Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Prince of Persia or the companies that make the games.

A/N: Hello again. For a while, it seemed like this story was dead. Well it isn't! Sorry for all the people and reviewers that had to wait so long for me to come to my senses and subdue my writer's block. The next time that happens, I'm seeking therapy.

And now, on with the chapter.

Resurrected

Chapter 35

The Prince and his fledgling sat inside their hut playing a traditional (though simple) werewolf game that involved a pile of small sticks and a coin, which had been given to them by none other than Layla. To start the game, Kamal picked up the coin and prepared to toss it.

"I call heads." Shahin said. His sire sighed and flipped the coin, and he narrowed his eyes when it landed on heads. Shahin grinned and swiped 3 sticks, and raised his brows when his sire gave him an accusing stare.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"Layla said you're only supposed to take 1 for every turn that you win." The Prince said. Shahin shook his head.

"No, she said 3." He argued. Kamal let out another frustrated sigh.

"No she didn't, you twit. She said 1. Now play fair!" He said. Shahin rolled his eyes.

"Well if you're gonna whine about it…" He put 2 of the sticks back into the middle pile and waited for his sire to hand him the coin. As he made to flip it, Arsalan and Roya entered the hut.

"Hey." The Prince greeted and turned his eyes toward the pair. "Get enough blood?" He asked. Arsalan and his love nodded and Kamal blinked, resting his chin on his fist and his elbow on his knee, pondering on what was going on in Arsalan's head.

Ever since they'd arrived back at the village he'd noticed something was wrong with his friend. Arsalan was oddly quiet on the trip back.

(flashback)

"Why don't you and Roya go find something to feed on? Shahin and I will wait for you back at our hut if you want to stay with us for a little while." Kamal offered. Roya smiled towards him and nodded her thanks, guiding her love to the supply tent.

Arsalan said nothing. His face was a mask of emotionless ice.

(end flashback)

"Something's up with you. What went on in that cave?" He asked his friend. Roya glanced at them, then looked down at the ground. Arsalan said nothing. "Or should I not even ask?" Kamal added.

"Majid is my father." Arsalan said abruptly. Silence overcame the hut before the Prince broke it.

"Majid? As in Fereshteh's Isle Majid?" He asked with shock. Shahin didn't know who they were talking about, which frustrated the young fledgling.

"Who's Majid?" He asked.

"Majid is a frail old man living on the Isle of Fereshteh, which was where I was made into what I am. That was where I became friends with Arsalan and Roya, and then we escaped and came to Babylon." He explained. "But how can this be?" He asked Arsalan.

"The executioner back at the cave told me that my father was accused of murder and taken to Fereshteh's palace, where he was turned into the frail being he is now." He said dully, clearly depressed. Roya laid a slender hand on his muscled shoulder.

"He's having a bad day." She blinked and turned towards him. "My love, if you wish not to speak of it any longer, you don't have to."

Arsalan replied to her comment by suddenly letting himself fall to the ground on his side facing away from them. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Roya then smiled sadly and turned to the game the other two vampires were playing.

"What are you doing?" She asked quietly enough not to disturb the sleeping vampire next to her. The Prince rolled his eyes.

"Playing the simplest game known to mankind." He muttered as his fledge took the coin and flipped it.

"Then what's the simplest game known to vampire-kind?" Shahin retorted. Kamal glared.

"Oh no, what did I say now?" Shahin asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. His sire turned his eyes in Roya's direction.

"You can play if you want, but it's about as exciting as watching a roach for an hour and a half." He said. Roya wrinkled her nose at that comment.

"I hate bugs." She said. Shahin grinned.

"I love them. Nothing better than finding a pack of ants and scooping them up and dumping them in somebody's hair." He schemed. Roya's eyes widened, but Kamal simply smiled.

"I use to do that to my brothers when I was little." He said, remembering his joyous, mischievous little self when he was only 6. "I'd wait until they were all asleep, then I'd escape my room through the window--"

"Why'd you have to go through the window?" Shahin interrupted. Kamal laughed.

"My father knew I was a scheming little brat, and he knew I played pranks on my brothers at night; so he locked my bedroom door from the outside. But there was no way he could lock my window from the outside, so that was how I got out. I tied a rope around the end-post of my bed and hung it out the side of the wall below the window. I always took a vase with me, one just big enough to collect as many ants as I wanted. Once I'd gathered them all, I tip-toed around the palace to all my brother's rooms. Their doors were never locked, because my father didn't allow it. I crept into each and every one of their rooms and poured ants on their heads. Well, except one of my brothers, Farhoon. I always left him alone because he was the one that always got accused of the ant pranks. My father never believed it was me that did it, because he didn't know I could climb out of the window." He smiled happily, lost in the thoughts of his childhood. "My oldest brother, Dharjaan; he never got angry at me for pouring the ants in his hair. He'd always been the nicest to me. I finally stopped pulling the prank on him and just left him alone." He finished. Roya laughed.

"What did your other brothers do?" She asked.

"They'd scream at me and call me a little brat, they knew it was me that did it. But, like I said before, out father never believed it was me." He chuckled. Shahin's eyes burned with mischievous fire. He liked that his sire had been so scheming when he was little. They had a lot in common.

Roya turned to Arsalan, still asleep on the ground, and nudged him gently.

"Arsalan, come on; we have to help the villagers gather supplies for the journey to the temple." She stood and stretched. She raised her brows and giggled when her love didn't budge. "Arsalan, come on!" She knelt and nudged him again. Still, he didn't move an inch.

Shahin gasped loudly and turned him over. Roya screamed at what she saw and the Prince froze in horror.

Bright, purple lines had etched around his face, and blood dripped from his eyes. Kamal hastily stood with fear.

"I'm going to get Layla, you two stay here with him!" And with that, he raced outside of the hut to retrieve help for his friend.