In all fairness, Ezio has never been a morning person. Which is probably why it takes him nearly two full minutes to realize that something is wrong. He's actually standing up, eyes half open, when the thought crosses his mind- This isn't me.
He's not a morning person, but he can wake up quickly when he has to, and this is one of those times. His eyes fly open, and he sees that he's- he has no idea where he is. He has no idea who he is, actually. This isn't his body, it belongs to someone slightly shorter than him, with less hair but more quite a lot of stubble. He's definitely younger (that feels strange), and there's a tattoo on one arm.
"It's Desmond's."
If not for the years he spent in Rome getting used to another voice in his head, Ezio might have fallen over right then. "What?"
"The body. It's Desmond's."
"And you're-"
"Altair."
"Oh." Ezio holds up his- Desmond's hands, looking them over carefully. It's the strangest thing he's ever seen. "You sound different in my head. Desmond's head. So- this is Desmond's body, you're Altair, I'm Ezio-"
"Did you have to check that?"
"I'm having an unusual day. What are we doing here? I thought you said he was dead."
"I thought he was." Altair is quiet for a minute. "Ezio, listen to me. Whatever's going on here, there are going to be people around that expect you to be Desmond."
"I don't know how to be Desmond. I've never even been to 2012 before."
"Right." Altair sounds tired. "I have"
"Where are we?"
"Back of a van," Altair says. "This is actually a lot easier when Desmond's here- his brain kind of fills in the details."
"Oh." Ezio looks around the van. It's a tiny moving space, packed in tight with-
"Computers," Altair prompts.
Whatever those are. There's also three other people in the van, two in the front, not looking at him, and one nearby, head on her chest, arms crossed, fast asleep. The van bumps suddenly, and the sleeping woman comes awake. She blinks, looks at Ezio, and half a second later she's out of her seat and giving him one of the most enthusiastic hugs he's ever received.
"Oh my God, Desmond-" She's crying, and Ezio panics a little. One thing he's never been good at is crying women.
"I have no idea what's going on."
"Which is... probably fine," Altair says. "Because if she's this upset, Desmond's probably been out for a while, so he might be confused."
"Who's hugging me?"
"Her name's Rebecca," Altair says. "She's an assassin, works on the animus with Desmond."
"Shaun said you were probably never going to wake up, but I knew he was wrong," Rebecca says, letting go of him and stepping back.
"Shaun?" Ezio asks.
"Also an assassin. Not very friendly but not a bad guy."
"So who's the third guy?" Ezio asks.
"No idea."
The van sways and Ezio half falls. He can't get over the constant movement.
"Yea," Rebecca says. "You just sit down. I'm going to go talk to Shaun- oh! And your dad showed up, after..." she trails off. "You know."
"I don't know."
Rebecca hurries back to the front of the van, where she has a whispered conversation with the two men there.
"What don't I know?" Ezio asks.
"He went to get the apple back from the Colloseum," Altair says. "Everything went wrong. His friend... died." Ezio can tell in the way Altair says it that there's more to the story, and makes a mental note to ask when they're not pressed for time. "I thought he was dead too, but I guess he's just been unconscious. That must be why they put him in the animus."
"This is an animus?" Ezio asks, looking down at the chair. "I thought it would look different."
"Do you speak English?" Altair asks.
"What? No."
"You understood Rebecca," Altair says.
"I thought that was your apple. You said it translates things."
"It's tied to my body," says Altair. "This is Desmond's. But... there was another apple. The one you put in the Colosseum. They took it, but... I don't see it here."
It takes Ezio about half a second to make the connection, and then he looks down at his arms. Very faintly, he can see the lines of an apple glowing there. "Is this good or bad?" he asks.
"I don't know."
"Hey Desmond," Rebecca calls. "Your dad wants to talk to you, if you're feeling up to it."
"Oh." He's never met Desmond's dad. It doesn't sound like Altair has, either. Briefly, Ezio wonders what he's done in his life to deserve this.
"But that's bad," says Altair. "Unless we can figure out how to convince his own father that Desmond's in here somewhere."