Memento
Mori
by
JustShotMarvin
Author's Note: Okay, this was inspired by my love of dicking around in Assassin's Creed, which I'm quite good at. Anyway, messing around in Damascus and suddenly one of my informers asks me something strange. (This is an approximation, because my memory sucks.)
"Have you found Ada yet? No? Don't worry, my friend. You will find her some day."
Has no one else noticed this? I know what I heard because after I failed that mission (fucking lepers), I went back to the informant and he said the same damn thing. Twice. Yes, I am inept at certain kinds of informer missions. The point here is that Altair had a girlfriend. Maybe. I say she's his girlfriend. Whatever. It's a good excuse to write a fic.
Summary: "He's been looking for her for a long time." (Post-Game. Hinted DesmondxLucy.)
Disclaimer:I do not own Assassin's Creed, Desmond, Altair, et al. If I did, there would be far more of Desmond and Altair without pants, let me assure you.
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File
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She
His heart-rate had spiked to dangerous levels.
It couldn't have been her.
He was gasping for breath, like someone had just put their foot on his throat.
What would she be doing here?
"What the hell is happening, Ms. Stillman!?"
It couldn't really be her. He'd been traveling too long, fighting too hard, his mind was playing tricks on him.
"I-I don't know! Something's gone wrong! I'm pulling him out!"
He thought she was dead...
"ADA!"
Lucy stumbled away from her console with slightly wide eyes. The moment the Animus' screen had pulled away from Desmond, the young man shot up with a shout, eyes wide, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He was agonizingly aware of the fact that he was shaking, badly, and his heart hurt like someone had just run a dull blade through it.
"D-Desmond?" Lucy squeaked out, just as surprised by the young man's outburst as he was. She took a slight step forward, fingers reaching out to touch at his shoulder. "Are you okay?" It took him a moment more to get his bearings righted and, for a moment, Lucy was certain he had no idea where he was. Then the memories returned to him and dark eyes peered over his shoulder. A weak smile hit his lips and Lucy seemed to immediately relax, hand slipping away from him.
"Yeah, Lucy... I... I'm fine," he murmured, running a hand over his dark, closely cropped hair.
"What the hellwas that!?" Both turned to look at Warren Vidic, the older man absolutely livid at this turn of events. Desmond managed to smile, while Lucy just chewed on her lower lip, probably wondering the same thing as her boss. "What the hell did you do!?"
"Like I know? I don't remember anything!" Desmond bit back, rubbing at his forehead. "All I know is he started... freaking out." Lucy gave him a confused look, and the bartender shrugged some, looking down at his hands. It was hard to put into words. All he knew was that his ancestor, and by extension, Desmond, started to hurt everywhere. The thoughts running through Altair's mind had been frantic, panicked. For the first time, Desmond couldn't find any trace of his ancestor thinking about his mission.
"Well, Ms. Stillman? What did he do?" Vidic asked Lucy testily, tapping his foot on the floor. Fingernails clicked on the keyboard of her computer and, after a moment, Lucy fell silent. She just sort of stared at the computer, at the face staring back at her.
"He... Altair, I mean... He had a strong emotional response and it bled over to Desmond. I guess Desmond wasn't ready for such a reaction."
"No shit," Desmond muttered dryly, leaning back on his palms. His heart was still hammering away inside his chest. Dark eyes fell shut and he drew in a deep breath of air, trying to quell his tremors. He could almost feel the annoyance radiating off of Vidic, and somewhere in the back of his head, he wanted to thank his ancestor for giving him yet another way to bother the "good doctor." He opened his eyes just in time to see Vidic throw his hands into the air and storm off to the back of his room, falling back into his desk chair.
"Can we get back to what we were doing, Ms. Stillman?" Vidic barked from his seat, chin resting on his knuckles. Lucy rolled her blue eyes and spun around to face Vidic, nodding back to Desmond.
"Hold up one second, Warren. He almost has a heart attack and the first thing you want to do is throw him back in there!" Another agitated shout from Vidic that went ignored. As Lucy turned to look at "Subject 17," she smiled almost motherly, moving away from him. "Let me get you some water or something before we put you back in the Animus, all right?"
The young man gave a weak nod of his head, mouthing a quiet "thanks" to his only ally in this god forsaken place. There was the sound of her shoes tapping softly on the cold floors as she made her way to the break room, finally leaving Desmond to his thoughts. (Vidic was too busy being angry at him to bother Desmond right now, thank god.)
His eyes lifted from where they were staring a hole into the floor, to Lucy's computer. She had been looking over the memory a moment ago, hadn't she? A rough hand reached out and rest on the laptop, turning it to face himself. On the screen, the image paused, was a woman. Bright green eyes set into sun-kissed skin stared back at him from behind wild black hair. She was pretty--
The most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
Ugh. A hand reached up to press against his forehead. He was out of the Animus. Why couldn't Altair leave him alone? He shut the laptop abruptly, hiding the girl from him, and continued trying to force that buzz out of his head. Ever since he'd reached "full synchronization" with his long-dead ancestor, he'd been... seeing things. Hearing things.
"I thought she was dead..."
"Shut up, old man," he murmured, rubbing at his temples. He didn't want to hear these things, didn't want to think these things. If he did, then that meant he was going nuts, like "Subject 16" or whatever, and if he completely snapped then--
"Desmond?" He jerked out of his thoughts, eyes falling on Lucy's slim frame. She was staring at him, that worry and fear still written on her face, like she was afraid of the same thing as he was. "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe we should just call it quits for the day."
An annoyed snort from Vidic, who was sitting near his window, looking irritated. Desmond looked over his shoulder at the abrasive older man, rolling dark brown eyes. He gratefully took the glass of water Lucy handed him, taking a sip and grinning at her some.
"It's cool, Lucy," he murmured, shaking his head. "I'll be fine. Just give me a second." The young woman didn't look convinced, brow still knitted together some. After a moment more, though, she gave a weak sigh and strode away from him, moving to her computer. She quirked a brow when she saw the screen had been closed, opening it back up, staring at the woman looking back at her.
"Pretty girl," she found herself commenting absently.
"Her name's Ada."
Blue eyes looked over at the bartender sitting on the edge of the Animus. His eyes were distant, glazed over, like he was lost in his own head. Lucy bit the inside of her cheek, feeling herself shake a little at the sight in front of her. He seemed so far away, voice quiet and lacking the usual bite that usually filled Desmond's words.
"She's really... really important to him." His brow was twisted in thought, jaw clenching some.
"I'd give anything to see her again."
"Desmond...?"
He felt like he didn't have any control over what he was saying, but hehad to say it. If he didn't, then the thoughts were going to swallow him whole, crash down on him like a tidal wave, and he'd lose everything that made him who he was.
"He's been looking for her for a long time."
And that scared the hell out of him.
"Desmond--!"
The dark eyed young man jumped, snapping out of whatever trance he'd been pulled into, losing his grip on his glass as he did. There was a resounding crash that echoed through the testing room, jerking Vidic out of his brooding, the older man swearing up and down. He whirled on the two, his last nerve finally gone, standing from his desk chair.
"All right, that's enough. You've had your little break, Mr. Miles, now it's back to work!" he barked out, storming over to the Animus. A brow lifted at the glass on the floor and he gave an irritated sort of snort. "I trust one of you will be cleaning that up once we're done here today?" No response. They both seemed to have their minds on other things. "No matter. Ms. Stillman, get the Animus up and running."
"But... Warren..."
"Ms. Stillman, if you don't get this godforsaken machine online in the next minute, I'll get someone else in here and I doubt they'll be as sweet to our little test subject as you are. Is that clear?!" Lucy bristled with indignation, but managed to nod. Vidic gave a sigh, obviously having worked his anger out of his system, and smiled a shit-eating sort of grin Desmond's way. The young man was glaring at him hatefully, hands balled up at his sides.
"Now, now, don't look at me like that, Mr. Miles," Vidic chuckled, straightening his tie as he walked away from them. "We've still got much to do and I need you to be cooperative. So lie down, shut up, and let's get to work."
Desmond felt a snarl cross his lips, for once doing nothing to repress Altair's own murderous desires. However, Abstergo had the weapons and all Desmond had were his wits (and even those seemed to be failing him lately). With that in mind, he laid down on the table, watching the screen stretch in front of his eyes, the menus opening up above him.
"I'm gonna start you off a few minutes before you saw 'Ada,' okay Desmond? So you'll be ready for your ancestor's freak-out when he sees her," Lucy explained, her voice quieter than usual. Desmond gave a soft sigh, nodding a little as he listened to the sound of Lucy entering commands into the system.
"Ready?"
It didn't matter whether he was or not because a moment later, the whole word went white.
.tbc.
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Author's Note: And so it begins. More Altair next chapter, and of course, Ada. I really like writing these characters, which is a first, honestly. I don't think I struggled with their characterizations at all. It all just kind of flowed. It was nice, actually! Drop a review and tell me if you think they're in character or what. See you next chapter!
