The sun was beginning to set, day turning into night, and in the middle of the busy city a crowd of people formed around on the side of a bus stop stand. Heads perked up and those sitting down began to rise, as the vehicle turned to pull over for them. Silent and collectively, they shuffle to the doors only to have their heads turning again to the screaming voice beyond them.
"Get back here Auditore!" a man shrieked fiercely, running down the street and accompanied by others, "Bastard! I am not done with you yet!"
"Ahah! Not a chance," came the reply from another man, who had ran far enough from the angry mob to turned and faced them head on. He grinned in confidence, hands on over the vest on his hips, "though I guess you could use a little work out, eh Vieri?"
Vieri glared, "I swear Ezio, when I get my hands on your throat I going to kill you!"
"What was that?" Ezio cooed, acting foolish and placed a hand by his ear, "I can't really hear you from there, you have to come a little closer than that!"
He laughs and it only aims to annoy Vieri further, who's pace gains sudden speed. Ezio ceases his laughter, smiling at himself before realizing he had to run away again. "Ah crap," he mutters under his breath.
His feet take him stumbling down cross roads and paths he had never seen before, or some that made him believe he had been running in circles. But as long as Vieri and his gang didn't catch up to him, Ezio felt untouchable. That did not mean he felt invincible though. His legs started to give, making Ezio slightly clumsy on his feet. He could feel his muscles tightening despite knowing he was far ahead of his pursuers. But that being the only priority in mind, Ezio made no effort to dodge the on-coming hand that reached out for him from the side of an alleyway.
It grabbed tightly with a fist full of Ezio shirt, jerking him from the collar and away from the sidewalk. Ezio went with a startled cry, his own hand latching on to the wrist of his stranger. His rising confusion and temper instantly softened at the sight of a familiar face.
"...Federico?" the intertwined hands all let go at once, "Fuck, you scared me!" Ezio smirked, "You could have just warned me you were around the corner, you know." He gestured his hands.
"Really?" Federico folds his arms, "Are you not supposed to be alert of such things? Or does the scent of your own brother grow dull on such a weak nose."
"Fottiti," Ezio sneers quietly, "Vieri was after me again, suppose he's got something to against me?"
Federico merely chuckles, "You're not impressing anyone, really, baby brother. Everyone knows Vieri is slow, and I was tracking you down on your little 'escape' back there. And let me tell you," he shakes his head, "not impressive, again. You've got a lot of work to do if you want a chance to even stand out with the big boys."
Ezio's smile drops, "Like...what?"
"Well, for one thing, you didn't even notice me grabbing you."
"Oh, that's nothing to worry about-"
"You're supposed to be faster than those humans."
"I am!" Ezio waves his hands in the air, "They didn't catch me, and I lost them. What is the big deal?"
"The big deal is..." Federico moves closer, laying both hands on his brother's shoulders, "if they catch you, we're done Ezio, yes? Our big secret," Federico waved his hand away, "out." he sighed heavily, shoulders sagging and withdrawed from Ezio, "It's like I got to teach you the ropes all over again or something."
"I can take care of myself, fratello." says Ezio, glaring at Federico's back, "All this...this...bullshit of hiding and running away," Federico raises his head curiously at him, and when he does Ezio continues, "It's pathetic, you know. And I didn't even change once when he was after me!"
"But you were going to...I bet." Federico said, and Ezio looked away from him. Federico gaze softened, " Ezio, I know you're not exactly at your prime yet, but you were slacking after a few miles. I noticed, believe me. Wait...why were you in that area anyway?"
"Uhh..." Ezio grins sheepishly, "To piss Vieri off again?"
Federico didn't buy it, he frowned at his little brother. "No, that's not always the routine, I'm not blind." He edges closer to Ezio, who tried to move away. Federico tipped his head side to side, leaning over his brother with one sharp sniff before it dawns on him. "You...you were with her again. Cristina, weren't you?"
"...maybe?"
"Ezio!" Federico groans, "We've been through this as well already."
"Hey! You can't talk!" Ezio snapped back, "You've been wandering around at nights with your damn tail between your legs too!"
"Never after the same girl though," Federico notes, "and she's human...let's not go down this road again, please? Father will-"
"Father doesn't have to know," Ezio pressed, looking dolefully at his older brother who seems unconvinced otherwise, "forget tonight ever happened aaaand...we can all go home happy, si?"
Federico's arms return to fold against his chest, a now hardened look at his younger brother before momentarily blinking away, "You are sure Vieri didn't see you or follow you far enough?"
"I admit, I do not catch the scent of that bastard anywhere near us." Without a care, Ezio smiles and shrugs to himself, "He's long gone, no need to worry."
"Good," replies Federico, "then we should head home, father wants a family meeting and I was sent out to find your sorry behind."
Federico gestures to leave and the pair soon start walking out from the alleyway, "A family meeting?" questions Ezio, "This is...rare. What is this about exactly?"
"I don't really know but..." Federico tenses beside him, "you hear dark rumours lately about...this city. And about our kind. The latest being that our people have been getting..." the words escape from his lips before Federico gets a chance to even say them. Ezio felt nervous by his brothers behaviour, he felt a small prickle go through his skin.
"Getting...what?" Ezio asked.
"Murdered...kidnapped." Federico says quietly, "We don't know who or why but...I've seen father and mother speaking with others lately and sometimes they even breaking down before him. And then I heard it...the words sons, missing. Family members not returning home. Gone without a trace with no scent to even follow. It's crazy! It's as if they vanished into thin air."
"That's..." Ezio scowls in disbelief, "That's not possible. They don't know us. Human's don't know...they just...don't..."
"You don't believe me, do you?" said Federico as they came to a traffic light.
"What is there to believe?" Ezio snorts, the lights soon changed signaling they could cross, "It won't happen."
"It happened once already and you know this." his older brother warns, both of them being careful to keep to themselves and to keep together, "All it takes is for one stupid fool to ruin it for all of us."
"True," Ezio nods in agreement as they turn another corner, "but it's not an easy thing to bear."
It was an excruciating feeling to wake up to. With his chest aching, and his whole body as heavy as lead. Though he knows he's woken up to probably worst, all Desmond wants is to fall back to sleep in the end. But his eyes are already beginning to flutter open, in a trance he was no longer able to fall back on to as his body slowly awakens.
On his side, he turns to the sky firstly expecting to see a clear, white ceiling above him where the lights hung. The same, cream coloured walls thick around him - but not today. '...clouds?' Desmond squints at the sight of white and blue high above, his eyes adjust. The stench around mundane and damp, nothing out of the ordinary simply. He would have been more alert if the smell wasn't rotting garbage or the lack of hygiene.
But his leg was...unnaturally warm. In fact, his whole body was.
'My leg...that's right,' memories start to take shape, click and piece together in his head, 'I'm not...there anymore. Clay and Lucy are...'
Desmond sits up, or tries to. He feels a weight below his body and spots a bulk of white fur lying near his wounded leg. "...Clay?" he says and is ignored. But a pink tongue flicks out from that bulk and on to his wound, and it's all Desmond could do not kick the creature out of shock. He lets out a yelp, flinching and scrambles away frantically.
"What- What the hell!?" Desmond seethes, he beings hyperventilating. His eyes fix on to the beast before him, a white wolf, and he cringes. "Fuck...no- no! Fucking...get away from me!" he shouts through panted breaths, "I've had enough of your fucking kind and all the shit...that's been going on...enough! Just please..."
All the while the creature is calm through Desmond's hysteria, and remains in its place slowly standing but kept its sharp, hazel glazed eyes on the man. It rears its head lower as if it was examining Desmond. "That's funny..." the wolf's voice is deep, and Desmond freezes, "coming from a whelp like yourself." It reveals its fangs, forming into a tight grin under the black and pink gums.
"Did...you just...no," Desmond nervously laughs, "n-no...you just... you talked?"
The nostrils of the wolf flared, "Did you knock your head into the ground before I found your weakened state, or are you really that stupid?"
"I am not-" quickly, Desmond stops himself and takes a deep breath closing his eyes, "...Abstergo must have done something to me...didn't they? Something in that machine of theirs, there's a wolf in front of me talking...I'm talking to a fucking animal."
Desmond hears an upset growl and his eyes instantly reopen. The wolf seemed...unappreciative of his choice of words. "I didn't need to save your sorry hide back there you know," it says with its teeth bared, "I could have easily eaten you had I not realised you weren't just some dead dog."
"A dog?" Desmond lets out a defeated moan, "No...fuck this, I'm not going to have a conversation with an animal for God's sake...this is insane."
"Calm," the wolf said, "you really must have hit your head harder than I thought pup. Get on your paws."
"My...paws? My legs?"
"No, your paws."
"I...I don't..." Desmond started to mumble, the wolf looked at him with impatience. Skin and fur wrinkled, expressing irritation.
"Here, the water." The wolf then gestured with its front paw. A puddle beside it, "Look."
And of course, Desmond did hesitate. He wanted to continue to lie in his own idea that what he was witnessing was just fantasy. Make believe, there was just no way. Maybe he was still back in that little white room having another bizarre dream, or that he was placed into the Animus again tweaking with his brain. This he wanted but...
Desmond swayed forwards, his legs feeling...detached from his body as he rose. He almost buckled had he not quickly regained his balance. That's when he knew that something was not right, he began to believe that there was something abnormal with himself. Behind him, something kept lightly brushing against his legs. His hands and arms did not feel like they were there anymore, did not feel like they were his and yet they were - as if he was possessed. Having an abstract, out-of-body experience. The closest he could describe this moment was as if he was crawling. And that his hands were unable to move and touch his face.
Desmond was trembling now, because he knew that if he'd just looked down to the ground...
'N-no...no...'
...light grey fur surrounded his arms, now acting like a pair of legs. His hands curved into little paws, claws poking out dagger like nails. Not amount of skin could be seen under all that thick fur.
'This...this isn't...'
Desmond tried to flex his fingers, in his last attempt to escape the horror but no...they were still paws...his paws, and they moved and twitched all the same under his command.
'This...isn't real.'
His mind was in conflict, and without a second thought Desmond walked clumsily with the legs he was stuck with to the near by puddle. He just need to see with his own eyes, needed to see for himself what he had become. The evidence under the truth. The white wolf had already stepped aside in Desmond's rush, the patter of feet creating small circles of tremors in the shallow water.
Slowly, with much anticipation, he peered into the water. It held the sky above, the surrounding buildings, and himself yet - it was not himself but a creature. A beast with grey fur covering his entire face and body. Fangs that prodded out from his gaping mouth. Shining little brown eyes aligned to a narrow, black snout. Pointy ears at the top of his head that twitched at any sudden movement around him. Everything that described a beast, an animal, something inhuman.
A wolf.
"This isn't me," said Desmond whispering to himself. Every little detail, the shake of his head and the frown on his face, the wolf in the water simply mirrored them all, "this just can't be...me." Desmond took a few steps back, feeling the weight of his fate a heavy burden to bear. He could feel it, himself and his world slipping into feint madness.
"I...Abstergo did...they did this-" Desmond turned to his only companion, only to find him long gone. In his brief panic he paid no attention to anything else, absorbed in his own chaos. The sound of debris broke through momentary silence, and he glanced up at a figure scaling the scaffolding of a worn down apartment.
"Wait," Desmond called out, craning his neck, "hey...stop!"
The figure had their hand on the ledge of the next level aiming to climb had Desmond's voice not ceased their actions. The stranger faced him, eyes hidden under the fabric of a hood. It was not the white wolf, of course. But their presence...lingered. For all Desmond knew he could have been talking to this person all the while, he couldn't tell the difference. Not now anyway. The strangers stance high above Desmond sagged, a relax composure.
Desmond found himself staring for a long time, "who...are you?" he asked.
"...Me?" a smile curled on their lips, the lower half of their face exposed to the sunlight. But that's when Desmond saw it, a glimpse even. A thin line running down the right side of their pursed lips. A faint scar. "Altaïr," he replies, "not that we'll ever meet again."
As soon as those words escape his lips, Altaïr made his way climbing up fast to the next level and disappeared from Desmond's line of sight before he could even try to stop him, leaving Desmond's mouth hanging open. He stood there on all fours, as if he was waiting for Altaïr to return.
"Altaïr..." he breathed. Clay's voice echoed shortly after in his mind.
'Lucky dog...'
Desmond took a deep breath and sighed, holding back a soft chuckle. "Finally found you."
Author's Note: Again, no beta. This was kinda rushed, if you can tell. It was supposed to be much longer but it was already taking up too much of my time so I decided to seperate them for the next chapter. Anyway, finally! New characters (sort of). Desmond is based off an ordinary grey wolf/timber wolf. As for how their clothes seem to vanish when they change? I'm not going to really explain that, they just do (basing this off Wolf's Rain still) lol. Also, might be needing more time again to work on their modern clothing. I know for Ezio I prefered his AC2 outfit what he first wore really (the vest/waistcoat and shirt), and then for Altaïr just...something similar to Desmond. If I can be bothered, I'll work on this and show some pictures.