Handmade Beginnings

Fanfiction by Krystal Shepard

I am taking creative license with the time spent in the warehouse, Monteriggioni, and after Desmond woke up in Revelations. I have not seen the endings to any of the games, so this is completely my own imagination. If anyone has written anything like this story, then I apologize. I have not read your story, and I did not mean to make it like yours.

-thisisaline-

Desmond glanced around at the small room he was given. His first day back in the Animus certainly went better than any other time in Abstergo. Luckily, he was allowed to exit it soon after entering Rebecca's "Baby," which was when he was shown right across the room to where his bed was.

Behind a glass fence.

In the same room as the damn thing.

'God damn my life.' Desmond shook his head as he shrugged out of his hoodie, leaving him in his dark gray tee shirt and his ever present jeans. 'He already hates me enough.' Desmond scratched the back of his head as he sat down on the slightly more comfortable, but not by much, bed than what he was once sleeping on.

"Hey Dez," a familiar feminine voice said. Desmond looked over his shoulder, considering he was facing away from the Animus section of the room. Lucy was leaning against the glass fence, a smile on her face. Desmond smiled back at her. He always found her so easy to look at, although he was not interested in her other than the feelings a brother would have. "Can I come over?"

Desmond only jerked his head, not really feeling in the mood for talking. His back and arms actually felt like he has been free running across Florence. Luckily, Lucy knew what the head jerk was about, and opened the door into his little, completely open room. "What do you need, Luce?" he asked quietly as she walked to his side of the room. Lucy shook her head as she sat down next to him.

"It's nice to see you interacting with them. And you seem to be handling Shaun decently." Desmond raised an eyebrow.

"You mean he's always that much of an ass?" Lucy gave a lady-like snort in response. Desmond shook his head at that. "Well then, I will keep that in mind." They stayed in silence for several minutes, until Desmond finally got uncomfortable. "Anything I can do for you, Lucy?" The blonde woman shrugged.

"Just wanting to know how you want to deal with the Bleeding Effect. It can really fuck with your mind, and... I just want to make sure we don't make the same mistake." That last part was said softer than the rest, and Desmond did a double take when looking at her. 'Shit, this has happened before? No wonder...' However, Desmond decided to keep his large trap shut. This Subject Sixteen seemed to be a rough spot in Lucy's past during her stay in Abstergo, and he did not want to make it worse. So, instead of focusing on that, he decided to think about her suggestion.

"...what do you mean?" he asked hesitantly, golden amber eyes glancing over at the female next to him. Lucy chuckled slightly and elbowed him in the ribs.

"You know, something constructive. Something that you can place all the memories and feelings into, other than your own mind," she said, a small smile on her lips. Desmond hummed, thinking the idea over. Lucy took his silence minutes later as an acceptance, considering he got a hand on his shoulder and a, "Get some sleep, all right?" Desmond absently nodded his head, mind still in the idea Lucy had blossomed.

"Hey Lucy?" He knew the blonde turned to him without having to look at her. "I think I have an idea… Can I have something along the lines of old clothes, a needle, and some thread?" Desmond almost felt her confused look.

"Um, I'll see what I can dig up," she said slowly. Desmond nodded his thanks, and stayed where he was as Lucy walked out. He smiled at the idea he had in mind, and shook his head at the thought of making the first set he had made back in the Farm again. 'Just focus on getting through the Bleeding Effect.' With that, he settled down on the bed, and drifted off to sleep.

-thisisaline-

It had been about a week since his conversation with Lucy, and Desmond had already managed to get through three of his little ideas. His hoard of clothes was hidden in the corner behind his bed, and the three plushies that he had made were often times hurriedly shoved into the pile. Currently, however, he was making a plush that would never be used for anything but stress relief.

He poked his needle through a fabric eye, pretending like the plush was the actual person. It was actually rather close to the actual person, even though he had barely seen him for very long during his imprisonment in Abstergo. His back was turned to the rest of the room, giving him a little privacy while he mutilated the finished Vidic plush.

"Desmond, what are you doing?"

He jumped and shot a glance over his shoulder. Lucy was standing against the glass fence, a confused look on her face as she tried to see what was in his hands. A smile broke out over his face, and he did a little head jerk to invite her in. He only cryptically told her, "Anger management."

Lucy walked over to join him, and nearly broke out into laughter at the sight of the Vidic plushie with a needle sticking out of its eye. "You actually had a reason for all of the clothes and thread. And… can I have a stab at it?" Desmond nodded, waiting for Lucy to sit down next to him before handing her the voodoo doll. She reached for a pair of scissors – the safety kind that you gave little kids of course – and was beginning to cut off one of his arms.

"Luce, what…?" Desmond began to ask, but saw the spark in Lucy's eyes as the arm fell to the floor.

"Anger management."

Silence reigned between them for several seconds, before they both got evil grins on their faces. A needle was passed to Lucy, and they both started relieving the stress from the past few weeks.

-thisisaline-

Shaun raised an eyebrow at a small box that Lucy was hurriedly carrying into the van. "Do I even want to know what that is?" he asked as he carried part of Rebecca's equipment to the van as well.

"Extra files I stole and printed out from Abstergo. Figured that we should know everything there is about our enemy," was her reply before hurrying off, most likely to help Rebecca with loading the Animus onto the van with everything else. Shaun barely watched after her, his thoughts swirling through his mind.

Lucy and Desmond had been acting rather suspicious lately. Desmond had been hiding something, and the one time he glanced behind Desmond's bed he saw a huge pile of old clothes pushed into a corner. And even then, Lucy practically yelled at him to give Desmond some privacy (despite the fact that the younger man had been in the Animus at the time). The two of them were hiding something from him and Rebecca, and Shaun was intent on figuring it out.

After they had moved. Of course, even then he most likely wouldn't find out about it.

-thisisaline-

It had been nearly a month since they moved into the old Auditore Villa, and they finally had found where Ezio had hidden his Apple of Eden. A quick trip to Rome later had the team sneaking into the Coliseum, with Desmond searching for the entrance to the Vault underneath the others. Shaun was not all that happy about the set up, but he knew that none of them would be able to follow him through the free run course underneath him. He still had not figured out what Lucy and Desmond had been hiding, but now it did not exactly matter. They were close to finding the Apple, and once Desmond opened the door, they were going to be in the clear.

At least, that's what he hoped.

Shaun looked around the Vault once they were inside. The odd blue light lit the entire room rather well; it was like they were not underground at all. He glanced over at Desmond, seeing him, Lucy, and Rebecca walking up to the pedestal where Ezio had deposited the Apple hundreds of years ago. Shaun forced a deep breath through his lungs to stop an excited feeling from being vocalized. He was in the same room as someone who had changed history; he had every right to have a little excitement flow through his veins.

Shaun quickly followed the others up to the pedestal, and watched with wary eyes as Desmond reached for the glowing orb sitting on top of it. After that, he did not know exactly how it happened, but Lucy was on the ground, blood seeping out of a wound in her chest, and Desmond was staring at her like he could not believe what was happening. "Luce," slipped out of the younger man's lips before he collapsed himself, the Apple rolling out of his hand. Shaun reacted immediately, moving over to Desmond while Rebecca dealt with Lucy.

"Lucy! Lucy!" the tech was yelling, hands pressed against the blood stained shirt, trying to stem the bleeding. The blonde whispered something to Rebecca that Shaun didn't hear correctly, and while he checked all of Desmond's vitals, he kept an eye on the blood stained hidden blade still out on the younger man's forearm. Rebecca's sobs filled the air, and Shaun gritted his teeth.

Lucy was dead.

And Desmond was the one who did it.

-thisisaline-

Desmond slowly awoke to the sound of familiar voices. He had spent forever in the Black Room with Clay, and knew that he was going to be the next plushie that Desmond made. Now, though, there were three voices surrounding him, and Desmond tried to force his eyes to focus on the people the voices belonged to. They just would not focus.

"Desmond, son, you're all right," he heard his father say, and Desmond turned his head to where his father's voice came from. "Rebecca, his eyes aren't focusing."

"I know, William. Trying to unlink him from the biological interface now."

Desmond sighed silently. He was back where he belonged, and with news that the people around him were not going to like.

At least he had finished all of Ezio's set of plushies.