Part 3 and because @kingdomheartsrox and @thewolfprince wanted Templar!Haytham, you guys are getting Templar Haytham XD
Desmond’s Ancestors (Part 3 - Edward)
So, while the Immortality gang continue to try and find the singularity point, Edward (with Mary and Anne) live with their children in London. Haytham will still have Tessa as his mother (for the necessary genes) and Tessa becomes Edward’s wife.
If we’re going for the polycule route for Edward-Mary-Anne, Tessa feels threatened by his relationship with Mary and Anne even if she’s Edward’s official wife. If it’s purely platonic between Edward, Mary and Anne, Tessa thinks that Edward is lying and sleeping with them. Either way, it ends with Tessa being ‘seduced’ by Birch into becoming a Templar. The Templar heard rumors that one of the women (Mary or Anne) might be an immortal but they have their guard up so they used Tessa’s access inside the Kenway mansion to spring a trap.
This means that instead of Edward dying because of freaking ‘thugs’ (seriously, Ubisoft???), he is actually shot by Tessa from behind while they’re alone (with Mary and Anne taking the other children out of the mansion while Edward stayed to find Tessa and Haytham) during a Templar raid. The last thing he sees is Tessa shouting for Haytham and it’s a slow painful death because Tessa accidentally (or maybe not) shot him on the spleen. He lives long enough for Mary to find him when she came back after making sure Anne has the other children safe and sound with the Brotherhood.
Edward dies in Mary’s arms while the Assassins she took with her chase down the Templars and Edward revives to see Mary crying. They find out he’s immortal too but they hid it from the other Assassins and they talk to Anne about what Edward saw and what they learned ( shoutout to @thewolfprince for guessing what I had planned to make sure Haytham becomes a Templar XD)
So Tessa took Haytham and left with Birch, with the Templars going into hiding afterward. A few days later, someone torched the Kenway mansion and they’re pretty sure it’s one of the Templars who had either done it themselves or they paid someone to do it for them.
Either way, the three decide to sorta split up. Anne with Jenny and the other two children would stay in London to work with the other Assassins (and to make sure someone is always ready to welcome Haytham back if he manages to return by himself) and Anne would take care of training their children to be Assassins.
Edward and Mary would find a way to contact and meet up with the Adrestia because Mary believes they could help and it would be easier to find for clues on where they took Haytham if they had their own ship.
At this point, the Adrestria is masquerading as a merchant ship (and they do have supplies and such that they sell in ports because Ezio will not, under any circumstances, allow them to be poor XD)
Anyway, Haytham is brainwashed by Birch and Tessa in believing he’d been abandoned by his family and that they never loved him anyway with Tessa laying on it thick that all he needs is his dear mummy. Really, just Tessa Mother Gothel-ing Haytham with sprinkles of “you won’t leave mummy will you?” and Birch pretending to be a good ‘father figure’.
Edward and Mary do reach the Adrestria and they say the truth about what had happened. At this point, only Altaïr and Ezio knows about how Desmond knows of ‘a future’ so they spinned it to the Apple showing Desmond that specific future where Haytham will be in the colonies at around 1754 but everyone knows that’s too long. Almost 2 decades to let Haytham be in the hands of the Templars and Desmond also stressed that, by that time, Haytham would have been lost to them. This gets Edward fired enough to shout at Desmond that his son will never be lost to him, no matter what, with Ezio placing a hand on Edward’s chest to stop him in case he tries to throttle Desmond while Altaïr grabs Desmond’s wrist and pushes him quickly behind him.
It’s Bayek who steps in and tells everyone to calm down. That panicking and getting into each other’s throat will not help Haytham at all.
For now, they decide to try and find clues using what Desmond had ‘seen’ from the Apple.
Desmond’s Ancestors (Part 4 - Haytham… sorta)
This proves much harder than they anticipated because the Templars had evolved to combat Altaïr, Ezio and Bayek’s inclusion to this timeline. They’d gone deeper underground than what Desmond is used to, focusing on keeping their Templar affiliation a secret even to one another. No one even knows who the Grand Masters are at the moment and, really, that’s the most frustrating part of all.
Since we did decide Haytham will be a Templar, the Immortality gang will be unsuccessful in saving him before he fully commits to the Templar Order. The first time they heard of Haytham, they learned he had almost killed one of his older siblings (it would be very ironic if it was Anne’s child because that child was meant to die in canon or very tragic if it was Jenny). Edward still believes he can be reasoned with and ‘saved’, Desmond keeps quiet this time because, well, he’s also conflicted.
He doesn’t want Haytham to be a Templar, someone against them, but, at the same time, he knows he risks Ratonhnhaké:ton not being born if they intercepts Haytham’s ‘fate’ too early. So he keeps quiet and tries to help as best he could when other people think of a plan but won’t think of anything that could actually help.
Altaïr and Ezio notice this but they don’t say anything because they believe Desmond has a reason for keeping quiet. The others believe Desmond is keeping quiet because he doesn’t want to push Edward further (which is kinda true)
Anyway, Haytham still goes to the colonies before the immortality gang (maybe Desmond even made sure that he had a headstart?) and they got there just after Shay left for Lisbon. Achilles is still the mentor and it only takes Altaïr a few days of observing Achilles to realize that Achilles was not in the right headspace to be the mentor at the moment. Bayek is actually the one to stop Altaïr, telling him that they all grieve differently when they lose the people they love and they should support Achilles, not reprimand him. This angers Altaïr because he knows how dangerous it is to let grief take control and his lingering guilt of how his anger and wish to avenge Sef led to Maria (and maybe Malik if we’re killing Malik off during the Civil War?) and many of his brothers dying. This makes him say words to Bayek about how he does not understand how the death of a child changes someone and Bayek tries to remain calm but Altaïr is blinded by rage that is actually for himself but he directed it to Bayek instead which leads to a… very heated ‘discussion’.
This is the trigger and Edward gets into this, all heated up and emotional, leading to Edward and Mary leaving the gang to find Haytham on their own. Altaïr takes Desmond away (who follows him willingly) in the heat of the moment and Ezio goes with them to calm Altaïr down (and because he goes wherever Desmond goes)
Kassandra tells Alexios and Eivor that she’s going to follow Edward and Mary and asks Alexios to stay with Bayek and support him as much as he can while Eivor suggests she follows Altaïr and the others to assist Ezio.
We Interrupt the Desmond’s Ancestors Part for Shay Cormac:
Anyway, Lisbon still happens and, it is by chance, that Bayek and Alexios are away from the Homestead when Shay returns and everyone becomes idiots who don’t know what the word COMMUNICATE means. Or… is it a coincidence or the hands of the calculations at play?
Oh and Hope is actually not in the homestead right now because she’s ‘monitoring’ Altaïr and the others who had taken ‘residence’ in New York. Ezio is working with her to make sure the gangs do not do anything dumb while Altaïr and Desmond busy themselves with the Grand Temple because… well, they weren’t any close to finding the singularity point so might as well prepare for the catastrophe they know of anyway.
We now return to Desmond’s Ancestors (Part 5 Ratonhnhaké:ton)
Eivor stays with Altaïr and Desmond and she gets to know the descendants of the people who had helped her when she had been in.
At this point, Ratonhnhaké:ton has been born and likes to watch them and, when he got a bit older, became bold enough to approach Desmond who was always smiling and waving at him. Altaïr and Ezio realized that this is the Ratonhnhaké:ton Desmond always talk about and, seeing his facial structure, they realized that he has to be related to Edward Kenway in some way. Desmond finally admits the real reason why he had ‘let’ Haytham become a Templar and both Altaïr and Ezio tell him that it’s not his fault. He didn’t even realize how Haytham became a Templar until they heard that Edward had been attacked and that Desmond actually thought Haytham became a Templar out of his own free will. He did everything he could. The Templars had been craftier than he had expected them to be and this was ‘inevitable’.
When Desmond is alone, Juno whispers to his ear that Altaïr and Ezio only spoke sweet words to comfort him. That it truly was Desmond’s fault. ALL of this is Desmond’s fault. Desmond remains quiet the entire time.
So same thing happened, Shay becomes a Templar, Haytham does his thing… this time though, Shay is thwarted by Ezio from killing Hope who keeps telling him they can talk about this. Hope survives but her loyalty to Achilles is shattered because she heard Shay’s side of the story first and she can’t believe it, she doesn’t want to believe it but she knew that Shay isn’t the type to lie about such things.
Edward and Mary stop Haytham and Shay from killing Adéwalé but Haytham won’t listen to Edward, calling him an abomination. During the final fight with Achilles, Liam and Shay, Liam sacrifices himself to save Achilles and tried to take Shay with him. He does succeed and Shay died together with Liam.
Only to be revived next to Liam’s dead body. The fact that he has become an immortal, an abomination as Haytham likes to call them, shakes Shay up so severely that he leaves and hides.
It’s… not really a victory as Achilles is left with a limp and Hope is the only person left of his Assassins. Achilles officially retires and Hope takes over as the mentor with both Ezio and Bayek supporting her. Adéwalé stays for a while to help Edward try to find Haytham once more but is soon called away for a more pressing Assassin-related matter.
Things change though because Eivor realized that Ratonhnhaké:ton is Haytham’s son after one of the villagers tells about how a white man had come before them and had been quite close to Kaniehtí:io. Altaïr and Ezio don’t tell Eivor they already knew and they talked about how to tell Edward about it. Desmond asks if they should even tell Edward about this, surprising Eivor. Desmond believes Kaniehtí:io should have the final say if she wants her son to know his grandfather because… well… there has to be a reason why she didn’t stay with Haytham, right? And Edward loves his son too much to not tell him about Ratonhnhaké:ton.
Everything is becoming super complicated now because, yeah, Kaniehtí:io didn’t want anyone to know that Haytham Kenway is Ratonhnhaké:ton’s father and she even threatens to cut their tongue if they tell Haytham about her son. Desmond is totally on her side about this and Eivor agrees because it’s her son. She does warn that Ratonhnhaké:ton deserves to know who his father is. Desmond countered that sometimes having no father is a better alternative than knowing your real father.
Anyway, because Eivor, Altaïr, Ezio and Desmond were nearby, the village didn’t burn but that doesn’t stop the start of the American Revolutions.
This time, though, Ratonhnhaké:ton joins Desmond and the others when they decided to return to the homestead to check up on the others and plan what they can do because his mother finally told him the truth about Haytham Kenway and he wants to meet his father himself. Ratonhnhaké:ton gets trained by Desmond and the others in the ways of the Assassins as they travel back to the Davenport homestead.
Hope is still the mentor and Bayek and Altaïr finally bury the hatchet. Kassandra is keeping them posted on where she and Edward and Mary are and they decide to follow them with Ratonhnhaké:ton joining.
American Revolutions goes more or less the same as canon but, with Charles Lee heavily beaten and almost dying, some things are bound to change. Because the Templars have become more cunning, they secretly played for both sides and George Washington becomes an ally of the Templars without him realizing it or knowing that Charles Lee (one of his main ‘rivals’) was a Templar who didn’t know that Washington was being played by the Templars as well. (It would be funny if, like, Hamilton is a Templar in this one annnnyywwwaaayy)
The Battle of the Chesapeake goes a bit differently but still ends with Ratonhnhaké:ton deciding to kill Haytham Kenway because he realizes that Haytham will forever be loyal to the Templars which means the people he loves will always be in danger as long as he lives. He did meet and got to know Edward so this is also him “doing what needs to be done so grandfather doesn’t have to” kind of deal. This does end with Haytham dying in his hands once more and he leaves Haytham for dead as he tries to kill the remaining Templar (Charles Lee? Hamilton? Idk). Ratonhnhaké:ton dies from his wound after he kills the last Templar and wakes up to see Desmond crying as he held him in his arms.
Ratonhnhaké:ton accepts being an immortal better than everyone expected and he admits that he never thought of being an immortal but now… he realized that a part of him always knew it was going to happen. Something inside him knows this was meant to happen.
They don’t know that Shay had been the one to save Haytham when he died and was revived a minute later. And now both Shay and Haytham have complicated feelings for their immortality but Haytham says that they must use everything in their power for the Templar cause, even if it’s this cursed abomination.
So they go to France to retrieve something from Charles Dorian.
Arno Dorian sees Shay Cormac kill his father.
