Disclaimer: Assassin's Creed II is a product of UbiSoft. All OC characters are mine, though :)

A/N: The first few parts of this fic are the OC's story and Ezio will be coming in a while. Please be patient! :)

Chapter 1 : Tainted and Burned Innocence

It was an algid morning in Venice, the brisk wind making people shudder under their thin layer of clothing. Though it was nearing the end of Spring, mornings were still chilly and foggy as the sun rose above the horizon. It was silent in the market place, something that was not uncommon. Peasants worked about setting up their businesses for a busy day's work, setting up vending carts, and bustling about quietly - paying no attention to others around them. It was a silent compliance between them, not one word uttered loudly as if it were taboo and whispers were spoken quickly as to not disturb the peace. If one was to speak during these budding hours of the day, they were quickly hushed and shooed away. City guards walked about and stood where they were stationed, grumbling about waking up at an ungodly hour. Other guards were on patrol at the gates. Most nobles were not expected to be awake at this hour, opting to stay in their warm beds and staying in slumber's luscious embrace until it was time for them to rise. Other nobles with more important matters to attend to than sleep were in their private studies, reading letters and no doubt writing their own documents.

Such was how a certain Signore Demetri Conti was found by his young 11 year old daughter, Alexandria Conti. He was a man in his late forties, his brown hair greying at the edges, and the wrinkles in his face disclosed his age. His sharp blue eyes displayed intelligence. His straight nose, educated tongue, and his demeanor demanded authority. He must have been quite a handsome man in his younger years. His daughter's Greek name of course raised questions, and rumours of her true origin quickly spread, but they were silenced out of fear of what would happen if such a powerful man were to learn of what was being said. Demetri, however, was a kind man and knew of what was being said, but paid no heed to them and disciplined no one.

Alexandria was born in Greece, and though she was full blooded Italian, most viewed her as Greek and strongly disliked her for being a foreigner. Her father and then pregnant mother went on a business trip to Greece where she quickly went into labor two days into their stay, where Alexandria was born. They chose her name after the Great Alexander who created the city of Alexandria in Egypt.

"Papà?", a soft, small voice called silently from behind his study's door as gentle knocks came in contact with its wood. Alexandria meekly poked her head through the door and smiled at her father and cheerfully said,

"Good morning, Papà!"

Demetri could not help but smile at his daughter. Her auburn colored locks bounced around her face as her blue-green eyes lit up with mirth and excitement for the installation of a new day. She awkwardly looked around the room while staying at the entrance to the study, not knowing whether her father would welcome her in or not.

Her father's study was big, yes, and so ornately and beautifully designed, she knew her mother must have hired some help in achieving the finished result. Bookshelves lined the walls, portraits of deceased relatives were hung in respect, velvet burgundy colored curtains surrounded the windows-giving the room an elegant look. Intricate carvings in mahogany wood lined his desk, furniture, and fireplace. She inhaled the study's scent, which smelled of fresh ink and parchment and her father's favorite cologne, and she knew she had intruded on some important business. She looked up to see him viewing her and she flashed him the best dimpled smile she could muster.

"Oh! Mi dispiace for disturbing you father! I did not know you would be awake so early doing paperwork! Forgive me for intruding", she quietly yelled across the room. Demetri chuckled and leaned back against his comfortable recleiner and said back, "It is quite alright, mio caro. I was just finishing this document for a friend of mine, and I just need to sign here.." he dipped his feathered quill inside the ink bottle and scribbled his signature on the parchment, "..and I am done with this morning's work!"

"Che gioia!", Alexandria quietly exclaimed and then added, "Now you can spend time with me! Your bambina!"

Demetri gave her a soft smile and ushered her closer, so that she could hear him better. She complied joyously and leaned in to hear what he had to say.

"I always have time to spend with my dear bambina, but she is always running around Venezia causing mischief with the boys like one herself! How can I ever hope to grasp her attention when she is more focused on scaling rooftops in her brothers' trousers?" Demetri covered his face in mock despair and exasperation and Alexandria giggled.

"Oh but Papá! I would gladly give that up and wear those horrid dresses and shoes Mama buys me to spend time with you!" Alexandria scrunched up her small nose in disgust at the mention of dresses and her father threw back his head and a hearty laugh rumbled in his chest.

"Hmm, I wonder..How will Eliodoro and Niccolo react when they discover that you have been stealing their trousers to disguise yourself as a boy?"

Alexandria's eyes widened in horror and she cried out, "Papa! Please do not tell them! They will take them back and hide them from me! Then they will mock me in front of the town children and I will not have any friends. They will call me il ragazzo nel corpo di una ragazza." Her bottom lip trembled slightly as she tightly grasped her father's doublet.

Her father's eyes softened and he softly clasped her small hands in his, enclosing them completely. "They will do no such thing for I will not utter a word of your disguise, nor will I be telling them where their trousers have been going either." He said and winked.

Alexandria squealed and then threw her arms around her father's neck and cried out, "Oh grazie!", before she scurried away quickly to get dressed for her day out with her loving father.

Demetri leaned back once more in his seat and dragged his hands across his face. He was already risking a great deal of scandal by letting his daughter learn how to read and write, and now he's letting her parade around Venice dressed as a boy so she can do whatever she wants. He swore he was going mad and he prayed she stayed out of trouble while she was out on her public endeavors. Sighing, he went back to reading the documents he had splayed about his desk.

Alexandria sat in her room watching her maids dash about-picking out dresses for her to wear. One maid picked out a particular dress and Alexandria cried out quickly, "Oh no Beatrice! Not that one!". The maid, afraid at the sudden outburst, threw the dress far from her as if it were a leper coming to touch her. It was a gorgeous dress, really. But it was too.. indecent for an eleven year old girl to wear. She hasn't even reached womanhood yet and her mother expects her to wear such a ludicrous thing! She glared at the dresses scattered about her floor. Oh how she detested wearing a dress. Or looking pretty for that matter. She would rather indulge herself in literature and knowledge than powder her face and look beautiful for society. She gagged at the thought.

"Mistress? Are you alright?"

Alexandria was snapped out of her thoughts by the soft voice. The maids were looking at her rather strangely and she realized that she must have been making bizarre expressions while she thought. She smiled shyly at the them and blushed. She looked down and played with the hem of her shirt and she mumbled a barely audible, "Sì, sto bene. Non ti preoccupare." Her maids still looked unsure, but continued with their work nonetheless. She was beginning to get bored until she noticed the whithering flowers by her dressing screen.

"I am going to go to the market to get some new flowers to replace those that have died by my own un-nurturing hand." Alexandria declared and the maids jumped at the loud noise. "Let me pray for their poor souls that I have so selfishly taken away! I shall pray that I shall never kill again!", Alexandria continued and was soon on her knees praying with exaggerated movements, making it a most comical scene. The maids giggled and continued with their work. Alexandria laughed, stood up and walked down the hallway that led to her brothers' rooms, careful to avoid them so she could sneak into their room and steal a pair of pants for the day.

Sadly, luck was not on her side. As she turned the corner to get to the eldest brother's room, she bumped into a hard chest and fell back onto her bum. She looked up and noticed the owner of said chest was the eldest of the Conti offspring, Eliodoro. He looked at his little sister with a raised eyebrow. Offhandedly, Alexandria wondered how he did that and tried to raise her own eyebrow. She failed miserably at raising one eyebrow, but was exceptionally well at raising both and making comical facial expressions to go along with them. Eliodoro laughed and helped her up.

"Why is that you are wandering about mine and Niccolò's corridors trying to be inconspicuous?", he asked with a smile. Eliodoro towered over Alexandria and she craned her neck to look at him. He was no doubt, at 20 years old, a very handsome man. While she herself had dark rust colored hair, Eliodoro had light chestnut colored curls that framed his face and made him look like a god among mortals. His sharp, deep blue eyes were just like their father's and he did look a lot like the senior Conti. It was no wonder why people sometimes thought he was Demetri's younger brother. And his hands..she was sure he had broken many hearts with those.

"Well?", Eliodoro prodded, "why are you trying to be a spy in your own house?"

Alexandria opened her mouth to defend herself and threaten him in the process, when she was suddenly interrupted by a female's low moan that drifted into the hallway and reverberated off the walls. It came from her 17 year old brother, Niccolò's, room. She looked up horrified into Eliodoro's face, and she looked back at Niccolò's door -hearing pants and soft whispers now. A sly grin came upon his face as he said, "Ahh, so you have come to see what Niccolò was up to! Shame on you sorellina! Give them some privacy!"

Alexandria made a sound of disgust deep in her throat, spun on her heel, and ran away from her laughing brother and the sounds her other brother was causing. Of course she knew her brothers were womanizers, they were handsome men! Niccolò had fair, tanned skin, golden eyes and hair, and a body men envied and admired at the same time. He looked more like their mother, Maddalena, than the rest of his siblings. But Alexandria would also like it very much if her brothers kept their womanizing deeds and female companions away from the house. They got pretty loud on some occasions, keeping her awake all throughout the night sometimes.

She pushed the door that led to the outside of the house open and was greeted by none other than Uberto Alberti. He was one of her father's closest friends, so they have met on some occasions. He lived in Florence, and it was a long ride from there to Venezia. So, when he arrived, he always went straight to her father, did what he went there for, and was gone. So she never had a conversation with him. But, what interest does a grown man have with an eleven year old girl? Alexandria curtsied and said, "Hello Signore Uberto! It has been so long since we were graced by your presence." Alberti laughed and bowed, "Indeed it has Signora Alexandria. Look at how pretty you have gotten!"

She blushed and looked down shyly, noticing the bottle of wine in his hand.

"Are you and father to celebrate this evening?", she asked curiously.

"Hm? Oh! This? Ahh, yes. In fact, I shall be inviting both of your brothers for a drink as well.", something flashed in Alberti's eyes as he spoke. Alexandria couldn't place what it was, but dismissed it as a trickery of the light. She smiled at him, her dimples making her look younger and more innocent, and said, "Well then, Signore Uberto, I must get going to the flower vendor to get some flowers for my room and Papà's study. I shall see you again, yes?"

"But of course Signora Alexandria, you will be most definitely seeing me again."

Again, she smiled and sauntered off to find a flower vendor as she heard her father greet Alberti.

A while later, Alexandria was walking home with 5 white roses in her hands. She had forgotten to tell the vendor to cut the thorns off, and deeply regretted it now. They were cutting into her hands and were drawing a bit of blood. Holding onto them gingerly, she was careful not to get any onto the pure white petals. Wanting them to be perfect so she could show them to her family.

She had gotten a lesson from the sweet elderly vendor on flowers. She saw Alexandria eyeing the white roses and told her they represented purity, innocence, and silence. She had also said that sometimes flowers spoke the language of the heart better than their voices ever could.

Alexandria was hurriedly walking home to put the roses in a vase full of water so that they could live longer, as she was walking, the word 'murder' reached her ears. Curiosity got the best of her and she slowed down next to the two gossipping women. She strained her ears hoping to catch bits of the conversation.

"...murder..horrible.."

"...who was killed..?"

"...all the men.."

"...assassin..?"

"No..poison.. I believe assassin's don't use poison."

"Mio Dio, che tragedia!"

"Ah yes, such handsome boys those two brothers were. They say the poison was in the wine they drank. I wonder who would do such a thing."

"Yes, I wonder who would murder the men of the Conti family."

Alexandria was rooted to the spot in shock, the women glancing at her and walking away. They could have not been talking about her brothers and her father. No! There must be another Conti family in Venice! She clutched the roses in her hands as she ran towards her home-no longer caring if they cut into her flesh or not. She got home and she anxiously pushed through the crowd of curious on lookers to get into her house and prove that there was nothing going on.

The Greek Fates must be damning her, she thought. Damning her for being born on their land and refusing their culture.

Alexandria dropped the bloodstained roses upon seeing the bodies. Her brothers' corpses, her father's pained expression, and she fell to the floor in a broken mess of skirts and tears. She sobbed, she wailed, she screamed in agony at losing those most dear to her. How could it be? Just 3 hours ago she was talking to these men, kidding around and enjoying their presence. How could they be dead in just that short span of time? Her screams of misery left her throat dry and raw. But all the weeping she did seemed to be nothing compared to when her mother came running into her husband's study. Maddalena was a beautiful woman, even when her golden green eyes were wild with distress, her blond hair tousled, and her face pale.

Everyone was suddenly quiet, watching Maddalena. She stepped forward and let out a heart-wrenching wail that seemed to pierce the heavens themselves. She clutched at her heart as she looked at her children's dead faces, far from peaceful. And she cried in anguish when she saw her beloved's contorted face. She wept loudly as she gathered them all up in her arms and held them close to her bosom. Her eyes wild, as she pleaded them to awake soon. And then she whimpered like a kicked dog and started wailing again. Screaming at the gods for torturing her so.

Alexandria was out of tears, her small body too grief-stricken to move. She thought of what had happened. How could this happen? Who would be as cruel as to do this to them? Suddenly, she thought of Uberto Alberti. He had carried a bottle of wine with him when she saw him. Realization dawned on her, she had seen something flash in his eyes. She saw it before, when two men where fighting outside of a bordello. The emotion in Uberto Alberti eyes that she could not decipher was recognizable to her as malicious killer intent. She should have known! She could have stopped all of this misery. Alexandria looked tearfully at her scratched and bloody hands, but what could she have done? She was an eleven year old female child. She was nothing.

She looked at her mother, who was rocking back and forth. They had long separated her from the corpses of her children and love. And now she was left broken. Alexandria stared at her. Maddalena must have felt the weight of her gaze on her because she looked right at Alexandria. She managed a weak smile and held out her arms.

"I may have lost my sons and my husband, but I cannot forget that I have a daughter. Come to me, dolcezza. Let us mourn and pray for them together."

Alexandria crawled into her mother's awaiting arms, neither had any tears to shed for the dead. For they were now soaked up by the carpet beneath them. So, her mother began to pray, a dry sob escaping her lips as she did so. Alexandria looked up at her mother who suddenly looked older than 38. She wonder if she should tell her about Uberto Alberti. But she decided against it. Thinking it would be too much for her to bear. Alberti was also a close friend of her's and the betrayal would kill her.

Alexandria was exhausted, and her head pounded from crying. She was falling into slumber's dark abyss. Yes, she would see Uberto Alberti again one day. This she did not doubt. Her eyes grew heavy and she noticed the white roses that lay discarded on the ground. Her blood was on them. Their scarlet hue tainting the petals' pure white. Their innocence now gone, their purity no more. They have witnessed the horrors of the afternoon's event. And never shall they go back to their original pure selves.

Alexandria watched as a teary eyed maid picked up the roses and threw them into the fire in the fireplace. She watched as they withered as the flames hungrily ate up the rest of the petals' purity. With images of burning petals and tainted innocence in her head, Alexandria finally gave into unconsciousness.

A/N : Please read and review ! Chapter 2 will be up soon :)