Rookery ~ Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Chapter Sixty One

(A/N) lol no one is even reading this anymore but hah idc #jarinafryeday

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I was still coming to terms with the death of my son. He probably would have been buried by now. Carina would have had to have gone to his funeral by herself, possibly with Evie and Emilia. However, I still felt so guilty. He was my son. I should have been there for him. He should have been able to grow up, have a family, get married. Now, his fiance was heartbroken, his mother was probably too upset to even realise what had happened, and his little brother would never get to see him ever again. All because of one evil man with the same mind set as a tiny child.

A tear fell from my eye. I quickly wiped it away with a sniff, tucking myself closer into the corner. I pulled my blanket up to my chin and shuddered. My stomach was beginning to hurt with hunger. The boy who used to give us food and water hadn't been seen in a while. Jack would give us some food every now and then, but it wasn't enough to stay alive off of. We were getting weak, but not to the point of death just yet. No, he made sure that we suffered. That way, he could watch as we starved and grew more and more exhausted.

I wondered if Carina and Evie had gotten any closer to finding us. I didn't want to see my little boy die in front of me, especially after hearing the news about Ethan. He was all I had left and, if he did pass away, I wasn't certain that I would be able to keep going after his death.

I didn't want to think about that, though. Not anymore. I was finished being so negative. I needed to think positively. For example, Carina may well have been right behind the door at the top of the stairs at this very moment. I mean, she wasn't, but she could have been. Maybe that was just how close she was to finding us. I could almost feel that she was getting closer to us. It was probably just my last little bit of hope that we would be found, which was slowly fading away to nothing.

I picked at a loose thread on my undershirt, then chuckled. Carina would have yelled at me for doing that. She hated when I pulled on thread - it always ended up in a shirt being thrown away or Carina would have to mend it because I hadn't the foggiest idea how to sew. Fiddly little needles, thinnest pieces of string that you had to fit into a hole half the size of the thread. However, my darling wife managed to do it constantly. The boys would tear holes in the knees of their trousers any time we let them play outside, I was always picking threads, and she would catch her sleeves on door handles, nails and just about anything in her path.

I heard shuffling from the opposite corner, then quiet sobbing. I flipped over and saw Eli quivering under his blanket. He was attempting to stifle his crying, but to no avail. I cleared my throat.

"What's the matter, Eli?" He shook his head. "You can tell your father. Come on." He groaned and sat up.

"I'm in pain."

"What hurts?"

"Arms, legs, chest, stomach, feet, hands, neck--" He then squeezed his eyes shut again, letting out a sickening yell. I rushed over to him.

"Eli!" He clutched at his stomach as I draped an arm over him. "What is the matter?"

"My tummy."

"Yes?"

"It feels like there is something sharp in it." He groaned again. "It needs to come out." He pulled his shirt up slightly and started to claw at his own stomach.

"Eli, stop it!" I grabbed his hands. "It's just a rash." Tears were hurtling down his cheeks now at great speed. "Jack!" I screamed, hoping that he would be nearby. Of course, he was. He stood by the bars in the door. "He needs water. Without it, he will die." Jack laughed. "He is going insane, Jack. I know you still have some form of a heart left. I need to clean this." I gestured to the rash. "Please." Then, he was gone.

After a few moments, the door clicked open. A tray slid inside with a large bucket of water, a cloth and two slices of bread. I scrambled to grab it then looked up to see who had given this to us. The young boy from before.

"Thank you." I then dipped the cloth in the water and laid the cold fabric down on Eli's stomach. Then, I tipped the bucket to his lips so that he could drink some of it. Almost half of it was gone by the time he was finished. "Eat some of the bread. It will help the pain." I said with bread in my own mouth. I washed it down with the rest of the water and returned the tray to the boy on the other side of the door. "What's your name, son?" The boy had never spoken before so, when he cleared his throat and opened his mouth, I was surprised by what I heard.

"Elizabeth Crawley, ser." The 'boy' smiled and waltzed away again. I raised an eyebrow. A woman... Elizabeth Crawley. I had heard that name before, I just wasn't sure where. Perhaps I would remember again when I was properly fed and rested.

I turned to Eli once more. He had calmed down significantly and was now simply breathing heavily. He lay on his back with his shirt up and the wet cloth over the rash. His entire face was scrunched up, his nose twitching as if a bug kept landing on it. I felt so sorry for him and wished that he hadn't have been with me when Jack came after me. Not only was he going through extreme hunger and dehydration, but it scared him to see me in such a bad way. My entire left eye had puffed up like a bubble from a few of the many punches from Jack. Eli thought that even going near me might hurt me, so, half the time, he refused to even sit beside me for longer than a few seconds. I hated seeing him so...broken. This was what Jack had wanted. To break both my son and me. I wouldn't break so easily.

I then started to think about Greenie. I'm not sure why, but he came to my mind. Evie had left him alone in India, practically in charge of the entire Indian Brotherhood by himself. He did a good job of keeping myself, Evie and Carina in good order twenty years ago, but the years have not be kind to any of us. Well, Carina's beautiful face has stayed the same, if not gotten even prettier. My sister? Well, I hadn't seen her in fifteen years, and she hadn't changed very much in the five I hadn't seen her for.

I wanted to go back to India. I wanted to visit the Indian Brotherhood again, perhaps even watch some of the initiates I had trained in action. I was certain that Carina would like that too. She loved looking at the architecture and statues. Plus, the art was so unique and almost baffling. She had always loved art, even though she did try to hide her love for it. I would always catch her doodling all those years ago on the train when she was supposed to be doing research. Henry would often open a book to find a crude drawing of something Carina had spotted out of a window.

A single tear ran down my cheek at the happy memory. I wanted everything to go back to how it was twenty years ago. It was so much simpler back then. No extra responsibilities to worry about, less crime and, more importantly, no Jack the Ripper. Then, perhaps Carina and I could have safely had a family. We could have moved away from London. She knew fluent French, so that could be a place to start. Then, both Ethan and Elias could have grown up with their father around them constantly, rather than off working all of the time.

They rarely saw me in those last few months. Jack had taken up all of my time. I missed a large chunk of Ethan's life because I wanted to make sure that little, vulnerable 'Jack the Lad' was alright and settling in well. I neglected my family for that monster. And then he became evil in its purest form. Slashing and slicing innocent women simply because he held the skills to do so. And, of course, because they were all assassins, and he had turned completely against our Order. He had gone completely and utterly insane. I vowed that I would crush him but now, it seems that I have been crushed by him.