ZOMG TWO POSTS IN A DAY! WHAT SORCERY IS THIS!

Disclaimer: Don't tell anyone, but I stole it from Patrice Desilets when he was sleeping...you have no IDEA what I had to do to get it...loljkjk

DESMOND POV

Lucy showed me where the armory was once Altaïr and Lacrima had told us they were leaving for Mexico. I could only imagine what was going to happen there…

So apparently, there was an even bigger armory than Rakminov's. It was concealed within one section of the outer wall, hidden under a giant, rusty metal door. Lucy had gained all sorts of security access for us both, so we were able to go virtually anywhere we pleased in this underground facility.

The man at the front, Leo, waved us in, radioing up to a control tower (that also controlled overhead lights, electric flow, and the elevator coming down from the parking structure) to open the door. Lucy and I walked in silently, not having much to say to each other, as always. She found a golf cart and we zoomed further into the black expanse, lined with many tunnels and doors and hallways. An illuminated sign pointed back to where we had come from, marked 'EXIT' in big green neon letters. I sighed loudly. I wanted to talk to Lucy, but I didn't know what to say.

The second I opened my mouth, though, Lucy interrupted, looking straight ahead. "Here we are." She said, parking the tiny cart to the side of the large tunnel. We were waved in again, to a hallway, and Lucy grabbed a cart and sped away, albeit too quickly. I jogged after her, and when I caught up with her, I finally noticed that her pale skin was possibly even paler in this lighting. Was it just me, or was I forgetting what the sun looked like?

"Uh…" I started, suddenly at a loss for words. Lucy instead began gnawing on her lip, a nervous habit I'd seen both in Lacrima and in her, recently. "Are you alright?" I asked, trying to meet her blue eyes.

"I'm fine, Desmond. Let's just get this over with." She said with a sigh. I decided I wouldn't have it. I rested my hand atop hers on the cart, and she stopped when I tugged back. "Desmond, what do you—?" I cut her off by taking her arms from the cart, and wrapping them around my neck. They were cold, but it didn't matter. I just kept looking straight at her, waiting for the wall to cave. Once I'd made sure they were secure around me, I rested my hands on her slender hips, my thumbs massaging the soft skin there. Lucy's face was still expressionless, but I could see her swallow roughly, her eyes wavering, and her lower lip twitching.

I moved my face forward, about two or three inches, until we were breathing each others' breaths. I kissed her softly, hesitantly, and pulled back after a second or two. My eyes widened in fear when I saw hers had tears streaming out of them. "Lucy, what's wrong?" I asked immediately. "Was it something I did?" I asked, my voice cracking a bit at the end.

She shook her head, her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip. She let out a shuddering breath and held me closer. I could only welcome the embrace, but my heart was beating almost reluctantly in my chest. I couldn't bear to see Lucy as upset as this.

"I don't want to lose you." She mumbled into my chest, her tiny hands gripping the back of my neck like a lifeline. I brought my hands upward, to rest atop her shoulder blades.

"And you won't. I promise."

LACRIMA POV

After we returned to the underground base, we had someone radio in our presence. Immediately, four or five big, burly men came in, and they each took one duffel bag of the peppers (Altaïr insisted he take two all by himself) down to the castle, where they'd be processed and put into their respective blast containers. Of course, I had to convince Altaïr that he needed to go back to the house with me, we needed to rest…and of course, "resting" happened. Actually, that had been happening quite a lot lately. I didn't know if it was the stress of being underground or not, but it was most definitely…gratifying.

So after a couple of hours, Altaïr and I were finally beginning to actually doze off, when something struck him. "I don't want to go back to my time." He said, stroking my back lightly. I would've been wide awake if it weren't for his actions, to be true. But at this statement, I looked up at him from my spot on his chest.

"I don't want you to go back either." I whispered, unable to speak any louder because my throat was all choked up. I curled my fingers between his, and held them up to him. "You see this?" I said, propping myself up against him slightly. "This will always be ours. No matter what happens, no matter who wants to tear us apart. I may hate you, or you may hate me, but," I felt myself physically remember the events of the prophecy, of him and the whip… "I'll always…" I couldn't bring myself to say the rest of the sentence. It seemed so close, on the edge of my tongue…I couldn't say it. "This will always be ours." I said, turning my head away from him.

"No." he said, sitting up. I rolled to the side, my eyes wide. What was he doing? "This isn't going to happen again. You were going to say something, right before we were going to see the Grand Master. And now…you have no distractions, no interruptions." He said. I felt my throat go dry and my heart swell to twice its size.

"Altaïr…" I said, looking up at him. "I can say it in so many languages, but I don't…I can't…" I bit my lip, my scar suddenly itching. "I…I don't want this to be for nothing." I said, looking down. Altaïr's hand scooped my chin up, so I had to meet his eyes. His bright gold ones were concerned, and urging me to go on.

"Say what you want to say." He whispered. His other hand grasped one of mine, a symbol of trust and protection.

I stared deeply at him. "I love you." I said once. I didn't have to say it again, because suddenly, my heart was beating rapidly. I was holding my breath, and felt a little dizzy. My grip loosened on Altaïr's hand, but his tightened.

Altaïr said nothing, but he gave the best answer. With a kiss to rival that of Romeo and Juliet's, he poured forth every ounce of passion and affection I didn't think possible from him. I felt myself go limp and my joints felt like they were made of gelatin. I could only wrap my other arm around Altaïr, pulling him closer to me. My body was on fire. Altaïr slipped his hand around my neck, smiling—no, grinning—into the kiss. I pulled back (all too begrudgingly) from it, and stared at him hard. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because I was wondering how long it'd take you to say that." He said in a low voice. He kissed me again, and again…and again, until our lips were red and we were breathing raggedly. "I love you, too." He whispered, and the whole thing started again until someone shouted from downstairs. We both drew back, and Altaïr rose. Someone shouted again. He quickly slipped on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and I did the same. We ran down the stairs, and found Desmond, with Lucy hovering over him, lying down on the floor. Rebecca and Shaun stood a little off to the side, Rebecca with a slightly concerned face, Shaun with a smirking one.

"What happened?" I asked. Lucy moved to the side, and I could see that Desmond had a bloody nose. His eyes were watering. "Desmond, are you okay?" I asked, rushing around Altaïr.

"He took a whiff of that pepper stuff." Said Lucy. Desmond only groaned and blew blood out his nose and into a nearby towel.

"I thought the entire thing had gone to the castle for packaging…?" I asked. Desmond shook his head.

Slurring, he said, "Jes's, wh't th' h'll's th't sh't?" he asked, the vowels drowned out in coughing and blood. I knew that inhaling the peppers would be bad, but not this bad…Desmond started sneezing. I told anyone to go get me a fast-acting gas reducer.

"What good will that do?" asked Rebecca as Shaun left the room to go to the kitchen.

"It'll dilute the nerve endings in his throat, and neutralize the burn. The fat in the medicine will absorb even the most powerful peppers, which you have seemed to just inhale." I said, looking sternly down at Desmond.

DESMOND POV (obligatory)

Fire, fire, FIIIIIRE!

ALTAÏR POV

As Lacrima took over Lucy's station, I got to see her work in action. She had taken charge, and I pulled Lucy back towards me. "So just what did Desmond do with that powder?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of Lacrima administer a white substance to Desmond.

"A bet gone wrong, I suppose. There was a bag of it on the counter, marked 'do not open', and you can only guess what Desmond did from there." Said Lucy.

"Where is the bag now?"

"Here," She said. I took the tiny plastic bag with the red powder inside it. I zipped it up tight (Lacrima had shown me how to do this a while ago—back when we were at her apartment in Boston) and stuffed it into the pocket of my jeans. Desmond was sitting up now, wiping away excess blood from his face. Apparently this 'gas reducer' had done its work. He was getting to his feet a moment later, and told everyone that he was going to go take a shower. I "offered" to help him up the stairs, my grip on his elbow secure and all the same painful for him. He had, in fact, just interrupted me and Lacrima in the middle of something special.

Once we'd gotten into the bathroom, I shoved Desmond in the shower. He threw his clothes and shoes over the top. I had to quickly sidestep out of the way to avoid the falling clothing. Once the water was on, I sat down on the seat of the toilet, wringing my hands until my knuckles went white. "Lacrima told me about the prophecy." I said, in a slightly elevated voice, so Desmond could hear me over the rush of the water.

Desmond was quiet for a minute before speaking up. "I suspected she would."

"She told me the outcome of what would happen if those events came to be." I said, folding my hands in front of me.

"And? What are you going to do about it?" he asked.

"Everything." I said, getting up to leave.

LACRIMA POV

"Christ, I can't wait until Thursday." Said Rebecca. All of us were thinking the same thing—Thursday was the day we were going to infiltrate the White House. It was Monday now, and we were being flown in by helicopter tomorrow. Lucy said there was a Sanctuary near the White House, an old church that had been there since the rebuilding of the White House a good three hundred years ago. One of the sewer lines led straight to it, from the White House. This would be our exit route. All of our weaponry had just been sent out to the DC Bureau, where we'd be landing.

"You've only said that twelve times, now, Rebecca." Said Shaun from one of the other couches, dozing lightly. We were all trying to get our energy up for this mission. I was more nervous than anyone, seeing as I hadn't even killed anyone—at least, killed someone that had stayed dead for more than a couple of hours.

"I need to bake something." I announced in a preoccupied voice, getting up and going to the kitchen. I pulled out the remaining flour and sugar and other ingredients and mindlessly started making a cake. I saw a bowl of blueberries and carried them out to the other assassins. "Are these anyone's?" I asked, holding them up. Two or three exhausted faces looked over and shook their heads, so I put them in a food processor and dumped them into the mixture. The smell of blueberries hung low in the kitchen; the scent would lift with the cake. I finished preparing the batter and stuck it into the preheated oven, not bothering to set the timer. I then lay down on the counter, facing the ceiling. There had been so much boredom these last two weeks. For the last three days, I had been making dinner, and every other meal for whoever was here. Either Rebecca and Shaun were gone, getting their Animus locked up safely, or Lucy and Desmond were gone, getting our armor and weaponry for the siege on Thursday. I checked the calendar by swiveling my head to the side, and saw that it was the seventeenth. It had been over two months since my life had been turned around by the Altaïr and the Assassins. This life felt familiar, comfortable. I considered these people my friends and family, and I had fallen in love with someone I never imagined to. The fact that everything could be taken away in a moment made me light on my feet, and I tried to make everything the best it could possibly be. I sighed loudly and sat up on the edge of the counter, holding my head in my hands. Something was giving me a headache, and I didn't know what.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked from the door. I looked over. It was Desmond. He was leaning against the frame, his arms crossed over his chest. He had a slight pink tinge to his cheeks, and a faint smile lingered on his lips. He had obviously just been with Lucy, doing God-knows what.

I sighed again, and looked idly at the oven. "Fine. Just tired." I said, trying to look on the bright side of things. We were saving the world, right?

"Tired?" Desmond asked, baffled. "None of us have done anything these last few days!" he exclaimed, sitting down on the counter with me.

"I know…it's just…" I sighed again, my head throbbing. "I think I screwed up again." I admitted, my mind clearing.

"Screwed up what…?" asked Desmond, his voice turning serious.

"I think another part of the prophecy came true. The day of the meeting with the Master." I saw his eyes cloud with thought, then widen in realization.

"I remember. Jesus, this thing is playing with our minds." Said Desmond, running his hand through his hair. "I don't want any of that last part to come true." He said, staring straight ahead. A sudden memory of golden air and whips raced through my mind, and I felt my back stiffen.

"I'm sorry." I said, hanging my head. "Most of the things that have happened so far were all my fault." I said, my voice filled with despair at the truth of the statement. Desmond rested a hand on my back.

"We just have to keep on our toes, is all." He said, not assuring me with an 'it'll all get better, it's not your fault' as he should have. But obviously I wasn't the only one blaming myself.

"Right." I said. Desmond dropped his hand after another minute and sat watching the cake rise, like I was. An internal timer went off in my head, and I hopped down, making Desmond jump at the lack of notification. I slipped on some potholders and checked the consistency. It was perfect. The entire room now smelled like warm blueberries. As the cake cooled, everyone in the house, eventually dragged themselves into the kitchen, making nice conversation with me as to bribe a piece early. I shook my head, smiling and taking out the plates.

Dinner (dessert, really) passed along with minimal conversation, no one really paying attention to anyone, with the exception of whoever they were having sex with. I held Altaïr's hand under the table. He was the only one that knew my hand was shaking with nervousness at tomorrow's events.

DESMOND POV

A messenger came by early the next morning. We were all up, jittery with nerves and excitement. The young man, about eighteen but no older, said that the Grand Master wished us luck. Lucy's eyes got wider, and drank three more cups of watery coffee (we had just ran out at the second pot) before we were ready to go.

A long trek to the hill which we started on gave us time to rethink our lives, if we hadn't done that the night before. I kept remembering things from my childhood, about how God was a lie fed to us by people who needed money. I wished I hadn't been told that. I wished I had someone to pray to so that I would make it out alive. But on top of that, I prayed to whatever god that could hear me that Lucy was safe. Always safe.

I remembered something from a book I had read while in the Assassin Compound: 'We can avoid just about anything these days, except for Death.' I really hoped that was the truth.

Once we were in the elevator that took us up to the roof where the helicopter was waiting, Lucy began talking.

"Okay, the ride down to our DC Bureau is going to take about three hours, not bad for the tight protocol we're under. Once we get to the Bureau, we'll stay until Thursday, the day—"

"Lucy, shut up." Everyone said, except me. She bit her lip nervously, and I grasped her hand. A second later, the elevator dinged open and the Grand Master was right there. All of us inhaled sharply, and dropped hands with whoever we were next to before he looked down. Lucy piped up again, much to everyone's despair.

"Master." She saluted, with a forced smile.

"Ah, Miss Stillman." He smiled, and gestured us out the door. "I was just coming to see you off." We all nodded as enthusiastically as physically possible, which were instead just a couple of sad little nods. The giant Chinook helicopter stood a couple of yards off. The sunlight was dull, and the day was a typical foggy November morning in Boston. The Grand Master wore sunglasses.

"Thank you, sir…" as she babbled to the heavy man, I caught the eye of Lacrima, who was hooked to Altaïr like a fish. She was walking towards the helicopter, and attempting to explain it to Altaïr. Her attention was diverted, and Altaïr caught this, looking in my direction as well. I broke eye contact, walking along next to Shaun and Rebecca, slyly twining their fingers around each others'.

Once we were up in the air, Altaïr started just flipping out. Sure, he'd been on an airplane before, but he couldn't believe that we were this high off the ground and not falling. I tuned the conversation out ("Lacrima! There's…is that a cow?") and tried to concentrate on the whirring motors all around me.

Before I knew that we had exited Massachusetts, we were in Maryland, and I swear, I could see the tip of what remained of the Washington Monument, that huge obelisk that had been bombed by terrorists in 2011. It only stood to be about two hundred feet high now. We turned left, and the Smithsonian was in sight. We were dressed to impress, looking like foreign dignitaries (if we had any left) but more like important people. There was a huge party at the White House on Friday, though, I added darkly, the President wouldn't be there to entertain.

Eventually we made our landing, on top of the Smithsonian Castle. We were escorted into the building, with our sunglasses on, all of us clutching our beaus to not be separated by the crowds. DC was one of the only big cities left; New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco were all down to about three million each, but DC was populated with eight million only in one district. It was crazy; when I'd read the paper that was delivered to the bar, I just reread it until Jord had yelled at me to open the damn doors.

"Desmond." Someone said, snapping me out of my reverie. I blinked. We were in a deserted exhibit room, and everyone was staring at me. "Are you alright?" asked the same person. It was Lacrima. Lucy was up ahead, talking to some man in a security uniform, but keeping her eyes on me.

I felt my face heat up at the attention I was getting. "I'm fine. Just thinking." I said, shoving my hands in my pockets and reverting into myself. Everyone resumed what they were saying or doing, and I leaned against one of the bars. I read the exhibit banner: "Destroying Today for a New Tomorrow: A History of Chaos". One of the pictures were gruesome, a man with multiple gunshot wounds to his head, and his intestines strewn across the cement he was laying on. Altaïr was blocking Lacrima's view with his body; you couldn't see anything around it. Lucy came back.

"Hey." She said with a sigh and a smile. "Well, we're ready to go, so we'll just go through that door and we'll be in." she said, grabbing my hand. Obviously, her mood had lifted in the ride over here. We all filed into an almost-unnoticeable door under the word "Chaos" in the banner. We had to duck under it to get to the door.

The man in the suit waved a keycard over a black panel, and entered a seven-digit code. There was a whirr-click and the door slid open, disappearing into one of the side panels like an elevator.

The room was, actually, and elevator. The man used his keycard again once we were all in the tiny room (Altaïr didn't like it; it was too small) and an unseen button made itself known. The man pressed this button, and did a fingerprint scan.

And once again, we began to go down, having no idea what to expect.

I see why Altaïr didn't like elevators.

For some reason I think there were too many POV changes...I promise things will get more action-y later...maybe within the next two weeks? If I don't forget before then...

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