A/N: Another chapter for you! I hope I got the Bleeding Effect right, for all those who have no idea what's going on (Lalapaya, DonoDellaParlantina) I'm planning on making a chapter where Deena gets everything explained what has happened so far. Until then, you have to be kept in the dark :)
The next day I woke up as the sun ascended, normal for me, I was used to wake up so early. I shared a room with Desmond – my misfortune – but he was still fast asleep. Slowly and silently I crept out of bed, careful not to wake him. Outside in the courtyard was beautiful silence, as I shortly glanced over my shoulder at the training circle to find silence there, too. Until the memory-man showed up again. This time he was running from the front entrance towards the foot of one of the fortress' towers. He was not going to get away from me this time! I ran after him, up a few ladders until I thought we must have reached Masyaf's biggest tower. And so we had. There were three wooden platforms leading away from the place we both ended up at. The man stepped onto the right one and looked to his right, as if waiting for a sign. I slowly dared one foot on the platform too, and realized that this platform was the only one of the three which you could see from the meadow in front of the fortress' walls. Just before I slowly reached the man, he jumped. At first I thought he had committed suicide, but when I looked down to see if he was still alive, I could see a stack of hey, positioned there as if people wanted other people to jump down here.
"Deena!" Desmond's voice ripped me out of my thoughts and I turned to see him standing on the edge of the stone floor at the tower. He had extended one hand to pull me back inside which I gladly took and let him hug me.
"Are you crazy? What were you thinking?" he asked he wrapped his arms around me, "You could have fallen!"
"I'm sorry," although I had no idea what I was apologizing for.
"Don't ever scare me like that again!" he cried and nearly crushed me to death.
"Okay, okay, I won't! Can you let go now?" I asked annoyed already and he let me go, "Thanks. Why were you up here by the way?"
He started to stammer uneasily, "Um…doesn't matter. Why did you come all the way up here?"
I figured to tell him the truth, "I saw a man. A memory. He was in the courtyard yesterday too. And he led me into that room. He jumped down this platform and vanished again."
Desmond's face got white, "Altaïr."
"You mean our ancestor?"
He gulped, "Had the man Assassin's clothes?"
I nodded and he looked worried still, "Yes."
His deep sigh made me fear the worst. So I saw one of our ancestors, big deal. I had always been a crazy girl.
"Des, calm down, I was just curious, no big deal," I said and shrugged, but he was somehow full of…anger? Rage? An emotion in any case, but why? And what was going on in that head of his?
"No big deal?" he asked, trying to calm himself by taking deep breaths, "You're seeing memories of our ancestor. Maybe you're a crazy girl seeing your own memories, but our ancestor's? That's something completely different!"
I took a step back from him, afraid he might explode. Why did he care anyway?
"Desmond, calm down, I'm okay, I just saw things, I do that all the time," I said in a whisper, afraid someone might hear us.
"Okay, Deena, we're going to see Lucy. Now!" he pulled me down the tower again and didn't let me out of his sight. There was not even time to catch my breath, he pulled me inside the fortress and then I succeeded in pulling my hand free from his grip.
"What are you doing?" he asked reproachfully.
"I'm thinking rationally, I just saw a man who actually doesn't exist. Who do you think would believe us? Except from the fact that they'd lock me in and declare me insane."
"We're just going to Lucy, she's seen worse," Des stated and wanted to pull my hand.
"No!" It took me a second to realize I had said that out loud and pulled my hand away.
"Deena Megan Miles! You will follow me now immediately! I want this to be cleared, maybe Lucy has an idea of what is going on," he declared, his voice sounded incredibly like Bill's. Spooky.
I looked at him and shook my head, "No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"I'm not going with you."
"Yes you are. Come on now," he urged and wanted to grab my hand a second time, but I was fast enough to pull it away, "Deena!"
"I'm not going with you," I repeated before taking a step back, "You can't rule over me."
"I'm making the decisions, because I'm in charge," he replied harshly, "And you will follow me now."
"No, you're not Bill!" I realized my voice was getting louder without my intention.
"Bill…" he replied emotionless, all the anger flew out of his face. I was still angry at him. He had no power over me! No one has!
Then I saw his eyes as he watched me being angry at him. He wasn't emotionless because I was angry at him or called him our father; he was perplexed because I called our father by his real name. Unlike him, who had always called him Dad. I know it seemed harsh, but Bill had never been the father to me I wished for. Although I had dealt with that fact, I still couldn't bring myself to call him Dad. Especially not after what he put me though in the last nine years.
"Bill…" he repeated, before getting hold of himself again, "Deena, please, we have to see Lucy."
"No!" I yelled again and wanted to run outside, but he held me back.
"What if it is the bleeding effect?" he yelled back at me and I got silent. There was it again. The "bleeding effect".
"Bleeding effect?"
He didn't answer and just took the chance of my disturbance to pull me towards Lucy's and Rebecca's room. I realized that Shaun had his own room; again.
Desmond's fist against the door was like a storm, I bet he would have knocked with two fists, but one was occupied preventing me from running off.
"Open up!" he screamed and Lucy shushed him immediately as she opened the door.
"What is it?" she whispered, obviously trying to lower Desmond's voice too, but his was booming anyway.
"He saw him again," he said as I spotted a hooded figure at the end of the corridor. I shook my head quickly. No, not now!
"Come in," Lucy said and Desmond pulled me inside. There were beautiful carpets on the walls and two huge beds inside; the room was at least three times bigger than Desmond's and mine! But what caught my attention was a red camp bed in the middle of the room. It was linked to a computer with loads of wires and it was beeping instantly.
"What is that?" I asked.
"That's an Animus," Lucy answered me, but Rebecca cleared her throat.
"It's the Animus 2.0," she said, "I'm taking my baby everywhere with me, you don't know when we will have to use it again."
Lucy rolled her eyes, "Okay, Rebecca," then she turned to me, "What did you see?"
I sighed, "I saw a man. He was running up the highest tower and I followed. The he jumped off a wooden platform."
Lucy nodded at every word I said and seemed to be deep in thoughts when I was finished.
"It seems like symptoms of the bleeding effect," she told Desmond, but I stomped my foot like mad.
"What the fuck is the 'bleeding effect'?"
Everybody looked at me, "Whoa, calm down, Rumpelstiltskin," Desmond said and took a step back from me.
"Desmond!" Lucy said to shush him and then turned to me, "The bleeding effect is actually something that happens from spending too much time in the Animus. You start combining your ancestor's memories with your own and for instance can use their abilities. But some nasty side effects are that you see things. You see the memories without using the Animus, and sometimes you can even go insane because of it."
I stayed silent.
But I never was inside the Animus.
Well, there we go. I hope you're not more confused than before, but please keep REVIEWing!