Chapter Fifteen

A/N: Really short one this time. Sorry. But I just felt that this was a good place to stop the chapter... so yeah. Also, apparently today is DOUBLE CHAPTER SUNDAY! :D Enjoy! XD

BANG!

Grace gasps when the gun goes off but Desmond is already too far in defensive-mode to really notice. All previous thoughts of sparing them are now gone from his mind. He drives his hidden blade right between the man's ribs, jerking upward once before letting him slide off the knife and sink to the ground.

The young Assassin whirls around to face the other guard. His face looks outright ghostly. His skin is pale with the horror of seeing his partner murdered before his eyes. He was no older than Desmond, maybe younger. The young man's hands were already thrust into the air, shaking violently.

"P-per favore..." He pleads, desperately. "Mi risparme..."

Desmond struggles to translate for himself. "Spare you?" He asks, uncertainly.

The man's eyes light up in recognition. "Y-you speak English?" He stammers. "S-so do I...and y-yes...please..." There were terrified tears in his dark eyes now. "D-don't kill me..."

Desmond hesitates. "Do you know what a Templar is?" He asks.

"T-Templar?" He stutters. "No...I don't think so..."

Desmond sighs. "What do you think, Grace? Do you believe-" He stops midsentence. His eyes widening in horror.

Blood. Blood was everywhere. It pooled beneath Grace's motionless body from where it lay behind the sofa. A gaping bullet wound in her right shoulder.

"GRACE!" He cries out.

-xXx-

Lucy desperately called out to the both of them from where she sat in the van. The last thing she'd heard was someone yelling in Italian and then a gunshot. "Desmond!" She hisses, her hands shaking. "Answer me! Please answer me!"

Nothing but static.

"Grace?" She squeaks. "Come on! Say something!"

Silence.

Lucy lets out a panicked breath and runs her hand through her hair. This can't be happening...! She squeezes her eyes shut, fighting the tears that stung them. They're not dead...they can't be!

"Grace!" Desmond forgets about his captive for a moment. Long enough to sprint over to his cousin's side. He touches her cheek. Ice cold... "Grace?" His fingers move downward, resting on her throat where he desperately searched for a pulse.

Nothing.

He moves again, deciding maybe he'd find it on her wrist. He lifts her frail-looking hand, cradling it in his. He presses his fingers to the spot where there should have been a steady throbbing in her arm. Only to find total stillness.

Behind him, the guard was watching the scene unravel with wary eyes. This man had just killed his partner...was obviously about to kill him. But he hadn't...and now it seemed that woman was hurt. If not dead.

Who was he? An Assassin? That's what his companion had called them... But what did that even mean? Where they some kind of terrorists? Slowly, he reaches down for the gun strapped to his waist.

Desmond doubles over, leaning his head on Grace's unmoving chest. How had this happened...? How could he let her die like that...?

Suddenly, something cold is presses to the back of his head.

"I-I don't know who you are..." The gaurd mutters. "But you killed my partner...s-so...I'm gonna have to shoot you..."

Desmond should have moved. He should have reacted in some way. But he felt numb. His cousin was laying, dead right in front of him... He was drawing a blank, frozen in his despair.

He knew he was about to be shot. But he still couldn't move.

BOOM!

...

...?

He waits for the pain. But nothing happens. Correction, something does happen. He feels the barrel of the guard's gun slip away from his head. He hears his body thump to the ground beside him. And he hears someone's voice...

"Desmond?" Someone grabs his shoulder. "Oh God...what happened?"

He can't respond. All he can do is stare at Grace's lifeless face.

The person reaches down and touches his cousin's neck like he had before. They don't say anything when they stand up and hurry away to the far wall. Suddenly, light floods the room and there's the sound of glass breaking. The same person rushes back again and kneels beside him.

"Desmond, are you okay?" They ask, quickly.

He still can't find his voice and now the room is spinning, dangerously in front of him. Vaugely, he realizes he'll probably pass out. But he doesn't really care.

The person unzips the bag they'd recieved from a glass panel on the wall. Inside is a defibrillator. Whoever this person is...they seem to know what they're doing. They rub the pieces of the machine together and slam them down onto Grace's chest. Her body jolts before collapsing back to the ground again.

"Desmond!" The person snarls. "Snap out if it!"

He doesn't really hear them. He's too busy wondering why his vision is starting to go dark around the edges...

They run the machine over Grace again. She's jolts and collapses. Again. Jolts, falls. Again. Jolts, falls. Once more. Jolts, falls...was...was she breathing? Was...was Grace breathing?!

Grace's savior sighs in relief before turning to Desmond.

"Desmond, can you hear me?" They ask him. "Come on! Get it together. Now is not the time to be in shock, Desmond!"

But despite the fact that Grace is alive. And this person obviously doesn't want him to, he can't help but embrace the heaviness that falls over him. His eyes roll back into his head, and passes out.