Epilogue

2012

The ride to upstate New York took about three hours, maybe less. I slept the entire way in the van, subsequently in the back with Walter, while Rebecca watched Desmond's vitals and Shaun and Bill were in the front.

There would be the rare occasion that Desmond's vitals would spark up and get us worried, but it wasn't really that bad. Rebecca was taking good care of him.

"Are you awake?" Walter asked quietly.

I then realized that I'd been sleeping in a corner with Walter, and my face went scarlet.

"Ah, so you are." Walter smiled and brought me a bit closer to him. "I haven't really been able to sleep. This horse-less carriage has been moving too fast for me to be comfortable."

"I got pretty car-sick too when they first came out," I told him, and then shrugged. "It happens. You just need to adjust with the era."

"I believe so."

I stood up and stretched, letting my hood fall back onto my shoulders. "I keep having dreams of my memories."

"Really?"

"Yep. They're bothersome, and I want them to stop, but it's not like I can control dreams at all."

Walter smiled. "Do you think you could teach me how to speak the way you do in this time? It will probably help me fit in better."

"Erm… okay." I sat across from Walter. "Do you remember the ways I say 'Yes'?"

Walter nodded. "Yep, Yeah, Uh-huh…" He made a face.

"Don't forget 'Yeppers'," I added with a smile. "That's just how you say 'Yes' in this time. Now, when you're speaking in this time, people shorten their speech. We'll get into texting later, but for now we'll just do speech." I cleared my throat. "Say, 'I have four cars'."

"I have four cars."

"Now, say it shorter."

Walter thought for a moment. "I've got four cars…?"

I grinned. "Got it! It's as simple as that!"

"Truly?"

"Yeah, but instead of 'Truly', you'll want to go for 'Seriously'."

"Seriously?"

I patted Walter on the back. "Nice! You're getting it."

"I… think I might need to practice a while longer." Walter shrugged. "It can't take too long, can it?"

"With everyone around influencing your speech, it won't take long at all, so don't worry about it."

Walter smiled and reached out to me. His hand touched the red scarf tied around my neck. "You kept it."

I nodded, and then unwrapped some of it. "It's not exactly winter, but…"

Walter gratefully took the other half of the scarf and wrapped it around his own neck. It was just long enough so we could share it.

"I don't mind," he whispered.

There were a few moments that we had in complete silence, and then I remembered that Desmond and Rebecca were in the back with us. I looked at Rebecca—and her video camera.

"You were recording that?" I snapped.

Rebecca quickly shut off the camera. "W-What're you talking about…?"

"You can't record stuff like that!"

She smiled. "I just did. And anyway, maybe you should remember that other people are around you next time. I'll keep this to help your memory."

Walter cocked his head. "What do you mean, 'Record'?"

Rebecca came over to Walter and played our moment back to him. He watched on, amazed.

"Maybe you guys should watch a movie," Rebecca said. "Bill and Shaun're going to get some food. You might as well."

I shrugged and looked through the movies that they had. They only had a few historical movies, and the only one that wasn't historical was the first Spider-Man, not the reboot.

I popped it into the DVD drive and watched the movie with Walter. He was so amazed at it though that he ended up being more entertainment than the actual movie to me.

"There wasn't any rain when we kissed," Walter said as we got to the upside-down kissing scene. "And you weren't a man in a mask."

"I'm pretty sure you didn't have boobs either," I remarked.

Walter smiled. "Well, I think someone stole this from us and made it their own."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Then again, there weren't any movies back in 1746, so I doubt they could have."

"Well, you did say that my journal was on this so-called 'Internet' for everyone to see."

"True."

"That breaches my privacy."

"Well, you could file a lawsuit, but no one would believe that it's your journal."

Walter frowned. "Maybe I could pretend to be a descendant…?"

"How d'you think these guys got permission to put it on the Internet in the first place?"

"Ah. Touché."

I shrugged. "It happens, I guess."

"I suppose so."

The rest of the movie was uneventful, except for when Walter got angry with Mary-Jane for not recognizing Peter's voice. It was priceless.

Bill and Shaun were back after the movie. They had made contact with a few other Assassins and that's why they'd taken so damn long. After we were finished eating, we all gathered in the back of the van.

"I-I don't believe this!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"What?" Bill asked, placing Ezio's Apple on the table in the van.

"Desmond's vitals are lighting up like fireworks!" Rebecca typed some things quickly. "I'll need to run a few scans to see what's going on…"

A few minutes later, we stood tense in front of Desmond. Eventually, his vitals stabilized, and slowly—very slowly, he opened his eyes.

"Son?" Bill asked. "Desmond, do you recognize me?"

Desmond's eyes went in and out of focus, but he finally gave Bill a look that told him he did. Desmond pulled his arm free of the Animus scanner and examined it. A light blue glow made its way across his arm as he did, and then he looked at the Apple.

"I know what we need to do," he said.

Bill turned around and opened the doors of the van. From it, we could see a cave. We were at the coordinates that Ezio and Leonardo had provided when Ezio hid the Apple.

Desmond looked around at us. "Um… who's that?" He was looking at Walter.

"Long story," I told him.

"And why're you sharing a scarf?"

I hastily got out of it, blushing scarlet. "That's none of your business!"

"Sam's former lover came back from the dead," Rebecca said bluntly.

Desmond's eyes widened. "Michael?"

"Walter," Shaun said. "Walter Hugh."

"Thanks guys. I'll make sure you know all of my personal secrets so you can give those away," I grumbled.

"We know all your secrets," Bill sighed.

"Nope. Not all."

Desmond got out of the Animus and stretched. "How long was I out?"

"Not long, but we're in America now. Managed to get your butt outta Rome," Rebecca said. "You should probably go for a run though. You were a petrified nut for a while, so it'd be good to get some exercise."

Desmond nodded. "I'll do that. Just gimme a sec. I want to make sure I don't fall."

I patted Desmond's shoulder. "I'll make sure you won't, Des."

And now, everything was falling into place. Everything was about to end.

One way or another.

"Life beings at the end of your comfort zone." –Neale Donald Walsch

To Be Continued…