WARNING! Sad shit! PART 2 of The Blood Runs Cold.

You thought it was done!? NOPE! Here's Ty's perspective :D

Now, I'm gonna cry becaus eI procrastinated like 90% of my homework.

Also, probs gonna have a crap tone of errors, cuz I'm lazy XD

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Title: The Last Assassin

Characters: Ty, Adam, Seto, Mitch, Jerome, Jason, Ian, Quentin, Sub

Words: 5168

Ty was the man born into two worlds.

He was the son of a family murdered by the tyrannical rule of this kingdom. But he was also the caretaker, guard, and friend to a boy he should hate.

He always asked himself, even before the prince was born, 'If I do not hate, does that mean I do not love?" He was the son of a family murdered by the king, yet he felt no anger. But he loved his parents, he truly did, or so he thought. But was it wrong he did not hate the murderer?

People told him it was wrong. But his family was dirt poor, they worked in the palace as servants. The pay wasn't splendorous, and before he knew it, famine had struck his family and killed his parents. Due to the king's greed? He did not know. Do to the king's selfishness? Weren't those the same thing he told people, and they always said, it doesn't matter.

Ty believed that if he hated the man that essentially paid him and fed him and clothed him, was it not the same as biting the hand that fed him?

Ty was torn. His adoptive family spoke of one side, but his body longed to move to the other, but wouldn't that be the same as biting his new family's hands? They took him in, and so he should be gracious and thankful, but...still.

He never knew where he belonged

Ty was regarded as the hero of this story. He was the man that vanquished the evil king's son and though he to lost his life in the valiant fight for freedom, he aided the kingdom's fight against tyranny.

But he was no hero, he never believed he was when he was alive and would still not believe that even when he was dead.

So perhaps he was actually a monster. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

He was the man that ultimately decided to kill a young man because it was the decision he believed was right. Was he right? It's impossible to know what the right and wrong decision would be considering both are opinionated terms. However, did it save the kingdom from tyranny, yes(?), but did the kingdom find what they were looking for, no.

In this story the prince was evil, a cold and heartless man that sent young and brave men to their deaths for his own life.

In reality the prince was simply a child lost to the world, drowning in guilt and sorrow. He grew angry at himself and the people around him and thus became 'cold-hearted'.

So which story to believe, Ty always asked himself that in the past. Was the prince cruel? Or lost? Was he both?

He was told one thing but leaned toward another, the feeling was deja vu to him. Much like as a child, should he hate the murderer or not?

~~~~~

"Damn! They keep hiring more fucking guards for that brat! And now they've thrown a village boy into the mix, sending a kid with hardly any fight in him to protect the prince. Like it's going to stop us, don't you think Ty?"

Ty glanced over at his angry adoptive brother, who coincidently was named Tyler. He shrugged. He was 26 years old, living a quiet life in a village far from the castle. He and his adoptive brother shared a home, mainly because Ty did not work. Most people wouldn't hire a man with an intimidating scar like his. A scar that stretched down the left side of his face to his body. A scar that constantly reminded him of his life choices.

"Ugh, seriously Ty. It'd be easier if you just got off your ass and helped. You must hate them too, or are you going to go off on that bullshit of not knowing?"

"I don't know."

"Don't know what? The king killed your family, the prince abandoned you, and look at all the innocent people that sign up to protect the kid and die because of it. And does he even bat an eye? No."

"I don't know," Ty muttered. He didn't like to think about that.

The sound of a baby wailing echoed throughout the palace walls. The smell of smoke and screaming filled the air. Half the western section of the palace was engulfed in flames and a young 9 year old boy with ruby eyes was racing to the queen's chamber.

It was where the crying came from. It seemed no one was in the area, likely too afraid or having already fled, but Ty could not ignore the cries. The door to the queen's room was opened slightly, Ty rushed in. His eyes watered, he coughed and covered his face. He could hardly see through the flames and the smoke.

Ty gasped and trembled a figure burned nearly to a crisp crawled across the floor cradling a baby with one hand. Ty immediately rushed to the woman's aid and tried to help her up.

"My child. Save him. My hope. Please." Ty was torn and as the flames reached higher he grabbed the wailing baby and ran. He never looked back, he was too scared to.

At that moment two people stormed into Tyler and Ty's home. A raven-haired female and a red-head male. Ty knew them, he liked to remain away from them, but since this home was so small, he could not.

"Jess, Max, you're early," Tyler huffed.

"Well things just came up," The girl, Jess, said and took out a piece of paper that she unraveled and handed it to Tyler.

Tyler's eyes skimmed the paper and his expression turned from sour to shock, "Is this for real?"

"Hell yes!" Max grinned, "Yo Ty, come on check this out!"

"He won't be interested, he's never into anything involving the palace, he rarely leaves the house either," Tyler said.

Ty sighed and got up, he snatched the paper from Tyler's hands. This was always his way of baiting Ty to get up. He read through the paper, it was of the news. Underground news, it seemed in a week another attempt would be made to kill the prince.

"I'm going out," Ty muttered under his breath.

"Guessing you'll be back in a week," Tyler mocked. Jess and Max gave Tyler and Ty confused looks.

Only Tyler knew what he was about to do, what he always did.

"Ty?" The small frame of the young prince hugged Ty as Ty rode uptop a horse. Here the young prince was 6 years old. It has been 6 years since the queen's murder and since then Ty was promoted from lowly servant to royal babysitter.

When Ty was just a servant he would live with his adoptive family on the weekends but lived in the palace on the weekdays. But as the caretaker to the young prince he lived full time in the palace. When the news came to him of the change he was shocked, he would be provided meals and live right next to the prince. It sounded like a miracle.

He wouldn't be a burden his adoptive family, who had a young child of their own to care for, on top of him.

Of course, they reacted to the news quite differently. When he delivered the news to them in person, they told him things. Plenty of scary and frightening things that a 9 year old would never want to hear.

His adoptive parents, though wonderful and nice people, often tried to fill his head with hatred for the king. When he spoke to them of the change, they told him to write often, which seemed like a normal thing at first. But it wasn't simply a 'keep in touch' it was more of tell us everything you can learn about the prince. Because one day, we can use that knowledge to save this kingdom.

Kidnap the prince or kill him. That's what they wanted. They wanted Ty to make that decision when the time came, but first he would gain their trust, assimilate into the prince's life. Anything and everything, and Ty, they never asked what he wanted.

"Yes young Master?" Ty glanced back for a moment and smiled down at the young 6 year old, he himself was 15 at the time.

"You won't leave right?"

'Of course not', is what he should've said.

"I don't want to..."

Ty truly cared for the prince. Even with the knowledge that he may one day have to do a terrible thing, he never stopped caring. His heart was always open for the young prince, and even now.

Ty had this weird habit, even though he should forget about the prince he couldn't help but be there when he was in danger. Always.

"No! Please wait!" Ty heard the cries of the young prince. He was tired, and in pain. He wasn't sure what happened. His spear lay next to him, but why was he here? He remembered the carriage suddenly getting ambushed. The guards immediately leapt into action. But then Ty, who was on the outside of the carriage walking beside it, he heard the prince scream. He with his spear he immediately leapt to action. He fought just like the other guards. But not for the king who he could care less about, but to save Adam.

This was it. What he was told about. Just before this expenditure, he wrote to his family, and they told him that this was supposed to be it. That this was the moment. Kill or kidnap, his choice.

He'd been dreading this moment for the longest of times, and now, he had to make a choice.

In the end, he never chose, if he had he wouldn't be here on the ground. He wouldn't be here slowly bleeding out.

And last, the future wouldn't have become so screwed up.

If he'd just killed the prince that day, he never would have lived a life of misery. Or, if he had kidnapped him, he could've run away from everyone and taken the prince to live a peaceful life

Ty traveled to the back of their house, he grabbed the spear leaning against the wall. And as he walked the streets of the village he noticed the odd looks people gave. The odd looks they always gave. None of them knew his purpose, or hardly knew him at all.

Ty constantly asked himself the same question every time he did this. Every time he had the same answer.

I don't know.

The question that he asked was, What did he plan to do?

He's been there each and every time, afraid to speak, but always there. Each and every time the prince had a new guard he did his best to learn about them. Maybe it was his protective side, but he just wanted to make sure they were good for him.

And each time he heard of plans of assassination, he was always near, always ready. As if at any moment he could step in, but he never did. One because the prince's guards almost always handled the situation, and because he never could.

There was this fear, the fear of if he was making the right decision. In the end, he just didn't know.

The land was scorched, the trees vaporized, a crying boy sat in the once beautiful field. And here he was, watching from far off, he could make out the scene just barely, and he longed to go there. To comfort the prince. Much like he used to, but he couldn't What if? What if he made things worse?

Soon a battalion of soldiers arrived at the scene, but what they saw was the damaged land and a crying prince. There was nothing for them to do, and they weren't even sure what had happened. The prince was escorted back to the castle. What did he do? He waited before approaching the carnage. There the remains of a wooden staff lay in splinters. He picked them up and stared at it...

He knew where he would place it.

Ty continued down the empty dirt roads that connected the entire land. He was on his way to the palace. Of course that was somewhat obvious. It would take in only days to arrive.

He could hear the cries of a child. He saw the two bodies, one reaching out for someone, the other impaled to the wall. Both lost to this world.

Why didn't he do something.

He could've saved them. But he did nothing. Like the last time.

What was he waiting for? The prince was crying, his heart was in pain, and he was doing nothing to help him. Was he a bad person? Did he thrive on the young prince's tears. Did he actually hate the prince, or did he care for him? He wasn't as sure as he was the years before. Before he felt he strongly cared for the prince. And now here he was watching from the sidelines, listening to the cries, letting innocent people get killed for the son of a murderer.

Did that mean that automatically Adam should be judged for the crimes of another?

Ty did not think so.

Yet he felt inclined to believe so, because it was easier than trying to figure it out himself.

In due time the prince stopped crying, he stood from the puddle of blood that he had sat in. He could not crawl to the other side of the wall with a body blocking its entrance.  But the prince walked. Ty could tell because he could hear. It seemed the prince would go the long way, around the wall.

And here he was, with the two bodies of men no one would likely remember as more than servants to a heartless child. Or so they say.

Two days have gone. Two days' worth of travel closer.

Ty walked. The feeling of his spear in his hand was an odd, but familiar feeling. He's held it plenty of times before, but he's never once used it since his time with the prince.

Was he saving it? He realized he asked himself a large number of questions he's never answered.

In his hand was a weapon. Not his. He cast his away somewhere. This weapon belonged to a young man of exceptional talents, he lay with a hole through his heart, died instantly. Most likely.

He had watched the young prince. He watched him take the life of another man. The sight was rather painful to watch.

A wail. A scream. Bang! Bang! Two shots rang out, then a third bang! The third and final shot belonged to Adam. He bore the same weapon that was currently in his hand. He used it to kill the one who murdered his friend, his guard. Now nothing more than a memory.

Blood stained the prince's hands.

Was he a murderer now?

He could see them. The palace walls he meant. Another hour or two he imagined. He was getting so close, he could feel something would be different. When Ty did arrive at the palace it was unusually empty. At least from the inside.

Because of his excellent combat skills acquired from serving the prince, Ty snuck in with ease. There was no noise, but as he walked the empty halls he began to pick up on the noises of fighting. It reminded him of another one of the Prince's guards, an assassin himself.

A terribly blunt guy.

Ian was his name. When Ty first heard he'd become Adam's next guard, he was worried. An assassin as his guard, he spent a good 2 weeks watching the man's every move. The man was always careful in his actions, like he knew Ty was there... understandable for an assassin of his caliber. What bugged him was he left Ty alone, he could've killed him, captured him, anything.

Did he just know that Ty's intentions were peaceful? Nonetheless, when the time came even a man of his caliber fell. With chains wrapped tight around his neck, the man lost his breath. He remembered the way the prince looked at the dead body. Like he was used to it...

Used to something as cruel as death. A child should never have to grow used to something like that..., but they way Adam looked at the body, it chilled Ty.

"This way, the prince is hiding in his room!"

"No! You won't get to him!" A green eyed male holding a spear shouted.

"Kill the brat, the prince will die today!" Ty could hear all this happening, he walked into the room. A group of rag-tag men wielding weapons of all sorts looked at Ty as he entered.

"Who the bloody fuck are you?"

Ty did not answer, he walked towards them with a a solem face. He was fast, "I'm sorry," was all he said. He looked to the young face of the prince's newest guard. The first thing he did was hit the kid over the face with the back of his spear.

"Well, who'd a thought, a stranger like you on our--" Then Ty attacked. In mere moments the rag-tag group of 30 men were down and dead. Ty simply carried on, he would face the prince. He needed to see the prince, how he had changed. He needed to know what he should do now.

Ty saw the door, the prince's door. He stood in front of the door for several moments. He raised a hesitant hand to the wood before knocking, a special knock, a secret pattern that signaled the pass of danger. Ty waited, in a few moments he saw the prince. The prince looked at him and took a step back in suspicion

"Who...who are you!" With a sword by his side the prince unsheathed it and pointed it at Ty.

"Is it really so hard to remember me? Young Master, it is good to see you again." Ty spoke but the prince remained silent.

After a few moments something about Ty clicked in his head, and the prince's golden eyes lit up.

"H-How is this so! How is it you aren't dead, this is a miracle!" So the prince did remember him. The way he looked reminded Ty of the sweet young prince from 10 years ago. My, how he's grown.

"I miraculously lived after I last saw you, you have grown much. You were still just a young boy." Ty smiled.

"What of the assassins? My guards?" The prince stared at Ty with a new kind of look, a curious and calculating look.

"There still seems to be one assassin lurking around, but your guards are all likely dead." That was true but false. He hoped....he hoped it wouldn't have to come to that...

Why was he here. Yes, he always came to watch the prince because he couldn't help it, but why talk to him now? Why kill all the assassins for the prince? Why did he intervene now?

Ty studied the prince's face carefully.

"Come in, close the door." And Ty did so.

"You've really grown and changed so much in the years," Ty commented.

The prince grinned and sheathed his sword. He sat on his bed in his chambers, "Naturally, I have to become the next king after my father.

Ty nodded and muttered underneath his breath, "Tell me about the others."

"Hmm?"

Please.

"The other guards that were hired after my death."

"Them?" Adam's expression grew bored, "They hardly matter, they're dead."

Stop. Don't say it. Don't say what I think you are going to say.

"They had lives."

Please make me forget the way you looked at the doctor that was fired for you. Please don't remind me of how he was dedicated to you. Even if only for the short time he was with you.

Ty remembered watching the young doctor Quentin, knowledgeable in the weak points of a body and all the poten poisons. It was just one small trip, but that trip killed the doctor. Unable to have access to any of his supplies that were hastily left behind, the doctor died before they could even reach safety. The doctor died by poison, how ironic.

And then Ty saw it. When the doctor fell from his horse dead as log, the prince jumped from his horse. His eyes cold and unfeeling at the corpse in front of him. He could not see what the prince had said, but soon after, the prince left the body in the middle of the road. He left with his horse and the guards horse.

The prince never looked back.

Ty saw that in 10 years the prince had devolved into a person he was not. And he knew it was his fault.

Ty buried the body out of respect, and just like the others, he took something and placed it in that untouched room.

"Of course they did," the prince said and rolled his eyes "But now they don't. What does it matter, you're here now. You can replace them, you're better than them anyways since you stayed alive. My father will pay you handsomely if you'll be my new guard, though you've technically always been my guard. Since you were presumed dead, and thus never fired, and you never quit, so you're technically still in our services. But those are just minor details," he smiled and relaxed.

"Where is that other assassin anyways?" Adam asked Ty as he stood.

One thing made its way to Ty's mind. He'd been undecided for so long, the realization of what he'd done came crashing down on Ty. He saw only one thing.

Ty ignored Adam's question. "There's a reason I stayed away...I should've died, I know that. But I didn't, I never understood what forces in the world drove for me to have a second chance, but even so I stayed away," the prince titled his head.

"I thought, after seeing something as gruesome as that, it would've been better if you thought I was dead. But maybe...." Ty was silent, he didn't look at the prince. Out of curiosity the prince walked over to Ty.

"Ty?" The prince reached out a hand to him.

Ty was as fast as lightning, he's always been so fast. For the prince's sake.

The prince didn't even see it coming.

A wave of sadness overcame Ty. This was it. He had no choice, by his hands the prince would fall. He would let no one else take the young prince's life. That was only something he could do, he who had filled the prince's heart with hate and darkness. He who abandoned the prince in his time of need and cause the needless death of many innocents.

There was a moment of silence as Ty's spear that was embedded in Adam's stomach let a sudden gush of blood coat his hands and black clothes. Then suddenly the prince's scream broke through to Ty. The prince wrenched himself away from Ty. And stumbled back as the spear in his stomach continued to let the blood flow. The prince stumbled and tripped onto the floor and clutched the spear.

"Why!" Tears were brimming in the prince's eyes

Ty walked over slowly and crouched by the fallen prince.

"When you were born," he placed an arm around the prince and hugged the young man close, "I infiltrated the palace. My mission was to watch over you, so that when the time was right, your worth would be determined. Whether you should be killed, or captured."

Ty didn't let his eyes fall to the prince's shaking body, he blocked out the prince's gasping breaths. His eyes were filled with a grief and a guilt that no amount of tears would ever cure.

And Ty spoke to the prince. He told the prince so many things. How his parents died due to famine, how he saved the prince when he was just a baby, how he watched the prince grow even when he should've died. He told the prince of his conflicted feelings of whether he was to hate him or love him.

And as he told his story, the prince's breathing stopped all together, but he continued his story. He needed to confess everything.

Oh dear prince, you who never should have lived a life as dark as this. You who the world turned its back to before your eyes ever opened. You who grew accustomed to the darkness of a world filled with death and carnage.

He could see it now, how much he loved the prince. He loved the prince very dearly.

He who should hate the prince for his cruelty, but he only found blame in himself.

It was him, the cause. If he'd never been in the prince's life, this would've been so much easier. Ty's conscience would be clear had he never come to love the prince. He would never have asked himself the hundreds of questions that fluttered by over the years.

He couldn't bare to see the prince suffer any longer, he couldn't bare to see the last of the prince turn its back to the light. He couldn't bare him becoming the monster that is his father.

Ty with a forlorn look carried the still bleeding body of the prince to his bed. He placed the prince on his bed and closed the prince's eyes. His face was already turning pale.

Ty removed his spear from the prince's body and carried it over to the room where all the guards stayed. Truthfully he's visited this room many times to pay his respects to the fallen guards and to place the items that belonged to them here in their memory. He carried his spear there and placed it upon the empty mattress. Here it would stay among the diamond axe, the bow, the shattered wooden staff, the gun, the chains and the vials of medicine. And then Ty removed an item from his pocket and place it on the old desk. A golden amulet with a purple center. He's held onto this for 10 year, back when the young prince entrusted it with him. And here it would live until someone deemed this room full of trash and removed it all. But until then everything could coexist.

The prince was 7 years old when he gave Ty this amulet. This precious amulet that costed a fortune. It belonged to the prince, but it was he who entrusted it to him. His round, childlike eyes that still held the purest drops of innocence entrusted him with it.

He the monster that slayed the prince. He who committed the greatest sin, the sin of murder, and not just that, the murder of the person he held dearest.

Yes, Ty knew it quite well. He was a coward with an even worse heart than the prince. If he wasn't weak he would've helped the prince, but he was tired. Tired of it all.

"Prince!" Ty exited the room to see and young and inexperienced male. Bright green eyes and a dull green tunic, in his hand was a spear. His eyes landed on Ty who exited the room, "You killed him! Bastard!"

His grip on his weapon tightened the his knuckles turned white from the force.

"Please don't worry anymore...now you can return home without fear for your life." In front of him was the prince's current guard, a young teen with no experience in fighting and has only been with the prince for barely a week. The boy would've died had Ty not spared him, he was innocent and had nothing to do with the situation. He believed the young teen should live a life away from the danger of this place, otherwise he would've met the same fate soon enough.

He was willing to die for his crime. Had he been there in all those other guard's places they would still be alive.

He was the cause for the prince's suffering. If only he had been there in Seto's place, Mitch and Jerome's place, Jason's place, Ian's place, Quentin's place, even Sub's place, and not on the sidelines watching from afar. If only he had seen what had happened to the little prince he once knew, he could've stepped in sooner.

But it was too late, the prince's heart was closed to the world. With each death his guilt grew, and the prince closed himself off from the human world and let the darkness take over his mind and his heart.

That innocent little boy he once knew grew to be callous, selfish, and cold. He cast away everything his guards taught him, kindness, strength, family, freedom, honesty, and selflessness.

All because he was a coward, a man who thought it would be better if he stayed away.

The world would forever regard the prince as a monster, judged before he could make a real impact, forced a be a person he was not.

He loved the prince, but it might as well have been hate for the ruin he threw the prince into.

"Damn you!" The young guard who could hardly fight charged with a spear in his hand. Ty did not flinch, did not move, did not even make a sound, he looked death straight in the eyes.

The spear ran clean through him, the hands of the young guard trembled before he let the spear go. He gasped at what he had done, he killed a man. No the man was not yet dead, but soon would be.

Ty hung his head as he struggled to remain standing, he looked at the body of the prince. If one ignored the blood, he almost looked peaceful, like he was sleeping. He prayed the prince would forgive him for ruining his life, he prayed the gods would not judge the prince for how he lived his life, he prayed the prince could find happiness in the afterlife.

Ty would willing live only to die again a hundred times if it meant the prince could be happy. He owed the boy that much for the pain he caused him.

Ty fell to his knees and his breathing grew shallow.

As Ty lay dying, the same question surfaced. The same question he'd been asking himself before the prince had been born, a question that began with his parent's death.

'If I do not hate, does that mean I do not love?'

And...even now after everything that had happened. Ty still could not answer that question. He loved the son of a man he should hate, because that was what the world had determined for him.

So what was the right choice?

Had he made the right choice?

He looked up at the frightened guard, smiled before falling to his side and letting his life flow from his body. 

How was it reliving all those moments, just differently? It sucked for me since I had to re-read The Blood Runs Cold abot 25 times for this. Ugh, all the tears.

#RIP