A/N: Now, having watched all the new trailers for "Brotherhood," I'm stoked. ^_^ This is supposed to take place post ACII and perhaps a year or two before "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood."

Elena wasn't a particularly striking woman at first glance. She had large, brown eyes and dark, wavy hair that tended to frizz around her face if she didn't pull it back in a thick ponytail that hung below her ribs. Soft cheekbones and plump, rosy lips were common enough in most Italian women and her small physique was a far cry from the impressive long-legged, lengthy-backed Russian women she had met once in Florence.

But to the local baker who'd bothered to linger on her a moment more or the skittish young boy that always heckled her to buy a fresh bushel of apples, she was a subtle, sharp beauty. Her eyes weren't just brown; they were tinged with green and framed with slender, exquisite eyebrows that could've put many of the town's architectural arches to shame. She moved with graceful poise, gliding through the market square as if she were wearing a noble woman's royal blue velvet instead of the drab, mud-splattered frock that hung loosely from her petite shoulders. She was nondescript enough to vanish amongst the crowd, yet pretty enough to be noticed. And for that, she was grateful.

"Dio, could they make these things any smaller?"

Elena looked away from the city of Venice sprawled before them and turned to glance back at her mother. To put it nicely, her mother was round. Very round and very uncomfortable while sitting cross-legged in the middle of the gondola. Elena smiled at her mother's scrunched face; the smell of Venice would take some getting used to.

"Eh?"

Elena's father, with his grey beard blowing in the stinking wind, was sitting towards the front of the small boat and looking around at everything, even though his blue-glazed eyes could see nothing.

"I can't imagine why Serafina would want to live here," the older woman grumbled. "What's so wrong with a nice manor out in the countryside and a few horses and chickens and a pretty little garden?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "It's not like she had a choice, Mamma. Can't you just be happy that your newly-wed daughter has a good home to live in and a husband that loves her?"

"Sì, sì, I am. But," she covered her face with her sleeve, "why does it have to smell like fish and feet?"

Elena smiled and glanced at the cloudy waters skimming by the boat. Serafina was six years younger than her, but had managed to fall in love by the age of twenty with Alessandro De Luca da Venezia, a young seaman who made a living sailing the coasts of Italy. Ever since her sister's marriage two years ago, Elena had found herself very lonely in her parent's household, playing the role of the notorious spinster maid. At nearly thirty, she had resigned herself to this fate, though not unhappily. Men, she had decided a long time ago, were more trouble than they're worth.

The gondola drifted out of the mainstream current and pulled alongside one of the many warped docks that looked as though they were about to sink into the murky waters.

Elena stood. "Mamma, I'll be right back."

"Elena! Elena, where are you going?"

"I'll be right back!"

Abandoning her mother and father in the unstable gondola, she flew out of the small boat and raced along the dock, the salty air stealing the hem of her baggy, brown dress. She ran along the narrow, cobblestone roads with an idiotic grin on her face the entire time. She'd been waiting two very long, very boring years to see her sister again and she'd be damned if she was about to delay that reunion by walking.

Rounding a corner at full-speed, she nearly collided with a nobleman and his escort.

Laughing, she tried to apologize.

"Scusi! Dispiace, signore!" (Excuse me! Sorry, sir!) For some reason, he didn't find it as funny.

She finally reached the outskirts of the little sinking island and caught sight of the ancient wooden door that led into the house. Elena skipped the stone steps two at a time to reach it and burst through without even bothering to knock.

"Fina!" she called. "Serafina!"

At first, only empty echoes replied and almost Elena wondered if she'd just invaded the wrong house. Then,

"Elena?"

Serafina was so much different than her sister in every way, that many a joke had been passed around the dinner table, accusing their parents of having strayed from their faithful marriage. She was taller, with a beautifully long neck that drew more attention from the men than the courtesans did with their thighs, had golden hair that sparkled when the sun hit it, and massive blue eyes that seemed to swallow whatever they looked at.

She trotted down the stairs, laughing when Elena raced up the last few to meet her halfway and embrace her in a binding hug.

"It is you! I cannot believe it!"

"Sì, it's been forever!" Elena ran her fingers through her sister's blonde locks. "How I've missed you, Fina! You can't imagine."

"And I you! I'm not used to having a house all to myself."

The two sisters stepped back and looked each other over.

"All to yourself?" Elena wondered, grinning. "Then what, pray, have you done with Messer Alessandro? Dumped him in the canal?"

"No, idiota! He's out at sea, but he'll be back tomorrow. The house just feels so empty and big when he's not here."

"You mean your bed feels empty and big."

They laughed until Serafina seemed to finally realize that he sister was alone.

"Where's Mamma and Papà?"

"Oh, they're coming. You know them, the sun will start to set before they—"

Serafina grabbed her sister by the forearm, hard, and suddenly dragged her into the next room, ignoring the giggly yelp from Elena.

"Ouch! What are you doing?"

The blonde turned back to her, blue eyes sparkling darkly, as if she was waiting on edge to blurt out the biggest secret in all of Italy. She licked her lips nervously.

"Elena, go upstairs and tell him to leave."

"What?"

"Before Mamma and Papà come. I'll go fetch them at the docks if you—"

"Serafina, what are you talking about?"

"Ezio."

Elena could feel her eyes trying to bulge out of her head, while her stomach took a nosedive down into her heels. She hadn't heard that name in a very long time, but within a few seconds, her mind was swimming in old memories of long nights of wine and drunken laughter and lewd conversations that always ended up being finished in bed.

"No, Serafina…he's here?"

"Sì."

"But why?"

"I'll tell you later."

The question blurted out before Elena even realized she'd asked it. "Did he bring Gabriele with him?"

At the mention of their brother's name, Serafina cast her eyes to the floor and shook her head/

"Elena, please. I promise I'll explain everything later, but I need you to go get him to leave. He's upstairs, in the bedroom—"

She threw up her hands and let out a bark of laughter. "Ah! Perfetto! (Perfect!) He's in the bedroom! And why me? What makes you think I can convince him to leave? You're the one who let him in!"

"Because he always listens to you better. And someone needs to fetch Mamma and Papà—"

Elena dragged her hands over her face and groaned. "Perché, Dio? Perché?" (Why, God? Why?)

Serafina started pushing her sister up the stairs. "Elena, go!"

"No!" Elena twirled on her sister and tried to form some kind of coherent sentence. "No! This is stupid! I can't believe you would do this! You need to learn to refuse him!"

"Sì, sì, another time!"

"I haven't seen him in years and now you want me to just go and—"

"Elena!"

"Merda!" (Shit!) "I'm going! I'm going!"

Serafina made sure her sister was telling the truth, then staggered her way to the front door, every one of her limbs shuddering at the thought of what would happen if their parents found Ezio within the walls of her house.

She opened the door, just as she heard her older sister yell wildly from the top of the stairs,

"There will be hell to pay for this later, Fina! Hell to pay!"

At this very moment, Serafina was struggling just to walk in a straight line. Hell was the last thing she was worried about.

A/N: Ah, this should be fun ^_^