2

"MALIK!" Altair's voice echoed out over the ocean. They had chartered a boat from Turkey to Italy with some merchants, and were now in the middle of their voyage. But even now, almost halfway into the western world, Malik was still giving him problems.

The sea voyage had started out calm. And then it turned dull for all three brothers. Ezio kept arguing with the ship's captain about the route they were sailing, Connor desperately tried several times to steer the ship, all three almost resulting in head on collisions with other merchant boats, and Altair had contented himself with carving the Assassin symbol into the mast. Just when he thought he was going to go insane, a literature merchant approached him, bearing goods from the Middle East. Eager to test their accuracy, Altair bought a small book entitled The Lusty Arab Stallion Gallops at Midnight.

Eager to take his mind off the sea (he was never very fond of water) Altair opened the book and flipped to a random section. The story seemed familiar. And to make matters worse, it contained several extremely intimate points of interest about Alice, the person who had gotten him into this mess in the first place, and who had made a fool out of him in front of (or at least in ear-range of) innumerable Templars. His face reddened even further as he admitted to himself (taking a look at the paragraphs in question once more) that he'd do it again.

Then the thought occurred to him. The obvious fact that someone had to have written this, and for someone to write this, they would have had to be spying. This new message to his brain woke him up like ice water on a winter morning, and his embarrassment quickly turned to rage as he flipped to the front of the book.

Written by Malik Al-Sayf.

It was at this moment that the oldest Assassin brother stood up, and yelling the author's name, went to hurl the book into the sea.

But the pornographic material never made it that far. Ezio and Connor had heard the commotion, and came up to the deck. Mistaking the motion of throwing something for the man throwing himself overboard, the two younger brothers panicked and threw themselves at their predecessor, knocking him flat.

They sat there a second, a pile of white robes on the deck, quite like a bit of bird poop on a brown leather shoe.

Then they leapt up.

"Why" Altair asked, dusting himself off; "Why do you two always have to be so dramatic?"

"We thought you were going overboard" Connor looked at the ground and attempted to kick a loose bit of rope.

"You know how you can't swim." Ezio explained, adjusting his collar. Then his eyes lit up as he snatched the book. "Brother, you didn't tell me you had a book!" He chortled.

To Altair's dismay and mounting dread, Ezio opened the book and began to scan it.

"Oh, Altair… I didn't know you liked these kinds of books! That explains a… wait" Ezio smiled and looked up at Altair. Altair attempted to kick a passing rat. "This is about you isn't it!? Well, this makes a lot of sense now. I mean I was wrong about you, brother –"

Altair snatched the book back, too flustered to even speak.

"Let me see, too!" Connor piped up. However, his fellow Assassins were far too busy arguing to hear him.

"Does this mean you're a Templar sympathizer?" Ezio smiled "You took great pains to hide that particular bit of information about her, didn't you?"

"I will not have you associating her with those dogs!" Altair snarled, swatting at the fancier Assassin, who nimbly jumped to the side.

In the commotion, Connor managed to swipe the book and take a look for himself.

"This is…" he sighed as he flipped through the romance novel "…beautiful." Grinning, he took the book and retreated below deck.

"I'll kill you." Altair growled as he climbed the mast after Ezio.

"You'll have to catch me first!" Ezio yelled from the crow's nest.

"Um… Sirs?" The captain looked up timidly at his clients. "We've arrived."

They had been so busy squabbling that they had forgotten all about the voyage, and both brothers were feeling pretty foolish at this point. They both slid down the mast, muttering apologies to each other.

They stepped off the boat and into Naples, looking around at the peaceful city.

It would still be a mystery to Altair, what prompted Ezio to say what he did. It was either the peaceful atmosphere or the joy that comes with returning home, but Ezio placed his hand on Altair's shoulder.

"We're almost there. We'll find her, I promise." The Italian smiled at his friend.

Altair nodded, and they walked into the city.

Meanwhile on the boat, Connor was reading the book he had pilfered from his older brothers. However, he was starting to think it odd. What was supposed to be two weeks of travel at most was turning into two weeks and a day. He closed the book and put it in his sack for later.

Quickly Connor ran up to the main deck, and looked around. A lump formed in his stomach and traveled up to his throat as he put two and two together.

They LEFT me here.

Fighting back tears, he ran and jumped ship, swimming for the dock. You did not ditch Connor K. this easily!

This was about the same time that Ezio and Altair realized they were missing someone. Cursing, they ran for the dock. Ezio jumped in first, but Altair hesitated, hissing a little at the prospect of water. Then he looked up and saw the littlest brother struggling against the current, and hijacked a boat from a very confused fisherman, rowing out into the water.

After a deep breath Altair stuck his hand in the freezing water and pulled out his comrades. The fisherman gasped and held his fishing rod closer as the boat rocked and sagged under the weight of the three men.

"Um… sorry" Altair mumbled to the old fisherman as he rowed to the shore. They stepped onto the dock and unsure weather or not to tip the fisherman, each man in turn gave a slight nod before running into the city.

"I can't believe you did that." Connor huffed as they marched to the stables on the edge of town.

"Oh we would never leave you anywhere, little one!" Ezio laughed, pulling Connor into a headlock, but Connor pushed him off.

"I've had it! You two treat me like some sort of child." Connor crossed his arms as they pushed through the crowded streets.

"When you have proven yourself, you will reach a respectable rank. For now you are a novice." Altair grumbled as he pushed civilians to either side.

Connor ground his teeth as Ezio put an arm around his shoulders.

"Don't listen to him. He was born with a hidden blade up his anus." Ezio smiled, tapping the side of his nose.

Slightly comforted, Connor pressed on behind Altair, and they kept on through the suffocating streets.

After about an hour, they started to get restless.

"Are you sure we're not lost, Altair?" Ezio whined.

"Yes."

"We could ask for directions you know…" Connor added. Then he looked at Ezio. "Aren't you supposed to be from this country? Where are we?"

Ezio went up in arms. "I haven't been here in a very long time! After that flash of light I was stuck in Damascus for a year or so. Not to mention the fact that all this time, the world has felt older than when I knew it…" he paused "In the future."

"We must be in the past somehow…" Connor mused.

"I will not stoop to asking directions from a civilian. Where is the closest Rafiq?" Altair asked, scanning the rooftops.

"We don't have those in Italy" Ezio shook his head. "I'll go ask for directions."

Ezio flitted off and struck up a conversation with some courtesans as Altair and Connor shuffled behind.

"Bene" Ezio oiled, stroking the girl's face. "Many thanks, maybe next time." He said, gliding away to Altair and Connor.

"It's this way" the charismatic Assassin led them through a maze of streets until the came upon the stables. "Mind you it was sad they didn't know me… we must be in the past! All the ladies of the night know Ezio!" He said, laughing.

"You remind me of a dog that needs to be fixed." Altair brushed past Ezio to bargain with the horse trader.

Ezio turned to Connor, smiling. "That means 'thank you' and 'what was my life before we met?' in Altair." Connor rolled his eyes.

"To me it just sounded like 'you're a horny bastard' " The youngest brother sniffed.

"Yes well, it's a start. He used to not even acknowledge my beautiful presence." Ezio puffed.

"There's a problem." Altair was as short as always. "We can only afford one horse."

"God it's the camel all over again…" Ezio groaned.

"At least you didn't have to cling to the rump behind the equipment." Connor growled.

"Right. I'll go in front, Connor you can sit behind me, and Ezio, you can grab the rear since you seem to be so very good at that."

All three squeezed onto the horse. It was a tighter fit than the camel, and as they bounced off towards Venice, they were all once again gripped by the feeling that they would grow closer together over the next week of travel.

Desmond sat up gingerly. This animus seemed to sap his energy, and if someone had shown up with a cup of coffee, he wouldn't have turned it down. While he was trying to comprehend what it was he just saw, Shaun crackled to life on the other side of the Bluetooth device.

"Desmond?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh thank God. They took you for a while that time. Are you alright? What did you see? Any hints?" Shaun on the other hand was filled with energy.

"Please one question at a time." Desmond slurred, pulling himself off the animus and dropping himself on the floor, holding his head. "First off I feel like crap."

"Oh. Sorry." Desmond could practically hear the awkward head scratching.

"Second, I saw more of that merry farce that is my three ancestors on a road trip. I don't know why this girl wants me to see that so badly." Desmond sighed. "I did get a name though. Altair refers to her – or her ancestor – or whatever as Alice."

"That rings a bell." There was the clicking of a keyboard on Shaun's side. "Hmm. Well, mainstream search engines give me nothing. Alice is a popular name. She must be trying to hide herself. On our search engine however…" More clicking. "All I'm getting is a series of romance novels set in the crusading era called The Lusty Stallion series."

"Oh no." Desmond sighed. "That was mentioned a lot in the animus. It's probably our best lead."

"Seriously? You're not pulling one over on me?"

"Seriously. I don't have enough energy for that kind of thing."

"Fine. Rebecca, can you be a dear and go fetch these- OW." Shaun was punched in the face.

Desmond snickered. "Did she punch you? Listen, Rebecca it's important to the case we're on. Please, just get the books."

"Alright, but you both owe me like five million burgers. Ten million if the clerk at the store decides to be a smartass." Rebecca's husky voice crackled in and out.

Desmond heard the door slam on the other line. "I feel responsible somehow."

"Well, you were the one who decided to sit on it." Shaun scoffed. "But I do agree with you. There is something to be learned about Abstergo here. She knew something."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, is she alive?"

"Good point."

Notes:

This chapter is a bit wordier and a bit longer, apologies. I usually try to keep my fan-fictions short and sweet, no more than three pages on a word document. I hope you liked it, nonetheless.

cheers,

Skye