(AltairPOV)

I woke with the sun in my eyes. I was still sitting at Al Mualim's desk, the Piece still in my hand, exhaustion still weighing on my bones. It must've been the entire night I was studying that thing, trying to get it to reveal the answers to the many questions I now had. But I had no success.

I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. It was going to take a lot of work to restore everything to the way it had been before this entire ordeal, before Al Mualim's death, before Amai's wounds...

"Amai!" I was so shocked I had to say it aloud. I'd been so engrossed in the Piece that I'd forgotten to see her! Hurriedly I got up from the stool and just about sprinted to the infirmary. It didn't matter how sore I was; she came first.

"Malik?" I called hesitantly from the door. Was he still there?

When I heard no answer I went in myself, only to be stopped in my tracks by a vicious golden glare that was the opposite of what I was expecting.

"I've been waiting for you." he hissed quietly, so as not to wake the injured.

"I know," I sighed apologetically. "I fell asleep. How is she?"

I looked around before giving him time to answer. The room was full of guards that were hurt yesterday, so Amai will have been lost in the sea of grey hoods. I turned back to Malik. "Well? What did Sahib say?"

"Altair, just stop for a moment," he told me. I didn't listen; instead I was scanning the room again, eager to hear that Amai was alright, that Sahib had healed her. But there was a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, brother. She lost a lot of blood."

My heart seemed to stop as a feeling of grief overtook me. Or was it guilt? I'd vowed to protect her, and yet she'd been hurt right next to me. I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't.

But I had to. Amai was gone...

"Altair, I'm sorry, I... I know you loved her."

When I finally spoke my voice was dark and sibilant. "Who?"

He sighed. "Abbas."

With that I shook off his hand and more or less stomped out of the infirmary, willingly guided by blind fury.

"Altair, wait!" he called after me, "It wasn't his fault!"

I ignored him. Abbas was a dead man.

...

He was sitting under the fig tree, his legs crossed and his chin resting on his fists.

"Bastard," I hissed, letting my hidden blade leave its sheath. Malik couldn't stop me now.

"Altair," he was up extremely fast, backing away as I advanced. "I know. I'm very sorry for what happened."

"For what happened? You killed her!" My steps came quicker. His didn't.

I punched him in the face and he fell. My knee dropped into his stomach and I held my hidden blade inches away from the scar Amai had given him. He winced.

"I'm not going to kill you," I growled, narrowing my eyes. "But I sure as hell want to. And you're going to wish I had by the time I'm done with you."

He knew how to get me off him, but he wouldn't dare. Besides, he'd end up with another scar in his cheek if he tried. Footsteps sounded behind me and I looked up into the hazel-green eyes of Faruk. I let Abbas up with one final growl of, "Get out of my sight." and he spared no time in getting away.

"There will be time for that later," he said, "Come with me."

He led me back to the Fortress. There was a crowd of innocents, just like there had been yesterday, and they all broke into applause as I pushed my way through. In the doorway stood Malik, Raouf, and now Faruk and I. All I could do was try not to look as miserable as I felt as Malik stepped forward and raised my hand.

"This is the man who saved our city!" he cheered as the crowd roared.

"Malik, I don't feel like this," I mumbled, not caring whether the shadow of my hood hid the words or not.

"I know," he whispered back. "Faruk insisted."

So I did my best to keep up a proper expression of detached gratitude and accepted the praise half-heartedly. Sometime under the roar of applause I heard Raouf enter the library and return shortly after.

"Welcome our new Master!" he proclaimed. Something heavy was placed on my shoulders; at closer inspection I recognized Al Mualim's robe. The crowd raised its cheers again and I let them continue with that falsely placid expression on my face until eventually they gave it up and returned to their lives.

"We're sorry to put you through all this," Faruk apologized, "But we had to thank you somehow."

"There was no need," I sighed, my gaze steadily drifting towards the tower where my quarters were.

Malik got the hint. "Go on. You deserve time alone."

With that I trudged up to my room, closing and locking the door behind me. The anger I felt toward Abbas melted into a cold sense of dread that was steadily gnawing a hole in my chest. I took off Al Mualim's ridiculously hot robe and slid to the floor.

If only I could see her just one more time... feel her soft lips against mine... the way her bright golden eyes shone when she learned a new skill... how she moved with me when we fought... It didn't matter that she was mocking and sarcastic. I missed it all.

I hadn't felt this bad since Adha died. Honestly, I didn't know how much a part of me Amai had become until she was gone, with a black, gaping, empty hole in her place. The saying was true, then.

My face felt hot and my eyes burned. Ibn la-Ahad, you're better than this, I scolded myself, you should be out there, torturing Abbas, not sitting in here about to cry like a child.

See? Even the cold, insensitive side of me could sympathize. And I was not going to cry.

I leaned my head back against the door and closed my eyes. Memories danced behind my closed lids - the many training sessions under a hot sun, the joint missions we completed, the legions of guards we annihilated together, Amai standing in the orange glow of the Damascus bureau, wearing those beautiful red harem clothes for Majad's party, that very first kiss up on the tower in the white glow of the moon... Until there was the sound of tearing flesh and a scream and I saw Al Mualim's power-consumed grin as he held the glowing Piece of Eden, and he laughed...

I woke with a gasp, clutching a hand to my heart. The cold dread I'd felt before was now a searing pain that roared through my body like wildfire, burning away any other emotions I could've felt.

A tear ran down my face. I didn't stop it, or the many more that were to come.