Chapter Fifty-Three

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to UbiSoft.

A/N: I'm sorry for the unexpected hiatus, life has gotten so lively these past few months, such as more hours at work, getting ready to go to DragonCon this August, love of my life staying for a week and a half (that was a great relief), and now, I am reminded that I haven't updated in nearly half a year and I apologize. There is one good thing about this fic, other than it's my baby and I love it dearly, I have been recognized at my work as its writer by a fan. Next day, I had to sign a printed copy of my fic. OMG! That made me feel so good about myself and after a long talk with her (once again, I appreciate your kind words and I'm honored that you read this) I needed to get back to work, especially since I have been writing the Legendary Six (which is still having massive research gone into it), but I've also been wanting to write more of Ezio so need to get this done before the end of this year, write some for Ezio and my massive fic, hopefully all before AC3 comes out. Hopefully being a big word. Grateful though because I only have a few shift this week so WRITING ALL THE TIME! Enjoy and I apologize once again.

Outside in the fields, I could see the villagers working diligently, harvesting what foods they could, all of the talking amicably. I sat on a rock overlooking the fields, a small boy standing next to me as he oversaw everything, making sure that the seeds that were being sown now weren't taken by the birds. I could tell that the boy used to do this for other labors as well. After all, why would he be doing this so patiently. Perhaps his family were farmers before they came to Masyaf?

Looking to my left, I could see other boys, some older, maybe fourteen to fifteen, with some younger, perhaps as young as six. All of them whispering as they pulled back high brushes and grasses. Hunting for something perhaps? I couldn't tell until the smallest yelled, his chubby hand pointing in the brush as he knelt. One of the older kids slapped his hand and moved him away as the tallest slowly moved backwards, his arm high in the air.

In his hand was a snake.

Did Altair do this when he was a child? Did Malik and Kadar join him? Or were they the ones who stayed close to the fortress itself, watching older assassins move about with fluid grace, mimicking them in their clumsy practices? Either way, I was on edge. I wasn't afraid of snakes, not really. They never bothered me. But I know that they are dangerous and that they will bite if provoked or scared.

I thought back to the snake I had encountered with Altair, how I froze with fear. It was ready to strike, ready to bite and that's why I froze, so it wouldn't but these boys, they aren't afraid, they are holding the snake by the tail, carrying it over onto a patch of dirt without grasses. Already I could see something that looked like a wooden bowl in the middle. The one with the snake set it down quickly while another covered it with the bowl. The younger ones jumped as they circled the bowl. As they lowered themselves to sit on their ankles, I could see that they were a good distance away from the bowl, still within arm's distance and within striking range, but they seemed fearless.

They all started to shout at the same time, banging on top of the bowl before it was pulled away quickly. The snake quickly stood up, its hood spread in worship as it watched, swaying back and forth, figuring out what to do, where the nearest exit was, and if need be, who to strike should something go amiss. Already, I could see the boys dashing their hands out, testing their speeds against a snake. I wanted to run, to tell them to stop, but I knew that I shouldn't. If I were to distract them, it could mean that one of them would get hurt.

Did they fear nothing? Was this what all boys did? Or was it just a trait one gets from being around an assassin?

I thought about it then. Yes, I too am affected. I have grown used to sleeping outside of a bed, I have grown used to a short amount of food on hand, grown used to blood, the dead, of heights. I am affected by this now. Pulling up my sleeve, I looked down at my skin, noticing that it is already so much darker than that which I remembered. I was so pale compared to everyone and now I'm beginning to look like them. I shuddered before jumping from my spot on the rock.

How I have forgotten what it was like to be pale, to be an outsider and though I'm not part of them, I am, in a sense, accepted. Is it because Al Mualim has commanded it to be so or is it because I have been around them for so long, coming and going with Altair, that it is normal.

But nothing here is normal, not in my term at least. I do not cook my foods like they do, I do not sew, do not wash my clothes like them. I am an outsider, I am not one of them, not a part of them. Sighing, I put my hand to the red sash around my waist. No, I'm not them, but I do hold secrets very well.

Or so I hope.

From the villages, I could smell the wonderful foods already being made. There is a joyous celebration going on at the moment, a birth of a new son for a family. It's their second, the first already ten and receiving his training to be an assassin. Would the second also be trained as well? Would they be fated like Malik and Kadar? In the shadows of my heart, I hoped not. I didn't like knowing that children were being raised as killers but in this time of history, in this era, this was their way of life. I was an outsider, I had to remember that. I was not of their land, of their origins, I was merely an outcast, an observer.

Was that why I was here? Why I was pulled from my home, or rather my car? Was that my role in this life? To merely observe and give in my input?

No. I have changed something. I have changed a lot of things. Malik and Altair have a less troubled relationship all because I told Altair to act more respectful, I gave Altair doubt about Al Mualim, I have made sure that the Merchant King died by showing Altair the path. I am here not only to observe, but to change a little bit of history.

Hearing a sigh, I turned my head, seeing the one person who has been absent in so long. The older woman, the one who gave me my sash. "You." I could see her eyes weren't as bright as they once were, that the wrinkles on her face were deeper than I had last seen her, but the smile remained. A gentle, calm smile. "Why are you here?"

She didn't answer. Of course not. "Why can't the others see you? Are you just a figment part of my imagination? Do you only live within the delves of my mind and come out to mess with me like 16?" She gave me a funny look before shaking her head. "Then what do you want?"

Raising her hand, a finger pointed, back to the fortress, to where the library was, where Al Mualim was probably going over the secrets of the apple. "Are you from it?"

No answer, like usual. "Who or what are you?" Turning her gaze at me, she sighed again. What was that supposed to mean? Turning my head back to the fortress, I tried to piece together why she would want the apple but when I looked back, she was gone.

"Alright, getting really sick and tired of this ghost act." It gave me no answers as to why I was here, why I was pulled from my own time or how to get back. Instead, it just kept telling me to be pulled closer to the apple.

I could never understand that woman. I couldn't get close to the apple without setting of Al Mualim or for that matter... I have seen what it does to weak minded men. I have seen holding the apple, dying as it possessed them, as it burned its cryptic glyphs in the palm of their hands. It wasn't for the weak minded at all.

Wait! I haven't seen men die by it! Where did these memories come from? I shuddered before heading back to Masyaf's great fortress, to search for something that could possibly give me the answers.

-.-.-

My search was in vain as I peeled by scrolls upon scrolls of Arabic writings, of Latin I couldn't translate much less pronounce. Nothing was in English or French, I couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. My only redemption were a few words I recognized in Latin, having knowledge of some thanks to my science classes in school, as feeble and weak as they were. But nothing helped, nothing told me of the Pieces of Eden. I sighed as I rolled up another delicate piece of parchment. I could go snooping in Al Mualim's personal records but I highly doubted that he would have something for me to read, much less understand. After all, I am not a native of these lands, I didn't know the language. The apple taught me...

This caught me off guard. Why did it only teach me how to speak Arabic? Why not read and write it as well. I knew how to read and write, I was a highly educated women, very intelligent in these times, so why not teach me how to read? It wasn't fair. But as I gave it more thought, I nodded. Of course it didn't. The apple didn't have control of its actions, it was a tool, under the command of Al Mualim. When he wielded it, showing me the power of the orb, he didn't know that I knew as much if not more than the dai who walked in the village below or that I could code just as well as the scribes inside the library, which I was hiding from.

No, no one knew. I had to keep this knowledge a secret. Hopefully.

Setting the last of the tomes to the side, I sighed before laying my head on my arms, closing my eyes. Why was I having memories of men being tortured by this orb, one that they held fearlessly before that bravery turned into fear as their souls were shredded as easily as a wet piece of paper, that their minds would be obliterated into nothingness? It didn't make sense to me.

Was this a result of the apple's power being used on me, that some of that knowledge would leak in my head? I shuddered, wanting nothing more than to get such awful thoughts out of my head.

A hand set itself on my shoulder, making me jump and gasping as my eyes flew open, looking behind me. "I apologize for scaring you," a kind voice said as a scarf was removed from his face. "I was looking for you."

"You did more than scare me, Ra'uf." I wanted to tell him that I shat myself but the phrase would go over his head and he would probably back away from me with disgust. I miss my time and lingo. "Why were you looking for me? I didn't know I was wanted."

Ra'uf smiled, the kindness in his eyes made me feel safe. "You are always wanted, never question that." I snorted. I wasn't as wanted at home. Granted, family and friends loved me, yes, but there was never time to hang around them and whatever comfort I had with them was fraying. "Come, the boys have gone to another tutor and the sun is setting. Perhaps you would like to see the view?"

I blinked, realizing that Ra'uf was flirting with me. "Oh..." I couldn't! I don't know anything about Ra'uf and if I have a relationship with him, who is to say that I'm denying a person their life in the future? "I can't. I wish I could but I cannot. I have to get to the gardens before the girls miss me. I dine with them," I said quickly.

I did like Ra'uf, but I couldn't love him. I knew nothing of him, not like I knew Altair or Malik, and I didn't want to hurt him, but I couldn't. He blinked before nodding and smiling, seemingly unhurt. "I understand. Please forgive me forwardness, I had not known that you were to be occupied shortly." Oh, he was sweet. "Please, do not let me keep you." He turned heel and walked away, his steps unhurried and stance as straight as any other assassin's. I couldn't tell if I had hurt him or not, assassins were so hard to read unless they put up an emotion.

I wanted to follow him, to see the sunset with him, even if it were just as friends, I couldn't. I was an outsider of this time and had to stay as far as I could away from the male species in terms of relationships. It hurt, it really did but I had to.

However, as I walked to the gardens, my arm was grabbed and once again I was facing an assassin, gold eyes regarding me curiously, as if seeking answers to a question he was unwilling to ask. We said nothing as he let me go but when his eyes flashed to the stairs leading up to where the master of the assassins were, I knew he had questions that I would sift through. Nodding, I watched him look at the gardens, his eyes on the pregnant form of my only friend. Our eyes met before he closed his eyes, his arms crossed, a sign that he would wait for me.

Mysha looked at me, her green eyes watering with unshed tears. Oh, sweet Mysha, dear little sister. I held her close, petting her head. "I'll be back," I promised, smiling down at her before putting my hand on her belly. "I'll be back before you come out so stay until I get back." Mysha laughed, breaking her sadness. "Now go rest, you shouldn't be on your feet so much, they're going to swell on their own."

As the young garden girl nodded, she looked over at Altair. "Take care of her, assassin, or I will hunt you down and cut of what you hold dear." I laughed as he frowned. Oh yes, this was a like a little kitten wanting to be a fierce strong lion. I ruffled her hair, messing it up out of its neatly tight plait which earned me a few glares but I shrugged it off, following the eagle of Masyaf.

I had a mission of my own to continue.

I could hear mothers chiding their children to return inside their homes for the night, some assassins stopping to sit on piles of rugs and cushions that sat on roofs or perhaps run back to the fortress, back to the library, or to where they slept. Only a few remained, keeping watch as they stood proudly, their arms crossed over their chests, hands on their swords or fiddling with a blade. I remembered seeing one stabbing at the wood of a table around his fingers. A trick I had seen done before in a movie and one that my uncle performed with my own.

The sounds of life were slowly tucking into their beds, ready to return to the dream world, and to rest while their bodies prepared for another day of labor ahead of them. Already I could smell the meals of dinners being made, some just having a simple meal of boiled meat while one caught my scent, of roasted lamb. Oh it made me hungry.

Without looking for Ra'uf, ignoring all but the assassin who led me out of Masyaf, I waited patiently for questions that I knew would come once Altair was sure of privacy. The doubts I planted in his head were starting to affect him, I could tell. I just wish that he wouldn't be too upset when I could only give him a few answers, if any at all.

Passing by the large gate that separated the village from the desert, I looked to the horse stables, seeing that Anisa was watching Altair with her large eyes, almost longingly reaching of for him. Loyalty was something was that not in short amount here in Masyaf but it was rare for Altair. I couldn't image anyone being loyal to him while he was cocky. No, it would have been after he was reborn into the creed.

Mounting the saddle that was already on Glue's back, I gripped at the reins, following Altair as he mounted a gray horse, rearing up before shooting off into the quickly approaching darkness. We never leave at night, which made me question his intentions.

When the fortress was nothing more than more than a shouting distance away, Altair slowed as his head turned my way. "How do you know of my next target before I do?"

I sighed, knowing this was coming. "Al Mualim gave you the nine to kill, didn't he? You should have already known. After all, you know that if he knew what this Templar was doing before he was already performing his task..." I left it to hang in the air, let Altair know just what was going on.

"Has he been keeping anything else from me?"

"Yes." That wasn't a secret, though I think that Altair just needed to know, a confirmation. "What are you thinking, assassin?"

The golden gaze returned my way. "A soothsayer like you should know what it is that I plan before setting it in action." I sighed again, not wanting to bring up the mindless argument. "Yet the question is why."

"Why what? If you want answers, Altair, you will need to be more specific than that," I said, closing my eyes, feeling the chill from the night starting to creep in my muscles. Moving to be closer to him, I watched the white hood. "I can't read minds."

That made a very rare smile appear on Altair's lips. Humor wasn't lost on him but the mood had to be right and this was perhaps the only time I will ever see him smile, especially at something I've said or done.

The white hood tilted. "No." The light mood quickly snuffed out like a candle. "Why is he keeping things from me?"

I was quick to answer. "Why do I keep things from you?"

"So you don't mess something up, as you proclaim that you will, yet your very presence means that you are tampering with what it is you wish to stay pristine." Alright, I hadn't thought of that. "Is his reason the same?"

I lowered my head, feeling the scarf around my scalp slip before tugged it off completely. "No. He keeps things from you like a father would keep things from his son; like a teacher keeps secrets of the universe from their students; so that you can figure things out on your own." The hood lowered and I was filled with sympathy. Touching his arm, I could feel the muscle underneath. "You are a smart man, Altair, you just need to figure out these riddles on your own. Do not let your pride succumb to asking for help when these answers are for you only."

"You have changed." His eyes turned to me once again as my hand returned to holding onto the leather reins. "Your way of speaking, the way you hold yourself. I have noticed that, even as Ra'uf went to you." I blushed, hoping that it was dark enough to hide the blood that rushed to my face.

Have I? Turning away, I had to think about this. It was true, I wasn't as loud as I once was, I wasn't snapping at him anymore. "I haven't changed that much," I said quietly. "And last I checked, you, Altair, have changed more than I." Oh his pride swelled from that, I could tell as a smirk teased at the edges of his scarred lips. "Remember this, assassin: you are made to adapt and adapting you are. Learn to use that to your advantage." Chewing on my lower lip, I closed my eyes. "Your next target will be tricky. You need to be careful when hunting him down. A man can be in more than one place at once."

Altair said nothing, I knew he wouldn't. He would never say it but I knew he was thankful for a piece of information about his next target. However, I could tell that he was mentally preparing himself to face this next target. After all, he only had this one left before Robert.

I started as I remembered.

How was I going to explain the deception that Robert had planned?

A/N: Alright, there you go. Ladies and gents, I'm back!