The first thing Louis was aware of was a rhythmic, uniform beeping. The second thing was burning pain across his body, focused mainly in his left arm and right leg.

"Am I dead?" he wondered, and his mouth tasted and felt awful.

"Lou?!" Like magic, Louis's eyes flew open and he was greeted with vibrant green eyes framed with heavy curls staring earnestly at him. "Oh my gods, Lou!" Harry sobbed and his eyes were gone, but he took Louis's left hand in both of his and Louis felt the tears dripping onto his hand.

"Harry?" he asked thickly. "Harry..." And then he was laughing. Well, chuckling, because this had to be death. He was dead, and in heaven, because only in heaven would he have been found, saved and brought to a hospital by his perfect boyfriend. Only in heaven would Harry need him enough to cry over him. Right?

"Why are you laughing, Louis?"

"Because I'm dead, aren't I?" replied the blue eyed man. "Sit me up, love."

Harry hastened to obey, standing and leaning over Louis to fiddle with the buttons of the hospital bed. It took the Assassin a few minutes, but soon Louis was upright and gazing around the hospital room.

There were balloons and flowers galore, no doubt Niall's doing. Normally Louis hated hospitals. They were too white, too clean, they stunk of bleach and felt like death. This room, though... He had to be dead. There was no way that a hospital room was this warm, this welcoming. And definitely not when every hospital (or so it felt like) was owned by a subset of Abstergo. This felt so... Perfect. The ball of sunshine that was Harry Styles made it completely. So, the only logical conclusion was...

"I died," Louis mused, finally setting his gaze on Harry. Harry's expression fell, which Louis found odd. If he was dead, shouldn't Harry be glad that Louis found out, and that he doesn't need to pretend anymore?

Harry shook his head. "Babe, you... You're not dead. I found you... I? I found you. In the alley."

Louis shrugged. "Yeah, dead. But this is heaven, or something, right? So, like, in an ideal situation you found me and saved me. And that's what this is. It has to be. I..."

Harry sat down and was quick to take Louis's hand again. "You're alive. This is real. This is one of the few safe hospitals in the area. No Templars, no war. Just us, protected by walls and Assassin security." Harry brought a hand up to cup Louis's cheek. "You made it."

For a moment, Louis gazed at Harry silently, his expression focused. "How?" he asked bluntly.

Harry pursed his lips, squeezing Louis's hand. "Okay. Long story short? I have a long line of Assassin ancestry that dates back to the Crusades. One of the first Mentor's blood runs through me. In a manner of speaking. And I inhereted one of his strongest traits; Eagle Vision. I... I tracked you. I don't know how it works, trust me. All the texts I've found say the same thing. It just works. But the point is, it helped me find you."

Louis nodded slowly and looked away, instead setting his gaze on the window. It was night time, and he wondered how long he'd been in the hospital. Days? Months? Had Harry waited at his side for years?

"With a story like that," Louis mused, "this has to be real. That can't be made up." He cracked a smile that was quickly dropped when it caused the lacerations on his face pain.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Harry wondered.

Louis shrugged. "I remember begging, pleading for you to find me. And you did, with this weird ancestral... Thing. I don't know, Harry. I don't know if you're real, if you're going to stay. I don't know if this is some heavenly vision, and you're going to leave. Or if this is real, and you're going to leave for some mission to protect the, the, I don't know, giant Fleshlight of Atlantis that shows the way to the promised land or some shit!"

"Hey," Harry said, his tone firm. He dropped his hand from Louis's face to his free hand, gripping both of Louis's hands with firmness equal to his voice. "I'm right here, Lou.  I'm not going anywhere."

Louis was quick to shake his head. "You don't know that, Haz. You're, like, king Assassin. They're going to need you at some point. You're going to leave." He swallowed thickly.

Just like his boyfriend, Harry was quick to shake his head. "I'm not going anywhere, Louis."

"Just leave me alone, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, trying to slam the front door in Sasuke's face. The Uchiha caught it, though, and squeezed through, grabbing Naruto's scarf before the blond could make his escape down the street.

Grip firm, Sasuke pulled Naruto to him, making the blond face him. "What did I do, Naruto?" Sasuke asked quietly. Naruto refused to meet Sasuke's gaze, focusing on their shoes instead. "Naruto?"

"You know what you did!" Naruto exclaimed, looking up with a glare. "You fucking can't grow up and tell your parents you're gay and we're dating!"

Sasuke's emotional shift was instantaneous and he released his grip on Naruto's scarf.

"Holy shit, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, resisting giving the blond a shove. "You know why I can't do that! My parents aren't Minato 'Everything Is Perfect In Minato Land' Namikaze! My parents go to church every Sunday! They pray at every meal, they pray before bed, they pray for everything! My mother has a bible application on her phone and literally carries a bible with her!"

"It's not like you live here anymore!" Naruto screamed, shoving Sasuke against the front door. Sasuke stumbled back, catching himself on the table by the door inside. "They can't hurt you!"

Sasuke sneered. "I haven't seen Itachi since I was 6, Naruto! They sure as fuck can hurt me! He came out as genderfluid and I literally haven't heard from him again! I haven't seen him! What the fuck, you think this is a fun little game for me? My parents are good God fearing people! They eat God for breakfast you stupid asshole!"

"How the fuck can they hurt you?!" Naruto screamed back. "Take away your fucking trust fund? You have a job! We have an apartment!"

"Your dad works for my dad, you useless motherfucker!" Sasuke shouted. "I will never see you the fuck again! Holy shit, are you really this idiotic?" Sasuke felt bitter triumph when Naruto didn't respond immediately, but it was short-lived when the blond actually replied.

"Okay. I'll move back in with Shikamaru. I'll be gone by Sunday, so you can fuck Jesus in peace or something."

The world was foggy. If Naruto focused hard enough, he could faintly make out someone's outline right above him. It hurt too much to focus, though. Took too much energy. He closed his eyes with a groan and winced when something -someone?- shook him slightly.

"Naruto!" the voice was fuzzy, distant. Like the person was yelling at him from a separate room. "Naruto Uzumaki! Open your eyes right now! Don't die on me!"

Die? Who said anything about dying? There was quiet, and then a sharp stinging on his cheek jolted him into awareness, his eyes shooting open. He could see Sasuke with sharp clarity and he briefly wondered how he could forget he was with the stubborn man.

"Sasuke?" he asked, and it came out as a weak gasp that sent his mind whirling. What happened? What wasn't he remembering?

"Thank God," Sasuke breathed, and Naruto was instantly confused. As long as he'd known Sasuke, Sasuke had rejected religion. The religion that was practically tradition in his family, the religion that forced him to grow up in such a strict household that he absolutely loathed. Even during sex, Sasuke made a point to never take the Lord's name.

"Are you okay?" Naruto wheezed, and Sasuke laughed. It wasn't a happy, good joke kind of laugh. It was a hysteric laugh, one that sent goosebumps down Naruto's neck.

"Me?!" Sasuke exclaimed, his voice high. He cleared his throat and shook his head, one of his hands coming up to smooth Naruto's hair off of his forehead. "I'm fine, usuratonkachi. I'm worried about you. You're sweating." Sasuke's eyes flickered down, and Naruto got the heavy feeling in his stomach that Sasuke wasn't just concerned over sweating.

He was quickly distracted, though, as a sharp pain exploded in his stomach. His mind was quick to go foggy again, and it dawned on him that his mind went foggy earlier probably due to the initial cause of the pain.

"Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed, moving quickly to shuck off his jacket. Naruto blinked away the fog and watched Sasuke fold up his jacket and - Press it to Naruto's stomach? Oh no. No. What was happening? "Don't hyperventilate, Naruto," Sasuke snapped, and then guilt crossed his face. "Don't... You need to breathe slow."

Naruto weakly shook his head. They were going to the movies. They'd had lunch, Sasuke ordered a Cuban sandwich, Naruto ordered a full lobster platter. They were going to see a movie at the cheap theatre because Naruto spent the majority of their date funds on his lobster. What happened? Why weren't they at the theatre?

Pain throbbed in Naruto's belly and he whimpered audibly, shaking his head slowly back and forth. His breath was coming in pants even as he tried to calm himself. No hyperventilating, he told himself. It wasn't working. He was going to pass out. Black tinged his eyes and he gasped, trying to breathe. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't. All the air seemed to be sucked out of the world and he was in a vacuum where he just couldn't breathe.

"Hey," Sasuke said softly. His voice cut through Naruto's mind like a knife through butter and he gasped a lungful of cool air. "Look at me - just breathe, okay?" Naruto made an effort to focus on Sasuke's face. The effort paid off, because air started flowing into his lungs, though his breaths were still shallow "We'll be okay, Naruto," Sasuke informed him, though his voice was weak, like he didn't entirely believe it. "The ambulance will get here soon... You'll be okay."

Louis's lips trembled as he struggled to contain his sobs. He had finally gotten away, but if there were more of those people around, he didn't want them to know he was there. He was slowly slinking down the street, head low, his right hand clasped over a gruesome, infected gash on his left arm. He had a distinct limp, another gruesome gash down his right leg. His shoes were long gone, and his clothes had been damaged in the whole situation. He looked like hell.

He tried not to think about it, though. He needed to get away. Needed to get home. Or at least to a phone so he could call for home. Louis didn't know how long he'd been gone. They kept him in a windowless room with only a door, and whenever the people came, they made sure to park so their van's brights shined right in the door. Louis never knew when they came. Getting out had been a blur for him. They made the mistake of giving him nail clippers. Louis hadn't know nail clippers could do that kind of damage, but he was at least a mile away from the building now.

It was progress, but as far as he could tell he was in an industrial area. Which loosely translated to no payphones or good Samaritans.

His lips were trembling again as the evening cold set into his bones and the pain in his leg screamed at him to stop moving. He needed to get home, or get help... But sitting down and resting might be nice too.

Frowning, Louis glanced around and ducked into an alley, moving down until he found a garbage bin to sit next to. He took a deep breath that burned his throat, and tears streaked his face, stinging cuts that he forgot he had on his face. They were small lacerations, ones that hardly hurt.

Louis swallowed back the sobs that threatened to bubble from his lips. It hurt, but he needed to keep quiet. He didn't know if there were friendlies in the area or not.

He wanted to say that this was a mistake. This whole life, everything that built up to this. Dating an Assassin, an Assassin on his way to being head of his guild, was definitely the source of Louis's troubles. He was sure Harry was going to be the Assassins' Mentor one day. It made Harry a target, but worse so, it made his not Assassin boyfriend a bright red target with a neon red arrow pointing at him that read 'the Mentor's boyfriend can't defend himself'. Louis wanted to say it was a mistake.

But sitting there in the alley that stunk of rot and urine, Louis couldn't find it in him to regret any of it. Running from Templars, having drinking contests with the other Assassins, galavanting around the world, getting to spend time with Harry Styles, the boy who could certainly change everything... If Louis died there, he could say with great confidence that it was completely worth every second. Shitty or not, Louis would never undo any of this. He could do without the torture, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Louis's chest heaved and he jerked his elbow up to his mouth to muffle a sudden cough that wracked his body and sent pain throughout him. The cool air stung at his infected cut and tears pricked his eyes as he coughed violently.

Please come get me, he thought to himself, as if Harry could somehow hear him from... Wherever it was beautiful Assassins went to search for their abducted boyfriends. Please. I love you. Please come get me.

Louis coughed until black spots danced across his eyes, coughed until his head lolled to the side and he went limp, his chest heaving roughly as he struggled to breathe, coughing himself into unconsciousness, coughing until his face and lips were blue and his body pulled itself together and his breathing righted itself.