I do not own AC; characters you do not recognize is mine :) Enjoy x

Not edited. Do let me know if there's mistakes


Altair understood that Malik was a man of logic and level-headedness that wasn't in Altair expertise. Yes, he knew –even though he refused to admit it even to himself- that Malik would be the one that was wiser when it came to decision making. But to bluntly refuse Altair's request was such of preposterous answer!

The said Dai merely looked at him, his dark eyes narrowing a fraction before he answered a simple, " No."

Like he said before, to refuse his request was just an imprudent.

Frustration rumbled within him and he yanked down his hood to glare at the Dai wholeheartedly. " Malik, speak of logic. The girl has to be cared after and I'm unable to do so which means you will be placed in charged. I will be gone for at least 2 days; this is a simple request."

He watched Malik's skilful hand skid around the paper laid out on the table between them. When seconds turned into minutes, Altair was more than positive that his fellow assassin's was determined to ignore him which irked the assassin to no ends. But he would remain posture, never would he let his rival witness the undoing of his cold façade. " Malik."

The Dai still refused to acknowledge him.

" Malik."

The papers shifted under his view and he let out a growl, his temper getting the best of him even though he had said mere seconds ago he would not let Malik view him stressed out. With a quick hand, Altair had his fist slamming down on the table in which the Dai was preoccupied with. " Malik, disregarding the conversation will not sway me from my request. "

Moving his hand away from the table, Malik set his equipment down and straightened out his back. The hollow part of his sleeves taunted Altair of his mistake in the past and he held back a grimace. " As will I not be swayed with my answer. I've answered to your question Altair, but it is you who refuse to concede the reason in it. This girl that you speak of, what made you think that she is to be trusted? She may be a Templar spy who has caught you under her webs –think of reason brother. "

That was a point that Malik had there but Altair was not going to let that out. The girl was someone he simply knew –granted that it wasn't a personal relationship but he knew more than enough to know that she was not a Templar spy. " She healed my leg," He simply said because what else is there to say? He knew who she was and he knew she was nothing of what Malik was speaking of.

" That is not enough reason to simply let her into the bureau," Malik's course voice replied and then a pause, " It would seem your judgment has deteriorated greatly brother."

" I know who the girl is Malik. I've seen her in Masyaf –she is nothing but a beggar wondering in the streets."

" If she is nothing but a beggar then why ask for my help, Altair? She is nothing of importance."

Malik had a point there. If she was nothing but a beggar –who slipped into his camp and attempted to steal from him –why bother to help her in any sort of form? And already the thought of wanting to bring her to the assassin's safe house could be an act of treason all together. There would always be a chance that the location of the bureau may leak out to the Templars through different case scenarios. For one he could give this:

A Templar sees Ella with him, an assassin, leaving the bureau together or travelling together. Now that Altair thought about it, there were high chances the moment that he was not seen travelling with her, she would be taken as hostage to gain information about the Brotherhood's whereabouts. Through torture, interrogation or any forms means necessary towards the Templars for their whereabouts; she would be submitted to.

But he may be taking things a little too far into consideration however.

" Then what do you suppose I do?" Altair asked, all the sudden thinking made his head throb.

The Dai's answer came to him quickly as though he had been waiting for him to ask this question. " Leave her."

" No," He rebutted instantly.

" Stop with this falderal brother!" Malik exclaimed, and Altair is pulled forward by the sudden grasp of his shirt. " See sense –there is nothing to be gained from allowing her entrance. If nothing more, you are bringing more danger to her as well as to yourself. The Brotherhood is an army of hands, Altair, and you are one of them. The decision of your hands has only sowed disapproval."

Altair didn't need to ask to know which situation Malik spoke of, and he felt a tinge of regret as well as anger burning in him. But Altair kept his mouth shut otherwise.

Then finally, there was a sigh and Malik said, " I will allow a day of rest, nothing more but consider my words as a warning brother."

Altair did not tell him that he did consider them as a warning, but he did thank Malik for his generosity. The weight of Malik's words were pressed onto his chest but Altair pushed them aside for the time being. By the time he was done speaking with Malik about the arrangements, darkness crept upon his as he made his way back to the girl. First thing first, he had to settle things with Gazi by placing him the stables for the night. A line tight formed against his lips and he was not amused by Malik's repudiation to being Ella's caretaker for a few days. In all honesty, he could not see reason as to why Malik could oppose to it –as long as no one knew about it and everything went according to plan, nothing could go wrong and the girl would be out of their lives without a trace. However, a part of him knew that he was being somewhat illogical in his decision too.

The mild chatter of Templars in the front drew his lips in a tighter frown and instinctively he went up on the rooftops. He had no idea why he even bothered to make his way to Gazi on land when it was much more effect on the rooftops. The frown remained on his lips even when he spotted Gazi resting where he last left him, his hoof tapping on the ground in greeting when he saw Altair.

" Hello to you too Gazi," He murmured, untying the reins on the wooden pole. Gazi let out a soft neigh in reply, and was soon followed by a small shake of its head and a snort. With a light nudge, the horse still refused to move. The strain on his lips relaxed slightly at Gazi's childlike display at the attention Altair was showing him and his stubbornness to obey orders as usual. " Stop being childish and move. You will rest in the stables for the night."

After several minutes of a one sided conversation between Gazi and him, they finally made their way back to the city gates where the stables stood. Surprisingly, Altair met none eager little kids wanting to pet his horse or Templars lurking in his way as he made his way to his destination. Which was weird –before he took Gazi, Templars flooded the place like fish in the sea and now there was not one in sight.

He furrowed his eyes as his hand tightened on the reins. Something was not right.

The process of handing Gazi over to the groom drew little thoughts to his mind and he vaguely remembered the occurrence. Handing the boy the exact amount of coins required to care for his horse for the night, he gave one last glance at the boy and made his way to Ella.

Of course, in his mind Altair had questioned himself if she would take this chance to run away from him or will she succumb to his command and stay as he told her to. Given that if she did run away, the time wasted talking to Malik into a futile end would make his blood boil more than it already did. Granted that it happened, despite the fact that he would be beyond furious, would he be willing to search for her? Or would he leave her to her own devices?

He was unable to answer himself.

Superficially, he would figure out the answer if the time came and the situation brought itself forward.

Almost instinctively, he drew his hands to his hood to lower them and conceal his face when he reached the bar –it was a natural instinct drilled into his skull to always blend and never draw attention of others. Just like always, he blended into the background and slid into the corners of the bar and looked.

Again, Altair found himself frowning the umpteenth time that day.

He was met with a bar filled with people but not one little girl with green eyes named Ella.

So the situation brought itself up and the irritation that was growing within the assassin bubbled violently. Apparently he was forced to decide whether or not he would go search for that little girl would brought more trouble than it was worth.

He should leave her –that girl was causing more of a headache in his head every time he thought about her. But the hours wasted to let Malik grant access for the girl to rest in the bureau even if that was not what he had originally intended would go to waste –and Altair refused to let his efforts go down the drain. But there was another thought that this girl was bluntly pushing his buttons to see when he would snap and snapping he did. For all this was worth, he had half the mind to leave her and the other half of the mind to go look for her.

As Altair weaved out of the crowded bar, the scowl still present on his face, he set his mind on finding that stupid, stupid girl. Of course, if he had decided that he had done enough looking for her, she was as good as dead to him. He would not –he refused to waste his precious time on searching for a daft girl who knew nothing of staying put and staying out of trouble.

Whilst the sun continued to bleak into the night sky, despite his blatant refusal of searching for her, an hour and a half had gone by with the assassin traveling by foot in hopes of locating Ella. His attempts on localizing were futile however, and Altair could not distinguish if it was him being fortunate or not. It was incredibly foolish of him to even bother to find her –that now he knew. That girl was just begging for trouble the moment he had his eyes set on her in his makeshift camp. And so was this how she was repaying all the trouble she was worth by getting lost?

Somewhere deep inside his very much-irritated mind, he agreed that this was how she repaid him.

Well, enough was enough; no more playing cat and mouse –no more chasing the goose. Turning back on his heels, he stuck close to the walls as he made his way back to the bureau, his head lowered to avoid attention. Thoughts plastered his head with heavy weight suddenly. Was he doing the right thing? Should he really leave her to fend for her own? Especially after their slightly satisfying renewal of acquaintanceship? Her honesty in her words made Altair falter slightly in his decision. Altair knew that Ella was a bit…distrustful against him but it was nothing seemingly out of the blue for him. He was assassin. He was a stranger to her and she had every right to fear for her life and her well-being when around him. Sure, it ticked him off slightly every time she would cast a nervous glance to his side when she thought he wasn't watching but he was suffice it to it being normal.

Fear was normal. And so he would let it slide.

But with his rotten mood that lolled around him, it only spiked his irritated further once again when he remembered that. Ella, in the matters of days he knew her of, was getting on his nerves more often than the novices that thought they were better than him. Okay, so maybe that was a deliberate tall tale. That girl had done nothing much other than her stunt at the moment to aggravate his nerves unlike those novices.

With a blunt turn to his left, Altair then intercepted into an alley directly behind the bureau. He was tired and all Altair wanted was nothing more than to rest peacefully at the bureau. Was that truly so much to ask for? When a flash of white hurdled past him and harsh shouts of Templars trailing behind that figure, Altair thought, yes, apparently that was too much to ask for.

Seemingly enough, when all hope (or efforts) of finding Ella was perished, a chance of getting her back was presented to him neatly. As though it was just tempting him to try and defy the opportunity that was given to him on a sliver platter. Pushing aside his thoughts, he trailed behind her quickly, moving in and out of alleys, formulating a plan as quickly as he could to get rid of the Templars that chased behind her.

( At some part during the chase only did Altair realize where did all the missing Templars went.)

When the golden opportunity came to grab her without the Templar's awareness, Altair seized her hand from the shadows, pulling her into the security of the shadows. Her initial reaction was to scream; that he could see it from a mile away. What he did not foresee was her somewhat pathetic attempt of self-defense by kicking him. He would've laughed if only she did not hit squarely on his wound. It was almost instantly he shifted his weight to uninjured leg, suppressing a wince all the while.

" Be quiet," He hissed as he muffled her scream with his gloved hand. With one of his hand covered over her mouth and the other wrapped tightly around her forearm, he angled her towards the alley and away from the open streets. He pressed his back against the wall and he peered out towards the streets, fully aware of the Templars presence that increased the moment the girl had gone missing during their pursuit.

What did she do now?

As much as he liked to know, he wanted to keep his mind sane for the night. Enough problems had gone through for the day.

They stood motionless in their positions as Altair looked back at the streets every now and then for insights. It seemed as though hours passed before the Templars were gone completely from their sight.

Moving his hands away from her, he questioned harshly with a glare at Ella. " Are you mentally imprudent?"

Genuinely enough, the girl flinched under his glare. Good. He wanted her to flinch. " Altair, I'm sorry –"

" I told you to stay as you are and you blatantly disobeyed me!"

" Altair –" She tried again but he refused to take heed to her useless pleas.

" Listen, you girl," He hissed, his hand tightening into balled fists at his sides. " When I tell you to do something, you do as you are told. You do not go around parading yourself for the Templars to see and I will not have another discussion as such with you again. I care not of your reasons that you made yourself found but I won't tolerate it."

It must have been something he had said, because her cowardice was soon replaced by a strong glint of anger in her eyes. " Don't treat me like a child."

" I'll treat you as how you behave," He replied just as sharp as she did and right after that, the rush of fatigue in his system rushed back to the surface and his tightened fist relaxed; all of a sudden there was no more energy in him to continue the argument. " I have wasted many hours on you, Ella."

The girl must have seen the exhaustion in his eyes from the way she looked up at him, or was shocked by his bold statement of indeed wasting many hours on her because she said nothing in return. Altair continued to stare at her, and he saw the tiredness in him bleeding out from her as well. With a small sigh, he said, " Come."

He led the way back to the bureau, mindful of the Templars but managed to make in back with less trouble than he originally expected. He motioned the girl to climb onto the roof top first, while he stood back and guarded the area before he entered in as well. When he landed onto the bureau floor, he was instantly greeted by the sight of Malik hovering near the girl that stood by the main entrance door.

" The girl does not cross these borders," The Dai said, looking over to Altair as he motioned to the door that was a bridge between the lounge and the assassin's office. Altair already knew of this, as Malik had went through this with him earlier, but Altair had a feeling that it was meant for the girl's ears rather than his. " But she is free to roam elsewhere."

There was not much place for the girl to roam, but there were few blankets and pillows strewn across the lounge and Altair supposed that would suffice. With a nod sent to Malik, the Dai gave one last lingering look at the both of them before he wandered back to where Altair assumes he was at before intruding him.

Turning his attention to the girl, he motioned her to the cushions on the floor. " Rest. Malik is only as generous to allow us a day of rest. Tomorrow, we leave for Arce."

He watched her as she quietly lay down on the carpet, with one hand supporting her head under the pillow and with her back faced against him. Within minutes, he followed her stead and lied down the floor. His eyes felt like two boulders were placed upon them. He half wished he could formulate a plan that allowed him to get rid of the girl to allow himself a peace of mind. Malik's warnings and words came flooding back into his senses and left Altair with a troubled mind. With his mind racing, his energy started to wear out even more.

As the time passed, Altair slept.


So I realized that the last time I updated this was 23/4/13 and that's like 2 years ago. I'm so sorry! I thought I updated it last year but apparently not and I was just stuck with Malik and it was sitting on my computer 80% done so I finally completed the 20% like now lol. I'm super sorry again . I don't really know when will the next update be since I haven't written anything and I haven't written anything in such a long time besides short stories on my phone, my writing is a bit weird. And also I kinda forgot the plot so I'm revising it now. I am also in college now, and I'm having my finals next week lol. So wish me luck

I also bought AC 1 last year and most of my descriptions of the landmarks and the assassin bureau is so off i just -i'll keep this universe somewhat AU because i'm too damn lazy to change.

Review, fav, and alert! Let me know your likes and dislikes and maybe some plot ideas? Idk, shoot me with your best shot xD

Inked.