Disclaimer: I don't own Beauty and the Beast, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Assassin's Creed. That would be cool, though, wouldn't it?

Robin, 2017

Robin opened her eyes with a little surprise. That session had seemed much shorter than the previous one.

"Kyle?" she said as she sat up.

Quite another figure rose from Kyle's chair. Robin nearly fell off the Animus, but steadied herself when she realized who it was.

"Miss Grey," Russell Carey gave her a tight smile. He did not apologize for startling her, nor did he help her off the bed. With a start, she realized she had actually become accustomed to Kyle's small gestures of courtesy.

"Where's Kyle?" she asked when she was on her feet.

"I sent him out for the nurse to check up on him. Make sure she's satisfied with his progress after that unfortunate accident a few days ago."

"Oh." Robin did not in the least like being alone with Russell. Nor did she really like the idea of being in the Animus with only him watching her.

"Miss Grey, I won't mince words. I'm a busy man. I came out here the minute I saw the so-called progress report, including some of the footage my son sent. I told him as soon as I arrived, and I'm telling you now, you've both got to stop this nonsense about giant sea monsters and such."

"It isn't nonsense," Robin snapped. "I'm seeing what Vanessa saw. It's really real. I wouldn't have believed it either, if I weren't living it."

His face darkened. "I'm surprised at you, Miss Grey. You struck me as a young woman with a healthy amount of sense and skepticism. That you would go along with this childish scheme is beyond me."

"Why would I want to lie to you?" Robin demanded, struggling mightily to hold on to her temper. "I'd like to get out of here as quickly as possible. Whatever it is you want to find, I wish you had trawled the information out of my mind days ago. As for Kyle, I don't know what he gets out of this, but he's your son. You should at least trust him on that count."

Russell started to walk around the computer desk towards her. Well, stalk was probably a better word, Robin thought. She held her ground, but behind her back clutched the side of the Animus table until she could feel the cool metal starting to bite into her palm.

Russell stopped in front of her. Robin was suddenly struck by how tall he was. She felt very small standing in front of him. But she stuck out her chin and refused to be intimidated.

This was a mistake. Striking like a snake, Russell grabbed the offending part; namely, her chin. He was much stronger than she'd anticipated, and no matter how she twisted she couldn't look away.

"I've had about enough of your sass," he hissed. "You want to be very careful, Miss Grey. You don't know what you're messing with here. I won't have my operation ruined by a pair of kids who don't know when to stop playing and enter the real world."

"You're hurting me, Mr. Carey," Robin said through clenched teeth. She refused to let him see the tears that were welling up. She usually didn't have a problem with intimidation, but a very real fear—Vanessa's, or her own?—was rising in her.

"I'll do worse than this if you don't start cooperating," he growled, and released her. "Remember your friend Miles, and watch what you say to me."

Robin cursed at him under her breath.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me." When he started for her again, Robin shimmied over the top and around to the other side of the Animus. From the relative safety of this position, she said, "You can't hurt me too badly. You still need me."

They froze in place. The tension ratcheted up a notch or two. Then Russell straightened, and shifted his sport coat on his shoulders as if tossing off his annoyance. "May I remind you, Miss Grey, that you won't always be useful. I'd be very, very careful in the future if I were you." He headed for the door, his heels hitting hard on the floor. He paused just before leaving. "Remember what I said."

Robin remained rigidly upright until she was certain he was not returning to the room. Then she half-collapsed onto the Animus table, bending over it and burying her head in her hands. She could feel herself shaking but refused to allow tears to fall. White-hot rage was still coursing through her.

Distantly she heard the door open again. She did not look up.

"Robin!" Kyle put a hand on her shoulder, shaking it. "Robin, are you all right? What did he say to you? Robin!" Then, more tentatively, "Rob?"

She looked up, but didn't object to the familiar name. "Nothing that he hasn't already said."

"But he upset you."

Robin straightened completely and studied him. His face was paler than usual, and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. "You, too."

He shrugged. "I've dealt with him longer than you. He's mostly talk."

"Maybe with you he is."

Kyle's eyes narrowed as he absorbed this. With gentle fingers he reached out. Robin did her best not to flinch. He hesitated a moment, then touched the tip of her chin ever so slightly, enough to tilt her head towards the overhead light so that he could see the forming bruises. Robin closed her eyes to keep in the tears of humiliation and anger. One trickled down her cheek, unbidden.

"I'm so sorry," Kyle said, very softly. "I never meant—" He stopped, and she felt his thumb wipe away the tear. "He yelled at me, too, you know. Called us two stupid teenagers who needed to realize what was really important."

That brought a small smile, though the sticky tear track made it feel forced. "We're not teenagers."

"Far from it. We both outgrew stupid teenagehood long ago. We both know what's important. Robin, I feel terrible asking you to do this, but we have to keep going with the Animus. We haven't seen everything we're searching for yet, and the longer we delay the angrier at us both he's going to get. Somehow we have to convince him we're not making this up. Barring that, we have to find what we're looking for, quickly."

Robin looked down at the bed. Kyle studied her, then said, "Forget I said that. We're taking the rest of the day off. I'll tell him the nurse said I overtaxed and I can't work."

"Did you actually go see her?" Robin asked, her mood lightening at the prospect of some time to relax.

"No." Kyle looked confused. "What made you think I did?"

"Your dad. He said he sent you out to go talk to her when he brought me out of the Animus." She glared at the door. "He must have been trying to separate us."

"Well, sort of." Now Kyle looked sheepish. "I walked out. I was showing him the footage as it was coming out of the machine, and he asked to see the real footage. I told him that was it. We…argued. I got angry and left. I'm sorry, Robin. I shouldn't have left him alone with you. I should have realized what he'd do."

"It's not your fault. If I could have left when he was litting into me, I would have."

Kyle looked guilty again. "I'm really sorry." They studied each other. Looking at him, it suddenly occurred to Robin that Kyle was likely as tall as his father. Somehow, he was just less imposing. Maybe because he was so much thinner and projected the air of an intellectual who saw the sun only rarely. And the black hair against the white skin really was striking, when you got used to it. It drew attention to his angled features, the hidden humor under the pride of his quirked eyebrows.

Robin blinked, and shook her head slightly. She had to stop thinking like this. A few more days and she'd actually find him attractive.

Kyle cleared his throat, and she suddenly wondered what he'd been thinking as he looked at her. "Actually…" he said hesitantly, bringing her completely back to earth. "I wanted to try something. A small experiment that doesn't involve the Animus."

"What kind of experiment?" Robin asked suspiciously.

"Nothing painful, I promise. I've been noticing in the past day or so that Vanessa seems to be rubbing off on you. Not too obvious, just a few small mannerisms. It may not mean anything, since the two of you are so much alike already. Or it may be a side effect of the synching."

"How do you test something like that? Have me walk around and act as much like Vanessa as possible?"

Kyle chuckled. "No, though I think both of us would swear she was in the room when you were done." He ducked under his computer workstation and began rummaging around. "I had one of my dad's people pick this up in a local market the other day," he said, his voice slightly muffled.

"What?" asked Robin, leaning over to see. Kyle emerged too quickly, and they whacked heads. "Ow!"

Kyle sucked in his breath through his teeth, rubbing the sore spot. "Note to self: look next time."

"No kidding."

"Here," Kyle said, holding out the object he had pulled out. Robin stared at it in amazement and some dismay. It was a rough-carved wooden flute, the kind any local could make with their eyes shut and sell to a tourist for 10.

"I can't play," she whispered, realizing where this was going.

"I think maybe you can, now. Just try it. At worst, it will sound horrible and I won't bother you about it again."
She hated it when his logic was right. And now that he'd brought the subject up, she was a little curious. Almost without her permission her fingers reached out.

She blew once. The note wavered, and she brought the flute away from her mouth again. "See?"

"You didn't even give it a real shot. Think of that song Vanessa played and try again."

Robin scowled at him but did as he suggested. She thought of how that song the pirates had been singing had gotten so stuck in her head. Closing her eyes halfway, she heard again the haunting tune of the hymn Vanessa had played, of the way it had echoed around the cave of the Fountain of Youth and intertwined with Adam's voice in that weird way that even to her had sounded magical.

Her fingers were moving. She opened her eyes. She was in control, she was hearing the melody in her head and feeding it to her fingers, and somehow they knew what to do.

She broke off in the middle of the song. Kyle was looking at her with a kind of awe. "That was…good. That was really good." He swallowed, and seemed to pull himself together. "Wow. The sound quality of my equipment really doesn't do justice to Vanessa's talent. She could totally have made her living playing."

Robin was still staring at the flute. "I've never played an instrument in my life. That was amazing. I just somehow knew what to do."

"Vanessa is starting to bleed over into you a little bit, that's all."

"That sounds ominous," said Robin, giving him a dubious look.

"Does it? I guess I should have phrased it better." Kyle thought for a second. "What I meant was, the synching is reaching a point where you can do some of the things she could, and bits of her personality are coming out. I don't know how permanent it is," he added as she opened her mouth.

"The idea of being able to wow people with my flute playing skills for the rest of my life somehow doesn't bother me that much," Robin admitted stroking the flute with one thumb. Then an idea occurred to her. "But…I won't become Vanessa, will I? The—the mousiness, and all?"

"I doubt it. In certain situations, you may find yourself feeling what she would have felt. But how can you completely become her? You've had an entire life she's never had and can't even imagine. That won't be pushed aside so easily. And who knows? The strength of the synch might fade over time. In fact, I'd be surprised if it didn't. Right now you're in near-constant contact with those parts of your brain closely linked to Vanessa. Once that isn't happening every day things will change."

"And I'll go back to who I was?" Robin guessed.

"Will you?"

That startled her. "What do you mean?"

"Can you go back to being the old Robin Grey, before…well, before my dad showed up on your doorstep?"

"That's the plan," Robin said, though she found the thought unsettling. Yes, she wanted to be out of here, back to her relatively safe life and the buffer walls she'd built so carefully to keep people from finding her. But could she, really? Would she always be looking over her shoulder? How long before that would drive her crazy?

And then there was Kyle. She'd grown used to his companionship, at the very least. She was starting to like him. Behind the big words, those fast-typing fingers, and that annoying ability to answer questions before they were asked, he was surprisingly fun to be around. Did she really want to say goodbye forever to him?

To cover her confusion, she lifted the flute again. "Let me try something else. Something I've never heard her play."

She tried a song she was certain was composed after Vanessa's time. It didn't sound anywhere near as good, but her fingers still went to their positions without protest.

"Not bad," Kyle said. "What made you choose "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic?"

Robin felt heat crawling up her neck. "It came to mind. And…I liked that movie when I was younger."

Kyle titled his head in a way that said he expected her to say more.

"Fine. I still like it. I had a huge crush on Leonardo di Caprio for awhile even though he's way too old for me. I'm occasionally a sucker for a cute smile. Happy?"

Kyle blinked. "You didn't have to tell me that much."

"You asked for it."

He didn't deny it, just bobbed his head. "And duly received my punishment."

"Let me try something else, then," laughed Robin.

They spent the rest of the evening trying different songs, some familiar to them, some Kyle looked up on his ever-patient computer as ones Vanessa might have known but Robin had never heard of. She did better playing those, as though they were buried deep in her brain somewhere.

She went to bed with the song "Carrickfergus" in her mind, the same song Vanessa had played on the Lady Swan:

But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over,

Nor have I the wings to fly…

Ah, to be back now, in Carrickfergus

To be together, my love and I…

Author's Note: This was a slightly longer chapter than I anticipated, but Robin and Kyle seem to take over when I write their sections. Robin is especially fun to write. Her perspectives on things are so interesting to me. Not that I don't adore all my other characters. Next up, the famous (or infamous) ballroom scene starring Vanessa and Adam! Yay!

A small note—at the end of Assassin's Creed, the man from the present is able to call on his ancestor's skill of Eagle Vision, which is this sort of sixth sense that can tell him if someone is a friend or enemy. I'm expanding that idea, though of course it takes much less time for Robin to learn Vanessa's skill. But I figured playing the flute is a little less complicated than a psychic power.

Let me know what you're thinking so far! Please?

SamoaPhoenix9