Rebecca's the first one to speak when it's all over. She's shaking slightly, but Haytham has to admit that her voice is completely calm when she looks at Shaun and says, "You scream like a girl."

Shaun turns red but doesn't answer. Ezio says something angry, and Haytham wishes the man still had his apple, or that he'd at least taken the time to learn English before he lost it. Altair answers him in terse Italian, and Haytham finds his eyes unavoidably drawn to the one person in the room he does not want to look at.

Connor.

Later, he'll regret that his first thought is that Connor's caused him nothing but trouble since the day they met. It doesn't seem to matter if they're trying to kill each other or work together. His life would be a lot more simple if Connor was out of it, but it suddenly strikes Haytham that he doesn't want that. After everything they've been through, he can't give up now. But this time…

Haytham forces himself not to look away from Connor, but it takes an effort. Out of everything he's seen the tea do, this is the worst. He curses Connor for drinking it, and curses himself for following him down that road- it hasn't gotten him yet the way it's come for Connor, but then he never took as much. With any luck, he'll be able to keep himself sane. Or at least, what happened to Connor won't end up happening to him.

He realizes he's trying not to think about it, and that not thinking about it is probably the worst thing he can do. They need to figure out what happened. Without taking his eyes off Connor, Haytham says, "It was the apple, right? That's what triggered it?"

Altair and Ezio are still arguing, so it's Rebecca that answers. "Yea," she says. "I mean, I'm no expert, but- yea, it looked like that. When Desmond left…"

Haytham nods. He remembers seeing the apple flare as Desmond vanished, but that's a sight he's more or less used to by now. He'd barely even been paying attention until he saw an answering flare from Connor's apple. After that, everything's a little bit of a blur. He remembers turning toward Connor, and seeing something that is definitely not his son. It wears his skin, but the thing looking back at Haytham is completely animal. This isn't like before. That was just Connor losing control, but it's pretty obvious that Connor's not in there at all, now.

Haytham only has a second to take this in before the thing that isn't Connor drops onto all fours and- still human shaped- lunges for Shaun, who has the bad luck to be closest. When Rebecca said he screamed like a girl, she was not exaggerating. Luckily for him, Ezio has quick reactions. Whatever wakes up in Connor's body is going to have a nasty headache and a lump, but at least no one's dead.

"He's going to wake up like Desmond."

Haytham doesn't realize that he's the one that spoke until everyone looks at him. There's a long, awkward pause, and when it's clear that nobody else is going to fill it, Haytham does. After all, it is a valid concern. "We have to face the possibility," he says. "It's not the same situation, but you said that when Desmond came back he didn't have memories. And it's obvious that's not all he's missing." It didn't take more than one conversation for Haytham to figure out that it's more than just names and facts and memories that Desmond's missing. He's lost twenty five years of experiences, and that's a lot. In some ways, talking to Desmond was like talking to a child, and Connor's lost even more than Desmond has.

They won't know for sure until Connor wakes up, but Haytham has a bad feeling that he's lost his humanity. And that thought terrifies him. "Come on," Altair says quietly. "We'll put him in the other room until we know more. Just in case."

Between the two of them, they manage to get Connor into a bedroom and onto a bed. "I can take care of this now," Haytham says. "Go make your plans. I'll be here when you need me."

"If you're sure."

"I'll be here," Haytham repeats. "And so will Connor."

Altair nods and leaves the room- when he's gone, Haytham crosses to the door and locks it. Any of the assassins in the apartment could unlock it without a second thought- even Shaun, probably- but hopefully they can take the hint. Then it's just a waiting game. Haytham sits down in a desk chair and watches Connor. At first he seems completely dead to the world, still out cold from the blow to his head, but after a while he shifts into a more natural sleep. Natural for given values of natural- he ends up curled in a tight ball, growling slightly at whatever he's dreaming about.

Haytham's spent enough time with Connor since the tea to recognize the wolf- it shouldn't really come as a surprise that out of all the animals sharing headspace with Connor, it would be the wolf. It was the first one in, and it's always been the strongest.

And that's when the wolf opens its eyes .Haytham tenses, but doesn't draw his blade. Instead he stands and waits for whatever's going to happen next. The wolf uncurls and drops from the bed, circling Haytham cautiously. It should be a ridiculous sight- Connor on all fours, studying him like a predator deciding whether or not to strike. But it doesn't. Even trapped in Connor's human form, the wolf has a certain grace to its movements. Then it shakes itself like a wet dog, and a change ripples down its body- Haytham blinks, and suddenly there's an actual wolf there, staring at him.

So the wolf can switch between forms the way Connor can when he's in control. Good to know. He stares at the wolf, and the wolf stares back. Then it pads toward him, and Haytham flicks his wrist, readying his hidden blade. He doesn't want to use it, but he's not so sure he'll have a choice.

Then the wolf lies down contentedly at his feet and goes back to sleep. For a very long moment he stays quiet, not quite sure if he can believe what he's seeing. Then he laughs.

"Are you alright?"

Haytham sighs, but doesn't turn around. "Altair. I was hoping you would take the locked door as a hint."

"I heard you laughing and thought something might be wrong."

"Funny."

Altair crouches down next to the wolf, careful to say a safe distance away. "Now he's a wolf."

"Yes."

"Anything left of him in there?"

"I'm not sure," Haytham admits.

"I could check," Altair says. "Go look around inside his head." The wolf opens one eye and growls. "Or not."

"I don't think he trusts you," Haytham says. "The wolf doesn't have the same loyalties as Connor."

Altair nods. "So he only knows what he's seen as a wolf?"

"I suppose."

"Then you must have done a lot for him." Altair says, and stands back up. "Do you think he'll let you in his head?"

Haytham waits, but the wolf doesn't even twitch. "I think he just might."

-/-

*whispers* Oops 100,000 words how did this even get so long what even am I doing with my life?