Disclaimer: I do not own Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Or, any of the other games. Ubisoft does. If I owned the Assassin's Creed world, everyone would be happy and the endings would make sense. (Dear Ubisoft, YOUR ENDINGS. WHAT. THE HECK. ...just...just, WHAT?)
SPOILER ALERT! I REFER HEAVILY TO ACTUAL EVENTS IN THE GAME. IF YOU DIDN'T DO THAT CRISTINA MEMORY, YET, DON'T READ THIS FIC! PLAY THE GAME, AND COME BACK LATER. SRSLY. PLAY THE GAME! Btw, every chapter will be centred around each Cristina Memory. So, if you've only played one memory, then just read the first chapter. That's easy enough for you to understand, right?
Memory in a Memory; A Second Chance
Roma was starting to grow on Ezio. The master assassin had been hard at work since he had arrived a few weeks before, rebuilding the great city, and it was starting to pay off. Ezio had already freed a handful of Borgia towers, and rebuilt several shops in the vicinity. La Rosa in Fiore's renovations were almost completed, Bartolomeo's Barracks were no longer threatened by a neighbouring Borgia captain, and La Volpe was at least willing to cooperate with Machiavelli. Ezio's plans to overthrow the Borgia were slowly gaining support; he just wished there were other assassins for him to work with.
That day was especially lonely, for the last male Auditore. The tall man suppressed a sigh as he walked Roma's busy streets. St. Valentine's Day was fast approaching, and lovers were everywhere. Before him, a couple held hands while buying fruits together. To his left, another couple shared an intimate moment as they sat on a bench together; or rather, he sat on the bench and she perched on his lap. And to his right, a small boy with a gap in his teeth offered a little girl a daisy.
Ridiculous, Ezio thought, slightly nauseated at all the romance around him.
To think that he had once loved the holiday. But, alas, no longer. The man's heart had grown hard, to such things.
After a few minutes of almost wading through all of Roma's lovers, Ezio considered climbing up a ladder and running across rooftops to avoid all the romance. It would be easy, and he would not have to deal with besotted eyes everywhere. He almost did it, too; walking into one of Roma's market squares, he knew that there was a ladder just on the other side that he could climb without arousing suspicion.
But instead, a flash of red caught his eye. Not the dark Borgia uniform red, but a brighter shade. Only a few feet away from him, there was a woman in a red dress, browsing a flower stall.
Ezio's chest ached a little when he saw that dress. It was the wrong colour, but the cut and make were exactly the same...
Merda...why did I have to see that? Ezio cursed inwardly, realizing he had stopped in his tracks to stare at the dress, As if I was not thinking of her already!
The woman before him turned at that moment, to face Ezio. He blinked when he recognized her; he only knew of one woman always wore a simple masquerade mask with no eyes.
"Buongiorno? Is someone there?" she asked, offering her hand in Ezio's general direction.
He hesitated, then took her slim hand in his own.
"Si. It's me," he said roughly, then brushed his lips on the back of her hand, "How did you know I was there?"
"Ah, Signore Auditore," the young woman gave him that odd little half-smile of hers, "You have very sharp eyes, and they were boring into my back."
"Mi scusi, Micaella," Ezio mumbled apologetically, and was reminded about how he had first come to know this woman.
Micaella was a young, blind woman; she was once a servant, but had been turned out onto the street. The story Micaella told was that she was so clumsy as a blind servant that her master got sick of her and threw her out as a small child. La Volpe, however, told Ezio otherwise.
Micaella had not been born blind. According to the Thief Guild leader, Micaella's master had made several advances on her, when she started to come of age. She resisted him, but Micaella was of foreign blood which tantalized the master, so he continued to hound her. Finally, one night, the master's wife walked in on one of his coercions. She misunderstood, or perhaps refused to see the truth, and believed that it was the servant who was seducing her husband. In a fit of rage, the mistress grabbed an oil lamp and threw the hot, burning oil into Micaella's eyes, both blinding her, and destroying the beauty her master had lusted for.
Finished with her, both master and mistress turned their servant out of their home into the streets of Roma, where some of La Volpe's thieves rescued her. They taught her how to use her ears, nose and hands to replace her sight, and had trained her a little to protect herself. She could not do much for work, but she soon realized that people rarely notice the blind woman on the street, or forget that she is blind, and not deaf. Secrets are said a little too loudly, and plans are revealed that should have been whispered softer. Micaella offered her services as an informant to La Volpe, in return for the guild's protection, and she had been in their employ ever since.
Ezio met Micaella before he even knew La Volpe was in Roma. While he had been healing from his injuries from the raid on Monteriggioni, Micaella had been stationed in the area. He often saw her out the window, playing with some of the street urchins; they would try to sneak up on her, and she would tap them lightly with her staff as soon as she knew where they were. The children were enchanted by how she always sensed them so accurately, as was Ezio. He first spoke to her to find out how she did it; perhaps she could teach him to sense his surroundings in the same way. Micaella smiled and agreed that, should they both find a chance for a lesson, she would, but until then, he really should lie down; she could hear his uneven breathing from where she sat.
They got to know each other better as the days went by. Even after he moved to the hideout on Isola Tiberina, he often visited her wherever she was stationed for her company. He had developed a certain fondness for the strange woman. She was quiet and kind, with a witty but controlled tongue; she was a refreshing change from the courtesans' constant giggling, or the thieves' and mercenaries' raucous fun. Micaella was a constant calm in the storm that was Roma, and, in addition to that, Ezio sensed a deep-seated sadness in Micaella, despite her smiles and smart words, which he could relate to all too well. Ezio was glad to have found at least one friend in the great city; he was no stranger to loneliness, but as of late, the feeling cut deeper than it used to, and his new friend helped dull the pain a little.
Their friendship had fully established only a week before, shortly after the fake inn, La Volpe Addomentata, finished its renovations. They had both been there for its grand opening, as well as the small celebratory feast that was held that night. Ezio had meant to find a woman at the party to forget his troubles with for a while, but ended up taking a walk around the grounds, instead. Behind the stables, he found Micaella with some of the thieves' children, and the usual street urchins. She had been dancing with them to the music that was playing just across the way, with her skirt pulled up to her knees, laughing with them as they kept time with their feet. On a whim, he joined the silly party, first picking up Micaella and twirling her around in a circle, then doing the same with the other girls, and encouraging the boys to do the same. That was the first time he had genuinely smiled in over a year.
"That was fun!" Micaella had laughed when the music ended and the children were called to bed.
"Si!" Ezio agreed, leading her by the elbow to the inn, "I have never seen you laugh, like that!"
"Ah, well..."
She meant to smile at him, but it slipped into a half-smile before she could help herself. This always happened, Ezio noticed. In the middle of laughing or smiling, it was if she would remember something which sapped her joy away, and she would go back to her serene, almost aloof manner. Ezio pointed it out to her, that night; a little rudely, to be sure, but she was ever blue in his Sight, so he took a chance. Instead of answering, though, her mouth quirked a little, and she looked thoughtful.
"...You were once a very happy person, weren't you?" Ezio asked, watching her carefully to see if her aura changed. It never did.
"I..." the corner of her mouth twitched, "Well, yes. Once. So were you, I think, Ser Ezio."
"Who, me?" he tried to joke with her, "Please, mia bella! Women want me and men want to be me! I am happy!"
"Not as you once were," she said candidly, and Ezio could just imagine her rolling her eyes behind her mask.
"Oh? And how would you know?" Ezio asked, almost scoffing at her.
They were almost at the inn, but Micaella stopped them from walking further. Instead she turned to Ezio and raised an eyebrow at him.
"How long have we known each other? More than a month?" Micaella shook her head slowly, "I have not heard you laugh at all in that time. A bit of a long while, don't you think?"
"Sure you have heard me laugh! I chuckle at your silly comments," Ezio pointed out, intending to win this argument.
"You never laugh like I did with the children, I meant," Micaella specified, with a small sigh; Ezio figured she was thinking something along the lines of, Stupid, stubborn man.
"I could never. Your laugh is much too beautiful for me to mimic," Ezio smiled disarmingly, hoping to charm her to end the conversation.
Instead, Micaella raised her face towards him, as if studying him, somehow, even though he knew it was impossible. Just as he was wondering what she was doing, suddenly, she reached up at Ezio's face. He flinched, thinking she was going to slap him, but relaxed when all she did was lay it against the side of his face. She did the same with her other hand, touching his features gently. He was used to this; she often felt faces to better understand what people looked like.
"...See? I am smiling," Ezio said, when her fingers lightly brushed against his mouth, "Happy Ezio."
"No...not here," she touched around his eyes, "Or here," she touched just behind his jawbone, where tensed muscles were, "Not a real smile. I am not the only one here wearing a mask."
The tall man could not help staring down at her, stunned that she had made such an observation despite knowing so little about him. He then chuckled a little bitterly as he took her hands down from his face; idly, he touched the corner of her frowning mouth with a finger.
"Bella mia...I prefer your smile to this scowl. What happened to you?"
His teasing smirk faded into a sympathetic look when she answered him, almost too softly to be heard.
"My heart was broken. Simple as that," Micaella's lips twisted into a wistful half-smile, and she tapped the centre of Ezio's chest lightly, "As was yours, no, Ser Ezio?"
"What brings you to the market?" Micaella asked at that moment, snapping Ezio out of his reminiscing.
"Hm? Ah...no reason," Ezio shrugged, looming over Micaella as if guarding her, "Just looking for a place less..." He looked around at all the affectionate couples and wondered what word would explain them.
"Crowded?" Micaella suggested, when Ezio's voice trailed off.
"Something like that," he nodded, watching Micaella closely, "What are you up to?"
Her hands touched each flower at the stand gently, feeling their petals; occasionally, she would lean forward to smell a blossom, before moving on to the next.
"I am looking for the perfect flower. Clearly," Micaella answered, giving Ezio a condescending smile.
"Oh? Perhaps for a stunning, young assassin with sharp eyes?" Ezio teased, then added, "He probably likes roses. White ones."
"Hm, I don't know anyone like that," she said, then, after sniffing another flower, "I do know a sharp-eyed assassin who is only stunning, though."
Micaella laughed when she heard Ezio splutter at that, and finally selected a flower. It was then that Ezio noticed she was holding three similar flowers already; one carnation and she was adding a third chrysanthemum. She held the tiny bouquet out to him.
"Help me. What colour are these?" she asked, raising an eyebrow to him.
"Red, red, yellow, and white," Ezio said, wiggling each stem so she knew which one he was indicating.
"Oh! Yikes."
Hurriedly, she removed the yellow chrysanthemum and put it back on the stall, almost as if it were about to bite her.
"...what was wrong with it?" Ezio smirked, as Micaella handed the flowers to the stall owner to be tied together.
"That flower meant 'slighted love'," Micaella answered, turning back to the stall to look for one more bloom, "One of my boys wants to tell a girl his feelings, and asked me to get flowers to give to her that said that."
"I see. What do the rest mean?" Ezio asked, stopping Micaella from getting her purse out and paying the stall owner for her.
"Oh, you don't need to-" she tried to protest.
"Piacere mio. So, what does this mean?" Ezio asked, taking the bundle of flowers.
The woman selling the flowers chuckled a little when she saw Ezio pretending to offer them to Micaella. But of course, the lady in red couldn't see it.
"What? What's he..." her face changed from confused to amused, "Is he kneeling? He is, isn't he?"
"Si, signorina," the stall owner nodded.
Micaella sighed, not really in the mood to play along, then chuckled and decided to humour her friend.
"Oh, signore!" she said with exaggerated joy, clasping her hands together by the side of her face, "Flowers? For me! How kind! Oh, and such sweet meanings, too! Chrysanthemums are for long life and joy! Ah...what colour is this one?" she whispered, touching one blossom.
"Rosso!" Ezio whispered back, and winked at the flower seller when she giggled again.
"Oh, caro mio! You love me?" Micaella continued, as if she hadn't paused at all, then touched the white chrysanthemum, "With a loyal love? Truly? And-" she smiled when she touched the red carnation, "Your heart aches for me? Sei romantico!"
Abruptly, now that she was done, her face and voice fell from blissful to embarrassed, "Alright, now get up; we're causing a scene."
Still with his patented smirk, Ezio obliged, rising to his feet and taking Micaella's elbow. Gently, after he made sure she grabbed the walking staff that she usually used to get around, Ezio guided her out of the market, weaving her between groups of people, away from patrolling guards, and...oh, yes. The couples. As if he hadn't forgotten about them.
"Cazzo," he muttered, averting his eyes from yet another public display of affection. It wasn't that he was embarrassed by them; only that it hurt when he remembered a person with which he once acted the same way.
"Hm?" Micaella raised an eyebrow and reached up to place a hand on his face as she walked beside him, "What's wrong, Ser Ezio?"
"Nothing, non importa," Ezio lied, shaking his head.
He tried moving his face away from her hand, but she had already noticed something in the muscles at the corner of his mouth.
Almost like he was wincing in pain, she thought. And she had a feeling she knew what that painful thing was.
Micaella waited a moment before saying, almost casually, "St. Valentine's Day is in a few days."
Ezio grunted once, swatting her hand away from his face irritably with the hand that held her bouquet. The young woman's words could sometimes hit too close to home; usually it was charming, but this case was an exception.
"Be careful with Natanaele's flowers!" Micaella exclaimed, It took so long for me to select them!
She managed to get her hand on Ezio's shoulder, and, sliding down his arm as a guide, she grabbed his wrist and took the flowers from his hand.
"Fine, take them!" Ezio snapped, then, regretting his tone, "...the flowers are fine."
"...yes, they are," Micaella nodded, after checking them herself, "...you truly hate St. Valentine's Day, don't you?"
"Not...no," Ezio denied, struggling for the right words, "I just...don't...like it."
Micaella gave him a knowing look. He relented.
"Mamma mia, this girl! Fine! I hate St. Valentine's Day!" Ezio sighed heavily, earning himself a strange look from a passerby.
"What a strange man..." they both heard him say, but they ignored it. It wasn't as if he would alert a Borgia soldier about a man hating the day of love.
Micaella and Ezio walked Roma's streets together in silence, for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts; Micaella sensed she had annoyed her friend enough and decided it would be better to give him a little space. The sky was starting to grow dark, Ezio noticed. Perfect. It suited his mood.
"...I used to love St. Valentine's Day," Ezio muttered, more to himself than Micaella.
"As did I," Micaella nodded, a pensive look on her face, "It was a magical day when any boy could suddenly turn out to be your love."
"Si," Ezio agreed, "All the romance, the flowers...the silly, little pink hearts...I used to love them."
Micaella laughed once, then sighed. Ezio noticed that she barely stifled a gasp as she pressed a hand to her chest. He knew that pain.
"Did you meet him on...?" Ezio's voice trailed off, not sure if he should continue.
"No, no," Micaella gave him her little half-smile, knowing he meant the man that broke her, but trying to brush the topic off, "I met him on an ordinary day. I wasn't expecting him, at all."
"Love at first sight?" he guessed with a smile.
"Ugh," Micaella scoffed at that, "Not even close. We were children. ...Actually, I think I first saw him at a market place. Not that romantic, huh?"
"...Excuse me if I find your love story boring," Ezio said dryly. Micaella chuckled at that.
"What about you, signore? Would you care to tell me your epic love story?"
Ezio's smile slipped, then turned into a frown when he realized, "I met her at the...town square. With lots of shops and stalls. ...I met her at the market," he blinked, ignoring Micaella's laughter, "Merda...what were the odds of that?"
"Still feel romantic, Ser Ezio?" Micaella smiled, and Ezio poked her side, annoyed.
"It was still love at first sight, for me," he insisted, refusing to give up on his story. His eyes and voice softened, as he remembered, "I saw her across the square...she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. When I told my brother, he urged me to talk to her."
"How brave! How did that go?" Micaella smiled.
"...it didn't start very well," Ezio winced at the memory, "I forgot to speak and kept smiling at her like a fool."
"From what I hear, you have a rather devilish smile. A very charming one."
"Not that time," Ezio groaned, rubbing his face with his free hand, "Mio Dio, what was I thinking? She thought I was a moron, and wouldn't even tell me her name."
Micaella patted Ezio's shoulder sympathetically, then urged him to tell her what happened next.
"Well, in spite of that...horribly embarrassing beginning, I managed to make her laugh before she walked away from me. I wanted to fix things, so I thought that I would follow her a ways; see where she lived."
"Hm..." Micaella sniffed her flowers once before commenting, "You don't think that was a little creepy, following her home?"
"I wasn't trying to stalk the girl! I just wanted to know so I could..." he frowned again, "...casually 'bump into her' from time to time...wait for her to come out so I could follow her around...watch what a day in her life was like..."
In hindsight, his gesture really did make him seem like some kind of stalker. Ezio started to wonder what else in his life had he done that was less charming than he believed it was.
"Alright, so you made her laugh, and followed her home..." Micaella nudged Ezio with her elbow, "Then what happened?"
"Ah!" Ezio remembered something that would redeem his tale, "Another boy was stalking her! I mean, another boy was actually stalking her. Ugh, Vieri!" Ezio frowned just at the thought of the boy, "We were never friends; I hated that guy!"
"What did he do?"
"He was always making fun of my family, talking down on it like his was so much better!"
"No, I meant with your lady..."
"Oh, right. He was such a figli di puttana...the girl would have none of him, saying she wasn't interested in him, but he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. I think, if I weren't there," Ezio's lip curled, "I think he meant to force himself on her."
"That's terrible!" Micaella was aghast.
"E vero!"
"...but you were there."
"Si," Ezio's smirk returned, "I saved her. I beat Vieri's face in and sent him away, his tail between his legs like the dog he was."
"Did the girl see?" Micaella asked eagerly, and when Ezio murmured his proud assent, "That's wonderful! You were her hero! What did she say?"
"She thanked me, said I was very kind...and she finally told me her name," Ezio smiled a little; Micaella shared the smile when she caught all the notes of affection in his voice.
"...What was it?" she prompted quietly, when Ezio fell silent, her curiosity getting the better of her.
At first, he did not answer. After a few silent minutes passed, Micaella patted her escort's arm.
"Never mind," she said gently, "I don't need to kno-"
"Cristina."
At the sound of his voice, without hesitation Micaella took the hand that was at her elbow between both of hers, cradling it. He had said the name so tenderly...almost like a prayer. And his voice...his low, suddenly husky voice... She wanted to touch his face to know his expression, but he probably would never forgive her if she did.
"...her name is Cristina," Ezio said hoarsely, and Micaella gripped his hand tighter. She felt sick, hearing her friend's voice twist in such a way. How much heartache had he bottled up, to make him sound like that?
"...What a beautiful name," Micaella complimented softly, wishing she had better words to say.
"Si. Tutti la Cristina e bella..."
Esperwen- Well, there's the first chapter for the first memory. The first memory was really funny and cute, and I tried to write the chapter accordingly. Angsty Ezio is a little painful to write, though... I'm more of a comedy/cheeseball romance writer, and bittersweet doesn't come to me easily, so help me out and toss me some constructive reviews!
Also, there's the first glimpse of one of my Portal-travelling OCs in the Assassin's Creed world! Don't worry, this will not be an EzioxOC fic. It is all about Ezio/Cristina.
What did you think of Micaella? All those memories surfaced when Ezio spoke to her, and I figure, why not make her a friend who's going through pain that's similar to his? And, since he doesn't know Micaella that well, yet, he starts telling her about Cristina from the beginning, when they first met each other.
Btw, this could totally have happened around Valentine's Day! Even if you don't try, you'll still have enough synchronization by the time "February 1500" rolls around to unlock this first memory. Or, if you try really hard, you still need to do all of those building renovations in "January 1500", and considering how long construction took in that time, finishing each building would have ended around early February. ...SO YEAH. Valentine's Day!
I will update this thing on my own time. I'm still in university and have a lot of homework; I shouldn't even be writing this now.
Half-butt translation: (I'm assuming you know all the other words from the game)
Tutti la Cristina e bella = All about Cristina is beautiful. ('k, so I can't actually speak Italian, so that was me cobbling together some words I learned from music score sheets and using French grammar. Please correct it if it's wrong!)
