I can imagine that the wait has bee long but I appologize, I can only be amazed by your patience! So...Thank you! I was playing Okami, my friend had kindly lent it to me...apparently I got really addicted.

Anyway, hope this chapter is worth your time. Thank you again!

Disclaimer: Assassin's Creed is almost impossible for me to have/own...even in my dreams...

Chapter 17- Drama Episode

Ryan slammed the door behind him and breathed deeply as though recovering from a sprinting run. Faridah looked towards him curiously, the corners of her lips curling upward. “Rye-an, is there something troubling you?”

Ryan smiled. “Trouble? What gave you that idea!?” There was pounding on the door.

“RYAN! I KNOW you’re in there! Open up!” Ryan pressed his weight into the door, not answering as Faridah’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Rye-an…Who is…”

“Come ON, you pansy! I KNOW you can hear me!” The pounding on the door came continuously along with frustrated noises from the person outside.

“Open the door.” Faridah said, tranquil.

Ryan flashed his eyes in panic. “B-but…”

“Open the door.” She repeated, her eyes narrowing on him.

He opened the door quite suddenly, knowing better than to argue; the girl tumbled in clumsily and landed on her face. “Gee…Thanks…again.”

“And who might you be?” I looked to the middle aged woman in front of me, grey strands within her ebony hair signaled her old age yet her dark eyes were filled with youth. She seemed kind.

“Kaylyn, nice to meet you.” She was practically one of the only people I introduced to formally since I got here. I was decisive of whether or not to hold out my hand for her to shake. I was pretty sure she wasn’t familiar with that type of custom. So I settled for bowing instead.

She cocked her head to the side and tasted my unfamiliar name on her tongue. “Kae…lin.” She smiled cordially. “So unique a name like that of your brother.”

“Yes…but you kind of missss-…” I saw my brother give me a nervous look and shake his head as though to say Don’t correct her unless you want to die! “MISSED. Yeah, missed the fact that I totally…um…LOVE my name!” I gave her a thumbs up with what I hoped was a dazzling smile.

She laughed and looked towards my brother. “She is indeed your sister.” What’s that supposed to mean?

My brother spoke my thoughts aloud. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

She only shrugged at him and immediately turned her attention to me, I was flattered...yet stunned that she would be so…motherly to me, a stranger. More motherly than my own mother in fact… “I have some spare clothes that you may borrow from when I was your age.”

Apparently, this was her kind and sincere way of saying, “You’re clothes are filthy!” I tried to push her off without offending her. “Thanks, but that’s not ne-…”

“Of course it is necessary! I’ll even prepare a bed for you, it will be no trouble.” She tittered; slightly baffled I would refuse her hospitality. “I saved those clothes for spare cloth so that I may make new clothes from them, I can just adjust the measurements, no trouble at all.”

And put into that kind of situation, what would you have done? I couldn’t just very well say, “But I would feel awkward! I don’t even KNOW you!!” That would be rude…and I didn’t hate her.

I suppose it was to be the only solution to prevent my brother and I from separating cities apart again (though I felt kind of uncomfortable since I hadn’t so much as done a sleepover in my life because of my mother’s constant restraints on our lives) so I guess it was inevitable that I eventually conceded to Faridah’s fervor suggestions (demands).

You could say it was a different situation when I was sleeping over with Khairiya or Rashid…but they aren’t…grownups, and I just feel uncomfortable grown people being considerate and caring to the young people instead of reprimanding ever other thing we do and expecting our mistakes.

It wasn’t long until I found the bed, sharing the same room my brother slept in, on straw with a raggedy blanket on top (No wonder it didn’t take long for her to prepare my bed…) and attempted to sleep.

After losing count after 475,251,021 sheep, I fell asleep and dreamed of shearing the sheep and of wolves kidnapping the sheep. Outlandishly, there was a skinny boy in it too…Apparently; he had some sort of lying deficiency involving imaginary wolves…What a loser…

My mind began drifting off to la-la land while my body was obviously… motionless (with some sudden spasmodic and totally unexplainable movements happening here and there).

What’s he doing now? I was sitting alone at the middle of the big depressing, outrageously yellow colored bus. That looked like a banana on wheels.

I was glaring at my brother, the seat ahead of me, fiddling with his cell phone. I didn’t see the reason for him to have it out; he didn’t need to our parents for anything…And Ryan was definitely not the type of person to fiddle around with his cell phone for no reason.

I leaned forward just as we hit a bump, hitting my head unimpressively. “Umph! What are you doing?”

He seemed in a deep sense of concentration (which is quite rare) as he took out a card from his pocket and stared at the phone number. “Prank calling.” He replied simply as though he had said, “Yes, yes I am a boy. Why do you ask?” (It’d be best NOT to ask…)

“Who?” I sneaked a look over his shoulder at the card he was holding…it was for…Starbucks?! I felt puzzled. “You want to buy…coffee?”

He laughed a bit, “Hahahaha…eh, no…and maybe yes- Oh wait, we’re getting to the spot.” He immediately put his attention straight to the window as the horrid yellow bus came to a not so smooth stop…In front of a Starbucks.

He dialed the number on the card at lightning speed and listened as it rang while staring out the dirty window towards the Starbucks…look intently at the cashiers. We saw one of the employees pick the phone up.

“Hello?” My brother spoke into the phone, slightly changing his voice at a baritone. “Um, yes, I would like to order a…” He paused for dramatic effect. “Frappuccino...”

I could hear the employee replying, uncertain. “Uh…Okay. Where would you like us to drop your drink off?” I smirked, finally realizing my brother’s scheme.

“Well…” He paused. “It’s not far, really…Right outside-…“ He tried not to how with laughter. “-…where a BIG, yellow bus is.” We stared as we saw the man stiffen and turn slowly to find the bus. My brother and I gave him big goofy smiles and waved just as the light turned green and we were off.

The man’s gaping face was priceless.

“What ya doin’?” I looked up to see his overly smiling and cheerful face. The freak just loved to get up early in the morning to the guy who called him an ass all the time…I still don’t know what he sees in that guy…

“Nothing…Just trying to…Oh, you know…SLEEP!” I took the pillow, rolled over and smashed it onto my head to cloud out his voice. Just so you know…That trick never works.

He yanked off my pillow mercilessly. Oh, the fiend! “Hey!” I protested.

“Get out of bed! It’s a beautiful day…”

“In the neighborhood.” I sang out and laughed as my brother groaned. Grudgingly I got out of the bed and slipped on the clothes the lady, Faridah, left out for me. Where she put my original clothes…well, let’s just hope she still has them or else her life will be shortened.

The attire was plain with a white bodice and grey sleeves, the rest of it was just…ugh, brown. It was kind of ugly looking. But I wasn’t going to tell Faridah or complain, from Ryan’s stories it seemed like she nearly killed him…But he could be exaggerating for all I know.

“Here.” He tossed me an apple (my breakfast) which I miraculously caught before it hit me smack dab in the face. I took a vicious bite of it and said in mouthfuls. “So, what are we doing today?”

“Oh, not me…You mean, ‘What am I doing today?” He said as he brushed some imaginary specks from his sleeve.

“What?!” Apple pieces flew everywhere. I quickly covered my mouth and glanced at my brother who had some small pieces stuck to him; he was rock solid as though contemplating what had just happened. I swallowed quickly. “Oops…Sorry.”

“I should have known better than to tell you bad news when you are eating.” He said as he wiped off the apple from his face as my face burned with embarrassment. “I mean, I suppose I’m lucky it wasn’t something disgusting like…like…piccolo.”

“Piccolo is an instrument.” I corrected him, giving him a smirk.

“Yes, since you know what it is I guess it’s a instrument of torture.” He laughed as he took a cloth and wiped his face clean.

“Yeah…sure, let’s go with that…” I finished my apple hungrily like a famished animal. He smiled in reply and we said not a word as he led me outside. “So why aren’t you going to be with me?”

“Jealous, are we?” He looked confounded for but a moment, his eyebrows raised.

“No…I just don’t like that guy is all.” I grumbled like a little kid and crossed my arms across my chest. I would have stomped my feet and pouted but I guess it wouldn’t have helped the situation at all. “He’s a…a… meanie.”

He gaped. “That’s the best you can come up with? Meanie?”

“What?! You know I don’t cuss!” I grumbled, peeved.

He raised his hands up to me as though to protect himself from my wrath. “Yeah, well, I’m sure he thinks you’re a …meanie too….Especially after what you did to him…” He looked away and mumbled to himself. “Even after I continuously shouted for you to stop…”Eventually resulting in me pushing you on the ground… Is what I think he was going to also mention.

I had a sudden flashback of the smoldering and flailing old man falling into the fountain and sputtering water, then a sudden consciousness of my brother’s shouting and a push from behind where my face flew into the earth. The old man said some words ,that I would rather not repeat, after managing to stumble out…Well, I can tell you it was enough cuss words to last me a lifetime, so I guess I’m set.

“Ryan, are you on your way to the old goat’s workshop?” We turned our heads to find Makin’s steady gaze back at us. I nearly flinched; we didn’t even notice him standing there. “How long were you standing there…?”

He shrugged. “…not long.” But then he smiled. “You truly did not notice my presence?” He seemed pleased.

My brother answered before I could. “No, Kaylyn just has a really short attention span.”

“HEY! I do no- …Oh hey, is that a butterfly?! WEEEEE!” I ran in a random direction with my arms in the air, then ran around in circles a few times and then stopped right next to my brother. “Er, sorry about that…There was a butterfly and…you don’t really see a lot of those around here…”

Ryan smiled and gave me a thumbs up sign while Makin was giving me an odd look, most likely wondering if I escaped from a loony bin. I just love messing with people.

“We’re just kidding with you, Makin!” I smiled gaily and patted him on the shoulder. I noticed he seemed surprised from my touch, probably unused to a female being so forward (and weird).

He chuckled nervously. “Y-yes, well, Rye-an shall we take our leave?” I wonder why he’s in such a hurry to leave…Heheheh.

“What?” My brother tried to play ignorance. “Oh yeah…Wait a second….” He cleared his throat noticeably and took a deep breath. “Oh dear sister! I shall miss you…-er, dearly!”

I took on the same dramatic tone. “Oh yes, I do believe this leaving shall injure me most heavily, beloved brother! Ugh!” I acted as though I was hit in the heart and my hand gripped my chest.

“Fear not, for I shall not be gone long! ….Parting is such sweet… SORROOOW!” He turned abruptly and ran off towards the blacksmith workshop. Makin seemed stupefied for a second but immediately followed as I laughed after them.

Faridah popped out of nowhere, basket in hand smelling of bitter herbs. “Rye-an will only be gone until tonight, I hope you realize.”

“Yeah... I just like messing with people.” I smiled and gave her a thumbs up sign which she could only respond with a wry smile.

After helping Faridah around the house like the angel I was (you know I am) I was left with utter boredom and knew it wouldn’t be very courteous of me to bother Faridah, especially since all she showed me since I arrived was kindness.

So, I decided looking for Khairiya.

It wasn’t that hard, I went to her father’s home. I could hear the hard hammering of metal and then the following hiss of the opposites meeting; hot and cold. I knocked on the door, feeling unsure abruptly as an irritated old woman answered the door.

“I thought I told you-…Oh, who are you, girl?” The old woman’s dark brown eyes matched those of Khairiya though her face was a mass of wrinkles. She was obviously her mother. “ I’m…Khairiya’s friend.”

She paused uncertainly and slowly opened the door as it creaked in a frail and pathetic wail. “She is in the back room.” As I walked in I noticed the floor was dirt and the house looked in disarray. It was a pathetic mess that made my sister’s pig sty room look holy and gold worthy.

I walked to the back room and found Khairiya sitting there, a bundle of green vegetables in hand…Looking very despondent and her eyes, when I looked closer, were red as though she had been crying. This pitiful creature did not seem to be the Khairiya I knew, I began to wonder if I had the right room…

“Khairiya?” I strode slowly towards the desolate, hunched figure. The figure looked up from the sound of her name being used. She saw me and she attempted to smile. “My friend…Forgive me… I…I…was…” She couldn’t urge herself to finish her own sentence.

I took a stool and sat next to her. I grasped her wrinkled soft hands and rubbed them comfortingly. “What happened?”

My spur-of-the-moment question ticked off the tears and she began sobbing with absolutely no control (I felt pretty horrible). She set down the tear drenched (and now, very wilted looking) vegetables and tried to speak through her sniveling sobs. “R-rashid…H-he…Father…Angered…”

I was finding it difficult to comprehend what she was trying to tell me…and I don’t think my low IQ had anything to do with it.

Guess it’s time to play 20 questions… “So…Rashid is angry at your father?”

She shook her head no as I took a hankercheif, which Faridah had given to me before I left, and handed it to her. “Um…Wait! Your father’s mad at Rashid right?”

This time she nodded (Ding, ding, ding! YEAH! I got it RIGHT!) as she gratefully took the handkerchief and wiped her puffy red eyes. “But why?”

She glanced at me for a moment and tried to answer without busting out the waterfalls. “I...My…f-fault, I ran away…blame…Rashid…” This time it was easier to understand.

“So, your dad’s basically putting the blame on Rashid for your choice to run away?!” She nodded fretfully as she sniffed. I patted her on the back. “Don’t worry; I’m sure it’s not that bad…Is it?”

She took a deep breath and looked at me seriously. “Truly, I do not know…Father…he…he loses his temper so easily and…Oh, I just hope this does not mean Rashid and I can no longer see each other…”

“Wait, wait a second here, where is Rashid?” The guy should be here comforting her…not me.

Her voice cracked with emotion. “I…I do not know!” She began bawling again, her tears rolling down her cinnamon colored skin, her eyes became reddened as though irritated.

How can she not know? This was odd…Where is Rashid? He loves Khairiya…right?

“Now, look what you have done!” Khairiya’s mother barged in and started to usher me out of the room without delay from reaction of seeing her daughter in tears. “You’re causing my daughter much distress, perhaps it’s time you leave.”

“W-wait…Can’t I just…” I stuttered as she roughly pushed me out the door, poor Khairiya not even noticing (or maybe not even caring) that her mom was acting bodyguard. “Good day.” She says briskly as the door slams in my face in my mid protest.

I stared at the door as though not believing what just happened. Then, I reacted in the most mature way possible.

“LET ME IN! Don’t MAKE me try to break in!...I’ll get a stolen hammer….or a chair!” I pounded on the door as fanatically as one would for the buttons for a video game (Die, alien scum, die!). “Don’t make me break this perfectly good door!”

The mother opened the door in a heartbeat, looking very flustered and angry like a drenched cat. “Are you mad?!”

Without thinking, I answered. “Yes…Yes I am.” I added my response with a smile.

She looked very annoyed, as though she was going to slam the door…with my face in the doorway, but I tried to get information before she could do so. “Wait! I want to know, why is Rashid not here?”

The readable emotions on her face do not change as she gruffly answers. “Heh, that boy. It is all well that he isn’t here. For the past day we would be plagued by his presence nonstop …” She spits on the dirt in front of my feet and mutters quietly, “Good riddance to him.”

She slams the door with a thud and I recoil with a thought. Where is he now?

When your friends are in a romantically and soap drama like situation there is only one thing to do: Complain to your closest kin who would probably not even care about the situation. In this case, my brother.

“…And then that bad tempered woman (No offense, Baha al Din) slammed the door in my face…AGAIN and left me to stare at the door…AGAIN.” I let out a groan and sat down on a conveniently place stool. “Which brings me to when I ran here, barged into the door-..."

“Rudely.” Added Baha al Din as he took the glowing metal and placed it into the water but I continued as thouigh he hadn't said anything.

"...and came to you guys in a frantic mess, ranting about how the lady was SO RUDE and poor Khairiya in such a crying mess, practically steps from becoming EMO-…”

“Fascinating.” My brother interrupted, obviously not in the mood to hear more. “Well, I’ve heard enough,” He turned to Makin who was unusually quiet through my rambling, “How about you, Makin?”

The young man, however, seemed worried. “From what I heard, I feel most troubled for Khairiya, for I have known her since I was a young child. Never have I imagined her to be in such a depressed state.”

I nodded. “Then it’s decided.”

“What?” My brother looked at me, incredulous.

I took in a deep breath. “Late at night, we shall sneak into the house in the most complicated and mission impossible style, kidnap Khairiya then sneak away in a highly complex and exceedingly unnecessary pathway and reunite Rashid and her in a secret hideaway in the currently remote land of the North America.”

My brother stared at me for a few moments like I was an idiot. “Okay, I heard a lot of flaws in that plan. First, it’s too complicated, it sounds like it’ll take too much unnecessary time. Second, how the heck is the hideaway supposed to secret when you just blurted out where it is?! Oh, and thirdly, you just revealed your entire plan in front of the man who is the girl-who-you’re-gonna-kidnap’s father!”

“Oh.” I turned my head to Khairiya’s father and we stared at each other, his face emotionless. “Could you just pretend you didn’t hear all of that?” I could hear my brother’s exasperating sigh in the background.

Makin suddenly walked close to me, his face came close to my face; I was caught off guard and blushed. But before I could stammer a word he whispered in my ear. “Instead, let us look for Rashid to solve this.” He pulled his head back a bit and looked me in the eyes. “This is his problem as well, and I am worried as to why he has not yet intervened.”

I silently agreed as I swiftly kidnapped my brother and we took off before Baha al Din could question our motives. We were headed to the Assassin’s Bureau, only I didn’t speak that aloud. It would be dangerous for both my brother and I to know and Makin, a follower of the assassin trade, would be forced to kill us to protect to his brothers…

After many complicated twists and turns, we arrived and I said right on queue. “Where are we? I don’t recognize this place.”

It was all part of a script; my brother exclaimed with forced exclaim. “Hey! Isn’t this where I made a delivery often? It was for a guy named-…oh…What was his name?”

Makin answered automatically. “Al Mualim.”

“Yeah, that’s it…What are we doing here?” My brother etched the features of confusion on his face well.

I added on. “Does…Rashid work here or something?”

Makin smiled. “One would say that.” He walked forward and gestured us to follow. “Well? Aren’t you coming?”

Just when we were going to take our first thrilling (and hopefully not obvious) steps into the infamous Assassin’s Bureau, a voice loud and clear stopped us. I heard my brother grumble softly. “Oh no, it’s Abbas.”

For a brief moment I was almost going to ask him who that was but then remembered the cut scene when the not so fabulous man was first introduced to the gamers. I believe it involved Altair threatening to cut the guy’s throat…

“I thought I had told you, fledging, it is unwise to allow such strangers within our home.” He spoke as though my brother and I weren’t there. “Do you think they will keep their tongues from wagging of the location?!” What an idiot, he just revealed that this place is secret and dangerous to make known…

My brother and I exchanged embarrassed looks, obviously thinking the same thing as Makin stepped forward, and I could tell this was going to be a horrific cat fight (Hmm, I should have brought some popcorn…). “Perhaps if you put more trust in our home not just merely being this secluded building, there would be no trouble!”

Abbas seemed infuriated by this suggested as his face was turning red, but Makin (foolish or prideful, I do not know) continued. “You have too much pride, my elder, perhaps you should look over your own faults instead of others.”

Pop! Goes the balloon! Abbas looked as though he was going to beat the living daylights out of Makin. Makin needs to learn when to shut up.

Abbas arm rose up high and threw down to meet with Makin’s unfortunate face but never got there as another arm stopped the movement short. “That is enough, Abbas.”

Our eyes traveled to the all too familiar voice; garbed in black robes and with his other arm sleeve pinned to his shoulder no longer in use since the mishap when his brother was killed (or murdered, as he likes to put it, I guess…).

I'm SO tempted to jump up and down like a fangirl. I was ecstatic. It was Malik.

That is such a relief to finally write! Thank you once again, you have (amazingly) reached the finishing point. Hopefully my next update will be much quicker!