MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! And how the HELL have we all been!? I meant to update sooner, but I got a job at a bookstore and despite loving it so much I am EXHAUSTED. I'm still exhausted but I decided to update today to say the aforementioned MERRY CHRISTMAS and let you all know that my dreams of getting this fic finished before New Years will NEVER come true :L

Enjoy! :D

River Song had never seen the Doctor like this. Giddy with excitement, locked in his own genius, trapped in the darkness of his being, murderous. Vengeful. Those were sides of the Doctor she'd seen countless of times, but never had she seen him so utterly lost. It was like everything was suspended for him at the sound of Rose's voice and her image, even as it was, constructed from a few symbols and imprints of time already gone. In all of his long life and the times that would come for after, the Doctor was existing solely for Rose in that one moment. As River watched, entranced by this side of her Doctor that she'd never seen before, Altair and Malik watched him with wary surprise. Altair had raised an eyebrow when the Doctor had said Rose's name, and then suddenly smiled, as if he understood the purpose of all this. Malik had responded after watching Altair judge the situation, and with a stern and wary look as if waiting for the apparition of Rose to attack the Doctor, he set himself on edge. However, when Sef turned his head from Malik's front to watch the proceedings, Malik let him. It would be good, he thought, for the boy to know what he might one day deal with and understand it later.

Wherever this image of Rose was coming from, she could hear the Doctor, but she didn't see him: she frowned at the glowing Apple in her hands at the sound of her name, the symbols that made up her body adjusting slightly to her nervous rocking. The Doctor continued to stare at her, eyes wide and mouth slightly parted, even when she spoke again.

'Doctor? Is that you?'

'Yes,' The Doctor breathed suddenly. 'Yes, it's me. I'm here, Rose.' He said as if it surprised him. Seemingly unaware that he was doing it, he reached out and extended his fingers towards Rose's face. They passed straight through it, the symbols glowing and buzzing. He withdrew his hand quickly.

'What's happening? I don't understand – a woman gave me this and told me to talk to you. But you've gone to the chippy…you're coming back, right? You're not leaving me here?'

At her words, memories that were fuzzy came back into focus: he had been at the chippy without Rose that one time. The smell of leather and chips came back to the Doctor suddenly, and he breathed in as though he could commit those smells to his clearer memories. And then, an odd feeling came in: a feeling of strangeness from that time – something wrong. But he put it aside. He couldn't think about that now, now that Rose was here. Sort of.
'No, I come back. I promise. What year is it, Rose?'

'2005,' Rose said a little hesitantly, her frown growing deeper.

'Have we been to Abstergo?'

Rose's face hardened instantly. 'This has got something to do with it, hasn't it?'

'It's got everything to do with it,' the Doctor said, and struggled briefly with himself to clear his mind and focus on the problems at hand. 'Have you got anything to tell me, Rose? Anything to ask me? Anything at all, anything out of the ordinary, anything weird?'

Rose shook her head. 'I don't think so. I'm sorry.'

'No, no! Don't you be sorry!' The Doctor burst out, and the symbols that made up Rose bristled as she took a wary step back, holding out the Apple a little way ahead of her as if it might bite. The Doctor instinctively stepped forward, a mixture of regret on his face before it crumpled into anger with himself and everything as he waved his hands in the air. One hand settled on the back of his head and the other fisted at his side as he began to pace in front of Rose. River, Altair, Malik and Sef watched him without a word of support, suggestion or encouragement. Perhaps they sensed that this was something that the Doctor had to find within himself.

'I don't know what to do, Rose!' The Doctor suddenly burst out. 'I don't know what to do! There are Assassins and Templars and I've been involved in this for a very long time without me knowing – I've hidden everything from myself and how could I ever expect me to remember what to do if I can't?!' The Doctor abruptly bought his hands to his mouth, and then waved them about again. 'Everything rests on my shoulders and I can't do it. I can't do it Rose.'

All his energy left him in one breath, and he swayed on the spot, limp. Rose kept looking at the Apple, waiting for the Doctor to say something else. As he looked at her, hundreds of different emotions passed over his face, before he settled on turning away from her and pacing again, lost for anything to say or do.
And then:

'The ones who put that man in the machine: are you fighting them, Doctor?'

The Doctor turned, and saw Rose's expression. It was very firm, and focused all of a sudden. Behind her, Altair tilted his head. Instantly, memories of the Doctor's first run with Abstergo came back to him – Subject Sixteen in the Animus. The way he had reached out to Rose, pleading for someone to hold him…
Rose clearly remembered it too.

'Yes. Yes, it's them. And they've got someone else like him too.'

Rose nodded, as if that solved it. 'You've got to get them out. You can't let them win, Doctor. You can't.'

'But how?!' The Doctor demanded. 'How do I do that?!'

'You just get in there, and you get those people out of there. Don't let them stop you, don't let anything stop you. What they do, it's sick, and you can't let them win. You just can't.'

The Doctor stared at her. Rose stared back at the Apple. She wasn't confused anymore: she seemed to sense why she was doing this all of a sudden.

'I believe in you, Doctor. You can do this.'

And in that moment, everything made sense for the Doctor. Perfect, unmistakable sense. What they all had to do was clear. And in that moment when he realized it, Rose began to fade, the symbols blinking out of existence one by one.
'No! Rose!' The Doctor ran forward, and Rose began to panic as she faded out.

'Doctor?! What's happening?! Why aren't I -?'

And then she was gone. The Apple hung in the air for a moment, powering down, and Altair stepped forward swiftly to catch it. The Doctor stared at the place Rose had been, and then finally seemed to realize that Altair was standing there instead.

'It is clear to me now, Doctor,' He said. 'You came here not to find out what needs to be done, but to understand it. Do you?'
When the Doctor chose not to answer him, Altair simply nodded respectfully, and placed the Apple on his desk before turning to River Song. 'Is this the part where you leave us?'

River started: she was staring at the Doctor, speechless, when Altair spoke to her. 'Yes. Yes, I think so.'

At once, Sef was gone from Malik's hold and ran to River – she knelt down to hug the boy close as he threw his arms around her neck. 'You'll be a good boy, now, won't you?'

'Yes,' the boy sniffed. 'I promise.' He pulled himself away to go to his father, who laid a hand on his shoulder and watched the proceedings calmly. Malik stepped forward and bowed quickly to River, who returned the gesture.

'Thank you for all you have taught me, Mentor.'

'Travel safely, River Song.'

The Doctor walked away without a word, without waiting for River Song, and without looking back. After one look back at Altair and Malik, conveying all the things she didn't have time to say, River Song followed him out. She watched him in front of her as they walked the long walk from the citadel and the village – there was no bounce in his step as he walked. There was a real, dreadful purpose to the way he moved, and River knew what this meant. She said nothing, even when they got in the TARDIS, and they were gone from Masayf.

Nothing, nothing at all.

Until the TARDIS landed in front of her prison cell: back home, until the next whimsy took her, or until the Doctor needed her next. She couldn't say when that would be next, but she knew he always did.

She stepped out of the TARDIS, and into the cell. Behind her, the Doctor leant in the door frame, and looked at her. Angry. Confused.

'Did you know it would lead to this?' He asked her quietly, suddenly. River's lips tightened, because she couldn't lie. She'd had her suspicions. With something as big as this, and with the Doctor involved, how else could have it gone?

'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I'm so sorry.'

'It's nobody's fault but mine,' the Doctor said suddenly. 'I should have stopped this when I saw all the signs, bought an end to it, but stupid me. I think I can fix these things, but I make them worse.'

'There is nothing you can do, but this.' River said firmly. 'You've got no other choice.'

The Doctor just looked at her, blaming and hating himself, until River stepped forward and kissed him. He didn't even react, and when she pulled back, his expression was the same. There was nothing she could do now.

'Good luck, my love.' Was all she said, and then she let him go. Watched him walk back inside his TARDIS and whisk himself on the one adventure he could never avoid. She sat in her cell for a long time after, wondering if there was anything she could have done, to prevent this.

And she could think of nothing.

March 25th, 1500. Rome.

The Doctor returned an hour after his disappearance, landing the TARDIS in one of the snug corners of the underground tunnels.

Leonardo had wanted to wait for his return, but only half an hour ago was reminded that he would need to return to Borgia supervision, or be caught out. Reluctantly, he'd left in the company of Giovanni and Zita after telling Ezio to send him news as soon as the Doctor returned. Ezio had set up watch for the Doctor with Amy and Rory at his side, and they were the first to hear the sound of the TARDIS echoing in the tunnels. Ezio took their cue: they simply stood. They didn't run after him, or shout for him – they simply stood and waited. Amy had her arms folded, and looked tense and angry. Rory watched her, worried. Even when the Doctor emerged from the tunnels, they didn't seem to react at all.

'Is she OK? What did she want?' Amy asked. Ezio didn't know what it meant, but the question was evidently important to her. The Doctor nodded.

'Yes, she's fine. And just as involved in all this as me.'

And then Ezio saw it: the look in his eye. The Doctor had sought and tried to pursue all other options, but in the end, he was left with only one. Ezio had had his growing suspicions for a while now, but he had wanted another end to this too, and had sought out others.

But this was truly it. No other way to turn.

'What preparations do we need to make, Doctor?' Ezio asked. Amy and Rory looked at him, confused, and became even more so when the Doctor answered Ezio as if he'd understood.

'We need a plan – we need to know where the Templars are, where they're hiding and how we're getting in and back out again. We need to know who it is we're saving: your descendent couldn't have been working the Animus alone – he must have had help. We need to get those people too, and then we need to disable the chances of the Templars trying to stop us.'

'What?' Amy demanded, but Ezio didn't answer her – looking at the Doctor, he nodded.

'I'll call my Assassins in from their contracts. How many do we need?'

'As many as we can get.'

'When do we leave?'

'Two days time, maximum.'

'It will be done.' Ezio didn't ask anything more, but left the room to call his people together – to tell the news of the last, inevitable action they had to take.

'Doctor, what's happening?' Amy demanded.

'What did River say?'

'What's happening?' Amy demanded again when the Doctor didn't answer either of them. 'What are we preparing for?'

All around them, the Assassin hideout seemed to spring to life in preparations that its occupants had clearly made before. The Doctor's eyes roved, focused with the thing unfolding at hand.

And finally, he spoke.

'War.'

WELL. Its the beginning of the end of this fic. An explosive, non stop, roller coaster beginning, but the end none the less.

Thank you all one and all for the massive support up until now, and all your kind words. And since I probably won't be updating until my temp job is over, let me take the opportunity to wish you a VERY merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Take care everyone!