#honestly the altdes can be romantic or bff/found family

[teecupangel]

Regarding those plot ideas... I have just started Alamut novel, so here goes: Desmond Miles gets rubberbanded to past after AC3. Given the usual "pre-death flashback" thing, he is physically the age he was when he run from Farm. Destination? Pre-AC1 but after Altair being born. In a misguided attempt to preserve history, Desmond sets out to Alamut instead. What say you? (And how would Altair/Desmond still happen?)

Ooohhh, this is interesting.

Honestly, if Desmond's mindset is to preserve history but still keep an eye on the Levantine Brotherhood, becoming a Persian Assassin in Alamut would be his best course of action.

So before anything, we'll set up some parameters/limitations in the setting:

Alamut and the Assassins there are mainly background lore in AC1 and was never really talked about until Revelations where they gave sanctuary to Altaïr and Darim after being cast out of Masyaf

From this, we can make a guess that Alamut (and the Assassins in it) either have their own mentor or they decided to part ways with the Levantine Brotherhood after Abbas became the mentor

However, AC wiki did state that Alamut is considered a base of the Levantine Brotherhood in Assassin's Creed: The Essential Guide (I can confirm with my own copy - p63 talks about Hassan-i Sabbāh leading the Levantine Brotherhood even though, due to his location, he should have been leading the Persian Brotherhood if there is any distinction between the two branches)

It is noted that there was a rumor that Al Mualim building Masyaf created a schism between him and the current ruler of Alamut, Hassan the Younger, and we'll take that rumor as our starting point to make Alamut and Masyaf have a tense relationship with one another in this plot

Let's say Desmond gets kicked in the 12th century with a sixteen-year-old body but with all his memories. We'll let him keep everything he learned from his ancestors via the Bleeding Effect but we'll use the Yew Branches Series' limitation of making all of his ancestors' memories foggy and his hallucinations stop. Since you want pre-AC1, let's make him the same age as Altaïr when he transfers to the past. This way, he would be a simple young man that made his way to Alamut. Also, this meant that Altaïr will be as close to his canon characterization at sixteen (Umar's dead, his friendship with Abbas will or has already deteriorated and Al Mualim is his sole father figure)

Desmond's initial plan is to keep the timeline as close as possible and he decides Alamut is the best place to keep an eye on the Assassins without being part of 'history'. He got this idea because of the memories he received from Altaïr via the Bleeding Effect but he forgot two important things:

The memories he got from Altaïr had always been incomplete because, unlike Ezio, he only had Altaïr's memories from his time in Abstergo's Animus (which was shit compared to Rebecca's baby), and what Ezio saw in the memory seals

Altaïr's thoughts of Alamut and of the events during his time (which is Desmond's only actual insight into the Levantine Brotherhood and of the 3rd Crusades in general because Vidic didn't give any shit about anything not connected to the Apple and Shaun focused on Ezio's and Connor's time period because those were the ones Desmond was accessing) have been heavily influenced by Al Mualim's teachings and indoctrination

(This is where this fic needs to take a lot of liberties with Alamut's history......... and I might have gotten this idea from my plans for Zero Eclipse)

So when he gets to Alamut, he's expecting it to be in dire need of repairs, maybe have fewer Assassins than Masyaf and more soldiers, everything that Altaïr envisioned when he heard that Alamut 'is in dire need of repairs and guidance' which is the rumor going all over Masyaf and the rest of the Levantine Brotherhood thanks to Al Mualim downplaying (and kinda-insulting) Alamut.

What he gets is a castle that looks like it's in the middle of repairs but he realizes that all those scaffolding and ropes made it easier to freerun all over the castle. There were soldiers patrolling, yes, but Desmond's Eagle Vision made it clear to him that there were also Assassins doing the same, sticking to the shadows or blending in the crowds.

In other words, Alamut isn't in a dire situation. it's pretending to be in a dire situation.

And the Assassins have already seen him so he goes in and asks to be indoctrinated into the Brotherhood. This is met with suspicion because everyone in Levant and its neighboring cities/kingdoms believes that Masyaf is the main Assassin stronghold. Alamut is mostly seen as a branch at this point, thanks to Al Mualim's 'popularity', so everyone is sus of this 16-year-old kid who has a complexion closer to a European than someone from around there but speaks fluent Arabic. They agree to train him anyway but they'll be keeping an eye on him.

Desmond becomes a recruit and he pretends to be worse than he actually is because he doesn't want any eyes on him. Unfortunately, the Assassins of Alamut are brutal even in training. In this fic, we'll use the glimpses we saw of Basim's training in the AC Mirage trailer as the premise of how Alamut trains their recruits. Freerunning all over unstable scaffolding, fighting in the dark...

The Levantine Brotherhood evolved under Al Mualim to be more militaristic and honorable, with only their blades and their stealth. The Persian Brotherhood in Alamut stagnated, keeping the teachings of old, of fighting in the shadows and using everything at your disposal to complete a mission.

And Desmond finds himself challenged by this. Not by the brutality of the training but because his instincts kept kicking in and he can't stop it. He doesn't want to stop it. Fighting dirty using Ezio's habit of throwing dirt on people's faces then following it up with Connor's knee kick or with Altaïr's oneshot sword kills. Throwing bombs with Ezio's aim, taking down his opponent using his own ropedart that he created using Connor's memories... They kept him connected to his ancestors. It's all he has left of them and he won't let them go.

That made him stand out. That made him catch the eye of Alamut's current mentor, A'lā’ Muhammad, which Desmond didn't want to do in the first place.

(And because I want to: Desmond gets to have his own eagle because it's tradition for the Alamut Assassins to have an eagle of their own like their predecessors before them and everyone is amused by Desmond's inability to name his eagle, not knowing he wanted to name it Ezio but can't because it felt like favoritism so someone suggested he just name it Aquila and that was good enough of a reference to all his ancestors that he went along with it)

So the mentor of Alamut takes a shine on Desmond, finding his reluctance to take missions outside of Alamut but his penchant to hoard any information about the outside world and especially of Levant interesting in its contradictory nature. So he takes Desmond under his wing (add some parallel to Al Mualim and Altaïr's relationship here, maybe even sprinkle a bit of Connor and Achilles as well to keep Desmond super sus while adding some bits of paternal scenes that will absolutely throw shades of Bill's bad parenting and how that fucked up Desmond so badly that he can't help but like the fatherly kindness he's receiving)

And Desmond gets missions outside of Alamut which he can't say no to because he is, unfortunately, loyal to the mentor of Alamut now (because daddy issues!) and he is always successful, keeping in the shadows and being pretty much the model Assassin that all Alamut Assassins strive to be (which is not what Desmond wanted, he just wanted to stay as an npc, damn it!).

During the same time, Altaïr is starting to make a 'name' for himself and everyone in Masyaf hears about Desmond, of course. Not his name. Never. The tense relationship between Masyaf and Alamut meant all communication between them are coded and lacked any personal information. A'lā’ Muhammad has taken the rocky relationship Al Mualim had with his predecessor and turned it into just a stone's throw away from hostility. It doesn't help that the Assassins Al Mualim believed were getting annoying and might be threatening his position in Masyaf were always transferred to Alamut (and some might even die on the way to Alamut by unfortunate circumstances or maybe even Templar patrols that shouldn't be there in the first place).

And the tense relationship between Masyaf and Alamut includes having a relationship something similar to rivalry.

And that's where Altaïr and Desmond's paths 'intersect'!

One day, Desmond is just chilling, feeding his pet eagle and going 'good job tagging all those guards for me, who's the best eagle?' and his eagle preens like 'me! bow down before me, you peons! except you, des, i like you, i give you permission to rub my neck, oooohh, yeeessss, theeerreee' (i... don't know where that came from but i'm rolling with it, i guess) and one of the Alamut Assassins suddenly rants to him.

Random npc: Desmond! Get this! Those Masyaf dogs have the gall to copy us! Desmond: ??? Random npc: They dare give one of their soldiers the title of Eagle of Masyaf! Desmond: Oh. (So this is when Altaïr gets that moniker, huh?) Random npc: This is outrageous! Those glory hounds have no class at all, copying your title of Eagle of Alamut with no shame! Desmond: Not all of them are glo- wait. Eagle of Alamut? ME? WHAT???

And now all of Alamut and Masyaf knows about the Eagle of Masyaf and Eagle of Alamut while Desmond is embarrassed and freaking out because this is NOT STAYING INCOGNITO, OH MY GOD.

Back in Masyaf, Altaïr doesn't care about it at all although Abbas uses it a lot to annoy him, telling him that he's not any better than the Eagle of Alamut, blah blah blah. At the start, Altaïr doesn't care. So some Assassin is better than him, that's not his problem. He is still good at what he does and his record is impeccable. Fuck Abbas. Then, later on, everyone is comparing him to this supposed Eagle of Alamut who nobody in Masyaf knows is actually a pretty chill dude who always accepts missions with a groan like it's a stupid household chore his dad is making him do and would rather spend the day just chilling with his eagle and maybe listening to other people's problems while serving them tea (because alcohol is forbidden). Masyaf sees Desmond as this super Assassin who follows the tenets and Creed to the letter and Altaïr is getting annoyed by all these comparisons (while Desmond, in Alamut, knows Altaïr enough to know 'oh fuck, Abbas is gonna use me against Altaïr, isn't he? I hope nobody is bullying him by using me. Just let him ignore my existence, pllleeeasseee!') and finally has a breaking point when Malik tells him that he should learn from the action of the Eagle of Alamut (Malik didn't mean it to annoy Altaïr, he meant it to criticize Altaïr's habit of foregoing stealth to get a quick kill instead which is dangerous for everyone, including Altaïr himself) and that's when it happens.

Altaïr starts to see the Eagle of Alamut as a rival. While Desmond just wants Altaïr not to know about his very existence.

Desmond's actions propel Altaïr to strive to be better, to be more than Desmond could ever be. The butterfly effect is in full motion now. Malik sees Altaïr working harder than ever, sees him actually trying, and eases up, just a little. Kadar thinks he's cooler than ever but also sees him more as a human than a hero because all that hard work makes a guy think. Abbas is still Abbas unfortunately but Kadar is more outspoken about how he's talking shit. Malik gets in between the two arguing more often than not because Abbas is of a higher rank than Kadar and all Kadar has is his unofficial status as Altaïr's sorta-best friend (nobody knows how that happened, even Altaïr himself) and that grants some leeway because no one wants to incur Altaïr's anger. Malik gets roped in as a friend of Altaïr because of this (which both of them would deny vehemently while Kadar would just be like "yup, we're a trio now, suck it Abbas!")

Some things stay the same. Adha still dies. Her death still affected Altaïr so badly that he broke all three tenets during the mission to retrieve the Apple. But, this time, Kadar survives because he's been training harder and Altaïr has been teaching him a bit but is mortally wounded. Malik blames Altaïr for the failure and his brother almost dying, he is stripped of his rank and ordered to atone by taking nine lives.

But Desmond's actions also sent waves across every faction of the 3rd Crusades. A'lā’ Muhammad receives a letter from Robert de Sablé and learns of Al Mualim's duplicity. But this could all be a ploy, a way to drive a stake between the two Brotherhoods and make them kill each other. Desmond is confused why Robert would write to them and wonders if the same thing happened in the original timeline (it didn't, Desmond's exploits as the Eagle of Alamut have raised Alamut standing in the eyes of the Templars and Robert was trying to use them to lower Al Mualim's power).

That's when his mentor gives him a new mission: Find proof of Al Mualim's betrayal.

And Desmond realizes.

The best and easiest way to find proof of Al Mualim's betrayal was to check the belongings of those in Robert's inner circle for any documents that were written by Al Mualim or mentioned Al Mualim by name.

And the Templars of Robert's inner circles are... the ones that Altaïr will be ordered to assassinate.

Oh. Fuck.

Cue AC1 plot but with Altaïr and Desmond's path intersecting at various points.

Maybe add in a scene where Desmond helps Altaïr gather information on where his current target is then, later on, Altaïr finds Desmond looking over the documents of his target and realizes that Desmond had used him as a fucking distraction ("You were gonna kill him anyway! And these documents are going into the fire once he's dead!" "That's not the point! You used me!" "Used is such a horrible word. I just... you know... saw an opportunity." "I will kill you!" "Stay your blade from the flesh of the- Oh, jesus!" - cue chase scene all over the city between two Assassins-)

(and they only stopped their chase when Desmond jumped into the bureau and shouted 'you can't kill me with the Rafiq watching us!' and the Rafiq just sees these two dumbasses, sweaty and trying to catch their breath, and just shrugs and leaves for the backroom while Desmond and Altaïr just crumbles to the floor, their body aching and protesting over the unnecessary chase sequence, Desmond laughs because he can't believe Altaïr just chased him all over the entire city and Altaïr can't help but laugh with him because even he knows that was stupid and Desmond's laughter is infectious)

This event only leads to them growing closer. Desmond hears Altaïr's struggles over the final words of his targets and tries to comfort him. He begins to see Altaïr not as his ancestor but as a fellow Assassin trying to be better and Desmond is too much of a softie to not try to help.

And, even though Desmond infuriates him to no end, Altaïr can't help but feel something for him. Something... similar to how he felt for Adha but also different at the same time. Desmond was his equal, the only person he couldn't catch no matter how far or how long he chased him, the only person he couldn't take down with his swordsmanship, the only person who will not judge him if he tells him his greatest fear or the uncertainty in his heart, the only person who always seemed to know where he is, no matter how hard Altaïr hides from him. And Desmond glows in his Eagle Vision, glows brighter than anyone he had ever seen, a swirl of gold and blue that was beautiful in his eyes.

And Altaïr is unsure of his feelings. So he goes to the one person he knows would not be kind and would say the truth.

At this point, my penchant for making Malik suffer through the stupidity of these two dumbasses continues and he has to be the one to listen to Altaïr and be the one to tell him "......... you love him. That's what you're feeling. Now, if you're done torturing me with your poetry for the Eagle of Alamut, leave me be so I can ask someone to hit me in the head hard enough to forget this torture ever happened."

And Altaïr recognizes the truth in Malik's words and understands that it is love that he feels.

Meanwhile, Desmond knows he is falling for Altaïr. He's not dumb. He can see the signs. But he also knows...

Altaïr is meant to fall in love with Maria.

INSERT ANGST HERE.

And that's where I'm gonna leave this plot. Hahahaha.

tl;dr: AltDes is mainly (onesided)rivalry to friendship to romance with the mystery and intrigue of the 3rd Crusades as the backdrop.