"Brilliant," Haytham says, with absolute sarcasm. "Now we have a dead King on our hands, and an entire fortress full of guards between us and the exit." He considers this, then rephrases. "Between you and the exit, I mean. What with me being invisible."
"He's not dead," Desmond mutters, not quite looking at Haytham. "He's unconscious."
"Even better," Haytham says. "He can wake up and kill you himself."
"The apple transferred to him after he killed Washington," Desmond says. "I don't want that."
Haytham opens his mouth, but for once he can't think of anything smart to say. Possibly he's just out of practice, but on the other hand—Desmond has apparently thought this this through. For a spur of the moment plan where the other option was being throttled to death, it's maybe actually a little bit clever.
There are, however, still an excessive amount of guards between Desmond and freedom. As long as Connor is still alive, Desmond has bought himself a temporary stay of execution, at best. "What are you going to do now?" Haytham asks.
"Um…" Desmond stands up, and glances toward he door. "I think I might just try walking out of here," he says.
"What?"
"I need the cuffs off first, though," Desmond mutters. "Dad tried to teach me when I was a kid, but of course I didn't listen—do you know how to get out of these?"
They work it out, eventually, and then Haytham watches Desmond take several deep breaths and nod to himself. "You're really just planning to walk out of here?" he asks.
"I can't really fight," Desmond says. "I'm no good at stealth. But I mean… I spent almost a decade making people think I was human. I'm a pretty good liar."
"What?"
Desmond doesn't answer, so Haytham follows along behind him as the younger man goes hurrying out toward the door. Outside, of course, there are guards waiting, and they draw their weapons in almost perfect synch as Desmond comes out, apparently alone. The closer of the two reaches out, grabs Desmond's arm—but Desmond shakes him off. "Hey," he says, and Haytham thinks the only reason he can see Desmond is nervous is that he knows he should be. "What are you doing?"
"You—"
"You're going to assault the king's guest?" Desmond asks.
"Guest?" The man's face goes white, and he takes a hurried step back from Desmond.
"Obviously," Desmond says. "Do you think I'd be walking out of there alive if the king didn't like me?"
"I—you—" the guards are still backing away from him, and Haytham feels his reluctant respect for Desmond growing. This is actually going to work. "Apologies, sir, obviously we had no idea who you were."
"Obviously," Desmond agrees. "I need the woman that came in with me."
"She was sent to the tearoom," the guard says quietly. "For—for initiation."
"Then I need to see her fast," Desmond says, and he only waits long enough for the guard to point him in the right direction before taking off running, calling for them to radio ahead to the other guards so they know not to stop him.
"Initiation?" Haytham asks. "Do I want to know?"
"All new members of the guard have to drink the tea," Desmond says. "It sets them apart from normal people, and makes them dependent on the king."
"Who's this woman that's about to be initiated?"
"A friend of mine," Desmond says.
"Stop," Haytham says. When Desmond keeps running, Haytham grabs him and pins him against the wall. "Stop, Desmond. Think. This is your one chance to get out of here, and you need to put as much distance between the fortress and yourself as you can before Connor wakes up. Because he will come after you, and if he finds you he will kill you in as painful a way as you can imagine."
"I can't leave her," Desmond says.
"Then you won't live."
"I—" he's obviously weakening, but not quite giving up yet. "I never expected to make it this long."
"Desmond, you're being a fool!"
"Would you have left Connor's mother?" Desmond demands. It hits Haytham like a slap to the face, and he physically reels.
"That's different."
"It's not," Desmond insists. "Because no one else has ever cared about me like that. No one, okay? I just met her, and she—she's special, she doesn't care about how messed up I am, she doesn't care about these!" He points to his ears. "I—" He shakes his head and starts running again without saying another word. Haytham follows.
-/-
The guards obviously know Desmond is coming, because he doesn't meet any resistance when he gets to the tearoom. "Where is she?" he demands of the closest guard.
"Who?"
"The woman I came in with!"
He's angry. Scared. He's doubting himself, which is nothing new except that until Haytham voiced his complaint, Desmond had felt certain of this one thing. He'd felt certain of Lucy.
"She's already… already…"
The guard's voice fades as Desmond's ears start ringing. "She already drank the tea?"
The man nods. Desmond hits him. "Where is she?"
"There, there!"
He nods and sprints in the direction the guard had indicated. The tearoom is nothing but a long corridor with little kennels on either side. Most of them are open and unlocked, and Desmond can see people inside. Hunched over and miserable mostly. Some are passed out. One or two look like they might be dead. Then there are the kennels with the doors shut, the ones where humans (or animals that might once have been humans) snarl and roar and crash violently against the walls.
Desmond tries not to look, but he needs to find Lucy. Every cage is a moment of panic (is that her? Is that what they did to her?), followed by relief when he realizes it's not her, and then mounting fear as he turns toward the next one.
She's at the far end of the hall, and Desmond half recognizes her scent before he ever sees her face. It's changed. It's not completely human anymore. Desmond ducks into the kennel and crouches over her, shaking her until she stirs groggily and groans.
"Lucy!" he says. "Lucy, are you alright?"
She whimpers, a definitely inhuman noise. "No," she says. "No, I'm not okay…"
Desmond slides closer to her, holding her as she starts to cry. "You will be," he promises. "You're strong."
"They made me drink it. They made me—"
"I know," he says. "I know, Lucy, but—we have to go. Okay? We can talk later, I promise. Can you move?"
After a long pause, Lucy says, "I think so."
"Good," Desmond says encouragingly. "Come on. We need to get somewhere safe, and then we'll talk more. It's all going to be okay."
"No…"
"I'm getting you out if I have to carry you," Desmond promises her. "But I would really appreciate you helping."
She nods and staggers to her feet. Desmond has to help her as they stagger through the tearoom, but they make it. Haytham's voice in Desmond's ear telling him to hurry isn't… super helpful.
But even with that distraction, they make it.
Desmond keeps pushing Lucy to keep moving until they get outside the town and into the wilderness beyond. He knows towns and cities in other countries don't all have forests around them like the US does. The king… Connor… the apple… whatever likes to keep things isolated. There's a vast wilderness with only a few rough roads leading through it for Desmond and Lucy to hide in. He's planning to take advantage of it.
He makes her as comfortable as he can, finds her somewhere dry and warm to stay, and brings her fresh water. When he comes back with it, she looks marginally better, and there's a wolf sitting at her side, next to Haytham. Desmond breathes a sigh of relief when he recognizes Ratonhnhaké:ton's scent. His and… yes. There's an eagle nearby, watching with an expression that is unmistakably Haytham.
"Desmond," Lucy says quietly. "These are… these are your ancestors, aren't they?" She drops her gaze, and her voice sounds defeated. "They smell a little like you."
He sits down next to her and Lucy leans against him. "I'm sorry," he says. "I should have come faster."
"I don't need you to save me," Lucy says stiffly. Then she softens a little. "Even though you did. Thank you."
"I never would have left you behind," Desmond promises. "Never." Lucy leans farther into him, and Desmond takes a deep breath in. It's weird, but he… really likes her new smell. "Who did you meet?" Desmond asks. "What animal?"
Lucy hesitates. "A wolf," she says.
"Really?"
"Yea. And the funny thing is that I was scared. I'm still scared. But when I saw the wolf, I wasn't. Just for a little while."
"I think that's normal," Desmond says. "Connor and Haytham always seemed to trust the animals they met."
"Maybe," Lucy says. "But I mean… I wasn't scared because the wolf reminded me of you. And I'm glad—if everything that happened was going to happen anyway, at least I met a wolf."
No wonder he likes her smell so much—it's just two of his favorite things mixed up together into something even better. Lucy and the wolf. "Do you really feel safe with me?"
"Even now," Lucy tells him.
Far off in the city, alarms begin to blare.
-/-
Desmond is human but a friend. Ratonhnhaké:ton doesn't mind helping him (and anyway, Ratonhnhaké:ton still remembers the fear of his pup turning into a human, the helplessness of not knowing what to do for her. He knows that Desmond comes from her, that he is family, pack). So when Desmond tells him to run, to go in a big circle through the trees and come back, Ratonhnhaké:ton just does it.
He likes to run, and besides, after a while people start to chase him. They're bad people. They smell of gunpowder and sweat and bad, bad things—Ratonhnhaké:ton lets them chase him for a while, and then he turns around and makes them stop. He doesn't like killing people, people are dangerous and have weapons that hurt, but he doesn't mind scratching and biting until they go running away. Father helps. He is an eagle today, swooping down on them and scratching at their faces.
When the bad men are gone, Ratonhnhaké:ton runs back to Desmond and other-father. And the girl. He doesn't know what to think about the girl, yet. She smells like a human but also like a wolf, all mixed up. But she seems sad, not bad, so Ratonhnhaké:ton lets her be. He lies next to other-father, and waits while he talks to Desmond. He doesn't understand their conversation, but the sound of it is a comforting rhythm.
"We have to go to the assassins," Desmond says. "Shaun and Rebecca will still be waiting for me and Lucy to come back."
"Will they be able to help us?" other-father asks.
"Better than staying in the woods," Desmond says.
Other-father makes a quiet, thoughtful noise. "Do you know what might help?"
"Do you?"
"Another apple," other-father says.
"No," Desmond says. "No—"
"Desmond!"
"No, absolutely not! Look how much trouble the first one caused!"
"People have been using pieces of Eden for centuries," other-father says. "Even before I was born, it had been centuries. And nothing like this has ever happened before. Something about the combination of this apple, these people, this specific set of events. That's what set it all this off. What else can fight an apple except another apple?"
"But…" Desmond sighs, and looks over at the woman. He repeats most of what other-father had said to her, then asks, "What do you think?"
"Why not?" she asks. "Can things get worse?"
"Yes."
"I don't think so," the woman says, looking away. "I… really don't think they can."
"Desmond?" other-father prompts.
"Let's try," Desmond says softly. "How do we find them?"
"Well…" other-father hesitates. "That's what I don't know. All I have are stories about the people that used them. And I don't know—"
"I do," the woman says. "I've heard those same stories. Altair. Ezio Auditore." Other-father is nodding. "They used apples like this one. And… they're also your ancestors. Vidic looked into your DNA while we had you, um…"
"Captive?" Desmond prompts.
"Yea."
"So…" Desmond sighs. "So this means more time in the animus?"
"Well." The woman smiles for the first time. "Only if you want to save the world."