T1: maa, maa, sorry, i wasn't planning on writing anything before i played the game, but my impatience got the best of me...

Assassins Creed

Learn by Sight: 1 Little Brat

"Desmond, you brought that kid again?"

Desmond Miles smiled weakly.

"No, school," he adjusted the child on his back, "the little sucker didn't want to tell me about the parent-teacher meeting at his school."

"The school that has something wrong every week right?" "…It's every other week."

The other man rolled his eyes, "When is that place going to just close down? Eatin' up our taxes."

Desmond grimaced at the thought of the school closing down. He laughed weakly.

"I hope not…"

"Why don't you just send him to a better school? There's plenty 'round-"

"I like the privacy of small, secluded school…Anyway, do you mind?"

Aaron waved him off, "Whatever, not like any of the customers mind ever."

The dark haired man gave a quick thanks and hurried to the back room, which led to a short hallway. The employees bathroom was at the end, an office at the left and a small dressing room on the right. The public restroom was on the other end of the bar, none of the employees wanted to hear any retching or other sounds being made in the stalls…

He turned into the office and put the sleeping twelve year old on a couch and covered him with his hoodie. Desmond pushed the boy's bangs out of his face. At one point he had wondered if taking the kid with him had been the right thing. The twenty five year old pinched his brothers nose. The sleeper frowned and swatted at his hand. Desmond shook his head and fixed the hoodie over his sibling. He knew he couldn't have left him there in that desert.

Kind of funny that the kid's name meant free.

He flicked the sleeper's forehead once before turning and leaving the office.

"Hey, Des," the boy tugged on the end of his older brother's hoodie. Desmond looked down at him while they walked. His little brother was a little bit off from what you expected of a boy his age. For one, he had a thin figure that they could never really get rid of. He was almost feminine…almost. He also needed a haircut. The kid could probably tie that mop up. Besides getting picked on for his…figure, he got picked on for his knack at doing things on his first time. Something even Desmond was a little envious of at times--he never told his brother of course.

"What's up, kiddo?"

He pointed out in front of them at the motorcycle a little ways away.

"Can I drive?"

Desmond stopped walking to stare at his little brother before laughing out loud. He pulled the kid under his arm, causing his own white hood to hide his face, and gave the boy a noogie.

"UGH! Stop it!" he complained.

Like the man would let a twelve year old drive his motorcycle…one he had to renew his license for five months prior.

"Ha, Fran, you little brat," he rustled his hair even more, ignoring the obvious distaste towards the action. He set the boy down, who immediately crossed his arms and scowled at his older brother with as much distaste as a twelve year could emanate. Desmond couldn't help but smirk.

It might have been because the kid's hoodie was covering half of his face and random locks of hair were sticking out from underneath it.

"Don't call me Fran anymore! The teacher called me FLAN the other day!"

"On accident?"

"I don't know!" he cried out.

Desmond's eyes suddenly darted behind his little brother. A man in black was standing at the end of the parking lot.

Suspicious.

"Okay, okay, Ace," he said using the boy's first name, "How's this, I'll race you to the bike."

The boy's face brightened at the suggestion.

"I'll beat you," he declared, getting ready to run.

"Ha ha, right," Desmond looked around. The man in black had started to walk over.

He felt the tension rising, but he wouldn't let Ace know.

"One…" he started slowly. Ace bent down, mimicking the track runners he'd seen before on television.

"Two…" The suspicious man had caught on. Desmond rushed out a quick 'three' and bolted. Normally he would have let the kid win, but they weren't exactly in the best situation. He made only a small note of Ace's declaration of his deception, instead making sure he could hear the sound of his sneakers hitting the asphalt.

The man in black started to run towards them. So he was targeting them. Desmond wasn't too worried, he knew they'd make it in ti- His head shot back.

Ace had fallen.

Desmond cursed under his breath, this could get a little dangerous. He faked a laugh to cover the fact that he was running harder.

"C'mon, Ace! At this rate I've already won!"

The bartender jumped into his seat and quickly jammed the keys into ignition. He chucked a helmet at the boy, who was already up on his feet. Ace caught the helmet and looked confused at his brother. He saw Desmond already had his helmet on and understood, he pulled his on as well and clicked the buckle under his chin.

Desmond pulled out in front of him and Ace quickly hopped on. He barely had a chance to grab on to Desmond's waist as he suddenly sped off.

"Des! What was that for?"

Desmond didn't want to be involved in anything besides a normal life. He swiftly picked up a lie.

"I really have to go."

Ace frowned, not that Desmond could see.

"That never made you have to speed off like that, you coulda just-"

"I didn't want to while some random man was watching."

"Oh, the guy running after us?"

"…" the kid was a little too observant maybe, "What do you want to eat?"

"Fooood."

The siblings ended up getting some fast food to eat back at their apartment.

Desmond slowed to a stop and set his foot down. He shut the engine off and pulled his helmet off.

"Still got everything?" he asked referring to the brown bag of food.

"Unless it flew away or something, it's all here," Ace said. He looked into the bag and frowned.

The older brother got off and peaked into the bag.

"What's wrong?"

Ace looked up, a frown still on his face, "They gave us onion rings--"

And that was the last thing Desmond Miles heard that night.

"Would you like a drink?"

The boy refused to move. Lucy Stillman groaned and rubbed her temples. This was not in her job description. No one was expecting Mr. Miles to have a kid with him, his son maybe?

"Where is he?" he asked stiffly, as if he had taken a long time to carefully piece together his question. Well, the kid was smart, Lucy guessed, the two probably had been used to hiding for a while as well.

"He's…taking a nap," she said just as carefully, but obviously much, more smoothly.

The boy's face hardened. The woman watched him clench his fists, the creases on his jeans becoming more bold from where he was gripping. He pulled his legs closer to himself. Of course he knew she wouldn't tell him anything.

"So, um, what's your name, kid?"

"None of your beeswax."

Lucy Stillman sighed and refrained from slapping her forehead. They really didn't have any solid facts on the kid. The lab took his fingerprint and nothing came up. When they looked into the schools in the area under 'Mr. Miles' they found a child under 'Fran Miles,' but the boy had no written records in any hospital.

It was like his parents had forgotten to register him.

"I'm Lucy Stillman," she held out her hand. He stubbornly ignored it.

The light haired woman sighed and stood up. She made her way to the mechanical door turned to look at him again.

"If you need anything, someone will be back in a little while."

He didn't move, "Where is he?"

Lucy shook her head, turned, and quickly put in the code to unlock the door. She wouldn't be able to get the kid to say anything more for now. The metal door slid open with a muted hiss. When she turned around, the boy was watching her-- no he was watching the keypad.

The door slid shut and all she saw was his intense eyes on the door.

She blinked just as a man was being carried in. Subject 17, Desmond Miles. She pointed to the machinery sitting in the center of the room.

"Set him down," she frowned and added 'gently' when she saw he was about to be roughly thrown on the Animus.

"Alright," another man walked in. "Let's get this party started."

"Vidic," Lucy reluctantly greeted.

Warren Vidic looked at the door leading to the subject quarters. Something wicked flashed past his eyes.

"I heard we got ourselves double jeopardy."

Lucy, who was fixing Mr. Miles' position on the Animus, stopped and shot a look at the Abstergo man.

"He's an adolescent. There's no way we can put him on the Animus."

"That's not up to you, Miss Stillman," he waved her off, "Anyway, start it up already."

Lucy frowned deeply, "Yes, sir."

She got back to setting the unlucky man on the Animus when his arm shot out.

Desmond Miles had woken up.

He cursed loudly and pushed Lucy away. The man rolled off the Animus and stood up quickly. He stood tense between Vidic and Lucy. He gave the Animus only a breath's glance.

"Where is he?" he demanded.

Lucy recognized that question in a heartbeat. It was the same one his son kept asking.

"Where is he?" he demanded louder.

"Now, now, Demond," Vidic stood from his seat and smiled, "No need to get testy."

He glared at Vidic. It seemed even this stranger could tell how much of an ass Vidic was at first sight.

"Desmond," Lucy started. His eyes darted to her.

"You don't have to worry," his fists tightened at the possibility of something having happened to the boy.

"I promise you, your son is safe."

Confusion flashed on his face.

"Son?"

A tranquilizer hit his arm. The man let out a hiss and pulled it out. He glared at the assailant, Vidic, before falling unconscious.

"Well, that could have gone better," Vidic said.

"Lucy stared at the fallen man. The look she had been given at mentioning his son's safety had shocked her; smothered in her blood a fear. Now that his eyes were closed, she had to work, fear or not.

"Now come on Miss Stillman, we don't have all day. That tranquilizer should run off in an hour or two."

Ace frowned at him. "I don't like onions…"

"Pff, why not?"

"They make me nau-nauzu."

"Nauseous?"

"Yeah, that."

He laughed and pinched the nine year old boy's nose, "I'll make sure we don't get any onions next time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I promise."

The memory had been quickly interrupted, another quickly taking his place. A foreign one. One he didn't recognize at all. It wasn't even set in a familiar area. Where was the place? India? Arabia? Was he in the Animus?

Where was Ace?

A slight panic grew in him. He couldn't find Ace. The kid wasn't beside him and despite his attempts, his memory wouldn't let him look for him. Was it even his memory? It had to be a dream.

He didn't recognize it. He didn't want it. He didn't need it. He needed to find his baby brother.

"Hey, buddy, you okay?"

Ace opened his eyes. Desmond was sitting by the bed. The boy rubbed his eyes. His chin touched his chest as he yawned. He sluggishly rolled his head to the side to look at his brother as he exhaled.

"Did I miss the bus?" he mumbled, forgetting what had happened. Then suddenly he sat straight up. How could he have forgotten?

"Desmond!" he exclaimed slamming his hands down on the mattress.

"Nice to see you too, Ace," Desmond said.

Ace flung his arms around his older brother and sobbed.

"I thought they were pulling out your organs or something, like- like the bloody maiden--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Desmond pulled the twelve year old off of him and stared at him, "My organs? A bloody maiden? And sheesh, why are you crying like a baby?"

Ace hiccupped and furiously wiped his tears.

"You jerk! I was really scared!"

Desmond's eyes softened -just slightly- after seeing his little brother break down. It was nice to see the kid be a kid. The moment he had shown potential for walking at five months their parents dropped the normal parents façade and cracked down on him like the other boys years older than him. It took a long while for Ace to get used to the idea that he didn't have to train everyday for his parents. It was nice to see that he could be a kid…but right now, if they didn't get out he'd be stuck here for however long Abstergo wanted them there.

Desmond abruptly pulled the boy into his chest and obnoxiously patted his back.

"It's all good, Franny. You can cry on your big brother's shoulder whenever you want to!"

"UGH! St-Stop it!" Ace cried out suddenly very embarrassed.

"You jerk!"

let me know if have any facts wrong or anythin please~

r&r