Edward's not really a tree guy. They're fine in small numbers, even helpful at times. They can be good for a quick escape when he needs to get to rooftop level, and they make a decent hiding place, because most people don't look in trees. So in small numbers, trees are fine. Forests, on the other hand, are a problem. Edward always manages to get himself lost. It's not quite so bad when Altair's around, because the man has a sense of direction as good as any compass has ever seen (he says it's called paying attention, but Edward's not sure he believes him, because all the trees look the same anyway).
Today is one of those days when Edward actually catches himself wishing Altair would show up. After an incident at the local tavern (leading to a bigger incident with some guards in the middle of town. And the edge of town. And the other edge of own) Edward finds himself in the middle of a forest. He's lost the guards, but he's also… well. Lost. Altair isn't around (of course), so Edward finds himself alone in the forest, with no way out, and- the sound of some large animal moving around abruptly interrupts his self-pity.
And now he has to deal with this.
He scans the undergrowth with eagle vision, and freezes when he sees… something. He can just about tell it's large, but any other features are impossible to make out because of the weird patchwork of colors shifting and mutating along its body. Red, blue, gold- all at once. Edward's never seen anything like it, and he switches back to normal sight just as the most enormous wolf he's ever seen comes running out, fangs bared. It stops just short of Edward, not coming any closer, but snarling when he cautiously tries backing away.
So Edward doesn't move, just stands there and stares. He doesn't usually see wolves around, and never wolves as big as this one. The animal's head is level with his waist, and its teeth- Edward decides that he'd rather not think about the teeth. Or the claws.
The wolf looks sick. Its fur is matted and filthy, and its eyes are a blue so bright they almost glow. They look mad, and Edward draws a knife out as quietly as he can. Most animals don't attack humans, not unless they have no other choice, but Edward doesn't know what to make of the beast in front of him.
He moves, knife held in front of him, but it only just barely slashes the wolf's skin- at the last second it moves out of the way and Edward watches in horror as it transforms into a bear. Even in a world that's gone as strange as his has lately, wolves turning into bears is not something he knows how to deal with.
He trips over his own feet and falls backwards. For a second that seems to last forever, he just lies there, totally incapable of moving as the bear roars and rears back on its hind legs. It has the same blue eyes as the wolf, the same sick look. But Edward only half notices this. The rest of his mind is too busy figuring out that the thing's going to kill him. He knows it's going to kill him, which is sort of weird, actually because he's met the kid he's going to have, and he hasn't had him yet-
Something slams into the bear, knocking it off Edward and onto the ground, where Edward gets half a glimpse of a man with glowing eyes before blinking, and suddenly there's an eagle flying on unsteady wings away from a panther on the ground.
The fight that follows is one of the strangest Edward's ever seen. Or maybe the strangest. The… wolf-bear-person-eagle-thing is erratic and in pain, lashing out like a thing possessed, but the panther is calm and controlled the entire time, never looking to kill its opponent, only keep it down.
And then suddenly, the fight is over. The panther knocks the wolf off its feet, and it's the man that falls to the ground, eyes shut, breathing shallowly. Edward watches as the panther shifts into a man, and this is someone Edward does know, at least by sight. "Haytham!" he calls. "What is going on here?"
"Ah-" Edward could almost pity the man, just for the look on his face, if he wasn't so preoccupied by the fact that five minutes ago, he was nearly mauled by something that looks like it's made up of half the animal kingdom. Haytham recovers quickly, or at least hides his emotions away for the moment. "It's complicated." He drops to his knees, checks the man on the ground for a pulse. Edward edges cautiously forward. This close, he thinks he recognizes the man, but last time Edward checked, Connor wasn't three different kinds of animals. Of course, Haytham wasn't a panther, either.
"What happened?" he asks.
"Any…" Haytham taps the side of his head. "Listeners?"
"No." Edward can't feel anyone other than Altair when they go through his head, but he knows they all have access to the same set of his memories. So if Altair's not there to listen in, neither is anyone else. "It's just the three of us, so tell me what's going on. Last I heard, the two of you were either missing or dead."
"Just in another universe," Haytham says in a voice that Edward thinks is far too calm. Then he tells Edward a story, one so impossible that Edward's not completely sure he can believe it. During the whole thing, though, Haytham never once looks at Edward- his gaze is entirely focused on Connor as he looks him over for injuries.
He finishes his story and his examination at the same time, and Edward asks, "Is he going to be alright?"
"Physically?" Haytham nods. "I think so. He's exhausted and his injuries are going to take a while to heal. But they will heal. His mind, on the other hand…" He shakes his head. "I don't much like what the tea did to him. It started off slow but by the time we got to Washington, he was pretty much gone, and then… well, you saw."
"But you took some too, didn't you?" Edward asks. "You're not going to-"
"I took a lot less than he did," Haytham says. "Besides, if I end up in the same situation, who's going to keep an eye on Connor?"
Edward watches Haytham watch Connor. He genuinely can't tell what their relationship is. From everything he's heard and seen, they're competitive. They fight. They've tried to kill each other at least once. But at the same time, Haytham has to care for Connor, or he wouldn't be fighting so hard to save him.
"Do you need somewhere to stay?" Edward hears the words come out of his mouth before he consciously decides to say them. "Until Connor gets back on his feet. Or paws. Or… wings…" He trails off, uncomfortably aware of how intensely Haytham's staring at him.
"Thank you," Haytham says at last.
Edward can't help but wonder what he's getting himself into. And why- he's spent a lot of his life running away from whatever family he has left, with varying amounts of success. But there's something about the way Haytham looks at Connor, everything he goes through to keep him alive. Edward's left looking at it from the outside, wondering what it feels like to care that much about a son. Or- anyone, really.
"We should…" he drops his gaze, gestures at the still unconscious Connor. "We should get him out of here."