I watched her leave. Dust followed her path as I lost sight of her over the rise. I should have followed her. Told her I was sorry. I could not, because of the visions. I had been reading the pages of the codex that I written nearly a thousand years ago. The visions the Apple had given me came back in force. I saw the world burn. I did not want her to fall for me any more than she already had. Alanna gave everything she did her all. I did not want to be a distraction in the battle to come.

I laid my head against the stone wall and sighed. I was an idiot. I knew it, and I accepted that.

"What did you do to her?"

I lifted my head and looked at the annoying man I called blood relation. "What do you mean?" My voice sounded weary, like I had no sleep, which was true. I had not slept much the previous night.

"She ran in, grabbed her things, and was gone before I could speak to her." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me.

"Why do you think I did anything to her? She wants us to head to Rome and get the Apple before they do." I looked back at the horizon. I could still see some of the dust from her tires.

"I know you had a hand in her running again. She was on the verge of tears. She only cries for you. She has been in love with you for a very long time. I would have hoped you would have seen it on your own." Ezio shook his head. "You are too fixated on things that happened behind you, when you should be looking at the things in front of you."

I knew she loved me. I had heard her many of times as she would drift off to sleep next to me. She would always say it. I just had never responded. I should have, but didn't. "I know her feeling for me, Ezio, but we cannot go down that road right now."

"You are stubborn. If now is not the time, when? Years from now, when she has figured out a way to die? She has attempted it before. Many times I might add. Hanging, poison, blades, water. Every time she wakes up with not a scar. She will find a way, and you will only have yourself to blame. Now let's go. The others are leaving. I know the quick roads. We should get there before any of them." He walked to the edge and jumped down.

I stood there in silence. I had not known she was trying to kill herself. Why? I knew she was unhappy, but to end it? I did not understand. I shook my head to clear it and followed Ezio off the wall. I ran to the car we had out back and got in. Our gear was already in the back, so we took off.

The ride was in silence. Ezio did not look at me, nor I him. Alanna really was the only common ground we had. I was her once lover and Ezio had become her confidant. It seemed she told him everything in the span if a few days. She would hardly look at me, but the moment she does, I lash out. I did so because I was frustrated. Too many things going through my head, and all involved her.

We made it to Rome in record time. It also didn't hurt that Ezio drove like a madman. If I could die, I might have been a little nervous.

We pulled up outside the locked gates. Getting out of the car, I looked at the hulking structure that I had never given two glances at before. Inside was the object I despised more than Templars. It made me what I am now.

"Come on. It's going to be a long journey. Hopefully I remember the way." Ezio picked the lock on the gate and swung it open.

I followed him in. "You had better know the way. I do not want to be lost in here forever, and for us, that is a long time."

Ezio laughed. "I think you made a joke. That is good coming from a stiff like you. I didn't even think you knew what humor was."

I extended my blade, using it as the middle finger. "Ha, ha, you Italian asshole. I may not tell jokes like you, but I do get humor." I jumped across some beams behind him.

"Well, you never laugh. You hardly smile. What else am I to think?" He turned the corner sharply, and I barely had a chance to follow.

It was a long trip indeed. We jumped all over the bowels of the ancient coliseum. It was insane on the complexity of the labyrinth below. I was slightly amazed that he remembered the way after so many years. I nearly gave a sigh of relief when we came to the doors to the temple.

Ezio walked up to the door. "It won't open."

I stared at him. "Now is not the time for jokes. Open it." My temper was already high, and he was not helping it.

"I am trying, but the damn thing will not open. I have said the password. I know that is it. It will not open for me." He looked at me, near panic was on his face.

"Shit! How in the world are we to get in now? Is there another way in?" I glared at the door. It was becoming a pain in the ass. Why was everything in my life right now grating on my nerves?

"Hey, you guys make it down there?" Alanna. Her voice was low, so she must be with the others.

"Yeah, but the door will not open."

"Well that's just great. Get it open now. Desmond is on his way down, and with his speed, he will be there soon. Get in that damn door and get that thing out of there."

"Woman, if I could, I would, but the door will not open for us." I growled. My fuse was getting shorter and shorter.

"Quit calling me woman. I have a name, you dick, use it."

"Fine, Alanna, the door won't open and we can't get the damn thing. Happy?" I massaged my temple. I felt a headache coming.

"No, because I am talking to you."

Great, now she was back to hating me. I should have known that was going to happen when I said those things to her. "Tough, you're kind of stuck with me. Now, how far are you?"

"I am following Desmond, but he is one hard person to keep up with. He has Ezio's memory of this damn maze. I am flying blind. The other three are trying to find another way down."

I turned to look at Ezio. He was banging on the door. "You know it won't open that way."

He glared back at me. "Yeah, but it makes me feel better. Any ideas from Alanna?"

"You have any ideas?" I called over the line.

"Not unless you have any dynamite."

"Very funny." I rolled my eyes and looked around the chamber. There was no other ways in that I could see.

"I wasn't joking."

"Look, I know you hate me right now, but could you please get rid of the attitude? It is not helping matters." I closed my eyes and calmed my breathing. I would not let this spat blow what little calm I had. "We need ideas."

"I don't have one."

I turned to Ezio, was now sitting on the floor. "What do you suggest?"

He looked up at me. "We get the hell out of here before they find us, or throw everything out, demand Desmond open the door, and then take the POE. That is where I am now."

It wasn't the best idea, but it wasn't the worst either. "I guess that is what we are doing. I have no more ideas and Alanna said to blow it open. I do not have any dynamite and I am guessing you do not either."

"Nope. I left it in my other pants pocket." He smiled.

"Then I guess we wait here." I sat down next to him. "I hate when we come to a standstill."

Ezio let out a small chuckle. "I know, mio amico, you do not like to be idle. That is one of your flaws. You must learn to stop and look at things before proceeding. I was the same way before I became a detective."

He still slipped into the Italian every once in a while. It was second nature, just like when I got frustrated, I would go to my native tongue as well. "I will never change that. It has been too long."

"You just chose not to change." He leaned against the doors. "Just like you do with Alanna. I know Desmond likes her."

I could not help but frown. The boy was far too young for her. "I know."

"You are jealous, Altair. You should just tell her how you feel. She will take you back." He looked at me.

"Doubtful. I said some rather hurtful thing to her. Besides, I do not want her to be distracted in the fight to come." I rested my head against the doors behind me. The words were hollow in my own ears. I wanted her to know how I felt, but I could not do it. Not yet.

I heard him sigh. "I have read your visions. I know what you saw. The future is not set in stone. In your time with the Apple, did you see yourself as you are now?" I shook my head. "Then, do you think that maybe you saw just one version of the events left to come? Maybe we were supposed to be the way we are now. The Apple was looking for guardians to protect it. It has only chosen our bloodline."

"Then why Alanna? She has no relation to us. She was just there. I brought her into this." I did not know what to think anymore. I had lost everything that I held dear at one point. Now, that I found someone again, I chose to chase them off than to stay with them. "When did you become all wise? It's annoying."

Ezio did not get a chance to answer. I heard the footsteps come down the corridor. There were far too many to be just that of Desmond and Alanna. The other three were with them. I did not want them here, not now. I pulled the hood up over my face, and Ezio did the same.

The five of them came around the corner, and stopped in their tracks. Alanna scowled at me. "Everyone, meet my team, Eric Michaels and Allen Turner." She turned to the others. "This is Lucy Stillman, Desmond Miles, Rebecca Crane, and Shaun Hastings."

"How did they get down here?" Lucy, the blond, looked at us.

"They followed us. When we stopped in the chapel, they continued on." Her tale was convincing because she turned from us and towards the door.

"Alright Desmond, let's get this thing and get out of here before Abstergo finds us."

The younger man walked up to the door. "72" The doors opened wide for him to enter the inner chamber of the room. In the center sat the object that haunted me for nearly a millennia. The Apple gleamed in the strange lighting of the room.

Desmond, it seemed was the only one that could get to the cursed thing. I stood with the others as he did the maze of switches and levers to get to the platforms. Finally, the stairs rose from the ground and allowed access to the artifact.

The seven of us walked the steps. When we reached the top, Alanna walked over to it. "I'm sorry, but you four are not taking it. I cannot allow it."

"What are you going on about? We are taking the Apple back with us to the Assassins. The Templars cannot have it." Shaun stepped forward to challenge her.

"It is a long story and I shall not go into it. Needless to say, you will not lay a hand on it." I watched her reach for the Apple, but Desmond grabbed it first.

Everything froze. I could hear, see, and smell, but my body would not respond. I could not move. No one, it seemed could. I tried to move something, but it was like I was frozen. The apple glowed in the boy's hand. I could hear a voice, but could not make out what was being said. I watched in horror as Desmond's blade extended.

The Apple. It was forcing him. Controlling his actions. It wanted something, and only from him. It chose him, but for what I did not know. It had chosen me, Alanna, and Ezio for immortality, but it wanted something different for him.

His movements were jerky and not his own. He walked over to Lucy, and to my horror, buried the blade in her gut. She never moved, but as the blade exited, the world began to spin and grow dark. The last thought to pass through my mind was this was how it was before my deep sleep.

I am sorry. I have been quite lazy. I had this done last night, but I went back and changed some things. My husband has been replaying AC:2 and Brotherhood. It has been reminding me of things. So, now the question about Alanna and Altair has been answered, and Desmond stabbed Lucy. So, now it has come to the end of Brotherhood and onto new areas. See ya!