When true friends meet in adverse hour;
'Tis like a sunbeam through a shower.
A watery way an instant seen,
The darkly closing clouds between.
-Walter Scott

"Oh my God," Lucy kept saying. She was on her knees next to Shaun, staring blankly at his face. Desmond slid the historian's eyelids closed, and couldn't help muttering, "La tua morte è stato un violento e inutile. Si può trovare la felicità. Requiescat in pace.(1)"

Lucy looked up suddenly. "Rebecca," she gasped, and jumped to her feet, seeming not to notice the blood that now stained her knees. She sprinted down the tunnel, worry etched on her face. Desmond stayed behind, brooding.

Who were those fucking lights? He just wanted to grab hold of them and strangle them, slowly and painfully, one by one - however many of them there were. The visions he could handle. But they'd gone too far now. Their sick little plan was not taking him any closer to killing anyone. If anything, it made him feel like he should show them a taste of their own medicine, see how they liked it to get something they didn't want.

Lucy came hurrying back, Rebecca in tow. When the brunette saw the scene of carnage, Desmond kneeling next to what was left of Shaun, she stopped, looked to Lucy for a split second, then rushed over.

"Shit!" she gasped, falling to her knees. She looked up at Desmond, not appearing to be nearly as freaked out as he thought she'd be. She had the hardened, slightly curious look of a detective or a police officer on her face.

"What happened? Who is this guy?" Rebecca asked.

"You... you don't recognize him...?" Lucy spoke quietly, her voice hoarse. She glanced at Desmond, eyes pleading. Please don't make me do this. Please don't make me tell her who he is.Desmond nodded once, and looked back down at the body. Shaun's face wasn't entirely unrecognizable, but Desmond and Lucy had seen him both before and after he was killed. The historian's face was riddled with scratches and bite marks, and smeared blood ran down everywhere. If Desmond squinted and tilted his head, it was easy to see who he really was. But Desmond knew it was Shaun. Rebecca thought it was some random stranger who had been killed.

Without speaking, Desmond reached over and picked up the glasses, with their bent lenses and cracked frames. He handed them to Rebecca, silent.

The techie still looked confused. "What's with the glasses?" she asked, then trailed off as she inspected them closer. She looked from the glasses to Shaun's face, back and forth. It clicked.

"No!" Rebecca screamed, throwing her arms across the bloody body, burying her head in the chest with its exposed bones and organs. By now, all three of them were absolutely caked with blood, and it was starting to dry in places - Lucy's face, Desmond's hands, the edges of the crimson puddle.

Rebecca sobbed for a long time. Lucy sat her up and wrapped an arm around her friend.

"What...? Who...? Fuck!" Rebecca couldn't get her words straight.

The thoughts for the thoughtless

She took a deep breath and started over, staring right at Desmond. "What... happened?" she asked slowly, still crying.

Desmond looked at Lucy. The blonde closed her eyes for a moment, then breathed deeply and opened them again.

"I'll tell her," Lucy said softly. "I'm still not sure what happened myself," she began, turning to her friend. "But Desmond and I were out here, talking. Apparently we'd taken too long so Shaun-"

"I told him to go up and find out where you guys went," Rebecca whispered, staring at her hands.

"Oh. Well, he came up, and..." Lucy paused. "Look, this is going to sound a bit insane, but it did happen."

And she went on to tell Rebecca all that had happened, not leaving anything out - the brunette wanted all the details, no matter how ugly.

Desmond sat across from them the whole time, still staring down at Shaun. He needed to tell them about the lights, what they'd said, or this was going to happen again... and there was only one person left who wasn't Lucy or Desmond.

"We had to watch for a while," Lucy was finishing. She took a shaky breath. "It was horrible."

"Lucy," Desmond said quietly. She looked up at him. "You left something out. But it was something only I could see - when I was talking, before..."

Lucy nodded, motioning for Desmond to begin. He told the both of them all about the lights, their warnings and prophecies. This time, he didn't leave anything out. The price was too high.

Lucy's expression changed from shock to slight confusion. She frowned a bit, as Rebecca tried to soak up more information.

"This is real," Desmond said. "Before I didn't think it was, that I was just imagining the whole thing. But this... this is real," he repeated firmly, looking up at the two woman. Rebecca didn't seem to care at all about what he'd just said, still staring down at the body, but Lucy was looking at him. Her eyes seemed to bore right through his.

"Why... why didn't you tell me sooner?" she whispered softly, eyes hard.

The lies for the honest

Desmond thought it was all very unfair. Lucy was blaming him for not telling her about his fucking visions that he didn't even know they were realuntil an hour ago! And he was kind of too busy watching someone else dying to explain everything to her. What was he supposed to do, say "Oh Lucy, I know Shaun's being hideously slaughtered and all, but I've been chosen by some goddamn lights to murder you"?

He didn't say any of that, just made his eyes even harder than Lucy's and glared at her.

"Guys, we can't just... leave him here. And Abstergo's looking for us," Rebecca pointed out softly.

"How would we do that?" Desmond's question was directed at Rebecca, but he was still looking at Lucy, whose face betrayed her hurt. Whether she was upset about his earlier lack of communication or his harsh look, he couldn't tell.

Rebecca sighed wearily. "I don't know," she admitted. "But we have to do something."

Desmond pushed up his sleeves further. "I can carry him." He lifted Shaun's shoulders gently, wrapping an arm around the back of his neck, and the other under his knees. Blood instantly coated the front of Desmond's body, and some intestines were still dangling under and around Shaun.

"Follow me," Desmond said quietly, leading the two woman slowly around Monteriggioni to where he knew there was a suitable hay pile.

When the group reached the hay, Rebecca had started crying again. Desmond lowered the body gently on top of the rough straw and covered it with more. Pulling his pack around, he reached inside and took out the lighter he kept in there at all times - just in case. No one spoke as he silently bent down and set an edge of the pile ablaze. The sight of fire dragged up memories of his dream, where he had let Lucy die in that world of endless flames, but he pushed them back down. Now was not the time.

The three Assassins stood and watched as the hay was engulfed in flames, taking Shaun's body with it. The distinct smell of burning flesh was distinct in the air, and in spite of everything, Desmond's stomach growled. No one heard over the roar of the now-bonfire, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten.

Rebecca and Lucy were crying, arms wrapped around each other. Desmond felt strangely empty and hollow, which had nothing to do with his hunger. He was all terrified, saddened, happied, and just emotioned out. He felt like nothing could ever make him feel anything ever again, like he was made of stone.

The fire burned itself out when the sun was dipping below the high wall of Monteriggioni. It had become extremely hot, and there was absolutely nothing left of the hay - and the once-Assassin - but ash.

Two days later, it rained. It was an absolute downpour for a good three hours. Desmond peeked out of the Sanctuary during the storm - the blood was gone. No one had gone outside in two days, leaving the entrance a bloody, gory mess. But the rain had washed it away, and Desmond still felt hollow. He suspected he should've felt something, sadness that the last anything of Shaun was gone, happiness that he'd never have anything to remind him what had happened, relief that Lucy wasn't going to make him clean it up - not that anyone was doing anything anyway. But nothing. He didn't care about his lack of emotions (again, he should have cared about stuff like that); nothing really seemed to matter anymore.

The voices were back, though Desmond seemed to be free of any visions - for now. The lights in his head - that's how he pictured it, a bunch of mini lights floating around, wreaking havoc on his fried brain - kept whispering to him whenever he was within a ten-foot radius of Lucy, tempting him, bargaining with him, threatening him. They tended to all mesh together, creating a long, unbroken jumble in his head. Lately, with nothing to do - no one spoke or made him do anything - he'd sit in a corner or on the stairs, just listening to what they said.

During one of these times, sitting against a wall with his eyes closed, the voices stopped. Desmond opened his eyes, irritated at losing the only thing he could do. He looked around, immediately becoming bored with nothing to do.

Lucy was deftly, almost robotically, organizing supplies. She had a distant, faraway look on her face as she stacked crates of water bottles and food.

Across the room, Rebecca was sitting at her desk, staring at the screen in front of her with a blank look in her eyes. She didn't appear to be moving, and Desmond couldn't hear any telltale mouse clicking.

It was deathly silent in the Sanctuary. Shaun's former work station stood untouched, no one approaching within a two-foot radius of it, as if it was cursed. Papers were littered around the surface of the desk, random notes scribbled on them. The computer had long since turned on its screensaver, and - shit - it was pictures. Photo after photo of memories Shaun had taken a picture of. There was one of Rebecca working at her computer, giving the person behind the camera the finger. One of Rebecca and Lucy talking over salads, smiles frozen on their faces, forks hovering in mid-air. Shaun, his face angry, thrusting a finger at whoever was operating the camera - looks like Rebecca got revenge. Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy, all standing together, huge grins on their faces and laughing. They must've put the camera on timer; Desmond didn't remember being there or taking the picture. Photos flashed by, pictures of Shaun, of Lucy, of Rebecca, of the three of them together, or pairs, of different combinations. No Desmond. Well, what else was he expecting? He had only known them for a couple weeks, and most of that time he'd spent sitting on his ass.

Desmond's eyes flicked away from the screen, back to Lucy. She was closer now, and he could hear faint whisperings in the back of his mind.

"You saw what happened-"

"-punishment for your arrogance..."

"Eeeeeeeevvvvve."

The last voice was near silent, a long whisper. Eve? The only thing Desmond knew about Eve was from the old Bible story, and he barely knew that. He shrugged it off, thinking that maybe one of the lights was trying to throw him off by spouting random names.

Desmond looked back at Shaun's desk again. They should probably tell someone about his death... but Desmond didn't think he was qualified to send that email, and he couldn't ask Lucy or Rebecca...

He started, seeing something on Shaun's desk. Running over, he ripped aside a pile of papers and pulled out a flash drive, staring at it. Lucy hadn't noticed what he was doing, but Rebecca had looked up and was staring at him with wide eyes.

"That..." she whispered, then stood slowly. "I know what that is!" The Assassin strode over an snatched the device from Desmond's hand, hurrying back to her computer.

"We got something?" Desmond asked, coming to stand beside her.

"...I think so," Rebecca answered, plugging the flash drive into her computer. She typed a few words, then her eyes widened. "He had it all this time.."

"What is it?" Lucy had heard and came to stand on the other side of Rebecca.

"I found that... thing on Shaun's desk," Desmond filled her in, as much as he knew. "Rebecca took it. I don't know what it is..."

Lucy gasped. "Is that...?" Great, now Desmond was the only one standing there like an idiot as Lucy bent over the screen.

"Can someone pleasetell me what's happening?" he asked.

Rebecca spun around, tapping the top of her monitor. "This is something extremely important to our mission, it might help us find the Apple once and for all! Why Shaun had it and didn't bother to tell us, I don't know though..." She looked back around, thoughtful.

"That's great," Desmond said, somewhat annoyed. "But what is it?"

Lucy turned toward him, excitement in her eyes. "It's a new memory!" she said happily, for the first time in days.

Desmond gulped. "So, like... the Animus?"

"Well, we'd have to run some tests first," she explained. "But yes, you need to go back in."

We're the gods of the godless!

1 - Your death was a violent and unnecessary one. May you find happiness. Rest in peace.

Yay for chapters where nothing's happening 8D I've had this written for a good few days, but couldn't post it cause FF was being retarded and not letting me log in...

Reviews are greatly appreciated! -is a review whore-