Alanna

"You will never leave me, will you?" I watched Altair through half lidded eyes. The décor of the room was very modern and so familiar.

"I will always be here for you, Amato, until they release us from our curse." He kissed me soundly on my lips. My hand rested on his chest. I felt the fine hairs on his skin.

"Then I shall stay by your side until you wish for me to leave." Laying my head on his chest, I felt the warm comfort of sleep begin to take me. "Until the end of time."

I woke up in a cold sweat. It had been three days since I had gone to dinner with Altair. We did not talk about my past, but about what he did for a living and what I liked to do. It was a short list, but he listened anyway.

Since that night, the dreams had been coming in more frequency. I could not tell if they were dreams or memories. They woke me up, keeping me puzzled for hours. It was like my mind was remembering through my dreams, but once the light of day awoke me, I would forget once more.

"Alanna, are you awake?" Kate slowly opened my door.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I'm awake."

There was something in her eyes that I had never seen. I did not like it. "Mom, what's wrong?"

She wrung her hands. "There are some men downstairs that want to talk to you. They asked for you by name."

I pushed the blankets off my legs and slowly stood. "Who are they?"

"They say they are from Abstergo. What would a medical company want with you?" She paced across the room and back to the door.

I yawned and stretched. There was something about the name that invoked terror through me. "What do they want to ask me?" I did not want to go downstairs.

"They did not say. They just wanted to ask you a few questions." She reached for me and I walked into her outstretched arms.

"Mom, I don't want to go down there. I don't know what it is, but they scare me. Something the name that worry me. Is that strange?" I held on to her. I was worried. No, I was scared. I wanted to run, and run fast. I needed to talk to Altair.

She ran her hand through my hair. "Then I will tell them to come back later. You did not have to talk to them if you do not want to."

"Thank you." I whispered into her shoulder. Terror took my voice and fear gripped my heart. My past was coming back even if I wanted it to or not.

Kate laid a kiss on the top of my head, and let me go. She walked towards the door, then turned and looked at me. "Call him, and find out what is going on."

I nodded and sat down on my bed. Grabbing my phone from the nightstand, I dialed Altair's number. Another voice greeted my ears when it was answered. 'Hello?'

"Is Altair there?" My voice shook. I could not control it. I was frightened. I do not think I was ever this frightened in my life.

'Alanna, are you alright?' The man on the other line asked.

"I don't know. I really need to talk to Altair." I wanted to cry. I didn't know why, but I did.

'Hold on, I'll wake him up.' I heard him lay the phone down and I grabbed the small stuffed horse that was laying in the chair in front of me. I clutched it to my chest and held it there.

A moment later, Altair's sleep heavy voice came on the line. 'Alanna, are you there?'

"I'm…I'm here. I need you to come get me. There are men here. They say they are from Abstergo. God, what do they want with me?" My voice rose a few octives. I knew I was on the verge of a breakdown, but I did not care.

'Grab some clothes. I will meet you on the next street over. They will be watching the front of your house. You need to to go out the back and be quiet about it. I will explain everything when we get the hell out of town. Leave the phone behind. If they get the number, they can trace you by it.'

"What about my mom? What will they do to her?" I did not want to leave her behind.

'They just want you. She will be fine once I get you out of the city.' I heard him moving things around and the slid of a gun.

"Do you have a gun?" I hated guns. I hated holding them, looking at them, or even being by them. All they did was bring destruction.

'Yes, and it will be fine. I know how to use it. Now, meet me out there in twenty minutes.'

"Alright. I will see you then." He cut the connection, and I started packing a bag.

I was so busy packing that I did not hear my door open once more. "You are leaving?" Kate stood there, arms wrapped around her waist.

I turned to her, tears falling from my eyes once more. "I have to. They are after me. It has something to do with the past that I can not remember. I don't want to do this, Mom. I am so scared that this is bigger than me, or you."

"Oh honey." She rushed to me as the tears grew into sobs. The sobs escalated into a full on histerical fit. "Alanna, it will fine. You will be fine."

"I don't want to leave! Why couldn't my past stay that way. In the past." I sobbed louder. "I had a good life. I did not want this."

"Shush. You will be fine, and I will always be with you." She held me for a few minutes, just calming me and reasuring me everything will be fine. "Come on. Let's get you packed."

The last remaining items were thrown in my small bag. I had to pack light because I had to carry it through a few yards. When we were finished, Kate handed me the bag and smiled, but it was forced. "I love you, my dear."

"I love you too." I hugged her, and shouldered the bag. "I will try and let you know what is going on. If you have any problems, go see Becca. She might be able to get a message to me. She is a friend of Altair."

She nodded and followed me down the stairs. I walked to the back door, and sighed. This was my last time I would be in this house as me. I was going off into a new world. A world that I had been in before, and now, going back to without knowing what I was heading into.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

I looked out the car window as we headed down the highway. For seven years, I had never been out of Golden without Kate. Now, I was in a Mustang with Altair behind the wheel, and Desmond in the back seat. I did not know where we were heading, but I knew we were heading north.

"Where are we going?" I asked finally after three hours of driving.

"Montana. It's the only place we can go to hide. It was your place. There is a lot of land there that we can hide on." He sat back in the seat, and yawned.

Desmond sat up in the back. "You need me to take over for a bit?"

"Nope, I just need some coffee and a walk." He yawned again.

I took my eyes off the scenery and looked over at him. "I think you need to let him drive. I would prefer to not die today."

"You don't have to worry about that." He mumbled under his breath.

I heard it, and raised an eyebrow. "What was that? I do not want you to wreck the car with us in it."

"Alanna, if he says he's fine, then it's okay. We will just pull off on the next exit and get some coffee. Right old man?" Desmond smiled at Altair.

He nodded and yawned once more. I shook my head and leaned my head against the window. "So, anyone want to tell me why Abstergo was after me?"

Both men were silent. I sighed and closed my eyes. They refused to answer any of my questions that I had asked for the past three hours. I was no closer to knowing anything about these men than I was when they showed up at Kate's. I was not asking for my whole life history. I just wanted to know why they were after me now. Was I some woman that escaped them? An ex-employee that knew too much? Did they cause my problems? What was I to them? That was all I wanted to know.

I don't know how long I laid there against the window, but someone shook my shoulder. "Hey 'lanna, you want something from the gas station?"

I blinked my eyes at the sun filtering through the windshield. "Huh? Where are we?" I turned my head and looked into Desmond's chocolate eyes.

He smiled at me. "Just outside Douglas, Wyoming. It looked like a good place to stop and use the bathroom. You need to go?"

I nodded my head and sat up straight. "Yeah." I opened the car door and slide out into the bright sunlight. It was early afternoon. Now I wish I had grabbed my sunglasses, but that was not the first thing on my mind. "Where is Altair?"

"Inside already. He is addicted to coffee. That is all he drinks. Well, that and Monster energy drinks. I don't know how he can do it and still sleep." Desmond got out of the back seat.

I heard the joints crack and pop. I cringed at the sound. "I can sit in the back if you want. I am a lot smaller than you." I stretched out my shoulder from where I had fallen asleep with it against the window.

He smiled but shook his head no. "I think he would kill me. He wants you at his side."

"Desmond, will you please answer a question for me?" I needed answers. I knew it was Altair stopping him from answering anything. For some reason he did not want me to know certain things about my past.

He rubbed his neck. A nervous jesture. "Alanna, I can't. I was told that some things you have to remember on your own. That is the only way you will remember."

I could not take it anymore. "Fine, if you will not answer me, and he will not answer me, then I am getting the hell out of here. We are far enough away from Abstergo that they will not find me. I have some cash on me. I can get to Ashley's in Boulder. I will not stay here and be treated like a child." I reached in the open door and went for my bag, but Desmond grabbed my arm.

"Fine, I will answer one question, but do not tell him I told you anything. Tell him you remembered on your own. What do you want to know?" He sighed and hung his head.

"How do I know how to fight? I know how to kill a man with a staff and bare handed, but I can't even remember my own name. How is that?" I watched him. That was my one free question.

His eyes about came out of his head. "I can not answer that for you. I'm sorry. Ask something else. I can't explain that."

I glared at him. "No, answer it. You said anything. What are you guys hiding from me?"

"'lanna please, not that. I will answer anything else, but not that." His voice was pleading with me, but I would not back down from this.

"No, I want an answer. What was I?" I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for an answer.

A sigh escaped his lips. "You were an…" Then a hand clamped down on his shoulder causing both of us to jump.

"I told you about telling her things, Desmond. She has to remember on her own." Altair growled at him. He then turned his eagle eyes on me. "As for you, Alanna, quit trying to pry answers from the boy. If I catch you again, so help me, you will be gagged and thrown in the trunk for the remainder of the trip. Do I make myself clear?"

I glared back. I would not be treated like a child. "Crystal, but you can't hold all the cards, Altair. I will find out." I marched past him and inside.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Several hours later, we came upon a dusty driveway in the middle of nowhere. I looked out the windshield at the flat land that stretched out before me. He had said that at one time it had been mine. I had land? I wish I had known that years ago. I would have come here instead of riding the trains for as long as I did.

"Beautiful, isn't?" Desmond's voice was low in my left ear.

I nodded. "It is. I have lived for so long near the city I forgot what in the middle of nowhere looked like. I missed this from riding the rails. The stillness of the silence. It was so calming, and wonderful." I sighed happily and watched the fence posts go past the car. The scenery was amazing. I could lose myself in just watching everything. I wonder if I was like this before the accident that robbed me of who I was.

"Can I just ask one simple question?" I finally pulled my eyes from the horizon.

Altair's eyes flicked over at me then back on the gravel drive. "If I can, I will try, but if it is a complex answer, or you are trying to pry too much into you past, I will not. Do you understand?"

"Yes. It is simple. I just want to know if I am anything like I used to be." I kept my eyes on him.

"No, you are nothing like the Alanna I once knew. You are gentle to where she was harder, fierce. Your smile shows innocence that I have not seen in you in many years. Does that answer your question?" I did not look at me again.

That was not what I was hoping to hear. Had I been changed that much? Was I really nothing like I used to be? I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Thank you. That is all I want to know." I leaned against the window, the beauty of the landscape now lost on my gloomy mind.

"Alanna, are you alright? You went quiet." Desmond touched my shoulder.

I smiled back at him, but I don't think it reached my eyes. "Yeah yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about a few things. Nothing to worry about."

His tanned face lit up with a smile of his own. "Okay. I just worry about you sometimes."

A growl was heard through the car. "She's fine, boy. Don't need to be worrying."

Desmond sat back, a frown replaced the bright smile he did have. I didn't know what was between the two men, but they did not get along like they should. Maybe I could get them to like each other, or die trying.

Amato- beloved

Hopefully everything is okay with this chapter. I had a problem with my computer and I just glad I made a backup copy on my flash drive this morning. I will have another chapter done later, but it will not be posted until tomorrow. Enjoy and see you later.