Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own AC; characters you do not recognise is solely my own creation.

Notes: Sorry the long wait again :/ I blame school. Don't really like this chapter's writing but meh. It's not proofread so do tell me if there's any typos or grammar mistakes x Enjoy


There were a lot of times when Ella curse that blasted Ahmad for rubbing his habit of speaking his mind out loud.

Hours had passed since they last spoke to each other and the close proximity they had was none but suffocating for her.

Although with her back turned against him, and a good few meters away, Altair's burning gaze lingered on her back.

What was going through his mind as of right now… She didn't want to know. As much as she was curious, it was better if she buried those thoughts away in her head before they lead up to another unnecessary tension among them.

Staring at the bark of the tree, she recalled back what happened after leaving the pond.

After Altair's heroic action towards her, Ella couldn't help but feel a little bad for her words. Thinking back, she should have minded her own business.

She once again, blamed Ahmad for all the mess that she was in. It would have saved her a lot of trouble from running for her life from bandits to starting up little tension fights between her and her savior. Narrowing it down, it was all because of a stupid package that Ahmad couldn't take it himself.

" Do not ask questions you are not willing to pay the price for." His words echoed into her mind. She shivered in remembrance of his glare fixated on her as he said that.

Disaster came right after she felt his grip tighten on her forearm and the words flew right out her mouth before she had the chance to evaluate whether or not if it was the right thing to say.

" What happened to your finger?" She asked.

Maybe he knew she was going to ask that question sooner or later after she saw his missing finger because he wasn't having his blade at her throat.

His muscles on his arms tensed however, and she held her breath.

The way Altair spoke through his gritted teeth made it sound as though he was pained. " It was a false promise of paradise."

Confused, Ella questioned again. " What?"

The words to her made no sense then, as it made no sense now but she should've minded her own business.

In a flash, right after she said that, the nails digging into her arms were ripped out and he stood a few feet away from her. His hood that bared down made his emotions raging through his eyes visible. And yet, why could Ella read none of what he was thinking or better yet, what he was feeling? " Do not ask questions you are not willing to pay the price for." He snarled.

The rest of her memory after that faded almost quietly to the back of her mind as she continued to stare at the trees.

What if she were to sleep out here tonight and when she woke, he would be gone? Granted, she already went through this minor panic attack the day before and he had yet to prove he would abandon her. But with his new found anger towards her, nothing seemed impossible to her at this moment of time.

But if she didn't sleep… Efforts of staying awake throughout the travel to Jerusalem would be difficult and not to mention the heat blaring down on her out in the open made her want to curl up into a ball and sleep.

This is ridicules, she told herself, might as well just say you're sorry and be done with it.

But there was just one minor problem that was stopping her from doing so and that was him; would he attack her for bringing the subject back up or just ignore her and let them all into tense silence and possibly leave her or forgive her?

The night went pass excruciatingly slow for her as she was kept wide-awake by her mind and by the man next to her. During sometime in the night, every single sound being made by their surroundings shot straight up into her ear and rang alarms in her mind. Is he trying to leave now? Ella wondered at very sound but dared not turn to check if he was indeed, mounting on Gazi. After numerous heart racing episodes, it was safe to assume that he would not leave. Although, staying awake was crucial to ensure that her apparent assumption did not prove her wrong as it did many times.

By the time the sun rose high enough to lighten their surroundings, it was time for them to leave. Once again, Altair did not leave her during the night and handed her over an apple wordlessly.

When the apple reached her hands, a painful blow was directed at her heart. She had said such personal questions that had obviously offended him and yet he still gave her an apple? This was more than Ella was expecting –she was (albeit little bit too hopefully) expecting him to just ignore her and still allow her to follow him to his journey to Jerusalem. She could survive a few days without eating and they would reach Jerusalem by tomorrow night –then she would eat; at least according to her plan.

But now with the apple in her hand, and Altair handling Gazi, she decided to heck with it and just say she was sorry.

Consequences be damned.

At least she wouldn't have guilt eating her very mind at very second.

With her eyes trained on his back, she took steady steps towards him as she nervously ran her thumb over the smooth texture of the apple as a nervous gesture.

" Hey," Ella started quietly, and when he stopped doing what he was doing, Ella took it as an indication that he was listening and continued. " I'm… Sorry for what I said yesterday. I wasn't thinking straight."

Altair merely kept quiet at her sudden response but that didn't deter her from trying to seek forgiveness. When he turned around, Ella could feel the blood rushing to her ears, the loud rhythmic beat of her heart always reminding her that she could die at his whim. Slowly, as if hesitating –which she was, mind you- she looked into his eyes.

" We are different, but I think you know that already. And this –" She paused, her brows squishing up together at the thought of trying to put her thoughts into words. When all words failed, she gestured wildly between Altair and their surroundings. " Is just overwhelming. With you being an assassin and all… I always just keep thinking that you're going to kill me." And leave me stranded, she wanted to say but left that part out.

But nonetheless, she said it. Now this man knew her greatest fear and he was going to use it against her.

But his reply made her genuinely surprised, and she didn't think she masked her shock well too.

His words were soft when he finally gave the acknowledgement that he was listening to her silent dismay at their current situation. " If this gives you any comfort, I will give you my word that I will not lay a finger on you. I do not allow death to be as though a trivial act on my part."

True enough, she was indeed comforted by his words. If he was as serious as he sounded, then maybe Ella should give him a chance –the benefit of doubt on his words. But she was gambling her life away to this stranger she barely knew and she still wasn't true to believe him or not.

But what choice did she have anyway?

Believe him and have a clear state of mind that didn't jump into the worst possible scenarios of her death or not believe him and be forever in a state of paranoia.

The latter sounded horribly terrifying and so, being the sane individual she was, she decided to believe him. But just how sane was she to believe in an assassin?

Not sane at all undoubtedly, she wordlessly mused to herself. The pressure of the blood rushing to her head decreased after some time after she decided to believe him. It seems like the aftereffects of believing in his word had started to take place.

Green eyes met the same pair of dark orbs that she could only describe as beautiful and locked her gaze, " Thank you," And then her eyes fluttered close to the floor as if afraid of looking into his eyes when she said her next words. Where had all her confidence gone? " And like I said earlier, I'm sorry. I should've thought more before I spoke and I –I'm sorry."

Ella fiddled with the apple in her hand with her index finger she dug her nail in and took it out, watching the juice flow out from her perfect U shape hole.

When she managed to look back into his eyes again, the silence on his end made her feel anxious for his reply. Although Ella knew no bad outcome could come from this other than the two of them falling into awkward silence now that she knew he would not lay a hand on her, she was still jittery on the inside. Maybe it was because she had never been in an awkward situation for long.

" It was not your fault. Curiosity gets the best out of everyone." He replied.

It was exactly at that moment when she noticed his eyes were not a dark shade of brown but inside a light hue of gold. But then again, maybe it was because the sunlight –there was no such things as an eye turning colors.

After a few seconds of daydreaming, she remembered his words. It wasn't her fault? " But…"

" I accept your apology, Ella."

I accept your apology.

A huge smile burst over her lips and she couldn't help but kept that grin on her face for him. " Thank you."

Altair sent her a slow nod, and carried on with his work. She excused herself from his presences with the reason of wanting to go to the lake before they leave.

When she stood by the lake, she just stared at the rising sun reflecting on the lake. Orange shimmers glinted in her eyes, as if winking at her. Why did she come here, anyway? After a moment of silence in her head, she decided that she didn't know the answer to that. Ella guessed she was standing there for quite sometimes because Altair came looking for her with Gazi behind him.

Altair was next to her in a matter of seconds and she looked down to the floor –only to notice that she was holding a rock in her hands. When had she picked that up? Her eyes narrowed with the thought but did nothing to question it and placed the rock in her pocket.

She turned to him then, watched him watched her and she said, " Hey Altair, before we leave…Can we –Can we start over? I know we haven't exactly gotten the most normal introduction and I want to restart over. Just to get the introductions right." She cleared her throat. " So hi, I'm Ella and you are?

She felt a smile peel through her lips at his reply. " Altair."

" A pleasure to meet you," She told him earnestly as she made her way to Gazi, grabbing his saddle to hoist herself up.

He sent her a nod and replied before helping her up Gazi. " As it is with you."

As they made their way out into the desert, suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over her and she remembered that she had not had a wink of sleep the night before; her mind too preoccupied with Altair. Her eyes looked at his back in front of her.

Would he…?

Another wave of dizziness hit her hard and she tightened her grip on his robes. Never mind what he thought, she told herself, she was going to sleep and he wasn't going to stop her from doing so. Ella rested her head on his back, her eyes drifting shut with slumber.

She was already in cloud nine when her head came in contact with his back to notice he stopped Gazi from walking, or the fact that his whole body became tense before relaxing again. Gazi continued forward.


It was sundown when the walls of Jerusalem came into view.

The girl –Ella was awake by then so he didn't need to go through the trouble of waking her up, thankfully. Altair lifted up his hood in order to keep his identity anonymous. He slowed Gazi's pace down as they neared the entrance, a guard already walking towards them.

" State your business," The guard said grumpily, when they stood not more than 5 feet away the city of Jerusalem.

" My wife and I are here to visit her sickly sister."

He felt the girl stiffen behind him at the word wife, and he couldn't help but smirk. Too bad that she couldn't see his response to her childish actions. His attention was drawn back to the guard who eyed him suspiciously. A number of weapons were armed on him he knew, but it was not uncommon for people to be traveling with weapons across cities. The guard mumbled a few words to them which he guessed was a warning of some sort–in which he had not caught at all- and shouted " LET THEM IN!" to the other guards at the entrance.

The gates opened Altair sent a stubble nod to the guards and went away. Children were scattered everywhere along the streets, some laughing, some crying and some just silently watching the crowd pass by them next to their mothers. Turning a sharp left, a bar came into view –a perfect place to put Ella in for now.

A quick scan through the windows and an affirmative thought went through his head.

Inadequately amount people.

Good.

Stopping Gazi near the bar, mumbling a quiet 'stay' as he dismounted the horse and motioned Ella to do the same and to follow him. He had to place Gazi in a stables later, so he could rest before resuming their journey back to Acre again. She was next to him when they reached the entrance of the bar and he handed her over a bag of coins. " I need to you to stay here for a while until I come back. I'm going to meet a friend who will look after you for the time being."

It was a good plan; but apparently, the girl thought so otherwise. " What? Why can't I just follow you?"

Suspicion of him leaving her again was rising up within her again, so it seemed. " I am not going to leave you. It would be best if he did not see you right now to avoid certain matters."

The fact that Ella could not follow him right now was true. Granted that Malik was not in the mood to help him out –or was on his side in fact, things would only go downhill from there onwards. The girl would be silenced just so their location and organization would be kept a secret from others. The only way to ensure that was through death. And he had enough of pointless death to last a lifetime.

" It's not that," Ella admitted, " I just don't like being in places like these."

There was nothing he could do about changing the scenery for her. A bar would draw the least suspicion than any other place would. True, an inn would be a better place but it would be a waste of coins to rent a room when all he needed was Malik's agreement.

" I will be gone utmost an hour," He told her. Just as he was about to walk away, he turned back and looked at her right in the eye, making sure to emphasize on his orders. " Stay here."

With that being said, he vanished from her sight and rapidly made his way to the bureau. It was better for the both of them and for the sake of her safety, that she didn't know which direction he was heading to. His hand went to the closest ledge that he could use to hoist his body up to the roofs. The quickest way to the bureau was through the rooftops where he could avoid any minor distractions and guards. By the familiar rooftop entered his view, the sun had already set. Making sure there were no Templars lurking at the bottom, he took his final jump to reach the bureau. As Altair climbed up the ladder, there was a faint light shining from enterance and slip into the bureau undetected from the outside.

The light was from the fires nailed onto the walls to provide light as there were no visible windows to allow light to come true. Nothing had changed since he last came here, not that he minded anyway. It was easier to navigate himself like this.

" Safety and peace, Malik." Altair said, when he caught sight of the assassin clad in blue hunched over the table; clearly absorbed in his work.

The occasional noise from Malik's work stopped and Altair stood in front of him. " Your presence here deprives me of both."

It would take some time convincing Malik to play caretaker for the girl for a few days. He grimaced.


Notes 2: AND WE FINALLY HAVE MALIK! I've been waiting to write him since like idk, day 1 xD Tell me your thoughts by clicking the review button x And thank you to everyone who's been reading this story so far and to those who reviewed! And to that anon user, you know who you are ;) Here's the update you wanted x

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Until next time :)