A/N: I swear I'll start editing my Pedmund fics son enough. I just... My computer broke, I had to get enough money to fix it, and end-term exams are already breathing down my neck. Plus, I have to somehow figure out a way to properly express myself to my psychiatrist, so that she may be able to make a proper diagnosis. Honestly, I know not many of you will read this, but I'm trying my best and since I've been distracting myself with Assassin's Creed lately, becoming quite obsessed with this ship, I thought I would write something (since there's so little love for these two) to get some stress out.

Again, many thanks to NickeltheRed for being awesome.

Apples and Second Chances

1 – The Borgia Girl

14 December 1492, Monteriggioni

Someone was knocking at the door.

Claudia, grumbling to herself about men in her life with a worrying tendency to be anywhere but at home most of the time, rose to see who it was. After all, it was very late already, the few servants around the villa had been dismissed hours ago and she didn't want to disturb her mother's rest. The knocking was loud enough to resonate all through the villa's seemingly endless silence, or maybe it was just that the unexpected visitor was particularly spirited. Whoever they were, though, they would certainly get a piece of her mind... Or even taste her blade, if the mysterious guest ended up being an enemy.

She opened the door, her purple night robe tightly closed even if the night was warm enough to not need it, her dagger hidden within one of its pockets, hair down and feet hastily put on her trusted short boots.

At a first glance, she thought she may have been pranked, not seeing anyone instantly in sight, but her eyes didn't take long to notice the wrapped silhouette of something that looked like quite the ornate staff, if mostly hidden under what she guessed had once been white rags, now heavily covered in mud, as if the wielder had let it fall several times.

'Wait... Wielder? Staff?'

Indeed, the staff was strapped to a caped figure's back, a girl if she had to guess by the dress alone. She was several inches shorter than Claudia, and so the Auditore hadn't seen her at first.

Now that she had, though, she couldn't keep herself from wondering who, exactly, was the mysterious girl. After all, she seemed like a bunch of contradictions suddenly mashed together: her hair, or what little peaked of it from her under her cape, looked golden and lustrous, speaking of a life of luxury that didn't match up at all with her ragged–and clearly poor–clothes.

The girl took off the hood of her cape, letting her face–fair like freshly fallen snow, skin clear and smooth-looking, again an impossible contrast with her clothes–, with all her exhaustion and despair there for all to see, so vulnerable that it took Claudia by surprise.

"Is Ezio Auditore qui?" asked the girl, who couldn't be older than twelve, voice wavering and desperation so thickly poured into each syllable that the woman could not bear to tell her that her brother would probably remain missing for months on end, as was his custom since becoming an Assassin.

"Who asks for him?" said Claudia, even as she allowed the girl to pass into the villa's parlour, which she instantly regretted when the girl answered.

"Lucrezia Borgia. I have a proposal for him..."

The dagger was out and ready in an instant, the girl's reflexes the only thing that saved her from being stabbed, just as a golden force-field of sorts surrounded her, repelling all further attacks, 'till Claudia controlled herself and backed away, if still ready to pounce at the sightless opportunity. The cute twelve year-old in front of her had, to her eyes, transformed into a dangerous snake she had to treat carefully and eliminate as soon as possible.

Cold blue eyes were fixed on her through whatever sorcery surrounded her, head slightly tilted to one side as if the girl–no, not a girl, the Borgia–was trying to figure her out.

"Umf... I guess I should have seen that coming. Or maybe I just expected that you would have enough sense as to hear me out before trying to kill me. But then, I know of Ezio, not you... Ohhh, what to do, what to do?"

"What do you want, Borgia?"

"Such contempt. I have done nothing against you or yours. My father is your enemy, not me. And yet you would make me pay for his crimes? Without bothering to attend to reason? Aren't you supposed to be one of the good guys?"

"A Borgia is a Borgia. And anyone who presents themselves at such an hour has shadowed motives. Why would I trust the daughter of the man who conspired to end my family?"

"Because I have taken a Piece of Eden from him, with the express motive to give it to Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Because I've risked my life to reach this place, leaving behind my family and everything I've ever loved, to help the Assassin Order against the Templars. Because what I've done would make my own father kill me remorselessly. Claudia Auditore, whatever dark emotion you may be harbouring against me now to want to murder me so recklessly, know this: there's something much bigger than us in play, and nor you nor anyone will keep me from playing my part in this matter. I must warn your brother of a great danger. Whether I do so with your help or without it, I don't care. But don't for a second think that I'll give up on my mission."

"Then state your case, Lucrezia Borgia. I'm right here."

The voice brought both girls' attention towards the still-open front door, where none other than Ezio Auditore himself stood, still wearing his Assassin clothes, just returned from Spain.

The girl's whole demeanour, right in front of Claudia's somewhat shocked face, changed in an instant.

Her confident, determined stance melted into a fidgeting mess, hands ending up tightly clasped under her chin, previously unwavering stare locked then on some spot between her feet even as she blushed up to her ears. She seemed to take a minute or two to regain her composure, during which Claudia easily hid again her dagger, while her brother kept staring at the Borgia girl, expression unknown under his hood, body tense but not overly hostile.

Claudia could almost imagine him rising an eyebrow. The Borgia girl soon drew her attention again, though, because she seemed to take a deep breath to steady herself, before taking the wrapped staff from where it had lied more or less diagonally on her back, holding it as if to steady herself, as she finally managed to rise her gaze from her feet towards Ezio, Claudia seemingly forgotten to her.

"Ezio Auditore... There are many things I must tell you, but first, I would like to ask for your protection."

"My protection? From what, if I may?"

"My family," stated the girl, voice wavering as if the mere statement pained her. "I have ways to pay you, be certain of that. The message... The message I will relay to you anyway, but first I would like to know if you would accept to protect me."

Ezio tilted his head to one side, questioning, and the girl didn't seem to need any more prompting, even as she relied more heavily in the wrapped staff to keep her balance, as her legs started trembling. Had she been anyone but a Borgia, Claudia would have interrupted the whole conversation to insist passing to the study so the girl could sit, but seeing as she was, a part of her could not be bothered to do so. Furthermore, knowing what would make the precious Borgia Princess want to run away from her family was far too interesting to wait.

"Not long ago I received a message... A gift, or a curse, depending on how one may want to see it. A woman shrouded in golden mist appeared to me, and told me of my future were I to follow my father's wishes. What would become of the world, if he triumphed in his efforts. She said she had had many names, but allowed me to refer to her as Venere. And she told me of the Vault under the Cappella Sistina, of the Pieces of Eden, and what they could do... Venere granted me a gift, of sorts, and with it, gave me a mission: to find you, the Prophet, and warn you of the dangers you approach. To grant you one of the Keys you'll need to enter the Vault, knowing that you'll manage to recover the other soon enough."

And while saying so, she unwrapped her staff, unveiling nothing less than the very papal staff that had not long ago been given to her father, shining once it touched her skin without barriers.

"This is my price, Ezio Auditore. This was entrusted to me, and now I'll give it to you, in exchange of your protection. So, say, will you?"

The Assassin approached her with the grace of a panther, effortlessly taking the Staff from her extended hands. Claudia wasn't sure if it was some kind of illusion, but the thing seemed to shine even more brightly in his hands.

"Consider yourself under my protection then, Lucrezia Borgia," he said.

None of them could have had an inkling of how complicated the situation would get.

A/N: So, my knowledge is limited to Assassin's Creed I, II and Brotherhood, with parts of Revelations. Also, yes, Venere is Aphrodite and she has decided to join Juno and Minerva in meddling with humans. This is situated five months after Rodrigo Borgia's crowning as Pope, and yes, Lucrezia has stolen the Papal Staff (a Piece of Eden and one of the Keys to the Vault in the Sistine Chapel) from him. She also has an Apple of Eden, which is what caused the weird-ish lightshow with the force field. That one is not the same Savonarola has by the timeline. The one Lucrezia has, which was given to her by Venere (yes I'm going to keep using the Italian name), is actually the one Altaïr left and Ezio discovered in Revelations.

Long Author's Note, sorry, but just wanted to say... Don't take this too seriously. But it will be Ezio/Lucrezia endgame (slow burn, though, since Lu is still 12 at this point and has barely escaped getting married off to Giovanni Sforza, while Ezio is like 33 or something).