A/N: So, I'm just going to give you guys little snippets as they come to me, seeing as all of you asked for more and this dream sequence came to me as I was thinking about how to continue the story. In your reviews, please tell me where you would like to see this story go, because I'm pretty much out of ideas except for what happens immediately after this. And no big picture ideas, please. Specific scenes. This story might just end up being a series of one-shots or something, that go together. Much love! (By the way, Norvegia is Italian for Norway.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Assassin's Creed. Nor do I think Leonardo looks like a polar bear. However, I think this would be an awesome scene to play in the game. Delirium rocks. :D

Fever
Norway

The guest room is cold, and the air smells salty. Ezio sits up in the bed and looks at the window. It is much bigger than he remembers it being before. It extends from the floor to the ceiling and looks out upon a gray ocean with gray skies. Neither of these things belong to Venezia. The tips of all the waves are white. Ezio can see shadows beneath them, huge animals called whales that he's read about but never seen. He's never been far enough out in the sea before. He's been told they are like dolphins, only larger. There are dolphins in this gray ocean, too, though. He sees them dancing over the water. They are black and white and joyful.

The window is open. That's why it is cold. It's so cold that Ezio can see ice caps in the water. There are so many and they are so large that they could almost be considered a land mass, and he can see white bears on them, another animal he's read about but never seen. There are birds, too.

Ezio leans against the window frame and looks down. He wonders when Leonardo moved his workshop to a cliff, because there's nothing but the ocean down below him. There isn't even a shore.

A cold gust of air suddenly rips into the room. It tears down the curtains and kicks up the sheets on the bed. Ezio shudders. The air grabs him in his vulnerability and pulls him down, out of the window. He's falling for what seems like months, reaching for the window like he could go back to it if he tried hard enough, but the frigid waters are hitting his back and now he's underneath the waves.

He struggles to break the surface again, but something is holding onto his legs. He's being weighted down, dragged farther away from the light. He reaches out, clutching at his throat, choking on the water pouring in through his nose. He tries to call out. This is Leonardo's house. Leonardo should be able to hear him. But all that escapes his mouth is a huge bubble which quickly rises, and he can't breathe.

Someone says, "Stop for a moment. Let him go."

His legs are released. He kicks wildly and he's aware of creatures swimming around him. They are keeping their distance from him. He thinks they are intelligent. One of them must have spoken. These northern animals are frightening. He doesn't want to be where they are.

He manages to find air and he coughs and then he breathes. He's clutching something warm, and because the rest of him is shaking so badly he doesn't want to let go. He'll get hypothermia here. He'll die without this warmth. His jaw is moving up and down so quickly he's afraid to move his tongue. The clacking of his teeth is louder than the waves and the birds. His lips are numb, and it's already becoming harder to swim. But this piece of warm driftwood he's found is keeping him afloat. It is his only chance, so he clings to it.

There is no shore anywhere. His window is gone. The ice caps are gone. He does not know what to do.

"Can I start again?"

Ezio jerks around. Where is that voice coming from?

"Look, he seems to be aware. Perhaps we should try to warm him up first?"

"He will be sweating soon."

Ezio doesn't believe the voice that says such things. If he sweats it will be the sweat of death and the ocean will add its salt and nutrients to its everlasting brine. He puts his cheek against the driftwood. It calms him slightly, but the calm doesn't last.

"You hold him by the forearms. You, by the knees."

The driftwood turns to mud in his fingers and slips away beneath the water. In blind panic he puts his face down to try to see it in the black. That is his life dissolving away! He surfaces to breathe again, and suddenly a bear is dragging him by the wrists onto a small ice cap, which has reappeared. Ezio is terrified that he will be eaten. But the bear doesn't do anything except dig its claws into Ezio's lower arms and hold him to the ice. A whale comes and grabs hold of Ezio's legs with its teeth. There is heat. There is blood. Ezio grits his teeth, tries to coil into himself, but the bear and the whale are holding him too tightly, and the most he can do is rise upon his elbows and make noises of frustration.

"Be calm, Ezio."

Ezio tries, but salt is now being poured into a wound on his back. He cannot help but scream. He struggles underneath the bear. He feels his knee give under the pressure of the whale. He needs to hold onto something rather than being held himself. He is burning everywhere from the ice and wind and salt and tears are streaming from his eyes. His hands don't work. He uses all the strength in his abdomen to pull himself forward. Some of the salt spills over him. It is actually a liquid, which quickly dries. The whale, surprised, is pulled onto the ice cap. Ezio reaches toward one of the bear's paws with his mouth. He is going to bite the bear and free himself. But all he gets is a mouthful of fur, and no matter how hard he bites down on that, fur will not bleed. It feels oddly like cloth, but Ezio does not dwell on this. Liquid salt is being poured into him again, and he screams again through the bear's fur.

There is a part that is especially painful, and he manages to yank his foot out of the whale's mouth and kick it sharply in the eye. The whale gives an eerie shriek and disappears into the water. Ezio struggles. Something tears. Someone swears. Ezio is no longer biting at the bear. He is, in fact, the one swearing. His words are sluggish and slurred, but he is telling the bear and the whale in vicious Italian that their mothers are whores and they are bastard children. He tells them their fathers had sex with sheep. He tells them their fathers had sex with them. He spits and snarls and struggles with all his might, but it is no use.

The whale gets angry, but is calmed by the one now investigating Ezio's wound.

"Look at my face! It's bleeding! And this shit he's saying about my padre!"

Ezio is so confused and his strength is beginning to fail him. Despite the pain he is beginning to lose his grip on the reality that surrounds him: the sea, the salt air, the animals. He doesn't understand why the whale is speaking Italian. He has heard that the people of the far north speak a complicated language with words impossible to pronounce. He doesn't understand why this one knows Italian. Ezio is so confused. He moans and puts his head down on his arm. The bear keeps him from rolling onto his back.

"I'm looking at him right now, sorry. And can you blame him?"

For a while all Ezio can hear is the sound of the waves, and occasionally some words will come to him.

"He hasn't moved in a while."

"He's exhausted."

"Will he be okay?"

"The water here is terrible for wounds. It's all polluted."

Ezio hasn't noticed any pollution, just the cold.

"He could have rolled in shit and been better off. It was a good thing you came to me when you did."

The bear heaves a long sigh. Ezio manages to lift his head. He looks at the bear, and the bear looks down at him.

"Why, hello there, Ezio," the bear says. Its voice is very familiar.

"I'm bleeding," Ezio says. His mouth hangs open. His jaw feels very loose, as does his head. He is surprised that he can talk. His muscles no longer seem to work.

"Yes," says the bear. "Don't bite your tongue."

"Why?" Ezio says. It's becoming difficult for his neck to carry all the weight of his head. He rests his chin down on the ice, and this closes his mouth. For some reason the ice is very soft.

"What do you mean?"

Ezio rolls his head to the side so that he can continue talking. "I don't know," he says. Then he frowns. "The ice caps are melting. Aren't you scared?"

The bear looks confused. "What?"

"Is it summer or winter?"

"It's winter, Ezio."

"Then why is the ice melting?" He's worried because he doesn't want to go back into the water, and this bear is the only friend he has right now. He doesn't want it to drown either. He feels frustrated because the bear still doesn't understand. It looks at him in confusion. Ezio feels himself wanting to cry.

"Maybe spring is coming," says the bear.

"This far north there is no spring," Ezio says, and for a moment everything pauses.

The whale is lingering at the edge of the ice cap. "Where are you, Ezio?" it asks.

"Norvegia," Ezio says. "I think. You're so stupid, you don't even know your own country."

The burning comes back, but Ezio has little energy to struggle now. His hands flex. He grits his teeth. He makes a fair amount of noise and swears tiredly once or twice. His body, however, remains relatively still.

"Are we finished yet?" asks the whale.

"You will be," Ezio says.

The whale tells him to shut up. "I wasn't talking to you," it says.

"All we need to do is bandage him and turn him over," says the voice Ezio can't see. "Let the wound drain while he's on his back."

"You never said if he'll be okay or not."

"I think so. Just keep an eye on him. Common sense should tell you what to do."

"Right."

Something is wrapped around Ezio's torso and shoulder in a methodical manner, and he is no longer in so much pain. He is tired, and his battle with the elements has nearly destroyed him. He much prefers targets he can kill.

The bear releases one of Ezio's arms and puts a paw on his back. "It's done, Ezio, it's done," it says. It gently grabs him by the wrists again and turns him over. The whale does the same with his legs. Ezio does not protest. He can't even move on his own. He lies with his neck exposed and sweating. His breathing is harsh. The sun has come out through the clouds and its heat is stifling.

Ezio feels a cool cloth wipe at his face. It scrubs at the tear stains on his cheeks and the dried water he must have coughed up when the bear saved him from drowning. It feels so good that Ezio opens his mouth and makes a tiny noise. For a moment, the cloth stops. The bear laughs and then the cloth moves on, to Ezio's neck and front. Then it is gone, all too soon. Ezio wishes he could say something to make it come back.

"I'll be amazed if he isn't disoriented when he wakes up," Ezio hears. "Norvegia? That is true delirium. Call me if he gets worse, like if his fever spikes or his hallucinations come back."

"Thank you, doctor," the bear says. He says it to the water. The whale leaves. The ice cap becomes a shore with sand, and then a bed. The bear gets off of it and touches Ezio's arm. "Do you need water?"

"What?" Ezio asks. He's barely audible.

"Are you thirsty?"

"No."

"All right. I'll take you back to Venezia now. Call for Leonardo if you need anything."

Then the bear leaves.