Chapter One

C:\Login _

C:\Login AllUsers\Administrator

C:\Administrator Password _

C:\Administrator Password **********

C:\AllUsers\Administrator _

C:\AllUsers\Administrator cmd run file\MHAIRI,exe

C:Database _

C:\AllUsers\Administrator Database\DESMOND MILES

C:Initiating...

C:MHAIRI,exe\Initiated _

C:\AllUsers\Administrator cmd start\MHAIRI,exe\MEMORY SEQUENCE one

C:MHAIRI,exe\MEMORY SEQUENCE one starting _

"Don't forget Desmond, back before dawn."

"Yes, mum." I say, rolling my eyes at Lucy. I snatch up my bag and sling it over my shoulder, flashing a grin and then adding, "I'll be back, before dawn." as her frown of concern deepens.

I go over the warning as I make my way out of the Sanctuary, to the town beyond. Abstergo eyes are everywhere and if I'm out in public too long they will find me, meaning don't go out if I don't need to and if I am out, haul ass back to the Sanctuary, before the sun comes up.

It's not like I go on benders in my free time, I snort at the thought, It's not like I have free time...I shrug it off, and find my way up the wall, nearest the exit.

The streets of Monteriggionni are empty, as I survey the town from the roof of what remained of the Villa Auditori. I make my way up to the rooftops. Scaling the walls of the buildings like they are ladders and jumping from beam to ledge with ease. Leaping from roof to roof, for me, as easy as stepping over a curb is to the average person.

But then, I'm not an average person.

I'm an assassin, descended from assassins. The skills I use to eventually climb to the top of the church, learnt from the peculiar bleeding effect, a direct result of, reliving my ancestors memories in the animus for prolonged periods.

I perch on the cross atop the church and pause to enjoy the chance to breathe the fresh air, in person. Lately, more often than not, the rooftops I frequent are those of 15th/16th century, Italy. And even then, it's only my mind that's there, no matter how much my mind feels like it belongs there, in the body of Ezio Auditori da Firenze.

Not that I'm complaining, I think to myself, I mean I'm trying to help save the world, aren't I? Even if, after all the time I spent as Altair, and the more time I spend as Ezio, it takes me longer and longer to feel like me again...

The thought trails off, as my eagle vision kicks in of its own accord, as if to say, You're losing it, Desmond.

I shove the thought from my mind and go to change sight, when I notice the figure. Shimmering blue, it approaches the church. As I crane my neck to watch, I nearly lose my balance, snatching at the metal cross to stop from falling, as the figure enters the building.

The only time I see like that is in the animus, I think to myself, as I drop to the roof, "And in visions." I muse, out loud.

Yet another sign of your declining mental health . . .

I can't even tell if the thought is mine. But there it is, sounding suspiciously like Shaun. I push it away, like all the others, to deal with later.

Curiosity wins and I slide down the front of the building, dropping lightly near the door, before peering around the frame, to watch the person inside. After all the time in the animus, nothing seems unusual. It takes me a few seconds to realise what is out of place and I blink.

That cloak is from my time, not his. I grimace at my mistake and mentally correct it, From Ezio's time, not mine. I walk in to get a better view, deciding it must be a vision.

The figure stands at the altar, head slightly bowed. The shining blue intensifies as I approach, the figure still and unmoving, as I walk right up to the altar. Then, when the figure turns and then takes a step back to stop from walking into me, I just stare.

Time slows.

I can only see her mouth, the shadow cast from her hood, hiding the rest of her face. She pushes her cloak open and I'm blinded by white, narrowing my eyes at the sudden onslaught, barely seeing her mouth curve upwards into smile, as her hood falls back.

The glare fades and my eyes return to normal, as her face is revealed. I keep staring, because to part of me she is familiar. It niggles in the back of my head, like when you meet someone and you know them, but can't remember where from, or their name's on the tip of your tongue, but you can't quite remember it.

Even though she only feels familiar to part of me, all of me wants to know her. I feel a surge of affection towards her, with her easy smile and it unnerves me. To have this feeling, that I have no right to feel, especially when brought on by a complete stranger.

I hear the unmistakable sound of the hidden blade and I look down at the arm she's raising, to see the silver tip, protruding from her sleeve. The gesture, not threatening, more cautionary, like she's saying "I'm packing, so don't start anything."

And still, she smiles.

I breathe out and make a concentrated effort to change sight, trying to shake off the strange feeling, seeing her has left me with. The glare fades with the eagle sight and my surroundings return to their normal colours, time to its normal pace.

But she's still there.

Assassin robes, replaced by jeans and a hooded shirt. Hidden blade, replaced by a silver charm bracelet. Confident smile, replaced by a suspicious frown. From the way she looks at me, I can imagine her mumbling "Weirdo".

She takes half a step back, glancing behind her, clearly looking for options if she needs to run. I shake my head, moving forward, raising my hands in an, embarrassed, apology and she raises her own defensively, so I stop, hold my hands out and lean back.

"Sorry, I, uh, thought, you were someone else. Didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm nay scared." She rolls her r's, her accent tingling in my ears and sending a slight shiver down my back, as she stands straighter, glaring at me.

"My mistake," I hide my smile, at her lie. "But, still, I'm sorry, even if I, didn't, scare you." I say, emphasizing the word, as I move back. I give her a small smile, before turning to leave.

"You know, it's creepy that you're wandering around at this time." She calls out to me and my smile widens by itself. I give my head a slight shake, surprised by my reaction to her simply speaking to me, and turn back.

"I could say the same to you." I look at her, trying not to make it obvious. Physically, she was the same person now, as she was in the vision, maybe a little difference, definitely different clothes, but pretty much the same person.

"Wheel, I'm not the one sneaking up on people, am I?" She shot back, clearly calming down from the fright I'd given her, accent softening and her grammar improving. I shrug and nod, my smile returning. This was a strange place for her to be. She's only young, still in her teens, pre-dawn mass was not something she looked like she did often.

"I like your accent. Where are you from?" That niggle in the back of my mind had faded with the eagle vision, but it was still there. I felt compelled to break the ice.

"New Zealand." She pauses and looks to the side, then back at me. "Wheel, Scotland, but I live in New Zealand." She blinks, and clenches her jaw, realising she is telling a total stranger, personal details. I smile to save her.

"I'm Desmond." She glances up.

"Lucia," She starts, before I'm deafened by a voice in my ear.

"Desmond, it's nearly dawn. Get back to the Sanctuary now!" I look back at her, apologetic.

"It was nice to meet you, Lucia. I'm sorry I scared you and maybe I'll see you around." I give her a brief wave as I turn, walking fast to through the door. A quick glance behind assures me that she is out of sight before taking a running start at the wall opposite. Her response follows me as I reach the roof.

"I wasn't scared!"

My smile stays put as I make my way back to the Sanctuary. Not even a snide comment from Shaun touches it. I just smile at him, until he looks away, saying "He's finally lost it."

"Getting caught is nothing to smile about Desmond." Lucy's tone manages to make my smile waver. "Why do you always have to leave it until the last minute to come back?" I groan at her.

"It's not like there's far to go." I snap at her. "Anyone could make it back here in a minute."

"Exactly. If the Abstergo agents saw you, we wouldn't have time to pack up and leave." I stared stonily at the ground and she seemed to get that I wasn't interested in a lecture.

"You should get some sleep, before our next session." Her voice was gentler, as she gestured towards my sleeping bag. Tensions were running high, for all of us and I moved to the bed, dropping down on it, rather than starting a conflict over nothing. Besides, now that I was down, I could feel how tired I was. My smile returned, as I closed my eyes, because, there she was.

The girl from the church, smiling back at me.

"Hey, Desmond?" I look up at Rebecca's cautious tone and raise my eyebrows. "You, all right? You seem distracted." She smiles, "Well more distracted."

"You know what they say about small minds." Shaun pipes up, not even bothering to look up from his computer screen, to throw the comment into the conversation. Rebecca shoots him a bored look.

"Always helpful, Shaun." She says drily.

"I aim to please." He replies, without missing a beat.

Rebecca ushers me, as far away from the cynical Brit, as we can get in the confines of our small workspace. I look back at Shaun, wondering if he runs through derogatory comments in his spare time, so he has a response for every situation. Or if they just come naturally.

"It's just- I know this must be a lot of pressure for you." She looks away awkward, "If you ever need to talk, you know, I'm here, or Lucy." I look away too. She was offering me a shoulder to lean on. A hesitant offer, but genuine as far as I could tell. "And there's always Shaun."

We both looked at the Brit, who was now commenting on the fact that America's enemies don't need to attack head on, they could just wait and let America destroy itself with American food, which was detrimental to the health of everybody on and including, the planet Earth, and should be illegal on a universal scale.

"Uh, thanks Bex, but I think I'll pass on Shaun." I crinkle my forehead as the techie laughs. "But there was something you might be able to help me with. I think it's got something to do with the animus."

"Shoot." She said, her face perking up at the mention of "Baby", the animus.

"Well, I met this girl the other morning," I start and Rebecca laughs.

"Ezio, sure is a ladies' man." I grin.

"Yeah," I agree with that truth, "but I meant a real girl. Well, a real girl from our time." She looks at me then narrows her eyes.

"Are you getting some, Des? Broken the dry spell?" she waggles her eyebrows, "Been holding out on us." I shake my head, at her laughter, fending off a grin.

"Not like that, I saw her and she looked like an assassin, from Ezio's time. I mean, I thought she was a vision, I walked right up to her, she nearly took my head off." Rebecca's laugh, slowly faded.

"Vision?"

"You know, like when I see Ezio."

"Oh, yeah of course." Her tone is light, but I see the look in her eyes, for the split second, before she waves at me to continue.

Worry.

Great one Desmond. You're making her think you're crazy too. I try not to roll my eyes at myself and push on with what I was saying.

"So, I see her and she's all assassin, then I close my eyes and open them, expecting her to disappear, like Ezio does, but she's still there. Only she's dressed like she belongs to this time and she's kind of freaked." The techie blinks. She obviously has no idea what I'm talking about.

"So . . . She was there?" She ventures, clearly wondering if that's the appropriate response.

"Yeah, only at first when I looked at her, like when I'm trying to find my target in the animus, she was dressed as an assassin. And she knew me." I look at Rebecca and she nods. "And I felt like I knew her."

"Okay, I'm with you so far."

"But when I looked at her, normally, like how I'm looking at you now, she's just another girl. She's was wearing jeans and a hoody. She had no idea who I was and said I was creepy."

"Have you seen her since?" I see her brain ticking over behind her eyes, as I shake my head. "I'll look into it. Don't worry about it, Des."

"It's probably just lack of sleep." My turn to try and make the conversation less serious. She smiles and nods, clearly more for my benefit, than a sign of actual belief. She says she should get back to work, and I accept her excuse to leave, gracefully.

I bet she's not so glad she offered to talk now, I hear the voice in my head, Now that you've just added another sign, to the huge pile they already have, that your deteriorating in here.

I stare at nothing. My head having an argument with itself, although one side of the conversation has a slight Italian slur to it. I look at the time, forty minutes till dawn, and decide to head up and stretch my legs.

Rebecca calls out to Lucy and I point up, signalling my intent to leave. Lucy responds with a finger tapped against her wrist, telling me to keep an eye on the time. With my back turned, they begin talking about me.

I increase my pace and take off at a jog, to get out of earshot faster, not wanting to hear them talk about my mental state, when I already had a conversation about that, going on in my head. Then, just like the night before and the one before that, I make my way to the church.

A/N: The computer login start sequence, is based, only on a very basic format. In other words, is completely made up, and excuse the commas that should be full stops. Something was deleting the words out so I had to change them. So concludes, Chapter 1 of my first ever fanfic. Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to leave a review :)