Desmond is finally allowed out of Abstergo after that, and he waits just long enough to get out of sight before running. It feels so good to be running in his own body again that he wants to laugh out loud- Shay waits in silence until Desmond has worked out his restlessness and slowed to a more normal pace.

"You're a madman," Shay announces. "Won't they wonder why you never came back?"

"Doesn't matter," Desmond says dismissively. "It's only a problem if they find me, and they won't."

"You sound confident."

"I am free as a bird," Desmond announces. "They'll never mind me!" He throws his hands in the air, and Shay laughs.

"Why are you so crazy?"

It's cold and starting to snow, so Desmond quickly sobers, at least enough to focus on getting back to the closest assassin safehouse. It's not the one he'd left Shaun and Rebecca at, but they'd been planning to move north to be nearby, just in case something went wrong, and when he walks in the front door Rebecca is on top of him almost at once.

"Desmond!" she says, wrapping him in an enthusiastic hug. "You're not dead!"

"Nope," he says. "I did really well, no one even knew I was undercover."

"Really?"

"I did such a good job they made me a templar."

She studies him for a second, then apparently decides he's joking and laughs- Desmond pulls the ring out of his pocket and watches her eyes go wide. "Oh," she says. "Wow. I feel like there's a pretty weird story in there somewhere. Did you get your ancestors back?"

"Yes," Desmond says. "Mostly. Ezio…" he swallows hard and looks down at his shoes. "He's dead." It's the first time he's really had to tell anyone, and the words feel like stones in his mouth. The worst part is the fragments of him still left on Desmond's mind, like a ghost constantly reminding him that the man should be there but isn't.

"I'm so sorry," Rebecca says. "I liked Ezio."

"Everyone liked Ezio," Desmond agrees. He's silent for a second, then on an impulse, he goes on. "I was in his head when he died."

Rebecca's eyes go wide, and she hugs him a second time. Desmond lets it happen, closing his eyes to fend off the sudden memories prodding at him. Then he pulls away. "And there's another guy in my head now," he says. "His name's Shay, he's a templar, usually not a dick-"

"Hey!"

"I was in his memories while I was undercover," Desmond goes on. "And he found some precursor artifact and now he's in my head, so…"

"And he's a templar?" Rebecca asks, frowning.

Desmond shrugs, trying to make the motion casual. "He worked with Haytham, and he says Shay's not that bad, if that helps."

Rebecca sighs and throws up her hands. "I give up," she says. "It's your head, you can invite anyone in that you want."

"I should probably also mention that he likes to steal my body sometimes," Desmond adds. "Not really maliciously, just to be annoying. So… he might introduce himself at some point."

He looks around for the first time, and realizes there's no sign of anyone else. "Are you the only one here?" he asks. "Where's Shaun?"

"France," she says. "On another assignment."

"They split you up?" Desmond asks. "I thought I'd never see the day. The two of you work so well together."

"Well now that you're back, we can go meet up with him," Rebecca says. "He just went on ahead to start setting up."

"Setting up what?"

"You might have heard about this, actually," Rebecca says. "Since you've been at Abstergo. Did anyone ever talk about Helix?"

"Yea," Desmond says. "I wasn't directly involved, but it's basically a way of turning all these animus sessions into a game. Which is weird, if you ask me. Who would think this kind of stuff is fun?"

"The world is full of strange people," Rebecca says. "Anyway, we're hacking into the machines of anyone that looks like they might be… sympathetic to our cause. There's this French assassin we're interested in, we think he might have some interesting information, so we're going to see if anyone can get far enough to get anything useful."

"Sounds interesting," Desmond says. "Who is this guy?"

"His name's Arno Dorian," Rebecca says, and Desmond freezes where he stands. In his head, Shay is suddenly completely focused on the conversation for the first time since they walked in.

"I met him," he says. "In the animus, when I was going through Shay's memories."

"And?"

"Shay- I…" he takes a deep breath. "We killed his father. It's a long story, and we didn't have all the details."

"Desmond, what-" she looks at him, horrified, and Desmond feels a familiar churn of guilt that is as much Shay's as his. "Why would you do that?"

"It was a mistake," Shay says, and Desmond doesn't stop him when the other man takes temporary control. The need to explain and to be heard is like a burning fire in Shay's head, and it's not like he's saying anything Desmond disagrees with. "I thought I was doing the right thing, but…" he clenches one hand into a fist. "Never again," he says. "I promise."

"I'm going to make it up to him," Desmond says, and Shay steps back without protest. They've gotten this sharing control of his body down to a science by now. "You said you have a way inside his memories, right?"

"Well, yea," Rebecca says. "But-"

"I'm going in," Desmond says. "I know I can get inside the memories of people I'm not technically related to thanks to Shay."

"I don't know if that's a great idea," Rebecca says.

"Also," Desmond says. "There was a point when I was inside Shay's memories, and they happened to overlap with Arno's memories. And I saw myself, in Arno's memories."

"Wait, what-"

"Me in the future," Desmond says. "We talked, and he said he was in Arno's head, so clearly I don't have a choice about doing this, do I?"

"I guess not," Rebecca says. "I just want you to be safe."

"Thanks," Desmond says. The room goes quiet for a second, and then she looks down at the file in his hands.

"So what's that?" she asks, and Desmond starts- he's almost forgotten about his stolen templar intelligence.

"That's what I came to find," he says. "Information on the Instruments of the First Will. Hopefully enough to tell us how they drained the apples, and why they would want to in the first place."

"Oh!" Rebecca comes closer, obviously interested. "So what are you waiting for?"

Desmond shrugs, opens the file, and starts to read.