I could hear shuffling behind me, Malik's name probably tickled Altaïr's interest.

"We didn't know how he'd react."

Lucy walked over and brushed against my arm, "We didn't want you getting hurt."

I sighed, tired of being treated as though I was fragile. I turned to face the robed assassin behind me.

"Well... How are you, Altaïr?"

He shifted slightly, barely noticeable to everyone but me. I only caught the small motion due to my familiarity with the man in front of me. The long hours spent not just being him but being so undeniably bored and watching him as a result, just doing his thing, through the Bleeding Effect.

"How did I get here, Desmond?"

I blinked. 'How does he know my name...?'

"I-I'm not sure." I trailed off, uncertain. "How do you know my name?"

Altaïr stiffened and shifted his weight, I know I did the same. An unwanted habit I'd picked up.

"You watched me. I could feel you there."

I blinked at him. 'Obviously he sensed me when I was in the animus. But what does he mean 'feel' me?'

"I could sense you there, in my mind as I completed my tasks. I must say..." He smirked a little, "You are very curious and naïve, which is amusing considering that you don't seem to say much."

I could feel my face reddening slightly, I chucked nervously and rubbed my arm, an annoying tell I'd picked up from Ezio. The others were giving me curious glances, trying to figure out what had transpired to make me so shy.

"So... Uhm... These are my friends Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca."

Altaïr barely spared them a glance, probably due to the immense amount of time he spent with them last night as they tried to calm him down and talk to him.

"Do you only speak Arabic?"

"I understand a few words and phrases of English, but you aren't speaking a form I understand."

"And you don't know how you got here either?"

Altair simply shook his head. I turned back to Lucy and parroted back what I'd found out.

"He doesn't know what's going on either. Though he does seem to know who I am..." I trailed off.

"What? What do you mean?" Rebecca called from across the room.

Shrugging, I called back, "I dunno. He mentioned that he could feel me there in his head. I guess that means that Ezio probably knows me as well..."

I trailed off. 'Gosh... I feel awkward now. I've basically be stalking Ezio his entire life. At least Altaïr only had to deal with me sporadically over the course of a year or two'
"Desmond!"

I blinked and quickly refocused on Lucy, who didn't look amused with my drifting attention.

"Just... Go get him situated or something."

"Where would you like him?"

"Just have him stay with you. You are the only one who understands him anyways."
I heaved a sigh and nodded before gesturing to Altaïr to follow me back upstairs. I paused at the foot of the stairs and turned to him.

"Have you eaten since you showed up the other night?"

He pulled out a few strips of dried meat from one of his pouches. I nodded and moved back to the kitchen.

"Don't touch that," I pointed to the microwave, "Or that," the stove, "Or these especially." I gestured to the wall outlets. "Don't EVER stick anything in there, unless one of us explicitly tells you to do so."

I assumed that he nodded since I didn't bother to look over at him as I rummaged through the pantry scrounging for more food. I grabbed a few chocolate bars and a pack of cookies before moving back towards the stairs.

I flopped back down on my bed and tore open the first chocolate bar. I watched as Altaïr ambled into the room and took his place at the window again.

I relaxed back onto my bed and closed my eyes, just trying to savor the chocolate and ignore the figment-become-real standing across the room.

"So what would you like me to do?"

I peeped though one eye to look at the man. "What ever you want. I can't stop you, that's for sure. For now at least, you get to stay here with me. I can probably find you a bed if you'd like. Or you can take this one and I'll sleep downstairs. It doesn't matter much to me."

He turned from the window and made his way to stand next to the bed. "This will suffice."

I nodded but made no move to get up, still too enraptured with my day off to bother to move.

"G-ahh!"

Warm hands were under my shoulder, pushing me, forcing me to roll onto my side as a warm body moved to claim the space I'd previously been in.

"I'm tired."

'

Yeah... I can tell...' I thought to myself a bit surprised. 'That was very... Forward of him.'

"Why are there bars on your window?"

I hesitated, contemplating the best way to respond since I wasn't entirely sure myself. Or I suppose I was sure, I just didn't know which answer I'd rather believe. After a few tense seconds, I finally decided on the safe response, the one I'd been given when I'd had the same question all those weeks ago.

"They keep people out. People who are hunting us. Me."

I heard Altaïr shift behind me on the bed and felt the mattress shudder under our combined weight.

"Seems more like they are keeping you in than protecting you from what's out there."

I froze and felt myself tense up.

'So it's not just me who get's that feeling... I really am just as trapped here with the assassins as I was with Abstergo'

I felt a warm hand on my back, the missing finger making it obvious that Altair was still behind me and was the owner of the hand.

"I'm sure we can find a way."
The hand left my back and the warmth slowly faded.

I could hear the blood pounding in my ears as I tried to process the words.

I faintly noticed the mattress shifting again as Altaïr laid down fully, and I certainly didn't notice at all as he pulled the blanket up over me leaving himself without. I saw a ghostly Ezio pacing in front of me, but I was too caught up in my whirling thoughts to register the figment's activity.

What did it mean? Was he going to help me escape? To leave the assassins and to finally be free again? Or did he mean that he was going to help me find a way to end this everlasting war? Did I even want his help?

I shifted and peered over my shoulder at the older man.

Yes. Yes I needed him again. No matter which of the questions he ended up helping me with, at least it would be an end and I wouldn't be alone anymore.

I sat up and pulled the blanket so it covered Altaïr as well. I could see him watching me, clearly not sleeping even though he was tired.

I laid back down in the same position and closed my eyes, blocking out Ezio as he threw knives at an invisible target above my head.

I dreamt of flying down the highway on my motorcycle, free at last.

I was warm when I woke up. It was a nice feeling after spending so many nights alone, struggling to deal with everything life was throwing at me.

I shifted and just relaxed. It wasn't time to get up yet and I certainly wasn't ruining this good feeling until I truly had to. I let myself indulge in more dreams of a simpler life. They made me wistful and slightly depressed since I knew they were just hopes, but they gave me motivation. They helped me deal just a little bit more with the craziness in my life.

Besides, it always helped to think about modern technology in order to combat my ghostly horse apparitions from Altaïr and Ezio.

The warm shifted and pulled way. Probably Altaïr waking up. I knew I should probably be a bit creeped out by his closeness, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I'd been in his head and he'd obviously seen some of mine, so we obviously knew each other pretty well.

I just felt normal around him. Probably because he is a better assassin and a more important person than I am, so compared to his glamor, I'm just a plain Jane, but still. It made me feel good. Plus, it made it a bit easier to ignore the second Altaïr I could hear across the room arguing with what seemed like Malik, based off the one-sided comments.

I must have drifted back to sleep since the next thing I knew, I was being shook gently.

"Desmond, wake up."

I blinked blearily and stared into a face that looked eerily similar to mine situated only a few inches away.

"It's morning. You may know a lot about me, but I don't know very much about you past what I've gleaned from your thoughts."

I yawned and nodded as I sat up in a daze. I felt mechanical as I walked out of bed and stumbled into my clothes.

I nearly tripped as I stepped on something smooth that stuck to my bare foot. I caught myself and lifted the afflicted foot; the wrapper from the cookies I'd brought up last night.

I sighed. Apparently, someone had gotten hungry. 'He must have figured out that it was food.'

I finished dressing and dragged a chair up to the side of the bed.

"So... Let's-" I coughed, "Okay, sorry. I forgot; no English. Let's start then. What do you want to know?"

A/N: Took me awhile. I went to a convention last weekend which was SUPER fun ^^ and now this week I've been swamped with homework combined with work work since apparently the scheduling manager changed, and the new manager gives ZERO shits about when we can and cannot work. He scheduled me for during the week, which I cannot do since I have too much homework. *Sigh* I'm really behind on homework right now, plus I'm sick and as it is, I've stayed up an hour later than I wanted just so I could get this chapter out for you guys.

So if you liked it please REVIEW. They really do make me want to find some time to write the next chapter and update sooner. Thanks again for reading. I'm gonna go to bed now... *falls over*