omg! hawk wing is back!!!! yesh i know...it's been a while. Actually, I've kind of diverted away from fanfiction altogether....that is until I got addicted to the Assassin's Creed series. The best video game series evar!!! XD And imho AC 2 is the best when it comes to gameplay lol

Anywho..... I'm tired of there not being enough assassin's creed fanfiction! -shakes fist- I've even browsed through deviantart DX So, since I'm taking another creative writing class, and I haven't written anything is almost a year (it's the truth), I figured I should get back into the grove of things a bit before my assignments. So, I took up an idea that someone had posted on deviantart (don't remember who). The idea is to take a dictionary or thesaurus and randomly open it up, and randomly (without looking) point at a word on the page. Whatever word you point at, you have to use. No synonyms no nothing. You have to use that word. Thus, this lil baby was born. I'm kind of surprised how easy it was to slip into writing again. Man i've missed it, and the evil lil furballs called plot bunnies. Although the bunny that spawned this was nice and quiet lol

Note: the three random dots (...) are a time break or whatever you want to call it

Note 2: takes place a lil after AC 2

Dis: me no own. i wouldn't have been able to come up with such diverse and individual personalities such as Atlair's and Ezio's...although maybe shaun's lmao

Inexpert: adj. not expert; unskilled

He couldn't handle it anymore. Things were blurring too much to be able to discern a difference. It didn't help that he no longer jumped at their spontaneous appearances. That's probably what unnerved him the most. But now… Now things had finally crossed the line. A simple coffee run turned into him having a conversation with a guard from Acre while others looked on. A psychiatrist would be able to tell from a mile away that he was schizophrenic, when, in all actuality, it was the bleeding effect from the Animus.

Desmond kept seeing the hallucinations more often than not, and they were starting to blend into modern life. It's not normal to see a Saracen guard walking through the heart of a 21st century city, yet there he was, sword half drawn and walking through the crowd without a care. Everyone just calmly passed him by as well. It wasn't until Rebecca, who was with him in case Abstergo found them, had asked him what he was looking at that he realized the illusions were becoming far too real. No longer were they shaded figures, but fully fleshed and colored appearances, or so it seemed to him. He's never tried to touch one of the visions before.

But the others didn't know. They shouldn't know. Desmond knew they would be worried, that their plans would change dramatically to work around the mirages. He knew they would try to keep him out of action and not hunting for the other pieces of Eden. Research wasn't his strong point either, not that Shaun would've let him help at all. No, he had to keep this little problem quiet, even though the problems liked to talk to him.

...

Lucy pulled onto the dirt path. The Camry shook along its well-worn ruts. For twenty minutes they had been travelling a gravel road, and now this? Desmond glanced over at her.

"Why exactly are we coming out to the middle of BFE again?"

"I told you, you need to continue your training."

"And what was wrong with the little obstacle course you like to force me through at that warehouse of yours? And shouldn't we be out looking for the Pieces of Eden?"

She glanced at him. "Shaun and Rebecca are handling the search, and we have some teams already scouting the areas around some possible locations. But all of this would be a waste if you were to die from a lack of training. That obstacle course is child's play, and you know as well as I do that you've long since outgrown it."

"So, what's out here?" he motioned out the window at the forest.

"An old training ground," was all she answered.

Desmond merely raised an eyebrow at her and resumed his bored watch out the window. He knew pressuring her would only make her irritated, thus resulting in more strenuous training for him.

Minutes after boring sets of minutes passed, as well as curves, seriously deep pot-holes, and an occasional horse and rider, although Desmond was the only one to experience the latter. He didn't even jump, let alone blink, when one would appear running along with the car through the trees. Hell, he didn't know what unnerved him more: the fleeting second where he thought of the scene as natural, or the instant wariness and tensing of shoulders as his ancestors had done when confronting such scenes on the trail.

Lucy slowed and rounded a final curve that brought a small lake into view. Desmond stared out into it.

"Please tell me you don't have a giant octopus living in there," he groaned.

She cast him a bewildered, almost laughing, look. "No, what makes you ask that?"

"Remember Ezio in that last assassin tomb?"

"Oh." She then chuckled. "No, you're safe this time. Although it is a good idea for next time."

Desmond stared at her. "You're kidding right?"

She ignored him and got out of the car. He followed suit and looked back out at the water.

Spread out in various places were posts, narrow two-rope bridges, horizontal poles, islands, and other means of crossings. It looked like something from an assassin's tomb, just miniaturized to fit an over-sized pond.

After glancing it over – and groaning inwardly – Desmond instinctively started taking in the surroundings.

"So, who built this?"

Lucy walked over and leaned against the car beside him. "Other assassins that used to be in this area. It hasn't been used in years though."

"Are the ropes new or…?"

"Nope, but they seem to be in decent shape."

He gaped at her. "What the hell! They "seem to be in decent shape?""

She sternly looked up at him. "Not everything you'll come across in the field will be brand new, Desmond."

He sighed. "I know. I can't hope for too much, huh."

"No, now get going."

He rolled his eyes and walked toward the pond, scanning the course quickly and looked for the easiest paths. "So, what's the object?"

"Get from the blue pole to the red one," she responded.

The red one was a quarter of a mile away and on the other side of the complex maze.

"Great," he muttered and jumped out to a horizontal pole, quickly pulling himself up and launching towards a post.

Although both Ezio and Altaїr were fast at such courses, and Desmond could fly through the cities – well as humanly possible within both ancestors' capabilities – in the animus, in real life it was a different story. He just couldn't quite get the balancing down on some things. For instance: the narrow two-rope bridge that he just came up to. Ezio was a pro at them. Desmond was a different story. He calmed his jittering nerves the best he could, took a breath, lowered himself to a crouch, and attempted to crawl the same way across as Ezio did in Italy.

Half way across. Half way across and he felt the sense of satisfaction want to take hold, but he held it back. It was only half way after all. As long as he didn't lose his concentration… or look up quickly at the white flash.

Desmond instantly lost his balance and no matter what attempt he tried, he couldn't regain it and the pond greeted him instead. Breaching the surface, he glared over at the area the flash came from and, for once, his heart skipped in shock. Even though he was quite aware it was just merely a hallucination, he never expected to see Altaїr during waking hours, let alone sitting on a tree branch calmly watching him.

"Desmond! Hurry up and start over!" Lucy called from the shore.

He glanced at her then back at his stoic ancestor still perched in the tree before swimming back to the beginning.

...

All in all, it took him four tries to reach the red pole. Four tries with an ever watchful Altaїr quietly looking on throughout it all. He was soaked to the bone and shivering, but he made it nonetheless. Lucy had a bit of a grim expression on her face as she looked up at him.

"You're going to need a lot more training. I thought reliving Ezio's life had helped more than it apparently has."

"Hey! I wouldn't have even been able to do any of that before Ezio," he retorted.

"True, but we're going to be coming here until you can clear this in less than eight minutes." She turned on her heels and walked back to the car.

He stared in horror at her back. "Eight minutes! It took me nearly thirty to get over here!"

She ignored him.

Grumbling, he jumped off into the water and swam to shore. For the very reason she said it had to be eight minutes, he figured getting her car seat soaked was as good as payback as he'll get. Climbing out, he looked appreciatively at the water running in tumults down him.

"A novice would have had no trouble clearing such a child's course."

Desmond jumped and looked at the nearest tree. Altaїr was calmly crouched on the lowest branch, staring nonchalantly down at him.

"Say what?" he asked, shocked.

"You are clearly inexpert and need more training. I do not see why she wastes her time with you if all you do is complain."

Desmond felt his jaw drop. Altaїr – the Altaїr – was insulting him! No, even worse, a hallucination was insulting him.

"Oh, so now you're going to dis me as well?"

Desmond caught the twitch of an eyebrow at the slang word, but Altaїr quickly hid that. Brief as the look of confusion was, he still saw it. That had to account for something because a normal person wouldn't have seen that.

"It was no insult but merely an observation."

He threw his hands up in defeat and turned to follow Lucy.

"Lean forward more and you won't lose your balance so easily."

Desmond stopped and looked back. "What?"

"When you walk the ropes, you lean too far back on your heels. Lean forward more to balance your weight," Altaїr calmly explained.

Desmond's jaw fell slightly once again. His ancestor, of all people, was the last person he expected advice from.

"Desmond! What are you looking at?" Lucy called.

He looked over at her. "Nothing. Just thought I saw a deer."

"Well, hurry up!"

" 'kay!" He looked back at the tree but Altaїr had disappeared. Shaking his head, he ran back to the car. Lucy started grumbling about his soaked clothing and how he shouldn't have fallen in the water as much as he had. He only smirked and climbed into the passenger seat, looking out the window for his ancestor, but didn't see him.

I might continue this...but idk. Depends on how many furballs strike on this idea lol For now, hope you enjoyed this....rambling lol