War and Peace Chapter Fifteen: Anima, the Original, an assassin's creed fanfic

I really liked writing this chapter. *Evil grin* Oh, and I apologize for taking so long to update. You know how life kinda sneaks up on you and suddenly everything is rushing by you? Yeah, well writing has been the last thing on my mind for the past month or so. SORRY!

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Assassin's Creed.

Warning: I think that Malik only turns completely bitter after his brother dies and since he lost his arm. So since this is the prequel of sorts (even though this is an AU), I wanted to make him a little more arrogant like Altaïr. This chapter contains some bad language (which you should probably be used to by now). Please help: Answer one question for me at the bottom of the page. Self-beta'd.

PRIZE: The book that I'm working on currently (since I've finished writing this one) has now been titled Scion , it is an Assassins Creed III novel. Whoever can 1) define 'Scion' and b) tell me who Scion relates to (hint: it has to do with spelling) will be able to read the full Scion book before it's published.

~*~*~*
Sometimes it's hard to just keep going
But faith is moving without knowing
Can I trust what I can't see?
To reach my destiny
I want to take control but I know better

God, I want to dream again
Take me where I've never been
I want to go there
This time I'm not scared
Now I am unbreakable, it's unmistakable
No one can touch me
Nothing can stop me

"Unbreakable" by: Fireflight

Chapter Fifteen: Anima, the Original Novice

I woke up in bed and groaned; the light made my temples throb. I glanced out the window to see the curtains shut firmly. Slowly, I sat up and opened them. The sun was high in the sky and the grounds below were bustling with lots of mid-afternoon activity. Assassin's were strolling across rooftops and climbing up buildings like it was a perfectly normal way to travel – and for most Assassins, it was. I hopped out onto the balcony and rubbed my eyes; savoring the slight breeze.

"Nice to see you again, Anima." A random Assassin who was walking on the roof above me called out. I smiled slightly and gave a half-hearted wave.

I sat with my back against the warm terracotta colored bureau walls. An Assassin quickly jumped onto my balcony with a little extra spring in his step. "Anima! Rumor has it you are back! And they were right, here you are!"

I looked up and saw Raan. I hadn't recognized him at first; his hair was less shaggy and his robes were different. "You moved up a rank!" I smiled warmly at him, despite jealousy raging throughout my veins.

He nodded. "Yup, I tracked down a pretty big weapons caravan and took down the man in charge. The Mentor was impressed and well," he shrugged casually, "here I am. But enough about me. How have you been?"

"Good, I have a mission later tonight."

"To kill Afzal I assume."

I nodded. "Yeah. Hopefully I get bumped up a rank after tonight."

Raan's face morphed into something different. "I hope so too. Well, I have to go. If I don't see you again before your mission, good luck!"

"Thank you!" I called out as he hopped off the balcony to the courtyard two stories below.

I stretched like a lazy cat; savoring the warmth and my back popping. It was a good day. I was sooo tired; I could've just fallen asleep like this and never woken up again. My eyes slipped a little. I had slept more within the past 24 hours than I had within the past month, which was not good; I felt tired all the time now. Between Cahil's mood swings and sadistic attitude, to Cien's constant avoidance of problems (aka: me) through working, to being trained by Malik, who might just be one of the hardest people to read on the face of this planet, I was exhausted. Altaïr was just a cold blooded jackass, but Malik; you just couldn't tell. He was either serious or put-upon or a complete smartass.

A commotion from below caught my attention. It seemed like Cahil had let a horse out – who was now running through the center of the bureau.

"NNNNNOOOOOVVVVVIIIICCCEEEE!" I screamed at Cahil, who was chasing the horse like his life depended on it – and it probably did in one way or another. A flock of crows flew up a couple rooftops away and multiple Assassins looked up with bemused expressions.

"It's no use." My head snapped up and I heard a crack in my neck. Altaïr was sitting next to me; I couldn't see his eyes with his hood up, but the corner of his mouth was pulled up in a smirk.

"How do you sneak up on me?" I threw up my hands in exasperation.

"There is still much you need to learn…" Malik said from next to me. I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. How did they move so quietly in full armor? "…novice." He taunted me.

I jumped up. "Hey! Novice is my word! Don't steal it!"

A smirk from now Malik, "I am your teacher, therefore I may call you whatever I wish. Do you understand, Novice?"

I scowled in response. "Where did you even learn that word?"

"Everybody in the courtyard just heard you." He pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. "Well he is a novice. I, however, am not."

A wicked smile came onto Malik's face and Altaïr shifted slightly, bumping me with his shoulder. "New teacher, new sheet. Congratulations, you are now starting over. If you would please remove your weapons…" Malik held out a hand.

I felt my jaw tick. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, I am." Malik deadpanned. I looked at Altaïr for support, but the jackass just crouched there; seemingly oblivious to the conversation and instead looking over the clearing with those stupid golden eyes of his.

"But I've worked so hard…" I whined slightly.

"And you've also learned bad habits." Malik stated matter-of-factly. I gave him a death glare before removing anything that signified my ranking and all of my weapons without a word. "Thank you, novice." Malik chuckled.

I let out a huff and crossed my arms over my chest, which now felt rubbery without my upgraded armor.

"We need to start heading out to the meeting where Afzal is located if we want to catch him." Altaïr broke the silence.

I gave him a glare, which he readily met before snapping my eyes away and hopping into the clearing below. I sneered at Altaïr and Malik as they landed effortlessly behind me.

"First lesson, novice: landing. Next time distribute your weight more evenly. Bend your knees less and roll onto the balls of your feet to absorb most of the shock before standing up... use your hands to help with balance if you have too. Keep your shoulders squared off instead of hunched down and in. Go do it again."

I gave him a supreme you've-got-to-be-kidding me glance before locking my jaw and climbing back up onto the balcony; my wrist screaming in protest. Technically, I wasn't supposed to be using it. I was also supposed to tell The Mentor about it, but I kinda blew that out of the water too. Hey, in my defense I had taken it easy on my wrist since I injured it; I hadn't been fighting with it or climbing with it at all, plus I changed the bandage regularly, kept it nice and clean, and used the ointment as the doctor said. As a matter of fact, I had just been letting it sit around and instead resorted to doing everything with my opposite hand. But that's the price you pay when you get your hand practically amputated.

I jumped again off the balcony and landed how they told me to; landing more like a cat than anything. I gritted my teeth as I pitched forward when my legs took most of the impact. Like Malik said, I used my hands to brace myself; my wrist practically giving out as I did. Quickly I stood up and walked over to the awaiting two.

Malik gazed at me. "Good enough. You'll get better with practice." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and instead nodded obediently.

We made our way to the banquet Afzal was hosting. There were occasional quips by Malik such as 'don't hold too tight; your fingers will lock up' or just an exasperated 'novice'', which I chose to ignore. Altaïr remained silent and kept directly two feet to the left of me at all times as Malik led the way; about five feet in front of me at all time. I inhaled a deep breath and pushed myself forward, pulling up beside him. My legs strained to keep up with his longer strides and I used my whole upper torso for momentum.

He sped up and I put my head down and passed him with a tremendous effort. I didn't risk glancing behind me, or even up for that matter. I probably should've because I would've seen the gap in front of me. And instead of assuming that I was just jumping from another rooftop at and even level, I slammed straight into a wall before scrambling in mid-air to catch the ledge above me. I did; with my bad wrist and almost screamed in agony as I felt something tear and pop in it. I threw my other hand on the edge and pulled myself up.

Needless to say I got the speech of my lifetime as soon as I got to the top of the taller building; look where you're running… stupid novice… sloppy... Altaïr blinked at me slowly throughout the speech as I attempted not to draw attention to my wrist, which was quite sufficiently fucked. I'm pretty sure he saw the tears in my eyes though as I forced back the embarrassment and agony.

"… and this is why you never, need I repeat myself? Never run with your head down! …novice."

My jaw ticked and I nodded slowly.

We continued making our way to the banquet and thankfully I didn't have to climb anything. My wrist had settled to throbbing and feeling feverish.

After what seemed like forever we got to a large outdoor amphitheater, which currently held about three quarters of the town's population, along with our current target.

There were some crates stacked on top of each other, which made some distorted steps up to the top of the building. Thankfully the climb could be completed with one wrist, which Malik didn't notice. The three of us stood shoulder to shoulder; myself in the middle, and we together scanned the crowd. Altaïr was the one that pointed Afzal out after a moment.

"There." He motioned to a slightly more elegantly dressed man in the crowd among a large group of people. I glanced at Altaïr sideways. How did he see him so fast? Malik nodded slowly before turning to the two of us and explaining in a low voice.

"I am going to clear the south exit of guards so you, Anima, may escape easily." Malik's dark eyes locked straight in with mine.

I paled before nodding slightly. "Why me? I'm just the novice here. I'm sure Altaïr will more than suffice. Besides, I learn best when seeing somebody do it before me. You know, lead by example? Maybe next time…" I rambled. Why was I so nervous? I had done this more than once before.

Malik let out a deep breath and placed his hand on my shoulder; holding me steadily at arm's length. "I am more than aware of your physical capabilities and learning styles, Anima, and I know you can do this. You've jumped off buildings twice this height onto a moving target before. Now you get a standing target. Seize this opportunity for practice."

The word 'practice' made a sour taste in my mouth. "But I only did that because I had to." I mumbled.

"And now you have to do it again." Malik finished before turning away and walking towards the exit he was clearing for a clean escape.

I looked up at Altaïr, who had remained as silent as ever during the interaction; eyes burning molten gold in the darker lighting. I nodded to myself before reaching for my dagger, then stopping short when I realized I didn't have one; I had to do this with bare hands – just as all other novices did; a quick snap of the neck. Painless. Easy. Bloodless.

I crouched and started moving silently along the roofline towards where Afzal was chatting with others. I flinched and froze every time he glanced away from the group – even if it was for a mere moment. When I was finally in the perfect position for an air assassination, my entire body locked up and I couldn't make myself move at all. What was worse was that Altaïr was assessing every move I made.

I clenched and unclenched my fists and forced myself to take deep breaths. I found myself rocking on the balls of my feet instead of actually jumping. I rolled my shoulders slowly and hesitated before getting ready to jump again. A warm presence behind me made me stop. I felt Altaïr crouch behind me. He put his chest to my back and the fabric covering his cheek touched my face. His hands were resting softly on my hips; steadying me slightly. Naturally, I inhaled a deep breath through my nose; the smell of cooking spices and musk made me dizzy much like the day I had gone with Altaïr to retrieve his armor – which he wore ever day now, might I add.

"Relax." Somehow his body heat worked its way into all the muscles in my back, making them feel loose. I nodded slowly. His voice was rough, but soothing. Like cool sand on a hot day. "Take my dagger." A blade hilt was placed in my good hand; it was slightly warm and heavier than the one I normally used. "You've successfully done this before. Do this for the Creed." Flashing back to my conversation with Kinja from before I left, I instinctively tensed up again. Soothing circles started being rubbed into my back and it took most of my willpower not to arch into them like a cat.

Again, Altaïr spoke. "Land like Malik told you, but this time on his shoulders. Use him of a hay stack of sorts," I sensed him smirk slightly. "Then run."

I took sight of my target once more before nodding – this time with confidence- and launching myself off the building to make one of the best assassinations ever in my opinion. Everything went perfectly.

That, was until, at least, my wrist gave out while running.

I ran through the exit, adrenaline rushing through my veins. I could hear everything, see everything, hell, I could even smell everything. A wicked grin was slapped across my face and I sprinted faster than I ever had before to where Malik was waving me over.

The first building to climb up with guards chasing us, I didn't think twice about my wrist.

The second building to climb up my wrist gave a slight twitch, but was otherwise fine.

The third building to climb up my wrist started pulsing and feeling like it was on fire.

The fourth building to climb up my wrist was slowing me down greatly and Malik and Altaïr were obviously slowing down to ensure my safety as guards started catching up.

By the fifth building I realized that I was not going to make it and I was risking Malik's and Altaïr's safety. Still, I tried. I was halfway up when my wrist gave out and I dropped onto a lower ledge and barely landed on my feet; the guards within swinging range of me.

I looked up at Malik and Altaïr; who just were hanging and starting to come help me. Instead I screamed up at them, "Go ahead! I'll meet you back at the bureau. My wrist hurts too much to climb!"

Without waiting for them to reply, I heaved myself over the edge to a three story drop; landing quite nicely, before taking off with a group of guards at my heels. I kept my head up while running, but risked a glance at the two Assassin's retreating forms. Malik was struggling to pull Altaïr towards the bureau. I smiled to myself before heading to the bridge where I saved Altaïr's life. I jumped into the river and after about five minutes of treading water with the guards searching for me, they presumed me dead.

I lugged myself onto the shore before taking a deep breath and falling asleep near the bridges wooden support beams. I'd head back to the bureau tomorrow and deal with the hell from Malik later. I shivered and wrapped my soaking cloak around me before drifting off to a feverish sleep.

A/N: I feel like something as minor as even a sprained wrist (which Anima's wrist is much worse than that) would be deadly to an Assassin. Because once you start losing mobility and the pain starts rendering your abilities – you're pretty much screwed. Right?

Now, that little moment between Altaïr and Anima; do you love me, or do you love me? Because I almost didn't put it in there.

Question: How badly do you think a completely swollen and infected wrist will slow down an Assassin? Now I'm not talking about Altaïr's super healing skills, but your Average Joe Assassin – like Anima.