I dunno, I think this chapter is kinda... great. Weird, but great. It'll make some of you freak out most likely, as I know I still have some DesAltair shippers reading this story, for some reason. But... yeah, it makes a lot of my inner shipper happy.

Also I'm a Homestuck and uu is one of my favorites. Even if he is a bastard =u=

It was dark out. The sun had set a while ago and the fire was still roaring in the hearth. There were vents underneath that went into the two bedrooms to keep it warm even in the middle of Russia's winter. Out in the living room Desmond was lying on the pull out bed that was normally a couch. He was only covered by a light blanket because of the heat of the fire near by. It was nice. Warm, and he couldn't sleep.

Really he wasn't that surprised. He'd had trouble sleeping ever since he came here. In the beginning he'd slept a lot, because he was thin and weak and couldn't really move on his own. But after a few weeks and gaining both healthy weight and muscle back he could stay awake longer and he just… didn't sleep. He usually was up for two days before sleeping. Nothing like Altair's week long or longer stints of sleeplessness. Really it took forty-eight hours for his body to just stop functioning and he had to sleep, which was the only time he really slept.

Outside the wind made the trees sway, not a lot, but it make the leaves rustle and the slender trunks on some of them bow. He stared at the window and then up at the ceiling. He should be tired. This was the night he usually slept. For some some reason he couldn't. His mind was too busy. It was always too busy. He'd seriously thought of asking one of the others to knock him out a few times, as the older ones could do so without actually hurting him. He didn't though. He didn't want them to know something was wrong.

They knew he wasn't okay, they had to. But they didn't know something was wrong, and he wanted to keep it that way. He usually shared a bed with Hawk, since Jake wouldn't sleep in the same room as him, as the beds were only queen, and amazingly comfortable. This place wasn't meant for five people to live in, it was Altair's escape, not some retreat of luxury. Tonight he was out on the pull out because Altair was sleeping tonight, he'd volunteered himself to sleep in the living room. He missed the quiet of the night, as while Hawk didn't snore, even his breathing sometimes kept Desmond awake because he just had trouble sleeping.

Maybe the fire was keeping him awake. Too warm? Too bright? Too loud, the wood snapping under the licking tongue of flame? He didn't know. Or maybe he just kept replaying five years ago in his head. He could remember Pluto's exact words, hear them in his head, word for word, calm, reassuring. He could see his fingers on the physical representation of what they were willing to give him for his continued cooperation.

He pressed a hand over his eyes. Lucy wasn't a bargaining chip. Fuck them. He'd rather be free and without her.

Right?

He honestly wasn't sure anymore. Because he was still hiding; still running.

Nothing has changed.

With a heavy sigh Desmond sat up, the bed creaked and protested when he put his feet down on the floor and stood. He reached for his t-shirt on the arm of the couch and pulled it on over his head so he was dressed in just his boxers and it and went over to the front door.

The air was icy and breathable outside, because inside it was hot and a bit stuffy from the fire. He closed the door behind him and took a few steps out into the cold. It was snowing still, a bit harder then earlier, but it wasn't sticking except for as frost on the ground which would vanish in the morning. He wrapped his arms around himself and held onto his upper arms, staring up at the black sky.

The snow falling from the sky looked like embers in his sight. His night vision was in color, but not like any sort of color he could explain. At first he'd thought it was like infrared, but it wasn't that at all. There was a small bit of light from the fire inside leaking out from the closed curtains. A warm light, which turned the snow orange. It was impossible of course, the light wasn't strong enough. His eyes just compensated for it seemingly. It wasn't like day vision, everything was just brighter, more saturated, with higher contrasts. It was all ultra real, painfully real, and sometimes it hurt to look at things that were too brilliant.

Luckily most things out here were uniform in shade and color, the brightest thing they had being Hawk's Apple. Ezio had tossed his into a lava flow apparently and Desmond's was lost to them. Funny. To gain the Apple he had to lose everything. When he lost the Apple he lost everything too. Nothing good came of those things and Hawk only kept his because it literally couldn't be used by anyone but him. It was useless to the proeathans.

Desmond breathed out in a huff, all of it coming out in a wispy cloud that vanished a few seconds later. From the trees an owl hooted and Desmond tried to find it in the branches. It hooted again and he took a few more steps away from the cabin, but not too far. He was cold but didn't want to go back inside and could feel snow resting on his shoulders, soaking through his t-shirt and on his shaved head. He wasn't shivering though. It was more of a relief to be so cold.

He turned around when light suddenly spilled from behind him. Normally they would have been silhouetted in the doorway, but Desmond saw who it was. "What are you doing out here?" Jake asked him and left the door way. Desmond just shrugged. "Don't give me that," he snapped, "You're out here in the fucking snow with no shoes and practically no clothes on. What were you thinking?" he demanded.

Desmond stared at him for a second and then asked, realizing that he really had been thinking it, "You think it's cold enough that if I slept out here I wouldn't wake up?"

Jake's entire face went dead white. "Do I th- what is wrong with you? Why would you ask me that you idiot?" and then he was shoving Desmond towards the door. "You've obviously been outside too long, the cold's addled your brain," and then they were inside the warm embrace of the cabin. "God, look at you," Jake looked him up and down. Now he was shivering, especially in his snow damp clothes and his feet were freezing. He sighed, "What am I going to do with you?" he asked.

"What were you doing?" Desmond asked, teeth chattering just a little.

"I had to pee, and saw you weren't in your bed. And then I come out here and find you standing outside in the middle of a fucking snow shower. Take off your shirt before you catch phenomia," he ordered and Desmond pulled it out and then Jake took it, tossed it towards the couch and then dragged him to the hall.

"What are-

"Obviously you can't be left on your own," he could hear the roll of Jake's eyes before he opened the door to the room he shared with Ezio. "In," he hissed softly and shoved Desmond in. It was warm in here, but not like it was outside, and dark, the curtains drawn across the window, there was a shape laying in the bed like a mushy boulder. He stumbled a little and Jake closed the door, prodding him towards the bed.

"I don't think-

"No shit you don't," Jake hissed. "You've been doing a lot of not thinking lately. So I'll do it for you. Get in bed," he ordered sternly and in the near non existent light Desmond could see his brows were furrowed and he was frowning deeply. He looked a lot like Malik like that. Desmond hesitated and the sharp look in his eyes intensified, and he did as he was told because nothing good came from that look, even if it wasn't really Malik.

Jake nudged him over and slid in next to him. He bumped up against… that wasn't Ezio. When he brushed against him they rolled over to face them and cracked their eyes open. Even in the dark he knew what color they were; amber. Bright. Bright. Amber. Jake and Altair were sharing? When the fuck did this happen? They went sharp for an instant, "It's okay," Jake said in Arabic, leaning over Desmond and put a hand on Altair's shoulder. The sharp, mindless, meanness left Altair's eyes and he looked about to fall back to sleep. He'd never seen Altair like this. Ever. It was sort of scary, more scary then when he was angry. "Just go to sleep," and Jake was speaking to the both of them, but looking at Desmond.

He slid down resting his head on Jake's pillow next to him, lying on his back. On his other side he heard the deep, even, breathes of Altair sleeping as Jake lay down as well. "Your feet are fucking cold," Jake hissed.

"No one's asking you to touch 'em," Desmond hissed right back and Jake snorted and got comfortable. After a few minutes he heard Jake fall off to sleep as well, joining Altair's long, deep, beaths.

He stared up at the ceiling, hands on his flat stomach. He drummed his fingers lightly on his belly before the lighting changed just a little. Enough for him to notice and he raised his left hand. The geometry was back, it came and went, but now it was shining pretty brightly and looked like puzzle pieces. It completely covered his fingers and hand right now, though stopped about half way up his lower arm save for a piece the size of a U.S. half dollar on the inside of his upper arm. He inspected it, trying to find some sort of hidden meaning.

His musings were cut short though when Altair shifted next to him. He lowered his arm when the sleeping ancient edged closer to his warmer body, as the room was warm, but not that warm, but now with three people in one bed it made a pretty good human radiator and Altair was a glutton for heat. Made him wonder why he had a house out here other then it was way out of the way. Apparently he was also a fucking bed hog too and wanted the space Desmond was currently occupying because he suddenly found his space crowded by his ancestor.

Either this was a new development or he'd always been like this. He actually couldn't recall Altair ever even sleeping. The times that he did he did so out of sight of the rest of them or sitting in a chair, never actually on a bed. So he just assumed this was normal and that Altair was usually an octopus in bed. Desmond didn't know how much he was complaining though since the older man happily sought his warmth and gave it back as well, as his feet were cold and Altair didn't seem to notice when he tangled up against him. As it was he had kinda been pressed up against Jake because Altair had taken up an entire half of the bed before, and now he was just kinda… sandwiched.

He fell asleep like that though, so he wasn't complaining too much apparently