"Ezio Auditore, I thought it would be a while before I saw you again." The assassin instantly tensed up at the sound of his name, but didn't turn around. He kept walking, acting as if he didn't know whom this person was talking about, but he knew they were still following him. But it shocked him, he didn't think anyone in Venice would even know who he was, just his friend Leonardo. This wasn't good; it could possibly sabotage his execution he had lined up and then everything he had worked so hard for would be ruined; his alliance with the Thieves Guild, the scouting of the city that he had already done, everything. Another thing that nagged him was that he was pretty sure that the voice was from a woman.
"I know you hear me Ezio and I know that it is you. I can keep up with you, so don't even bother to run." This time the voice whispered and he felt the breath on his neck. The person was close to him, close enough to kill and when he finally dared to turn around, he saw no one. Just the crowd of people, moving in the same direction as him and a few that went the opposite way and none of them stood out to him. He stood for a moment longer, searching the crowd for a familiar face. Maybe someone from Firenze or maybe even Montegirrio, the countryside he owns with his uncle. But he saw no one.
With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned back around and continued back on his way to Leonardo's workshop, the mysterious voice on his mind. He looked around before knocking on Leonardo's door and entering the small workshop.
"Leonardo! My friend, how are you doing?" Ezio greeted as he closed the door behind him, dropping his white hood from his head, exposing his handsome face. When he heard no response, he grew suspicious. He placed a hand on the handle of his sword and called out his name once more, before walking deeper into the room.
His eyes searched the room for anything that could be considered suspicious, but there was nothing out of place. No sign of struggle, just the usual mess of Leonardo's worktable, but then he heard hushed whispers and his ear's perked to the sound. They were argumentative and then something was knocked down.
"Leonardo?" Ezio called out once more a little louder and then there was the shuffling of feet and Ezio got closer to the door and just as he was about to push it open a little farther, Leonardo walked out a smile on his face. He closed the door quickly behind him, but not before Ezio was able to get a glimpse of the person on the other side. It was a woman and she was looking right at him and just before the door closed, she smirked and waved.
"Ezio! How are you doing? È tutto va bene?" Leonardo grabbed Ezio's arm and pulled him away from the door. But Ezio ignored his question and quickly questioned about how he saw in the room.
"Who are you hiding in here Leonardo? Who was that behind the door?"
"Uh…it's no one, just a paying customer." He tried to lie, but it fell flat. Ezio didn't believe a word of it and by showing so; he crossed his arms and glared down at the small Italian painter. Leonardo laughed cautiously before throwing up a finger and slipping away quickly back to the room. Ezio went to follow, but Leonardo turned around right before Ezio could enter the room, Leonardo quickly slammed it shut and locked it.
Ezio rolled his eyes and leaned up against the wall next to the door, hoping to pick a little of the conversation that was going on in the next room, but he was not lucky enough. Leonardo knew he would try to listen in, so he was probably making extra sure to stay quiet on the other side.
It took a few moments before finally the door to the room opened and Leonardo stood in the doorway, a cautious smile on his face. Ezio pushed off the wall and looked at him expectantly.
"You already know her, well she says you do. I do not know who she is or where she came from only that she knew who you are and what you are doing here." Leonardo whispered urgently and Ezio just stared at him confused. "She said she's seen you come here often and decided to come give me a visit. She has been following you around for a while…beh…so she says. She promised me that she wasn't going to get in the way; just that she knew you would eventually come here. So I let her stay, but you came earlier than I expected. I didn't know if she was safe or not."
Ezio's mind instantly went back to the voice he heard on his way over here. He knew he wasn't hearing things. He nodded at the young painter and pulled out a page from his pouch. "Here you can decode this."
Leonardo looked at the page and instantly lost himself in the complex text, scurrying away over to his worktable, ready to decode it. Ezio waited for a moment, looking at the door, wondering what kind of ghosts could possibly wait on the other side. He still couldn't think of anyone that could of possibly known where he was and what he was doing. None of it just added up, but he thought that the best way to find out everything was to just go through that door and find out.
"Bene, bene, the assassin who has been causing so much uproar to the Templars finally decides to show his face to someone he does not know. That's not very safe, now, is it Ezio. I could have been a Templar and you just fell right into my trap." Ezio's eyes locked on the woman who stood a few feet away from him. She was dressed similar to him, but her clothes were more fitting, more feminine than his. But other than that, it was close to the same; a white hood covered most of her face, only exposing her full lips, which were curved up into a smirk. She had the same waistband, buckled tightly around her tiny waist, that he knew probably hid at least 15 different throwing knives and he knew if he lifted up the cape that was draping her shoulder he would probably find a short blade in sheath on her back and a long blade, falling lazily from her waist. His eyes then fell to her arm, and he saw the familiar wristband, hiding a hidden blade, just like the one that he had already killed so many people with.
She was just like him.
An assassin.
"What? Did you believe you were the only one? That your family was the only one that was part of the Creed?" She took a few steps forward until she was only a few feet away from him. His muscles tensed as he stared down at the small woman and as she lifted her head up, her hood fell down, revealing her face. "You remember me . . . don't you Ezio?"
Ezio's eyes widened in realization of who she actually was.
"Giovanna? Ma come?" She smiled; surprised he really did remember her.
"It's simple. I didn't die." Eizo's brain rummaged trying to remember the last time he saw her. It had been years and she wasn't supposed to be here. She wasn't supposed to be alive, but it wasn't that he didn't want her to be, he was just told that she was killed with the rest of her family. How could she survive the attack when her own father, who worked for the Medici family as a guard, a close guard to the family, was not able to?
"But how? Your father, he didn't…. and your brother Mario. They didn't survive and your mother." Ezio was at loss for words, the thoughts were racing around in his brain, trying to decipher it all and figure everything out. It didn't make sense, especially since she had said that his family wasn't the only one who knew of the Creed and was apart of it. Then he tried to figure out how she knew and how she got the equipment and the hidden blade. Women usually weren't apart of the Creed.
"My father made sure I was safe. He did his best to fight them off and Mario was by his side. Mother and I took off in the woods to hide. We made it, Mario and my father didn't." Giovanna looked down, examining the silver brace that was on her right arm. She moved her arm a certain way and Ezio knew exactly what she did and he wasn't shocked when he saw a small silver blade come quickly out of the brace. "I found this on him and took it and learned how to use it and he had this with him too." She held up a rolled up parchment and Ezio's eyes widened when he realized it was a codex page.
"Bene! That's a Codex Page!" Giovanna's brow wrinkled confused and she drew her blade back in and held the parchment close to her chest. Ezio's smile widened and he stepped towards her, holding his arm out for the parchment. "Per favore Giovanna, just let me see it." Still, Giovanna held the paper close to her chest and shook her head.
"It's all I have left of him Ezio." She said quietly and she shook her head again, her soft, dark, black curls swayed slowly across her back. Ezio sighed and dropped his arm back to his side.
"Giovanna, I'm not going to keep it, I'm going to give it back; just let me see it. Per favore?" She stared into his eyes, debating whether or not she was going to give him the paper. She looked down at the parchment, before finally extending her arm and handing it over. Ezio took it slowly, his eyes never leaving hers.
"Grazie, Giovanna. I'm just going to get Leonardo to decipher it for me, va bene?" She slowly nodded her head and Ezio smiled again and turned around and exited the door. He glanced around the dimmed workplace and saw Leonardo bent over a table, a feathered pen moving frantically over a paper. He shook his head and walked over to him slowly and peered over his shoulder.
"I'm almost done Ezio." The young Italian painter mumbled and continued to scurry away on the paper. Ezio didn't hear, but Giovanna then appeared on the other side of Leonardo, bent over his shoulder also and watched him work. Her eyes grew in amazement as she watched as he translated the page.
"Cosa? They're instructions?" Her dark green eyes looked over at Ezio and he nodded his head, crossing his arms together and leaned against the worktable, and glanced down at Leonardo's work. "How many of them have you found? You see what this one will do for your blade? It's amazing." Ezio chuckled and slipped off his hidden blade and placed it on the workbench next to the paper that Leonardo was working on.
"Si, mine was broken when I found it. Leonardo fixed it up for me. He's a genius." Ezio patted Leonardo on the back and the painter looked up with a smile wider then his face, he held the paper up in front of him.
"Finitio!" He looked over at Giovanna and back at Ezio and his smile if possible, grew wider. "I'm guess we are all friends here then?" He looked at Ezio for an answer and the assassin merely nodded. "Bene! But anyway, this Codex Page is genius, if I can do it right, it will allow your brace to shoot a small silver bullet." Ezio's brows furrowed together and Giovanna's eyes widened. A brace that shoots a bullet, is that even possible?
"Can you do it?" Giovanna said quickly, her green eyes sparkling in excitement. This was something different, if only she knew how to read the page that her father had, it would help her be a better assassin, maybe as good as he was and as good as Mario was becoming. Leonardo glanced at the brace that was now sitting on his desk, next to the decoded page and broke out into a grin.
"Of course I can do it!" Giovanna smiled and glanced at the page once again, admiring the rough sketch Leonardo had done on the paper. It was completely amazing and she was so enthralled with the paper that she didn't notice the look that Ezio had given Leonardo. Ezio laid a hand on Leonardo's shoulders and motioned his head for him to follow and the painter quickly listened.
"I want you to put all the adjustments on Giovanna's brace as well. Can you do that?" Ezio side glanced at the young girl who had his brace cradled delicately between her hands, admiring it. "I'll pay for it if you need money, but I think this is a good thing. I could use help and it would be easier to scout the city with two people rather then one." He looked back at Leonardo who was staring at him funny, the smallest of smiles on his lips.
"Non e un problema." Leonardo stared at Ezio for a beat longer, before smiling and quickly running back to his workbench. Ezio watched as he started to talk to Giovanna and laughed quietly to himself as she eagerly slipped off her brace, handing it over to Leonardo, who thanked her and then placed it on the workbench. He was shocked at just how eagerly she did give it up, it took her a while to give that Codex page to him, but she'd eagerly give up the brace to a complete stranger.
"Giovanna," she looked over at the sound of her name and smiled. Ezio raised his arm and motioned her over, and slipped on his hood. "Come, we have some scouting to do and I need to fill you in." She walked over, her brows furrowing, but slipped her hood on too, nonetheless.
"Fill me in?"
He smirked and nodded his head. "Si. You're going to help me take out my next hit."