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February 8, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

I went to the hideout after school that day, as I usually do when I'm not working on art stuff at home or hanging out with my friends. I took the hidden elevator leading down into the entrance hall and strolled through the building, thinking about the previous day as I did.

I was thinking about Jess. About what she did. She killed one of her own men. On purpose. She didn't miss, the angle between me and him was too big for her to have just missed. No, she wanted to kill him. She made a choice. She made a choice to disobey her Order, to betray it. Obviously she'll pin it on me when she returns to her superiors, but the Templars will find out. They always manage to seek out and destroy their traitors.

So then what would she do now? Would she go on the run before they found out? Would she finally snap out of it and embrace the rebellion festering inside her? Or would she keep going on until they kill her for her crimes? Would she stay in fearful denial until it destroys her? Would she keep coming after me? Would she still want to kill me after everything that's happened? I didn't know. I really didn't know. And quite honestly, it scared me.

I kept on walking through the hideout until I passed through the bedroom hall. Someone loudly cleared their throat in one of the rooms as I passed. It was Chelsea.

I turned to face her. She did not look happy.

“Hey Chels,” I said. “What's up?”

“You told me she was dead,” she said right away. My heart dropped.

“How did you…?” I started.

She pulled her laptop over from her bed and spun it around to show me the drone camera footage playing on loop. It was all a playback of what happened last night.

“...Chels… I'm sorry, I…”

“Sorry? You're sorry? Boy, I'll give you a reason to be sorry. Do you have any idea how pissed I am right now?”

“Chels, please. Just hear me out…”

“You told me she was dead! You told me I could put this to rest! But she wasn't! And you knew full well she wasn't dead! You lied to me, Carter!”

“I didn't want you to have this weight on your shoulders anymore, Chels.”

“Well then you should've just killed her back in the caves! Do you know how long that little demon has tormented me? Do you know how long I had to endure her hunting me down?”

“It's not her fault.” I was practically pleading at this point.

“What are you on about, boy?”

“She's just following orders, Chels. She doesn't know how to do otherwise. She's too scared to do otherwise.”

“Bull. That little satan-spawn knows full well what she did. She's as cold hearted as the rest of her Order!”

“Because she had no choice! Any sense of rebellion she had was beaten out of her long ago, Chels. She's a broken girl. But she can be fixed! Her ghosts are all dead now! The only thing holding her back is her own irrational fear.”

“Carter, I'm telling you-”

“Wasn’t that why you joined all those anti-bullying organizations? Heck, why you joined the Assassins? To help people who went through that kind of stuff? To help get them out of those states? To help them escape and heal?”

“I… Yes. But Carter-”

“Chels, please, I'm begging you to let me help her. She wants to atone for the past, she just needs the extra push to help her get to that point. Please, Chelsea, please!”

She looked at me, her face a mixture of confusion, anger, and sympathy. She was torn now, and who could blame her? All those years of pent up rage and a desire for vengeance, suddenly conflicting against her instinct to help me and hear my pleas. We sat in silence for a good long minute, and then she gave a long, reluctant sigh.

“Fine,” she said. “Do what you need to do. But if you can't turn that little monster to the light side, then I will personally make sure that she's dealt with properly.”

I smiled brightly, and ran up to hug her. I could feel her face reluctantly bunching up into a smile.

“Thank you, Chels,” I said.

“You're welcome, squirt,” she said. “Now no offense, but I kinda need you to get off. The baby makes hugs a bit difficult.”

I let go. “Oh, sorry!” I said.

“Ah, it's no trouble, hun.”

“How's it going, by the way?”

Her hand went to her gut. “He's coming along well,” she said, smiling.

“Have you and Andrew decided on a name yet?”

“We're thinking Kaiden.”

“Not a bad choice.”

She nodded in agreement. “God, I can't wait to be able to get out and do some actual work,” she said. “I mean, I love this kid, but do you have any idea how annoying it is to be all cooped up for months on end because of a tiny person growing in your gut?”

“Well… actually... I kinda do. Priscilla was pregnant in one of those memory sessions, remember?”

At this point she just kinda burst out laughing. “Well, then at least you know my plight,” she said. “God, I can't imagine how our ancestor could handle that many kids at once. I'm only having two and my hands are already full!”

“You're really gonna have a lot on your plate, Chels,” I laughed.

“Heh, I really am. But hopefully I'll still be able to get back out into the field with you. I can't let you get all the fun.”

“You think you still got what it takes?”

“I may be out of practice, but I guarantee I'll still be able to beat your hide five times over.”

I laughed. “I don't doubt it,” I said. “You're one of the best fighters I've seen.”

“And don't you forget it, squirt.”

We took a moment to just laugh at each other, and once we settled down I said, “Welp, I should probably go check on the others. I wanna check with Ruby and see if we can get another quick Animus session in.”

“You do that. I'll be here.”

I gave her a thumbs up and got out of her hair. I walked down the hall, and reached the end where the door to the living rooms were. But something froze me in my tracks when I put my hand on the knob. The sounds of shouting.

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” It was Ava. I turned on my heels and darted back towards her room.

“What the hell was that?” Chelsea said as I ran by.

“I don't know. Come on!”

She nodded and followed me as much as she could down the hall.

“A friend, Ava! We’re all your friends! And we’re worried about you!” It was Jacob. He was shouting as well.

“If you were legitimately concerned about me, you wouldn't try to pull this kind of crap!” Ava shouted.

“I haven’t done anything yet! And neither have you! If you keep doing this, you’re going to kill yourself!”

“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were a bloody mindreader!”

She was getting really mad. And her accent was shifting in and out.

“I know what's best for me, Jaga!” she shouted furiously as we rounded the corner. “And if you're too bigoted to recognize that-”

“So did my mom! And she destroyed herself and me because of it! And you’re gonna end up losing everything too unless you do something!”

“Diam! Diam! Anda tidak mendengar, Jaga! Saya bukan kanak-kanak! Hanya pengecut celaka! Jadi diancuk!”

“What did you call me, you brat!?”

“Saya mungkin anak nakal, tetapi sekurang-kurangnya saya tidak cacing tidak cekap seperti anda, Dhien!”

Chelsea gave me a nervous look as we came running down the last hall, and just as we reached the door to Ava's room, we heard the distinctive sound of fist hitting face. The next thing we knew, her door flung open as Jacob smacked into it and his momentum carried him down to the floor. Before we could react, Ava came storming out afterwards and slammed the door behind her, mumbling incoherently.

“Bloody rubbish, all of them. Dungu!” she said. “I… I need a drink… Arnold.”

Chelsea and I honestly had no idea how to react. Jacob sat on the floor watching her go, lips trying to form words, but nothing coming out. He reached up to his face, wiping some blood from his lip, seemingly confused.

“What the hell happened?” I said.

“What did you do?” Chelsea asked.

“I… I don’t…” Jacob’s brow furrowed and he rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know… I went in to talk to her about… about her problem… To see if I could do more about it…”

“Dude, we told you to just let her be alone!” I couldn't believe my ears.

I wasn’t sure if he hadn’t heard me, or just ignored me, but with a shake of his head he stood up, mumbling. “The Bleeding Effect… her accent started… she must have snapped…”

“Yeah, she snapped because you came in and triggered her like we said you would! I… I mean dude! Were you even thinking?”

“No… She’s falling apart… Need to…” He groaned and covered his face, massaging his temples. “If we don’t do something she’s… ugh, my head…”

Chelsea was clearly more ticked than I was. “Boy, I'll give you a real headache real quick if you don't-”

He snapped his eyes up to hers and growled, but it sounded more like a sound an animal would make. “Stuff it, Chelsea. I’m gonna… I’m gonna get something for this headache…” He turned and headed down the hallway away from us before Chelsea had the chance to rear up and smack him across the face. She was about to charge after him, but I stopped her.

“Carter-!”

“Chels, let him go. We'll deal with him soon, but right now we need to make sure Ava’s okay.”

She growled in anger but restrained herself nonetheless. She nodded bitterly, and then we made our way towards where Ava was going.

We found her in the living room, sitting with Ben and Ruby as they tried desperately to calm her down. She had a glass in her hand, and it clattered hard on the table as she visibly shook.

“I can't…” she was stuttering. “Ben I can't… I can't!”

“Yes you can, Ava. We'll spend some time away from all this, I promise. But you gotta pull through…”

She slammed her fist onto the table. “Hkawe'še nikya!” she shouted. “Kuwumaras, but I can't handle this much more… Ruby… Ben… Mum… Please! The voices don't stop, Connor!”

“Ava, please!” Ben was practically pleading. “Please, you have to focus! The only one who can keep your head in tact right now is you! Please stay with me!”

We ran up to them and gathered around. Neither of us had any clue what to do. Ava was shaking hard. She was crying.

We were about to say something else in our vain attempt to bring her back to reality, but then suddenly the lights began to flicker. All of the electronics around us started going haywire. Ava clearly wasn't concerned with it. Heck, she probably couldn't tell if electricity had been discovered yet, but the rest of us were.

“Carter…?” Chelsea nervously asked.

“It's not me, Chels…”

“Then why…?” Ruby said.

We could hear a voice coming from the hall. “The effect gets worse when she gets aggravated… With a quick impulse...” We all spun around and saw Jacob, Staff of Eden gripped tight in his hand. “We should be able to help calm her mind. At least for a time...”

All of our jaws dropped. We all sprang out of our chairs.

“What in God's name are you doing?” Chelsea shouted furiously at him.

“Chels…” I warned.

“Alright man,” Ruby was saying. “Let's talk about this, m’kay?”

Jacob turned to look at her. “When I was talking to Ava, she started suffering from the Bleeding Effect as she got more and more aggravated.”

“Well gee, I wonder why,” Chelsea spat. We could hear Ava sobbing uncontrollably behind us. Was she scared of the present too? Could she comprehend what was going on with such a fractured timeline in her mind? I didn’t know. But I did know that at the very least, the rest of us were certainly terrified.

“Which means that it is related in some part to her emotions. Calm her down, and the Bleeding Effect will lessen. Now if you don’t get in my way, the worst that could happen is that she’ll continue to freak out.

“I'm sorry, when did you suddenly become an expert in Precursor tech and mental disorders?” Ben snapped.

Jacob smiled. “I read. A lot. I’ve learned quite a bit on how brains work.”

“Well then could you get to work on fixing yours?” Chelsea spat. “Because clearly there ain't a lot runnin’ smoothly up there!”

“Chels…” I warned again. I stepped forward a small bit. “Jacob, listen. Let's just all calm down and-”

“She doesn’t have enough time for that, Carter. I know that I can help her. All I need is a second alone.”

“Jacob, you know I won't let you do that…”

“Then stand to the side. If it doesn’t work, she won’t be affected at all. If it does work, she’ll have her mind back.”

“You've gone mental, man!”

He snarled, letting out that same animal-like sound from before. “Can’t let me do anything? Scared as usual to try something different? I could help her, Carter!”

“‘Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent’. That's part of the Creed, Jacob, and I intend to uphold that principle.”

Chelsea stepped forward. “Me too,” she said. Every word we spoke caused the lights to flicker more violently.

“It’s not surgery! If you’ll just let me show you we can be done with this! So either you move, or I move you.”

I flicked out my hidden blade.

“Diam...” Ava mumbled behind us. “Diam… Diam!”

“Ben, Ruby, you guys watch her,” I said, never taking my eyes off Jacob. They nodded and stuck to her side. Chelsea pulled out a pistol and cocked it.

“I don’t want to fight you, Carter. I just want to help her.”

“So do we,” I said simply. Chelsea raised her gun high, aiming it directly at his face. After dealing with Daniel Cross, my cousin didn't take too kindly to betrayal. Even if it was from my best friend…

He noticed the movement and pushed the Staff forward. The white Marble shined with an intense glow on top of the artifact, and a gust of wind buffeted everyone in the room. We all went sprawling backwards. Ava moaned and clutched her skull as her friends tried to scramble over to her. Chelsea used her momentum to roll behind cover and take aim. I merely stumbled over myself, staggering back to my feet.

Chelsea let off three bullets at Jacob, her skills impaired but not destroyed by the kid in her gut. All four marbles in the Staff flared, and a wall of light flashed in front of him. As the bullets hit it, they disintegrated. Chelsea swore under her breath. He took a step forward, eyes narrowed.

“Why. Does. Everything. Have to be so damn difficult!” He aimed the Staff at Ava’s head, the Marbles shining intensely. Ava started screaming in pain as she gripped her head, ripping out a few hairs in the process.

“Hentikan! Hentikan!” she screeched at the top of her lungs. She started spasming out. I grit my teeth. My fists clenched.

Jacob pulled back, eyes widening. He looked from Ava to the Staff, then let out an angered shout. “Emotions!” He yelled. His eyes darted around the room before landing on me. “Couldn’t let me try, could you?! Had to keep pushing! Now look what’s happened!”

“This is on you, Jacob! That thing has corrupted you! Chels was right! We should've destroyed it long ago!”

Letting out another rage fueled scream, he slammed the end of the Staff to the ground, a wave of energy washing over the room, overloading the few lights still working. His shoulders slumped and he leaned on the Staff, glaring at me with a tired but angered look in his eye. “It can help people,” he said. “I’ll show you. I’ll show you I can help them.” He turned to the door and stormed out, using the Staff as a crutch. We were about to give chase, but we were suddenly interrupted by a scream behind us.

“Diam diam diam!” Ava screeched. Chels and I spun on our heels to see her suddenly lunge up from the floor and tackle Ben. She started clawing at his face as he tried to get her off.

We rushed over to try and restrain her. Ruby grabbed her by the arms and dragged her back, or at least she tried to. Ava frantically wriggled around to try and escape. “Anjing Templar! Saya akan membunuh anda juga! Anda, Jackson, Bailie, anda semua akan mati!”

“Carter help!” Ruby said as she lost her grip. Ava suddenly reared back and headbutted her friend right in the nose, sending Ruby falling back. I lunged forwards and grabbed her, but she managed to wriggle her fist free and socked me in the jaw.

I went reeling back and she pounced, screaming like a mountain lion.

“These are not your lands anymore!” she shouted in an accent identical to Aveza's. “You'll not have my home!”

I kicked upwards and pushed her back, allowing me to get back up.

“Ava! Please! Snap out of it!” I begged.

The others tried again but they all met the same fate of bleeding scars and cracked bones. I sprinted at her, and jumped. I landed on her back and tried to bring her down like some sort of twisted rodeo show. She shook and spasmed, spouting random bits of Powhatan, Croatoan, Shawnee, English, and Malay.

It quickly reached a point where I couldn't hold on anymore, especially once she started wobbling around the room like a chicken without its head. There was a split second where I thought I could stay on, but my hopes were crushed when she lost her balance and suddenly started tumbling towards one of the little fuse boxes that had been blown apart. I didn't have time to react. She went back first into it, my back. I felt the zap of the electricity as I fell to the floor, vision blurring instantly as I did. Ava finally collapsed as well, and the last thing I saw before finally losing consciousness was our friends rushing over to try and help.

------------

February 9, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

I woke up the next morning, ironically drained of energy. Chelsea was by my bed, waiting for me. She must've known what I was going to ask, because she told me before I could open my mouth.

“She's fine,” she said. “Ruby got her stabilized and now she's just kinda sitting in her room, trying to get over it all.”

I didn't say anything. I just rubbed my head and got lost in my thoughts. Good God, how did this all happen so fast? How did things fall apart like this?

“And he's gone,” Chelsea said. My eyes widened. “Yeah,” she said. “Jacob got away, disappeared into the city with the Staff. Traitor…”

“Chels, he's not in his right mind…” I said.

“You don’t say.”

“Chels, listen-”

“No. You listen Carter. I let the whole thing with Wolfgang slide, but this isn't something I can tolerate. He betrayed the Assassins, hurt Ava, tried to kill us all!”

“He's my friend, Chels.”

“Then do whatever the hell you do with friends that pull that crap. But I'm sticking to the rules of the Brotherhood. I'm going to make sure that traitor is put down.”

I opened my mouth to argue further, but what was the point? I knew I couldn't win this one. Not with Chels. She was set, and so was I. We both just sat in mournful silence for a good long while.

“I called the school and told them you were sick,” she said. “So I guess… just sit here and rest up or something. I'm going home.”

After a moment of silence, I nodded. She simply stood and left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I hadn't felt like this since before we started taking out Natasha Wolfgang’s top dogs. This feeling of hopelessness, that the world was against us and that we were doomed to just be broken and scattered. Nothing was going right. Jess was awol. Chelsea didn't trust me, and was out for blood. Jacob disappeared with the Staff and Marbles to do God knows what. Ava was on the verge of mental collapse. It all just… we just couldn't take it…

Things had just gotten so messed up...

Description
February 8, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

I went to the hideout after school that day, as I usually do when I'm not working on art stuff at home or hanging out with my friends. I took the hidden elevator leading down into the entrance hall and strolled through the building, thinking about the previous day as I did.

I was thinking about Jess. About what she did. She killed one of her own men. On purpose. She didn't miss, the angle between me and him was too big for her to have just missed. No, she wanted to kill him. She made a choice. She made a choice to disobey her Order, to betray it. Obviously she'll pin it on me when she returns to her superiors, but the Templars will find out. They always manage to seek out and destroy their traitors.

So then what would she do now? Would she go on the run before they found out? Would she finally snap out of it and embrace the rebellion festering inside her? Or would she keep going on until they kill her for her crimes? Would she stay in fearful denial until it destroys her? Would she keep coming after me? Would she still want to kill me after everything that's happened? I didn't know. I really didn't know. And quite honestly, it scared me.

I kept on walking through the hideout until I passed through the bedroom hall. Someone loudly cleared their throat in one of the rooms as I passed. It was Chelsea.

I turned to face her. She did not look happy.

“Hey Chels,” I said. “What's up?”

“You told me she was dead,” she said right away. My heart dropped.

“How did you…?” I started.

She pulled her laptop over from her bed and spun it around to show me the drone camera footage playing on loop. It was all a playback of what happened last night.

“...Chels… I'm sorry, I…”

“Sorry? You're sorry? Boy, I'll give you a reason to be sorry. Do you have any idea how pissed I am right now?”

“Chels, please. Just hear me out…”

“You told me she was dead! You told me I could put this to rest! But she wasn't! And you knew full well she wasn't dead! You lied to me, Carter!”

“I didn't want you to have this weight on your shoulders anymore, Chels.”

“Well then you should've just killed her back in the caves! Do you know how long that little demon has tormented me? Do you know how long I had to endure her hunting me down?”

“It's not her fault.” I was practically pleading at this point.

“What are you on about, boy?”

“She's just following orders, Chels. She doesn't know how to do otherwise. She's too scared to do otherwise.”

“Bull. That little satan-spawn knows full well what she did. She's as cold hearted as the rest of her Order!”

“Because she had no choice! Any sense of rebellion she had was beaten out of her long ago, Chels. She's a broken girl. But she can be fixed! Her ghosts are all dead now! The only thing holding her back is her own irrational fear.”

“Carter, I'm telling you-”

“Wasn’t that why you joined all those anti-bullying organizations? Heck, why you joined the Assassins? To help people who went through that kind of stuff? To help get them out of those states? To help them escape and heal?”

“I… Yes. But Carter-”

“Chels, please, I'm begging you to let me help her. She wants to atone for the past, she just needs the extra push to help her get to that point. Please, Chelsea, please!”

She looked at me, her face a mixture of confusion, anger, and sympathy. She was torn now, and who could blame her? All those years of pent up rage and a desire for vengeance, suddenly conflicting against her instinct to help me and hear my pleas. We sat in silence for a good long minute, and then she gave a long, reluctant sigh.

“Fine,” she said. “Do what you need to do. But if you can't turn that little monster to the light side, then I will personally make sure that she's dealt with properly.”

I smiled brightly, and ran up to hug her. I could feel her face reluctantly bunching up into a smile.

“Thank you, Chels,” I said.

“You're welcome, squirt,” she said. “Now no offense, but I kinda need you to get off. The baby makes hugs a bit difficult.”

I let go. “Oh, sorry!” I said.

“Ah, it's no trouble, hun.”

“How's it going, by the way?”

Her hand went to her gut. “He's coming along well,” she said, smiling.

“Have you and Andrew decided on a name yet?”

“We're thinking Kaiden.”

“Not a bad choice.”

She nodded in agreement. “God, I can't wait to be able to get out and do some actual work,” she said. “I mean, I love this kid, but do you have any idea how annoying it is to be all cooped up for months on end because of a tiny person growing in your gut?”

“Well… actually... I kinda do. Priscilla was pregnant in one of those memory sessions, remember?”

At this point she just kinda burst out laughing. “Well, then at least you know my plight,” she said. “God, I can't imagine how our ancestor could handle that many kids at once. I'm only having two and my hands are already full!”

“You're really gonna have a lot on your plate, Chels,” I laughed.

“Heh, I really am. But hopefully I'll still be able to get back out into the field with you. I can't let you get all the fun.”

“You think you still got what it takes?”

“I may be out of practice, but I guarantee I'll still be able to beat your hide five times over.”

I laughed. “I don't doubt it,” I said. “You're one of the best fighters I've seen.”

“And don't you forget it, squirt.”

We took a moment to just laugh at each other, and once we settled down I said, “Welp, I should probably go check on the others. I wanna check with Ruby and see if we can get another quick Animus session in.”

“You do that. I'll be here.”

I gave her a thumbs up and got out of her hair. I walked down the hall, and reached the end where the door to the living rooms were. But something froze me in my tracks when I put my hand on the knob. The sounds of shouting.

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” It was Ava. I turned on my heels and darted back towards her room.

“What the hell was that?” Chelsea said as I ran by.

“I don't know. Come on!”

She nodded and followed me as much as she could down the hall.

“A friend, Ava! We’re all your friends! And we’re worried about you!” It was Jacob. He was shouting as well.

“If you were legitimately concerned about me, you wouldn't try to pull this kind of crap!” Ava shouted.

“I haven’t done anything yet! And neither have you! If you keep doing this, you’re going to kill yourself!”

“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were a bloody mindreader!”

She was getting really mad. And her accent was shifting in and out.

“I know what's best for me, Jaga!” she shouted furiously as we rounded the corner. “And if you're too bigoted to recognize that-”

“So did my mom! And she destroyed herself and me because of it! And you’re gonna end up losing everything too unless you do something!”

“Diam! Diam! Anda tidak mendengar, Jaga! Saya bukan kanak-kanak! Hanya pengecut celaka! Jadi diancuk!”

“What did you call me, you brat!?”

“Saya mungkin anak nakal, tetapi sekurang-kurangnya saya tidak cacing tidak cekap seperti anda, Dhien!”

Chelsea gave me a nervous look as we came running down the last hall, and just as we reached the door to Ava's room, we heard the distinctive sound of fist hitting face. The next thing we knew, her door flung open as Jacob smacked into it and his momentum carried him down to the floor. Before we could react, Ava came storming out afterwards and slammed the door behind her, mumbling incoherently.

“Bloody rubbish, all of them. Dungu!” she said. “I… I need a drink… Arnold.”

Chelsea and I honestly had no idea how to react. Jacob sat on the floor watching her go, lips trying to form words, but nothing coming out. He reached up to his face, wiping some blood from his lip, seemingly confused.

“What the hell happened?” I said.

“What did you do?” Chelsea asked.

“I… I don’t…” Jacob’s brow furrowed and he rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know… I went in to talk to her about… about her problem… To see if I could do more about it…”

“Dude, we told you to just let her be alone!” I couldn't believe my ears.

I wasn’t sure if he hadn’t heard me, or just ignored me, but with a shake of his head he stood up, mumbling. “The Bleeding Effect… her accent started… she must have snapped…”

“Yeah, she snapped because you came in and triggered her like we said you would! I… I mean dude! Were you even thinking?”

“No… She’s falling apart… Need to…” He groaned and covered his face, massaging his temples. “If we don’t do something she’s… ugh, my head…”

Chelsea was clearly more ticked than I was. “Boy, I'll give you a real headache real quick if you don't-”

He snapped his eyes up to hers and growled, but it sounded more like a sound an animal would make. “Stuff it, Chelsea. I’m gonna… I’m gonna get something for this headache…” He turned and headed down the hallway away from us before Chelsea had the chance to rear up and smack him across the face. She was about to charge after him, but I stopped her.

“Carter-!”

“Chels, let him go. We'll deal with him soon, but right now we need to make sure Ava’s okay.”

She growled in anger but restrained herself nonetheless. She nodded bitterly, and then we made our way towards where Ava was going.

We found her in the living room, sitting with Ben and Ruby as they tried desperately to calm her down. She had a glass in her hand, and it clattered hard on the table as she visibly shook.

“I can't…” she was stuttering. “Ben I can't… I can't!”

“Yes you can, Ava. We'll spend some time away from all this, I promise. But you gotta pull through…”

She slammed her fist onto the table. “Hkawe'še nikya!” she shouted. “Kuwumaras, but I can't handle this much more… Ruby… Ben… Mum… Please! The voices don't stop, Connor!”

“Ava, please!” Ben was practically pleading. “Please, you have to focus! The only one who can keep your head in tact right now is you! Please stay with me!”

We ran up to them and gathered around. Neither of us had any clue what to do. Ava was shaking hard. She was crying.

We were about to say something else in our vain attempt to bring her back to reality, but then suddenly the lights began to flicker. All of the electronics around us started going haywire. Ava clearly wasn't concerned with it. Heck, she probably couldn't tell if electricity had been discovered yet, but the rest of us were.

“Carter…?” Chelsea nervously asked.

“It's not me, Chels…”

“Then why…?” Ruby said.

We could hear a voice coming from the hall. “The effect gets worse when she gets aggravated… With a quick impulse...” We all spun around and saw Jacob, Staff of Eden gripped tight in his hand. “We should be able to help calm her mind. At least for a time...”

All of our jaws dropped. We all sprang out of our chairs.

“What in God's name are you doing?” Chelsea shouted furiously at him.

“Chels…” I warned.

“Alright man,” Ruby was saying. “Let's talk about this, m’kay?”

Jacob turned to look at her. “When I was talking to Ava, she started suffering from the Bleeding Effect as she got more and more aggravated.”

“Well gee, I wonder why,” Chelsea spat. We could hear Ava sobbing uncontrollably behind us. Was she scared of the present too? Could she comprehend what was going on with such a fractured timeline in her mind? I didn’t know. But I did know that at the very least, the rest of us were certainly terrified.

“Which means that it is related in some part to her emotions. Calm her down, and the Bleeding Effect will lessen. Now if you don’t get in my way, the worst that could happen is that she’ll continue to freak out.

“I'm sorry, when did you suddenly become an expert in Precursor tech and mental disorders?” Ben snapped.

Jacob smiled. “I read. A lot. I’ve learned quite a bit on how brains work.”

“Well then could you get to work on fixing yours?” Chelsea spat. “Because clearly there ain't a lot runnin’ smoothly up there!”

“Chels…” I warned again. I stepped forward a small bit. “Jacob, listen. Let's just all calm down and-”

“She doesn’t have enough time for that, Carter. I know that I can help her. All I need is a second alone.”

“Jacob, you know I won't let you do that…”

“Then stand to the side. If it doesn’t work, she won’t be affected at all. If it does work, she’ll have her mind back.”

“You've gone mental, man!”

He snarled, letting out that same animal-like sound from before. “Can’t let me do anything? Scared as usual to try something different? I could help her, Carter!”

“‘Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent’. That's part of the Creed, Jacob, and I intend to uphold that principle.”

Chelsea stepped forward. “Me too,” she said. Every word we spoke caused the lights to flicker more violently.

“It’s not surgery! If you’ll just let me show you we can be done with this! So either you move, or I move you.”

I flicked out my hidden blade.

“Diam...” Ava mumbled behind us. “Diam… Diam!”

“Ben, Ruby, you guys watch her,” I said, never taking my eyes off Jacob. They nodded and stuck to her side. Chelsea pulled out a pistol and cocked it.

“I don’t want to fight you, Carter. I just want to help her.”

“So do we,” I said simply. Chelsea raised her gun high, aiming it directly at his face. After dealing with Daniel Cross, my cousin didn't take too kindly to betrayal. Even if it was from my best friend…

He noticed the movement and pushed the Staff forward. The white Marble shined with an intense glow on top of the artifact, and a gust of wind buffeted everyone in the room. We all went sprawling backwards. Ava moaned and clutched her skull as her friends tried to scramble over to her. Chelsea used her momentum to roll behind cover and take aim. I merely stumbled over myself, staggering back to my feet.

Chelsea let off three bullets at Jacob, her skills impaired but not destroyed by the kid in her gut. All four marbles in the Staff flared, and a wall of light flashed in front of him. As the bullets hit it, they disintegrated. Chelsea swore under her breath. He took a step forward, eyes narrowed.

“Why. Does. Everything. Have to be so damn difficult!” He aimed the Staff at Ava’s head, the Marbles shining intensely. Ava started screaming in pain as she gripped her head, ripping out a few hairs in the process.

“Hentikan! Hentikan!” she screeched at the top of her lungs. She started spasming out. I grit my teeth. My fists clenched.

Jacob pulled back, eyes widening. He looked from Ava to the Staff, then let out an angered shout. “Emotions!” He yelled. His eyes darted around the room before landing on me. “Couldn’t let me try, could you?! Had to keep pushing! Now look what’s happened!”

“This is on you, Jacob! That thing has corrupted you! Chels was right! We should've destroyed it long ago!”

Letting out another rage fueled scream, he slammed the end of the Staff to the ground, a wave of energy washing over the room, overloading the few lights still working. His shoulders slumped and he leaned on the Staff, glaring at me with a tired but angered look in his eye. “It can help people,” he said. “I’ll show you. I’ll show you I can help them.” He turned to the door and stormed out, using the Staff as a crutch. We were about to give chase, but we were suddenly interrupted by a scream behind us.

“Diam diam diam!” Ava screeched. Chels and I spun on our heels to see her suddenly lunge up from the floor and tackle Ben. She started clawing at his face as he tried to get her off.

We rushed over to try and restrain her. Ruby grabbed her by the arms and dragged her back, or at least she tried to. Ava frantically wriggled around to try and escape. “Anjing Templar! Saya akan membunuh anda juga! Anda, Jackson, Bailie, anda semua akan mati!”

“Carter help!” Ruby said as she lost her grip. Ava suddenly reared back and headbutted her friend right in the nose, sending Ruby falling back. I lunged forwards and grabbed her, but she managed to wriggle her fist free and socked me in the jaw.

I went reeling back and she pounced, screaming like a mountain lion.

“These are not your lands anymore!” she shouted in an accent identical to Aveza's. “You'll not have my home!”

I kicked upwards and pushed her back, allowing me to get back up.

“Ava! Please! Snap out of it!” I begged.

The others tried again but they all met the same fate of bleeding scars and cracked bones. I sprinted at her, and jumped. I landed on her back and tried to bring her down like some sort of twisted rodeo show. She shook and spasmed, spouting random bits of Powhatan, Croatoan, Shawnee, English, and Malay.

It quickly reached a point where I couldn't hold on anymore, especially once she started wobbling around the room like a chicken without its head. There was a split second where I thought I could stay on, but my hopes were crushed when she lost her balance and suddenly started tumbling towards one of the little fuse boxes that had been blown apart. I didn't have time to react. She went back first into it, my back. I felt the zap of the electricity as I fell to the floor, vision blurring instantly as I did. Ava finally collapsed as well, and the last thing I saw before finally losing consciousness was our friends rushing over to try and help.

------------

February 9, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

I woke up the next morning, ironically drained of energy. Chelsea was by my bed, waiting for me. She must've known what I was going to ask, because she told me before I could open my mouth.

“She's fine,” she said. “Ruby got her stabilized and now she's just kinda sitting in her room, trying to get over it all.”

I didn't say anything. I just rubbed my head and got lost in my thoughts. Good God, how did this all happen so fast? How did things fall apart like this?

“And he's gone,” Chelsea said. My eyes widened. “Yeah,” she said. “Jacob got away, disappeared into the city with the Staff. Traitor…”

“Chels, he's not in his right mind…” I said.

“You don’t say.”

“Chels, listen-”

“No. You listen Carter. I let the whole thing with Wolfgang slide, but this isn't something I can tolerate. He betrayed the Assassins, hurt Ava, tried to kill us all!”

“He's my friend, Chels.”

“Then do whatever the hell you do with friends that pull that crap. But I'm sticking to the rules of the Brotherhood. I'm going to make sure that traitor is put down.”

I opened my mouth to argue further, but what was the point? I knew I couldn't win this one. Not with Chels. She was set, and so was I. We both just sat in mournful silence for a good long while.

“I called the school and told them you were sick,” she said. “So I guess… just sit here and rest up or something. I'm going home.”

After a moment of silence, I nodded. She simply stood and left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I hadn't felt like this since before we started taking out Natasha Wolfgang’s top dogs. This feeling of hopelessness, that the world was against us and that we were doomed to just be broken and scattered. Nothing was going right. Jess was awol. Chelsea didn't trust me, and was out for blood. Jacob disappeared with the Staff and Marbles to do God knows what. Ava was on the verge of mental collapse. It all just… we just couldn't take it…

Things had just gotten so messed up...