Ok, sorry the last chapter was so short, but in all honesty it was as long as the first one. I think this one is about the same length as the other two, but I'll put in a longer chapter later...PROMISE! Also, I apologize if it seems like this took so long to get out; real life kinda got in the way for a bit and I haven't been able to write much this week...good thing I'm about three chapters ahead of all of you huh? ;) Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters from the movie and/or video game.

Chapter 3:

Dastan revealed everything to her. The fight with the guardian whom he had won the dagger from, his father's death, the Valley of the Slaves, his brothers' deaths, her death and his final fight with Nizam all came rushing back to him as if he was reliving it. He kept a few of the details out of course. The particular details about the way his brothers died, the way she died and even the relationship that had formed between the two he kept to himself. It was hard enough telling her that he had watched all of his loved ones die, but he wasn't sure he could handle watching her as he revealed the truth of her own death right after they had all but confessed their love for each other.

Tamina sat quietly listening to him, not opening her mouth once as he divulged everything. She could see how difficult it was for him to tell her what had happened, but she knew there were things he was leaving out and she had a feeling it was something to do with her. She had no real evidence of this as everything in his story seemed to add up; it was his behavior in the palace and even in the cage they were in that was making it obvious he had left something out of his story.

When he had finished, he remained quiet allowing Tamina to think on his story. When she said nothing, Dastan spoke up.

"Does that answer all of your questions?"

"Yes, most of them," Tamina answered distractedly. "And you are certain you have told me everything?"

"Yes, was there something else you were looking for?" he questioned back surprised by her answer.

"I'm just trying to put together all this information. I am still confused I guess," Tamina was choosing her words carefully. She wasn't sure how to approach the situation. "Dastan, I don't want you to think that I don't believe you, I do. I just feel as if there is something more you are not telling me."

"That maybe because I am keeping something from you. But it has nothing to do with the dagger. I have told you all that concerns its past fate and you know how that has come to change. What I have kept from you is nothing more than a few personal nightmares and tormented wishes that I would rather not burden you with."

"Your nightmares will not relent unless you confront them," Tamina tried to sound comforting and not admonishing. It seemed to work as Dastan looked down at his hands for a second. He seemed to be considering telling her, but just as quickly as he had decided to tell her, he contradicted himself.

"It is something I am meant to live with alone. In time it will lessen and the more I am around the ones I lost, the less painful it seems to get."

"As Guardian and High Priestess of the dagger I—"

"I was expecting you to throw that out sooner or later," Dastan smirked. "But remember, your titles mean nothing out here." Tamina's temper flared as Dastan threw the words of the Koshkahn soldier back at her.

"So you're not going to tell me?" she spat back.

"No, I am not. You know everything you need to know about your precious dagger as promised."

"Ugh! How can you be so forthcoming with information one minute and silent the next?"

"It's a gift," he smiled. Tamina huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

They remained silent the rest of the day and night as they traveled further away from Alamut. Tamina's anger waned eventually as she realized that Dastan was right. He had given her all the information she had asked for and if the things he was holding back were as personal as he said, she really had no right to know what they were. His story had suggested that they had been friends in the time that had not come to pass, but as she did not remember that friendship she was in no place to use it for bargaining. However, no matter how the epiphany changed her mind about asking him again, she would never admit it to him. So she dutifully glared out her side of the small prison as Dastan stared out of his.

As the sun rose on the horizon, the party reached the foot of the mountains they seemed to be searching for. They pulled up the cart and one of the soldiers came to unlock the cage door.

"Out," he said roughly. Tamina looked at Dastan as he glanced at her and got out. She followed closely behind and stayed close to him as the guards drew in around them. They were prodded forward and Dastan and Tamina walked in silence. The passage was dark and the air was heavy. The further they went, the steeper the path became until it finally leveled off. The cave opening they climbed into was dimly lit with torches and Dastan could see some sort of larger opening at the end of the short tunnel. Dastan recognized that they were headed into some sort of a throne room when he spotted the guards surrounding the entrance. He was right.

The room was dismally lit with tunnels branching off in four different directions. Torches adorned the walls on both sides of each tunnel, but the two tunnels directly behind the throne in the center of the room had big iron clad doors with guards. There were a few people in the room when Tamina and Dastan were escorted in, but nobody seemed to acknowledge that anyone had entered the chamber let alone two prisoners surrounded by guards. The guards surrounding the young couple stopped abruptly and waited before continuing further.

"I don't see anyone sitting on the throne, why have they stopped?" Tamina whispered in Dastan's ear.

"I'm not sure," he replied; his eyes were scanning the tunnels looking for any possible way out.

There was a loud clang of a wheel turning and one of the tunnels with the iron gate began to open. A man in full armor, sword strapped to his waist and a group of soldiers following him became more visible as he emerged from the dark passageway and made his way to the throne. He looked much older than Tus, but not quite an old man. His hair was greasy and matted to his scalp while his beard was mangy and dirty looking. He looked as if he had seen many wars, and the scars on his face proved it. He turned his lips into an ugly smile as he noticed Dastan and Tamina waiting in front of the tunnel surrounded by his guards. With an eager wave of his hand, the guards pushed forward again and Dastan and Tamina were brought up to him.

"Prince Dastan, Princess Tamina!" the man exclaimed as the guards pushed them forward. "Welcome to Koshkahn, it is such a pleasure to see you. I trust your journey was not difficult." Dastan and Tamina remained quiet, with both very different expressions. Dastan was glowering at the man, while Tamina met his mocking gaze with a calm indifference.

"I expect you are wondering who I am, but by the look on your face Persian, I think you already know."

"I know who you are, Kosh," Dastan grumbled.

"Good, it shall save me the introductions."

"I think you had better tell us what you want sir," Tamina stepped up next to Dastan with her serene royal demeanor in place. She could see that Dastan was not as practiced in the art of diplomacy as his eldest brother. She needed to find out what this man Kosh wanted before Dastan provoked him too much and their hopes of negotiating their escape were killed.

"An outspoken woman," Kosh continued. His eyes roamed her body from head to toe, "You have your hands full Persian. You better teach her to be silent until spoken to around here or she may end up injured."

"She is right Kosh, you had better tell us what you want or we will flat out refuse to help you," Dastan replied as he took a defiant forward.

"What makes you think I need your help with anything?" Kosh said.

"There would be no reason for you to keep us alive if you did not need us for something," Tamina said not allowing Kosh's threat to stop her. Kosh remained silent for a moment watching the couple in front of him.

"If you wish to remain alive, Princess, you would do well to not speak again." He paused tapping his lip with his index finger. Finally, he started again. "I have recently acquired a rather valuable asset that will lead to my army to be the strongest force in the world. However, I was ill informed on the matter and am not entirely sure how to use it. My informers tell me that you, Princess, are an expert on the matter." Tamina's face remained expressionless, but her heart raced and her eyes flashed in understanding. Dastan's hands balled into white knuckled fists. Tamina felt Dastan tense next to her and moved closer to him and placed a calm hand on his forearm. His tense muscles relaxed slightly, but his hands remained in fists.

"Your spies must be ill informed as well as I have no idea what you are talking about. As it is, I do not converse with people who are in the habit of kidnapping me or my husband," Tamina replied calmly but firmly.

"No matter," Kosh said with a wicked smile on his face, "We have other ways of making beautiful mouths like yours open." He motioned to a man in the group surrounding the young royals. The man that had broken up the almost fight between Dastan and the foot soldier made his way to the throne, untying a small satchel from his waist band and handing it over to Kosh.

Kosh unwound the fabric and pulled out an ancient looking dagger with a glass hilt out of it. Tamina's breath caught in her throat and she tried to remain composed as Kosh examined the Dagger of Time. She felt Dastan tense again, and made no move to try and calm him down.

"Now, you can either tell me the secrets you know of this dagger, or you can subject yourself to our torture chamber Princess. It is your choice. Until you make up your mind, you and the Persian will remain in the dungeons. And take heed Princess, the longer you make me wait, the worse your punishment will be if you dare refuse me."

"You had better ask my husband what he knows of daggers," Tamina replied. "He is far more knowledgeable in weaponry than I."

Kosh rose from his seat and slowly walked up to his prisoners. The guards between them moved to the side to allow him to get close to the two. He flat out ignored Dastan who was standing so close to Tamina's back that she could feel his heart beat in his chest. Kosh stood to his full height and towered over the young princess, but she stood tall and stared right back at him.

"Lying is not tolerated well out here."

"She is not lying," Dastan interrupted. "I am far more knowledgeable than she when it comes to weapons." His words were heavy with sarcasm though his characteristic smirk was missing. Tamina nodded her head in agreement.

"Silence, both of you!" he snapped. "I am growing weary of your games."

"Games? What games? We are simply telling you what we know of daggers," Tamina replied calmly.

"How dare you speak in the presence of a man without permission?" Kosh snarled inches from her face.

"Quite naturally," Tamina replied boldly. "It is a common practice for most rulers." Kosh raised his hand threateningly but Tamina stood her ground. As she braced herself for Kosh's strike, she felt one of Dastan's arms turn her and pull her into his chest. She was staring at the base of his collarbone before she could even blink.

"Ah, the street rat prince protecting his street mouse. How quaint." He stepped closer to Dastan. "Remember this Persian: I hold your life and that of your wife in my hands and with a snap of my fingers I could kill you both." Dastan's arm wrapped tighter around Tamina as she turned her head to look at Kosh. She refused to look anywhere but in his eyes. "Take them to the dungeons; perhaps a night down there will refresh their memories of the Dagger of Time."

As he watched the group of guards disappear down a corridor with the prisoners, Kosh turned back to the man who had presented him the dagger.

"I need that them both alive just a little longer," he explained. "The boy has nothing useful to offer us except his death. Until we are ready to initiate our attack he has to remain alive. The girl however cannot be killed until she tells me how to use the dagger."

"It seems a waste to kill such a beautiful woman," the man remarked.

"Oh, she won't be wasted," Kosh sneered.

The guards threw the young couple into a small, dank cell that smelled musty and contained a single torch as the light source. They slammed the door shut, locked it and walked away back the way they came. When Dastan was sure the guards were out of earshot, he smashed his fist against the wall and let out a loud yell. He surprised Tamina who had not been expecting such a reaction and she jumped away from him.

"I am sorry," he whispered. "I just can't believe that this is happening again. I swore I would not let anything get close to you or the dagger and now we're sitting in some godforsaken prison who knows how many days away from home and that madman Kosh has the dagger."

"Dastan, you're not even supposed to know of the dagger. This is not your fault," Tamina answered. She sat on what looked like part of a collapsed wall and used the standing wall as a backrest.

"It's my fault for not tracking down the Hassansins as I should have after Nizam's plans were discovered."

"The Hassansins? You think they are the informers Kosh was speaking of?"

"Yes, I know it was them. They are the ones Nizam hired to steal the dagger and the only ones that would have been able to capture us. Besides I recognized the two men who captured me. I am sure Kosh has paid them for the same reasons Nizam did."

"At least they do not understand how to use the dagger yet or they would not have had to kidnap me. They may not know of the Sand Glass yet either, and they should never find it; it is hidden too well."

"That did not stop them last time," Dastan countered as he leaned his back against the wall and slid down to the bottom; he let out a frustrated sigh.

"Dastan, listen to me," Tamina said softly as she got up and walked over to him. She knelt gracefully in front of him and made him look her in the eye. "I understand that you carry a heavy burden with you; knowing the possibility of how things could have turned out. But you need to realize that you cannot possibly predict every threat to the dagger and assume that if someone manages to capture it, things will turn out the same way they did last time. Destiny changes with the decisions we make. You said last time that Nizam was searching the city for forges, is that right?"

"Yes, he had our men digging the moment it was apparent we had conquered the city."

"And what has been the difference between that history and what came to pass?" Tamina probed.

"I revealed Nizam and his plots and Tus apologized to you."

"Exactly," Tamina said. "Dastan, by changing the way Tus approached the High Temple that day you protected the dagger without even realizing it. Nobody is searching for anything in the city and there is no reason for someone to go searching beneath its streets."

Dastan said nothing for a few moments; he just stared into Tamina's eyes. He felt her take his hand and gently rub soothing circles over his knuckles. He watched as the calm serenity of the guardian and princess was washed away by compassion and tenderness. He looked down at their intertwined hands and then quickly back up at Tamina.

"Is this part of your training?"

"What?"

"Calming the victims of that dagger," he half heartedly smiled.

"No," she shook her head and returned his smile. "It is a part of my friendship though."