Hello guys! QUICK! HERE IS THE ANTIDOTE TO THE POISONOUS CLIFF HANGER! READ IT! It's awesome. :D

~Read, Review, be Merry!~

~Aena Firestar

Chapter 17

Malik and the Truth of it All

"ALERA!" Screamed Altaïr. I was trying to register what had just happened. The pain was so intense that I felt like I was going to pass out. I looked down at my left thigh. It was drenched in blood and the huge cut wound stretched from the side of my knee up to the center of my thigh. I looked back up at the Templar. He was making ready to strike again, but suddenly, Alario swooped out of nowhere and attacked him! He clawed at the Templar's face and dug into his eyes.

"Alario." I managed to breath out. I smiled. The man went to grab Alario, but he suddenly stopped. Alario swooped away back into the air. I saw the tip of a silver, blood-drenched blade go straight through the middle of the Templar. He dropped his sword and slid off the blade, dead. I looked around and realized that he was the last one, and figured it was safe enough to let the pain take me. I swayed and fell, but before I hit the ground Altaïr wrapped his arms around me and caught me.

"Easy Alera." He whispered to me.

"Oh my…God!" I screamed. It was stinging and throbbing and hurting. I was going through all kinds of hell. Alario landed down on the ground beside us. He looked at my leg and then me. He understood I was injured. He chirped at me. I reached up to stroke him and my hand went limp. My strength was gone, just like that. I started to breath heavily.

"Alera. You're turning pale. Your losing too much blood. Hold on." He said. He ran to one of the dead Templars and pulled out his knife. He cut off a long piece of fabric and came back to me. "This going to hurt. Hold on to me." he whispered. He knelt down on one knee and I leaned up against his other knee. He had me propped up. "Are you ready?" he asked. Tears started to form in my eyes and I nodded. I clutched his robe and buried my face in his chest. I felt him pick my leg up. He put the cloth underneath it and then brought it around and,

"Ahhh! Ughhh!" I screamed in his robes. *Altaïr was in pain as well. He never wanted to hear Alera scream. It was the worst sound he had ever heard, because it broke his heart. Her screams of agony were his weakness. "She is my one weakness." He thought to himself. "Dear god, or gods or whoever the hell is up there. Please help her, don't let her bleed to death." He silently prayed. She still clutched to him.

"Hold on Alera. I need to wrap it one more time. Just one more and then we'll be done." He said quietly.* I let go of his robes and he cut another piece of fabric off and came back. I propped up again and held onto him and buried my face in his chest again. "Here we go." He whispered. He lifted my leg and wrapped it up and tied it very tight.

"Ughhh!" I screamed and groaned.

"Shhh. It's alright. We got it. Its done." He said. He sat down completely and I was still holding onto him. Silent tears streamed down my face. "Alera, I know you want to rest but we have to leave." He said. I couldn't move. It hurt so bad to move.

"I can't move… It hurts…so bad." I whispered. *This was killing Altaïr. He didn't want to cause her pain. He wanted nothing more than to hold her, help her and heal her, but he couldn't do that until they got to safety. He knew she would be all right when they got to the bureau, "But when she sees the state Malik is in…She'll kill me, or worse…" he thought. He shook his head and pushed the thoughts away. Altaïr knew he had to get himself and Alera out of here. She still had tears streaming down her face and his arms were still wrapped around her as she clutched to him.*

"Alera, listen to me. If we don't leave here quickly, the guards will find us or worse, more Templars will come. We have to leave. Once we get to the bureau everything will be fine. You can rest there and I'll be beside you the whole time. I'll heal you. I promise." He said. I looked up at him. He was looking down into my eyes. I could see that Altaïr was worried and scared… wait…scared? Oh to hell with it. I'm in too much pain to decipher this right now. I'll find out later. I nodded to him.

"Ok. Lets go then. Help me up. Alario, I want you to scout ahead to see if there are any guards near by. Warn us if there are." I said to my eagle. He chirped and his eyes shown brightly, then he took off into the sky in the direction of the bureau. Altaïr hauled me up into his arms. He picked me up bridal style and started walking through the back alleys again. I bit my lip to keep from whimpering. I was already feeling helpless enough.

"It's a good thing your light." He said with a smile. "It feels like I'm carrying a child." I couldn't help but laugh a little at that. His smile widened as I laughed. He adjusted and pulled me closer to him. My arm was around his shoulder and I rested my head in the crook of his neck. I tried to think of things to distract me from the pain, but what really distracted me was his scent. It immediately flooded me. I could smell sweat and blood on him from the battle, but I also smelled earth. He just had a particular scent that mixed together to form him. The scent of a man. The scent of an Assassin. My Assassin. I smiled and let it overcome me. I rested my head on him and relaxed what little I could with my injury.

We soon made it to the "abandoned" building with no doors. Altaïr and I both stared up at the roof. He looked back down at me.

"Do you think you can make it that little ways?" he asked. I nodded.

"You go first so you can help pull me up. I can stand it for a little while." I said. He nodded but I felt him hesitate to set me down. I put all my weight on my right leg when he did. I saw Alario swoop down into the roof entrance. Altaïr quickly scaled the building. I mentally and physically prepared myself. I knew I was going to have to mainly use my upper body. I jumped up and grabbed the ledge. My thigh banged against the wall slightly and I gritted my teeth. I pushed up with my right leg and then my left leg and jumped to the next ledge. I had to take a couple breaths from that one.

"Come on Alera. Just one more! I'll catch you." Said Altaïr. He laid down and extended his arms out to me. I pushed up with my right leg again and then put as much strength in my left as I could and pushed up. Altaïr grabbed me and I couldn't help but let out a yelp. He hoisted me up and I helped as much as I could. I reached the top and he pulled me up into his arms and held me. We both had to catch our breath. My leg was on fire and throbbing by now. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"No, my leg is hurting worse now." I said through breaths and pain throbs.

"Get on my back." He said. I looked at him.

"What?"

"Get on my back and wrap your arms around my shoulders. It will make it easier on both of us to get into the bureau." I thought about this for a second.

"Alright." I said, finally giving in. I was starting to feel a lot weaker and a whole lot worse. I jumped on his shoulders and wrapped my arms around him. He moved over to the entrance and dropped down. He grabbed every other ledge and then finally touched down. I jumped off, and then felt the dizziness. I fell.

"Alera!" said Altaïr. I felt him catch me again. My eyes were half lidded and the little dots were coming back. He picked me up bridal style. "Malik!" called Altaïr. WAIT… WHAT THE FUCK… MALIK IS NOT A RAFIQ!…. 'Ho shit….

"Altaïr! What have you done to her? Alera! Alera look at me." called Malik. I opened my eyes and saw him. My heart dropped to the very abyss of my stomach. Malik…One of my best friends in the world… Had lost his left arm. My eyes widened.

"MALIK? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?" I said in complete and total shock. Malik rushed over and opened a door to a small room. There was a small bed and a small table and two chairs. I saw vials and bottles and salves on numerous shelves on the wall. Bandages were on the table. Altaïr laid me down on the bed. Malik rushed over to my side. He ran his fingers through my hair and tried to give me a comforting smile. "Malik? What happened to you?" I asked in a weak whisper. I put my hand on his left shoulder. He looked at me with sad eyes and held my hand. Then he turned his gaze on Altaïr, which turned into a glare.

"I take it you didn't tell her?" he snapped. Altaïr glanced at Malik while he was rushing around getting clean water and bandages.

"Not now Malik. She's injured, and very deeply." He said.

"This was your doing too? Wasn't it? Your arrogance cost me my arm, now it's going to cost Alera her leg? I should kill you right now. Ruining my life wasn't good enough for you, so now you have to go and ruin Alera's?" said Malik. His brown eyes were glaring at Altaïr. Altaïr stopped and looked at him.

"Don't you dare say that. You know good and well that I would never lead Alera into danger. This was not my fault!" said Altaïr. He was trying to keep calm. I could tell.

"No! No this wasn't his fault! The Templar's ambushed us! They were looking for me!" I said. Malik looked at me.

"You? Why were they looking for you?" he said calmly.

"Robert. He knows of me. He has known of me. The Templars were going to capture me and take me to Talal. That is the man that Altaïr and I are here to kill. He's a slave trader. He works for the Templars…Sort of." I added. Suddenly I had a shot of pain go up my leg. "Ahhh!" I groaned.

"Ok Alera. You're going to have to shed some clothes. I need to reach this wound before it gets infected." Said Altaïr. Malik was still glaring. I sat up and started to take my weapons off and my robe and bracers and then my…

"Guys!" I said. They stopped glaring at each other and looked at me. "Get the fuck out!" I said.

"Oh! Sorry!" said Malik.

"I'll be right out there if you need me." said Altaïr. They both went out of the door. "I mean Damn!" I said quietly to myself. I heard them talking in the next room, but I ignored them. I took my brown boots off and then slowly untied the clothes. I threw them to the side and then slid my pants off. "Oh this is going to be…awkward…interesting… Yeah either one of those." I thought. I threw the blood-drenched pants to the side and looked at my leg. "That is going to leave a nasty scar." I said out loud to myself, trying so damned hard to ignore the pain. I still had my tunic on but it wasn't long enough to cover my underclothes. I pulled the blanket over me. I draped it across my waist and right above the cut. It looked like I had no underclothes on at all. "Oh this is just fucking great." I thought. I laid back down in the pillows. There were two underneath me so I could be propped up a bit. "Done. You can come in now." I said.

*Altaïr opened the door, but stopped to take in the sight that he saw. He is man, so he couldn't help it. Alera, despite her bleeding leg, was wearing nothing but her white tunic shirt. He realized the shirt was cut low, which only made things worse (for him) but the thing that really got him, was the fact that she just had a blanket covering her waist.

Her long leg was hanging off of the bed and swinging slightly. Blood slowly trickled down her leg and was dripping off onto the floor. His eyes kept running over her. She looked so…beautiful. Her hair fell down around her chest and shoulders and it was slightly wavy and messy, but it suited her. She ran her fingers through it and saw Altaïr standing there.*

"Well, are you going to come in and heal me or leave me to my pain?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I knew what he was staring at, but I was in no mood to give a fuck right now. I was in pain and I wanted the pain gone. Is that too damn much to ask for? Altaïr walked over and sat down beside me.

"Are you ready for this? It's going to sting and burn and probably take all of your energy away." He said quietly. I nodded.

"I'm ready. Just, make it go away Altaïr. I can't stand it and I trust you." I said. He came closer. I raised my hand up and ran it through his short black hair. I then ran it down his cheek and to his neck. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"I'll make your pain go away Alera. I promise." He said quietly. His eyes were so soft on me and there was something about his voice that just made me want to melt into him. I glanced at the door and saw Malik watching us, but then I grimaced and squeezed Altaïr's hand as another volt of pain shot up my thigh. "Alright. I'll get started." He said. He slipped his hood off so he could see and then he put some hot water in a bowl and set it on the edge of the bed. He took a white cloth and dipped it in the water. He sat down on the bed and looked at me.

"Put you leg in my lap." He instructed. I nodded and bit my lip. My hands clutched the sheets. I picked my leg up and rested it on his lap. It was still bleeding but he began to clean it softly. He wiped the dried blood away from my knee and my upper thigh and tried not to touch the opened wound. I needed something to get this off my mind. I saw Malik still standing in the doorway. I looked over at him.

"Malik, come talk to me. I need something to….Ughhh!…. Get this pain off my…mind." I managed to breath out. He made his way over to me, but not with out exchanging glares with Altaïr. He sat in the chair on the opposite wall of us. I could tell he didn't want to be anywhere near Altaïr. He was probably mad at me slightly because my leg was pretty much wrapped around Altaïr's waist, but I couldn't help it that it was my thigh that got cut! I sighed. "Ok. Now, I'm going to warn both of you. I am in pain and I am in a very bitchy mood. If neither one of you don't tell me what the hell is going on, then there is going to be some hell to pay." I said through gritted teeth. I felt water accidentally seep into my wound and I hissed.

"Sorry!" said Altaïr quickly and catching the other drops with a clean rag. He eyed me as he wiped up the last of the blood. "You know your not going to be able to walk for at least two to three days." I looked at him.

"The hell I am! We have a slaver to kill. A slaver who is after me no less. You've gotten to kill the last two people. I want to kill this bastard. His life is mine." Altaïr looked at me. "Your not going to let me talk you out of this are you?" he asked. I smiled.

"Nope. I am going to kill him." Altaïr smiled but then looked over at Malik and down cast his eyes. I looked over at Malik too. He turned away from me.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Altaïr sighed.

"This is the one thing that I will agree on with him." said Malik bitterly. I looked at Altaïr.

"You're going to have to stay here. This wound needs to heal so I'm going to have to gather the information myself." He said.

"What? No! I can make it! I can help you." My stubborn side kicked in.

"Alera, you are not fit to fight or run or climb. You need to stay off your leg. If you put any pressure on it while it's bandaged and trying to heal, then the wound will open up again and we'll have to start all over." Ok, now I was even more pissed. I wanted to argue. God help me, I wanted to put up some hell of a fight, but I knew he was right. It pained me to agree but…

"Ugh…" I plopped back down against the bed, earning a small chuckle from Altaïr. "Yeah. Laugh it up while you can. I'm going to kill him."

"We'll see how your condition is." Said Altaïr seriously.

"Now, tell me what happened. I want to know why the hell, and how the hell you lost an arm." I looked over at Malik. He shot a glare over at Altaïr. Altaïr avoided it by sliding out from under my leg. I watched him as he got a couple of vials and bottles from the shelves and then a roll of bandages. He slid back under me and looked at me.

"I promised you I was going to tell you. Didn't I?" he looked at me earnestly. I nodded. Malik shifted beside me.

"Before you fly off the handle again, he did tell me he was going to tell me. We were going to swap stories. I realized that he kept getting a weapon and a rank restored and figured that what ever he did, must have been horrible for him to have everything stripped away from him."

"Oh believe me, it was. I think Al Mualim should have just killed you, and not allowed you to be reborn. I think it only fair. Your life, in exchange for my brother's!" he shouted.

"Wait, WHAT? What happened to Kadar? Is he-"

"Dead! His body still lies in Solomon's temple! I lost my brother and I lost my arm because of him! His arrogance cost us everything! He broke each tenant of the creed and yet he still lives." Said Malik. I could not believe what I was hearing.

"K-Kadar is dead? Oh my god…he was just a novice. A child…" I whispered. I completely laid down and stared at the ceiling. I was trying to gather all of this information up. I felt some cool liquid touch my wound and run down my thigh. It had a cooling sensation at first but then it burned. I screamed and shot up.

"Wait! Easy!" said Altaïr.

"You go easy!" I said. "That hurt!"

"It's medicine. It'll help." He added. I laid back down and let him continue. I felt his hands run over my wound. He rubbed another liquid type something over my thigh and it warmed it up. I felt him lightly pat the excess off.

"I want to hear it. Both sides of the story. First, from you Altaïr." I heard Malik move. I looked over at him and he had gotten up and walked out. He closed the door behind him. I sighed and put my hands on my face. I rubbed my eyes and forehead. This was starting to give me a headache. I felt the bandages start to be wrapped around me. "Did the bleeding stop? Because most of the pain is gone. Its still throbbing though, but the burning is gone." I said without lifting my head.

"Good, that means its working. And the bleeding will stop as soon as I wrap you up." He said softly. I rose up and watched him wrap the last one. He moved further up my thigh and closer to me so he could reach the top of the cut. He finished and tied it tight to put pressure on it. He looked up at me. We were close. His eyes scanned my face. He reached up and ran his fingers through my hair. His fingertips lightly traced my scar. I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes.

*Altaïr watched her as she invited his touch. Moments like these were the ones he wanted to make last. He didn't care if they were small. As long as he got to feel her, touch her, be with her, then he was at peace. He smiled at her as she placed her hand on top of his. He relished in these moments, because he feared he would lose them. He knew he had to tell her. It was only fair to her. He took a deep breath and leaned forward. He rested his head on hers. She opened her eyes. He stared into soft blue sapphires.*

"Tell me about what happened, Altaïr." I said quietly. I ran my fingers lightly through his hair.

"Promise me something first…" he said softly. I nodded.

"Anything." I whispered. I saw him smirk.

"Be careful what you say…" he whispered. I smirked.

"I'm a badass assassin. I don't have to be careful, nor do I want to." He smiled. He ran his fingers through my hair and leaned past me. He tucked my hair behind my ear and whispered to me.

"Promise me that you'll tell me your story," chills shot down my spine. I smiled and whispered in his ear.

"I promise." I breathed. *Alera's breath sent chills down Altaïr spine, but he composed himself.

"And promise me…" he whispered. He slowly pulled back and brushed his lips over her temple.* I felt his stubble run over my cheek and his lips…brushed over my temple. I closed my eyes and leaned into him.

"Anything…" I breathed. He brushed his smooth lips over my temple one more time and then he rested his fore head on mine.

"Look me in the eyes." He softly commanded. I did as I was told and opened my eyes. I stared into his. "Promise me that if you lose all your trust in me, that you will give me another chance. I have changed and I'm trying to better myself. Malik doesn't see that right now, but hopefully he will. Promise me that." He said desperately to me. I nodded. "I want to hear you say it." Said Altaïr. He ran his fingers through my hair and down my neck. I ran my hand down his neck and rested it on his chest.

"I promise I will give you another chance." I smiled comfortingly to him. He smiled back and kissed my forehead. His warm, smooth lips lingered for a few seconds. I didn't expect that but I welcomed it nonetheless.

So? Sufficient enough? Yes? No? Well I liked it. Hope you guys did too!

~Read, Review, be Merry~

~Aena Firestar