Alright, these are mini stories that will take place in the Modern Assassin's Creed universe that I'm writing. These will help to develop and explain the different relationships within the main story, without me going off on a tangent during the main story.

I hope you enjoy them, and please read and review :)

…..

As he and Altair lay in bed, on the night after Jacob left, Malik couldn't help but feel like his husband was giving him the cold shoulder.

"Novice? Novice…. Altair."

"… Yes?"

Malik frowned at the slightly disinterested tone in Altair's voice, "Are you…. Sulking?"

"A Grandmaster does not sulk, he merely takes time to contemplate past events."

"Yeah… you're sulking."

Groaning slightly under his breath, Altair rolled over to face Malik, wincing as his bones ached. "Do you think we did the right thing?"

"With Jacob? Yes of course. We needed to separate ourselves from him before his trial. We needed to prove to the military that the Assassins would be on the side of justice and not try to bury everything under the rug."

"Maybe we should have been by his side… stood with him and provided support when the whole world was against him."

"We did support him."

Altair shook his head, "No… no we didn't. We turned our backs on him, otherwise he wouldn't have left the Order."

"You don't know that! He might have decided to leave at some point in the future anyway."

Frowning at this, Altair slowly pushed himself into a seated position. "How can you be so sure of that?"

Malik rolled his eyes, "I know you had a soft spot for him, but even you have to admit that Jacob wouldn't have been a good Assassin."

Altair seemed stunned by this, prompting Malik to continue. "Every test that we ever set out for the Young Assassins, every exam and every chance that he got…. Jacob disappointed me."

**** Flashback *****

"The aim of the task is to cross the river whilst balancing on this rope…" stated Malik, his eyes scanning over the small crowd of students, "… I want to see pose, precision… and no wet students. Assassins should be able to walk across the thinnest of surfaces without even a stumble!"

He resisted the urge to smile when he saw the eagerness of Ezio Auditore and Conner Kenway. The former had spent most of his childhood clambering over rooftops, whilst Conner had spent all of his life balancing on thin branches to steal feathers from bird nests and as hunting practice.

The other children were also the sons and daughters of other assassins, and so, had had experience with activities like this. They all should have been confident in this task.

And yet, Jacob Frye looked as though he was going to throw up at the thought.

"Ezio. Why don't you go first?"

Eagerly, Ezio stepped forwards, nimbly tightrope walking across the small river, before flipping over to the bank on the other side and giving a bow.

"Excellent. Connor, you next."

Once again, it was a success.

"Evie. Go."

Success again.

This time, Malik turned his attention to Jacob, who was trying to look anywhere but at him.

"Jacob…"

As Jacob glanced at him, Malik couldn't help but smirk.

"… Go on."

He watched as Jacob took a deep breath, putting one step on the rope and testing it. Taking a deep breath, Jacob wandered onto the rope, his arms out-stretched as he desperately tried to walk across without wobbling too much.

He made it about halfway across, before wobbling violently, his arms waving in the air as he tried to regain his balance…. Only to fall into the water with a loud splash.

Malik scowled as the rest of the class laughed good-naturedly, watching as Jacob splashed about in the water, spluttering until he saw some of his friends grinning at him. Sheepishly, he spiked up his hair and laughed along with them.

This continued until he caught Malik's eye and flushed under the disappointed stare he was getting.

**** End Flashback ****

"He was a disappointment then, and yes, whilst he did improve…. I can't see him becoming a Master Assassin."

Altair rolled his eyes, "Jacob is not a child anymore. You may not have realised this, but he's recently turned twenty. He's an adult and he's changed."

"That's your opinion."

"It's not just my opinion, it's what I've seen and experienced whilst working with him."

Malik frowned, "I can't recall a time where you've ever worked with Jacob."

"Really? Don't you remember the trafficking problem in Egypt?"

"…. The Templar fraction who decided to enslave a whole village in order to get financing from the… less moral individuals in society?"

"Precisely. Jacob was one of the Young Assassins sent on that mission with me, and that mission proved to me, that Jacob could have been a great Master."

Malik clearly didn't believe him as Altair cast his thoughts back to the mission in question.

** Flashback **

"Mister Frye…. Mister Frye!"

Startled out of his thoughts by Grandmaster Altair's cautious approach, Jacob instinctively straightened up. "Grandmaster…. Sir?"

Altair glanced down at the boy's wrist and frowned, "Maybe you want to disengage your hidden blades?"

This was when Jacob realised that his blades could still be seen…. The blood of the targets still dripping down to the sand.

Altair watched as a shudder went through Jacob's body. The young boy quickly wiped the blades and sheathed them.

"I-I-I…"

Altair nodded in understanding at Jacob's unsaid statement. "I know young one, but it was the only thing we could have done to force their hands."

The Templar slavery faction was a family run business, with many leaders having sons in lower positions. As a last resort, the Council decided that in order to force their hands, the Assassins would kill the sons to weaken the Fathers.

The aftermath was devastating. The cries of the Templar families could be heard echoing throughout the streets.

"I know this is hard Jacob…" whispered Altair, encouraging Jacob to walk forwards as the liberated prisoners rushed for the edge of the town, hoping to get to freedom before the leaders got themselves together, "… but we need to go."

"One of them was about my age…" Jacob whispered, "… I know they were as bad as their parents, but- but- "

"I know…" whispered Altair, as they continued to move with the crowd, "… I know"

As the large crowd moved out of the town, with many people cheering and celebrating their liberation, the Assassins kept a cautious eye on their surroundings, knowing that the Templars wouldn't let them go so easily.

As the large group reached the left side of a shallow lake, with a few Assassins going forwards in order to test the depth and risk level of the lake, there was suddenly a loud commotion from behind them. Spinning around, Altair was dismayed to see almost 50 Templars at the top of the hill

With only five assassins, the threat still wasn't great… but who knows how many innocent civilians they would kill.

"Jacob, create a distraction!" ordered Altair as the ex-captives all began to scream and panic, "Try and keep them as far away as possible!"

Nodding, Jacob reached into an inside pocket and pulled out several flash bombs, hoping to stun some of the Templar's long enough to assassinate them. As the rest of the Assassins helped the captives and their belongings across the lake, Jacob threw bomb after bomb, causing Templars to step back in shock and shield their eyes from the bright light.

Once their eyes were covered, Jacob was able to make the killing blow, often managing to assassinate at least five before the effects of one bomb wore off.

Meanwhile, Altair was trying not to lose his patience as the ex-captives tried to get all their belongings across the lake, not just the essentials. "Leave it!" he ordered a young lady, who was trying to grab her hat as it flew off her head, "Go, go, go!"

As he slowly ran out of flash bombs, Jacob pulled some gunpowder out of his pocket and made a thin, long line in front of him, as though drawing a line between him and the floundering Templars. Sprinting away, he pulled a spare lighter out of his pocket and lit it up, throwing it onto the gunpowder line as the final distraction fell into place.

With the gunpowder settling alight, the Templars were distracted long enough for the remainder of the ex-captives to cross the lake. After Jacob sprinted over, he frowned at the Grandmaster. "That's not going to keep them distracted for much longer. How do we stop them from crossing the lake as well and following us?"

Altair glanced over at where the Templars were starting to gather once again, still encouraging the captives to continue moving. "We need to block their access to the lake…" he muttered, clearly deep in thought, his eyes scanning their surroundings until they landed on the large boulder piles that lined the valley they had travelled down, "… I don't suppose you have any- "

Before he could finish, Jacob rushed past him, spinning round to grin at him as he passed. "I'm way ahead of you Grandmaster!"

"Jacob, wait!"

Watching in alarm, Altair saw Jacob clamber up the boulder piles, pulling something out of his pocket and placing it at the top. After pressing something, Jacob moved to rush back to the main group… only to find his path blocked by several Templars.

"Where d'ya think yer going?" snarled a particularly large man, "We ain't finished with you yet."

"No? Well I'm finished with you."

BANG

Altair watched in alarm as the top boulder seemed to shatter into hundreds of pieces, causing the pile to become unstable with the force of the explosion and sending large rocks crumbling down… towards Jacob and the Templars.

"JACOB!"

When the dust from the rock-slide faded away, Altair moved to cross the lake again, hoping that his worst fears were unfounded. Yes, the Templars wouldn't be able to come any closer, but at what cost?

"JACOB!"

"Grandmaster! Grandmaster Altair!"

Altair span around to see Jacob sitting in the lake, his clothes soaked right through as his hat floated away.

"Y-you have no idea how close I came to missing the lake…" Jacob muttered, pushing himself to his feet as his teeth chattered, "… I-I misjudged the distance slightly."

Helping the young man to his feet, Altair couldn't help but shake his head in relief. "I thought you'd been crushed… What were you thinking?!"

"I didn't know the Templars would block me!"

"Placing the bomb on such a short timer was extremely risky. You could have been seriously injured."

"But the captives would have been able to get away."

Altair paused at this. Jacob didn't sound worried about his own death… he just wanted to make sure that the group they had saved, stayed safe.

"Jacob… whilst I admire your conviction, there are people who would miss you as well. Yes, Assassins should do whatever it takes to keep society in a peaceful state…. But risking their own lives is a last resort, understood?"

"Yes Grandmaster."

** End Flashback **

"So, he was reckless..." stated Malik in confusion, "…not a decent quality for an Assassin. You of all people should realise this."

Wincing at the reminder of his past, Altair shook his head. "Don't you realise… Jacob was willing to sacrifice his own life so that others could remain free. You can talk about him being a poor Assassin all you want, but in my eyes, Jacob would have been the perfect Assassin."

"… Well I guess we'll never know now will we."

"No… no we won't"