"Desmond? You okay?"
His eyes flutter open slowly, irises working to adjust to the sudden darkness. The afterimages linger a lot longer now, he notices. And the stark contrast in lighting makes it all the more difficult for him to tell if what he keeps seeing is really there or not. The Sanctuary is a lot darker than the sunny streets of Roma.
Wait- Rome, not Roma. What? "Yeah, I'm fine. Just.. need to take a piss."
"Wow, really, Desmond?" Shaun drawls sarcastically. He doesn't even stop typing to turn around, that jackass. "That's lovely. I'm sure everyone was just dying to know that, thanks so much for telling us."
Rebecca snorts. "Well, don't let me stop you. Just get off of Baby first, mister. I can't have you short-circuiting her with your-"
Desmond scrambles off before she can finish the sentence.
"Very smooth, Desmond."
"Shut up, Shaun." He looks around, noticing the vacant desk where a blonde should be sitting. "Where's Lucy?"
"She went out for some air a couple minutes ago."
Some air sounds good at the moment. "I'll be right back, okay guys?" Desmond massages the bridge of his nose. His body feels lethargic, even though in some far corner of his mind he still thinks he's been leaping across terracotta rooftops for the past few hours-
Ezio. Ezio's been leaping.
"Well it's not like we're going anywhere," Shaun smirks.
Too tired to shoot a glare, Desmond fumbles for the earpiece with a leaden hand and drags his feet all the way out the stone cold chamber - doing his best to ignore the presence of his ancestor looming over his back.
"Desmond? You okay?"
His eyes open slowly at the touch of your hand against his shoulder, and you release a breath you didn't know you were holding until just now. "Lucy?" he sighs. As he become more aware he looks around, sees you kneeling next to him. Your concern must have been more obvious than you thought, because he gathers his face in an approximation of a frowns and asks you, "What's up?"
"You were gone for awhile. We were worried." Well, you had been worried. Shaun thought he'd gone and gotten himself lost like an idiot and Rebecca had been too absorbed in her work to notice.
As he pulls himself into a sitting position you note the slight discoloration under his eyes, how he slumps against the ruined walls, the way the line of his shoulders screams tired, tired, tired- or maybe it's just a trick of the glowstick light. "I guess I must have dozed off. How long was I gone?"
Dozed off? In a cave? Without even turning his own light on? "Almost an hour," you reply calmly, despite the creeping panic that's growing in your chest. "You didn't respond when I tried to contact you."
"Contact me?"
"Your earpiece?" You tap your own ear, where an identical device rests.
He looks completely lost for a moment, before he finally remembers. "Oh... Right. Sorry about that."
"We should get back to the others."
"Right, right." Desmond drags a hand down his face- a motion that makes him look far older than he is. He mutters something to himself as he stands and stretches. "Ugh, mio schiena..."
"What?" Was that what you think it was?
"Nothing." He grimaces, and makes a show of rolling his shoulders and neck. "God, I feel so stiff..."
You're not at all convinced that's the only thing that's wrong. "Desmond," you say.
But he's already slipped away from you, and disappeared into the darkness.