Alright. I am very sorry for taking so long to update. Family things came up, writers block in the form of laziness showed up, Assassins Creed III coming out( FINALLY! I've been waiting nearly a year for this game and I finally have it! I played a solid 10 or 11 hours yesterday!), and then this chapter gave me a headache. I just couldn't get it right. Altair or Shahin was always OOC. Now normally I have a little trouble with Altair because I don't have much personality to go off of in his game AC1 since he's pretty emotionless then so I have to come up with my own thing as a mix between his personality from AC1 and ACR. Normally I can get him down with little difficulty, but I just couldn't get him in this situation. The same goes for Shahin, which is incredibly frustrating because Shahin is MY character. No one knows her better than me and I couldn't get her either. So this has been a very frustrating and annoying time for me. I've done three or four attempts on this chapter and I am mortified at the attempts. They have all been securely deleted from my thumb drive thankfully, but now I think I have everything down… Or at least down enough that itsacceptable. Like I said, im having issues with this stupid chapter, so bear with me and let me know how badly I did because I know I did badly. My only saving grace is that itsnot as bad as my other attempts.

Anyway, this is a really long Author's Note, so im gonnawrap this up so you guys can get to the long awaited chapter. Oh, before I leave you guys, Dessoestma and ACMCIC? I came out of my hole just for you two so I hope this chapter isn't too bad. Thanks for having the guts to bug me!

ENJOY!

Chapter 21: Worry and Anger

—Altair's POV—

It took him a moment to realize what was happening. It took him a very precious second to understand that the strange look that had crossed her face was that of surprise and pain.

He still couldn't comprehend what happened. They had been flying and singing in such harmony and joy that he felt the worries and fears he'd carried his entire life lift for a moment. They weren't alone anymore and everything else could be put on hold for at least tonight. Tonight he didn't need to worry about hiding his wings or superior strength or what anyone was thinking about him.

He could just focus on enjoying the sound of his and Shahin's combined voices in song and it was unlike anything he'd heard before. Shahin's voice alone was enough to make him just want to stop and listen to her sing, but when the irresistible urge overcame him to join her he didn't fight. They sounded so right together. There were no real words to describe how he felt in that moment.

But then the moment was gone.

The image would be seared into his brain for an eternity. He was watching her face as they flew, wanting to memorize how she looked so carefree and obviously happy. Her eyes were practically glowing and her face was lit up with joy that it didn't quite register when she froze imperceptibly: an impossibly fast torrent of emotions flashing across her face. All that registered was when the light left her eyes as they widened in surprise and glazed over in pain. And she began to plummet. Altair thoughtShahin was playing again until that precious moment passed and he understood that the look on her face had been one of agony.

"Shahin!" Altair shouted as loud as he could as he folded his wings against his bare back and dove after his falling partner. He swore his heart skipped a beat when his friend did not respond at all and continued to fall and twist in an uncoordinated and ungraceful way. It was so wrong.

It felt like an eternity before his outstretched fingers grazed Shahin's robes as he was constantly checking to see how much time he had left before Shahin hit the ground in the middle of the village. Altair gave an uncharacteristic shout of frustration and fear as he forced his body to reach farther and grasp on to Shahin's wrist as it flew close by him. The former Master Assassin wasted no time in bringing Shahin's stiff body close to his and fanning out his wings to gain some much need altitude. The strain put on his wings went mostly unnoticed as he just focused on getting away from the ground and possible danger.

His mind was in such a haze that he didn't realize where he was going until he came to a running stop in a clearing, Shahin's three training dummies only darker shadows in the already dark forest. He wasn't sure if he was worried or relieved when Shahin rolled out of his arms on her own power. He had just had the passing thought that he needed light to see what was wrong with his friend when the immediate air around him lit up quickly in a golden light with his ability.

Shahin's back was facing him and he took note of the woman's hunched shoulders, tense body, bowed head, and wings that were pressed tight against her back with feathers ruffled and shuddering spastically. "Shahin?" he called quietly. Something told him that it was probably best not to be too loud at the moment. His partner jolted badly before taking a stumbling step away from him and towards the pile of rocks where she had taken a bath. Altair's worry grew at the graceless movements and the silence that answered him. He quickly approached behind the Master Assassin and laid a hand on her wings as she leaned against the rocks heavily. "Shahin? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

He tensed at the hiss of pain that answered him and watched with growing fear, which he hid with long practice, as Shahin hunched even more. The former Master Assassin was just about to spin his friend around forcefully when Shahin's quiet voice reached his ears. "I'm fine, Altair. Just give me a moment."

He didn't believe her for a moment and rested a hand on the woman's shoulder to turn her. In the few seconds it took to do so, Shahin straightened and all signs of pain and agony disappeared. Altair looked his partner over with critical eyes, looking for any possible injury that would cause the woman to fall out of the sky, but found none. Altair looked suspiciously up at Shahin's face and found what he was looking for. Those normally unreadable and sometimes joyous golden eyes were dark and filled with pain despite how relaxed the rest of her was. Her wings also told the same thing. They were rapidly changing colors from black to brown to molted white to any other natural bird color. Her wings were still twitching, jolting, and flinching in the pain the woman was hiding. Always look at her wings, Altair mentally noted. Her wings will always tell you how she is feeling.

"See?" Shahin said, holding out her arms to show Altair that she had no injury. "I'm not hurt."

"You're lying," he accused softly in response, meeting pained golden eyes with his unreadable amber eyes.

Shahin smiled and tilted her head to the side slightly. Altair had seen some of the village children do the same thing, trying to appear cute and innocent to get out of something. Apparently Shahin had seen it as well and was mimicking it quite well. "I told you before that I don't lie, Altair."

The former Master Assassin nodded in agreement. "Yes you did. But you also said that you will keep some information to yourself. So you might not be physically injured, but something knocked you out of the sky. Something paralyzed you into forgetting to fly. What was that?" Altair asked quietly, but in a voice that allowed to room for ignoring the question.

Shahin dropped the mask for a moment and Altair saw the tense lines in his friends face, her lips pressed together to hold everything it, and her eyes darken even more. The female Assassin smiled as best as she could, but it came across more as a grimace. "I'm fine. The pain is going away. It's not as bad as before." The woman straightened from leaning against the rocks and reached out to absently brush a hand through his golden air.

Altair unconsciously flexed two fingers and the air reacted by coiling around Shahin's hand and wrist. "What happened?" The coils squeezed reassuringly as Shahin tested to grip of the coils.

Altair knew he wasn't going to get an answer when his friend looked away, lost in thought. After a moment she answered cautiously. "I'm not sure myself."

"Shahin," he drew out in warning.

"What?" she shot back with the picture of innocence.

He gave her a chastising eye as he said, "You may not know for sure, but you have a suspicion. Tell me."

Shahin put the mask back on and smiled again, pulling her hand free of Altair's ability. "I don't want to say anything until I have all the information. You'll just have to wait," she said teasingly as she walked past Altair and spread out her wings.

Altair's worry came back worse than ever and he quickly worked his fingers into controlling the air to wrap tightly around Shahin's now slowly changing colored wings. He ignored the angry look the woman shot him as he quickly said in an even tone, not about to let his partner know how scared he was after her fall. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to fly so soon."

"And you think to keep me on the ground," Shahin nearly purred in menace, flexing her wings threateningly.

Altair absently made a mental note to never try to restrain the female Assassin from the air in the future. "The pain could return if you flew again," he explained his worry simply.

Shahin relaxed immediately, but Altair didn't release her wings. "I don't think it was the fact that I was flying that caused the pain," she said before she shrugged nonchalantly. "Besides, you'll just catch me again is it does come back." With speed that Altair couldn't hope to counter, the woman wrenched her wings free and launched herself into the air.

Fearful that his partner would truly relapse, Altair threw himself into the air as well, letting his ability go so he wasn't noticeable flying through the night sky, and shot as fast as he could to fly just below the female Assassin, who showed no sign of increasing pain. "Do not be so flippant with your health, Shahin!" he shouted angrily. The woman only laughed, and gained some altitude, further angering him.

He followed closely as Shahin glided slowly up to where they had left the castle and landed only long enough to lean over the rail and grab his robes and shirts before letting herself fall backwards and back into open air. Altair had swooped down to catch her, seeing enough similarity between the falls to make him take action, when the woman simply twisted and fanned out her wings, catching air smoothly while holding his clothes to her chest. Altair growled angrily, not liking how worried he was over the woman's health. He shouldn't be this worried about anyone but himself; let alone a woman he'd only known for a few weeks.

Altair was still fuming when Shahin slowed to a stop and grabbed one-handed onto a cliff wall. She waited as Altair did the same before motioning with her head the narrow opening in the stone just above them. "This is my way to get into the castle unseen. Normally I would just fly through it, but you've never done it before and you wings are bigger than mine, so I'm not sure you'd even get through." With that she climbed up the short distance to the opening with one-hand until she shimmied her way through the hole to hang on to the other side. When Altair was in the same position Shahin let go and dropped quickly into the darkness of the vertical tunnel.

Heart in his throat, Altair did the same, opening his mouth to call for Shahin to shake her out of the pain, only to shut it when he nearly crashed into her when the tunnel disappeared and Shahin flew by him. The former Master Assassin was still trying to calm down when he came to a running stop next to the dark figure. He immediately brought his ability to the front to give him some light in the pitch black darkness. Altair couldn't control himself as he grabbed his friend's shoulders and shook her. "Do not do that!" he growled, glaring into Shahin's stunned golden eyes. "Each time you fall I can't help but see you in that pain. Enough!"

Shahin blinked a few times at him before cocking her head to the side in a bird-like gesture. "I didn't realize you were still worried about that," she murmured absently. "I'm sorry, Altair. I'll let you know when I'm going to drop. Okay?" Altair only growled in anger and shoved the woman away from him as he stormed off a short way. He couldn't believe how worried he was. He didn't want to be worried and scared. Who would ever want to be scared? No one. And he hated being scared for any reason.

—Shahin's POV—

I quickly walked after the only light in the room. I didn't want to be scared in the dark right now.

Altair stalked towards a wall he obviously didn't know was there and I quickly grabbed his shoulders, careful not to pull his sensitive wings, and redirected him. When he glared at me I pointed in the direction he had once been walking and simply said, "Wall." For some reason that angered him even more and he snarled at me before storming off again with me following, debating whether now would be a good time to tell him the exit was on the other side of the room.

I finally settled on just leaving him alone and sat down on the stone and watched Altair and his golden light stalk this way and that as he settled on pacing quickly. For the life of me I couldn't understand why he was so angry. Puzzling over my friend's behavior took my mind off the darkness just enough to make it bearable. After a time I just laid down and wrapped my wings around myself, tired beyond belief. Tomorrow was going to be hell getting up early to train and I wouldn't even wake up if I stayed up much longer. The bout of pain had taken a lot out of me and I just wanted to close my eyes.

I don't even remember falling asleep, but the next moment I was jolting out of my sleep with a pounding heart and hidden blade unsheathed as I heard someone calling out my name. I blinked a few times to bring that golden light into focus and relaxed when I saw it was Altair looking around for me.

"I'm right here," I called as I got to my feet, stretching out my cramped wings. I picked up Altair's clothes and walked over to where he was cautiously approaching the direction in which my voice had come from. I passed his clothes over to him and yawned around my words, "Get dressed. We should go get some sleep."

Altair wordlessly obeyed me and then followed me as I left the cavern and went into the tunnel and then below the hidden hatch. My friend cut his ability without me having to ask and we quickly crawled through the hatch and were soon on our way to our rooms.

Still puzzled by Altair's anger and now silence, I bid him a good night and only got a grunt in acknowledgement as he disappeared into his room. I frowned at the closed door, ignoring the pang of pain through my heart, before turning and going to my own room.

I fell asleep easily that night, still clutching my chest as the pain still lingered. I was sure in one thing while confused by Altair. I wouldn't be singing with him anytime soon if this was the result.

That thought made me unusually sad as I drifted into oblivion.

*Sigh*. I still feel as if I did something wrong with this chapter. Please review and tell me if I missed something because I just can't figure it out. Its very frustrating.

Anyway, I'm planning for future stories and I'm a little stuck. I'm still working on my Transformer's Fanfic( I've almost got four chapters done and they are decent sized chapters), but I'm looking at future Assassin's CreedFanfics. I'm kinda hoping to turn this into a series. I'll have a story on Altair, Ezio, Connor( now that ACIII has come out), and hopefully Desmond. Each story will have its own Original Female Character and each story will have its own animal. Like this story is the Eagle story, but I have no clue which story should be which animal. Ive played around with ideas a bit and I'm definitely having a Wolf story( werewolf and all. I can't pass that up). Hopefully a Cat story. And I even toyed with the idea with a Fish story( mermaid and all. That plot bunny has been bugging me even since I started this story). But I'm not sure which story should go with which story. I thought maybe the Fish story could go to Eziobecause he goes to Venice and all, but that's the only place that that would be a part of the story since there are so few water places that are important. So I was thinking maybe the Cat could go to Ezio and the Fish could go to Connor since the ocean is constantly in play in ACIII, but Wolf could also fit Connor and what would I have for Desmond?

... Oh wow did I sort of let this Author's Note go. I'm sorry if I confused you. What I'm asking for what you guys think I should do. It doesn't have to be only Wolf, Cat, and Fish. Send me PMs of your ideas and with which animal should go with which Assassin. Don't be shy please. I don't believe any idea could be considered stupid. I love it when I see how involved you guys are in my stories.

And with that out of the way( sorry for the length) I want to tell you that I hope to never go this long without updating again, but life happens.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! (even the bad ones. This isn't my best chapter and I know it)

Safety and Peace, Brothers and Sisters.