Last chapter for the Charles installment, switching to Connor later. :)
Finding Connor
Chapter 30
Soon, Charles's tears dried, and fury began to take its place. Charles would have raged, thrown his expensive teacups and the entire serving tray with choice bits of cheese that Mary had left him as a snack in his anger. To have come so far, to have served so and be regarded thusly...
It was not right. It...
He glanced wildly about the room. Ideas flowed through his mind. If he caused enough damage here, if he made it impossible for himself to stay here, then surely...
Surely...
“Surely nothing, for you are already dead in that world, and nothing you do here will change that.”
His anger petered out. His hands fell limply by his sides.
And he felt like weeping.
His son would never see him again. He would never see his son again. And Master Kenway would raise his son knowing that he had abandoned his duties in a reckless drive for revenge, a revenge his wife would never have desired him to take.
Master Kenway, his wife, his son...
He'd failed all his most important people.
“Is this my punishment, then?” he whispered. “Is staying alive in this world, knowing that I threw away all that I had back home...is this my punishment for my arrogance?”
The voice did not speak, but Charles could hear the condemnation in her silence.
It was a cruel punishment and perhaps not wholly undeserved.
That knowledge did not lessen the bitterness in his heart.
“All is not lost for those you hold dear,” came the dulcet tones again. “Your Master Kenway is capable and will raise your son well. Though he mourns for both you and his son and faces added responsibilities with your death, he is strong and will manage. The country you leave behind will face a tumultous journey. As with any new country, it will find its mettle tested, again and again. Foreign powers, thinking it easy prey, will try to take advantage of it, sometimes succeeding, oftentimes not. But it will grow and mature and come into its own. Your son will play an important part, raised into his great and terrible heritage, and he will be one of the guides that sways the country's future path. As will his children after him and theirs as well.”
It was...
Not enough.
But it was a start.
And really, what choice had Charles?
“None, I am afraid. I truly do not mean you ill, but the time for choice in this matter is past. All you can do is look ahead.”
Ah, but what future had he? Dead in his world, having murdered the him that lived in this one.
“Other paths. Or a reforging, if you prefer. There are those who need you here, but as much as I would compel you to do as I please, you have already done a great service for me and with little return.”
The voice softened.
“I would not force you now...though I would mention that the babe in Connor's belly is the same as your son.”
Charles's breath caught.
The voice gentled further.
“You may, of course, do as you will, abandon these peoples so similar to the ones you have known. But, as you already embarked upon a mission unaware before, I think it only reasonable that you understand what the effects may be before you begin.”
A brief hesitation.
“Without you here, your Order will begin to grow suspicious. The Charles Lee they knew would never leave his duties so unexpectedly, and so they will investigate. Once they find the body...”
Charles clenched his hands into a fist. He could imagine it.
The Haytham Kenway of this world, with his special eyes...discovering the body and who that body was...hunting down the unfortunate Doctor White who Davies would have reported as having something to do with the strange happenings...
And Connor.
“Your would-be father-in-law would seek to wed his son to another Templar, but rather than play the whore, passed from Templar to Templar, your wife in another world would beg his father to grant him the reprieve of death. And Haytham Kenway, in a moment of rare pity, would grant it. The day the boy who would be your son is born in this world is the day that the Omega who would be your wife in that same world dies strangled by the man who gave him life.”
Finding Connor 30
Finding Connor
Chapter 30
Soon, Charles's tears dried, and fury began to take its place. Charles would have raged, thrown his expensive teacups and the entire serving tray with choice bits of cheese that Mary had left him as a snack in his anger. To have come so far, to have served so and be regarded thusly...
It was not right. It...
He glanced wildly about the room. Ideas flowed through his mind. If he caused enough damage here, if he made it impossible for himself to stay here, then surely...
Surely...
“Surely nothing, for you are already dead in that world, and nothing you do here will change that.”
His anger petered out. His hands fell limply by his sides.
And he felt like weeping.
His son would never see him again. He would never see his son again. And Master Kenway would raise his son knowing that he had abandoned his duties in a reckless drive for revenge, a revenge his wife would never have desired him to take.
Master Kenway, his wife, his son...
He'd failed all his most important people.
“Is this my punishment, then?” he whispered. “Is staying alive in this world, knowing that I threw away all that I had back home...is this my punishment for my arrogance?”
The voice did not speak, but Charles could hear the condemnation in her silence.
It was a cruel punishment and perhaps not wholly undeserved.
That knowledge did not lessen the bitterness in his heart.
“All is not lost for those you hold dear,” came the dulcet tones again. “Your Master Kenway is capable and will raise your son well. Though he mourns for both you and his son and faces added responsibilities with your death, he is strong and will manage. The country you leave behind will face a tumultous journey. As with any new country, it will find its mettle tested, again and again. Foreign powers, thinking it easy prey, will try to take advantage of it, sometimes succeeding, oftentimes not. But it will grow and mature and come into its own. Your son will play an important part, raised into his great and terrible heritage, and he will be one of the guides that sways the country's future path. As will his children after him and theirs as well.”
It was...
Not enough.
But it was a start.
And really, what choice had Charles?
“None, I am afraid. I truly do not mean you ill, but the time for choice in this matter is past. All you can do is look ahead.”
Ah, but what future had he? Dead in his world, having murdered the him that lived in this one.
“Other paths. Or a reforging, if you prefer. There are those who need you here, but as much as I would compel you to do as I please, you have already done a great service for me and with little return.”
The voice softened.
“I would not force you now...though I would mention that the babe in Connor's belly is the same as your son.”
Charles's breath caught.
The voice gentled further.
“You may, of course, do as you will, abandon these peoples so similar to the ones you have known. But, as you already embarked upon a mission unaware before, I think it only reasonable that you understand what the effects may be before you begin.”
A brief hesitation.
“Without you here, your Order will begin to grow suspicious. The Charles Lee they knew would never leave his duties so unexpectedly, and so they will investigate. Once they find the body...”
Charles clenched his hands into a fist. He could imagine it.
The Haytham Kenway of this world, with his special eyes...discovering the body and who that body was...hunting down the unfortunate Doctor White who Davies would have reported as having something to do with the strange happenings...
And Connor.
“Your would-be father-in-law would seek to wed his son to another Templar, but rather than play the whore, passed from Templar to Templar, your wife in another world would beg his father to grant him the reprieve of death. And Haytham Kenway, in a moment of rare pity, would grant it. The day the boy who would be your son is born in this world is the day that the Omega who would be your wife in that same world dies strangled by the man who gave him life.”
Charles's blood chilled. He gulped.
Such heavy tidings...
“And if I stay, do as you desire...”
“That future is of your making. I cannot see it.”
Ah.
Charles found it difficult to breathe.
Ah.
“Then it seems I have little choice.”
The words were bile in his mouth.
“I will stay and do what I can.”
What else was there?
Fin