Chapter Three

"Perhaps We Can Start Over"

Masyaf

Evangeline's eyes darted from phantom to phantom, man to man. Dizziness started to swell within her and she swayed from side to side until she wisely caught herself on the wall. She watched as her view of her good fortune quickly set itself on fire and melted in her palms. Evangeline could barely breathe and her lungs hitched every time that she tried. People that walked by gave the wide-eyed girl funny looks and asked their friends if she was drunk. She slid down the wall and grasped her head as she listened to the footsteps pat and pound past her. She couldn't stay in Masyaf, yet she couldn't leave. She was bound in the situation tightly and realized that she would have to wait things out.

Memories began to plague the woman and thoughts of what might have happened ripped her stomach apart ruthlessly. What had happened to Azusa? Where did her father go? What did her mother think? Did they believe that she was a conspirator to the man's cause? Evangeline wanted revenge on that man, but Evangeline was too hot headed at the moment to have a clear plot to get him. Revenge was a dish best served cold and hard. Evangeline crossed her arms around her knees and rested her chin on top, gazing at the passerby. They seemed to stop noticing her after she calmed down. They went on their ways, oblivious to the internal mess that the hunched over girl was in. It was okay, though. Evangeline couldn't possibly expect them to care.

Or perhaps one could be an exception. A young man began to walk over to the woman, brushing past everyone else because he didn't understand why she was sitting there as she was. When the time seemed right, he got closer and knelt down beside her. With an admiration in his eyes that Evangeline seemed blind to, he cleared his throat and asked, "What is a pretty woman like yourself doing in the dirt?" Evangeline peeked an eye out at the man to examine who was talking to her. He was fairly average in looks and build and he was nowhere near the height and muscle of one of the phantoms that roamed the area. His black hair was neatly kempt and his clothing seemed to be just as regal as her old ones. She perked up at the sight of him, not particularly happy to see someone who shared her former wealth, but curious as to what made her, a woman who could be nothing more than a beggar in what she wore, interesting enough to meet his attention. There was something vaguely familiar about the man and his intensely dark brown eyes. He raised his eyebrows and sighed. "It seems that you do not remember me, sadly." Evangeline confirmed the thought with his words.

"You seem awfully familiar, though. I am terribly sorry. A lot has been on my mind lately and I'm sure that it has been a while. I'm not one to forget faces so easily." The man grunted and then smiled brightly. Of course, Evangeline did not recognize the man on sight. It had been three years since they saw each other and he had not made a very good impression on her. He stood up with nothing more than his smile, which could be considered charming by those with lower standards than Evangeline, and pulled said woman up and back onto her feet. He lifted her chin delicately and noticed the fresh tears that had poured down her rosy cheeks. His heart skipped a little at her eyes. He had always loved her eyes. Walking them both over to a bench, he sat her down and placed himself next to her, a little closer than she would have preferred, but she was in no position to be making more enemies and telling people off.

"Evangeline, it has been quite a while; three long and boring years, in fact. I am Yasir Halabi and I travelled to Damascus to see you two days ago where I learned of you predicament. I'm lucky that I found you. My guards had heard the tale of the horse dragging its rider and they saw you heading towards this place. I believe… I believe I have a way to clear things up and get you home." Evangeline's eyes lit up and she threw herself into a hug with the man that she had never been fond of, believing that he could truly help her settle back into her old life and possibly free Azusa as well. "But I must ask something of you in return, as this is a large job to pardon you from the misunderstanding." Evangeline knew that this was coming, but she smiled and nodded eagerly anyway. Yasir dropped to one knee in an old English custom and, realizing what the stance meant, so did Evangeline's heart and smile. No… "Will you be my wife, Evangeline Harper?" I can't… I don't love you… Eva had been taught that love came from marriage, not vice versa, but still she couldn't bring herself to believe it. She refused to believe that. The girl closed her eyes and prepared to turn Yasir down once again.

"Yasir, I said no three years ago and I have to say no now. I am not ready for that kind of commitment…" Evangeline's voice trailed and she looked away, hoping that something monumental would happen so she wouldn't have to confront the awkward situation. It was unlikely though. She knew that his offer to pardon her had been too good to be true. She was truly disappointed. Yasir rolled his eyes and huffed, throwing his arms up and using so many hand gestures that he could be mistaken for an Italian.

"By the time you are ready, you will be old and ugly! I can get you out of this village and back into your silk robes and comfortable lifestyle back in Damascus or Jerusalem or wherever you wish to be!" Evangeline narrowed her eyes at the insulting words. This man was so selfish as to take advantage of the moment of Evangeline's weakness and hope that she would make the half-hearted decision to marry him because she was desperate. Evangeline was ready to slap him across the face in front of everyone and he was ready to pull her into and alley and beat her, but he was stopped by another man that approached. Yasir stood up and straightened his navy and golden cape. "We shall speak again soon." Evangeline cowered below his glare. Yasir directed the enraged expression towards someone else and stormed away. Another man came and took his place, walking up from behind Evangeline.

The girl was fuming, but fear quickly took over as a man clad in all white sat down beside her. She was ready to die or get attacked when he spoke softly, "That man has some issues that he needs to talk out." The man smiled and Evangeline relaxed a little, realizing that she had made it very obvious that she though that the man would kill her. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by one of the white and red armored men. He was chuckling slightly. Are they allowed to do that? "Anyway, I am glad to see that you are up and back on your feet." Evangeline just stared at the man in amazement because it had never occurred to her that these men had faces. She had never seen one with the hood down. The man's honey eyes seemed bright and almost jubilant and his black hair was slightly ruffled. "I apologize," he said, looking away and putting up his hand, "I should introduce myself. I am Malik Al-Sayf; I carried you in after your horse dragged you down the road." Evangeline turned red. How many more people know of this? News spreads like wildfire. God only knows what happened when I was accused of treason to the kingdom.

Evangeline looked over Malik's shoulder briefly before she responded. Another man in white was standing there, staring directly at her. This man was the only one with his hood still on, yet the threatening look could still be felt through the pure fabric. The leather across his abdomen bore a slightly more intricate and elegant pattern across it and he seemed more heavily armored than the rest. This was unmistakably the man who had caused her this pain and brought her into this mess. She had no doubt that it was him. Why else would he be so intense in his gaze. Evangeline turned her attention back to Malik, understanding that she had nothing that she could do in that moment. She would have to wait.

"Thank you for taking me and my horse here, Malik, and for taking me to Dalphine. I owe you my life. I can't say that I was in the best condition before that accident." Malik nodded and said that he understood. The man in the background had vanished and was nowhere to be found. Evangeline ignored the detail for the moment and explained the whole story to Malik, who she seemed to find enough courage to trust. He seemed to be interested and listened to every detail as if he had been dying to know all along. Not once did the man interrupt her and, for this, she was surprised. No one had ever allowed her to speak that long without being scolded. "Thank you, Malik."

"For what? What did I do?" The man looked truly confused. His eyes met hers, trying to understand. He looked completely curious as he studied the girl's lightly colored face. For as long as she had been in Syria, she should have been much more tanned and blended, but she hadn't left the house very often. She was never pressured to.

"You listened. Not very many people do that for me." Evangeline smiled at Malik and he returned the gesture. Unfortunately, he had to leave, but was overjoyed to see that she was alright. Evangeline was once again left to her own devices and thoughts. No one seemed to understand how dangerous that was for this girl. Her mother's words seemed to help for once in the situation. Evangeline Harper was not going to let the specific phantom haunt her. She was going to act as if nothing happened and all was correct. It would be hard because Evangeline could barely hold back her tears every other minute for her family and friend, her anger boiled and hissed for Yasir, and her fear of the murderer made her shake at the slightest thought of him. Evangeline headed back inside, figuring that she had had about as much sun and heat as she could bear for one day.

Later that evening, Evangeline sat by a fire that someone had made for her and Dalphine. The French spitfire sat beside it and complained of the cold. "It's the middle of the damned desert and we need a fire at night to keep us warm. Whoever would have thought?" It was true, the nights were harsh as all of the heat left the sand and moon and darkness were all that was left. The people were very grateful for the fluctuation, however. At least they could sleep comfortably. There was a loud pounding on the door. Evangeline tensed. What if Yasir had sent for the guards? No, he wouldn't. He wasn't done trying to convince her of becoming his. He said that he'd be back.

Dalphine opened the door tiredly. "What is it, son? Calm down…" she spoke soothingly to the frantic man that panted and wheezed at their doorway. "What happened?" The man took another deep breath and then started to explain that his wife had gone into labor and he was lost with what to do. He mentioned that his wife did not look well on top of that. Dalphine sighed inaudibly and parted ways for the night with Evangeline. The girl stared into the fire for a moment. An hour later, the embers began to sigh and make their last flickers before dying out. Evangeline stood up and turned, ready to make her way to her bed, but instead saw the phantom, visible only by the moonlight shining through the narrow windows. He was leaning against the wall across the home from her and she gasped. Her stomach tied itself into knots and she began to breathe quickly.

"Why did you follow me, Templar?" She narrowed her eyes at the foreign word and then mouthed it to herself as if saying it would help her find its meaning. She backed away slightly as the man approached, his boots patting the hardwood floors like a heartbeat. "Why are you here?" A blade could be heard unsheathing and the silver edge caught the small amount of light slightly. He kept advancing until Evangeline was against the wall, hyperventilating, and his blade was only an inch, or less, from her face. She began to cry again and the man started to think that that was all she ever did. It also crossed his mind that he was just very successful in scaring people. He liked how the second option made him sound, so he went with it.

Between sobs, Evangeline managed to make her words somewhat understandable. "I came on accident, I swear. They chased me out of Damascus after you put me in that hay pile and I got lost on my way to Acre because I went in the opposite direction," Evangeline sobbed, "I don't even know what a Templar is!" The man's grip around her wrists loosened a little at first, but, realizing that that's what a Templar would want, he retightened it and pushed her harder against the wall. Evangeline's body wracked with tears and tremors.

"Your words buy you some time, but I am keeping a close eye on your actions. You still seem like a Templar and, in time, you will tell me how you found us here." Evangeline tensed as his words were spoken, his breath against her ear as he intimidatingly glared from beneath the hood at her. The poor young woman took another deep breath only to be sent into another surge of scared emotions. "You cannot lie to me, Templar. I know what you are." Evangeline wanted to yank her hands out of his large and calloused ones and make a run for it. It became clear to her that she would rather run from all of the guards in Damascus than face this one man and it angered her to no end.

"Who are you?" She asked shakily.

"Altair. Altair Ibn La'Ahad. Remember, Evangeline, I am watching. I am watching and I will know," he whispered and when Evangeline reopened her eyes, the room was empty. Nothing was there. Altair was gone and all had returned to normal in the home. Crying and shaking herself to sleep because she couldn't find any other successful way to do so, Evangeline was going to fall into a disturbed and shallow slumber. She wanted to talk to Malik in the morning as soon as she could. Perhaps he could explain to her what a Templar was. Perhaps Malik knew who Altair was and would explain just exactly what was wrong with the man. Evangeline had walked into a very nasty situation. Why did she have to stumble upon the nesting place of a group of murderers and infidel traitors especially when one of them was hell-bent on the idea that she had followed him and was after whoever he was as a person and who these people were as a whole? Evangeline was so tired of misunderstandings and being afraid. The exhausting emotion was so new to her and she was having too much of it shoved down her throat at once.

After ten minutes of sitting in the corner and feeling sorry for herself, Evangeline decided that the best thing that she could do was get sleep so that she could wake up on time and speak with Malik in the morning. If there was one thing that she knew that she was definitely going to do now, it was that she wasn't going to show her weaknesses anymore. Altair thought that he could scare her. Altair thought that he could accuse her of being things so she would admit to whatever notion he had in his head. No. Evangeline was going to act sweet and innocent and confuse the intimidating man. After all, Evangeline could appear to be harmless and kind, couldn't she? She nodded to herself and wiped away a tear. What things appear to be and what they really are, Altair, are two separate things. You'll come to learn that. I'll show you.

Disclaimer: To my great despair, I do not own Assassin's Creed. I can only say that I own Evangeline Harper and Dalphine Babineaux and the side plot that accompanies the events of Assassin's Creed (the Original) gameplay. I believe that will suffice for this disclaimer.

That was Chapter Three! Okay, so the next Chapter will start to follow the events of the game and I can officially say that the setup for this fic is complete. After the next Chapter is over, the rising action will begin and the story will actually start to move a little quicker. The irony of that last line is really killing me. Oh! And by the way, I would like you to know that if you look at the Zodiac information of Altair- his birthday is January 11- it matches his personality completely. I thought that was cool. No one else probably cares, LOL. See you next chapter!

-Violyss