I look down. I watch as my leather spaldered boots become Jordans. "Hey, Michael." Lucy smiles down at me. She has one of the warmest smiles I've ever seen, however they never seem to reach her eyes. There's always a trace of sadness in the carribean blue a long with some guilt. I'm not sure why. I have a feeling it's better that I don't know. "Where's Vidic?" I ask as I sit up from the Animus. Her near perfect features are shadowed by a deep stress. She sighs and merely shakes her head. " I don't know.." It's a lie, of course. I know her too well to think otherwise. We lock eyes, she knows I know she's lying. "I'm sorry, Michael. He's out.. recruiting." I flinch inwardly. "So.. I've expired." Lucy scrambles to answer, "No! No! Don't talk like that.. please.. you don't know that. Maybe-" I cut her off. "No, Lucy. He's replaced me. I can't give him what he wants, can I? There's a missing link between Noah and Ezio. Altair, I can't access him. But Subject.. 17 can. I can't do this, Lucy. I can't let him win either. He won't be the one to end this. I will. Lucy, I love you. I wish I could've lasted longer. For you, for .. Leila." A mixture of pain, anger, and jealously flare in Lucy's eyes. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned Leila. Leila Marino. My.. well if things weren't like this she probably would be with me. There was an incident with Lucy a while back that created a few.. problems. I don't know how it happened. Vidic sent her into my room to warn me about snooping around after hours. To keep me within my boundaries, to threaten me. To scare me. That wasn't really what happened. I'm even sure what happened.. well I know what happened I'm just not sure how. We fought, the arguement got heated. We were shoving, she was scratching and slapping. I said a few choice things. And then we tripped backwards onto my bed. We got a little carried away. We stopped it in time and Lucy left quickly. Vidic asked her what took her so long and she merely said the problem was "taken care of". True enough, I was very intimate with her for a good amount of time. I certainly wasn't fighting with her anymore. She paid me more "visits" in the middle of the night. Then Leila came into the picture. Leila and I actually went farther, much much farther. I didn't just want her. No, I fell in love. I still am in love. She loves me too. I guess I forgot about Lucy.. though we still have a certain tension between us. She hasn't forgiven me. Now she won't have the chance to. "I'm sorry.." I mumured softly. I reached for her but she stepped back. "Fine." I got up and walked around a little until she told me to go to bed. "You should get some sleep, Michael." I took the hint and cleared out. I had a lot to think about obviously. Sleep didn't come easily and just as I was about to get there, the door to my room slid open. Alarned by the fact that I was quite sure it was Vidic come to kill me I jumped up and braced myself for a fight. A slim, curved figure stood before me instead. Lucy raced over to me and crushed her lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around her waist tightly. We kissed for what seemed like hours. Our hands moved quite a bit but that was it. She pressed her face into my chest and we just stood there for a while. There was nothing more to be said, we both knew that. I was going to be killed tomorrow, the agony in her eyes told me all I needed to know. I didn't wait for her. I made the move. The sex led us into dawn. She rolled out of bed and hastily moved into the main room. Vidic didn't kill me as I thought he would. He decided to get everything he could out of me. He locked me in for days and days. A year. I came out trapped in the Animus. Leila cried and cried. I tried hard to hold her. Kiss her. Be with her. It only worked for a few minutes at most and only then she was Cristina. Lucy was emotionless. She didn't speak, didn't look at me, just went through the motions. I was driven insane. I overheard Vidic conspiring with Lucy to kill me. Leila was in the room as well. She was openly weeping. I was too. Leila, Leila, Leila. Oh, how I loved her. Tomorrow was it. They were bringing Subject 17 in. I wouldn't let this happen to him too. I would save him from the same fate as I. I would save his life. We would get revenge together and uncover the real truth. As my doors rolled shut for the last time, I broke the lightbulb of my lamp and started the cutting. I carefully made the symbols, pictures, and messages across the wall. I became weak as I ran out of space in my chambers. I walked into the main room. I made final texts around the Animus that had stole my sanity and dragged my body into my room. I died on my floor. As my vision blurred I swear I could hear a gunshot.