It was night when Malik woke the next time. He could tell since his cell had a tiny window, big enough for him to push his head through but too high over the ground as if he could look outside. The moon was shinning though tonight and the dim light fell through the opening and left a small spot of silver on the dirty floor of his prison. They hadn't chained him. Why should they? The man was in no condition to move anyway. Robert had made sure of that. His body was swimming in a lake of pure pain and he could drown in it so very easily.
His wrist was raw. His robes shredded into pieces. His trousers were soaked with his own blood and sweat and his boots were too heavy on his feet. He didn't even have the strength anymore to lift his little finger and Malik groaned once he blinked his eye open. A headache was splitting his head into two or at least it felt like that. Robert had beaten him severely, had cut him in various places and had once stabbed him underneath his ribs where it would hurt but not kill him. His back hurt just as much, the rough stonewall had been unforgiving and left scratches and bruises across his shoulders and spine. But nothing, nothing of it could compare with the pain he felt inside.
Kadar...
It felt just like yesterday his brother had died. It felt just like yesterday that he left him behind. How could he ever do that? Malik curled his fingers into a tight fist as he laid in the middle of his cell in his own dirt. He couldn't, he- … He just couldn't. It pained Malik deeply that Robert had been able to make him falter. The Templar's word shouldn't have such a strong effect on him but who was he kidding? Kadar had been his family. It would take much more time for Malik to think about his brother without flinching in pain. Mostly because he wasn't able to forgive himself, for leaving his brother there to die. It was maddening him to think that he had to die alone while he was riding back to Masyaf. It was the key which hold all of his pain together: he abandoned Kadar. He left him alone to die. Robert had made sure to lit the guilt inside of him once more.
Almost everything didn't seem to matter anymore. He could die in here, so what? He probably deserved it after all... because for what he did to his brother, to the one person he loved the most. So what of the Order, what of himself? To hell with it, to hell with all of it. He would rotten in here, Malik knew that. It wasn't as if anybody would miss him. It wasn't as if anybody was waiting for him to come home. Al Mualim would have to find a new Dai, a new man who would be able to run Jerusalem's bureau. He was replaceable after all.
Malik heard the noise of a door opening, feet being dragged over the floor and two guards stopped in front of the cell next to him, a slumped body between them, throwing the man inside and locking the door behind him. He barely paid it any attention.
Tears were burning behind his eyes but he wouldn't let them fall. It had been years since the last time he cried and he wouldn't do it now. Not here, not when he was a prisoner to the Templars. He wasn't a boy anymore who didn't understand the world, he was a grown man and yet he wanted to curl up into a tiny ball and weep.
It was too early. It was too early for him to deal with all of this shit when Kadar has been dead for not even two years now. It'd be always too early. His brother's dead was something Malik would probably never be able to deal with.
Before he fell asleep because of exhaustion, his last thoughts went back to Solomon's Temple and like Malik had foreseen, his nightmares were back, worse than ever before.
+++
“Malik...”
Why? Why couldn't he get his peace? Malik was awake now and it was still dark and his sleep hadn't been a blessing and he felt actually more exhausted than he had before. He'd been dreaming about Kadar, about his dead eyes staring up at him with blood running down his lips and throat. And now... now he was hearing somebody calling his name and he wasn't even dreaming. Did he start hallucinating now? Maybe Robert had hit him harder than Malik would like to admit...
“Brother.” There it was again and Malik lifted his head this time. Was that... Kadar's voice?
“I know you're not dead Malik, now come on!”
No... no, it wasn't Kadar's voice.
Malik groaned, too tired to keep his head up, too worn out to move at all.
“Shut up”, he grumbled and his body might still be too broken for him to move, but his mind finally broke free from its stupor.
He'd dreamed about his brother and it reminded Malik of the time after he had returned to Masyaf, bedridden and with the doctors standing around him, not knowing what to do with his arm until they finally told him that they would have to take it in order to save his life. He hadn't care about it back then but when his arm was gone, Malik had wished he would have died. When he had looked at his stump for the very first time he had also realized for the first time what he had lost. His brother, his arm, his title as an assassin... and somewhere in between the sorrow about the loss of his brother and arm, Altair's name had pushed through. He'd also lost him. A friend from his childhood days, a brother, a fellow assassin. Gone. All of it had been gone. The only thing which had kept him alive back then was his iron will to seek revenge. Later though Malik had come to realization that he was physically not in the condition to get his revenge. He wasn't able to face Robert like this. He was no fool. Malik didn't actually believe that he could kill the man with only one arm. He was still a good fighter, no doubt about that. But he wouldn't have a chance against the Templar.
“Would you prefer me leaving you here?” The voice sounded mocking and under great pain, Malik turned his head and looked towards the bars of his cell. He mouthed the word 'What' but no sound was able to move past his lips. There was a figure in the room next to him, hovering in the shadows, staring at him with bright amber eyes.
This – this must be clearly a product of his imagination and Malik slipped his eyes shut again. Just a moment of peace – that was all he really wanted. Nothing more. A nice moment of peace. But now he was starting to see things and Altair was one of the last persons he'd like to see right now.
“Go away”, he murmured. “You're not real”, he added in a broken whisper because he knew he was lying to himself. Altair was probably the only person he'd like to see right now because Altair was the only person who could get him out of this mess. He wouldn't trust anybody else with such a task. Such a long time had passed without Malik thinking of him. Why would he anyway? If he would walk back the chain of events, Malik was certain he would came to the conclusion that it was Altair's fault anyway. After all, it had started with Solomon's Temple, hadn't it? Probably much more earlier too...
He could hear the rattling of steel and the loud squeak of a door being pushed open. Again, he cracked one eye open and he saw the shadow moving across the walls until it stopped in front of his door. The eyes were burning at him and reminded Malik once more of a demon. He was delusional, he knew that. A thin layer of sweat covered his skin and he was shaking with cold. A sharp inhale of breath came from the shadow and pierced the silence surrounding them. “Fuck, you're a mess...”
“Leave me alone Altair”, Malik groaned again and managed to lift his hand to rub his temple. “I don't need another ghost of my past haunting me.”
Another rattling and Malik's cell door opened. His eye moved and he saw the shadow standing in the door. Since when could hallucinations move things? Malik didn't care about his protesting body but pushed himself up on one arm as he rolled onto his side.
The shadow took a step forward and came to a stop underneath the silvery light of the moon shinning through the small window. “I'm not going away, Malik. Not without you”, Altair murmured quietly and knelt in front of him, his fingers running across his skin and shoulder. Malik hissed in pain and Altair did as well. “You look bad”, he said in a hushed voice so he wouldn't draw attention. “Can you walk?”
Malik blinked with his eyes a couple of times and had a difficult time to form an answer. “I-- no”, he tried to shook his head but in the end it hurt so much that he laid flat against the ground again. His world started spinning again.
Altair nudged his shoulder gently. “You have to get up, we don't have much time. The guards won't take forever changing shifts.”
Malik just laid still not moving at all but was focusing on breathing. He felt like throwing up and a second later, he actually did. He managed to roll on his side again just in time, his back facing Altair and his shoulders heaving heavily. “Go... you stupid novice”, Malik whispered hoarsely. “I'm in no condition to walk... you should have just leave me here instead of risking your life coming after me...”
“Shut up Malik”, and he did, maybe a bit surprised that Altair would chose to overhear his insult and everything else he just said.
“I get you out of here.”
Malik turned his head back at Altair, looking at him with his one healthy eye. He wanted to believe his words, he really did – but Altair didn't know that Robert had put Malik in a much worse prison than the one he was currently held captive at. The worst prison was his own mind and Malik doubted Altair could get him out of there.
Re: FILL: Breaking Free 2b/3
His wrist was raw. His robes shredded into pieces. His trousers were soaked with his own blood and sweat and his boots were too heavy on his feet. He didn't even have the strength anymore to lift his little finger and Malik groaned once he blinked his eye open. A headache was splitting his head into two or at least it felt like that. Robert had beaten him severely, had cut him in various places and had once stabbed him underneath his ribs where it would hurt but not kill him. His back hurt just as much, the rough stonewall had been unforgiving and left scratches and bruises across his shoulders and spine. But nothing, nothing of it could compare with the pain he felt inside.
Kadar...
It felt just like yesterday his brother had died. It felt just like yesterday that he left him behind. How could he ever do that? Malik curled his fingers into a tight fist as he laid in the middle of his cell in his own dirt. He couldn't, he- … He just couldn't. It pained Malik deeply that Robert had been able to make him falter. The Templar's word shouldn't have such a strong effect on him but who was he kidding? Kadar had been his family. It would take much more time for Malik to think about his brother without flinching in pain. Mostly because he wasn't able to forgive himself, for leaving his brother there to die. It was maddening him to think that he had to die alone while he was riding back to Masyaf. It was the key which hold all of his pain together: he abandoned Kadar. He left him alone to die. Robert had made sure to lit the guilt inside of him once more.
Almost everything didn't seem to matter anymore. He could die in here, so what? He probably deserved it after all... because for what he did to his brother, to the one person he loved the most. So what of the Order, what of himself? To hell with it, to hell with all of it. He would rotten in here, Malik knew that. It wasn't as if anybody would miss him. It wasn't as if anybody was waiting for him to come home. Al Mualim would have to find a new Dai, a new man who would be able to run Jerusalem's bureau. He was replaceable after all.
Malik heard the noise of a door opening, feet being dragged over the floor and two guards stopped in front of the cell next to him, a slumped body between them, throwing the man inside and locking the door behind him. He barely paid it any attention.
Tears were burning behind his eyes but he wouldn't let them fall. It had been years since the last time he cried and he wouldn't do it now. Not here, not when he was a prisoner to the Templars. He wasn't a boy anymore who didn't understand the world, he was a grown man and yet he wanted to curl up into a tiny ball and weep.
It was too early. It was too early for him to deal with all of this shit when Kadar has been dead for not even two years now. It'd be always too early. His brother's dead was something Malik would probably never be able to deal with.
Before he fell asleep because of exhaustion, his last thoughts went back to Solomon's Temple and like Malik had foreseen, his nightmares were back, worse than ever before.
+++
“Malik...”
Why? Why couldn't he get his peace? Malik was awake now and it was still dark and his sleep hadn't been a blessing and he felt actually more exhausted than he had before. He'd been dreaming about Kadar, about his dead eyes staring up at him with blood running down his lips and throat. And now... now he was hearing somebody calling his name and he wasn't even dreaming. Did he start hallucinating now? Maybe Robert had hit him harder than Malik would like to admit...
“Brother.” There it was again and Malik lifted his head this time. Was that... Kadar's voice?
“I know you're not dead Malik, now come on!”
No... no, it wasn't Kadar's voice.
Malik groaned, too tired to keep his head up, too worn out to move at all.
“Shut up”, he grumbled and his body might still be too broken for him to move, but his mind finally broke free from its stupor.
He'd dreamed about his brother and it reminded Malik of the time after he had returned to Masyaf, bedridden and with the doctors standing around him, not knowing what to do with his arm until they finally told him that they would have to take it in order to save his life. He hadn't care about it back then but when his arm was gone, Malik had wished he would have died. When he had looked at his stump for the very first time he had also realized for the first time what he had lost. His brother, his arm, his title as an assassin... and somewhere in between the sorrow about the loss of his brother and arm, Altair's name had pushed through. He'd also lost him. A friend from his childhood days, a brother, a fellow assassin. Gone. All of it had been gone. The only thing which had kept him alive back then was his iron will to seek revenge. Later though Malik had come to realization that he was physically not in the condition to get his revenge. He wasn't able to face Robert like this. He was no fool. Malik didn't actually believe that he could kill the man with only one arm. He was still a good fighter, no doubt about that. But he wouldn't have a chance against the Templar.
“Would you prefer me leaving you here?” The voice sounded mocking and under great pain, Malik turned his head and looked towards the bars of his cell. He mouthed the word 'What' but no sound was able to move past his lips. There was a figure in the room next to him, hovering in the shadows, staring at him with bright amber eyes.
This – this must be clearly a product of his imagination and Malik slipped his eyes shut again. Just a moment of peace – that was all he really wanted. Nothing more. A nice moment of peace. But now he was starting to see things and Altair was one of the last persons he'd like to see right now.
“Go away”, he murmured. “You're not real”, he added in a broken whisper because he knew he was lying to himself. Altair was probably the only person he'd like to see right now because Altair was the only person who could get him out of this mess. He wouldn't trust anybody else with such a task. Such a long time had passed without Malik thinking of him. Why would he anyway? If he would walk back the chain of events, Malik was certain he would came to the conclusion that it was Altair's fault anyway. After all, it had started with Solomon's Temple, hadn't it? Probably much more earlier too...
He could hear the rattling of steel and the loud squeak of a door being pushed open. Again, he cracked one eye open and he saw the shadow moving across the walls until it stopped in front of his door. The eyes were burning at him and reminded Malik once more of a demon. He was delusional, he knew that. A thin layer of sweat covered his skin and he was shaking with cold. A sharp inhale of breath came from the shadow and pierced the silence surrounding them. “Fuck, you're a mess...”
“Leave me alone Altair”, Malik groaned again and managed to lift his hand to rub his temple. “I don't need another ghost of my past haunting me.”
Another rattling and Malik's cell door opened. His eye moved and he saw the shadow standing in the door. Since when could hallucinations move things? Malik didn't care about his protesting body but pushed himself up on one arm as he rolled onto his side.
The shadow took a step forward and came to a stop underneath the silvery light of the moon shinning through the small window. “I'm not going away, Malik. Not without you”, Altair murmured quietly and knelt in front of him, his fingers running across his skin and shoulder. Malik hissed in pain and Altair did as well. “You look bad”, he said in a hushed voice so he wouldn't draw attention. “Can you walk?”
Malik blinked with his eyes a couple of times and had a difficult time to form an answer. “I-- no”, he tried to shook his head but in the end it hurt so much that he laid flat against the ground again. His world started spinning again.
Altair nudged his shoulder gently. “You have to get up, we don't have much time. The guards won't take forever changing shifts.”
Malik just laid still not moving at all but was focusing on breathing. He felt like throwing up and a second later, he actually did. He managed to roll on his side again just in time, his back facing Altair and his shoulders heaving heavily. “Go... you stupid novice”, Malik whispered hoarsely. “I'm in no condition to walk... you should have just leave me here instead of risking your life coming after me...”
“Shut up Malik”, and he did, maybe a bit surprised that Altair would chose to overhear his insult and everything else he just said.
“I get you out of here.”
Malik turned his head back at Altair, looking at him with his one healthy eye. He wanted to believe his words, he really did – but Altair didn't know that Robert had put Malik in a much worse prison than the one he was currently held captive at. The worst prison was his own mind and Malik doubted Altair could get him out of there.
[I hope OP likes this so far ^^]