A/N: A reviewer asked which side of the Templar/Assassin war I am on. Well, I believe there is such a thing as right and wrong, and for the most part I don't really care how we make this world a little more 'right' and a little less 'wrong', either it is through a secret group's intervention or by natural progression (how do we distinguish between these two anyway?) or by the elimination of said intervention. That said, I am not the most optimistic of people. I don't believe we are currently bringing this world towards a better future, nor do I believe we can with the way we are now. So if I have to take a side, I will have to say the Templars, at least philosophically speaking. (Practically speaking, I think the world will benefit the most if the Templar/Assassin conflict goes on forever and neither faction has the power to win the war once and for all).

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. Juno's speech in this chapter is taken directly from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Part 12

Haytham could hear her as soon as he entered the church. She sounded human, and yet not. At first he thought she was speaking to him, but it soon became clear that it was Miles she was talking to. Unlike Haytham, Miles seemed to be able to see her as well. Whenever she started talking, he would stop and glance at a certain direction before moving on.

But how could she communicate with anyone? Her kind was long dead and their civilisation was destroyed. She even spoke of it, about how they had searched for a way to save themselves but failed, and how they were now guiding Miles to find the 'tools' they left behind so he could save humankind from the same fate.

Or so she claimed.

It was hard to tell if she was actually trying to help, or if she was simply there to mock and demean humankind. If it was the former, then she was being infuriatingly vague, offering information but nothing substantial at all. The more Haytham listened the more wary he became. What did the precursors intend? Why would they go through all the trouble to save the race they created as their slaves, but ended up taking over the world from them? And if they managed to communicate with Miles and 'guide' him to this place, centuries after their supposed extinction, what else could they do? What kind of power did they still hold over humankind?

Miles' companions, who appeared as nothing more than faint white shadows to Haytham, seemed oblivious to it all. They also seemed content to stay at the ground and bicker like children while Miles hopped from one ceiling ornament to the next, trying to open a passageway for them.

Haytham was of the belief that leaders should not send his troops to the front while staying safely behind. Rather, he preferred to do the opposite, fighting alongside his men and clearing the path ahead for them. Miles, however, was clearly not the leader of his group. He appeared almost accustomed to being ordered around and receiving little gratitude in return. Then again, Miles and his companions were Assassins - a fact that had quickly become obvious when they started to talk about the Templars - and the Assassins never cared much for order and structure.

In any case, Miles was good at what he did. At this height, a single misstep and he might fall to his death, but he barely hesitated as he flung himself from one narrow beam to the next. Following closely behind, Haytham allowed himself a moment to marvel at the complexity of the contraptions hidden within the church. There were switches all over the place, each bringing him and Miles closer to the highest platform.

With equal anticipation and trepidation, he activated the last switch. A stone pillar rose from the ground, its top glowing with an unnatural white light. Miles' companions gathered around it, but no hidden doors or passageways appeared. It was only when Miles reached the ground and placed his hand over the pillar that the platform they were standing on started descending.

Haytham did the same. For a moment nothing happened, but then the platform started to move, bringing him further underground. Whatever it was that powered the contraptions in the church also responded to him, but not Miles' companions, why?

Judging from all that he had seen so far, there was only one answer: their bloodline.

And so even though he did not understand how or why a seemingly normal stone wall would react to the spoken word 'seventy-two', he said the number anyway, and was not as surprised as he probably should be when the wall slid aside, just as it did for Miles, revealing a large chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a raised platform, and on the platform was a sphere shinning in gold.

The Apple.

What followed was a ridiculously complicated climb across the dozens of spike-like pillars around the central platform. At first glance there seemed to be many possible paths, but in truth there was only one. As Miles made his way forward, the precursor from before started to speak again.

"A hundred years I might speak and still you would not know us. You with five senses. Us with six. The one we kept from you. To be safe. Now, you can never know. Only try. Grasp. You can see, smell, taste, touch, hear. Knowledge has been locked away.

"After, when the world became undone, we tried to pass it through the blood. Tried to join you to us. You see the blue shimmer. You hear the words. But you do not know.

"It is hard to stay contained. Knowing as we do. We wait for you, Desmond. You will come here. You will activate it. You will know only when it is too late."

Miles grew annoyed at last. "Did you hear any of that?" he asked his companions.

As if the answer wasn't already blatantly obvious. Only those of a certain bloodline could open the door to this chamber and find the Apple. This was likely a way for the precursors to ensure that only those they deemed 'worthy' - by blood, not by ability, it would seem - could find their treasure.

About two hundred years in the future, Miles would find it. But by then he was already too late.

Pieces of a puzzle that Haytham had only become aware of a short while ago, that felt much larger than anything he had ever been involved in, started to fall into place. Whatever disaster that had destroyed Those Who Came Before was going to happen again, and the Assassins were trying to stop it by going into the precursors' 'Grand Temple', where they believed held the solution to the problem. And to the open the door to the temple, they needed the Apple.

But they were too late, just as the precursor speaking to Miles had predicted, and whatever they had done inside the temple, it had not ended well. And now someone wanted to correct the mess the Assassins had made - someone who knew what Haytham had found in America, and who also happened to serve the Father of Understanding.

Haytham jumped and grabbed the last beam. There was a dull thud, then a flight of stairs rose from the floor, bridging the gap between the entrance of the chamber and the central platform. He jumped back to the ground and walked up the stairs, both wary of the supposed power of the Apple and eager to find out what it could do. The ghost of Miles and his companions were ahead of him. They stood before the Apple. Miles hesitated, then reached for it. Haytham did the same.

He could feel it at once. The countless pulses of lives that the Apple was connected to and the power to completely dominate them. Already his mind was thinking of all the possibilities this discovery had opened up. With the Apple, he could end the cycles. He could bring peace. He could -

Miles gasped.

A second later, Haytham found himself unable to move.

"What's happening?" said Miles. "I can't move."

"Your DNA communes with the Apple. You have activated it," the precursor from before answered. "On the 72nd day before the moment of awakening. You, birthed from our loins and the loins of our enemies. The end and the beginning, who we abhor and honour. The final journey commences. There is one who would accompany you through the gate. She lies not within our sight. The cross darkens the horizon."

Miles turned around, still holding the Apple. "What are you doing?" he shouted.

"The path must be opened. You cannot escape your part in this. The scales shall be balanced."

Miles engaged his hidden blade and started to walk forward. "Stop, please."

"You know very little. We must guide you. Cease your struggle."

Haytham watched as Miles continued to move forward, struggling against the unseen power but unable to resist. One step. Two. Then he pulled back his arm and plunged his hidden blade into one of his companions.

"No!"

The anguished cry tore through the air, and with it, the ghosts of the future disappeared, but the power that held Haytham in place did not cease. He willed himself to stay calm and tried to recall every detail of what he had just seen, hoping to figure out what his hidden adversary could do. Miles had tried to regain control of his body but to no avail, and yet he had protested all the way. He could still speak then, and most importantly, he was still in control of his mind.

Would that be enough? Haytham could only hope that it would be.

For a moment the golden sphere in his hands seemed to pulse, then he found himself looking up against his will, away from the Apple to a spot on the right. A few seconds later, a translucent figure appeared, looking straight at him.

"This is not yours to take."