Behind Those Golden Eyes

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Tal was briefly surprised to find that he was the first one back to the carriage but he figured out what Archer must be doing quickly and he had no complaints there. He was rather pleased with his initiative actually. He looked forwardto having an effective partner in the future. At least until Archer had a lapse in judgment and tried to turn on him. He smiled darkly at the thought, though Archer could assume it was in response to his statement. "The more appropriate question is whether the ghosts will be ready for me." There was no mistaking the aura of murder that suddenly filled the carriage in both the figurative and literal sense. Realizing what he was doing Tal muttered a curse and deliberately pulled his aura in with an almost painful snap.

He resisted the urge to growl and forced himself to relax. He needed to be chill playful him right now as much as he did not feel like it. So he took a moment too put all the murderous intent in a box and almost visibly relaxed with a sigh with turned into a smirk. "So now we're going to have to find something to occupy ourselves for the next however many hours. Unless you had a fondness for ghost hunting as a child?" He didn't have a better suggestion at the moment he was just speaking to maintain his act. Which Archer could probably tell fairly easily. He hated it but heahad relaxed around the man. He blamed Aisha's influence but there was not a lot to do about it now. He simply had to maintain a certain level of distrust and it didn't matter if Archer saw a bit more off his real emotions.

~~

Jensen glanced back at her with a grin. "Ah too true but if you keep this up it is entirely possible that you will wish thatdeath was an option for you." With the casual Ddisregard that everyone in this place seemed to have he ruffled her hair. "It really is a shame Taliesin had you chop all that off." He could sense her question before she even finished thinking it. "Ah now now you know I'm no psychic." He chuckled softly. "It is a mere series of deductions based on the newly cut feel of your hair and the situation you have gotten yourself into. You have a mouth on you but you do not seem to be enough of a tomboy to regularly cut your hair that short." Jensen just may enjoy listening to himself talk just a little.

"Your time off deceit will soon be up however. The twins let Jeremy take the lead but they will soon want in on the fun as well. And then things will get truly unpleasant for you." They finally arrived at the room and he unlocked the door, letting the guards lead the way inside and dump her on the bed.
 
Archer's senses tingled as if there were something dangerous near by. One single look at Tal made him realize where it came from. Then suddenly Tal relaxed, or at least forced himself to do so. What was with that behavior? He suddenly seemed way too unstable. And then he turned back to his normal self. It seemed like the best idea would be to ignore what he had just felt. There was something with Tal that put Archer off. Something inhuman. A secret he wanted to unravel, just for fun.

"I actually had." He replied. "I used to sneak out at night and search for both demons and ghosts. Never found anything though. Such a disappointment." He chuckled as he shook his head comically. With that, most people would have simply figured that Archer had been the kind of kid that did it for fun. But in reality he had done it out of desperation when his sister died. Searching for her ghost, or some kind of demon or devil that could bring her back, all night long, while screaming and crying. All that sadness and sorrow he had felt was now long gone. He could barely even remember her name any longer. Just like the rest of his family, she was just an unnecessary memory. The dead would never come back, and there was no point in crying over the past.

____
Aisha's eyes widened in confusion as the man mentioned her hair. How did he know? Her first thought was something in style with mind reading, but another more reasonable thought that came afterwards told her that he might just have spied on them from the very start of their journey. Both were apparently incorrect. A blush appeared on her cheeks as he told her how it truly was. What silly thoughts she got sometimes. Though that was probably the last thing that should make her blush at that moment, as she still had no clothes after Jeremy cut them. Still, that thought had not entered her mind yet.

How could things get more unpleasant than they already were? After what Jeremy did, she doubted that it could get any worse. But at the same time she knew that it probably could.

Once inside her room, she finally started to feel cold. Though she wasn't sure if it was because it actually were cold or if it simply was an effect from everything that had happened. She was fast to pull the cover over herself once they had dumped her on the bed. The warmth of the fabric felt wonderful over her sore body. "It was not a waste. Long hair is just in the way!" She complained, really not in the mood to try and figure out what those two might do to her. Then something hit her. Something that she hadn't been able to think about before. She looked slightly hesitant on the old man, before she opened her mouth again. "Are you perhaps related to that kid?"

Of course she meant Jeremy. But his name was the last thing she wanted to think about. Those two had seemed awfully close, it didn't feel like they only worked together. And they had such similar smiles. It made one wonder. At that point she was sitting completely covered with only her head showing, her legs was up all the way to her chest and her arms was laying around them. She pretty much looked like a big ball. But at least it helped to get her body back to the right temperature as she was certain she was many degrees below normal.
 
Tal had honestly expected nothing of his question and was somewhat shocked when Archer confirmed his playful assumption. If he did not have the ability he did he might have believed Archer's act that there was nothing deeper behind such behavior but there was no mistaking the muddy brown ting of long forgotten desperation. Had he not been so focused on Archer he might have missed that brief shift, it was obvious his companion was just as good at him about putting such things behind him. Tal eyed his companion considering for a few moments but understood all too well the need to leave the past in the past.

Besides which, then he would have to explain how he had known there was something more and Archer was not the type to be as easily convinced as some others. So he shrugged off his own curiosity and chuckled. "Interesting choice of pastime. I suspect we would have about as much luck searching the house." He chuckled softly. Aside from the fact that Archer was already traveling with a demon. A part demon for sure, but just a little was all you needed to be condemned. "We should probably use this time to plan our attack honestly. There are definitely some high profile targets that need to go down quickly, but if possible one of us needs to get to Aisha first." He was definitely sending her back home after this was all over. They hadn't even made it a week before things had turned into one big disaster. She couldn't afford to be around him and he couldn't afford to have her around to be used against him like this.

____

Jensen had turned away from her to start serving up the dinner that had been waiting for them as he figured she would probably not be leaving the bed for a while. At least not while he or one of the others were still in the room. He had felt the curious tingle in her aura but thought nothing of it until she opened her mouth. He paused in his task to half turn to her, raising an eyebrow and chuckling. "Well that would certainly be news to his sisters now wouldn't it?" With that non-answer he finished loading a plate for her and brought it over, setting it on the edge of the bed away from her ball-ness. "I helped raise him after their parents were killed. I suppose after a few years it would seem like he might be one of mine eh?" He smiled fondly as he returned to the table to take his own meal, which was more like his breakfast.
 
Archer thought about his companion's words for a little while. He could imagine that the girl would feel more secure seeing Tal first, but Tal was more skilled than him when it came to fighting. They couldn't even be sure what state Aisha were in, thus if she couldn't walk on her own it would be better for Tal to have his hands free.

With a sigh he answered. "I'll take care of her. I know that mansion like my own pocket, sneaking past the guards shouldn't be too hard as long as we haven't alarmed them of our presence beforehand." It didn't matter much if she could walk on her own or not, it was still harder to fight when having to protect someone else.

____

A sting pierced her chest. Killed. It wasn't like she wanted to feel sympathy for those people, but she couldn't really help it. They were awful people whom did awful things, but they were people non the less. People who had families, whom probably cherished the time they spent together. She couldn't even imagine how it would feel like if her own parents died in such an awful way.

Aisha wanted to hit herself for feeling so concerned for someone whom had done such things towards her, and maybe she wouldn't feel any sympathy for him once she got out of the denial phase she probably had entered. Even though she could feel the pain, the emotions of it didn't really hit her at that very moment. It was as if she had become a time bomb, just waiting to explode. At some point she would. Hopefully she would be alone at that time, starting to break down in front of anyone was quite embarrassing.

For once she did actually take the food without feeling as if she couldn't eat, or feeling embarrassed to eat something that was given to her from them. "Were they close? Their parents and them I mean." She asked. While she were curious about it, it was more the drive to get her mind off what had just happened that made her keep up the conversation.
 
Tal couldn't help but grin a bit at the other man's sigh. "You're a true martyr Ark." He was going to take the sacrifice for himself and do the annoying guarding part but if Archer volunteered there was no way he was going to turn the chance down to essentially rampage. And if Aisha was with Archer then he wouldn't even have to worry about her disapproval until it was already done and gone. "I trust you to develop your own plan of attack then. I'll let you go some 10 minutes ahead, just to make sure she's secure before I start lighting the place up." Despite the malicious tone in his voice he remained quite calm. He had had enough of his emotions vacillating all over the damn place today.

Now that they were in motion he could feel the usual 'mission calm' as he called it come over him. He always felt like his mind was crystal clear just before a mission as he started planning, like everything became one giant game board that he could view and manipulate as he pleased. Speaking of viewing possible variables, the likelihood that Aisha would flip out on Archer even if he said he was there to rescue him was a hindrance of a possibility that should be addressed as well. He stared up at the ceiling and pondered for a few moments what would be the best way to reassure her that Archer was on their side for the moment. It did not take long for the image of them whispering behind a tree, executing a simple but distinctive hand gesture. "Huh." He chuckled softly at the memory, children were certainly amused by the oddest things. "When you find her if she starts freaking out at all over it being you do this." He used his pinkie to draw a quick tree-like shape, followed by flipping his hand palm up initially in a cup shape and pushed upwards, spreading it flat.

There was no way Aisha would have forgotten their secret sign when she was so stuck on the friendship they used to have that she was stupid enough to start traveling with an assassin and get into this situation in the first place.
____

Jensen took a few bites of his food rather than respond to Aisha immediately. He found it fascinating that she would inquire about her captors like this. He certainly hadn't been intending for this conversation when he had mentioned it. If anything he had expected some outpouring of vitriol and grief. Of course when he bothered to actually register her aura…well he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Shock and denial were classic defense mechanisms for the human race. So he would humor her for the moment while he 'stirred' some more.

"Mmm." He hummed thoughtfully. "Reasonably close I suppose. Sweet Jeremy barely remembers them at all but the twins were close with their father. He tended to be occupied with the family business but they would attach themselves to him as soon as he had a free second, and sometimes before even that. Their mother just sat back and watched with a smile. She knew better than to try and tame such strong willed girls." It was rather strange for him to reminisce like this. He was getting a feeling this was definitely a moment where his tendency to talk too much was getting the better of him but what harm was going to come out of him chatting about their childhood?
 
"I know. I'm just too perfect to not sacrifice myself. Life is just too cruel." It was too hard not to act dramatically sometimes. Especially when he had a partner that made it so easy for him. But just like Tal, he fast changed himself into serious mode.

The sign Tal showed him was very.... Different. He felt as if it had been created by a child. But as Archer still hadn't gotten any hints about Aisha's and Tal's relationship, that thought was fast out of his mind. Instead he started to wonder why those two had made a secret sign like that when they just met maximum a couple of weeks earlier. What they would have needed it for was beyond his comprehension at that time.

"I'll remember it. Ten minutes will be more than enough as long as I don't get an army after myself. Hopefully I'm skilled enough to avoid that." With a chuckle at the end it was obvious that he didn't doubt his own abilities. Getting inside would be easy, even if he was seen he could just quickly silence them. It was getting out that might be slightly harder. He had never escaped with a living sandbag before. Hopefully it wouldn't prove too difficult.

_________

A small chuckle left her throat without her even realizing it. It was all too familiar. Both she and her brother had also been attached to their father, always wanting to play while he worked, always stealing away as much of his time as possible. She might hate the act that had been done to her, and she might despise certain aspects of their personalities. But she couldn't hate them as people. At least not for the moment. And maybe she never would. Such a strong emotion towards human beings just didn't come natural. She would never like them, of that she was certain. But she could most likely never truly hate them either.

"Fathers are the heroes for their children." She mumbled, smiling. Her mind had drifted of somewhere far away, to a time where everything was perfect. To when she and Tal were best friends, her mother still gave her warm smiles and her father taught her new things that always amazed her. Every little experience was a wonder when you were a child. When did everything fall apart? When Tal left? No, it must have been earlier than that. It must have started with her mothers illness. She forced away those unpleasant memories, she wanted to stay in her childhood, not feeling anything else than that happiness.

At some point, reality would have to shatter her dreams of the past. But as long as she were able to feel happy, she would take good care of those emotions. Without even noticing it, she had almost finished half her plate.
 
Tal smirked back at the other man. He had no doubt of Archer's abilities either now that he had a taste of them for himself. He couldn't help but marvel at how lucky he had gotten that the fools had sent this man with him. They probably sent Archer because he was both skilled and expendable as far as they were concerned but it had certainly backfired on them. Now, while Tal couldn't trust him, Archer had pretty much everything else Tal could want in a companion. And since the list of people that he trusted amounted to exactly 2 well…that wasn't saying much.

He splayed himself out on his side of the carriage and seemed very content. There were a lot of things that could go wrong with this mission but right now, he felt good. He had no feelings of impending doom, he believed in the skill of the two of them and now that he was counter attacking he had no intention of stopping before all traces of threat to Aisha were eliminated.

He was silent for the rest of the ride then, maintaining his content dozing cat state while he plotted his own plan of attack. Once they reached their destination, Tal dealt with another loose end. The carriage driver was starting to get suspicious and while he hadn't said anything it was clear as day even to someone without Tal's abilities. So when the man got down to tie up the horses Tal casually walked over, drew his sword and stabbed the man in the chest in one smooth motion.

He almost walked off but then paused as he considered Aisha's reaction to coming upon the scene, not to mention the woman who would be bringing them their important information, and decided better of it. He wiped off his sword and sheathed it with a sigh before lifting the body over his shoulder with a grunt and carried it well out of sight before dropping it next to a tree and strolling back into the clearing nonchalantly. "And now we wait." He was grinning, but this was going to be the hardest part and he knew it.

_________

Jensen tilted his head and munched on his food while watching her with a fascinated expression. This girl was something else and he was seeing more and more how even without the history the two obviously shared she would be one who would baffle, confuse and thus somewhat control the great Golden-eyed assassin. With their history the man had never stood a chance.

He left her to her pleasant daydreams, since she would soon be having some not so pleasant ones, and finished up his own food. "Well dearie, as fascinating as this conversation has been, I do have other business to tend to." He grinned and gave her a little wave before strolling out. Of course his other business still involved her, it just meant he was sitting on the other side of the door monitoring her while she dreamed the cruel dreams he had inflicted upon her but there was no reason she needed to know that.
 
Archer took the opportunity to sleep while they traveled, as he already knew how he would execute his plan. Once the carriage came to a halt he stepped out after Taliesin, as a faithful shadow. It didn't surprise him at all that Tal had killed the man, after all, they didn't need him anymore, and even someone like him would become suspicious over their sudden stay so close to the mansion.

"Now we wait.." Archer replied back as if to confirm it. He weren't too interested in asking about why Tal had cared so much about pulling the body away from the carriage, he had some good guesses and was fairly certain at least on of them were the correct answer. But it wasn't a topic exciting enough to actually confirm what was the truth. There was something else that had been nagging on his mind for a while though.

"So, am I ever going to get to know how you two know each other? Surely you wouldn't act like this for someone you met only weeks ago." He knew that Tal would have no reason to trust him with such information, but there was no shame in trying.

________

Aisha was abruptly woken up from her mind theater when the old man decided to leave. For a moment she thought about how odd it was, last time he had been in her room for other reasons than bringing her to those siblings, he had been asking about her relationship with Tal. This time he hadn't even mentioned it. Was it because he thought that he couldn't get anything out of here? Or was he just nice enough to let her mind be at peace after those horrible things had been done to her? No way that could be true.

Almost too late she realized where her mind was drifting, and she fast forced away the memories of the past two days. And the past few years too for that matter. Only her childhood existed. Only happiness existed. But shortly after she had finished her food, her mind started to drift away into the dream world, which turned her beautiful childhood memories into grotesque monsters.

"How could you win again? You must be cheating Tal!" Aisha complained while Tal was laughing over another victory. What had they competed in? She couldn't remember. But did it matter? It was such a beautiful memory, such a beautiful day.... No it wasn't... It was pitch black outside, and they were deep inside a forest. Only a small light could be seen from the town that seemed to be worlds away for two small children. "Tal, we should go home. My mom will get angry if I'm out too late." Aisha said, suddenly slightly frightened. Was it a memory? Had they ever been lost as children?

"Common Aisha, you're not scared of the dark are you?" He asked with that smug grin of his. The little girl, not older than ten, glared at him. "I'm not scared you dummy! I can do anything you can do."

"Suuure, prove it then." Tal replied and ran deeper into the forest.
"Wait!" Aisha shouted after him and started to run after him. She didn't want to be left alone without him. But something seemed to hold her back as she tried to move forward. As if the tree branches was gripping her clothes and forcing her to stay in place.

Before she knew it, he was gone. And of some reason she also knew that he wouldn't come back. Why wouldn't he come back? "What did I ever do to you?" She shouted into the darkness. Confusions blended into her mixed emotions of fear and sorrow. What had she ever done to make him hate her so much? Why did he want to leave her?

"Isn't it obvious?" A voice laughed from the shadows. "It's all your fault after all." A voice too familiar continued. "You were a mistake from the moment you were born. If I can't stand you, why should he?" Her mother smiled at her from the shadows with the sweetest smile Aisha had ever seen, but her words were filled with nothing but hate.

"Mom, I didn't mean to..."
"Don't you see? You should never have been born. Maybe then he wouldn't have felt the need to run away." That guilt Aisha had felt for so long was now piercing her as a knife while her mother continued to taunt her. She had always believed it was her fault somehow. And once Tal had told her that his demonic powers started to show with puberty, she had only felt more guilty for never noticing.

"You were always bothersome." Another voice interrupted from somewhere else.

"Tal..." Her hands had at some point covered her ears, and she was no longer a child. Neither was Tal. "I want to help you. I have always wanted to help you. Your family to me. Please, can't we just..."

Tal started to laugh. "You want to help me, but you can't even protect yourself or your real family. Ridiculous." Aisha's whole body shook as Tal looked at something behind her. She slowly turned around, frightened half to death. There were bodies. Dead people lying in the dark. Why could she see them so clearly? Every little detail in their crooked bodies. The horrified open eyes stared at her, still with tears in their eyes.

"Brothe..." She choke on the word. The whole town was massacred. She was standing in a pile of bodies. "Tal, I..." But he wasn't there. Running through the lifeless bodies, searching after one living person, anyone, she finally came to a halt. Tal was lying there too, pierced in the heart by a sword. A boy stood above him, with a grin as wicked as the black death itself. Jeremy.

This time when she woke up, she did not throw herself into a sitting position. Instead she stared up in the ceiling, feeling completely unable to move, with the feeling that she just had heard someone shriek. Most likely it had been her.
 
Tal was silent at this latest probe for information. He felt like he should simply deflect it like he had all of the other attempts but the fact was that they were with any luck just a few short hours away from rescuing Aisha and as soon as they were in the same room it would probably become very evident their relationship. He was hoping, even fairly sure, that there wouldn't be too much of an argument about taking her home but he knew she could be stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn it seemed sometimes and if that happened their discussion would spell it out.

So, while he didn't trust Archer he also knew that the time he could keep such information secret was increasingly limited and Archer already knew that Aisha was very important to him. It didn't matter so much if he knew why now. "I wouldn't, no. She's been a pain in my side since we were about as tall as your knee." Tal was staring off into the distance, pointedly not looking at Archer. It was weird to think of himself as a kid. He was so different. He still believed in things back then, good things. His demonic heritage was just another part of him, not something that had cursed him from the moment he was born.

He shook off the reverie and leaned against a tree with his arms crossed. "She has always been a hard headed fool, as you may have imagined."

~~

Jensen sat quietly during his vigil, humming softly to himself as he scrawled down notes, entirely too cheerful for someone listening to screams and cries on the other side of the door. The first dream session had been somewhat enlightening but this one had solidified what he had suspected. They had certainly known each other since they were children; they had probably been best friends during that time. There also…was some sort of darker event that seemed to evoke a lot of guilt from the girl, which he found especially fascinating. It explained a lot about their odd dynamic. He now had enough information that he could extrapolate to form a bare bones story of their history together.

Unfortunately while he had a better idea of her importance, he was not finding that one thing the girls were looking for. He knew deep in his bones that the event that evoked such guilt in the girl on the other side of the door would be the key to breaking their wild card but he was also starting to suspect that the girl was only peripherally involved and did not contain that information, or at least not consciously. "Hmm…" He stood up and wandered towards the girls' rooms to discuss. There was still information to be had from their prisoner, even if not the information they had been looking for.

Luckily for Aisha, no one seemed interested in bothering her for quite some time.
 
That did explain the weird hand sign Tal had showed him. It had probably been something they had created in their childhood. While one part of him was slightly jealous that such a fool had not only seen the great assassin as a child, but also gotten to be with him after his success, which was a very foolish move. Another part of him was quite amused, because now he understood.

"So that's how she did it." He mused as he thought about how Jensen had told her about Aisha convincing Tal in just an hour or so. "I'm slightly disappointed Tal. Being attached to your past will only bring harm. Someone like you should understand that." There was no hint of a joke, no underlying tones of teasing. He was disappointed because his idol hadn't been able to keep away from his past. It didn't matter if the past was memories or living people, they would always be in the way.

_________

Aisha laid there, trying to catch her breath. Now she was certain that those nightmares wasn't normal. Two nightmares in two nights. Both being so awful she could barely breath as she woke up. Had they fed her something? She wanted to just get out of bed and do something so that she wouldn't have to fall asleep again. But her body was too tired to oblige. Even if it hadn't been, her legs would be in no condition to stand up for other reasons. Slowly she started to drift back into those dreams, while she also tried to force her brain to stay in the real world. Though, that real world wasn't much better than her dream world at that very moment.
 
Tal finally glanced over at the other man and laughed darkly. "Not everyone can be lucky enough to have everyone they cared about previously die before their careers start. That's the funny thing about the past. Even if you leave it in the dust it'll come knocking on your door to ruin your day anyway." He made an annoyed and decidedly rude hand gesture. He should just be happy the only past that came knocking was Aisha. If it had been his brother the town may have been leveled.

Archer had pretty much the reaction he expected but it did not change that it bothered him. Not enough to endanger anything but he wouldn't mind trashing some things about right now. Instead he moved into the center of their open area and drew his sword, settling into his practice stance. As soon as he started moving he pretty much forgot Archer was there while he whirled, danced, darted, and charged around the clearing executing moves almost too fast to see. It was a good warm up as well as a good way to kill time while they waited for the woman to show up.

When she did, she very nearly got impaled. Tal had been aware of her presence but he was just in the sort of mood where he felt like scaring someone. The poor woman almost fainted away right then and there. He waited patiently while she stuttered out her message before stepping forward to do the same move he had used on her daughter, knocking her out instantly and gesturing to Archer. "Game time." He smiled seductively. "Go show me what you're made of Ark." Whatever the discussion earlier, he was going to put such things away until he absolutely had to deal with them as usual.

_________

Jensen spent a couple hours discussing with the girls, which had degenerated to just chatting after a while. He wasn't as close to them as he was to their little brother but he was something like an uncle to them as well. Once they left to have their dinner however Jensen decided it was time for another nap. That was the only problem with the method he was using, his sleep schedule got all sorts of confused for a while.
 
It stung. The comment did actually hurt him on an emotional level. Archer wasn't even sure why. If it was because his family was dead and he had been reminded of it, or if it was because he felt guilty that he had been that lucky. He shook it off though, those old wounds could never reopen again. Those times were long gone with his whole village. Not even the ashes remained.

He left Tal for the rest of the evening, realizing that both of them needed some space. Eventually the maid came, only to almost run into Tal's sword. The game was on. "See ya in a few hours." Archer replied with a grin, now completely focused on his mission. It wasn't the best mission he had ever had, rescuing someone wasn't his forte, but it didn't make him less pumped. He ran the whole way, knowing they had very little time to get there, get in, and get out. Eventually he reached the mansion, probably beating a few speed records in the process. He let himself rest for less than half a minute, just to clear his mind and see how many guards was in his view. Of course he was out of theirs.

While sneaking in, he did not need to kill anyone. He were skillfully able to get passed every guard or servant he saw or heard without being noticed. It was first when he came to the room that presumably belonged to the girl that he knew he didn't have a choice but make a bit of a mess. Two guards was placed outside of it, just like the other day when he had passed it.

"Hey, you two. Where's Jensen. I need to speak to him." Archer strolled through the hallway as if he just had come back without any motives at all. The guards whom knew he had been assigned to Tal, since they had been in the same room when it was announced, was first slightly confused but must have realized that he probably lost the target. They seemed slightly suspicious of him, but it also seemed like they had enough rational explanation in their minds to trust him slightly. And that doubt was all he needed. Once he got close he drew his sword and slashed the throat on one of them, the other one got his sword out but it only took a few seconds for Archer to beat him too. Surprises were the worst kind of enemy, because if you couldn't act fast enough towards them, then you would be doomed.

"This will have to go fast!" He mumbled to himself as he knew that anyone could stumble upon that scene at any time.

He searched the dead guards for the key and eventually found it. Then he opened the door and found the sleeping girl. She was obviously having nightmares, though this time they didn't make her shout out the same way they did before. Archer shook her body carefully, trying to wake her up. just then a hand was thrown towards him and he had to duck. Aisha had almost smacked him out of fear when she felt the touch on her body.

"Take it easy, I'm here to help you." Archer tried to tell her but she backed away, confused over where she was as the nightmares and reality had mixed together somehow. "Don't worry, Tal sent me." He said and showed her the hand gesture. It wasn't exactly the same but at least recognizable.

It took a few seconds for Aisha to come to her senses. Her face was first painted with confusion, then understanding, then a little bit of anger. "He told you our secret sign? How could..." She was shouting so Archer had to cover her mouth with his hands. "Shh... We are escaping, so keep quiet." He whispered and slowly took away his hands from her mouth. "Can you stand?" He asked.

Aisha didn't know the answer on that question herself. With the cover put on her as a towel, she tried to step out of the bed, but her legs shook way too much, making her fall immediately. Archer luckily caught her. "Couldn't keep out of trouble for one day, could you?" He sighed and lifted her up to her surprise. "Just stay quiet and I'll take care of the rest." He then said as he moved through the corridors towards the secret tunnels. There was no way he would be able to get her out unnoticed if he tried to get out the normal way. And fighting while she was immovable was not to recommend. Aisha was slightly uncomfortable with being in the arms of Archer. Not because they had met before and he had called her rat, at that moment she couldn't even remember such a thing. It probably didn't matter who it was, she wouldn't like anyone to touch her for a while. It was kind of painful.
 
Tal stood over the woman's body and watched Archer move off, silently counting the minutes in his head. Once about 5 minutes had passed he started the same exercise he had in the forest, smoothing and shrinking his aura. He didn't want to take any chances if possible. The sad part was that this was more tiring for him that his hours of sword practice had been.

Eventually his little mental timer 'dinged' 10 minutes and he shot off into the forest as well. He had to restrain himself to a more normal persons running speed so he didn't overtake Archer. That was fine though as it reminded him to keep his focus on his aura. The hour long run to the mansion seemed to take forever, though at least on the second half he could monitor the going-ons of the people inside. As he got close enough he warily followed the aura of Archer to what he only then realized was Aisha's aura.

He felt anger stir in the pit of his stomach. It had only been a little more than a day and already… her aura was very abnormal. He grit his teeth, took a deep breath, and forced himself to push it out of his mind and focus on his game plan. He ran right up to the edge of the mansion and with a tiny spark of demonic power leaped up into a balcony. This one just happened to be attached to their ballroom. From there Tal followed the map to the old man's rooms. He took his time and snuck his way there, he didn't want to tip the mansion off any sooner than necessary and jeopardize Aisha and Archer.

It wasn't too long though before a passing maid spotted the two men Archer had killed and a scream set up the alarm. "Ah well…time to make some noise." Ignoring any attempt at restraint now he charged down the last few hallways. He mostly ran into servants who shrieked and ran at the sight of him. He didn't bother to do anything about them. He wanted the focus to be on him. Any guards he came upon where usually dead before they had a chance to draw.

Finally he arrived at the old man's rooms. He knew the guy had to be awake now, though the empty hole that should have been his aura frustrated Tal. He had no idea what was going on in that man's mind and he really wanted to make him suffer. Of course he also had a few others' he needed to get too and couldn't spend the night torturing or they would get away. The girls were already mobilizing their guards while they moved towards the stables. So not much time at all.

Tal lifted a foot and kicked the door in, sending it flying across the room and just barely missing the old man who looked pretty relaxed sitting at his bedroom table. Jensen even smiled cheerfully at Tal as he strode into the room. "You played well sonny, but I'm afraid you won't get much satisfaction out of me. I'm too old to be scared of things like pain and death." His face crinkled up in amusement. "I see you've been trying to expand your repertoire as well. You don't feel so high, mighty and invincible anymore do you?"

Tal stared coldly at the old man for several moments in silence, he should have been raging at such a comment but frankly it was true. Aisha made him vulnerable as he had not been in many a year. She confused the new him with the old him and he didn't know who was who anymore. "I suppose so." One quick slice and the old man smiled no more. Or forever, depending how you looked at it. "I'll thank you for that in a quick death." He turned and strode away; mentally bringing up the map again as he navigated his way through the house and back onto the balcony he had gotten in from. He could sense all the guards clustered around the front door and simply went around them by coming in from the gates.

They didn't even know he was there until a stable boy looked up from his task and saw him approaching. His holler set off a scramble of motion. The mass of guards turned around and frantically tried to put themselves between him and the stables. Most of them were barely a speed bump to him. A couple of men worked together and actually managed to stall him for enough time that the carriage was prepared and rattling out the gates. Tal huffed and let out a burst of energy, bowling the two men over and not even bothering to make sure they were dead.

Instead he darted up to the moving carriage and nonchalantly reached out and ripped a back wheel off. Immediately it started careening and crashed down onto its side with the sister's shrieking within. The carriage driver was thrown off entirely and the horse probably wouldn't make it. He didn't care about any of that however. He took his time getting to the carriage and jumping on the top side to open the door, relishing the fear he could feel from them. It was much more satisfying than dealing with the old man.

When the opened the door, Carla was standing defiantly over her sister, who was only barely conscious. She was shaking, but she too did not want to die so pathetically. It was about that moment he realized what that nagging feeling he had had since leaving the old man's room was. He was missing one. Where was the boy? He could not sense him at all. He felt a spark of annoyance that took a bit of the satisfaction out of this situation, but he would worry about the boy later. "You really should have just let well enough alone." He jumped into the carriage with a dark smile. "No matter how things went down, they would not have ended well for you."

His friendly expression faded and he slapped Carla so hard she crashed into the back of the carriage with a cry of pain. "It was stupid to try and control me." He pointed his sword downwards and stepped on Kaylie's hand, holding it still just before he cut it off entirely. "And then you were stupid enough to damage your method of control, ensuring that instead of just killing you I would have to get nasty about it." Carla probably couldn't really hear him over the scream of her sister, who was going to bleed out shortly.

"Lucky for you, your brother isn't here so I can't take all the time I want in this." Tal continued conversationally.

Carla's eyes widened. "N-no! Jeremy is just a child! Kill us bu-" She was cut off abruptly by his hand on her throat.

"No." He didn't even know Jeremy had been the one doing the torturing yet. He just wanted the bitch to die in despair. With another controlled slice he opened up her stomach, dropping her as her intestines started to fall out. "Now enjoy watching your sister bleed out while I find your brother. If you're lucky you'll die within an hour." He leapt of the carriage, now covered in blood and gore, and strode back into the house to find Jeremy.
 
Archer had been forced to stop a few times to hide before they finally got to the secret passage. Luckily the commotion had drawn away most of the guards, and once he started to hear more screaming he guessed that Tal had started his rampage.

"Where's Tal?" Aisha eventually asked as they entered the underground tunnels. She hadn't noticed it before, but her voice had gotten quite raspy. Crying and screaming in your sleep was apparently not the best thing for your voice, she thought. Archer didn't look at her as he tried to focus his eyes in the dark tunnels.

"He'll meet up with us." He told her reassuringly, and Aisha wondered if he was smiling or not as it was impossible to see, at least for her. Archer's eyes was much more accustomed to dark places, though it took some minutes to get used to it.

"He's going to kill them..." Surprisingly, she did say it as a statement instead of a question. She knew his temper, and she knew what he was capable of. The weird thing was, she did feel bad for them. And she did hate herself for it. Why couldn't she just believe that they deserved to die? After everything that had happened to her in less than two days.

"I think.. I can walk now." She then mumbled. Her body did still hurt, and she was just as exhausted as she had been ten minutes earlier. But that didn't matter. At that time she had just not had the will to fight, now she was prepared to take the last steps out of there. Archer put her down on the ground and even though she wobbled a little bit, as long as Archer held her arm and steadied her, it seemed like she could do it. Though Archer would have preferred to just carry her in that instance, as they probably could have moved faster that way. But the worse was behind them, and no one should be able to follow them down there. Thus, they should be safe. No need to rush.
 
Tal swiftly searched all of the likely spots the boy may have been hiding but was quickly forced to admit that Jeremy had probably escaped. He couldn't sense the boy somehow and he wouldn't know where to begin trying to track him. At this point tracks would be all over the place from the mass exodus from the servants. It was possible that Jeremy escaped the same way Archer and Aisha were. If he was lucky Archer would find the boy, since Tal had no idea what Archer was using to escape. He had never been aware of any secret tunnels or the sort and he could walk past them a hundred times without finding the entrance. He grunted irritably and let himself out of the mansion, deciding he would worry about it later. He would head back to their spot to meet up since there was little he could do now.

~~

Jeremy had been asleep himself when Archer entered the building, after a 'session' with his sisters. He couldn't miss the distinct feel of death however, even as worn out as he was. The first brought him closer to waking and the second pulled him out of his sleep entirely. He sat up in bed, looking confused for a few moments before he felt the distinctive fire that was Tal's aura approaching.

Now while Jeremy was normally a very calm and collected boy, he knew at that moment that everything was falling down around them. There was no 'good' end to this for his family, only varying levels of bad. He had the choice to warn his sisters, who were pretty much dead at this moment regardless of what he did or try and save the one person he felt close to in this place. So of course he went straight to Jensen's room. Jensen was awake at that point as well and held out his arms to Jeremy. They stood like that for a short while as Tal drew nearer. "Go Jeremy, he will hunt me down because he views me as a threat but you are incidental to him. If you go now you can be safe." Jeremy didn't speak and tightened his grip on the old man but rather than waste time with useless protestations he let Jensen push him away.

He used his own ability to sense aura's to completely avoid Tal and made his way into the escape tunnels. He stopped just inside the entrance to catch his breath, shuddering as he felt the aura burst that was Jensen's aura being revealed just before his death. If the boy could have cried he would have but he had lost that ability long ago. Instead he pressed on, becoming aware that Archer was following him and would probably over take him, even with the girl in tow. He found himself almost not caring but he refused to let Jensen down like that.

He had a glimmer of an idea. It was a risk but if it paid off he would ensure that neither Archer nor Tal would come after him. And it involved little from him aside from trying not to get stabbed in anything too important. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall with a tired sigh, pretending to be oblivious to the duo coming up behind him and letting out a soft whimper. He didn't even fake that, it was the only way he could show his grief at the death of his mentor/father figure.
 
They hadn't walked for long when Archer stopped. He could still not see Jeremy, but he could definitely hear him. At first he believed that it was one of the servant that had gotten lost down there, but it didn't take long to realize that such a thing would be impossible. They would never know where the secret tunnels were. Aisha looked up at him with an unspoken question in her eyes. what... or who had made them stop.

Archer motioned towards Aisha to stay where she were, which forced her to lean against the wall instead of him. She had no idea what was going on. She couldn't see anyone, and she wasn't even certain if she had heard anything. Archer silently stalked closer towards the boy, until he could make out the figure. Among the few people whom knew about the tunnels, the only one with that body size and voice was Jeremy. Lucky him, he had wished to take out that kid himself if it ever came to that.

"You've fallen quite low I see. I don't blame you though." Archer mused, not realizing that Aisha was feeling her way closer to them in the tunnels. "I must say, it was very nice working for you. And I am truly grateful for the opportunity you gave me. But all nice things must come to an end I suppose." He didn't care to do it quickly, the boy wouldn't have a chance to defend himself against Archer either way. If the boy ran, he would simply run after him.

"When you meet that old geezer, tell him I said hi." Archer said slightly mockingly as he drew his sword and launched an attack towards the child. He didn't care much for if the boy died immediately or if he would lay there and bleed to death. Just a few steps away, Aisha was holding onto the wall as if her life depended on it. Even through the dark, she could clearly see how Archer impaled the boy. Or maybe her imagination had just filled in everything she didn't see.
 
Jeremy whirled to face Archer as he spoke, his eyes wide with supposedly surprise. "You-" He cut himself off and his face hardened. He edged to the side as if considering running before drawing his dagger. It of course was no help in doing more than deflecting the assassin's blade away from his lungs and heart which certainly would have killed him to the more muddy area of his stomach. He couldn't help a cry of pain. Being ready for being stabbed was not an actual thing. You could know it was happening but nothing would prepare you for the sensation of a blade actually sliding through your skin.

He staggered back with a groan, clutching at his side and gasping with the pain. Every movement jolted the wound and made it burn like fire. Even now, he couldn't cry, and now his gamble was well and truly played out. Either Archer would attack again and finish him off, which he could do nothing about. Or he could think Jeremy done for and leave him to supposedly bleed out. Now all he could do was look pathetic and wait. If Archer left then he could use his shirt and belt to put enough pressure on the wound that he should be able to make it to a doctor. It wouldn't be pleasant and he would probably take quite some time to recover, but he could survive this. Stomach wounds weren't the end of the world and he was a fair hand at first aid.

He closed his eyes and shuddered painfully, as if he had resigned himself. "At least…one of us…got something out of this…" Talking really hurt too and there was what seemed like an awful lot of blood already.
 
Aisha held a hand over her mouth, forcing herself not to make a sound. She knew that it was Jeremy from the moment he spoke. But it still didn't make that situation okay. He had been completely defenseless when Archer attacked him, at least in the sense that Archer could disarm him easily without hurting him. Archer was certain he wouldn't survive, and while he considered to just take the boy out of his misery, he thought that at least he could give him the illusion of having a chance.

Archer smiled at the boy's comment. "Don't take it to heart. I did the same thing for you when you and your sisters wanted me to turn on my previous employer. You should have seen this outcome much earlier." He slid his sword back into place and turned to Aisha. "Let's get out of here, he must be waiting."

"He's going to bleed to death if you leave him like that." Aisha protested.

"Good." He replied. "That was the plan after all."

"He's just a child!" A pretty evil child, but a child non the less.

"He didn't joke when he said you were stubborn." Archer sighed and without the girl's consent he lifted her up and carried her away from there, without listening to her protests and arguments.

Eventually they got out of the tunnels and made their way back towards the meeting place. Even though Aisha tried to convince him that she could walk by herself, he refused to let her do it. Not because he was a gentleman, but because she was barefoot, could barely walk, and would slow them down. The walk was already long as it was.

Aisha did actually fall asleep, which was no surprise to neither Archer nor her. He had noticed how hurt and exhausted she was from the moment she tried to stand up. Once they arrived at the meeting spot, Aisha had started to move around slightly in Archer's arm, most likely because of some unpleasant dreams.
 
Jeremy was rather surprised to hear Aisha speak. After what he had done to her he was rather bemused by the fact that she was trying to save him. She really was something else, no wonder she could somehow stand to be around the darkness that was Taliesin Night. He didn't respond to Archer, remaining motionless and keeping his breathing even while they walked away. He waited until they were well out of sight, mostly because it took that long for him to gather his strength. He then cut a sleeve off his shirt and made a makeshift bandage which he then pressed against his wound. Then came the hard part. He removed his belt and wrapped that around the bandage, letting out another whimper of pain as he tightened the belt as much as he could.

It was hard to get up and moving after that, but he had the determination needed. It was going to be a slow walk to the village in the opposite direction, but he wouldn't stop until he got there.

~~

Tal spent the time waiting for Archer to arrive alternating sitting and staring broodingly and pacing around the campsite. He knew Aisha was safe(ish) but he still hated waiting. And of course once Archer neared he forced himself to tamp down on his concern and act at least somewhat like the great assassin he was supposed to be. He motioned for Archer to put Aisha down, frowning as he gave her a brief once over. Physically she only seemed to only have minor wounds. He wasn't about to examine her more closely while she was asleep, she'd wake up and freak out at him and he just didn't feel like dealing with that. It was just as well he had…most of the blood and such off now for that reason as well.

Her aura was of more concern to him, he couldn't put his finger on it but even considering the possible torture she went through it was just weird. Colors were mixed up and it seemed very restless. It could just be the dream she was having though. He left her for the moment, though he would wake her up if the dreams seemed to get worse, and turned to Archer then. "Good job, they didn't even know you were there until you were gone." He grinned and seemed a bit more like his usual self. "The mission was almost a complete success." His brow furrowed. "Despite the younger brother getting away from me." That still irked him greatly. In the long run it was just another wronged family member that would probably come after him but he did have a bit of a special grudge against that family.
 
Archer smirked at Tal's statement. "I told you beforehand that I wanted to be the one to take care of him, did I not?" He reminded his companion. "He took his escaped through the tunnels, but he won't be leaving them anytime soon." He then continued reassuringly. Maybe someone would find Jeremy's skeleton in a hundred years or so. But for now he would sleep down there undisturbed.

"I guess I'll have to act as driver for the night, since you slaughtered the only one we had." He shook his head a bit comically. He probably wouldn't let Tal steer them back even if he threatened to cut the throat off of Archer, mainly because he didn't want to babysit sleeping beauty. Even with her in that condition she would probably be quite annoying once she woke up. Plus, he wanted to be on a safe distance if those two got into an argument. It would be crazy for anyone to get into an argument, or a fight, with the famous Taliesin, but from his short period of time speaking with the girl and Tal's previous statement about her, he was fairly certain that she would dare to speak up even to him, no matter what ridiculous ideas ran through her head.
 
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