Quite honestly, as of now, I have no plot whatsoever for this. I'm just going with the song lyrics. So, read and hopefully make sense of my ramblings! Oh yes, and there will be footnotes and translations at the end, so don't freak about the Italian.

In life you need either inspiration or desperation.
-Tony Robbins

Cesare drew his sword. "You're surrounded and alone, Assassino. No one left to help you."

Ezio took a step back, nearly treading on the toes of a Papal guard behind him. They were all around him, at least six thick on each side. For the first time since arriving in Roma, Ezio felt helpless. His recruits' energy was spent, he was out of ammunition, and these guards would surely kill him if he even thought about drawing his sword.

Cesare laughed. "The Assassin is afraid! I can see it in your eyes, codardo.(1)"

"The only coward here is you," Ezio snarled. "One man against an entire army?" He spat. "Vaffanculo, traditore senza spina dorsale!(2)" The guards closest to him drew their swords threateningly.

"That's enough out of you!" Cesare thrust his way through the crowd of guards and came face-to-face with Ezio, pointing his sword at the Assassin's throat.

So watch my chest heave
As this last breath leaves me

Ezio stared at Cesare, trying not to let his face betray what he was thinking. His fear threatened to boil over as his eyes flicked around for an escape route.

Desmond, get out of there! A bodiless female voice echoed inside Ezio's mind. His eyes widened. Desmond? That's what Minerva said!

Working on it, another voice, male, growled. It's kind of hard with a hundred guards surrounding us.

"He is shocked to have been beaten so easily!" Cesare crowed, mistaking Ezio's widened eyes as a sign of surprise. Ezio snapped back to the present, back to staring death in the face. But it was kind of hard with voices distracting him.

Ezio doesn't die for a good few years, the female said hastily. You'd better think of something fast!

Ezio was indignant at this comment. I can handle myself fine, he tried to shoot back at the voice. I do not need this "Desmond" to save me!

He was lying. Any help would be of use now, even from a bodiless ghost.

Suddenly, he had an idea. Smoke bombs! Of course! How could he have been so stupid? He quickly pulled one out of his pouch, rolling it between his fingers.

"Any last words?" Cesare grinned, pushing the tip of his sword into Ezio's flesh.

"Just something you shall remember until the day you die," Ezio replied smugly. "Vittoria agli Assassini!(3)" he cried, throwing the smoke bomb down.

"No!" Cesare howled as Ezio sprinted away through the crowd of coughing guards. "Guards! GUARDS! After him!" But soon, even the Borgia was doubled over, hacking.

Ezio quickly wove through alleys and streets, calling his horse as he went. It trotted alongside him until he swung up onto it, riding back over the bridge and out of the Vaticano district.

Everything froze. The horse stopped mid-gallop, guards stood with their fists up, faces frozen in a look of rage. Desmond, startled, struggled to move. With horror, he watched Rome disintegrate before him. What? I didn't want to leave the Animus!

He surfaced much quicker than normal, ripping himself out of the chair. "What the fu-" His words caught in his throat, only a choking sound escaped.

The Sanctuary was gone. Desmond and the Animus were alone in a large gray room with no windows and what seemed to be no doors.

"…Hello?" Desmond called, suddenly feeling very small as his voice echoed off the walls and back to him.

I am trying to be
What you're dying to see

"Lucy? Shaun? Rebecca?" Desmond asked, more to himself; he knew no one would answer. Turning around, he noticed in horror that the Animus was gone, vanished into thin air.

"Who's there?" Desmond called, scared. A lone guard - a legit, 16th-century Roman guard - emerged, seemingly melting out of the wall. Desmond cried out, nearly tripping over himself in his shock as he noticed the guard had Ezio's face.

Another guard stumbled out of the wall, this one missing a face completely, the entire front of its skull missing, brains and blood spilling down onto the floor. Desmond scrambled backward, trying to get as far away as possible from the mutant guard, until he bumped into a wall. The guards walked slowly after him, dragging their feet.

Desmond heard a noise to his left, and turned his head in time to see two more guards come out of the wall, one with Altaïr's face, the other with... Lucy's. It still had a male guard's body, with its short brown hair and red beret, making her face look more unusual on its body.

The faceless guard turned its head toward the Lucy-guard, as if it could see her. It changed course, from Desmond to her, pulling out a sword. The Ezio and Altaïr-guards stopped and turned toward the Lucy-guard, just staring.

Desmond took a few steps backward, watching in horror as the faceless guard attacked Lucy, slicing off her face cleanly so she matched her attacker.

I feel like "Fuck man,
Can't take this, anymore"

Desmond pressed himself further into the wall, willing himself to disappear as all four guards turned towards him. The two faceless guards took a few steps forward as the Assassin-guards walked toward each other behind their backs, then turned back to Desmond.

The original faceless guard looked down at its feet. Desmond saw something lying on the floor next to its boot - that definitely wasn't there before - which it picked up. It looked like a mask, a full-face mask. The guard put it on, then raised its head. It was Desmond's face.

Desmond clawed back into waking, gasping like a drowning man who had reached the surface. He was laying in a small cot set up in the corner of the Sanctuary, Lucy standing over him.

"Oh god Desmond!" she gasped, removing her hand gently from his shoulder. "Finally you wake up! You were screaming and thrashing around everywhere." She stepped back as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, feeling sweat all over his body.

"It was a dream," Desmond muttered. But what parts were the dream? He hadn't remembered coming out of the Animus, or even getting into this bed. To his surprise, he felt tears running down his cheeks.

"Are you crying?" Lucy asked gently, kneeling down in front of him. She reached up and wiped a tear off one of his cheeks. "What happened..?"

Desmond shook his head. She removed her hand, but still stared into his eyes.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're sure?" Lucy asked, concerned.

Desmond nodded, forcing a tight smile upon his lips. "Yeah. You should go back to work. Don't worry about me."

Lucy still didn't look convinced, but she stood up. "Okay. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, all right?" She turned and walked back to her computer.

This life that's so thankless,
How could he just forsake us?

The images of the faceless guards still burned in Desmond's mind; he doubted he'd ever get to sleep. Suddenly, he had the great need to take a shower, to wash the sweat and that dream from his body and mind. But there was - obviously - no shower in the Sanctuary, and he doubted he could just go up to a house and ask to use their shower.

He'd asked Rebecca, and she told him the best they could do was a bottle of water, a small bar or soap, and a towel about the size of a napkin. So, armed with these, Desmond climbed down through the tunnel leading to outside Monteriggioni in hopes of getting some privacy. He couldn't leave the city, obviously, so he stopped where the sewer started, with no way of getting any further anyway. The doors and levers may all be open, but he couldn't get past that without help.

1 - coward
2 - Fuck you, you spineless traitor!
3 - Victory to the Assassins!

And there you have the first chapter. Hope the gore wasn't too bad, and I tried to keep the swearing only in Italian. Tell me what you think!