First thing's first, I changed the rating of this story to M because the gore in this chapter is just ridiculous. Seriously.
There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
"I just don't know what to do."
Desmond had been pouring out what he'd seen the past days, but left out the parts about the lights. Lucy didn't need to know about that.
"So, that's why you got out of the Animus so fast?" she asked. "You were only in there for about an hour." Desmond nodded in response. They had been talking for a good few hours now; the sky was starting to lighten.
Lucy noticed it too. "Damn. We should go back inside. We can talk later, okay? I won't make you go back in the Animus. Just ignore Shaun's whining."
Desmond grinned a bit. Lucy smiled back, and suddenly both of them were laughing, laughing so hard their sides hurt and tears were streaming down their faces, until they were doubled over, clutching their stomachs. There wasn't really anything that funny about what Lucy had said, but Desmond needed a way to let all his feelings out, and you know what they say - laughter's contagious. He guessed his brain needed something normal to do, and since sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth, wasn't normal, it chose face-ripping, side-splitting laughter.
Lucy stopped first. She straightened up, a huge smile on her face, and clapped Desmond on the back, who was still chuckling a bit, bent over. "Thanks," she laughed. "I needed that."
"Me too," Desmond gasped, happiness the only thing on his mind as he tried to get his breath back. "Shaun really is an ass, isn't he?"
"Oh, stop it," Lucy scolded, but her lips still turned up in a smile.
"Oi, are you two planning on getting caught?" And there was Shaun, arms crossed, standing in the doorway to the Sanctuary.
"Because, you know, I really like not being dead," he went on. "But if you want to stand out here in broad daylight when Abstergo has planes and helicopters and whatnot looking for us..."
"Okay, okay!" Lucy held up her hands in a sign of surrender. "We're coming."
The ground buckled beneath their feet. A massive - what felt like - earthquake shook under where Desmond was standing. He and Lucy fell forward, thrown off balance.
"Woah!" Shaun was startled by their fall. "What's gotten into you?"
"Can't you... feel it?" Desmond gritted his teeth, on his hands and knees next to Lucy on the shaking ground.
Shaun, standing a good ten feet away, raised an eyebrow. "Well, if this is your idea of a joke, you've got a lot to learn-"
"What's happening?" Lucy turned her head to Desmond.
"That is what I'd like to know," Desmond muttered, looking around. How was it that Lucy could feel the tremors, not Shaun? This wasn't a vision if someone else could experience it, right?
"Desmond..." Lucy warned, sounding afraid.
Desmond, still focused on not falling, got to his feet slowly. "What?" He turned.
Big mistake. Big. Fucking. Mistake. Because in front of him, broad and standing six feet tall, was a motherfucking bear. Brown, with bloodshot eyes and the biggest claws Desmond had ever seen.
That was impossible. Bears didn't live in Italy. Okay, well, they did, but not anywhere near the Villa, and how did it get in through the gate anyway?
The bear stood ten feet in front of him, growling softly. Its head started glowing. Desmond moaned - he knew what was going to happen next.
Sure enough, a light sprung out of the head of the beast. Just one this time, shining a brilliant, blinding, blood red.
"We tried to show you," the light began, its voice echoing around Desmond as if there were many of them. "But you have been stubborn. Now we must show what will happen if you continue to defy us,"
"No," Desmond moaned. "Not her." Lucy was looking at him, confused.
"She cannot see us," the light commented.
"Please. Don't hurt her," Desmond pleaded again, almost resorting to begging.
"We cannot. If we had the tools to kill her, it would have been done long ago. But it is your destiny, Desmond Miles, to get rid of this obstacle in your path."
He blinked, taken aback. "Then what's with the bear?" The light was clearly controlling the growling animal, seeing as it hadn't ripped them to pieces yet.
"I am here to warn you," it said menacingly.
We're the heart for the heartless
Desmond was still confused. Was it going to hurt them, without killing them as a warning? But then the bear turned its bloodshot eyes to its right. Towards Shaun.
"No," Desmond breathed. The light couldn't hurt him or Lucy... anyone else was fair game.
"Mind telling us what's happening, Desmond?" Shaun still stood near the entrance, looking at the two of them as if they were crazy. Because maybe they were.
The bear roared so loud Desmond and Lucy covered their ears. It galloped straight towards Shaun. Light dawned in Lucy's eyes when it was a few meters from him.
"No!" she screamed, rushing forward. Desmond lunged for her and grabbed her arm, pinning her back.
"It'll kill you if you go after it," he sobbed, crying helplessly as Shaun was attacked by the wild animal he couldn't see.
The bear grabbed the historian's arm in its teeth and threw him into the air. Shaun cried out with surprise and pain as he landed hard on his hands and knees.
"What the fuck was that?" he screamed, looking around wildly.
"Do something!" Lucy cried at Desmond.
"I..." He couldn't. The only thing they could do was watch. Watch as the beast bore down on Shaun again, watch as he was eaten alive.
Shaun was screaming, a desperate, crazed scream. "Help me!" he sobbed at Lucy and Desmond as the bear clawed at his stomach and upper legs. It was messy, digging up flesh and organs and flinging them behind it. Lucy was hit in the cheek with what looked like to be a piece of Shaun's liver. She struggled further, shouting curses at Desmond.
"Let me go, you son of a bitch!" she howled, trying to rip her arms free. Desmond backed up, dragging Lucy with him, out of range of the flying gore.
The screaming turned into whimpering as the sky brightened. Lucy gave up her struggle and just stood there in horror, sobbing. Soon enough, she couldn't look anymore and buried her face in Desmond's shoulder. He released her wrists and pulled her tight in a hug as she cried into his sweater.
The bear tore into its victim loudly, until Desmond wanted to cover his ears so he couldn't hear the sound of crunching bones, the sound of sobbing, the sound of dripping blood. The sounds of death.
Just after eight by Desmond's watch, Shaun fell silent. The bear backed up and turned around, its snout covered in blood, scraps of flesh caught in its fur. The light - it had been there the entire time - floated over above its head.
"We warned you," the light said again. "You didn't do as we asked. This is what will happen again if you do not co-operate." And then it was gone, the bear turning to ash as soon as the light faded. Desmond's arms fell by his sides as he saw the scene in front of him.
Shaun had been ripped to shreds. The bear had been thorough (but how could it? It was a bear...), tearing away the flesh at his stomach, drawing out his intestines like a cat plays with string. The historian's lower abdomen resembled a pile of ground meat, trampled and crushed by the bear's huge paws. He lay sprawled out, face frozen in terror, eyes blank. His glasses had been knocked from his face, smashed and stepped on. The frames were crooked, a lens cracked, the other missing completely.
Bones were sticking out everywhere, from Shaun's chest cavity, from his neck, from his shoulder where the bear had almost ripped his arm off. Blood was seeping out, creating a growing crimson puddle around his body.
Lucy, hearing nothing, turned slowly, black lines running down her face where her tears fell, mixing with her smudged makeup. She choked in shock, then fell to her knees. Desmond caught her under the arms before she could fall completely, pulling her back to her feet.
"Oh God," Lucy whispered, eyes round and filled with fresh tears.
Desmond took her waist and led her slowly to where the barely-recognizable man lay. The only thing on his mind was the last thing he'd said about him:
Shaun really is an ass, isn't he?
Holy fucking God. I killed Shaun. I'M SORRY D: It had to be done, you'll see why later.
Also: that DID happen. Desmond didn't imagine any of that. The lights can choose who to show themselves too, and thus didn't want Lucy seeing it. As for why she could feel the earthquake and see the bear... you'll find out.