Altair is with Malik when he feels the by now familiar tug that means it's time to return to the future. He has time for an exasperated sigh- it is getting really tiring to be constantly pulled between two different centuries- and in the next breath he's in Desmond's body, lying still in the animus. He feels a brief flicker of annoyance- he's never been good at sitting still, but he has no other choice on days when he has to share a body. At least when he's a hallucination, or a ghost, or whatever state of being the apple sends him into, he can move.
"Oi, Desmond," Shaun calls. "Do you want to get up now?"
And that's when it hits Altair that he's alone in the body. Or almost alone. He can feel Desmond, out cold, buried somewhere in the bottom of his own mind. He stands up, slowly. This is the first time he's had control of the body in a non emergency situation, the only time apart from the Abstergo escape. But something's wrong with Desmond now, so maybe it is an emergency.
"Are you okay?" Rebecca asks, and Altair realizes he's just standing in front of the animus.
"Fine," Altair says. "I need to see the recordings from that last session."
"What?"
"I-" he hesitates. He's guessing something went wrong in the animus. It's the first answer that comes to him for why he's walking around in a body that isn't his, speaking in a voice that isn't his. But he can't come right out and say that. So instead, he says, "I thought I saw something right at the end, but I couldn't tell from where I was standing."
"What do you think you saw?" Rebecca asks, but at least she's tapping away on her computer, getting the video ready.
"I'm not sure," Altair says. "I need to see it again." He leans in, carefully- he's used to being a passenger here, and Desmond's built differently than he is. Four inches taller, at least.
The video runs, and Altair does his best to look like he's seen it before. He's got a pretty good idea of what's happened with Ezio- he's never been in the animus himself, but he has been in Desmond's head. And that's almost the same thing. So he knows that Ezio's had the apple for a while (he wonders if it's the same one that's causing him so much trouble, or if there's more than one apple out there).
Or had the apple, anyway- he watches as Ezio loses the apple to a stranger dressed like a monk, before losing consciousness. And then the memory ends, with Ezio still completely out of it- and apparently Desmond as well. Altair glares at the screen- so this is how the bleeding effect finally shows itself. Ezio blacks out, and so does Desmond, which leaves Altair in charge of someone else's body, and also with a question.
Desmond is gone because Ezio is injured and unconscious. Altair wants to believe that Desmond will wake up on his own, and he's willing to wait a while to see if he's going to. But he has a bad feeling that's not going to happen.
He shakes his head, inwardly berating Ezio for not staying on his feet, so he wouldn't have this problem.
"Did you see it again?" Rebecca asks.
"No," Altair says. "I must have been wrong."
He starts to walk away, still moving carefully, but Rebecca calls him back. "Hey, Desmond?"
"What?"
"Are you feeling okay?" Rebecca asks. "Because you're acting sort of..."
He can read it on her face- she thinks he's bleeding. He almost laughs, but luckily he doesn't laugh easily. That would almost definitely have convinced her he was insane. And that would have been a real disappointment after all the effort he's seen Desmond go to, keeping him a secret.
So. On top of getting Desmond back into his own body, he has to act less like himself and more like his descendant. Alright then. "Yea," he says, and forces a smile (Desmond smiles more than he does). It feels strange. "Yea, sorry. Just tired."
"Right," says Rebecca. "Try and get some rest tonight, alright?"
"Sure," says Altair. He turns away, and three steps later trips over Desmond's too-tall feet. He gets up, trying not to look embarrassed- and then realizes that Desmond probably wouldn't bother, and lets his face turn red. This is confusing.
"Smooth," Shaun calls, from the other side of the room.