Desmond glanced between his brothers and his best friend worriedly as silence began to grow. The atmosphere was growing so tense that he felt Ezio begin to tense up beside him. He was pretty sure there wouldn't be a fight, after all Duncan would never attack Natalie outside of training, but that didn't stop his soul mates from tensing their muscles in preparations for one. In hopes of at least calming the Italian, Desmond reached over and set his hand on Ezio's knee making the man tense further for a moment before relaxing. Relieved to at least have calmed one of the many highly dangerous people in the room, Desmond turned his attention back to Natalie.
The little blonde was staring at his brothers with a calm, he was sure she didn't feel deep down. She let the silence stretch for a moment longer before she sighed in annoyance.
"If you two have something to say then damn well say it already! Dinner is getting cold." Natalie stated flatly.
"What do you want us to say Natalie?!" Dylan demanded angrily, shocking Desmond a bit. He'd never seen his older brother loose his temper.
"How about speaking your damn minds! I ain't Bill, if you got shit to say get it out there so we can hash it out now!" Natalie spat back, her tone just as angry.
"Fine, how about you explain how the hell they are here for starters?" Duncan demanded crossing his arms across his chest.
"I was in the library with Desmond looking into the workings of the Apple and why his boys might have been pulled here. I touched it and the next thing I know those two are on the floor." Natalie explained, her tone turning flat like she was explaining a simple topic.
"Alright then am I to assume that this Shay Cormac is the same one listed in our history as a traitor?" Dylan demanded his anger rising.
Desmond saw Natalie's entire body tense up at his words before she forcefully relaxed herself and stared at his brothers.
"And if he is?" She asked calmly.
"Then how the hell could you let him walk around freely!?" Dylan shouted slamming a fist on the table as he glared at the blonde.
"The same way I can let four Assassin's I've never met before into my sanctuary, I trust them. Shay may be a Templar from the past, but that doesn't mean I should mistrust him."
"That's exactly why you should! Have you gone completely stupid just because you carry his name!?"
Desmond shot his hand out to grab Shay's wrist as he noticed it twitch to activate the hidden blade he knew was there. The Irishman shot an angry glare at him and he slowly shook his head. Natalie needed to handle this, if Shay interfered it would only give Dylan more reason to believe she was making a mistake by putting her trust in him. Shay glared a moment longer before giving in and relaxing a bit. Jacob on the other hand looked like he was ready to leap across the table and attack the eldest Miles brother.
"No Dylan, I'm not stupid. Don't tell me that if your Soul mate was a Templar you wouldn't love them regardless?" Natalie inquired her eyes boring into Dylan like a fire.
Dylan snapped his mouth shut at the question and glared at Natalie for a moment. Eventually his gaze traveled to Shay, who glared back as if daring the other man to say something stupid. Thankfully his brother gave in and sighed in frustration.
"I can't say that I would Nat, however, I haven't had the pleasure of finding my Soul Mate yet which means I probably shouldn't sour your memory of that. However, I don't trust him. He turned to the Templars, Nat, and it's gonna take a lot more then just him being your Soul Mate to earn my trust." Dylan stated firmly, turning his gaze back to the blonde.
"I never asked you to trust him, I'm only asking you to trust my judgment." Natalie stated, receiving a nod from Dylan.
Desmond watched Duncan glance between the two with a worried glance before glancing at Shay as well then to Natalie.
"We'll trust your judgment Natalie, but we are just worried what could happen if you are wrong." Duncan said.
"And I understand that, but that's something for me to worry about. If Shay were to betray me, which I know he won't, then I will deal with the backlash from the order myself." Natalie stated confidently. Desmond's brother's glanced at each other before both sighing in resignation and nodding at Natalie.
After that all three of them sat down and the tense atmosphere seemed to dissipate, though it didn't vanish. This left all of them completely silent while they ate, making Desmond and Ezio squirm in their seats slightly. Ezio was definitely the more talkative one out of Desmond's three soul mates and well Desmond wasn't used to the silence from Natalie or his brothers. Eventually everyone was finished and sat back in silence until Natalie cleared her throat.
"Alright boys, we've had a fun couple of days of relaxation, but now we need to focus!" Natalie said firmly, her tone making all three Miles' sit up a bit straighter. Even Desmond recognized that tone. That was the tone of an upper Assassin about to give orders to her unit.
"I know it's been forever since Desmond's been here, but we can't push off the encroaching apocalyptic warnings his unit received over a week ago." Natalie said, standing up so she could look over all the men at the table, "We have a lot of work to do and unfortunately we need help from the past."
Natalie's words made Desmond tense. His best friend wouldn't really suggest he use the Animus again would she? No, Natalie would never do that she must have another plan. Right?
"Unfortunately this means the use of the Animus." Natalie's words made Desmond's heart sink and he stared at her in terror, "But don't you fret your pretty head Dessy, I'd never suggest you go back in."
Desmond instantly relaxed at her words before he straightened again to listen carefully to her next words.
"However, I think I have an idea on how to fix it so it won't destroy a person's mind. Duncan, I want you calling Becca tonight and have her and Shaun get their asses down here tomorrow with the Animus and all their research from the last three months. Dylan I want you, distracting Bill so he won't know where those two are going tomorrow and keep that Lucy chic busy too!"
"Why isn't Lucy coming?" Desmond asked. It wasn't like Natalie to cut someone from their assigned unit.
"I don't trust the bitch, she's not allowed anywhere near my Sanctuary!" Natalie said sternly, making Desmond tense, "It may just be a gut feeling when I hear about her, but I don't trust the bitch and I won't let anyone I don't trust anywhere near the other entrances to my Sanctuary. Speaking of which, Duncan tomorrow while Dylan is distracting Bill and Lucy, I want you to lead Becca and Shaun to one of the Northern entrances! As for the rest of you, Desmond I want you and Shay helping me in the Library, we still have a lot more to look into on the Apple and the First Civ. Jacob, I want you in the training room with those three, training of course!"
All men nodded their heads, until Altair decided to straighten a bit, getting Natalie's attention.
"Desmond needs to train as well. The Bleeding Affect obviously only does so much for his skills and he needs to train them in order to advance." Altair stated, making Natalie nodded.
"Don't you fret, when I take Shay to do some training during the day tomorrow, I'll send him your way. I have every intention to make sure Desmond keeps up his training, but I refuse to be anywhere near the Apple without him. That thing has corrupted even the best of the Order in the past and I will not risk that happening to me." Natalie replied, making Altair nod. Desmond could see a slight hint of what seemed to be respect in the Syrian's eyes as he gazed at the blonde and it made Desmond smile slightly.
"Good now that we have that all figured out, time to clean up! Miles front and center!" Natalie commanded moving to the sink.
"Yes ma'am!" All three brothers replied together, smirking as they stood.
"Same set up as last night, Dylan and Desmond drying, Duncan putting away! Shay, Jacob!" Natalie called back to her two men, who immediately stood to face her.
"I want you two bringing the dishes from the table to the counter beside me! You other three, take any left over food and put them in these!" Natalie ordered before taking some Tupperware from a cupboard and setting them on the table near the last three men. All five time travelers nodded and set to work while Natalie and the Miles boys got set up to start clean up.
All working together it took less than an hour to clean everything up and put everything away. After they were finished, Duncan and Dylan went off to, Desmond assumed, their own hall of the Sanctuary. He watched as Natalie led both the new arrivals to her own hall, leaving Desmond with the final three of their little group.
"Desmond, would you like to join us for a little bit of training before we rest?" Connor asked, pulling the youngests attention to him. Desmond nervously scratched the back of his head at the offer. He could fight, but not nearly as much as he wished he could. While he knew he needed the training, he was afraid to disappoint the three Master Assassins.
"Do not worry tesoro, we simply wish to gage where you are so we can help you advance." Ezio said calmly, catching on to Desmond's nervousness.
"We understand that you have not had the training to the extent of your brothers or Natalie, which is why we want to see where you are in order to help you catch up as quickly as possible without using that Animus." Altair explained, practically spitting the word Animus.
Desmond hesitated for a moment before nodding and following after the three older men. They went into the training room giving Desmond an actual chance to take a look at it. There was a large rock wall that took up one whole wall of the nearly three story high training room. There was a small shooting area in one corner with some archery as well beside it, and then in the middle there was a large mat for combat training. Natalie had made sure to give her training rooms everything needed to do all types of training in one room.
"Alright, we'll start with the wall to see how far up you can climb before you can't pull your own weight and then see where your combat skills are at." Altair stated, turning instantly into the Grandmaster that he was.
Desmond nodded in response and let Connor lead him over to the rock wall. He waved him off when the Native tried to offer him help with the harness. He used to put these things on all the time back at the farm and though it had been awhile he still remembered how they work and had no trouble hooking in and getting ready to scale the wall. Now this wall was a lot more intimidating then the wall they'd had at the farm, but he refused to let that stop him. He just had to remember all the times he'd been in Ezio or Altair's memories and how they climbed. Before he knew it, he was scaling the wall effortlessly, but he could tell that his movements weren't his own not entirely. He knew it was the Bleeding Effect taking over and allowing him to slip in to the familiar yet foreign movements of Altair as he scaled. Des however, didn't have the stamina nor the built up muscle mass to climb as long and high as Altair would be able to and had barely made it half way up the wall before he slipped and Connor caught the line to help ease him back down.
Desmond gently landed on the ground, shaking his arms to try and keep the muscles from tensing up too much from the exertion.
"I see that the Bleeding Effect is still effecting you, but less harmful it appears." Altair stated as Desmond gave a shrug. He knew there was a possibility of his body automatically drifting into the movements of his ancestors and it made sense to feel more in tune with Altair's climbing methods since they had almost the exact same length for arm reach. Ezio was slightly taller than Des and the Syrian and his reach was slightly further than theirs as well, didn't make sense for the bleeding effect to have him use the Italians methods over the Syrian's.
"Now that we know your climbing abilities, we should move to your combat skills. We'll start with hand to hand then move to weapons." Ezio stated, pulling his hoodie off as he walked towards the training mat.
The former bartender followed the Italian to the mat, pulling his own hoodie off as he went. He got into position across from Ezio and waited patiently for the larger man to attack him first. He had learned patience from Altair thankfully, so he was easily able to wait out Ezio and easily avoided the man when he struck at him. The training continued, Ezio unable to land a single hit on the younger man, but that had more to do with how well Desmond knew Ezio's movements. He'd followed Ezio's life since he was a teen. He knew every move he'd ever learned from anyone and any moves he'd ever made by himself, it was impossible to actually have a proper fight with Ezio since he could dodge all his moves and then use the moves he'd learned from Altair to drop him without a second glance. It didn't help that despite Desmond's clear capability to handle himself against the Italian, that Ezio wasn't putting any effort to try and push him or even take it seriously.
Eventually Altair told Ezio to switch with him and Desmond was actually gifted with a training session that he had to put some real effort and thought into. While Altair had no qualms laying a hit on Desmond or leaving a bruise, the American still knew the Syrian's moves pretty well and could avoid most hits while being able to strike back properly. It didn't take long for Altair to figure out that Desmond was able to read him just about as well as Ezio and he quickly had Connor switch with him. After that switch, Des spent an hour getting his ass handed to him. He'd never been through Connor's memories and therefore had no idea how to read his body movements like the other two. This made it extremely difficult for his body to figure out what moves to use. While he didn't like relying on the Bleeding Effect, his body did so without his permission and it seemed neither the methods of Altair nor Ezio could stand up to the Native properly. At least not with his lack of proper skills.
Altair and Ezio's methods of fighting were natural to them making it easy for them to move fluidly and without thought, while Desmond's bleeding effect made most of his attempted moves against Connor clumsy and awkward and far to slow for them to work properly. Finally Desmond groaned in exhaustion and pain as his legs were swept out from under him once more and he was dropped flat on his back by the quiet Native.
"I believe that is enough for today." Altair said from the side lines. Desmond saw Connor nod before he held his hand out to Des. He took the older man's offer and allowed Connor to help him to his feet. They both joined the other two on the side of the training mat while Altair and Ezio seemed to be discussing Des' current level of training.
"It appears you unconsciously slip into the methods that Ezio or myself use which, while somewhat effective against us, doesn't seem to allow you move freely and without fault." Altair stated.
"It's not unconscious. I can feel that it's unfamiliar and awkward, but my body moves on it's own." Desmond explained.
He knew it was the bleeding effect, but he'd been told by Lucy that the bleeding effect was supposed to help him with his training and to never fight it. Not that he knew how to fight it anyway, but he'd had no reason at the time not to listen to her.
"Well then, we are going to have to find a way to break that. While the Bleeding Effect is helpful it does no good if your movements are not natural. The clumsiness and slow reactions could get you killed in a life or death situation." Ezio stated as Connor and Altair nodded in agreement.
"As for your climbing, while it appears to be made up mostly of how I would move when I climb, it's clear that your body recognizes that your reach is slightly shorter and does unconsciously compensate for it. However, the movements are still a bit awkward so we will have to work there as well. Over all though you have a lot of potential Desmond, finding away to allow you to learn your own methods of movements and fighting without the bleeding effects help should help a lot with advancing your training." Altair said with a slight smile.
Desmond couldn't help but swell with pride at the slight praise he'd received from the Syrian. He wasn't used to very much praise outside of his brother's or Natalie, so hearing it from Altair made it difficult not to feel just a little bit accomplished for the day.
"We should get some rest. Natalie has a busy schedule for all of us tomorrow and it would be best to get some proper sleep to be prepared for." Connor said after a moment. All of them nodded and headed off to shower quickly before getting into bed. Desmond wasn't surprised in the least when he came out of the bathroom in his sweatpants to find all three of his Soul Mates spread over the bed as if it was normal. For a moment he allowed himself to enjoy that moment. Allowed himself to imagine what it would be like to have them by his side for the rest of his life. He quickly pushed those thoughts away however, refusing to get his hopes up. He'd just enjoy the time he had instead of thinking of what might not be possible.
With those thoughts pushed from his mind, he shoved Ezio aside slightly so he could claim his spot in the middle of the bed. The Italian laughed, but quickly whined as he found Altair claimed the space he'd originally planed to move towards. Des smirked at the slight argument that ensued, but quickly rolled on his side to shut his eyes and get some rest. He could feel Connor beside him while the other two behind him finally settled as well. Just as he was drifting off he felt two pairs of arms wrap around him and he couldn't help but completely relax in the embraces. Tomorrow was going to be busy, but maybe just maybe he and Natalie could find a way to keep their Soul Mates in their lives.
~~~~Line Break~~~~~~
Author Note:
So Sorry for the wait guys and I know it's pretty short, but I wanted to give you guys something and I felt like ending the chapter at that point was a good idea because stuff is about to get a bit busy for the next chapter. Becca and Shaun are coming back into the play and what's this Natalie doesn't trust Lucy. Not to mention with the arrival of two new time travelling Soul Mates it seems like the Catacombs are getting pretty cramped down there. Anyway hope you guys enjoyed this chapter let me know what you think might happen next and let me know if you think I need to work on anything I'm always open to creative criticism and welcome the assistance to help advance my writing. Anyway thanks guys :)
