Snippet #2668991

It was dark and empty. Karena felt like she was stripped of all sense until a murmur could be heard. Then suddenly a loud voice could be heard behind her. It was commanding and authoritative. Karena spun around and saw a familiar figure in the darkness.

“You messed up, Karena!” The voice was also familiar. It belonged to her father as did the figure that was standing before her. “You showed mercy when you shouldn’t have. You didn’t fully analyze the situation. You didn’t shoot the target when you had the chance.”

“She was with someone else.” Karena defended herself and her father leaned forward to put himself at eye-level with his daughter.

“Then you kill them both.” There was venom in his voice and then he straightened himself again. “Which life do you think is more important? Their’s or yours?”

“My life.” Karena answered.

“I would say you are going soft. Have you not murdered women and children before?” The question brought up the past that Karena worked so hard to dig into the furthest reach of her memory. It was an orphanage. Karena was offered a large sum to set it ablaze. The girl had thought it over. The job was heartless but in time of war and rebellion heartless deeds had to be done.

It was at night, after all the children were put to sleep, Karena snuck into the orphanage. She silently killed all the staff before setting up the place to go up in flames. Only a few children managed to escape alive. But that was a few out of two floors’ worth of children. It was done as a message against the country. What did Karena care? She was not English. And the pay was magnificent along with the reputation should would receive. But the only mistake she made was watching the place burn. The screams were still clear in her head. The doors and first floor windows were locked to make sure there was little to no escape.

Karena had to do it for the sake of infamy. It had worked once word had gotten out that she was the one who committed the deed. She was sought for many jobs afterwards and even was trusted with killing high ranked officials on occasion. When you were an assassin then it was best to be known for having a lack of conscious when it came to jobs.

Karena looked back up to her father. He was right. If Karena was the same person from back then, she would have killed Jacqueline and the other girl without hesitation for the fact that the probability of the target putting up resistance seemed high.

“Now that you remember your true self then I trust you won’t make the same mistake again. You even collapsed at the sight and realization of having been shot. Staying conscious is a state of mind when it comes to that. I suppose I could not have taught you that short of shooting you myself. Aside from that I raised you to do what it takes to win. To make better choices in the long run and do what must be done to remain on top. I trust you remember.” Karena nodded and then looked her father in the eye. A smirk appeared on his face. The same smirk that he gave whenever Karena showed understanding in his teachings. “You were given another chance to make up for what mistake has been made. I trust you will not waste it. Remember to think things through only as much as they need to be thought and make an action accordingly. Make me proud!” On her father’s final word he disappeared in a thundering boom that awoke the girl at the same time. She was in a that was filling with wounded at a slow pace.

Karena sat up and the sharp pain in her shoulder reminded the girl of the reason for unconsciousness. She looked around and saw her rifle. She guessed what was happening based on the moments before she passed out and by the sounds she heard now. Screaming, yelling, gunfire and judging by the sound that woke her; cannon fire.

The girl quickly checked over her wound and breathed a sigh of relief. The bullet missed anything vital and had passed right through. The only downside to her injury would be the aching and some blood loss. But her arm was bandaged up so that solved the immediate problem. She was on the ship now and that meant her target probably was as well. Which meant Jacqueline was safe from the assassin. Whoever was the enemy of the crew on the ship was also her enemy as well. She’d have to cooperate with the pirates until she was off the ship. Karena climbed toward the main deck to see exactly what was going on.