A/N: I know that I usually only go by Amai and Altair's points of view, but with this being the last chapter, a change of pace is in order. Therefore I give you...

...

(MalikPOV)

"Altair," I called from right outside his door. "Altair, let me in. I need to show you something."

But there was no answer. It wasn't like I was expecting one, anyway. I took a throwing knife from my belt and lodged it into the small space between the door and the wall, right beside the doorknob. It gave a small click as it unlocked, and the wooden door swung open.

As I suspected, there was no assassin in the room. The window was open, though, giving away his method of escape while leaving the door locked. Sooner or later I was going to get that haystack moved from below his window.

I still had to get him to do his job, and to do that I needed to find the idiot first. So I thought: where would Altair go if he was really, truly upset?

I knew just the place.

...

Altair had been hiding here since we were children, whenever something too big for his ego to handle was bothering him.

I climbed up the numerous stairs to the highest point in the fortress. True to my suspicions, Altair sat with his back to me on the very edge of the stone, staring listlessly at the bright pinkish-orange of the sky at dusk.

"Malik," he monotoned, "Go away."

"You can't go on like this," I ventured, hoping to get something out of him.

He turned around to look at me, his grey eyes blazing suddenly. "You'd rather me be the way I was?"

"Of course not, but-"

He interrupted me. "Yes, you do. I'm incapable of any emotion beside contempt, remember?"

Dammit. I didn't know he'd heard that. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came.

"I knew it," he growled, lifting his head slightly. "Get away from me."

Instead I moved closer, putting my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He made a noncommittal noise.

"I'm serious," I added, a bit apprehensive, "You act like you're the only one who's lost someone dear to them."

He flinched. "I didn't mean to offend."

There was no way he was okay. Altair's apologies were few and far between; he had already given his one for the year, so why did that even sound like one? It wasn't right, it wasn't him. "Altair, talk to me. Please."

He paused before sighing. "I dreamt about her last night."

I was silent, waiting for him to continue.

"I was back on the day of Al Mualim's betrayal, at the clearing where your men felled the guards. I made sure that Abbas was the first to die," he growled.

I winced.

"I felt so... So accomplished, knowing that I had kept Amai alive this time. Everything else remained the same - we spoke at the path to the Fortress, faced Al Mualim in the garden. I thought that everything would go back to normal, that we could be the Masters together, but... She was felled by Al Mualim's sword."

"I'm sorry," I repeated.

"She fell back into my arms and died, Malik," he reiterated, his brows drawing together. "I felt her heart slow, her body cool. My heart was torn all over again, and I couldn't move, couldn't think..."

I felt my heart drop to my feet. His eyes were glistening with... Were those tears? I had never seen Altair cry, not once. Yet here he was, sitting in front of me and not bothering to wipe the drop away as it rolled down his cheek.

It hurt to see him like this. Altair was supposed to be the cocky master assassin we all knew and... Well, tolerated. This was not him.

It reminded me of myself in the weeks after Kadar's death. I was angry, I wanted revenge against the man responsible. I couldn't take it, though, and neither could Altair. Abbas was one of our brothers. So, like me, he just had to settle for waiting for the pain to pass.

He needed me, and I knew it.

Since I had become a rafiq I studied medicine, ways to help my brothers when they made it to the safe haven wounded and bleeding. I could set a broken bone with my one hand, bandage a wound as good as any other. But the one thing I had no idea how to mend a broken heart.

...

A/N: *sigh* so there it is. A Templar Gone Bad is finished, I leave the rest to you. I'm actually satisfied with my sadismeter in this story, what do you think? (yeah, I just made up a word. I know.)