You wanted it and you shall have it! Another chapter and another memory! I am having fun with this and being able to update when I want it a plus! On with the show!

Rome 1507

"Where shall we go now?" I asked as I slipped the sword into its scabbard.

"I do not know. North maybe. The Templars have begun to amass there again. We shall travel there and rid the world of them." He looked up from the map that was spread out on the table.

Walking over to him, I touched his shoulder. "I guess we should go say our goodbyes to Ezio, Claudia and the others."

He nodded, and walked with me out the door. Ezio sat behind his chair, brow furrowed and fist clinched. He heard our footsteps and looked up at us. "I take it you are ready to depart?"

I nodded. "We have stayed too long, I'm afraid. Someone might notice that we do not age and we have no scars for the wounds we sustain. I am sorry, but it is how it must be until we are released." I wished it was not so, but it was the way it was. I could not change it any more than I could change the rising of the sun.

Ezio nodded and stood. "Then, it was an honor to have worked with you and I wish you luck on your journeys, my friends." He held out his hand and Altair shook it.

I walked over to him and gave him a hug, and kissed his cheek. "I wish you joy in the years to come, my brother."

"And the same to you, my sister." He bowed.

We did the same, gathered our belongings and said the last of our goodbyes. Once out of the city, we turned to see Rome once more. "I will miss this city." I sighed.

"As will I, but as you said, our time has come. We have stayed on for seven years now. It is time to move on." Altair turned his horse and heeled it into a slow trot.

I caught up to him, and trotted along the side of him. "So, I guess we are partners then?"

He chuckled. "So I guess we are."

I watched the mountains dwindle to foothills and the foothills dwindle to flat plains from the car window. We had been driving for several hours now. No real conversation. They all thought I was unstable now, but I was just coming to terms with what I had done. I felt no remorse for the lives I took the night pervious. They were there to do harm to me, and in return, I sent them to the God they prayed to.

It was disturbing to say the least, but it was the fact of life, I guess. People died. Either by old age, accident, or going up against the Assassins. I was not proud of what I had done, but I was not remorseful. Did that make me a bad person? I do not believe it did.

"Alanna, would you like to talk?"

I took my eyes from the view of my window and looked at him. "They think I have lost my mind, don't they?"

"Who are you talking about?" His eyes never left the road.

"Everyone. I mean I shut down last night, but it wasn't for the reason everyone thinks. I just didn't know what to think at that time. I mean, I never wanted to take a life, this is true, but it was me or them. I chose me." I shook my head and then brushed the stray hairs I shook loose behind my ears.

He grabbed his pop, took a drink and sat it back down in the holder. "I know what you mean. I did the same thing when I took my first life."

I looked back at him. "But the difference is I killed thirteen in one go. You killed what one? I think there is a big difference there."

"This is true, but if you are not affected by it, then why are you stressing over it?" His eyes drifted to me for a moment, then back at the road ahead.

I exhaled and leaned back in the seat. "I'm not really. It's just I don't know what to think."

"Then quit thinking. You can get mad at me if you want, but you are overanalyzing this. If you keep running it through your head, it will eat you alive." Altair turned off the nearest exit.

I looked at him. "Why are we turning off?"

"You'll see." He shot me a sideways grin and headed into the small town that was off the freeway.

I just watched the buildings pass and looked at the people. What was he up to? I hadn't figured it out yet, but he had my curiosity piqued. Pulling up to the curb, he shut down the car and looked at me. "Get out and come on."

I did as he asked and followed him around into an alley. He stopped at the back of the building, and looked up. "What are you doing?"

"Climb." He began to scale the building and I just watched him for a minute like he had lost his mind, but my curiosity got the best of me and I followed him up the back of the building.

When I reached the top, he helped me to my feet, and led me to the front of the building. We stood close to the edge, but not close enough for people to see us.

I looked at him. "Why are we up here?"

"Why do we fight?"

"Huh?" I didn't understand what he was getting at.

He exhaled, hung his head for a minute, and then turned to me. "Why do we fight the Templars?"

"To protect free will in all forms." I rolled my eyes. "But that does not explain why you have me on a damn roof in a small town where the tallest building is four stories high."

"You protected yourself last night, correct?" I nodded. "If you had not, they would tried to kill you, or they would have captured you and tried to take away your free will. You are an assassin, Alanna. We protect free will. Look at it that way."

I shook my head. "There's a difference. I. Can't. Die. They could."

"This is true and they know that. So they would have shot you, let you bleed out, then took you with them and turned you into their lab rat. Cut you open. See how you tick. Now, I have never been experimented on and I hope I never do, but I am pretty sure we do not grow back body parts or survive decapitation." He looked out over the small town. "They would have used you to find a way to become like us or to find a way to kill us."

I had not thought about that. "So what you are trying to tell me is that what I did last night was justified. I fighting back and ending their lives saved all of ours."

"Yes. Who do we fight for?" He asked as he took a seat in the gravel the covered the roof.

"The people." I sat down next to him.

"And if the Templars were all dead?"

"Then free will would be preserved." I did not know where he was going with this. "Will you just get to the point?"

"Fine and you call me inpatient. If we destroy the Templars, free will be saved, but if they win, the people would be under their control." He leaned back on his hands and stretched his feet out in front of him. "I think we were created as a fail-safe. A 'just in case' plan if they ever did win."

Now he had my head spinning. "When did you go all philosophical?" I smiled.

He grinned and closed his eyes. "I have my moments. This is one of them."

We sat on the roof of that building for a while, soaking up the sun's rays. It was nice to just sit here and relax, but I knew it was getting on in the day. "We had better get down and back on the road. If we don't show up around the time we are supposed to, they will come looking for us." Standing up, I brushed the dust from the back of my pants.

He did the same, but as I was heading to the back of the building, he grabbed my hand. "Thanks for listening to my lecture."

I smiled and squeezed his hand. "What you said helped. Thank you for putting in perspective."

Releasing my hand he jumped from the building, landed in a roll and back on his feet. I did the same and we headed out of the alley, but at the end, he held up his arm to stop me. Looking around the edge of the building, there was two men that sat in a bench down the street. You could tell they did not fit into the small town scene with their sunglasses and fresh clothes.

"Templars, I believe." He whispered. I nodded.

We retreated deeper into the alley again. "How in the hell are they finding us? I thought Ezio searched the car for trackers?"

"He did, but they are finding us another way." He reached for his gun, but then a curse word escaped his lips. "I left the damn thing in the car."

"Do you think we can escape them?" I looked down the alley and saw a few shadows move. I grabbed his arm and ran around to the backside of the building.

We climbed the building once more, and hid on the roof. "I don't know. We could try and distract them, get them away from the car, lose them and get the hell out of here, but that is risky."

"Well, I don't think we have a choice, Altair. We have to get out of here. We are too cut off and isolated here." I crouched down and made it to the edge. "They are gone. They must have been the ones coming into the alley."

He came over to where I was and looked as well. "I have a knife on me, the gun in the car and three of the hidden blades in the trunk." I lifted a brow when he said three. "I didn't know if you would ever want to carry one again, but I brought two extra just in case."

Oh, now I understood. "So what are we going to do about the guys below?"

"Get the hell away from them, to start with." He scanned the area. The buildings were close enough together that we could easily jump from one roof to the next, but we had to get their attention first. I think we were thinking a like because he turned back to me. "If we stay on the rooftops, but have them see us, they are going to follow. Once we make it down a few buildings, I want you to double back, get the car and meet me at. I will lose them and meet you at the," He scanned again and pointed. "water tower over there. Just be ready to get moving when I jump in."

I nodded and picked up two pebbles. "Would you like to throw the first stone?" I asked grinning.

"I would be honored." He smiled back and plucked it from my hand.

We found them in the back, trying to find a way up. So they were not trained in the way we were. This was good. I threw my pebble down after Altair threw his. Both hit where they were aimed. "Hey boys, are you looking for us?" I smiled down at them and we took off running.

Over the rooftops we ran. I couldn't help but smile because it reminded me of when I would run from the guards. It had been a long time since I ran like this, I knew that now. My heart raced and I could feel my body wanting to give more, but I held back. I had to turn around in a minute to get the car.

Sliding to a stop at the edge of the last roof, he nodded at me and I took off the opposite direction. Closer to the front because I knew they would be moving down the back alley.

The car was coming up. I could see it as I jumped the building. I made the jump, rolled to feet, ran the last bit of distance and climbed down the fire escape. Peeking around the edge of the building, I saw that the coast was clear and got in the driver's seat. Pulling the keys from my pocket, I jammed them into the ignition and threw it into drive. Thank you Altair for parking at the alley.

Driving towards the water tower, I saw him jump across the street, using a passing semi as a landing in the middle. One guy followed. I was pretty sure the second guy was either dead or disabled. They saw me fly past and he pulled out a radio. Son of a… I hit the excelerater harder, wishing we had a faster car.

Right at the water tower, I came to a stop, and he jumped in. "Drive!"

No need to tell me twice. I punched the gas and flew out of town. I slowed down only when we were several miles away. We came to a stop so he could take over the driving.

"Well, that was so much fun that I do not want to repeat that today." He sighed and took off again, slower this time.

"I will agree with you there. So, what are we going to do now?" I asked as I took a drink from the bottle of tea I had.

"Use a payphone and call Conner. Tell him to be on the lookout for anyone else. I don't think we will be meeting up with them for a few days. Not until I am sure that we are clean." He turned down a country road and drove down it.

"How in the world did they find us? I mean first the ranch and now here?" I wanted answers.

"We were the last to leave the ranch. All of us left at different times and different directions. Since they had trucks, they went out the back way, and we had the only car. We had to go out the drive. They must have spotted us and followed us. That is the only thing I can think of." He ran his hand through his hair. "We need to get back on the freeway, but not from the same exit we came off of."

"The only thing I can tell you is to find a gas station and ask where we are. I didn't get a look at the name of the town we stopped in." So the map would do us no good at this point in the game.

"I agree. Besides, we need to fill up again."

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

After gassing up, finding out where we were, calling Conner and letting him know what was going on, we decided to find a motel for the night. I had to agree with him because I was tired. All of the running we did made me realize how out of practice I was at all of this.

The motel he chose was near the highway. He got us a room, food and then parked the car a mile away. That way they would not find out where we were right away.

I stretched out on the bed, eating the burgers he had picked up. He came in the door, soaking wet. "I started to rain on the way back."

I put my hand over my mouth to try and stop my laughing. He looked so pathetic. "You look like the time I pulled you into the river in Rome."

He glared at me and began to pull off his shoes. "Do not go there. I cannot believe you did that to me when you knew I could not swim."

Standing up, I walked into the bathroom and grabbed a towel. "I forgot at the time. I was not thinking about that when I was running from the guards Ezio had chasing us."

He took the towel from my outstretched hand. "Yeah, whatever." But I could see the smile on his face.

I took a seat on the bed and grabbed his bag. "Get out of those wet clothes, into some dry ones and enjoy some food." I pulled out a shirt, underclothes and sweats. "Hopefully your shoes dry by morning."

Grabbing his clothes, he walked into the bathroom. A few moments later, he walked out and flopped down on the other side of the bed. "Pass me the food, woman."

Reaching over I smacked him lightly. "I have a name, you prick." I had a smile on my face, so he knew I was playing with him.

"I know, and I know you hate being called woman. So that is why I do it." He smirked and held out a hand.

"You had better ask nicely or I am going to eat them all myself." I was really liking this little game.

He growled at me. "I am hungry. Would you kindly pass me the bag so I can eat and fall asleep?"

I handed him the bag. "Much better. Thank you for asking."

He pulled one of the burgers from the bag and promptly shoved it into his mouth.

I will be honest. I had like six chapters done over the course of last week, but I got to reading them and did not like the direction they were taking the story. So I deleted them and started anew. I like these. More humor, more action and more picking on Altair about his paranoia! Yeah! Anyway, I hope you have liked the story up to this point. There will be more Abstergo action to come so stay tuned!

*SassierSphinx*