AOS118: I'm finally working on this one. Been a while I know. But I can't resist trying to get somewhere with it. I also can't think of anything to freaking PUT FOR THIS ONE! AAAARRRGH! –throws my imagination at Altair- WHY WONT YOU WORK!? I'm getting back to it finally. I have finally gotten to this one! YAY! I think this is the first legitly long one I wrote :) -throws a chair at Altair- AND! For the sake of the story: Malik is in the wrong place! It was easier to write it like this because I feel like he would have been moved when Aamir took over as the Mentor!

Altair: -ducks- She's throwing things and throwing a hissy fit, so I'd suggest you start reading~! –ducks again-

AOS118: Shuddup. Anyway, enjoy -goes back to throwing things at Altair :)-

Disclaimer: Don't own Assassins Creed and chiz like that! Cept the OCS : P


Tears of the Rain

Chapter 7

It had been about a week or two since Ru'yah had been released, and now she was sleeping peacefully after a long night of Khalif's obnoxious inability to shut up. She had deduced his problem to either stupidity or... something. She had yet to deduce the 'something' part of his problem.

There was a knock at the door and Ru'yah groaned once as she rolled onto her side to see some light streaming into her room. The light revealed it to be morning! 'Yay! It's only morning and someones bothering me!' Sitting up Ru'yah groaned again while rolling her eyes at the second set of knocks, "What in the hell do you want? I was sleeping, Jesus." Ru'yah swung her legs over the side of her bed and stalked over to her door as the third set of knocks sounded, already plotting Khalif's demise. She swore that if this was that little runt, he'd get his only chance at a family; torn off. And that wasn't a threat, it was a certified promise that Ru'yah would gladly carry out. She pulled the door open to see… Aamir. 'Whoops. I'm gonna get hell in a second.' Ru'yah gave an awkward smile at Aamir and a half wave as she began to try to explain. "I'm really sorry, I thought you were Khalif. He's been anxious to continue training, but I want to see how long he can go without me training him, in the hopes that he will start to just go train himself and make friends with the other novices... His age or not. ORRRRR… He'll finally leave me alone! Although, I really don't think that he's going to just leave me alone and start training himself. But I have to get some brownie points for trying right?" Aamir's lips curled down in a frown and Ru'yah took that as a 'no'. SO trying not to piss him off even more she finished up her little explanation of what was going on in her mind though she was sure Aamir didn't want her too... "And no, I'm not too positive what the point of this is. But I'm sure there is... Maybe... Never mind, the only point besides me trying to regain some sleep I lost after I fell off of a building is that the poor boy is driving me up the wall. I love him and all. But... Yea." Ru'yah laughed awkwardly and stopped completely with her story when Aamir gave her the look.

"Sorry, sir. I've been a bit… out of it. What with falling off of a building and all." And that was the truth. Everyone in the Brotherhood had noticed a difference in Ru'yah after her and Altair had fallen off of Masyaf's keep. Did anyone bother to ask? Of course not! As far as anyone was to be concerned: The two of them were fine despite Altair needing to stay in the hospital for two more weeks than Ru'yah. But Aamir trusted the others to put the pieces together in their head about Altair and their newest recruit: Khalif.

Aamir frowned even more at her. "I can see that." He gave a sigh at Ru'yah's expression. "Come to my office as soon as you can. And by 'as soon as you can'. That means now. So hustle, I have things to do and no time to do them. You of all people should know that Ru'yah." His message was crisp and clear leaving Ru'yah the only option but to nod, as she gently closed the door as Aamir turned away.

She sighed. 'He looked upset.' Another sigh, only mentally this time. 'And not himself.' And if she knew Aamir, then she knew that he was always happy and hardly anything ever made him upset enough to look like that. He literally looked like he had rolled out of bed that morning and just went with the flow of things. Something was very wrong within the Brotherhood, very wrong. Or something was very wrong with the Brotherhood. She gulped as she turned back to look at her surroundings. They were familiar, and she was glad for that. But as she studied her room, she realized that she was wasting the time that she needed to get ready so she didn't get her head torn off when she went to Aamir in his little 'office space.'

She got dressed as fast as she possibly could and made her way to find Khalif to tell him to stay within the Brotherhood, no leaving that gate for him today! God only knew where that child went on a daily basis outside of the safety of the walls of Masyaf. Whatever was going on, she didn't want him running off to God knows where. The last thing she needed was to be running around frantically cause he disappeared. Hopefully he hadn't already. She searched around the Brotherhood till she got to the front, sighed because she was not excited having to find him by the Sparring Circle. Most of the elder novice's were always there causing trouble against each other. She did NOT need him getting into contact with all the worse Assassins. When she spotted his tuft black head of hair: "Khalif!"

He looked back at her and laughing began to jog over to her yelling something over his shoulder to the other kids... his age. Well he did something right it seemed. "What's up Maestro." He said it as a statement instead of a question. She sighed and almost smacked him upside his head, but she decided not to humiliate him in front of his friends.

"Don't call me that." After a beat and Khalif nodded, she continued. "Do, NOT, I repeat, DO NOT. Leave the Brotherhood's premises. If I find out that you do, you're going to wish you never met me. And that's a threat, not a promise. AND," She continued before he could walk away from her. "No one can do anything if I take your ass out. So watch out!" She smiled at him and without waiting for a response, she left him to his own devices to go to Aamir's 'office.'

Step. Step. Step.

Ru'yah's steps against the cold hard stone worried her even more than her own thoughts.' What could he possibly want?' Her thoughts were going between many different possibilities of the subject of Aamir wanting her. And she had to work to push the thoughts away because her feet were carrying her around and she wasn't paying any attention to where she was going. Which wasn't to Aamir. 'Great. Stupid head. Stop thinking, your distracting me. But if somethings wrong with Aamir then...' The thought really killed her; she didn't want him to be mad at her or worse. She raised her hand to her mouth and started to bite her nails. When she caught herself she stopped before she bit her nail off. Ru'yah wasn't too sure what she could possibly be worried about, though. If he was in a bad mood, she'd put up with it, as she normally did, right? Right? She was starting to wonder if it really was as easy as that.

As she strode through the halls she realized that she wasn't really paying too much attention to where she was going once again. But she was consciously aware of her feet carrying her towards Aamir's office as she liked to call it. Thankfully, they were going in the RIGHT direction. She smiled to herself as she pushed her thoughts away so she could focus on what was to come from Aamir.

When she was finally climbing the stairs she tuned out her crappy thoughts finally and thought more about what would be said today. She took the left set of stairs like usual and made her way to the desk. She was surprised to see Altair there, until realization hit her; she was supposed to come see him in two weeks. Her eyes widened as she finally realized where she was supposed to be that morning... 'Whoops. I'm definitely getting hell now.' She should have been there about two hours ago. She stepped up next to Altair, and Aamir turned to them. His eyes were clouded over as he looked at the two of them before him. He addressed Altair and then her, more than likely for pointing out that she was in fact late. He was either being a bag of smashed assholes, or he was just simply teasing her out of good halfheartedness. But probably the first.

"Thank you, Altair, for being here on time. And Ru'yah, you should have remembered this more carefully." He sighed, running a hand through his hair, an unusual show of aggravation from him. "Next time, I expect you both here. And on time. And if I have to come and wake you up to get you here, you had better start kissing ass or your going to lose something very dear to you, and it just might be your life." Ru'yah nodded, not bothering with words. She could talk to him more personally later if he wished to speak with her.

Standing next to her, Altair was as calm as ever, awaiting Aamir's orders. "I need you both to go visit Malik, he has need of some assistance, and I am sending you both to go help him. Ru'yah you will leave Kalif here, and I shall attend to him. There will be no arguing this." When Ru'yah and Altair stood there, Aamir shooed them away, Ru'yah began to move away when Aamir added specifically to her, "When you are back, you will begin his training. I don't care if you get eaten." Ru'yah swallowed a lump in her throat and replied in kind.

"Of course." And with that, the pair left, going off to begin preparing for their trip.

As they exited out to the halls, neither said a word. They didn't look to each other, they looked forward and walked silently. Ru'yah began chewing on her fingernails, an unusual thing she did. Aamir was never that angry. He was always happy. And why would he be sending both of them away, but would keep Khalif there? She didn't want to admit it, but she couldn't deny it, she didn't want to leave him there. She didn't know what could happen to him, not that Aamir would ever harm him. Or would he? Aamir had been acting pretty strange around them all these past few days. She also couldn't help the thought that he'd turn out like Al Mualim and he'd end up turning HER apprentice against HER. Maybe it was stress… Right? It could be… just some bad stress. But from what? What could get Aamir that stressed? Sure being the newest leader after a tragedy could put some serious stress on someone... But that much stress? Ru'yah found that hard to believe.

Ru'yah shook her head and stopped walking. She covered her face with her hands and sighed.

"Ru'yah?" She lowered her hands to her neck, "Yes, Altair?" She could hear the uncertainty in her voice. The trembling in it. So, surely, he could too.

"Are you okay? You're shaking like a leaf." Ru'yah lowered her arms to her sides and gave him a 250-kilo-watt smile.

"Yeah, I'm just contemplating what Malik could possibly need help with!" Altair nodded, "True. He's always so headstrong. Doesn't know when to quit. He's going to wear himself out one of these days."

Ru'yah's smile faltered. "Yeah.."

Altair continued on and Ru'yah followed shortly. She had to force her feet to move, refusing to look too weak in front of Altair. Left, right. Left, right. She was so focused on walking correctly that she hadn't noticed where she'd followed Altair to. "The baths?" Altair hummed lightly in response as if to say, 'Shut up and stop asking questions.' Ru'yah rolled her eyes at him. "Why are we here? We need to get moving and get on our way to Acre we're not exactly neighbors with it here in Masyaf."

Altair sighed in frustration with how closely she was studying him, like she expected him to do something bad. "Just stand at the door and keep watch for any one. Do not let them in if anyone comes up." She rolled her eyes and moved to the door, propping it open with her foot.

"So… Why are we here?" Altair gave no response, but something fell from where he was and it crashed to the floor. There was a resounded curse that followed and Ru'yah chuckled.

"You dead yet?" She was peeking back in his general direction when she stepped out around the shelves of towels with nothing in his hands. "Nothing there? That's a shame." There was malice in her voice that the sarcasm just melted into to. But, he still chose not to answer her and continued to the entrance. She sighed as she followed behind him.

Like always, walking made her think, and this time she thought about why Malik needed any assistance. He was the most headstrong, besides Altair that is, he was especially headstrong when it came to that arm of his. Even help in battle wasn't asked for even though he received it irregardless.

And then, Khalif's face surfaced in her mind. Aamir never trained anyone, Ru'yah discovered that very fast after a bored afternoon of her harassing him, so for him to offer to train Khalif until she and Altair returned… It was certainly strange. The little voice in the back of her head decided to intrude in her thought process, 'What if Aamir turns into an Al Mualim?' She shook her head roughly causing her hood to fall back, 'No, no, no! Aamir is fine. He probably misses being able to train. So he figured while we're away was a good time to reminiscence.' She frowned deeply not able to convince herself of it.

As her thoughts ran like a train that was running off it's tracks, she did not pay attention to Altair ahead of her. 'I have to tell Khalif. Butt…. OH MY GOD! He's going to want to go and I have no clue if I want to tell him straight or softly… Straight. Definitely straight. He's a big boy, he can handle it. Right? Yes. I can tell him to go to Aamir's office and to be good, listen to him and to not be a brat… But what it-' She was cut off as she slammed into Altair's back her palm, which was flat and facing away from her from the swinging motion of her arms, bumped into Altair's butt. Her fingers curled into his butt as the force pushed them inward. She jumped back with red spreading across her cheeks. He either didn't notice, didn't care or he wouldn't embarrass her until later. Probably the latter. Hopefully the latter.

That was when she looked in front of Altair. "Khalif! … What's wrong?" She moved next to Altair trying to forget her accidental grope. But Altair seemed to not notice it. She frowned at Khalif, her eyebrows crinkling together in concern.

"Nothing. Just want to know what's going on with you guys. It's not everyday you two walk out of a room together without killing each other." He smiled his 'brat' smile.

"Altair and your Master are going on a mission. A dangerous one. You, Khalif, will be with me." Aamir stood behind Altair and Ru'yah. 'When had he gotten there?' "I shall continue your training until young Ru'yah returns." Ru'yah could feel Aamir's eyes upon her and knew that he was just trying to smite her after she had to be woken up and told to meet up with him and Altair.

Aamir stepped up right behind them and whispered next to Ru'yah and Altair's ear. "Consider it slight payment for making me wait this morning for you, young Ru'yah." A light blush seeped into her cheeks and there was a breathy laugh from Altair. Aamir stepped back without Khalif noticing in his fit of excitement.

Khalif's eyes lit up with the brewing excitement. "Really?" Ru'yah nodded plastering a fake smile on her lips. Altair smiled noticing how forced her smile seemed to be. "But…" Khalif's smile fell and Ru'yah's smiled became real at seeing her apprentice in a bit of a rift.

"Be good! You don't want to know what I'll do to you if your not!" Khalif smiled again and ran past her and Altair back towards Aamir. Ru'yah and Altair turned to watch as Aamir and Khalif turned back to leave. As they turned the corner, Ru'yah squeaked and jumped away from Altair. "Altair!" She backed away another step and watched the smile form on Altair's face. "What?" Her horrified expression said it all, but Altair played 'innocent.'

"What? You know damn well 'what'!" She started to stutter in anger, "Y-you … you smacked-ed m-m-my b-" She cut off. Realization was sinking in as she realized she'd been yelling and some other assassin's started to gather around them. They all were acting like old ladies with nothing better than to gossip! She huffed and stomped off toward the stables with a chuckling Altair following her.


As Ru'yah saddled up her horse; Rose, she continued in her 'mood.' Altair approached her, already on his horse and looked out at the distance. "I hope you know that you are the most immature person alive." Ru'yah tightened the saddle lightly to make sure it sat right on the horse as she spat out the words. "Unless I'm wrong, my grope was accidental. And you-" She faltered as she thought about what Altair had done.

"And I what?" He smirked happy to see her so flustered.

"You groped my ass on purpose! What was the point?!" He chuckled at her. "What?" She glared up at him completely serious and now in the mood to fight.. He looked down to her, meeting her fiery gaze.

"You're being immature." She rolled her eyes and mounted her horse patting her neck. "How?" She and Altair turned their horses and exited Masyaf.

"You are making a big deal out of it, whereas I just let it go." A smile pulled at her lips as she saw the flaw in his logic.

"You are wrong! You groped me back! When 'letting it go' would have meant not groping me back!" She smiled in victory as Altair frowned. "I guess you win this time."


Slowly but surely the duo were nearing Acre. With her her thoughts; Ru'yah realized another thing. The two of them were acting like best friends. Well… if best friends groped each others asses on purpose and accidentally then… They weren't. Maybe it was a phase? No way. Maybe… jus- No! We are just being friendly for the sake of being stuck together!

The sun was beginning to set cascading pinks, yellows, oranges and blues across the twilight sky. That would mean camp. Which meant food and water. Which meant rest. She spoke up tentatively. "Altair. We need to make camp soon." He ignored her. She pressed her lips into a thin line in aggravation. He seemed to be ignoring her a lot lately. "Hey!"

"Shut up! And ride harder!" His response was crisp and snappy.

Ru'yah obeyed not sure what they were running from and snapped her horses reigns. Rose sped up pushing herself harder to run faster and save her rider from whatever was chasing them. 'We can't afford to exhaust the horses…' Ru'yha's eyes crinkled in worry. She pushed up next to Altair. "We can not afford to exhaust the horses…"

He sighed, "Look behind us."

Ru'yah glanced behind them. "Couldn't we just fight whatever-"

There were at least twenty Templars. Ru'yah's head whipped forward and her face blanched. She then noticed that she hadn't even been aware of her head turning forward. "Altair…!"

"I know. Hya!"

The two rode on, all through the night. They were desperate to escape, but the Templars were hot on their heels. And Acre was in deed getting closer.

"Altair!"

He looked back at Ru'yah, he could see the shadow's under eyes seeming to grow. "Keep going! Push through for Khalif! I am not telling him his Mentor and parental figure and friend died!" Ru'yah grunted and forced herself to stay awake. Altair was right! She couldn't fail them now!

As they rode, Altair was concocting a plan to save them. It was a very bad plan, but a plan no less. He knew that Ru'yah would go with anything at this point. She was just as desperate as he to get to the safety of the bureau. "Ru'yah! Come up here for a moment!" She rushed up and he told her his plan. She nodded, "I really don't care! What ever gets us away from them!"

As they approached Acre's gate, the two readied their muscles. They had to be fast and they had to be prepared. If not, they might not make their up and coming jump. "Get ready, Rose. We have to leave you both. Just come to us at the bureau. Ok?" Rose neighed in response knowing that the two horses could soon rest.

Acre's gate was clear as the night sky and as the passed under the arched gate, they both jumped from the saddle. Altair hit the ground, rolled and dashed towards the roofs. Ru'yah on the other hand jumped awkwardly, hit the ground awkwardly and had to run from a Templar that had caught up to them.

She jumped onto a bench, and then jumped to a venders stand with a crowd of people around it, to a random and convenient pole. She then scrambled up the side of a building, she had to find her foot holds as she ran up to the building which was hard because the building appeared to be smooth. She looked out over the city and spotted Altair waiting two building ahead. Without looking back at the guards and Templars. Ru'yah ran, jumped, rolled and repeated. As she neared Altair, he joined in with her effortlessly and together they raced across the city.

The ten city guards followed them by the rooftops and the twenty Templars followed them on the ground. As they ran, more and more of the guards and Templars fell behind. Soon enough only one of the Templars remained, and he was a marauder.

At some point during the chase, Ru'yah had gained the lead. She could see the open bureau that Malik needed to close, "Malik! Close the grate! NOW!"

Altair jumped up next to Ru'yah and the two could hear the smack! of the grate closing. "We have to make a stand, don't we?" Ru'yah jumped a big gap and grabbed the window of he other building. She climbed up as Altair jumped over and grabbed the edge of the building hauling himself up. "I'm making a stand. You're going to slip in the bureau."

They jumped again, in synchronization with each other, and Ru'yah's mood turned sour. "There is no way in hell I'm leaving you to fight it alone!" They both jumped to the ground. "Yes you are! Do not make me pull rank on you!" He dodged a sword slash from the Templar and he struck back with his rapier. "I don't care! Your rank can kiss my ass!" Ru'yah rounded towards the Templar's back ready to strike when Altair's scream of alarm stopped her. He ducked quickly away from the Templar in front of him just in time too, to avoid losing his arm.

Time seemed to slow down for Ru'yah. In stead of whipping around like she told her body to. She turned slowly, but at least everything else was slow too. When she finally faced the opposite way, she saw him. A lone archer with his crossbow poised. Poised at her…

There was a thump: the arrow being fired, she moved to the left.

There was a hiss: that was the arrow through the air.

The next squishy thump was the arrow burrowing into Ru'yah's chest.

"Ru'yah! DAMMIT!"

Ru'yah could feel the air rush around her as she began to fall back. She crashed against the ground not even noticing the air leaving her lungs. She didn't notice Altair strike down the Templar that he was fighting or the one who shot her. She didn't see him crouch over her. She didn't hear him yell to Malik. She didn't feel Altair pick her up and move her into the bureau. She stared up and only once did she realize anything, and that was when she felt her heart stop beating the blood through her veins.


Ru'yah could have sworn she was floating again. The black abyss was endless and calming. And Ru'yah began to give up, she began to let the calm wash over her and caress her in an endless happiness. But then… There was a voice, masculine and strong, pushing through her revere. "Don't…. I swear…. Make her breath, DAMMIT!" Ru'yah thought she felt a pressure on her chest that disappeared as soon as it came. 'I wonder what all that yelling is about, and why did someone hit me?'

That was when Ru'yah's eyes snapped open. She was 'dead'. In Limbo… Or wherever she was. She was dead…

How did she die? She really couldn't remember, but she had too. She couldn't stand not knowing how she died. The harder she thought, the faster the images started coming, they were sharp and crisp images.

A horde of people.

Acre's rooftops.

Altair.

A bowmen.

Then simply nothingness. Just that dark abyss that Ru'yah was becoming acquainted with.

It hurt her head, and she curled into a ball trying to will the pain away. She was holding her head as the pain increased, and spiked. She felt it begin to fade, but it spiked again and she groaned. She began to pray desperately for the pain and suffering to end. But alas, it stayed. She groaned in pain and that was when the voices broke through again. They weren't whispers, they were yells. Cries of pain and a voice of worry and concern. Following the voices, came the images. A woman giving… birth on a bed. A man rushing in and holding the woman's hand. Maybe they were married? Was it his child, or was this a random child that the woman was having and that was a family friend. Maybe a family member, father perhaps? No, he's not that old looking. Maybe an older brother. There was another woman helping the woman on the bed give birth. The images and sounds cut off leaving Ru'yah trying to figure out what those images could possibly mean.

"Get a towel!"

"Ru'yah! Dammit, don't you dare die on me! You hear me?!" A pounding sensation on her chest followed. Ru'yah was quite tempted to start ignoring the voice since it was only annoying her and she wished that whoever kept hitting her would just stop already! Jeesh!

"She's convulsing!" See why she wanted the voice to shut up? It was only confusing!

'Who? Me?' Ru'yah frowned and began to push for consciousness, she needed to wake up. Whoever was out there, was yelling for her. Consciousness was a long way away, and Ru'yah didn't know if there was much she could do within. Most of it seemed to be up to those outside desperately trying to keep her dead heart beating. "Ru'yah!" Again, that piercing voice that was so familiar yet so unfamiliar. Why was this voice calling out for her? Why did she matter to anyone else, she couldn't be saved so there would be no point in trying to awaken her.

So again she began to sink deeper into her happy little abyss. "Malik! Get back over here! We're going to lose her if you go any slower!" That annoying voice was quite desperately angry!

A face appeared, a young boy with black tasseled hair. His eyes were a green like no other, they sparkled and twinkled in a certain light. Then a name flashed in front of the boy's face; Khalif. 'Khalif…' Ru'yah knew she knew the name. But from where? Time seemed to drag on as she stared at the face and name of this new boy 'Khalif'. The pounding had stopped and so had that insistent voice.

Before she could figure out where she had seen him, the vision disappeared. She was no longer floating. Instead she could feel a soft bed beneath her. There was a bright light against her eyelids. She could smell… clean something. Maybe that was the scent in and out of itself, clean. There were voices, whispering. Were they talking about her? The voices seemed to be sad. 'Why were they sad?' She was alive, was she not?! This certainly wasn't her happy abyss!

Ru'yah forced her eyes open to a squint; the bright light above her head was really starting to piss her off. She brought a hand up to block out the light but found that she couldn't raise that arm. She tried the other, SUCCESS! She blocked the light and tried to peek around the room. She couldn't see anything or anyone. But she still heard the voices. She decided to try out her voice, 'Why not? It couldn't hurt, could it?'

"Hello?" Her voice came out as a croak. Small and unidentifiable even to her. There was silence, so she decided to try again, raising her voice. Maybe they hadn't heard her. "Is there anyone there? Please, I can't seem to move my left arm." There was a small sudden pain in her bladder. "And I need to pee really bad now." There were footsteps, running footsteps. A door somewhere to her left burst open, so she turned her head to the side trying to see who came in. She could make out a figure in the door, two figures. Where was she?!

"Ru'yah?" That voice… "Malik? Malik? Where am I?" Malik approached her slowly,

"You're in my bureau in Acre. Do you know who this is?" He gestured to who was behind him. She tried to see the face, squinting to allow her eyes to adjust. "I… I don't know." Malik's face frowned. "If you turn that obnoxious light out, maybe I can." Malik's face lifted in hope, "Of course!" He moved to the window, and drew the curtains across, allowing the room to dim. Ru'yah found that she could open her eyes fully now.

"Altair…" He moved forward, "How are you?" He was being so… gentle towards her…

"I'm ok. I cannot move my left arm, I have to pee and I'm a little hungry. But other than that. I'm chugging along here." She gave him a weak smile trying to show that she was truly alright. He nodded giving her a smile in turn. Malik spoke up across the room, "Do you know how you got here?" Ru'yah had to give that some long and hard thinking. How had she gotten there? Then it hit her, the images flashed through her mind. The Templars. The lone archer. The arrow piercing her heart…

"I got shot…" Ru'yah whispered it. Malik looked down, "Yes." He looked back up with guilt written right across his face, "I-" Ru'yah shook her head. "Malik, it is alright, you were in the bureau, you could not have known." She looked to Altair who was looking away from her. "And I should have listened to you when you told me to go in the bureau." He nodded, acknowledging that he knew she was talking to him. She looked to her chest and then to Malik. "Am I going to be able to move my arm again?" He nodded,

"Sorry, in order to remove the arrow, I had to numb your arm with something you would probably rather not know about. That way it'd stanch the blood flow a bit. It should wear off soon." She nodded and a comfortable silence followed them.

Another question hit her. "Did it... the arrow, I mean... did it pierce my heart?" She was looking at Altair, wanting to know from him since it was his voice that was so desperate during her little 'episode'.

He looked away from her to Malik, so she too turned to him. He sighed, seemed like they were hoping she would not ask. Welp, too bad! "Malik... please. For me?"

He sighed again scratching his head. "Yes.. It did."

There was an odd silence that followed his words. It was as if the two older assassin's were awaiting a reaction from her. "Oh..."

Altair stood quickly, knocking his chair back in the process. "Oh? Oh is all you have to say about getting shot in the heart?"

Ru'yah flinched but steadily stood her ground. "Yes! As a matter of fact! I..." Her voice audibly softened. "I kind of guessed that fact."

Surprisingly, instead of Altair fighting back, he simply picked up his chair and sat back down as the trio sank back into a comfortable silence. No one seemingly wanting to say anything or simply having nothing to be said. Ru'yah broke that silence once her bladder mentally punched her again reminding her of her human needs. She spoke up, her voice tentatively soft and squeaky.

"Can I go pee now?" Her stomach growled at her. "And maybe get some food?"


AOS118: YAY! I got it done! 12 pages now that I've revised! Can you believe it? I'm so proud of myself! I'll see y'all later. I'll also probably have another chapter up for this and Monkey See, Monkey Do.