Hello guys. I am sooooo sorry that this is late. I have had other obsessions and fanfictions that have been consuming my attention and time and I am sorry. I hope you can forgive me. And i also hope that you have not abandoned me. Here is your next chapter! :)

~Made with love and a bit of regret for being terribly late

~ Aena Firestar~

Chapter 15

The Blood of a Doctor

We dropped down into the bureau. Alario was gone. I knew he would be. We went to the Rafiq. "Altaïr, Alera, how fairs your search for Garnier?"

"We know when and how to strike." Said Altaïr.

"Share you knowledge with me, then." Said Rafiq. Altaïr and I looked at each other and then I began.

"He lives and works inside the Order's hospital, northwest of here. Rumors speak of atrocities committed in its walls."

"It seems the good doctor enjoys experimenting on citizens, most of them kidnapped and brought here from Jerusalem." Finished Altaïr.

"Ah, he avoids arousing too much suspicion here, by stealing his subjects from another city. Quite clever, but back to the matter at hand. What is your plan?" said Rafiq.

"Garnier keeps mainly to his quarters inside the Hospital. He leaves occasionally to inspect his patients. It's when he makes his rounds that we will strike." Said Altaïr.

"We will come in with a group of scholars and then use the rafters in the fortress for us to hide, but be able to see our target and know the precise time to strike." I said. The Rafiq nodded.

"It's clear you've given this some thought. I give you leave to go." The Rafiq laid a feather and another white rose petal on the desk. I took my marker and Altaïr took his. "Remove this stain from Acre, Altaïr. Perhaps it will help to cleanse your own. Rest here until you're ready to begin." He said to us. We didn't rest at all. We headed straight out, for we were both eager to be rid of this. We dropped down from the roofs and came up on the great fortress. We stuck to the shadows of the walls. It was a bit unnerving. Every once and a while, you could hear a bloody murder scream or a yell come from somewhere in the so-called 'Hospital'. I stuck close to Altaïr.

*Altaïr could feel that Alera was on edge and nervous. Every time a scream would echo out, Alera would move closer to him. Altaïr grasped her hand and gave it a light, reassuring squeeze. To his surprise, she moved closer and wrapped her arm around his arm and laced their fingers tightly together. He turned to look at her. She was nervously looking around, as if any moment a corpse would come running out of one of the doors. Altaïr pulled her close and she looked at him. Her eyes showed distress and she smiled nervously at him. Altaïr leaned closer to her.

"Don't worry Alera. I'm right here. Nothing will go wrong. Your safe." He whispered to her. She leaned closer to him, staring into his eyes.

"Altaïr… I- I'm sorry… I've never fallen apart like this before. I- It's just something about this place… Its so…so disturbing." She said, down casting her eyes in shame. Altaïr put his free hand up to her chin and made her look up at him.

"Alera, look at me." he said, and her blue eyes met with his light green, but she noticed something. They had brown around the iris and it fanned out and faded into green. "I know you're worried and I know you've never had a mission this disturbing before. But you have nothing to worry about. I am right here. If they want you, they'll have to get past me first." He said with his signature smirk.

A slight smile tugged at her lips but was quickly replaced with a tremble. He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. Her eyes were slightly glazed over with tears. "What's wrong, Alera? Talk to me."

"We have no time for talk." She said quietly as her voice cracked. She slipped her hand out of his. "We must kill him now and get this over with… Rafiq-"

"Rafiq can wait and so can the doctor. I'm more concerned about you." He said softly. She glanced at him from underneath her hood and tried to push between him and the wall.* I saw the opening and tried to slink past him, but he put his hand up on the wall and blocked me from moving. It was obvious that his stubborn side had kicked in and mine was about to. I was pressed against the wall with a very thin space between me and Altaïr. I looked up at him.

"Tell me what's wrong." He said with concern in his voice. "He's concerned about me? That's really… sweet." I thought to myself. I felt emotions and feelings swirling around. I down cast my eyes again and the hood hid my face. Part of me wanted to tell him the real reason I was worried and the other part of me said that he would think I was a fool. Tears overwhelmed me and two streamed down my cheeks. Then it him me like a knife to my gut.

"SHIT! I'm letting my guard down! Damn damn damn damn DAMN!" I felt Altaïr lace his fingers with mine and before I could wipe the tears away, he took his free hand and pulled my chin up so I could look at him. His eyes roamed my face. "This is it. I'm screwed." I thought. But instead of being met with a scoff and an insult (like I thought every one would do) the back of his index finger wiped away one tear and then he cupped my cheek and wiped the other away with his thumb.

*Altaïr was so relieved. Even though she didn't mean to, she had let her guard down around him and he was finally able to wipe the tears away, only now he wanted to kiss them away. Her lips parted and she had a somewhat shocked look on her face. He wanted nothing more but to devour her lips and hold her until the pain was gone, but he knew better. "Not yet." He thought.*

"Alera…" he whispered soothingly to me. He was close enough now, that I could feel his breath on my chin and down my neck.

"Altaïr…" I answered. "I… I just don't want you to risk your life for me." I finally said. I felt a weight lifted off of me.

"Well what I do with my life isn't really your decision to make is it?" he said with a smirk.

"I'm serious Altaïr. I don't… I couldn't bear it if…"

"Shhh…" he said cutting me off. "Nothing is going to happen to either of us." He reassured.

"It's just… If you got hurt… or worse." I stumbled over myself. I was getting flustered in trying to find the words to fit. My cheeks went red a bit. He ran his thumb over my check bone and traced my scar. His index finger on his left hand then found its way to my symbol scar.

"Now, do you think I would be willing to go up front if I didn't feel the same about you? I don't want you getting hurt or worse either. But, Alera we are both skilled and I know you are beautiful and deadly with your blade. With the two of us combined as one, we could do a lot of damage." He said with a glint in his eye and that smirk. I smiled then.

"Oh yes," I said as I pushed off from the wall and was closer to him. "Who knows what we can accomplish?" I said as I ran my hand down his chest. He smiled and caught my hand.

"Now that your back to your old self, can we get to the blood letting?" he asked.

"Yes indeed. But you have seen me cry. Of course, you do realize that now I'm going to have to kill you." I said as I folded my arms. He gave me an amused look and chuckled a deep chuckle that warmed my blood.

"You can certainly try. After we kill Garnier." He smiled. I smiled back and we were off again. We found another group of scholars and walked in behind them. Everything was fine, and we were just about to get in the rafters when,

"No, help! Help me! Help me, please! You must help me!" a man bursted through some wooden doors on our right side. He was yelling and screaming and half naked. He ran through the hall and the crowd that had now gathered. They were all watching. Altaïr and I stayed to the back and watched what unfolded. Two guards caught the man. They struggled with him and began to beat him. The two huge wooden doors that led out into the hospital opened and Garnier stepped out. He was wearing a priest robe, but had a bloody apron on. He was an old man.

"Enough, my child! I asked you to retrieve the patient, not kill him!" said Garnier to the guard. He looked back down at the man. "There, there. Everything will be alright." He said in a calm voice to the struggling man.

"No!" he protested.

"Give me your hand." said Garnier calmly.

"No, don't touch me! Not again!"

"Cast out this fear, else I can't help you."

"Help me, like you helped the others? You took their souls! I saw! I saw! But not mine, no, you'll not have mine!" screamed the man. Garnier delivered one hell of a backhand to the man.

"Take hold of yourself! Do you think this gives me pleasure? Do you think I want to hurt you? But you leave me no choice."

"Every kind word, matched with the back of his hand! All lies and deception!" the man struggled some more. "He won't be content until all bow before him!"

"You should not have done that. Return him to his quarters. I'll be along once I've tended to the others."

"You can't keep me here, I'll escape again!" said the man valiantly.

"No. You won't. Break his legs, both of them." said Garnier. The guards straightened the man's legs out and broke them. I heard the bones crush and I cringed. "I hope I never hear a sound like that again." I thought. I felt Altaïr lace his fingers with mine. He squeezed lightly.

"Stay ready. It's alright, we can do this." He whispered to me. He was close enough to where his breath went down my hood. It comforted me to know he was that close. I looked at him and nodded. He gave me a sweet smile. I quickly regained myself. I looked back to the scene. The man was crying.

"I am so sorry, my child." said Garnier. The guards dragged the crying man inside the hospital. Garnier turned his attention to the crowd.

"Have you people nothing better to do?" he yelled. Everyone quickly cleared away.

"Alright, here we go. I'll get behind the scholars and as close as I can to Garnier. Get up in the rafters and be ready for anything." Said Altaïr to me.

"Alright." I said. Altaïr went to go but I caught his arm. He looked back into my eyes and I looked into his. "Be careful, Altaïr." I said. He smiled and held my hand and gave it a soft squeeze.

"I will. After all, I have you here to help me." he said. I smiled and then we both split up. I climbed up a latter and perched on the rafters. I looked back and saw the gates close. Altaïr and the scholars were nowhere to be seen. "Good. He made it." I thought. I crouched and balanced along the rafters. I tried to stick close to the left wall and the shadows so none of the patients would see me or scream.

I turned a corner and saw Garnier tending to his patient. He was alone. No guards were with him. I balanced out on one of the middle rafters and hid behind a flag that was hanging down from the ceiling. I stopped in the middle of the rafter and looked down. Garnier was right below me. I held my breath as I saw the group of scholars come closer to him. I saw Altaïr in the midst of them all. The scholars passed Garnier and Altaïr swept up from behind him and tackled him to the ground. His hidden blade was driven into Garnier's throat, causing lifeblood to spill all over the place. Altaïr laid him down, to get that last bit of information out of him.

"Let go your burden." Said Altaïr softly to the old man.

"Ah… I rest now, yes. The endless dream calls to me. Before I close my eyes, I must know, what will become of my children?" said Garnier.

"You mean the people made to suffer your cruel experiments? They'll be free now to return to their homes."

"Homes? What homes? The sewer? The streets and prisons we saved them from?"

"You took them against their will."

"Yes, what little will there was for them to have. These children, so naïve of the world."

"These are not children, but men and women full grown."

"In body, indeed perhaps, but not in mind. Which is the very damage I sought to repair. Without the Piece of Eden, which you stole from us, my progress was slowed. So we had to resort to herbs, making mixtures and extracts. My guards are proof of this. They were madmen before I found and freed them from the prisons of their own minds, and with my death, madmen will they be again."

"You truly believe you are helping them?" said Altaïr. "Of course he does! He's a demented doctor! Of course he thinks he's doing the right thing!" I thought to myself. Garnier was drawing close to death, so I made myself ready to catch Altaïr and hoist him up with me.

"It's not what I believe, it's what I know." And with those last words, he was dead. Altaïr rubbed the feather through his blood. I heard fast footsteps coming down the corridor.

"This way!" I heard some men shout. Altaïr looked up in the rafters. I waved to him.

"Come on!" I said. I bent down and lowered a hand to him. He ran and jumped but missed!

"It's too high!" he said. "Oh my god. Could this get any more difficult?" I thought. I wrapped my legs around the rafters and lowered my body down to him.

"Now hurry up! I can't hold this position for long!" I said. He ran and jumped. We caught hold of each other's arms and I immediately felt the strain of weight on my legs. My arms felt like they were going to come out of their sockets. The guards were on the other end of the hall, and they were coming quick.

"Look! There's two of them!" one yelled.

"Shit! This is too much! I can't take it! My legs are giving out!" I yelled.

"Swing me to the next rafter!" he said. "The one in front! I'll grab it with my legs!" he said.

"Alright!" I said. I rocked back and forth and got some momentum and then I let go. Instead of grabbing the rafter with his legs, he did a back flip and grabbed it with his hands. We made it just in time, because the guards almost sliced both of us. We rose up. I was a bit dizzy and disoriented so I went a little slow, but I gained myself back quickly and ran back across the rafters. We jumped down, but my legs buckled up and I sort of fell and rolled onto the ground. I was hurting so bad. Altaïr helped me up quickly and we ran out of the great doors and back outside. The warning bell went off.

Luck surely loved us then because there was a group of scholars right outside, as if waiting on us. We quickly walked to them and bowed our heads and blended. They started moving. The guards ran right passed us and disappeared around a corner. We jumped out of the scholar group and ran into a back alley. We stopped and caught our breath. I leaned up against the wall and slid down and sat down. My leg muscles were quivering and aching and my shoulders felt like fire.

"Damn it. I'm gonna feel that in the morning." Said Altaïr as he rubbed his arms.

"I'm feeling it right now." I said. I rubbed my thighs and groaned a little. I then rubbed my shoulders. He sat down beside me and rubbed my right shoulder. I hissed as a bit of pain shot through it. He pulled back.

"Damn. Do you think you can climb or run?" he said.

"Yeah, but if we scale any buildings I'm going to need help. I just can't hold both of us up with my legs any more." I said.

"Well, hopefully you won't have to do that any more." Said Altaïr. I sighed.

"Lets get the hell out of here before the storm hits." Altaïr grabbed my hand and helped me up. We used a near by latter to climb up onto the rooftop. That was much easier on me. We traveled by rooftop again. It was a lot quicker and we had a less chance of running into guards. We reached the bureau as soon as the sun went down. Alario had come back and was sitting in his bookshelf. He chirped at us as we came in. I sort of fell in though. Altaïr had to help me up. I had my arm around him. He sat me up against the wall. Alario flew down to my side. I stroked him and he nipped my fingers. He seemed worried. "I'm okay, just a little weary. A good night's sleep will be all I need." I said. The Rafiq looked at Altaïr and then at me.

"What news Altaïr? Hopefully it went well." He said.

"It's fine. Garnier's dead." I said, taking a couple of breaths. Altaïr gave him the bloody feather.

"Then you will return to Masyaf with news of your victory." Said Rafiq.

"There is something else." Said Altaïr. This sparked my curiosity as well as Rafiq's.

"Speak it then! For I am about to go to sleep! Or would you have me read your mind?" he said. I bit my lip to keep my mouth shut again. I had to take into consideration that this was a grumpy, tired, old man we were dealing with.

"What do you think he wanted from these people, that he would keep them and experiment on them as he did?" said Altaïr.

"Yours is not to ask, but to act, Altaïr. It doesn't matter what he did or why. Only that he's dead."

"Well, there is no need to get upset. We were only curious! It was just the things he said, the last dying words." I added. The Rafiq gave me a quiet glare. I shrugged it off.

"Yes. Garnier seemed to believe he was helping these people!" said Altaïr.

"Is that what you saw?" said Rafiq to him.

"No. What we saw was not a place of healing, but of pain."

"Then why are we having this conversation?"

"I… I don't know. Forget I spoke of it."

"I already have. Now if you two don't mind, I am going to sleep." He said. I got up and stumbled over to the cushions and Altaïr followed behind me. Rafiq blew out the candles and nothing but the moon showed. Alario perched and fell asleep and I made my bed out. Altaïr made his bed out too, on the other side. I tried to take off my chest strap that was holding my knives in, but when I pulled hard, my arm protested with a shot of pain.

"Ugh!" I sighed in frustration. Altaïr walked over to me. He was already out of his robe and weapons. All that remained were his black pants and white tunic.

"Need help?" he asked. I turned towards him and sighed.

"Yes… My arms are weak. I feel useless!" I said. I felt my cheeks flare up and I got all flustered. I folded my arms in front of me. Altaïr looked at me with a smile and a light in his eyes. "What?" I said.

"Nothing. I'm just wondering how im supposed to get passed your folded arms to get to your straps." He reached out and took my wrist and brought them to my sides. I rolled my eyes. He went to reach for my strap, but hesitated because the strap went diagonally across my chest.

"Just do it, Altaïr." At this point, I didn't really care. All that mattered was sleep. He smiled.

"As you wish." I rolled my eyes. "He's enjoying this." I thought. He tugged on my strap and it pulled loose. He grabbed the buckle before it could slide off. He had both ends in his hands and brought them up over my head. I just watched him. He then moved to the strap that had my sword in it. He reached for it and I swerved out of the way. He eyed me and reached for it again but I swerved back. I raised an eyebrow and was quite amused.

"Quit moving." He said.

"Ask nicely and I will." I sarcastically bit back. Before I could think or stop him, he grabbed my waist strap and pulled me to him. Our bodies were touching now. I looked up at him and he had an amused glint in his eyes.

"Please quit moving." He smirked. He gave one more tug to the strap and it fell to the floor. Altaïr kicked it to the side with my other weapons. We were still touching. He ran his fingers along the outline of my hood and then gently lowered it down. At that moment, a cool breeze swept in and blew my hair softly. He brushed the stray strands from my cheeks. His eyes were hypnotizing, but I was welcoming the soft touch. I had grown so fond of it. I wanted this.

His finger traced my scar and down to my neck. I stole a breath as his fingers ghosted down me and gave me goose bumps. He kept going down the middle of my chest to my robe. Finally, he slid my robe off. It was nothing but two thin tunics separating us. He ran his hands up my arms and I had goosebumps then too. I closed my eyes and I felt him touch his forehead to mine. I was about to open my eyes.

"Keep your eyes closed, and tell me something…" he whispered. His fingers were still ghosting down my arms and one softly slipped onto my waist.

"Anything…" I whispered with a shiver as his hand slipped around my waist to my lower back. He massaged circles into it and pulled me closer.

"Ah, be careful what you say Alera… You may not want to tell what I want to know…"

"What is it you want to know, Altaïr?" I asked breathlessly. *Altaïr smiled at the way she used his name. His eyes were opened and looking at her. He was still leaned into her with his forehead resting on hers.*

"I want to know why you were so shocked today, as I was wiping away your tears. Did you expect another reaction?" he said softly.

"I… Yes… I did, but I have been expecting it from any of the assassins. If they ever saw me crying… I'm worried that if they see me crying, they will think I am soft and all the respect that I have gained will be gone…" I said. I dared to open my eyes and I did. I was met with his beautiful green and brown ones. He brought a hand to my cheek and stroked it.

"And you thought I would laugh at you or insult you and you would lose my respect. Its funny how you said earlier that you didn't care what people thought of you. Yet here you are, worrying about what I think of you." I pulled my head back to look at him wholly.

"Respect and opinions are two different things, Altaïr. I don't care about opinions, but I do care about respect. It was so hard to gain for me, and I don't want to lose it now." I said. He ran his hand down my neck.

"So you let your guard down in front of me without knowing it." He said.

"Yes. That has never happened before. I was thinking about how I was going to explain the reason why I was upset and then the tears just came and it was too late to stop, so there was nothing I could do." I gave him a half smile. "You're the first one who has seen me unguarded." He smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm glad I am the first one." He whispered softly to me. I smiled and looked up at him. We pulled back but were still in each other's arms.

"Me too."