A/N: The previous "Modern Day" chapter may have been poorly written, giving you the wrong idea of when the others were coming back. I fixed it.

The old world was slipping away, something bizarre and new taking its place.

"Alright, Dez, I think that's enough for now."

Who was 'Dez'? Who was she? Where was he?

Rebecca Crane. Desmond Miles. The twenty-first century, viewing the past through an animus, centuries later. It had all been an illusion.

He sat up. He saw a French musketeer at the foot of his seat, an obvious hallucination which quickly vanished.

"It feels...early," he said, looking towards Rebecca.

"Maybe, but you know what? The others are going to be here soon! Then we can start looking for that artifact we found in your memories in ernest! I want to get everything ready for them!"

The Connector, that must be the artifact she was talking about.

"When are they going to be here?"

"I don't know, Dez. We try to maintain radio silence as much as possible, ration ourselves to one call a day. But I reckon it shouldn't be more than a couple of hours."

He turned back ahead.

"Hmh," is all he could think to stay.

He looked down at his legs. Jeans, the strange clothing of the twenty-first century.

He was hungry. He stood, briefly feeling his consciousness fade before his mind regained its grip on reality. He headed for the refrigerator. He found a brick of cheese, unwrapped its plastic, and started chowing down. Cheddar. He ate with vigor, as he usually did after exiting the animus. When he was finished, he felt a good deal better. He would have something more, but he was not sure what yet. But now that his stomach had calmed, that made way for other thoughts: the people he, or rather Arno, had killed. Their dying words, the Spaniard in particular. He decided to ask:

"So...Yucatán. Do you know anything about that?"

"Yucatán?"

"Yeah the...place where they defeated the Aztecs or whatever. The Spanish guy from my memories said..."

"Oh, that! That's where the Europeans landed when they hit Central America! I can't wait to tell Shaun all about what you heard! It all makes sense now!"

"What makes sense?"

"That that's where they found the other Apple, the second one!"

"...right."

"The natives of the area thought they were gods, said they fulfilled some kind of ancient prophecy!" she explained excitedly. "Then they were able to get fifty-thousand of them to ally with them in toppling the Aztecs, the local super power-slash-empire. In retrospect it sounds like textbook Apple of Eden stuff!"

"I...I guess."

"Those tales about human sacrifices? I bet the Templars made that up too! Implanted those memories in people's heads!"

"Sure," Desmond said, not expecting such a deep history tirade. He looked down at the empty wrapper. He went to throw it away.

But there was something more interesting he had heard in those memories.

"What about...The Father of Understanding?" The queer term felt odd to say. "Do you know anything about that?"

"Shaun and Lucy each had their own theories. Honestly, after what we heard in your memories, I say score one for team Shaun!"

"Why? What did Lucy think?"

"Lucy figured it for some abstract gobbledygook."

Desmond only had a vague sense of what 'abstract gobbledygook' meant, but decided not to pursue it.

"What about Shaun?"

"He hypothesized it was some kind of First Civilization AI that pointed Templars to First Civilization artifacts. Maybe it's what pointed them to the first Apple!"

"The...one in Jerusalem."

"Yeah, Dez!"

They sure were learning a lot from his memories.

"What about you...what do you think it is."

"I never really thought about it, Desmond, not until now. I can't wait to discuss with Luce and Shaun!"

"Right," the twenty-five year old said. This all felt a bit over his head. Maybe he rose above his station.

He sneezed, wiped his hands on sweatshirt sleeves.

"I'm actually feeling kind of tired. You don't need me to be awake for...your little reunion, right?"

"Nah, it's all good, Dez! Your health is more important than anything."

If he fell asleep, they would probably wake him up when they arrived, anyway.