Well I'm back with chapter 14 of 31 Days! I'm sorry if the last chapter was a little… eh… depressing. P: I just wrote what I felt and I was rather… annoyed while I was writing it. :P anyway, this chapter might get a little… romance-y so be prepared for that. :3 Just keep in mind how my mind works and it might end up having no hint of romance whatsoever so… yeah. XD Anyhow,

ONTO THE STORY!

Day 13 of Transfer Sequence: Heart's Desire - Growing

When I open my eyes I see nothing but vast darkness. I push myself up and my hands touch the familiar frozen glass. I breathe out slowly. Don't panic. Don't panic. I look up and see the red Templar cross flicker in the dark. I feel my heart race when I see the lustful eyes of Robert de Sable flash with the cross. "Stop," I say softly. His gaze continues to flicker above me; I feel it burn my mind, my heart, my sanity. "Stop." I say louder. His gaze burns brighter, harder, I close my eyes hard, pressing my hands tight against them, hoping to push that burning gaze away. "Stop!" I yell.

I slowly open my eyes and instead of the cross and Robert de Sable, I see a white fish, swimming gracefully against a current. My heart slows down as the image of the Moon trout replaces those lustful eyes. "Fight the current of emotion." I say to myself. I close my eyes, breathing out slowly. "Don't let your emotions control you." I look up and see the image of the trout flicker and I see Altair's face, a kind smile growing across his features. I feel my heart speed up again at the sight of his handsome smile. His face flickers and I see his smile replaced by a hard glare, his eyes glaring at me from under the shadow of his hood. I swallow hard, sweat beginning to form on my forehead. I suddenly hear his voice boom; "At least I wouldn't have to listen to your constant complaining!"

I feel tears gather in the corner of my eyes at the hostility in his voice. "No," I say. "You don't mean that!"

"You can walk on your own!" His voice calls back. I start hyperventilating. This can't be happening!

His face flickers once more before disappearing and being replaced by a number; 19.

"19 days left," I say to myself.

"Find your heart's desire!"

I jump at the sound of that voice booming throughout the room. "I know." I growl.

"19 Days. Find your heart's desire!"

The voice fades and I feel myself start to fade with it. My vision going as black as the room and my head begins fogging up. I relax because I know that means I'm returning to reality. Returning to about as normal as my life has been the past few weeks.

I sit up and my hands run across warm blankets. I smile to myself as I open my eyes and see the warm setting of the doctor's house. "Thank you," I try to move and am suddenly punched in the face by reality as my hands, legs, and side burn like fire. "Ugh," I grab my side and lay back down.

"You should know better than to move with those injuries." That voice. That voice…

"You were the one who made me walk all the way here by myself and climb buildings with these injuries, Altair." I growl, refusing to look up at him.

I hear him sigh. "I know, but you need to learn how to handle tough situations with injuries worse than that."

"I know," I say slowly.

I hear him get up from wherever he was and walk over to my bed. I feel him sit down on the edge of my bed and I see him rest his arm on the other side, causing him to bend over me. I breathe out heavily, still refusing to look up. "You're getting rather close to me for someone who hates me."

I see him furrow his brow in confusion. "Why would you think I hate you?"

"By the way you made me suffer that awful training." I spit, sitting up to look him in the eye, ignoring my screaming wounds. "By how you so obviously didn't care that I was in such crippling pain, all you did was threaten me and scold me. Why wouldn't I think you hate me?"

Altair's expression remains flat, but his eyes show that he is hurt. "I was doing that for your own good." He says finally.

"My own good?" I snort. "If you cared about 'my own good' then you would've taken me to the doctor the second I cut my hand!"

Altair appears taken aback by what I said and I know I've won this battle. "You're right," he looks down. "I just, I just worry about you."

"Well you have a funny way of showing it." I cross my arms, cringing when my side sends a wave of pain throughout my body.

"I'm showing it by taking time out of my life to train you," Altair growls. "So that if you are ever captured by Templars again you will at least stand a chance and not have to worry about being molested again."

My heart jumps in my throat at how so easily he can bring up that awful event again. I feel bile in the back of my throat and I swallow to keep from vomiting. "Don't talk about it."

"About what," Altair asks, his voice softens.

"About that day," I fight back the tears, looking down at my hands wrapped in bandages.

I suddenly see Altair's hand reach under my chin, gently lifting my face up so my eyes lock with his. "Don't let the past cripple you, Kat." He drops his hand. "Let it make you stronger. Let the anger of that day grow your determination to learn more and become a better assassin."

I sigh. "I guess that could work."

I see a smile grow on Altair's face, the very same smile I saw in my vision. "Altair," I say slowly.

"Yes," he says, his smile dying down a bit.

"How long have you been here?"

"Since before you arrived here," he states plainly.

"Why?" I ask bewildered.

"I wanted to make sure you got here safely." He says, his expression slowly fading back to its normal hardness.

"Oh," I say simply. I notice his expression becomes thoughtful, as if he's debating something.

I continue to watch his eyes, how it seems that he is debating with himself over something I have no idea about. What are you thinking? I narrow my eyes at him and he comes out of his self-induced trance. "What is that look?" He says, arching his left eyebrow.

I shake my head. "Oh nothing," I put on an awkward smile and he simply snorts.

"Very well," he looks over to the vast shelves of poultices and herbs, his expression dark. "Have you ever felt like your mind and your heart were at constant battle with each other?"

That was random. "Uhhh… "How am I supposed to respond to that? "I guess I'm not sure."

"So you know what it feels like to have your mind say one thing and your heart to say another?" He asks quietly.

I shrug. "I guess, why are you asking this?"

"I don't know," Altair's voice rumbles in his chest as he looks down.

I place my hand on his shoulder, and I suddenly feel why he can climb so fast and easy. "You need to lighten up," I feel his muscles tense and I remove my hand. "You always have a look on your face that reminds me of someone who just lost a friend."

"I lost my pride," he growls. "Is that not the same?"

"I guess it could be," I say.

Altair nods before standing back up. "I'm going to speak to the doctor about your release."

I watch him leave before allowing myself a much needed sneeze. "a-CHOO!" I wipe my nose with the blanket before laughing softly. "I can't believe I held that in the whole time." I mumble to myself. I giggle, trying to relieve the tension that Altair left behind in the room. He sure is good at making people feel uncomfortable. I scan the room for any sign of life before reaching for my robes neatly folded on the bedside table. "Okay," I whisper to myself. "Just gently push yourself up." I slowly swing my legs over the bed, my wounds burning from the sudden movement. "Jeez," I growl, trying not to curse. I place my hands on the edge of the bed and gently push up, ignoring the pain from putting my weight on them.

The process of changing is slow and painful. First I have to remove the white robe the doctor put on me for easy access to my wounds, and this movement causes me to cringe. Second, I put on my black pants and boots, holding back a sob as I bend over to pull up my greaves. "This is awful!" I mumble to myself as I finally manage to put on both greaves. Getting the main robes on isn't too hard because I just have to slip it over me, but the hood and the belt is difficult because I have to reach up to put the hood on over my shoulders and put the belt on tight around my waist. "They don't make these robes easy to put on do they?" I snort to myself as I put up my hood.

"Well you sure have recovered quickly," I hear the doctor's kind voice behind me and I slowly and painfully turn to face him.

"Not exactly," I wince.

"Well at least you're on your feet." He says with a kind smile. I really like this man, I appreciate his kindness more than I usually would have, but that is because I enjoy a good break from Altair's sternness.

"That means she can resume her training." Speak of the devil.

I give Altair a disbelieving look as he joins the doctor's side, crossing his arms. "You can't be serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Altair says, the hard look on his face tells me no.

I shake my head. "I guess not," I sigh.

"Well," the doctor rubs his hands together. "If you are to resume her training today at least allow me to give you some medicine and fresh bandages for her wounds."

Altair sighs, his expression somewhat annoyed. "Very well, make it quick."

The doctor bows before quickly returning to his back room. I drop my head, "So after all I said you're still going to make me train?"

"When I was training I wasn't even allowed a full night's sleep at the doctor. My mentor would bring me here, have me bandaged, and we would go straight back to training." I hear him walk closer to me. "You have it easy."

"It doesn't feel like it." I stare at my hands, the bandages bright with blood.

"But you do, compared to me, compared to other apprentices." Altair says sternly.

I continue to stare at my hands. "Okay, okay, you're right."

"I know," He says flatly.

I look up and see that Altair's face is literally inches from mine. I look into his eyes and I once again see the silent debate. Did he always have such gorgeous eyes? I breathe out slowly as he gets closer. What is he doing? My eyes lock onto his hand as it slowly traces my jaw line. My mouth goes dry when I realize what he's doing. No, no, no, no, no, oh Lord no! That's what he has been debating, oh great! I feel his finger lift my chin up and his lips gently brush against mine. This isn't happening, this isn't happening, oh god it's happening. Why do I feel happy that it is? He suddenly moves his hand to the back of my head, tilting my head down and gently kisses my forehead. Wait, what? I look back up at Altair and he simply smirks. That son of a- .

I swallow hard. "So what are we doing today?"

"Stealth," he says that smirk still adorning his features.

"Fun," I say.

He nods then turns as he hears the doctor walk back into the room. "I decided to put the medicine and bandages in a satchel for you so that you can simply attach it to your belt." He hands Altair the satchel with a smile before looking at me and laughing. "Girl, you look even paler than you did when you came in here."

I feel my face get hot and look down, hoping the hood will conceal my embarrassment. I hear Altair chuckle. "She seems nervous about something."

I clench my fists. He's enjoying this; he knows that I wanted him to kiss me, that's why he didn't. It was just another cruel trick, aaand I just said I wanted him to kiss me. Yeah, that's perfect. "Yeah, I'm nervous about training." I put on my best nervous smile, but my eyes are shooting daggers at Altair, who simply returns them.

"Quite," he mumbles, handing the doctor a large pouch of money. "Thank you for your services once again."

The doctor chuckles, "It's no trouble, Altair."

"I believe you'll be seeing a lot more of Kat," he sends me a cold glare. "Trouble just seems to be attracted to her."

That's funny coming from you. "I'm simply a danger magnet." I say, laughing awkwardly.

"I know," Altair hisses. "Come on, it's getting late and I don't want this day to be wasted."

I follow Altair at a painfully quick pace, trying to keep up with him. "Why are you in such a hurry?" I say my breaths shallow.

"We need to make up for lost time." He replies.

"Right," I mumble, looking down at the ground.

I don't notice Altair stop and I smack right into him. "Oof," I fall back on my butt and cringe from landing on my hands. I look up and Altair is simply giving me a look that says; you are more stupid than I thought. "I didn't know you stopped." I confess.

"Well maybe you should walk while looking up and not stare at your feet." He hisses. How did he know I wasn't paying attention?

I look down. "Yes sir," I still can't get used to saying that.

"Okay," Altair pauses before reaching under my chin and yanking my head up. "Look at me and listen."

I swallow hard. "Yes sir," Please stop subjecting me to this indignity!

He lets go of my chin and points to a group of guards. "Kill one of them without being noticed, and if you are noticed, kill the rest without drawing the attention of other guards. Simple."

"Simple," I repeat, even thought it doesn't sound that simple. Not for me at least.

I watch Altair back away into the shadows. I feel his eyes burn the back of my head as I start weaving through a crowd of people towards the guards. I dive out of the crowd and tumble into the shadow of the building beside the guards. My eyes lock on my target that is leaning against his mace, obviously bored. I silently move my feet one after the other until I am directly behind the guard. My hidden blade unsheathes with a slow hiss and I grab the guard and shove it up the small of his back. My heart races when I hear a metallic snap after I send the blade into the guard's spine. Please let that not be what I think it is. When I pull my blade out my heart stops when I see only half of the blade come out. I flex my wrist and the blood covered blade creaks and refuses to sheathe. "What have I done?"

"Assassin!" I hear the guards shout as their comrade drops to the ground at my feet. "Get her!"

I quickly tear the straps of my hidden blade off and throw it to the ground before sprinting up the wall and rolling onto the roof. I ignore the pain coming from my hands and my side as I jump from roof to roof in attempt to escape the guards who are close on my tail. I refuse to turn around to see how close they are as I continue sprinting as fast as I can. I feel blood start seeping from my wound in my side as the constant movement reopens it yet again. "Please just let me die," I whisper to myself as I come to an abrupt halt on the edge of the roof. I look at the gap between this building and the other building and estimate at least a twenty-foot jump. I look behind me and see the guards are almost to me. I stare at the streets below and shrug. "What have I got to lose?"

I step back a little then run, pushing myself off the edge. As I'm in the air visions of my family and friends flash through my mind. I see Ronny and I dancing like idiots at this year's prom. I see my father and me laughing as we watch golf with my mom working on her teacher stuff. I smile at the peaceful thoughts and close my eyes. I suddenly land hard on something solid and I slowly open my eyes to see that I've landed on someone's balcony. "Oh thank you!" I cry out."I'm alive!" I start laughing but my laughing ceases when I see a guard jump and grab hold of the balcony's edge. I quickly push myself up. "Oh shi- "I grab onto the roof and hoist myself up, kicking the guard below me in the face.

When I look behind me to see if there are anymore guards I notice Altair snap two guards' necks at the same time and stab the third in the face. It should be illegal to be that badass. I collapse on the roof from both exhaustion and extreme pain from my hands, side, and legs. "Ugh," I lay back when I hear Altair land on the roof beside me. "Okay, lay it on me. I'm incompetent, naive, stupid, etcetera, etcetera."

I hear him snort. "You just read my mind."

I wave my finger in a slow circle. "Whopee… "I sigh.

"You dropped this," I hear a metallic clang beside my head.

"It's broken, don't you see the blade is snapped." I say, holding up the now useless weapon.

Altair takes it back, inspecting it carefully. "It can be fixed."

"Joy," I say, my lack of enthusiasm apparent.

I hear Altair crouch down beside me. "You did make one smart decision."

"What would that be?" I ask, not in the mood for riddles.

"You knew to run when the odds were against you." He says plainly.

"Well I wasn't going to fight without a decent weapon." I say.

"Which is smart until you learn to fight with your fists, we will be practicing that tomorrow," I watch him stand back up, his figure a dark silhouette against the setting sun. "You ready to go back?"

I shake my head. "Nah, I'll sleep here tonight."

"Are you sure?" I hear slight concern in his hard voice.

I nod. "I'll be fine."

"Okay," I see him hesitate before jumping down, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I say back, but he had already jumped down. I don't think I will ever be able to comprehend the emotions of that assassin, but something tells me I'd be better off pondering over them. "He's got the mood swings of a pregnant woman." I giggle to myself as I cross my arms behind my head and stare up at the sky as the stars slowly appear one-by-one.

I did not know how to end this so I did it rather stupidly! XD haha! I am very excited for this chapter and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do! See you next chapter, BYEEEEEE! :D