Time passes very slowly for Desmond after the day Haytham makes his first appearance in Altair's head. Haytham is syncing well enough to start making regular appearances, but not one of them ends well. If everyone's lucky, there will be an argument or a few traded threats, but more than once they comes close to trading blows. Haytham actually does punch Desmond once- Connor was in his head at the time, but that does nothing to make his bloody nose easier to explain later.
It's turning into sort of a nightmare for Desmond, with the only bright side being that it makes his own dad look like father of the year material in comparison. It's not a very bright spot, but it's better than nothing.
For a while, everything just keeps getting worse, but then something finally breaks. In 1778, Haytham and Connor end up going after the same man- Benjamin Church, a man whose simultaneous betrayal of the patriots and templars forces the Kenways into a temporary truce. Desmond, Altair, and Ezio have their fingers crossed right up until the moment it all falls dramatically- and predictably- apart.
After that, their relationship is- if anything- worse. They go out of their way to avoid each other, and when time and the apple conspire to bring them to the same place and the same time, there's always someone around to keep them away from each other.
So far, there's always been someone around to keep them away from each other.
That changes on the day Connor goes after Fort George. Desmond goes along for the ride, following Connor as he cuts a path through soldiers and templars until he gets inside the fort. It's a little worrying, actually. Ever since the fall out with Haytham, Connor's been more angry, more violent, more withdrawn. Desmond would have talked to him about it already, except that Connor hasn't been listening very well either.
So all Desmond can do is follow along behind, running to keep up, until suddenly he comes to a stop so close behind Connor that he nearly runs into him. He opens his mouth to ask what's wrong, and then closes it again, because as soon as he looks up, he knows what the problem is.
"Connor," Haytham says. "I can't say I'm surprised to see you here."
Since there's a small fleet of ships pounding away at the fort with cannon as they speak, Desmond has to admit he has a point.
"And Desmond," Haytham says. "Slightly more surprising." Desmond only shrugs.
"I didn't come here for you," Connor growls. "Where is Lee?"
"Gone," says Haytham. "I sent him away."
"You don't have to do this," Desmond says, but neither of them is listening. He barely has time to get the words out before Haytham and Connor are at each other's throats, fighting harder than Desmond has ever seen either of them fight before.
He grits his teeth and makes a move to step into the fight- he still owes Haytham for that bloody nose, and no one else is around to break it up- but before he can go more than a couple of feet, he hears another voice.
"Pull him out of there, now!"
It's his father's, Desmond realizes- and then a second later he can feel the pull of the animus, trying to yank him back to the twenty first century. But he knows that if he goes back now, either Connor or Haytham isn't going to walk out of the fort alive. Possibly neither of them. He fights back- he can't use the apple anywhere near as well as Altair, but all he wants to do is stay exactly where he is. It can't be that hard.
It is. The apple inside him responds, bursting into light, powering up. But it doesn't stop Desmond from getting pulled out. It does something else. For a second, Desmond can't understand what he's seeing. Both Kenways stop what they're doing, stare at each other for a second, then go at it again. But something's wrong. They've switched fighting styles.
"What-"
And then he opens his eyes and it's 2012 again, exactly where he doesn't want to be. He jumps out of the animus, panting and still glowing from the apple.
"Christ, Desmond-" Shaun says, jumping back before Desmond can land on him. "What is wrong with you?"
"Why'd you pull me out?" Desmond demands. His brain is still racing, trying to figure out what the apple had done- and then it clicks. What he saw wasn't Connor and Haytham switching fighting styles. He saw the apple switch their minds. And the two of them- mentally, he curses and calls them out in idiots in every language he knows- are angry enough to keep fighting anyway.
One of them is going to kill the other, and he has no idea what's going to happen after that.
"Something went wrong," Rebecca says. She's glued to her computer, as usual, an intense frown on her face. "I have no idea why, but-"
"It's nothing," Desmond says. "Listen, I need to get back in there. Now."
"Uh-" Rebecca shakes her head. "No way. Not until I figure out what went wrong."
"It can't be anything that bad," Desmond says.
"He said your name," William says. "That shouldn't be possible."
"It's not possible," Rebecca says, without looking over her shoulder. "Something's wrong."
For a second, Desmond only gapes at her, because he can't believe that after months of secrets, of hiding and lying and pretending, that a dumb mistake like this could mess everything up. And right when he really needs to use the animus.
"Desmond?" William prompts.
"Ah-" he shakes his head to clear it. "Right. Something's- wrong. Of course." He glances around, trying to look casual, but there's no sign of either Altair or Ezio. Perfect. He's on his own here, with no access to the animus. There's only one other way to time travel, and the apple isn't doing anything but making things worse right now. Unfortunately, it's his only option.
"I know something's wrong," William says. "Do you know what it is?"
"Me?" Desmond shakes his head, only half paying attention to the conversation. Most of his mind is focused on the apple, praying that it's going to do what he needs, just this once. "How would I know?"
"I don't know," William says. "You were in the animus, maybe you saw something."
He can feel it inside him, a warm glow in every limb, responding to him in a way it never has before. "I didn't see anything," he says.
"Maybe it has something to do with that..." Shaun hesitates, looking for the right words. "Weird apple thing you're doing?"
"Maybe," William says. "What is that, anyway?"
There's no way he can aim well enough to find the exact point in time he needs to be at. Not on his first go. But he can feel Altair's apple, calling to his from almost a century in the past. He can follow that back in time, easily. He looks his father straight in the eye, shrugs- and vanishes.
Altair's right in front of him when he reappears in Masyaf. He doesn't waste time questioning the apple, just takes one look at Desmond's face and asks, "What's wrong?"
"Haytham and Connor are going to kill each other," Desmond says. He's panting, his legs feel like they're going to give out any second, and he can feel his hands shaking. Using the apple feels like running a marathon. Either it gets easier, or Altair's been keeping secrets. And he'd know if Altair was keeping secrets. "I- the apple switched them, though. I don't know what's going to happen if one of them dies in the other person's body."
"Right." Altair doesn't even bat an eye at the story, and it strikes Desmond suddenly how ridiculous everything in his life is. "Let's go."