man from within glaring at us with suspicion.

"Where are your parents, children?" He asked.

"Dead, sir." I said as maturely as I could for an eight year old. This man scared me, despite that I saw him butcher someone Jack and I hated. No matter how kindly he may have looked under his hood, his demeanor was nothing short of menacing to us. "Slavers killed them and then sold us to our master. Or so he told us. As he reminded us every chance he got that we were his property, not people in service to him."

"So, you are without a place to go?"

"Yes, sir." Jack said, mimicking me as little brothers do.

The man looked back to the tent. "Matthew says that with my own son here, we have enough children to take care of." He looked at us and grinned. "I say bugger that. My son needs some boys close to his own age around here. And I see no benefit to either of us if we were to abandon you. You're staying with us."

I lowered my head. "Thank you, sir." I said.

"Enough. There won't be any 'sir' if you are to stay with me. I am Daniel."

He took us in, true to his word. Matthew, on the other hand, thought we were only more mouths to feed in the beginning; this small group of vigilantes were very thin on supplies as of late, so they could barely afford us into their care. The last 5 years had seen the Assassins become driven out of Arendelle and cast into the shadows of the King and Queen. People that dared to continue crushing their slaves and servants under their foot. Daniel called them "Templars", labelling King Agdar and Queen Gerda from Arendelle as the worst of them all. I don't know what really drove us to liberating slaves. Maybe it was that we came from a similar upbringing, and would not wish that fate on others. Maybe we just think that we can't sit by while so many others face the same fate that we were given. As Connor put it in one of the books we read by him, the biggest reason he fought the Templars was that "No one else would". Amazing. But as far as Rabbit and I are concerned, it's all we've ever wanted to do as Assassins. Some aim to learn about the Precursors and their artifacts. Others strive to uphold the Creed and what it stands for. Rabbit and I have always seemed to think the same way that the Frye Twins did. The same as how Adewale did. We see oppression as the one thing that must be purged from this world. And no matter what opposition we face on our path towards bringing freedom to all, we will never stand down or submit, else we will fall back right into the pit we were pulled out of by our adoptive father, and our true brother, Asgeir.

The last of the ships leaving Arendelle was still in port, Matthew and Jason on it's deck as they helped the refugees board the ship. This Ingrid woman that had invited herself into the castle, claiming to be Queen Elsa and Princess Anna's long-lost aunt was suspicious to us to say the least, and it looked to Asgeir that the feeling was very much mutual. Matthew had gathered us earlier in the day for an emergency meeting. Asgeir was now in the dungeon of the castle, but he cared more for getting the citizens of Arendelle out of the kingdom, lest they become collateral damage for whatever the witch had planned. So, the royal fleet was assembled by Admiral Halldor while everyone of the branch that was in the kingdom did what they could to help with the evacuations. Either Ingrid didn't know about what we were doing, or she didn't care one way or the other. But as I sat across from Rabbit on a barrel on the dock, I couldn't stop worriedly looking up at the castle on the fjord. Ingrid had something else in mind, and she was letting us take the citizens away for her own twisted game. Was this what she had wanted us to do all along? Were we playing right into her hand?

"Troy?"

"Mm?" I looked up in surprise.

Rabbit held up his writing board. He was counting all the ships and citizens as they loaded up and cast off. "Last ship is nearly ready to leave."

"Strike that, Rabbit." Jason called from the deck of the ship. "She's been ready to leave for nearly five minutes! We're all leaving now."

Rabbit looked up to Matthew and Jason. "Without Asgeir?"

"He made it clear that the citizens were the priority here, boys." Matthew said. "I have to respect his wishes." He pointed out to sea, where the sun was now sinking beneath the waves, the firey glow of dusk on the horizon. "He said we had until sunset to move. With or without him."

My brother looked at me, saw my expression, and nodded, understanding. He tossed the ledger up to Matthew. "Go on without us, too!" He called.

Matthew fumbled to catch the ledger in surprise. "What?"

"Asgeir is our brother, Matthew. Not just a brother of the Order, but mine and Rabbit's. And we don't leave anyone behind. We can't."

Rabbit ran a hand through his hair as Matthew looked down at us. We weren't sure which of our parents we took after, since we never knew them. Rabbit had blue eyes, and messy blonde hair that he sometimes had tied up in a bun behind his head. It always looked kind of douche in my opinion. I had dark brown eyes, and hair that never stood flat, but I liked to keep it that way.

Rabbit looked up to Admiral Halldor at the wheel, and I looked up at our Mentor. He didn't like it, but the day Matthew would be able to tell us what to do would be the day that he also told the sun not to shine. We always got the job done, and to him, that's what mattered.

"Cast off!" The Admiral called out. "We're leaving!"

"Aye! Cast off!" Jason put in. "Raise the topsails, gallants and royals!"

The ship began sliding out of port, as Rabbit and I stood up from the barrels we were sitting on.

It didn't matter to us what Asgeir had said or implied for the safety of the citizens of the kingdom. Arendelle's people were now safe. And while he may never have called us his brother, we always saw him as exactly that.

That was why we knew we had to go against orders. And Matthew let us do it, because he knew that we still kept the Creed close to our hearts, and followed it with every step of our ways. If we fought with no ethics or morals, we were no better than the Templars.

It wasn't just a familial obligation to Asgeir we felt. We didn't have a choice in this matter, but I knew in my heart that neither of us would want one if we could have one.

The bolt from my crossbow shot out and hit the wall as the ice began receding. Rabbit, Anna, Kristoff, and I shivered away as the room started warming up.

Anna keeled over, shaking like crazy. "H-holy cats that's cold!" She gasped.

"Yeah, ice is like that, I noticed." Kristoff said, wincing dramatically.

Rabbit shivered, glancing over to me. "Alright, brother?"

I shook violently. "Is freezing my arse off 'alright'?"

He grinned. "Yeah, I'd say so."

Anna looked down. "The urn! It was here. It's gone!" She cried, looking over to where Ingrid had been standing at only moments before. She had the urn in her hands, but now it was gone. So was she, and-

"And so is Elsa, and my aunt. And Asgeir!"

"But I saw you with the urn." Her fiancé said, his hands under his arms, trying to warm up.

"Well, now it's missing, and Elsa is in it." She said. "I just have to get her out, let her know I didn't mean it."

Anna suddenly looked at us curiously. "Oh. Hello." She said, a little surprised.

Kristoff glanced at me. He only had seen us briefly when we busted into the room together, weapons drawn at the Snow Queen. "Friends of Asgeir?" He asked.

"Indeed. Assassins Troy…" I said, shaking his hand.

"…And Rabbit." He finished, giving a small bow to Anna. "The Broken Chain Brothers."

The girl remembered her courtesies, giving a curtsy. Amusing, considering what had just happened. The Assassins and most of the kingdom now on several ships for Corona, Asgeir, Elsa, and Ingrid missing, and Arendelle coming out of a second freezing with no one around. We may have dug our own grave without realizing it.

"We'll do proper introductions later. Especially where you got a cute name like Rabbit." Anna promised. "Right now, we need to find where they all went."

Rabbit nodded, closing his eyes. I walked over to the wall, pulling the bolt out of the wall and slipping it back into my quiver. Kristoff gave me a funny look, pointing at my brother, who was now walking around the room, still with his eyes closed.

"It's his thing." I replied. "Don't ask just yet."

Anna took a light step, something cracking under her foot. Rabbit opened his eyes. "That sounds like gold."

"'Sounds'?!" Kristoff said.

"Kristoff!" Anna said, picking up what she stepped on. It was long and shiny, almost like a giant sewing needle. Made of gold.

I understood. "That's straw." I realized.

"Gold straw. Rumplestiltskin. Kristoff, my aunt doesn't have the urn. He does."

Rabbit looked over at me. Asgeir had had a bad dealing with that beastie before. If he had the urn Elsa was trapped in, we were in more trouble than ever before.

"You are literally hanging a big assumption on a really thin straw." Kristoff said, cynically.

"But it makes sense." Anna said. "He would never let someone walk off with something he valued. I should have known he would follow me and Asgeir back to Arendelle." She looked over at me. "Troy, is it? What do you know about Rumplestiltskin?"

I shrugged, sheathing my crossbow over my shoulder. "Not much, really. Our only real dealing with him was Asgeir trying to get the Piece of Eden in his hands so long ago. Rabbit and I focus more on the liberation of slaves, to be honest. Not the Precursor bullshit."

"Here, here." My brother said, proudly. "Also, watch your mouth, bro. There's a lady present."

I shrugged. "If she's spent time around Asgeir, she's likely heard him fucking swear, you shit cookie."

"Okay. So, knowing it's in this guy's hands is a good thing?" Kristoff said, moving us back on track.

"Don't worry." Anna said. "We can get to him. We can handle him. And even if we can't, we can figure out a way how to." She looked over at Rabbit. "You guys know how to fight a scary wizard?"

"Asgeir was right, Troy." Rabbit said. "She talks. A lot." He grinned. "I like her!"

Anna beamed. "Elsa is the only one who can rule Arendelle. We have to find her and Asgeir."

All due respect to Anna, she was right. There were only two heirs to the throne, and one of them was prepared for it for their entire life. Anna might have, but she didn't have the character to do so. And Asgeir would have been the last person suitable for the throne, even if Gerda was his mother. He was a bastard with no claim, but he would never want the throne if it was in his reach. He had many ambitions as a child, and royalty was never one of them.

Suddenly, the doors banged open. "Uh, I beg to differ."

Hans. I reached down for my belt, pulling out my hatchet, and twirling it over my head. Rabbit grabbed his bow, nocking an arrow.

"What are you doing here?" Anna said as the men stormed in. Hans, and three of his brothers. Not sure which ones. There was a fucking dozen of them, so it was hard to keep track. The only one we did recognize among the ones before us was Frans, because Asgeir had killed his twin over a year ago. And apparently, he had done much more than that. Hans was now sporting a bloody gauze bandage across his face, almost looking a little desperate to cover his face.

"I'm just hearing the Assassins confess to murdering the queen they swore fealty to. Caught red handed. Right in the act." Hans smirked, pointing at the bandage. "I even have this as proof. I was attacked by the bastard, Asgeir while I was trying to protect her. They're all a bunch of traitors, right guys?"

Anna's eyes narrowed. "And I sang with you."

Hans' face went crimson to match the bandage as his brothers chuckled.

"I hate that song! I fucking hate that song!" I groaned, rolling my eyes. I kept my hatchet raised, ready to toss it at one of their skulls if I needed to. But not now. Anna was close by, and this didn't need to get ugly.

"Tell me about it." Rabbit said. "I wish I couldn't hear so well, sometimes. That song makes me wanna cut my own ears off."

"Enough!" Hans snapped. "You're all under arrest. Under my order as the new King of Arendelle. "

"Think again, Sideburns." I replied. Rabbit and I backed up, getting closer to Anna and Kristoff. "You have to go through us to get to Her Highness."

"What are you talking about, Hans?" Anna said, ignoring us.

"We were all frozen, but now that your sister's spell has worn off, no one will argue a new benevolent leader such as myself."

"Troy, did I hear that right?" Rabbit said. "'Benevolent'? I swear, I have perfect hearing, but I'm not sure I heard that right. 'Benevolent'?"

"You sure did."

"Okay. Just checking."

"It wasn't her." Anna said, boldly stepping forwards.

Hans sneered. "As if anyone will believe that. Now tell your new bodyguards, Helen of Troy, and Bunny Rabbit, to step aside."

Okay.

Three steps forward, and BAM! The blunt side of my hatchet caught Hans in the face. Kristoff took Anna by the arm as we rushed for the doors. Hans' brothers all jumped for us, but Rabbit had been ready for this. The arrow he had nocked into his bow had been fitted with a smoke bomb in the head. The hacks and coughed filled the room with the white, grainy mist as we fought through. Anna yanked a sword from the belt of one of the brothers, and then bolted with the rest of us. We slammed the doors behind us, then she used it to rig the doors shut.

"This way, Your Highness." Rabbit said, and then we booked.

"Wait! Stop!" Anna gasped, out of breath. "Too much running!"

Rabbit and I were used to it. We led Anna and Kristoff out of the castle and through the town. Deserted streets awaited us, but we knew that Hans must have brought some of his soldiers with him, and they couldn't have been too far way. We took off until we reached the woods.

Rabbit closed his eyes, listening for anyone. After a moment, he opened them. "We're clear. I don't hear eight enormous feet, so we should have lost them."

"What are you talking about?!" Kristoff said, gasping for breath as they came up behind us. "You said your name's Rabbit?"

Anna was keeled over, feeling the same. But even she was interested. "Who names their kid Rabbit?" She asked.

"No one, Your Highness." Rabbit replied. "It's my self-given nickname. Has Asgeir told you about the Sight?"
"A little." She replied. "It's some kind of magic ability Assassins have where they can see things that no one else can't."

"In Layman's terms, that's exactly right. Rabbit's Sight manifested into something unique for him." I explained, as we caught our breath. "Some Assassins can 'see' their targets if they are gifted with the Sight, but Rabbit can do something even better: he can 'hear' them. If he concentrates on his hearing, he can almost 'see' around him from far away."

"Oh!" Anna said, "So, like a bat?"

"That's exactly what people say the first time they hear about my ability, Highness." Rabbit said. "And I always reply the same way. That is one way of thinking it, but my name Rabbit makes more sense. Rabbits also have incredible hearing, and my real name is Jack."

"I get it." Kristoff said. "Jackrabbit."

"I like just Rabbit better, though. It's a cool name." Anna said, grinning. Then her expression went serious again. "Alright. So now we just need to get that urn back."

Kristoff scoffed. "Call me crazy, but I really don't wanna face an evil wizard."

Anna looked a little hurt. "I never said 'evil'."

All three of us gave her the same look.

"I mean, he is, but- Oh! I have a plan!"

"No kidding?" I said.

"Yes." She replied. "Right before Asgeir and I left, I read my mother's diary. The one Elsa found, looking for clues. There was something they were looking for called a Wishing Star."

"Uh, what's that?" Kristoff said.

"I have no idea." She replied.

"I'm not positive, but maybe you can wish on it!" I mused.

"Oh! What a novel concept, bro!" Rabbit emphasized with similar sass.

"Yeah!" Anna said, not noticing the sarcasm. Suddenly, she looked a little sad. "I'm sure they were gonna use it to take Elsa's powers. But maybe we can use it to wish Elsa and Asgeir back to us."

Rabbit shook his head. "Clearly your parents never got it, since she's still chilling out."

"Hah!" I chuckled. "That's pretty good there."

"Thanks. Been waiting to use that one for a while."

"Guys, focus!" Kristoff said.

"They tracked the Star to a pirate named Blackbeard." Anna said. "But there's no record they ever met with him."

"Blackbeard as in Ed Thatch?" I said. "Oy, gevalt. So, our choices are a pirate captain rumoured to practice black magic, or the Devil himself?"

"Pirates are better, Troy." Anna said. "You can pay them off. Kristoff and I are rich in many ways, but the thing we're richest in is riches."

"Uh…" Rabbit wagged his head, confused from that.

"We take our power from the Royal Treasury, and go buy ourselves a Wishing Thing!" Anna said. She got close to Kristoff. "We can use it to rescue Elsa and Asgeir, Then, they can save Arendelle." She looked at me and Rabbit. "Asgeir told me long ago that the Assassins have been fighting for centuries against the Templars. And Hans is one of them. His whole family is. If we get Asgeir and the Assassins back, will they fight for Elsa?"

Rabbit and I looked at each other. We had never met Elsa. We didn't trust her that much. It wasn't the magic. We could look past that. She just didn't trust the Assassins as much as Anna did from day one. And now we knew why Asgeir cared so much for his half-sister. It wasn't a need to be the big brother protecting his younger sister from the outside world. Okay, maybe it was a bit of that. But he genuinely cared the world for her. We had to honor that, wherever he was.

"No, Highness." Rabbit said. "If we fight, it won't be for Elsa. If we're swearing our blades to anyone, it's you."

"Me?"

"We've been Asgeir's adopted brothers since his father broke our chains off. That makes you as much family to us as he is to us. And with both Asgeir and Elsa nowhere to be found, we will only swear our services to the one heir to the throne that stands before us. If you will have us."

I drew my hatchet, and Rabbit his kukri. Neither of us typically carried swords. Don't ask why, because even we don't know why we don't like using them. However, the weapons themselves were made of something we held dear. When Daniel freed us, we took a large piece of the chains that bound us as slaves. When we were to have our first weapons forged, we had Keif melt the chains back into simple ingots, and used part of them to make my hatchet, and Rabbit's kukri. The rest we kept in the vault within our Assassin fortress underneath Arendelle castle.

We laid them down at the ground in front of us as we bent our knees. We were not bending the knee like people do to a King. Assassins never do to any monarch. We were offering our protection to our brother's half-sister. We saw a difference in the two.

Anna grinned. "Any brother of Asgeir's is family. Stand up, you're making me feel embarrassed."

We did, now sworn of our fealty to Princess Anna of Arendelle.

"Now, let's go find the Star."

Rabbit and I led Kristoff and Anna southwards through Arendelle. Anna knew the maps that she had studied in the castle library when she was a child, so she at least helped us through a few blunders.

"We shouldn't head west here. There's a ravine we won't be able to get across, so we keep heading south until we find a bridge."

When we reached the village port we hired a small ship to take us even further south to a town built on the Arendelle-Corona border. No one seemed to have noticed the deep freeze the whole kingdom had gone under. I wondered if it reached this far south or not.

"That was the slowest boat ride ever." Anna exclaimed as we got off our ship. Rabbit slipped the captain a small purse of gold, then got off with the three of us. We were now in Molrum, the town that marked the border between Arendelle and Corona. A small checkpoint a few minutes walk from here was where travellers had to go through to get to Rapunzel's domain. I remember hearing Felix and the Corona Assassins had a secret alliance with her and her husband Eugene, but with our relationship strained with them since the death of Ryan, we could not head south for backup.

"Oh, that must be Blackbeard's ship!" She said.

The Queen Anne's Revenge. I knew the Ed Thatch from Edward Kenway's days was a different pirate, and was curious if this Blackbeard was anything like the one from the stories. The ship would tell me quite a bit, though. And as we got closer, we knew that this was likely the last pirate we wanted to be dealing with. Red and gold colors draped the sails, and all over the ship itself matched. Her colors matched the flag I had seen out of a book on pirates in the Assassins' library: A horned skeleton with a goblet in its right hand, and a spear in its left, stabbing a bleeding heart. And bones. Oh, the bones that covered the entirety of the deck. From the cabin to the bridge, bones and skulls littered it in unique ways. We'd join them if we didn't watch it with him. The ship's shape itself seemed threatening, as the whole crew eyed us from the decks to watch us with suspicion. We stepped on. Of all the crew on board, I spotted a young woman with dark skin and hair.

"What brings you aboard The Revenge?" She called to us. I heard an accent in her voice.

"We're here to speak with the Captain." I replied. "Heard he has something of value. And we want to buy it."

The woman shrugged, then moved from the wheel. The stern of the ship had three levels, with the mid level likely holding the Captain's quarters. She walked down the steps to the cabin, and went inside.

"Anna, we don't deal with characters like these most times." Rabbit said, thinking as I was. "So be extremely cautious when dealing with these arseholes."

Soon afterwards, the woman came back out, bringing someone else with her. From the doorway to the cabin, she gestured down to us, and whispered something to him. Smoke seemed to rise up around his head, but a closer look made me realize it came from his beard, not the invisible cigar I thought he had. He wore that cliched captain's hat, and a long black leather coat, drinking from a bottle. As he walked down the steps towards us, I heard Rabbit gulp. He tossed the bottle aside, shattering against the wooden deck.

"Sir." She said. "They have interest in our cargo."

He waved his hand away. "Dismissed, first mate." He eyed us, with an aura of terror and intimidation. I had expected someone a lot more… human than this person that stood before us. "Gentlemen… let's talk business."

Anna stepped forwards. If she was just as scared as us, she didn't show it. "I'm trying to find my sister." She explained. "And you have a certain sculpture that can help me do that."

"Andwewannabuyit!" Rabbit said, slapping his hand to his mouth after he said it too fast.

Blackbeard raised an eyebrow, brushing a hand along his belt. I heard steps as a crew member moved among the sails high above. A rope just up from us moved within it's winch.

"Sculpture?" He questioned.

"The Wishing Star." Anna said.

He grinned. "Ah! Yes!" He chuckled. Not moving his hand from his belt, he turned his back to us, looking out to the sea. "For the right price, it's yours."

Rabbit and I looked at Anna and Kristoff, silence between us all. Only the shrieking gulls made a sound.

"So… what is the right price, Captain?" I asked.

He turned around to us. "My weight in gold."

Anna smiled, but was unsure of how to ask. "So… it's not delicate… how much… tonnage? What would you say you weigh, sir?"

He gave Anna a look.

"Oh!" She gasped. "Never mind. Sold! I mean, bought!"

She glanced at us. "See? Look. Things are going so nicely. Told you if we just keep the faith, everything's gonna work out."

"And I told you that pirates are easier to deal with than wizards." Kristoff replied.

"No, hang on mate. She told you-" Rabbit began.

"And no one asked me at all." Said a smug voice.

I yanked out my flintlocks as soon as it clicked with me, rolling my eyes.

"Fucking goddamn it!" I snapped.

Anna looked about the deck as the shithead and his brothers stepped onto the deck. We were surrounded.

"He did it again!" She gasped.

"How do you keep doing that?!" Anna snapped to Hans. He was still wearing the bloody bandage across his face, which was now turning a sickly shade of red, with spots of yellow.

"You didn't exactly leave inconspicuously." He chuckled. "A paid informant on the docks in Arendelle-"

"Shut you fucking shithole, twat bugger." I snarled.

Suddenly, I heard a sword drawn from behind me. Instantly, from all over the deck, ropes shot out in every possible angle, grabbing us and hauling us high up. I was suddenly flung upside down, facing the Captain of the ship, who had his own cutlass drawn high above his head. I heard the strange whispers saying something to me. There was a dark sort of magic that gave the ship it's aura. And it was all focused right into the sword that Blackbeard held in his hand.

"Troy, again with the language." Rabbit sighed, tied up just as much as me, Anna and Kristoff.

"As I was saying, the swiftest ship in the navy got us here just in time." Hans sneered, looking up at us, all strung up like bait for bears.

Anna was bewildered. "This was a trap?" She gasped. "We have a deal! Something about… well over two hundred pounds of gold!"

"Highness, enough!" I said.

Blackbeard, his crew, and the brothers all roared with laughter.

"You know, I must admit…" He said. "When you are angry, there is quite a resemblance to your mother."

That didn't surprise me that much. Those Templars would have done anything to rid Elsa of her gifts. Even if that meant dealing with scum like him. But Anna had shock that we did not.

"Wait, you met my mother?" She exclaimed.

"And your dear Papa as well." He continued. "A very regal couple. The fact they thought I wouldn't recognize royalty was charmingly naïve of them. Heh."

He looked up at me. "Same as how there is no mistaking the white hood of the Assassins. You really should look into hands unlike this... scum to protect you."

Rabbit replied by spitting down at the Captain's boots.

Blackbeard and the others only laughed even more. "Honestly, I liked them. Sold them the Star at cost, actually." He said.

"The Wishing Star?" Kristoff asked.

Anna looked over at us. "Wait, that doesn't make sense." She said. "If they had it, they would've used it to take away Elsa's magic."

"Oh, well perhaps they didn't know that the Wishing Star can only be used by those with… pure hearts."

I actually laughed. "Templars don't have those! It would never work for Agdar or Gerda! So, who's really scum, Princess Muttonchops?" I hooted down at Hans.

Anna ignored me. "Well, if there's another one, we're still interested. And we can pay just as much as he can."

We were hanging by a literal thread among the masts of the infamous pirate Captain Blackbeard, with five Templar princes right below us, and Anna still thought that this was the time to negotiate. Un-fucking-believable.

"Can you?" Hans sneered. "Because my brothers and I spent Wednesday rolling around on the money in the royal treasury."

Those wankers started to laugh until Rabbit piped up.

"You rolled around in gold bars? Weird…" He groaned.

"Figure of speech." He replied, impatiently. "We reveled in it. The point is, it's now in my control, not yours. You're what they call penniless. But uh, that doesn't matter." He tossed a large purse to Blackbeard. "Because where you're going, you won't need money."

"Where's that?" She asked.

"C'mon, Your Highness." Rabbit said. "Use your imagination. He's a Templar, and we're Assassins. He's gonna execute us."

The Revenge brought us out further and further from Molrum. We were on the open water for hours, still tied up by the ropes that Blackbeard had had his own ship magically bind us with. Hans, meanwhile, could not stop talking on the way over.

"I hold all of Arendelle in my control now, Anna." He chuckled. "Special decree from my father, King Elias himself. With it, my Vision for how it will achieve true perfection will be seen through."

"I thought Troy enjoyed the sound of his own voice, Pony Boy." Rabbit snapped. "But then we met your posh, stuck-up arse."

"Everything will be seen through." He said, a little louder to try to counter Rabbit's chattering. "You and your freak of a sister let your kingdom run itself into the ground with how lenient you let your citizens act and behave. Higher standards must be set. Order and control be put back, and soon, everything will come together."

"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE FUCKING SHOOT ME?!" Rabbit hollered. "I AM BEGGING FOR THE PAINFUL RELEASE OF DEATH, SO I DON'T HAVE TO HEAR HIS SQUAWKING! I'LL EVEN SETTLE FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE ME EAT GUNPOWER FROM THOSE CANNONS! JUST MAKE HIM STOP!"

The ship suddenly lurched. But rather than someone honor Rabbit's requests, Blackbeard waved his sword, releasing the ropes for both Anna and Kristoff. The crew scuttled over to the two of them, grabbing them and forcing their hands to their backs. I could see the first mate of Blackbeard's watching from the wheel of the ship.

"This is the treacherous area known as Poseidon's Boneyard." Hans said. "The exact spot where your parents' ship went down. How fitting that mother and daughter will have their last regrets in the same place." He stalked around them. "Will you both die, wishing you never tried to help your freak sister?" He placed his hands on their shoulders from behind them. "Maybe your bones will mingle with your mother's on the bottom of the sea."

"Bring forward the trunk!" Blackbeard commanded.

They brought forth one, large enough for them both to fit in. I imagined that we would be soon after.

"There's a trunk?" Hans asked. "How will her bones mingle if they're in a trunk?"

Blackbeard glared at the Prince. "I once had a rival who made me walk the plank. And much to my surprise, I was saved by a mermaid." He explained. "I applied the lesson."

Making sure the same fate wouldn't happen to Anna. Clever. Fucking hell, we were doomed. We swore our fealty to her, and now she was going to die with her fiancé.

"This trunk will make sure you die without… finterference."

The crew roared with laughter below.

I gagged loudly. "I think I'm getting seasick!" I shouted in between coughs and dry heaving. "No, wait… no, it was that shitty, shitty pun!"

"We should have put a gag on those two." One of Hans' brothers sighed. "Next time, though…"

"Elsa's gonna get out of that urn. Asgeir will come back, wherever he is." Anna said as they began to shove her and Kristoff into the trunk. "And when they do, they're gonna take back the kingdom from you Templars, and kick you and your brothers back to the Southern Isles, which sounds lovelier than I bet it actually is."

Dear me, did Anna even know how to throw an insult? If we got out of this by some miracle, I'd teach her. I'd even consider myself a king of slurs and insults if I wasn't an Assassin.

"I doubt that." Hans sneered. "I control the Royal Navy. The vast armies. And even this ship you're about to be thrown off, the Queen Anne's Revenge. Your brother, or any of his Assassin goons haven't been seen for ages. And if Elsa hasn't found a way to escape an urn in the last thirty years, I doubt she ever will."

Wait, hold on. Thirty years? We had been frozen for thirty years? What had happened?!

Rabbit eyed me with the same horror. Where was Asgeir? Matthew? Zar, Jason? Were they all dead? Missing? The Arendelle Assassins were now down to just me and my brother. The two of us against a whole armada. It would mean a very short revolution if we meant to throw one.

"Wait, what? Thirty years?" Anna gasped.

"The spell that froze Arendelle, it had us all frozen for thirty years." Hans said.

"My aunt kept us like that for decades?" She cried. "Elsa! Asgeir! My poor siblings! They've been gone all this time?!"

"Why would Ingrid unfreeze us all right now?" Kristoff asked.

Anna knew. "Because she wants to do something even worse!" She screamed. "We have to get to Elsa! We have to find Asgeir! We have to stop whatever it is-"

It was too late. Hans slammed the lid shut. "Ugh! She's so talky!" He looked up at us.

"Hell of a pair of bodyguards the two of you made." He cackled. "I honestly expected a lot more from the Broken Chain Brothers."

"I'll break your face for a change!" Rabbit snarled. "You push that trunk into the ocean, and we'll kill all you fucking wankers!"

Hans only flashed that bright grin at us. "You mean, while you're tied up in the grip of ropes from this ship? Hah! Unlikely! Men!" He commanded, raising his hand.

The air was tense with disbelief. The trunk went straight under as soon as it hit the water.

Hans looked up in pleasure. "They can be let go. They're not going anywhere just yet."

Blackbeard drew his cutlass. I felt the grip of the ropes suddenly loose, letting us both fall to the ground. Crew members were instantly on us as soon as we stood up.

"Prepare the two scoundrels. Take them to the hold." Blackbeard barked.

"Calling the kettle black there, aren't we?" I snarled. "'Scoundrels' he calls us."

"You will be quiet in front of your new King, Assassins." Hans replied. "I was going to keep things civil after we disposed of Anna, but you both have been a huge pain in my ass for the last few hours. Now, I order you to be silent."

"Oh, like this?" Rabbit said. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" He purposely screamed, his voice shattering across the waves.

One of Hans' brothers stepped forwards, drawing a dagger from his coat. "Shall I take his tongue, brothers? I so love it when they bleed! And I had enough waiting in front of the girl."

I was taken a little aback by how he spoke. But another brother raised his hand.

"Enough, Grant. They both will suffer."

"Grant" looked disappointed, like a kid being denied his next chocolate. Then sheathed his knife and stepped back.

"Is that what's next with us, Lord Muttonchops?" Rabbit snapped to Hans. "You make us walk the plank, too?"

"No." Hans smirked. "This is all really simple. I'm going to ensure Arendelle will no longer fall sick to the blight of the Assassins' anarchism. Everyone will see you and your order for what it really is: killers, cutthroats, and thieves. You will be taken to the hole where all your brothers at arms will rot in eventually, and then you will be broken."

"You're gonna wait until later to kill us when you have the chance to do it here and now?" I asked. "Wow, you guys think really highly of yourselves and your jailkeeping."

"Next thing you know, they're gonna start monologing." Rabbit put in.

I felt an itch. A different kind of itch. As Rabbit kept talking, I lowered my hands to feel for the flap in the backside of my trousers, hoping they hadn't taken it from me when they frisked me.

"If you're arse is so well informed enough to find us so quickly, then do you have any fucking idea where Asgeir or the others are?"

"You mean the bastard and the band of murderers you call 'brothers'?" Hans growled. "You may be pleased to know I have no idea where they are. But if he's still alive, he'll come for you, and then I will destroy him. I will make him pay for this."

He yanked off the bloody bandage from his face. It was a very deep gash, going from his lower left cheek, up across his nose on a sharp angle, and ending right above his right eyebrow. Still weeping blood, and clear to me and Rabbit that it would leave a scar. A scar not unlike one of the few that Asgeir had on his own face. And maybe that was the whole point. In fact, it was identical to the same scar Asgeir was given by King George the time that we made the attempt on his life, years back.

Rabbit made a wolf whistle. "Looking fancy there, Hans-boy. That's actually an improvement."

The other brothers hooted with laughter, before Hans turned, scarlet in the face.

"YOU WILL BE SILENT IN FRONT OF ARENDELLE'S KING!"

It was fury I hadn't ever seen before. And it seemed to scare all of them, including the one named Grant, who seemed so eager to make us bleed.

"As for you two, it's all really simple." The prick went on. "I was looking for a scapegoat for Queen Elsa's murder, and I found it with the White Reaper. He killed her, and I put him down in response. Now I have an even better scapegoat for her sister's murder. And that troll boy with the donkey."

"Sven's a reindeer, arsehole." I said, feeling for it. The flap was still closed, and I could feel the weight of it. Long, but with a curve at one end of it. And heavy. Right what I needed.

"Arendelle will weep for their Queen's murder. For a while. But then they will be relieved that I saved them all from certain death. It was all part of the Assassins' plans to bring all of Arendelle's citizens outside their homes, round them up like sheep, and execute them all in one go. Luckily, I, and the Southern Isles saved them all."

"You really think that it will make a difference to them?" Rabbit replied. "It may have been thirty years, but they were still the same people frozen with us. They will still remember how you were exposed for attempting to murder Elsa once already." He looked at Frans. "And for you trying to do what you just did now to Anna and Kristoff, too. You brought three whole ships up and kidnapped Anna to try to lure our brother out. Fucknuts."

"The Queen's rabid dog already made me pay the price on making that mistake." Frans snarled. "But I'll be sure he knows how you both suffered personally at all our hands. Wherever the bastard is."

I got the flap open. Slowly, I reached downwards, slipping it out of it's secret pocket. Which one to shoot, though? Hans? Frans? Grant? They were a hydra of over a dozen heads. The crown prince, Klaus, hundreds of kilometers away. If I killed Hans, it would make no difference with him as the youngest. He'd be a martyr for these shites.

"Get them in the cage. Will. Rob." Hans ordered.

The blonde gave a curt nod. "Yes, Your Majesty." He said, dramatically. A couple of the others hooted with laughter as Hans glared at them, daring them to make a move. No one did, except for Rob and Will, who both went over to grab us. By the moment they had walked across the deck and reached us, I had already got the ace up my sleeve. And I wasn't talking about a hidden blade.

It was confusing to me and Rabbit. Hans was getting caught up in the moment. He had just removed a huge thorn out of his side with Anna and Kristoff, and he completely forgot he could have had Blackbeard rope us up again. But this jittery glee he was suffering from was exactly what I needed.

The blonde grabbed Rabbit, the brunette me. The blonde brother started by having Rabbit kneel, so he could get his tied hands onto the frontside of his body; forcing Rabbit to step over his bound wrists that way. I noticed he was wearing different clothing than the rest present. He was wearing a white shirt with a sort of purple vest overtop. A golden trident painted on it, adorning his front. A black chrome mask hung from his belt, swinging back and forth. It must have been face protection, and his guard was down. Now was my chance.

The other brother started to do the same to me. He grabbed my wrists, eyeing me with disgust.

"Gonna change the world, Assassin?" He taunted. "Gonna break off the chains of every piece of shit that serves us?"

"Till the day we die." I replied. I was doing all I could not to laugh. He was too caught up with his taunting, he didn't feel it in my sleeve.

Hans' brothers started to walk us across the deck to the jeering group of Templar brothers in front of us. Blackbeard watched down from the wheel of his ship, not exactly grinning, nor glaring. When we were put in front of Hans, he made us face each other. The brother right behind Rabbit. He was my choice.

"We'll get through this, Troy." Rabbit said.

"I know." I replied.

In a flash, I raised my hands, flicking it out of my sleeve. I quickly brought my wrists down onto my brother's shoulder. The blonde behind Rabbit barely had a chance to react, only seeing the dark barrel of the flintlock right beside my brother's head. I heard some yells and gasps.

A flash.

A "BANG!" echoed across the waters.

Almost as soon as I saw the blonde's head burst in red, a sudden twitch of his life ending, I felt something heavy expectedly smack me on the back of my head. Then my face hit the deck.

"Troy. Wake up."

Had I woken up? Was I unconscious? I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or not. I felt cold and wet on my back. I was lying on the ground. Iron bars in either direction. I saw Rabbit looking down at me. I guess we weren't getting forced into prisoner uniforms; we were still wearing our Assassin hoods.

"C'mon, brother." He pulled me up from the ground, grunting. "You alright? That other guy, Rob, smacked you in the head with his flintlock when you shot Will."

I felt the back of my head. Still sore, and I felt a lump forming. "Yeah, I'm alright." I murmured. "A little sore."

"Good." Rabbit said. Then he punched me in the face. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"What are you talking about?!" I yelled back, as I clutched my nose in surprise. "We just killed another one of Hans' brothers. Now he only has ten left!"

"Yeah. Ten more! What a big difference that makes! He's got the whole fucking deck stacked against us. Every one of his brothers have their fingers in the holes that matter. Finances, ships, troops, trade routes, supplies. Hell, one of them is a corrupt judge, too! They're all under King Elias' command, now. And from what little I've heard from the guards in the days you've been knocked out, Arendelle's turning into a whole occupation state. We're all fucked now."

"So, who did I shoot, then?" I said. "His name was Will?"

"Yeah. Brother Will. Vice Overseer to the Abbey of the Everyman. You killed the guy who acts on behalf of the imaginary friend in the sky. Congratulations."

I groaned. The Abbey was the dominant religion of the Isles, where Arendelle was more in line with a Church like the one from the Land Without Magic.

"Fuck. Not gonna get us that far, is it?" I said.

"Not an inch. This was a frame job for Anna and Kristoff's murder, and you gave us a real one with proof attached to us. If anything, you just cemented how much Hans will discredit us for all the good Asgeir fought to ensure for the last year."

"Thirty-one years, little brother." I corrected. "And we don't even know where they are. Asgeir, Jason, Matthew…"

"Yeah." Rabbit said. "It means that when the time comes, it will be up to us to bust out of here and free Arendelle."

"So where is here?" I said.

My brother turned to the wall, closing his eyes. We were in a cage in the center of a dark room, which was made up of mostly chipped wood. I felt a little sick to my stomach as I sat down.

"A ship." He said. "We're on a ship. In the cargo hold, or the cell blocks if this is meant for prisoners."

We heard a commotion suddenly, as two guards escorted a very large man down the stairs. One of the guards carried a torch, and we got a glimpse of the man, tall and muscular, with a big beard.

"In, you big Poof." The guard without the torch ordered.

"Ja." He replied. "I am going."

The guard with the torch locked him up in his cage in the corner opposite of us. The other eyed us in the wavering darkness.

"These them?"

"Yeah. The ones that murdered Brother William and Princess Anna. Assassins."

We both glared at them from our cage. I now wished I had saved that shot, or aimed it at Hans or Grant. Someone better than a preaching zealot. Or hell, maybe these guys in front of us.

"Thieves of the slaves in Misthaven. Now our King's prisoners." The guard chuckled. "To think that freak Queen Elsa was once gonna award them all knighthoods."

I tried not to react, but Rabbit crossed his arms through the bars of our cage.

"That's right, you little parasites. That monster that you scoundrels stood behind was gonna throw you a bone for kissing her ass. Now, look at you. Ready to enter hell."

"Charlie." The other called. "C'mon. We're needed topside for hoisting it up."

"Aye." He replied, still facing us. "I'll be right there."

Soon they both were back up on the decks, and we were left alone with the man in the other cell. Or so we thought.

"There's more than him." Rabbit said, listening. "They're all quiet for whatever reason. That's why I only noticed them a few minutes ago."

The man looked at us. "Yoo hoo!" He sang. "You wear vhite hoods. Like that friend of Anna's. Asgeir vas his name?"

I looked up. "You knew Asgeir?" I cried. "Who are you?"

"Yoo hoo! Name of Oaken." He replied. "I ran trading post just short trip from castle. Knew Anna for a vhile."

"Do you know where either of them are?" Rabbit said.

"No." He replied. "All I remember recently is hearing that Arendelle to be evacuated. Everyone to come down to Corona. Next we know, people are getting taken back up to Arendelle. Not all of them, though."

"Why are you here? We're criminals in the eyes of Prince Hans. But what did you do to end up here?"

Oaken looked at us, more serious than I had seen in most people before. Then he said something I will not forget.

"I married man."

Rabbit then looked around the room at that. He concentrated and could see things I wasn't. Oaken didn't say "I am a married man." He said he married a man!

"He's gay." Rabbit said. "That person there in the corner has a different skin tone. I'm betting some of them don't even follow the Strictures of the Abbey."

"Ja." Oaken replied. "They tell us so long as we answer questions truthfully, we all be taken home. But on different boats. I haven't seen family for days."

I was just about to reply, when our cage suddenly jerked.

Cue "All Along the Watchtower" cover by Billy Valentine and the Forest Rangers.

Trapdoors above our cage in the hold suddenly opened, and Rabbit and I first noticed chains connected to winches above pulling our cage. We jumped up, grabbing onto the bars of the cage's roof as the cage tilted onto it's side, hoisting upwards. We were momentarily level with the floor of the ship's deck, but still hanging in midair. If one chain went out, we'd fall at least twenty feet back into the hold.

"What's going on, Rabbit?" I cried out.

"Hans is deporting all he deems the 'enemy' to the Southern Isles." He explained, putting together what I couldn't see. "We're all getting shipped off."

"Where?"

"Sript." said a man on the decks.

We looked forwards as Hans himself stepped across the deck. He smirked at us.

"I'm gonna have fun chopping off those muttons in a few days, Prince Snob." Rabbit growled. "And then I'll do the same to your head."

"Are you?" He sneered. "From right in your little cage, Bunny?"

"If you think the name Bunny insults him, you got another thing coming, Hans." I said. "You said Sript? The fuck is that?"

"You know, what always amazed me was how ignorant Queen Elsa was to our activities in the Isles. Especially the liberation camps in Sript. No one ever seemed to care about the rights that were violated down there. It's quite simple, really. You two, along with all those that my father and I deem as unfit to live in my perfect Vision for Arendelle will be taken for liberation to Sript. No cages or nothing. In Sript, the camps have no need to keep the prisoners in their boundaries. The biting cold of the island itself does it for us. You'll be free to leave when you arrive, gentlemen. But will you, knowing that your deaths will be pointless? The Assassins are now gone, and so are Elsa and Anna. You have no hope of escaping the Southern Isles, and even if you do, how will you take Arendelle alone?"

"We'll do it anyways." Rabbit swore. "The both of us."

Hans laughed. "Get these scoundrels out of my sight. I am retiring to the cabin."

"Aye, sir. Hoist 'er up!" A deckhand called.

More clanging of the chains as the cage was raised higher and higher. It tilted more and more onto an angle, prompting Rabbit and I to hold on tighter. We wanted to try to swing the cage, but it felt like it was too secure on how it was mounted to even try.

"Troy." Rabbit called, suddenly looking out over the water. "Look!"

I looked out where my brother was looking. Ships. Ships as far as I could see. In every direction a massive fleet of brigs and frigates, and even a few Man O' Wars. All around us, in every direction. Even as far as I could look out, I saw more and more. But it took me a second to piece together what this all meant. It meant that we were without hope. Asgeir and the other Assassins missing, Elsa likely dead, Anna and Kristoff certainly dead. And Rabbit and I, the only Assassins left, prisoners of the Templars. This wasn't the start of a war, as I thought at first, hoping that Anna would live through our protection. This was the end of all hope for freedom. Arendelle now had a new king. We had lost.