"Okay, Lucy, what's our next move?" I asked, sitting backwards in my seat at the small café. Lucy had gotten a cappuccino, but coffee was never my thing. The smell of it choked me up from its strength and the taste just made me cringe, it amazed me that anybody could drink it.
She barely acknowledged me as she looked at the newspaper, sipping her coffee, the front page had an interesting headline that made me tilt my head, "POPE TO BE REPLACED, SUCCESSOR NOT READY TO TAKE THE REINS?"
"Hmph..." It was ironic to me that I saw this headline of any, that it was out this day on the first newspaper I'd seen in several months. I didn't pursue it, the topic didn't affect me now, it affected me six hundred years ago. My eyes scanned down to the faded picture, the former pope handing his staff off to his successor, and everything flashed. I became dizzy, woozy even, as my stomach felt as though it filled with a mysterious liquid. A moan and my head hit the table.
"Desmond?" I heard Lucy as she saw me, but everything faded to black just then.
I lifted my head to find I was in a new place, a hood over my head. Bringing a hand to my face, I found some stubble on my chin, "Where am I?" I asked in a voice that was not mine. Looking around I saw the bustling streets of Florence, in the early 1500s, but what year was it exactly. I looked down to realize my armour, which I hadn't been wearing before, was a darker teal colour.
"Ezio, are you okay?" I heard Machiavelli ask me, "You seem a bit... Sick, are you feeling alright?" He was sitting across from me at the table. The table was small and round, the sun was setting, and if I looked to my right I would see a very small building, a restaurant.
I nodded, "Sí." I responded without thought, the weight of my belt clear as I finally made the connection I had gone back into Ezio's mind. That couldn't happen though, could it? I wasn't in the Animus and I'd never actually become Ezio without it.
Everything flashed again, the world speeding away from me as I was back in the café, Lucy shaking me. "Desmond? Desmond, what's wrong?"
I shook my head, "Sorry, I just felt a little sick is all."
"Desmond, what happened?" Her voice was stern, determined to get the truth out of me.
"The Bleeding is getting worse... I was in Ezio's body... Sometime in the fifteen-hundreds... We were at a café, I think he was right where I am now..." I left out the part of Machiavelli being there, I didn't trust Lucy enough right now to tell her everything.
Lucy muttered, but I didn't hear what she said. I could swear I heard "Subject 17" in her words, but I had no way of knowing what she actually said. My chair was heard as it scooted across the floor back, "Let's go, Lucy, we have to find Rebecca and Shaun." This was something I wouldn't budge on, just like her wanting to know what I saw.
She sighed and stood up, setting the paper down. "Alright..." The blond-haired woman pulled something from her pocket that I'd never seen before and set it on the table. She pressed a button on the screen, it looked similar to the iTouch, but after a moment it obviously wasn't. A screen blew up into the restaurant, taking up quite a bit of space, spanning from our table. She put her fingers to the map diagonally and pulled it in, shrinking the actual screen to keep from being disruptive.
"Okay, Desmond, we're here," She pointed to a dot on the map, "And we found-" Lucy broke off and quickly corrected herself, "We were found here." She pointed at another dot, it was grayed out. Our dot was green, and there was one other dot, coloured a navy blue. "Now, I looked at where the hideouts were in Italy, and I came to the conclusion that Erudito, Shaun, and Rebecca are all at this blue dot. Ironically, it's not as far as you would think we'd need to travel."
I looked at it and smirked, "Wow, I'm very impressed Lucy. Shall we go?" She nodded.
"There's a train station here," She pointed to a symbol that looked like a train and let her finger follow an invisible line to another one, "And we can get off here. They're beneath the station."
"Great, let's go." I said, stretching my arms and putting them in my hoodie pocket.
The walk to the train station was a silent one, we didn't have much to discuss right now, and part of me wanted to question her on her allegiance. Now wasn't the time for it though, and the station was only a fifteen minute walk.
We arrived and a man at the ticket counter asked us, "Posso esserle d'aiuto?"
I looked at him and without hesitating I said, "Due biglietti a nord." Lucy looked at me, astounded and speechless as he handed us tickets. "Grazie, signore." We gave one another a small bow before Lucy and I walked away toward the train.
I looked at her with wide eyes, "Lucy did I just-"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. What the hell was that?" She exclaimed, pushing me to a wall, meeting my eyes from a few inches below.
"I don't know... Maybe I picked up a little bit of it being in the Animus so much?"
"Picked it up enough to be fluent in a language you never even practiced before? Christ, Desmond, you never spoke Arabic before, but you were in Altaïr's memories." She blew a stray strand of blond hair out of her face as she released me.
I shrugged, "Perhaps it is just because I'm that good..." I said in Ezio's voice, giving myself credit for being able to imitate my Italian ancestor so well. I gave a small laugh and started walking again, Lucy didn't find anything amusing anymore; then again, she never did before either.
We boarded the train and sat down just before the doors closed and the train began to move. I man in a green hat looked over at me from the corner of his eye, I didn't dare return it, I was observing from my peripherals. I leaned back, and let out a smooth breath after closing my eyes. When I opened them, Lucy was still glowing yellow, blue, and red, I turned my head around, examining my surroundings. The man in the hat, along with three friends in the same section of seats, were a vibrant red. In fact, I saw a few areas of seats glowing in red. But I saw, in the very back corner of the train, a faint blue glow, he was hidden by the soft white glow of those around him, but I knew I saw it partially peeking out.
I did the process of turning off the vision, leaving my eyes closed this time for a nap, I knew there was danger on the train, but I also knew they wouldn't do anything right now, they were only watching us. What I hadn't noticed at the time, was the man in the green hat, whom I did not get a good look at, had a serpent-like S on his hat, and a scar over his right eye.
"Sir?" I heard a girl ask me, tapping my shoulder. I peaked an eye open, she was glowing white, so I closed it again and relaxed. Her voice was soft, high-pitched, and rather quiet.
"Yes?" I replied curiously.
"Can I get you anything to drink or eat?"
"No, thank you though." I gave her a smile with my eyes still closed.
"And for your wife?" My eyes snapped open and I became alert, so did Lucy.
"No, no, no... Ahaha, she's not my wife," I said quickly, "I barely know her." My eyes snapped her a look, it wasn't a false statement at all, I really didn't know her anymore.
"Oh, my apologies sir, would she like anything?" Lucy shook her head and the attendant gave us a small curtsy as she walked to other chairs, offering them food or drink.
We didn't say another word as I relaxed, my eyes closed and calm. The train went on for another hour before it stopped again, "Florence, North, final stop in the city." I heard over the intercom. The two of us stood up and got off the train, looking at each other we both realized neither of us actually knew how to get there.
I sighed and put on my special vision again, I saw a doorway amongst all the white glows of regular people, it was shiny a faint golden colour and I pointed at it. My hand gently pushed people out of the way as we approached it. Another door was glowing faintly, it appeared to be a restroom. I laughed quietly and Lucy hit my shoulder, "Christ, Desmond, grow up a little bit, I've seen a men's restroom, just go."
We stepped inside and I saw against the back wall there were three bricks glowing with the golden shade. "Give me a minute, Lucy." I told her as I stepped up, they were all three in a straight line across. I started touching them one by one from left to right, then I tried the left one, right one, middle one, but I got nothing so I hit the middle one, right one, left one. Again, nothing, so I tried middle, left, right, and turned off the vision when I heard a stone-on-stone grinding sound. The wall turned around halfway, leaving a path and Lucy stepped inside first.
I turned around to close the door as I entered it, and a man had just exited the stall was staring at the door. I put a finger to my lips and slipped inside, closing the door because I was positive he hadn't seen the code.
It was dark for a moment before a light came on above us with a click, and then a few steps ahead with another, and again, all the way down the hallway. I smiled, thinking now how I would be received. Lucy didn't notice as she walked ahead of me, but I was just praying Rebecca was the first one to see me from behind the door. No doubt they knew somebody was coming, so they most likely prepared for them.
We knocked at a door and I heard a voice come from the intercom beside it, "Who's there?" Part of me died when I found the voice to be English, and not Rebecca's.
"Lucy and Desmond, open the door, Shaun." She said sternly.
"What? No, that's not possible at all, who is it really?" Shaun asked, clearly not joking.
Lucy pressed the button to respond when I cut in, "It's us, open the god damned door, Shaun, or so help me I'll kick your ass back to England."
The door opened without another word to Erudito, sitting at a table, not even fazed by their 'new' visitors. Shaun was standing beside the door with a smile at Lucy, it faded when I walked in. Something told me he wasn't so thrilled I was there. Rebecca and Lucy did something I hadn't seen before, they hugged. The idea fascinated me, because I'd never seen either of them do something like that before, but when Rebecca spotted me over Lucy's shoulder, her face lit up and she released the blond woman.
The dark-haired girl dove to my arms in an embrace and smiled, putting a head on her shoulder, daring not to say a word. After a moment we released and I smiled at her, "Alright guys, I don't know how much time we have but-"
"Desmond, I'm back, you don't have to worry about leading anymore." Lucy said, a tone of arrogance in her voice. "Is the Animus online?" She asked Rebecca, who nodded in return.
"Lucy, I'm not getting in today, there's no way in hell I'm getting in after what happened at the coffee place to day, not a chance." I said determinedly, and she sighed in response.
"Fine. We'll work tomorrow, Desmond, get your rest, we'll catch up over breakfast, but then we've got work to do." She said angrily, clearly frustrated as she stormed out of the room to choose a bedroom. Apparently her manners were forgotten at Abstergo, because later I heard her and Shaun fighting over the rooms, she had chosen his.
Author's Note: Hey everybody! :D I hope you enjoyed Chapter 10. I was thinking about making this one the end of The Start of Something New and then working on a secret project before starting Book II. :) What do you think? Don't worry, if I end Book I now, I'll be releasing a mini-series that isn't Book II, but I think you'll like it if you liked Chapter 4 of this one. ;) Just a little hint there. I love you guys! :D Keep reading, reviewing, thank you to East Coast Captain for his number of reviews over the last day :) he's the reason I was pushed to write this chapter.
~B