This was pretty much brought upon by my playing Assassin's Creed 2 non-stop for two days and managed to finish it. That, combined with watching South Park as soon as I was finished, inspired this story. (On a different note, I have officially decided on going as Ezio de Auditore for A-Kon 2011. ^.^ Yaay!)

((Oh yes, there are some spoilers for Assassin's Creed 2. Just a warning.))

…South Park, Colorado: 2012...

Stan sighed heavily as he crossed his arms across his chest, clad in the brown jacket that was just slightly too big for his frame, and leaned back against the side of the J-Mart. His mother, Sharon had dropped him off there before she had to go to work. He couldn't wait until next month, his sixteenth birthday. Finally, he'd be able to get his driver's license and get a car. He wouldn't have to worry about his mother and father carting him around everywhere. There would be some amount of freedom! He did a quick fist pump into the air in early celebration. Finally!

Upon hearing some passing girls giggling at him, he cleared his throat and tried pulling his dark blue hat down far enough to cover his face, to no avail. All that did was make him look more foolish while causing strands of his short black hair to fall in front of his face. He really needed a haircut. Maybe he could convince Kyle to go to the barber while they were hanging out. Speaking of Kyle, where was his best friend?

Stan looked at the watch on his left wrist and sighed again. Kyle should've been there by now, he was almost ten minutes late. It was unlike him. "Dammit Kyle, where are you?" His eyes swept the parking lot in front of him, looking for his friend without any luck.

After another five minutes, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open to call Kyle. Right before he pressed the call button on the contact in his phone marked "Kyle B," someone in a large white hoodie that hung loosely off of his torso and tight blue jeans hit the ground in a crouch, his white sneakers made a loud smack as he landed.

Stan jumped into the air and nearly dropped his cell phone because of the sudden surprise. "What the fuck?"

The figure turned to face Stan and pulled back the hood covering his face to show a teen with curled shoulder length red hair and a soft, rounded face. A smile graced his features. "Hey there Stan. Sorry I'm late, but I, uh, got caught up at work."

Stan put his hand on his chest where it felt like his heart was pounding fast against his ribcage. "Kyle? Why did you jump off of the roof like that?" He demanded.

Kyle scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "What're you talking about? I didn't jump off of the roof."

"But I saw–"

"Come on, let's go." The redhead grabbed his best friend's wrist and drug him inside of the J-Mart. "I need to pick up something for lunch, then we can go back to my place." He picked up a TV dinner out of one of the freezers and smiled at Stan. "You want anything?"

"Uh, no. So," Stan looked at the hoodie Kyle was wearing oddly, "what's up with the white hoodie? I've never seen you wear it before."

"My jacket's dirty, so I just grabbed something out of dad's closet." It was an obvious lie, Kyle was never good at lying.

Stan raised an eyebrow. Even though he didn't believe his best friend's excuse for a second, he knew he only lied if it was necessary. He wasn't going to question it. "Right… Anyway, could we stop by the barber? I need my hair cut like you wouldn't–"

"No!" The look in Kyle's eyes became angered, wild, and concerned all at once. Stan didn't even know that the redhead could look like that. "Stay away from him Stan!" He grabbed onto his friend's shoulders roughly. "Promise me you won't go near him!"

Stan blinked in surprise and began shaking lightly. This was a side of Kyle that he would've never thought existed. "Uh, y-yeah, sure." When his shoulders were released, he took a shaky breath. "Wanna explain what that was about?"

Kyle sighed and looked at Stan seriously. "The less you know, the better." He held up one hand as his best friend opened his mouth to question it, stopping him. "Believe me Stan, you don't wanna know."

"Um, okay…?" They walked in silence to the register and out of the store. Stan desperately wanted to know why Kyle was acting he way he was, but he didn't want to see that side of his friend that looked so…trained, so deadly.

When the two entered the Broflovski household, Kyle tossed his TV dinner into the microwave and walked up the stairs to his room, not realizing that Stan was following. He stripped off the white hoodie and dropped it to the floor in front of the open closet door, freezing when he heard the small gasp behind him.

"Kyle, what the hell is that?" Stan pointed to a brand mark on Kyle's right shoulder blade; an A-shaped brand, the bottoms of the brand curved inward, near the bottoms pointing in it flared out into multiple points, and a thin crescent moon spooned the bottom of the A-shape. He then spotted a stitched, healing cut on Kyle's left side. "What happened there?"

Kyle's eyes narrowed and he faced his friend, showing scars and healing cuts and gashes all across his honed chest and stomach. Stan's eyes widened in shock. "I told you earlier, you don't wanna know."

"Kyle?"

Downstairs, the microwave beeped to signal his lunch was done. Kyle pulled on a green t-shirt and smiled softly again. "Come on, I'm hungry!" He turned out of his room and bounded down the stairs into the kitchen. He pulled the TV dinner out of the microwave and bounded into the living room where Stan was. "Well, you wanna play on the PS3 or something?"

"Uh…" Stan looked over at the game system sitting on the floor in front of the flat screen TV. "Sure. What games do you have?"

"Dante's Inferno," Kyle took a quick bite of his lunch, "Bayonetta, God of War, and Assassin's Creed."

Stan's smirked and relaxed against the couch, his earlier worries and questions were gone. "Kick ass games, dude!"

Kyle smiled and clicked the power button for the TV on. "Hell yeah! Can't have a game system without some kick ass games!"

Stan laughed and walked over to the PlayStation to turn it on. He grabbed Assassin's Creed 2 and slid it into the game system before plopping back down onto the couch with the controller in his hand. The quiet settled over them as he began the video game. The violence of the memories of the game's character, Desmond, kept Stan's mind off of the brand mark on Kyle's shoulder blade and the cuts and gashes lining his chest and stomach.

At least, until he reached where the character Ezio de Auditore gathered his father's assassin gear and changed into it. Stan grabbed the game case and looked at it finding the same mark that was branded onto Kyle's back there. His eyes narrowed. He knew Kyle liked the game series, but surely he wasn't obsessed like he'd seen so many people at the high school.

There was a knock at the door and Kyle set his TV dinner to the side so he could answer the door. "Yeah?" He looked back at Stan and then stepped outside, shutting the door behind him.

Curiosity overwhelming him, Stan stood up off of the couch and opened the front door just an inch in order to see and hear what was being said between Kyle and the other guy. He glanced out of the door and saw a man in a white hoodie with stubbled black hair with a matching moustache, stubbled beard, and sideburns. Stan's eyes narrowed. He looks like Desmond… What the hell is Kyle involved with.

"…The Templars are moving towards South Park," the Desmond look-alike said with urgency lacing his voice. "You need to leave, even just for a little while."

"I can handle myself," Kyle snapped. "You've seen me fight Lucy and the others! I can defend any Templar attack made on South Park!"

"In practice, you're quite skilled, but if you can't keep even your own friends contained and this part of your life secret, then I highly doubt your abilities."

"What're you talking about?"

The Desmond look-alike pointed at the front door, right at Stan. "He's watching on."

Stan stiffened but made no move to run back over to the couch as Kyle swung the door open. He heard his best friend curse and felt him pull him outside. "Dammit Stan! I told you that you don't wanna know! Why couldn't you just listen?"

"Because Kyle," Stan responded quickly, "you're my best friend. I'm just worried, especially after seeing that brand on your shoulder blade."

"He saw that?" The Desmond look-alike sighed and cursed in Spanish for a moment. "What the hell is wrong with you Kyle?"

"I didn't mean for it to happen okay…?" Kyle defended. "Look, maybe this isn't a bad thing. Shaun and Lucy are both saying that we need more assassins, maybe we can train him." He glanced over at Stan for a moment. "What about it Desmond?"

Desmond sighed and scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. "Well…"

"Wait a second!" Stan interrupted. He didn't want to get dragged into something without an explanation first. "What's going on? All of this seems weird, it's too much like the Assassin's Creed games. You," he pointed at Desmond, "and the mention of assassins, and people named Lucy and Shaun. Not to mention the brand on Kyle's back. I deserve to know."

Kyle turned his head to his best friend. "Stan–"

"You don't deserve anything," Desmond said quickly. "Not yet. You need to meet with Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca first. They'll decide if you need to know anything." He looked at Kyle. "Let's go, before the Templars get here. My car's waiting about two blocks down."

Kyle nodded and grabbed onto Stan's wrist so that they could follow Desmond closely to the black Prius. The trio climbed in and stayed quiet as Desmond quickly drove the car out of the town and to a large building up in the mountains.