Layla's mind seems to have gone very cold and clear, like a knife blade, and she takes a deep breath, filling her lungs up with air, and then slowly lets it out again. They have no plan, no idea how to stop Juno from getting the apple. Layla still isn't entirely sure that Altair grasps the extent of what Juno can do with the apple—then again, maybe she doesn't either. She'd only seen Juno for a few minutes at the temple, there might be more tricks up the woman's sleeve that Layla just isn't expecting.

"Right," Altair says. "That's her. What are we waiting for?"

She shakes herself out of her fear, or at least as much as she can, and turns to Altair. "We need—one of us needs to get the apple and take it away from where she can find it."

"I'll do it," Altair says. "It's with Al Mualim, and it'll be hard enough for me to get it away without him realizing, but at least I'm known there—you'd be noticed the second you walked in."

Shit. That leaves Layla to try and… and deal with Juno, lead her away or something. "Okay," she says. "Then—go. And thank you. You didn't have to listen to me, or believe me—"

"Later," Altair says, and dashes away. Layla watches him go until he's out of sight, steeling herself. Then she turns back toward Juno, expecting to see her still standing there with her little cluster of followers. But Juno's not there anymore, and suddenly Layla feels a cold hand against her cheek. It's her. It's Juno.

"You've come a long way, for someone so small and insignificant," Juno whispers.

Layla's not sure if it's Juno or just regular old fear that keeps her rooted in place, but either way her legs feel like they've turned to stone. She swallows, and says, "I am not insignificant."

Juno, insultingly, seems amused by this. "Humans always have such a self-inflated opinion of themselves," she says idly. "I don't know where it comes from—you're like flies, really. Here and gone in the blink of an eye, and yet somehow you still insist on trying to leave your mark on the world. No matter how many times I see it, I never understand it."

"You don't understand us," Layla says, as Juno walks slowly around, until they're standing face to face. "You—"

"Who are you?" Juno asks. "You're not an Assassin—"

"I'm working on it," Layla says, which is probably the worst comeback she could have thought up.

"You're not a Templar," Juno continues. "And yet… here you are. You were in the temple too, weren't you?" She reaches forward, and before Layla can react at all, Juno has pressed her chill palm to Layla's forehead. "Follow."

It's a simple word, but to Layla it seems to grow fangs, to drill into her head through Juno's fingers, little worms crawling into Layla's thoughts until it doesn't matter that she knows what Juno has done, until it doesn't matter that she doesn't want to follow. When Juno pulls her hand away (fingers trailing against Layla's forehead), Layla follows.

-/-

Altair does not have many friends in the keep these days. His demotion and disgrace have stripped away any respect that his Brothers might have showed him once, and more often than not, Altair is left alone.

For once, he's grateful for that. It's still early, hours before dawn, but there are always a few guards or sleepless Brothers in the keep's halls. Tonight, as is becoming usual, the guards see Altair, recognize him, and pointedly look away. He's allowed to be here, it is his home, but he's not exactly welcome.

Today, for the first time since his demotion, Altair truly and completely doesn't mind the reaction. He's on a mission, and he doesn't need people watching him while he heads into Al Mualim's chambers.

Getting close isn't hard. Even getting into the mentor's rooms isn't really difficult. Al Mualim himself is asleep, and no one else is nearby. Altair creeps inside, trying not to feel like a traitor for this.

A cursory search of the room reveals nothing, so Altair grits his teeth and dives in for a deeper examination. He feels terrible, doing this to the man that's practically raised him, ever since his father died. There's going to be consequences, when Al Mualim eventually finds the apple missing, and he had never been able to lie convincingly to the mentor—Altair sometimes thought the man knew him better than he knew himself.

He might be expelled from the Assassins for this.

The thought bites at Altair like a viper, with enough of a sting to stop him dead in his tracks as he roots through the mentor's desk. It's one thing to help Layla fight back against someone that Altair has never really liked the sound of. But risking his relationship with Al Mualim and what standing he has left with the Assassins…

He forces himself to keep looking, even as his movements slow down and his thoughts speed up. He's still working his way through what do I do, what do I do when he opens a drawer, and the apple is right there, shining dully at him even through the thin cloth it's been wrapped in.

Altair lifts the cloth up and away from the artifact, and the apple rolls free. He reaches out, grips it—

There's a shimmer in the air, and for a second time seems to slow. As Altair reaches his hand out for the apple, he sees what almost looks like his reflection. Another man, with the same face as Altair's, but dressed in wildly different clothes, and with an expression of fierce determination that could not be more different from how Altair feels just now.

"Desmond," he says.

Desmond almost looks surprised for a second—clearly he hadn't been expecting this meeting either—and then the determination is back. "I know it's hard," Desmond says. "I know it is. But we need you."

Altair swallows. "I'm not afraid," he says.

Maybe Desmond can tell that he is, but he doesn't say anything. Instead, he just says, "Trust me, Altair. Please trust me."

Which he doesn't really need to say, because Altair does trust him.

And then the vision fades. Time clicks back into its normal speed, and the light that had made up Desmond's body rushes forward toward Altair. He braces, half expecting a blow, but the essence of Desmond passes through him and into him as painlessly as a summer breeze. He is aware, suddenly, of Desmond's presence more clearly than he ever has been before. When he looks down at the mark on his wrist it's blazing like the sun, as if to confirm that Desmond is here, he is listening, he is here to help.

Of course I am, Desmond says, his voice much more determined and much more clear than it has ever been before.

Altair picks up his pace, and hurries out to meet up with Layla.

-/-

There are more of Juno's… friends, or followers, or whatever they are, than there had been when Layla last looked down in this direction. She's been… spreading, apparently, while Layla had been distracted by Altair. Spreading. It felt like some kind of horrible sickness, reaching into her mind, and eating her all up inside.

She's failing. She's already failed.

"I'm a little disappointed they sent someone like you, to be honest," Juno says dismissively. "I was expecting a little bit more of a fight."

Which is when Senu dives abruptly downward, claws extended, an angry shriek echoing against the nearby buildings. There's just half a moment when Layla assumes the eagle is heading for Juno, but then there are wings flapping in her face, claws extended and scratching at her hands, and Layla throws her hands up defensively, stepping away from Senu—

The tendrils of control Juno had buried in Layla's mind snap, as if Senu's talons had broken them as easily as they'd scored across Layla's face. She can feel sharp lines burning over her nose and one cheek, blood starting to drip, but she can also feel the freedom of not having Juno in her mind any more.

Layla turns and runs, because she's only ever seen Juno take control of people she's physically touching, and she doesn't want to ever be close enough to Juno again for her to do that. She gets about halfway to the keep before she almost runs into Altair, coming the other way. He's holding the apple and her heart leaps. That's their way out of here.

"We can use that to time travel," she tells Altair. "We can get out of here, right, and regroup, and…" And someone better than her can come back and fix everything she's messed up. "Give me the apple. I can get us out of here."

Altair gives her a long, contemplative look, a look they really don't have time for because Juno is still coming, and then shakes his head. "No," he says. "We fix this here and now."

"How…?"

But Altair doesn't answer her question. He just starts walking again, and Layla has no choice but to follow behind him, hoping he has an idea.

-/-

These are his people, and Altair is not going to abandon them. When he gets back to where he and Layla had seen Juno the first time, Altair is disgusted to find that the number of people—Masyaf's villagers, mostly, although he also sees one or two Assassins among the crowd—has at least doubled.

He stops halfway down the street, and raises the apple pointedly. "You're not getting this," he says, letting his voice carry. From this far away, he can just barely make out Juno's peeved expression, and he smiles grimly before continuing. "Get out of this place and this time. Go after another relic in another time—you're not getting this one." He looks back at Layla, and nods at her, then levels another glare at Juno. "And when you get to that time, there's going to be someone else to tell you no, and to stop you."

Juno opens and closes her mouth several times, then makes a noise that can best be described as a snarl. Her body starts to glow, until Altair has no choice but to close his eyes and turn away. When the glow fades, and he looks back, Juno is gone. Her minions are on the ground, looking dazed and confused but not much worse for the wear.

"Thank you," Layla says quietly, and Altair turns around to look at her.

"Thank you," he says, after a pause. "I would never have known she was here or that she was a threat if you hadn't come. None of us would have known. She might have taken control of all of us, and gotten the apple."

"But I didn't do anything to help," Layla says quietly.

Altair shrugs. "You will next time."

"Next time," Layla says. "I don't think Juno's going to underestimate us."

"Then you'll try harder."

Layla takes a deep breath. She doesn't look entirely convinced, but at least she's not arguing with him. "Thanks," she says. "I'll… just thanks. Take care of yourself, Altair." She holds her hand out for the apple, but Altair is suddenly reluctant to give it to her. He knows that she wants to take it back with her to the future, but he's really been hoping that he'd be able to get it back to Al Mualim without him noticing. He can only get into so much trouble.

Keep it, Desmond says. You're not done with it yet—tell Layla she can come back and get it after…

He cuts himself off abruptly, and Altair frowns. What aren't you telling me? he asks.

Your future, Desmond says, and that's fair enough because Altair doesn't really want to know what's going to happen to him. When everything's over, someone will come back and pick the apple up from you. If that's okay.

It's fine, Altair says, and tucks the apple back into a pouch on his belt. "I'm going to hang onto this," he tells Layla, who raises her eyebrows. "Just for a little while."

-/-

Hey, look at me, writing on vacation! Not very well, but at least some writing happened?