Rather than struggle with his own apple, Desmond accepts Altair' offer when he volunteers to take him back to 2012. He's tired, a little bloody, and there's an impressive collection of bruises starting to form on nearly every inch of his body that Haytham was able to reach while pinned down. It would have been a challenge to drag his exhausted body 30 feet, much less 300 years.
Altair takes him to a quiet corner of the temple, the same one they always use when they don't want to be seen. "Thanks," Desmond says.
"Of course." Altair glances over his shoulder, to where they can hear raised voices from the modern assassins. "How are you going to explain this?"
"I'm thinking the truth," Desmond says. The others had seen something go wrong with the animus, then watched him flip out and vanish. Now he's about to reappear, covered in bruises and ready to fall off his feet. He can't even imagine another explanation that would fit all that.
Altair nods. "I agree."
"It's not going to be easy, though," Desmond says, and lets out a shaky sigh.
"Want me to stay?"
"That'd be good," Desmond says. "It'd be better if they could actually see you, but I guess there's no getting around them thinking I'm crazy."
"I'll see what I can do," Altair tells him.
"You can't-"
"I've done it once already," Altair points out.
"When we found the second apple?" Desmond demands. "That was once. On accident. And you told me that the only reason it even happened was because you were right next to the other apple. "
"The one that's inside you right now," Altair says.
"I don't think it works the same when it's inside me," Desmond says. "Or it would have happened by now. It would be happening all the time."
Altair shakes his head. "I'll make it work."
"But-"
"I'll make it work," Altair says again.
Desmond shakes his head and gives up. There's no arguing with Altair when he decides to be stubborn. "Fine," he says. "I'll just go talk to them, and you jump in if you can." He takes a breath, and walks into the most awkward conversation of his life.
His dad, Shaun, and Rebecca have actually stopped arguing by the time he makes it to the main room of the temple. They've all retreated to their own separate corners, not looking at each other, lost in thought. Apparently very lost in thought, because he's not even trying to be quiet- he's way too tired for that- but no one looks up as he comes closer. For a second, Desmond even wonders if something's gone wrong and they actually can't see or hear him.
He coughs loudly and all three of them look up.
"Desmond!" Rebecca's the first one out of her seat, practically flying over to him. "You're not dead!"
He shrugs. "Not yet, I guess."
She punches him in the arm.
"Ow! What-"
"Where were you?" Rebecca demands. "What happened? Why are you covered in blood?"
"It's not mine," Desmond says. "And I'm not covered in-"
"You disappeared right in front of us!" Rebecca goes on, talking right over him. "That's not even possible."
There's a long, awkward pause before Desmond realizes she's actually going to give him a chance to answer this time. Neither Shaun nor his dad look like they're going to say anything- which leaves Desmond with the problem of figuring out where to start.
"Okay," he says at last. "Um-" There's absolutely no way he's walking out of this sounding sane. For some reason, the thought's actually comforting. If they're going to think he's crazy anyway, it doesn't really matter what he says. "It's time travel."
"Time travel." Shaun says- apparently having recovered the ability to speak. "Because everything else that's happened isn't weird enough already?" He shakes his head. "Where did you even learn how to time travel?"
"You actually believe this?" William demands.
"Is there any way to explain all this that actually is believable?" Shaun asks. "I want to hear where this goes."
"I didn't really learn," Desmond says. "It just happens. Kind of a lot. But this was the first time I tried on purpose."
"What do you mean, 'a lot'?" Rebecca asks.
"Just... a lot," Desmond says. He doesn't want to explain that technically every time he uses the animus it's pretty much time travel, and it's definitely not time to mention everyone else's visits to the temple. This is just simplifying. For now. "Usually time doesn't move here when I'm gone, but obviously that didn't happen this time" He points at the animus. "It's all thanks to that, actually," he says. "Combined with the apple. They don't mix well together."
"So this has been happening since the Colosseum," Shaun says. "And you haven't told us?"
"No," Desmond admits. "It actually started before I escaped from Abstergo."
"Wow." Shaun says.
"Sorry."
"Just- wow."
"Wait," Rebecca says. "You didn't even have the apple then."
"I didn't, "Desmond agrees. "But Altair did."
"So?" William asks.
"So, that was the first time he saw me," Desmond says. "Right after he took the apple from Al Mualim."
"What do you mean, he saw you?" William asks. "That's not how the animus works."
"It is when the apple gets mixed in," Desmond says. He tries to remember the way Clay explained it to him when he was comatose. "The animus is based on first civilization technology. The apple is first civilization technology. When they mix... weird things happen."
"What kind of weird things?" asks Rebecca.
"The animus is designed to put a person inside their ancestor's head," Desmond says. "With the apple, it works both ways. Sometimes I'm in their heads, sometimes they're in my head."
"Or you're just imagining things," William says.
"Bleeding-" says Shaun.
"Okay, well, that explains a lot." Rebecca shrugs as everyone turns to look at her. "What? It does." She points at her computer. "Look, I spend a lot of time working with the animus. And there's a lot of data that doesn't make sense. Readings that shouldn't be there, weird spikes in brainwave patterns- this does explain all that."
"So-" Shaun shakes his head. "You're saying that every ancestor you've seen in the animus, they all knew you were there?" When Desmond nods, he asks- "Then why is this the first we've heard about it? Shouldn't we have seen or heard something?"
"We did," Rebecca says. "Today, actually, remember? We heard Haytham talking to Desmond."
"And assumed it was a glitch in the animus," William says. "And I'm not hearing anything that can't be explained by some combination of technical malfunctions and the bleeding effect."
"Come on," Desmond says. "Dad-"
"Maybe it's time you took a break," William goes on. "I realize we've been pushing you hard lately, but we do have the end of the world to think about. We could all probably do with a break, though."
"Shaun," Rebecca interrupts suddenly. Her voice is tense, and she's the only one not focused on the argument between William and Desmond. Instead, her eyes are fixed on something a ways beyond them. "Do you remember what we saw under the Colosseum when we went after the apple?"
"I remember a lot of things," Shaun says. "It was a busy day."
"Do you remember him?" Rebecca asks, and all four of them turn to see Altair, glowing much more brightly that what Desmond is used to seeing. He's leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed, watching them all from under his hood. Desmond breathes a sigh of relief- he hadn't really believed Altair could do it, not until that moment.
"I definitely thought that was just something from the apple last time," Shaun says. "But it's real?"
"Yea," Desmond says. "He's real."
"Alright then," William says, after an extremely long pause. "Why don't you tell us the whole story?"