Willoffire123: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Altair: What is this 'Christmas' you speak of?
Willoffire123: Come on, you must know what Christmas is.
Edward: Not necessarily. He's so concussed right now that nothing is true.
Ezio: And everything is permitted, evidently. He is taking un pisolino on the floor.
Edward: A piss?
Connor: He means a nap.
Edward: Since when do you speak Italian?
Connor: Not important.
Willoffire123:…well that was weird. On with the-
Ezio: Willoffire123 doesn't own Assassin's Creed.
Willoffire123: Whatever. On with the chapter!
"How are we going to track them?" demanded Leonardo as the two Italians made their way through the Damascus marketplace.
Ezio's ears pricked, overhearing a conversation between two robed men by the fruit stand. "Simple; we eavesdrop."
Ezio had known Altair long enough to understand the basics of Arabic, and so he managed to translate fragments of the conversation.
"What are they saying, Ezio?" asked Leonardo.
Ezio shushed him, looking around to see if anyone had heard. "We don't want anyone knowing that we are here. The same men who took the others must be looking for me, the last one on their list. We can't let anyone know who we are. That means we stay in these robes, we don't use our names, and no Italian."
"Capisce," said Leonardo. He cowered under the glare Ezio gave him. "I mean, got it. But what did those two say?"
"Something about blue energy and Connor being crazy," said Ezio. "Let's follow them."
"I guess I won't ask how you know Arabic, then," Leonardo mumbled under his breath, stooping low to follow his old friend down the street after their targets without being recognized.
Now, because Connor was an Assassin, he had done and seen many strange things in his life. It was part of the job description, after all.
But when he woke from a dream to watch their guards trying to restrain his berserk, pulsing with blue energy body, he knew he had his work cut out for him.
"If I'm out here," said Connor. "Then is that really my body?"
"Of course it is, my son," said the voice of a spectral figure Connor knew he was never supposed to see again.
"Iśta?"
"Oh Ratonhnhaké:ton," said the ghostly image of his mother, Kaniehtí:io. "I had hoped not to see you here for a long, long time."
Connor gulped. "Am I dying?"
"Almost," said his mother. "It's more like you are caught in between the two worlds of life and death. Which one you choose is up to you."
"What is happening to my body?" he asked his mother, eager to change the subject.
"Do you remember when you were young, the Mohicans attacked the village?" she asked thoughtfully.
"How could I forget?" said Connor. "There was an attack every month."
"And do you remember how we kept them out?" asked his mother.
Dawning comprehension crossed Connor's ghostly face. "Some of the warriors drank tea from the spirits and gained the powers of the bear."
"And the wolf and eagle as well," said his mother. "And now you have those powers as well, thanks to your contact with the Apple of Eden."
"So why is my body going berserk?"
"Because your body is rejecting the spirits and their power," said his mother. "If you don't stop it now, you will most certainly die."
Connor nodded. He knew what he needed to do.
"I am so proud of you, my son," said Kaniehtí:io. "Live well," she said fondly, gazing at the chained form of Connor's father, who strained against his chains in an attempt at freedom. "Try not to think too badly of your father; he is a good person at heart."
"But he killed you!" Connor protested, already beginning to feel the pull back to his body. "He ordered the attack on the village!"
"No, he didn't," said Kaniehtí:io. "Goodbye, Ratonhnhaké:ton."
And before Connor could ask what that meant, his mind merged with his body and he entered back into the world of pain.
Connor eventually collapsed, too exhausted to fight the guards with his new, strange glowing powers any longer.
They shackled him anyway, now fearful for their lives because of the crippled prisoner.
"Stop, you're hurting him!" Altair protested. Two of the guards broke off from Connor and unshackled Altair from the wall, dragging him towards the door. All the guards wore masks, making it difficult for Altair to remember their faces for later when he would assassinate them painfully.
"Then you will go with him, Levantine," said the one in the black mask.
"Oi! Where are you lob cocks taking them?" demanded Edward.
"That is none of your concern at present, pirate," said the one in the white mask. "You will be joining them shortly."
Altair struggled against his shackles to no avail. He was still too weak from his injuries to even stand up properly, let alone protect Connor and fight.
When the guards dragged the two assassins into a dimly lit room and attached strange devices to each assassin's head, Altair had to come to a realization.
Escaping was going to be more difficult than they anticipated.
"Where'd they go?" demanded Leonardo, panting hard to catch up with Ezio.
Ezio came to a stop.
"We lost them," he announced blandly. "We'll have to search for new leads. Remember though-,"
"Yes, yes, keep my head down," said Leonardo, waving off the Italian Assassin. "We'd probably have more luck and draw less attention to ourselves if we split up and look for them. I'll take the harbor and the Market District."
"And I'll climb the Mosque for a better view," said Ezio. "Safety and peace be with you, my friend," he said as he turned to leave, using the customary farewell for the Levantine Assassins.
"To you as well," said Leonardo, and with that, Ezio was gone, lost in the crowd.
Leonardo took three steps towards the harbor before remembering that Ezio was a hunted man, and separating was not smart.
"Ezio, wait!" Leonardo called, sprinting past women carrying clay jars on their heads in pursuit of his friend.
"Looking for someone?" said a man in a white mask, appearing on the roof of a stand selling baskets.
The man held an evidently detained Ezio under his arm.
"That was fast," muttered Leonardo.
Leonardo took out his dagger and did the first thing he thought of: he threw it.
The dagger sailed true, causing the masked man to use Ezio as a shield. The dagger sank into Ezio's gut.
"Leonardo," Ezio groaned. "Merda, that hurts."
"Mi dispiace, Ezio," said Leonardo. "How did you get captured so easily, idiota?"
"He threw needles at me," Ezio protested. "My body went numb."
"We'll be going now," said the man in the white mask. "If you value your life, you won't follow."
"Vittoria agli assassini!" cried Ezio, causing the masked man to knock him out.
And before Leonardo could do much of anything, they'd vanished.
"Well now what?" Leonardo demanded at the skies. "The Assassins are the ones supposed to do the saving, not be saved! Cosa diavolo dovrei fare?"
Leonardo wanted to continue shouting at the sky until it solved all his problems, but a hand pulled him into the alley, putting a hand over his mouth before he could cry for help.
"Are you a friend of the assassins?" asked his kidnapper.
"Yes! Why? Who are you?" demanded Leonardo.
Then Leonardo got a good look at him. The man wore a dark blue hood and the clothes of a wealthy assassin. One glance at his face showed Leonardo a long scar running from the bridge of his nose down past his left eye, faded pink with age.
"My name is Arno Dorian," said Arno Dorian. "I am here from the Parisian branch of Assassins to rescue Ezio Auditore, Edward Kenway, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Connor Kenway."
Willoffire123: Merry Christmas everyone!
Leonardo: Christmas was two days ago. And why am I the only one here?
Willoffire123: Because everyone else has been captured.
Leonardo: Why? Why am I special?
Willoffire123: Besides the fact that you painted one of history's greatest masterpieces? You're the only one without eagle vision, and you are not an assassin.
Arno: Then why am I here?
Willoffire123: You're going to save everyone!
Leonardo: Don't tell me. He has eagle vision too?
Arno: Oui Monsieur.
Leonardo: Oh joy, and he's French.
Willoffire123: Arno, if you're french, why do you have a British accent?
Arno: Don't all French people have British accents?
Willoffire123: Stephane has a French accent!
Stephane: Oui Madame. I sound like une propre French man.
Arno: Qui diable es-tu?
Stephane: I am from la branche coloniale des assassins.
Leonardo: With Connor?
Stephane: Oui, avec il.
Willoffire123: Oh I am going to have so much fun with this. Since I take French in school, I can make Arno and Stephane talk in french with more ease than I do when I make Ezio and Leonardo talk in Italian.
Arno: Jusqu'a la prochaine fois!