A/N: So this little plot bunny came to me from a prompt I saw after my best friend kept begging me to write something Assassin's Creed related. It's a modern AU one shot featuring Altair and Malik as college students instead of assassins. Warning: It's a little bit creepy. Feel free to R&R!
"Ok, explain to me why we're here again."
Malik dipped his head, sighing and putting his hand over his eyes. "Altair, weren't you listening when I was explaining it to you? I need to finish my paper on the history of mental asylums. I figured we could explore this one."
Altair scoffed, digging his foot into the dirt. "I don't see the point. Just look it up in a book or something. Seriously, why are we here?" He peered up at the tall, ivy-overgrown fence and shook his head. A "DO NOT ENTER SIGN" with big bold letters was tacked onto the wire. Inside the fence was what may have once been a garden, but instead resembled a small field of unkempt grass. In the distance loomed a large white building with peeling paint and smashed windows, each one dark. Graphite from previous "visitors" decorated the walls.
Approaching the fence and putting his hand on the wiring, Malik turned to his friend. "Something wrong, Altair?" he teased. "You're not usually one to shy away from a thrilling experience. What, are you scared? It's just an empty building." He grinned with one eyebrow raised.
"Of course not!" Altair snapped back. He stepped forward, shoving the other man aside. "Now watch the master of parkour." Slipping one hand through the checkered wire, he hoisted himself upward and began to climb. He scaled it easily before jumping down from the top to reach the other side. "Who's scared now, Mr. Prosthetic Arm?"
A frown graced his friend's features. "Seriously? Mr. Prosthetic Arm? That's the best insult you can come up with? You novice." He jumped and scurried upwards. Reaching the top, he jumped. A thud next to Altair let him know Malik had landed beside him.
"Race ya to the entrance!" Malik yelled before taking off.
"Hey! No fair! You got a head start!" his friend shouted, dashing after him. "Besides, racing is such a child's game!"
"Then it's the perfect game for you, my friend!" Malik yelled back.
"Is there supposed to be blood on the walls?" asked Altair as they walked through a long, dark hallway, shining an occasional light in areas too dark to see. Paint was peeling off every wall in sight. An occasional a painting of cartoony characters once meant to be a friendly decoration adorned the sides. Several rooms held rusting chairs, bed frames, and doctors' tools strewn across cracked countertops and floors.
"Well, according to one of my books," Malik began. "Many early insane asylums were terrible places. Electroshock therapy and lobotomies were thought to be effective treatments in the mentally ill. Sometimes too many patients were crammed into a single institution without enough staff to care for them all. Occasionally they would fall sick and die without being discovered for days."
Altair's eyes shifted to the floor and he placed his hands in his pockets. "How comforting," he dryly remarked, trying to ignore the eerie feeling that made his skin crawl every time they passed a dark doorway.
Their walk was silent for several minutes. Malik stopped at almost every room, snapping photos and writing notes. Near-empty rooms were around each corridor, many dark without windows. Trash littered the floor and furniture was sprawled around everywhere; even a few desolate wheelchairs were seen. Altair felt the hairs on his neck rise. He glanced at his watch. How long had it been? Half an hour?
Suddenly Malik stomped his feet and whirled around to see Altair face to face. "Ok, stop doing that!"
"Doing what?" Altair cried, stopping short with a bewildered expression.
"Poking me in the back. It's getting annoying."
Altair's eyes widened. "But I wasn't poking you."
Malik rolled his eyes. "Haha, very funny. Don't lie to me."
"No seriously, I wasn't!" Altair insisted as he placed his hands up in defense.
His friend's eyes narrowed, scrutinizing him for several good moments. "Yeah... sure. Anyway, let's continue. We haven't even explored the other stories."
Altair's eyes grew larger. "There's more to this place?"
"Yup. Now if I remember correctly, there should be a staircase around here somewhere… AHA! Here's the doorway. Come on, friend."
The staircase was a winding one, wooden and noisy. Every step they took sent creaking squeals of wooden steps echoing through the halls. Up and up they went. It grew darker and Malik had to keep the light on indefinitely, as there was hardly any windows in the rooms on story two, less so than the floor below it.
Suddenly Malik stopped. "Oof!" Altair exclaimed as he ran into his friend. "Geez, Malik, why'd you stop so..." His voice trailed off as he caught sight of his friend. Malik's eyes were staring ahead, wide and unblinking. Every muscle tense, he stood stock still.
"Hey, earth to Malik!" cried Altair, waving his hand in front of his friend's face. "Come on, man, you're creeping me out."
His dark-haired friend shuddered and breathed several times. The hand holding the flashlight lower slightly. Shaking his head, Malik turned and looked at Altair. "Sorry," he croaked. "I… I just thought I saw a shadow or… something… up ahead. But nothing's there, so… it must have been my imagination."
A shiver traveled down Altair's spine. His eyes darted down to his hands to find them in fists. Unclenching them, they trembled with the beat of his racing heart. "Okay Malik, this place is starting to creep me out. Let's just leave, I don't think..." He gasped, his jaw dropping far, hands quaking more, heart galloping faster.
"Uh… Altair, what-?" Malik was silenced when his friend pointed behind him. Craning his head, he slowly turned around to face the opposite direction.
A small, faint figure stood facing them, but looking off to the side. Dressed in a small white gown, the little girl stood and stared unwavering with long light hair cascading behind her ears. She must have been only eight or nine years old. Malik pointed the flashlight in her direction. "Hey! Who are you?"
Her head swiveled to face them with her pale eyes staring, boring into them. Malik and Altair, paralyzed, didn't move, but stared back. To Altair and Malik it was the longest, most terrifying staring contest either could remember participating in.
No one moved. No one spoke for several seconds of eternity. Time ticked by, just two men and a phantom daring each other to move. Finally, the girl cocked her head with a curious parting of her lips. Gown and hair swishing, she took a step forward… and vanished.
Quaking, Altair and Malik released breathes they didn't know they'd been holding. Close to hyperventilation, they turned to run when she reappeared again, only several feet closer. Altair shrieked and sprinted towards the opposite end of the hallway, dragging Malik who had no trouble following.
They ran, stealing glances at the girl, who was doing the same thing she had done before, only faster. She walked, but skipped distances, like teleporting. "It's gaining on us!" yelled Altair.
A scream was heard from Altair when they had nearly rounded the corner and the girl suddenly materialized in front of them. Malik clapped his hand over his ears, cursing. Altair sure knows how to kill someone's ears! he thought as he grabbed his friend's arm and yanked themselves through a doorway. They tumbled into the room. Malik, letting go of his friend, slammed the door in the phantom's face. Facing the door, they both stumbled backward, away from it.
Not letting their gazes drift, they kept the flashlight focused on the shut door, waiting. Eternity itself passed. Finally Altair's rapid heartbeat began to slow. Beside him Malik placed his head in his hands, taking deep shaky breaths. Trembling, Altair dropped to his knees once the door failed to move and no sign of the ghost became apparent. "M-M-Malik?" he wheezed.
"I… I think it's gone," was his friend's reply. Altair glanced upward. Malik no longer had his eyes on the door, but was panning the flashlight, surveying the room. Beads of sweat were trickling down his face.
Altair stretched and flexed his hands, hot and clammy. Wiping his palms on his pants, he glanced up to see the room himself.
It was fairly small with a lone boarded window to their right. On the left were two bookcases: both mostly empty. One stood toppled over and cracked while the other stood upright, slanted against the wall. A short bed with ancient bedding sat near the window, a small white teddy bear tucked among its sheets.
"What's this?" Malik asked aloud. Altair snapped his gaze to his friend, who was bent down with an old book in his hands. "Looks like an old diary." As Malik opened it, several yellow pages fell out and fluttered to the floor. Standing up, Altair approached to see for himself.
The journal felt fragile, like it would fall apart at the slightest shift of movement. Malik turned its pages carefully, each one revealing large words written with black ink in a childish scrawl. "Day one..." he began to read.
Day 1: I just came to this place with the white walls. Mommy said that I'm sick and that the doctors here will take care of me, but what's wrong with me? I don't feel sick.
The next few pages had fallen out, and the next entry was day fifteen.
Day 15: I'm counting the days I'm here. The doctors say I'm still sick. Mommy hasn't come to see me. It's scary here. All the doctors give me shocks. It hurts, but they say it helps me.
Altair shuddered. "Electroshock therapy," Malik murmured. He skipped ahead several pages.
Day 30: Mommy still hasn't come back, but I think she was right when she said I was sick. I keep seeing monsters at night. Yesterday Miss William's own head turned into a skeleton, but when I blinked she was back to normal. Please come back soon, Mommy. The doctors are scary.
Malik flipped through some more. "Anything of importance after that?" inquired Altair.
"Nope. This is the last entry."
They stood in silence for several moments. Suddenly a ringing sound met their ears. Altair yelped and grabbed ahold of Malik's prosthetic arm. Malik laughed before slipping his hand into his pockets and pulling out a cell phone. Shooting him a glare, Altair let go of the fake arm.
"Hello?" Malik stood, listening. "Oh, hello… Yes, we're fine… You want to talk to him? Alright, here." Removing the phone from his ear, he handed it to the man next to him. "It's your girlfriend," he said with a smirk.
Still glaring, Altair took the phone. "H-h-hi Maria," he said, trying to compose himself.
"Where are you, Altair? Ezio, Connor, and I've been trying to reach both you and Malik! You've been missing for hours and you left your phone at my place! What are you even doing?" she yelled, her British accent ringing loud and clear in his ears.
The man gulped. "Uh, well… you see, Malik and I kinda broke into an old insane asylum and we've been wandering around and… stuff."
"What? Is this about that stupid paper Malik had to do? Altair, you idiot! Get out of there. It's private property!"
"Gladly, but… would you be able to pick us up?"
"Didn't you drive?"
"Well… no, we walked."
There was a brief silence, and Altair could almost feel the judgment and disappointment through the phone. Finally she answered, "Fine, I'll be there soon. Just get out before you cause anymore trouble."
Malik took his phone back, still smirking. "So," he began. "Is she picking us up?"
"Yeah, let's get out of here."
They turned around once more only to find a pale figure standing in front of the door. Altair screamed. Malik stumbled backward, dropping the flashlight as his whole body went ridged. It clattered to the ground with a shatter of glass. The room went dark, illuminated only by the lone light streaming through cracks in the boarded window.
Another staring contest began. The girl strode toward them with a melancholy gait, stopping two feet away. "W-w-what do you want?" Malik cried..
She reached for the book. Malik gasped and let go. It fell right through her hands, dropping to the ground with a THUMP!
"N-n-n-n..." she murmured.
"Please leave us alone!" cried Altair. "W-we didn't mean to-"
Her head snapped up to stare at them both with her pale icy eyes. Gritted her teeth, the phantom sprinted forward right through Altair and Malik. They froze as chills swept through their bodies, both shuddering.
When she had gone they whipped around. No longer was she facing them, but staring at the bed forlornly. Her hand extended to touch the teddy bear lying amongst the sheets, but as expected she passed right through. Dropping silently to her knees, a sob escaped her, then a scream.
A tug on his arm snapped Malik out of his paralyzed state. Altair had a hold on his sleeve once more, urging them to leave. The girl had stood up and was now heading their way from across the room.
"RUN!" Altair shouted. They ran like frightened puppies through the hallway, down the stairs, and out the door. Scurrying over the fence a second time, relief flooded them as they saw Maria's car parked only yards away.
"What happened?" she asked when they jumped into the car. "You two look sick!"
"Don't ask, just drive!" they cried.
Pressing on the gas, the car roared to life and sped away. From the asylum window stood a lone pale figure in a white gown watching them leave. Silent tears trailed down her face.