Disclaimer: Assassin's Creed belongs to Ubisoft. (How I wish I could marry Patrice Desilets to have writes to this game though. That and he's amazingly cute.) Oc's for the story, belong to me.

A/N: I'm sorry this update is so delayed! Started up school again, new job stuff, just like, urgh! And this chapter took forever to write for whatever reason! It isn't as great as I want it to be, or detailed. And I'm pretty sure some parts are confusing!

But you can tell I had fun with this chapter. I give Rais a fun personality to mess with Altair, which he does alot of.

However, enjoy. I will try to update between now and next friday. Going to be working on another Assassin's Creed story I randomly came up with Philosophy. ...How I got the inspiration from that class, I've no clue.

Any feedback on what you like, or would like to see is appericated! I apologize for the grammar errors that always escape me. My friends are lame and won't edit for me.

Also. I edited the first three chapters. Only a few things I different. Not much though.

I am also changing the rating. I'm not sure if this story quite counts as M. But there is heavy curse words (when if I myself don't curse) and more violence to come. I can promise no sex and crap. It'll be clean other than language and fighting. :]


Chapter Four:
Flying

~*~

"You look terrible."

"Thanks." Altair muttered, shaking his head.

"Didn't sleep last night?"

"Had some trouble falling to sleep. Finally did, but doesn't feel like I slept at all."

Rais turned him front of him. His hand flew towards Altair's face. He leaned back in time to avoid being hit, Rais smirked. "Your reflexes are still sharp. You'll be fine."

Altair watched him turn around and disappear down the hallway. He sighed, crossing his arms. "Glad to know you have no problem hitting me in the face."

He followed after Rais, with slump posture, as if rainclouds were hanging over him. The two men looked so different. Altair with an air of misery, and Rais practically skipping down the stairs with an enormous grin across his face. His attitude seemed to be contagious, as many of the women lingering in the tavern seemed to be smiling back at him. Or perhaps, it was because Rais was quite the handsome man for his age. For they found him ridiculously amusing.

He waved, and hummed to himself. His humor was finally catching onto Altair. The hazel eyed man chuckled under his breath, focusing on Rais' song, trying to block out the night before. He was almost feeling content again, until Rais opened the door and the blazing sun blinded him. Altair felt momentarily blind, hissing under his breath.

"So," he watched Rais turn around, his happy face just as blinding. "You have the map right, where are we heading?"

Rais grabbed the piece of paper out of a pouch hanging around his waist. He unfolded the parchment carefully, starting at it for a second, frowning. "I'm really not too sure."

Altair peered over his shoulder. There was crudely draw pathways, some labeled, and a few symbols that he could barely recognized. One he did though, a star of David. Next to it, a name he had overheard yesterday while he and Rais looked for an Inn. He pointed to it, gazing up at Rais.

"I know where this is. If we get to here, all we have to do," he paused for a second, trying to determine what direction the next marker was located. "Is go west. We should run into the trade district. Then, just asking around, or looking around we should find her."

"Or," Rais paused, looking over his shoulder. He pushed against Altair's chest, side stepping closer to the alleyway. Altair heard the muffled clacking of armor. "We follow them." his soft gaze turned cold, watching as a group of knights paced on by. Their white faces under the chain mail set them appear from the other armored guards paroling the city. Tabbards, white with a striking blood red cross in the center.

"Templars."

Rais patted Altair's head, "Very good novice," Altair grunted. "And good job with the map. I was testing you."

Altair smirked, grabbing the map out of Rais hands. "Of course you were, Master."

Rais lightly punched Altair in the shoulder, before taking a running start down the alley. He watched as Rais jumped sideways against a wall, kicking of of it with his leg trusting himself towards the other wall. His hands grabbed the ledge of a window, then grasped metal bars covering it, climbing agilely to the roof.

Altair followed quickly. He laughed to himself as he scaled up the wall. It was almost difficult. It had been so long since the last time he was flying up buildings and across rooftops.

"Think you can get us there from up here? It'll be faster, and we'll probably be able to avoid conflict with our dear friends." Rais chuckled to himself. "Could you imagine their faces when the Piece is gone and we're out of Bethlehem."

"If you keep blabbing they'll be out of Bethlehem with the piece." Rais frowned, seemingly hurt. Altair smiled, starting to trot away. He picked up speed as the roof top seemed to run out. He felt his legs, on their own, instinctively jumped off the ledge. He flew over the crowd below, who would only notice a brief shadow pass by. That they would mistakenly believe was a bird of some sort.

He gave the map one quick glance, and scanned the city scape as he ran. His heart ponding in his head. Flying once more, the one thing that made him feel alive, feel free. Now, it was more fulfilling, a greater rush. His bonds from before were broken. How things were before, he winced, catching himself as his foot stumbled across the ground.

He recognized the synagogue in the distance. He kept running, spotting an a small gap ahead. Their path ahead was blocked by the oh so conveniently placed guard. He turned around looking at Rais, who smiled back acknowledging him. Altair slid across the ground, rotating his body as the motion slowed him down. He turned, grabbing hold of the ledge, feeling the rest of his body seem to suspend in the air. His legs slammed down, catching the ledge of a window. He glanced down, seeing no one in the area, and jumped backwards to the ground. A easy, quiet escape no one saw.

Rais landed next to him, "Where now novice?"

"Well Master," Altair replied quite courtly. "If you trust your lowly student, then I believe this way."

"Of course I trust you my dear novice. You are doing quite well on your test so far."

"Testing me again?"

"Of course. I'm trying to see if you know how to track our target."

"You know," Altair tapped his jaw. "If I do poorly on this assignment, you know it's just a reflection of how terrible of a teacher you are, Master." he grinned, chin up, proud of himself.

Rais shrugged it off, pacing past Altair with his arms crossed. "Good thing I'm not you're master. Enough of your flirting you girl, let's go."

They walked out of the alley side by side, intermingling with the crowd. "I'm just playing along with your game you know." Altair commented, shaking his head quickly to a merchant eying him, holding a woven hug.

"Concentrate Altair, mission."

"In my defense," Altair paused to squeeze past a crowd gathering around a merchant stand. He wrinkled his nose from the over bearing smell of freshly caught fish. Though the smell was actually not so fresh. "You started it."

"That I did. Only because--" Rais yelped, feeling his arm tugged by an over zealous salesman. "No sir, I would not like to purchase your jewelery. As you can tell from my lovely wife standing next to me, jewelery as fine as yours will not flatter her." Rais winked at Altair who's head darted the other direction half embarrassed, half humored. A few faces in the crowd were looking at them with disgust.

He grabbed Altair's cheek, pinching it roughly. Lips puckered, lashes playfully winking. "My flower, I thought I asked you to shave this morning."

Altair glared, miffed at the man's awkwardly teasing attitude. "You're not making it back to Masayf alive I hope you know." he pushed the childishly snickering Rais away from him, his light paced turned into more of a stomp. "But, you were saying before your humor had to intercede?"

"Ah yes," Rais nodded. "I was going to say at least today you're not complaining about how miserable the world is and all of its injustices."

"I'm having difficulty trying to keep focused on the mission. After a terrible night, physically and mentally exhausted, our little game was the only thing distracting me."

"Really now? Then I shall continue to banter you my flower?"

"The other game, master." Altair had really hoped no one was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"As fun as that silly game was, I believe we have reached our destination." Rais stepped on the tip of his toes, trying to gaze over a large crowd. Most, notably female. He found one man standing inside the doorway of a nearby house, watching the group by himself.

"I think there's the son, you watch the fortune teller, I'll talk to him."

Before Altair could disprove or say anything, Rais had disappeared among the people walking by to the shabby darkened home. He sighed, and stood around the circle, trying to peer through and over the many guests the older woman had.

Altair could see her head, blocked in a black covering, thick tuffs of white hair rested along the sides of her old, pale face. She looked up, lifeless fogged eyes scanning the throng. Her eyes settled on Altair, as if she could see him. He felt uneasy, watching as many of her other customers turned around and stared at him. He glanced around, trying to seem oblivious.

"You, young man." she called.

Altair blinked, listening to the stunned and amazed gasps circle around him. He swore he felt someone push him closer to her. He silently whimpered to himself. This wasn't how the investigation was suppose to go. He trudged to her, sitting down on the bench across from her. She held out her wrinkled hands, flexing them, begging his hands to rest on hers. Altair was hesitant. He snuck a quick glance out of the corner of his eye, looking for Rais. The man seemed to be looking back at him, gave him a light nod, before his eyes turned back to the older woman's son.

His hands rested on hers. He felt her silk fingers move around his, holding his hands firmly.

"How much do I owe you?" Altair asked.

"Hush boy, quiet yourself."

Altair blinked, staring into her blind eyes. "Yes ma'am."

"So that's why you're here."

"...Yes?" Altair replied, confused.

"Boy, I will give you what you've come to get. But first, I can't help be worried about you. I sense dark shadows weighing on your shoulders. If you don't fight them, your future, isn't what you would want it to be. They'll take control of your mind, and destroy you. That freedom you treasure will be lost."

Altair felt his gut unsettled. The woman closed her eyes, flinching every few seconds she would squeeze his hands. He was drawn in by her ramblings, oddly finding them comforting, confusing, but comforting.

"That way isn't suppose to be your future."

"Then what can I do?" his head leaned closer to her, intent on what words she had to speak next.

"Confide in the sky. One day, you'll see what it truly means to you. You'll see in true colors. One day, you'll live in clarity. You have to trust the sky, even if its af--" the woman entered her mystical tellings with a scream.

Altair jumped up, a Templar out of nowhere had seized her arm. He was too entranced by her words to notice his approach, but he acted fast. He elbowed the Templar in his chest, grabbing the elderly woman, carrying her away from the crowd and the knight. Rais and her son ran to his side.

"Mother!" her son held his arms across her shoulder.

The woman reached under the head dressing, pulling out a necklace with a strange golden ball on it. Altair didn't have much time to analyze it as she shoved it over his head.

"Wait, but isn't this your way of income!?" Altair frantically asked.

"Hush boy, and get out of here!"

The Templar he had knocked over was back on his feet, crying for help. His eyes glared intently at Altair, then wavered to the item around his neck. "The piece!" he shouted. He charged at him, sword in hand.

Altair ducked under the crusaders blade. He brought up his wrist, feeling the sheer force of his hidden blade unleash into the man's torso. Altair kicked the soldier back, watching his heavy body fall into his comrades arms. He heard Rais yell his name. He passed the woman a frantic, pitiful glance, she shook her head, sweetly smiling at him. Without looking back, he launched off in his partners direction, listening as the voices of the men screamed in anger, calling for help.

He sprinted, vaulting, hand grasping the edge of a wall. He felt his legs instinctively kick themselves over. His feet landed lightly on the ground, watching as Rais disappeared behind the wall in front of him. Altair threw his hands in front of him, pushing off with all his strength. It was sufficient to send his entire body high enough to kick his legs under him, landing safely on the ground.

He caught a glimpse of the white flaps on Rais' outfit seemingly wave at him around an alley corner. He took a deep breath, and dashed after him. He caught Rais' image quickly, watching as the man weaved past a poor old man, who fell over in surprise as a "ghost" hurled at him over nowhere. Altair leap over the poor man. He wanted to help him, but as the angry yells for their heads got louder, he had to run faster.

The darkened alleyways slowly brightened. Altair watched Rais run for a wall, the man used it as leverage to send himself flying to another wall. He grasped the top with his fingers, pulling himself over. Altair followed suit, landing in front of Rais, who passed him a tired smile.

Together they kicked off the ground, running across a corner side by side. The stone stairs impeded their speed. Altair began to feel his legs tingle, starting to get tired. As the stairway started to diminish, a horde of people appeared, blocking the entrance to the open streets.

Rais passed Altair a quick glance. Still at a jogging pace, they began to push through the crowds. Then from the shaded area, Rais caught a glimpse of a blinding sparkle.

"Slide!" he called to Altair. The crowed jumped out of their way, and in the clearing stood three Templar's with their forbidding broad swords raised. Rais and Altair skid across the ground, Rais going under one solider. He jumped to his feet, kicking the soldier's back as he was slumped over from his futile but powerful swing.

Altair slid between the other two. He kicked his legs around, kicking at the enemies ankles, watching him to fall to the ground.

Rais grabbed the remaining knight's arm, that was raised to attack Altair. He pulled the soldier towards him in one motion, bringing his knee into his chest. He cursed, feeling the presence of an armored plate under his tabbard. Luckily the blow was strong enough to knock him over.

The assassin's passed each other a quick glance. Altair ran passed Rais, jumping to the top of a merchant's stand. He vaulted over the low roofs edge, listening closely for Rais footsteps to make sure he was following. The air was filled with screams of citizens, and the cursing of their Christian foe.

He continued to run, flying over the alleyways. Then, he heard a familiar ring. The distinct church bell chime. Now, every guard in Jerusalem would be looking for them. And even if they didn't even know they were guilty, running across the rooftops for their lives made them pretty obvious.

Altair felt his feet ache as the landed on a metal roof. It was slanted, in a triangular angle, and felt his body started to lean backwards, towards death below him. He threw himself towards, pacing up the incline. His gaze looked up, seeing the roof across from him. He quickly looked down at his feet, the slope would give him enough speed to make it. The sharp increase of speed however threw of his balance. He felt gravity seize hold of him, trying to grab him down. He jumped off the edge of the roof, watching as the building started flying towards him. His fingers instinctively grabbed onto a lower ledge. Though the ledge was very thin, and there was nothing to support his feet.

Something seized hold of the back of his tunic, pulling him upwards. He heard Rais groan, and mumble under his breath about Altair's weight. Altair's arms finally grasped the top of the roof. He pulled himself up, and rolled onto his back, watching Rais stand over him shaking his head. The older man helped him up. They ran across the new roof, and jumped down, landing on a much shorter house, in the cover of shade.

Altair rolled across the ground, ducking into a garden.

"By the time we get to the gates, they'll be closed." Rais huffed, closing his eyes, laying down in the tiny cramped area.

Altair nodded, heaving. He peered out of the garden's flaps, sighing. "We really don't have much of a place to hide. Should we leave by night fall?" Safe for now, he thought. "I'm sure there might be a place in the wall we can climb."

Rais shook his head. "I don't have your luck. I do have an idea though, if you want to hear."

"Do tell."

"Let's go, incognito." he spoke with a sly grin.

"As priests? I don't think they'll fall for that anymore."

"Not priests. As Templar's."

Altair didn't know what to think of the idea. He looked down at his knees, the piece of Eden catching his gaze. "How did she know who to give it to?" he whispered.

Rais turned to him, "What did you say, Altair?"

"The old woman. She gave us the piece. Not the Templar's. I think, it told her."

"That or she saw the results if the Templar's used the piece, and she didn't quite like the outcome. Remember, we're the good guys."

~*~

The sun had descended lower in the sky, where shadows were starting to grow. Altair stared at its place in the sky, they only had a few more hours before sunset. Not much time until it was night. He bit his lip, nightfall would be a perfect time to try and make their grand escape, but he wasn't fond of the night, at all. A hawk couldn't hunt in the darkness.

"There's a perfect duo," Rais whispered, standing at the edge of a rooftop, peering down at his next victim. Altair quickly sauntered to his side, watching two Templar's slowly strolling by. "I'll get the one on the right."

Altair blinked, watching Rais climb down the side of the building. He leaned over, "But the one of the right is better. And you're taller than I am!"

"I'm older." Rais turned around, a beam in his sights. He pushed off the building, grabbing the floating piece of wood, nibbling pulling himself up. He smiled at Altair who read his lips, "I get to make the rules." In which, Altair shook his head, hazel eyes rolled upwards, sighing.

Altair jumped to his side, and in harmony, they quietly skipped across the banisters over head. The men in their sights were unaware. Their feet hit the last leg of wood, both lunged after the men, blades out. They collided against the victims in time, two silent and quick deaths. The men grabbed their lifeless bodies, and hurled them into the closest back alleyway.

Luckily enough, the blood hadn't touched the white tabbards, just the chain mail. Altair felt rather awkward as he slid his new outfit on, the armor was extremely heavy. The two wouldn't be able to scale any walls or any swift running while in disguise. His outfit in particular, was rather loose, and he felt awkward walking around as they snuck their way back to the stable to receive their horses.

"Let me do the talking," Rais said, as he adjusted himself on his saddle.

"Why is that?"

Rais grinned. "I have more charisma then you."

Altair glared at him, though he knew Rais wouldn't be able to tell under his helmet. He groaned, he couldn't see much of anything with this stupid helmet. He smiled to himself, no wonder the Templar's were always so oblivious to the Assassin's presence. He flicked it, listening to a metallic tone ring in his ears. Though, such a helmet would be useful if a fall went wrong.

The crowds parted from them. Altair just followed Rais silhouette, still having trouble adjusting to the helmet. While his eyes blankly stared at his partner, his ears listened to the voice of the people. "Pompous knights," he heard a man scowl. Guess the Templar's hadn't made a good name of themselves among the people.

Finally, they stood outside the looming gate. Both men slid down the sides of their horses.

"We have business in the next town, let us through." Rais commanded.

The knight guarding the door didn't even hesitate to step out of their way.

Altair and Rais walked passed them. Out of the corner of his eye Altair watched a man approach the guards from outside. The guards stopped him, pushing him away.

"Please, my family, I was just out on business. I need to get home."

"No one is allowed to enter or exit at this time."

"But please, I need to get home."

The man was shoved to the ground. Altair stopped in his tracks, turning to watch the spectacle. Rais was back on his horse, glaring down at his younger companion. "Altair," he warned.

But Altair ignored his words, and was jogging back to the two guards harassing the man. "Let him through!" He yelled, but the two guards paid his words no mind. Altair grabbed one, and punched him. The other guard reacted, grabbing Altair's helmet ripping it off.

Seeing Altair's tan skin set the man off. He screamed for the other guards. Altair kicked him in the gut, and run back towards his horse, listening as the gate's guards started to chase after him. The distraction gave the innocent man the chance to run into the town back to his family.

Rais sighed, watching Altair scramble back to him. "What am I going to do with you?!" he yelled.

Altair jumped over the rear of his horse, landing perfectly on the saddle. "Punish me, or get Malik to. But now let's run." he mocked with a grin.

"You know," Rais smiled once more."I'm starting to think I preferred you when you were an arrogant little bastard."