Ezio falls asleep in his own bed, and wakes up inside Altair's brain. It's always sort of jarring when that happens, because it's not like waking up normally. It's an abrupt transition, from being completely asleep to awake in less than a second. It's worst with Altair, too, because he's always alert, always looking for an angle. They all do it, of course- Ezio does it himself. Never letting down your guard is part of what it means to be an assassin. But there's a special intensity to the way Altair sees the world that is especially difficult to deal with first thing in the morning.
"It's 2:00 in the afternoon," Altair says.
"Not in 1513," Ezio says, and looks around. "What's going on here?"
"Desmond was in the animus, tried to use the apple, got it wrong, and switched Haytham and Connor."
"I'm sure that ended... horribly."
"We kept them from killing each other." Ezio can feel the annoyance practically leaking out of him. "Barely. But it was impossible to hide it from them-" he nods to the modern assassins, who are sitting only a few yards away, listening to Desmond and casting the occasional furtive glance in Altair's direction. "So Desmond's telling them everything."
"What are you doing?"
"Just standing here and being visible." Altair nods at William. "He didn't really believe Desmond until I used the apple to let them see me."
"You can do that now?"
"Yes." But his tone is too confident to be believable, and Ezio doesn't have to dig too far into his mind to find the lie.
"You're going to fall off your feet in a minute."
"I'm fine," Altair growls.
"Look, if it's using too much energy, don't push yourself."
"I know my limits," Altair says, and Ezio gives up.
"Fine. But don't blame me when you pass out."
Which he does, barely five minutes later. Ezio, who's been able to feel him slipping the entire time, only sighs as Altair blacks out and the apple stops working. When Altair drops unconscious, Ezio gets control of the body just in time to keep him from falling over.
"You okay?" Desmond asks.
"He tried to keep it going too long and passed out," Ezio says.
"Oh. So who-"
"Ezio," Ezio says tiredly.
"So are we going to have to get used to you talking to invisible people now?" Shaun asks, gesturing in the general direction of Ezio.
"Probably," says Desmond. "Using the apple like that is really difficult. I couldn't do it if I tried for years. And I can say that because Altair just knocked himself out by trying to use it too long, so I don't feel bad about not being able to do it at all."
"Then who are you talking to?" Rebecca asks.
"Ezio in Altair's body."
"Right," Shaun says, after a very long pause. "There's no way I'm getting used to this."
"So, wait-" Rebecca gives Desmond a suspicious look. "When one of you is unconscious, someone else can just step in and take over?"
"If they're already in there," Desmond says.
"So that time when we were leaving Italy and you weren't in a coma for a little while..?"
"Um... yea," Desmond admits. "That was Ezio."
"Were you ever going to tell us any of this?" William snaps.
"I was waiting for a time when it wouldn't sound crazy," Desmond says. "Except things just kept getting weirder. I'm sorry."
His father heaves a deep sigh. "Fine," he says. "But you've told us everything now, right?"
"Yea."
"Then let's get back to looking for the key." William rubs his face, and Ezio notices dark circles under his eyes. "We're still running out of time."
"Which is ironic," Shaun says. "Because of the time travel."
"Not helping, Shaun."
Desmond glances over at Ezio as Rebecca starts the prep work to get him back into the animus. "Is Altair alright in there?"
"Yea." Ezio shrugs. "He should be up in a couple hours."
"Right." Desmond sighs. "Good to hear. Let's get this over with." Then, with an absolute lack of any kind of enthusiasm- "I can't wait to see how Connor and Haytham are getting along today."