Unlike Any Other
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Soul Calibur characters nor do I own Ezio! I only own this story.
A/N: The title isn't official. I just couldn't come up with a good one quite yet.
March 16, 1605
Ezio had received a letter two days ago stating someone had a "job" for him and to met at the pastry shop today at 5 o'clock P.M. to receive the target's information.
Ezio had arrived at the meeting place 45 minutes early to await his client, who actually arrived shortly after he did. The client was an older gentleman with a curly mustache and round spectacles, a little on the heavier side. He was dressed with a top hat and a tuxedo with a collar shirt covered with a black jacket, white slacks, and shiny black dress shoes.
"Good evening to you, Mr. Radcliffe," The girl behind the counter greeted him with a deep bow and offered to take his hat and hang it on the rack. He agreed and she took it, revealing his bald head. She then pointed told him to have a sit and she'll be right with him.
The client, Mr. Radcliffe, went to the table Ezio was sitting, taking a seat across from him.
"You're Ezio Auditore, correct?" The man asked him, his voice low and stern. Ezio only nodded as he finished sipping his glass of wine and set it onto the table.
"You look so young for someone of your notoriety." The man said, adjusting his glasses.
"I'm not here to chit-chat. Where's the info?" Ezio asked, his voice cold and gruff.
"Oh yes, of course." Radcliffe had dug through his jacket and slid an envelope to the other side of the table. Ezio slowly grabbed and opened it, revealing a picture of a frail looking young woman with medium length blonde hair and pale blue eyes that seemed to carry an unimaginable amount of sadness. He looked at the photo questionably. He never really questioned his clients, but he just couldn't fix that puzzled look on his face, which Radcliffe noticed.
"Her name's Pyrrha Alexandra," the older man began to explain, "my son has recently bought her off of the slave market and she works at my estate as a maid. He had proposed to her last night and they are now engaged."
Ezio's mind was baffled by this, as his targets were usually members of the Templar Order or known criminals who harmed innocent people. He couldn't begin to fathom why anyone would want their housekeeper dead.
"So why do you want her dead?" Ezio asked, voice still calm.
"Well, I heard a terrible rumor of how wherever she goes, people always die. There's no evidence to support that she is the one who causes the deaths, but I don't want to risk my son being murdered by the wench."
Ezio's furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced at the picture again. 'This girl looks so harmless; I doubt she could kill herself even if she tried.' He thought to himself.
"I want you to make her death look like a tragic accident, my son is quite attached to her." Radcliffe said.
"I don't just kill anyone, that's not how I work. I will, however, look into these rumors." Ezio said, his voice getting sharper.
"Well, I guess that'll do as well." Radcliffe replied with a light sigh.
The clerk had finally shown up, apologizing for taking so long.
"It's quite alright, dear." Radcliffe had assured the brunette, smiling and even chuckling a little.
"Well, you are one of our best customers," the girl started, "so what can I get you today?"
"The usual." Radcliffe simply replied to her.
"Alright! And you, mister?" The girl said, turning to Ezio.
"I was actually on my way out, but thank you anyway." He said as he slipped the picture of Pyrrha into his robes and stood up, leaving some money behind for the wine.
Ezio exited the shop into the not so busy street and made his way to a courtyard, where he took out the picture and looked at it again, this time turning it over. It contained a note that stated Radcliffe's address and to take his time with his job, as Jurgis (Radcliffe's son) would be furious if he ever found her death to be anything but an accident. It also stated that he would be paid handsomely for his deeds, not that he really cared.
The assassin looked at the woman's picture one last time and headed off with a scoff.
March 21, 1605
Ezio had resumed his routine of watching Pyrrha, who was really as she looked in the photo. He watched her as she broke countless dishes, bore several whippings, and cried herself to sleep almost every night. He's surprised she wasn't beheaded already, seeing as how she's done countless things wrong.
Night time eventually fell and Pyrrha came to her room, which is on the top floor of the mansion. Ezio was outside her window in a nearby tree watching her cry into her pillow again. She seemed to sob for hours until a gut wrenching scream from across the mansion stopped her. They both instantly shot up and turned to the direction the scream was heard. Pyrrha left her room in a hurry as she went to go investigate.
When she did, a mysterious looking girl in green with a ring blade hopped into her room through the window, hoisting a bag with her. She sat on Pyrrha's bed, waiting for her to return. While waiting, the girl took what looked like a sword and shield out of the bag.
Minutes later, Pyrrha ran back in her room and frantically shut the door, locking it. She fell to her knees, holding her head screaming "No! It wasn't me! I didn't kill anybody!"
The door was being pounded on, angry voices coming from behind it. The mysterious girl walked up to Pyrrha, telling her she truly didn't do anything wrong and handed her the sword and shield. She then went on to say that those "nasty humans" just don't understand and are just looking for a scapegoat. Ezio clearly sensed the malice behind the girl's voice, but Pyrrha didn't. She wiped away her tears and looked up to the girl, taking the weapons from her.
The girl then leaped out of the window with a huge smirk on her face. Pyrrha ran to the window to look, before she could say anything the door was broken and collapsed. Guards quickly filled the room as they tried to take Pyrrha, who continued crying and insisted she didn't do anything.
"Like hell you didn't, wench!" Spat a guard as he lunged at her. Pyrrha shrieked and shut her eyes as she thrust forward with her sword, impaling the man right in the heart. He fell dead and bled out on the floor. Pyrrha looked at the body and then at the sword covered in blood, her hands trembling as she came to the realization of what just happened. She quickly turned her head at the sound of swords being unsheathed.
"You bitch! You'll be beheaded right now!" Another guard shouted as he lunged at Pyrrha, fully intent on killing her here and now, swinging his sword. Pyrrha gasped as she clumsily threw up her shield hand to guard. She obviously had no combat experience whatsoever. The guard's sword collided with the shield and Pyrrha seized the opportunity to strike back, hitting the man's neck. He fell to the floor dead as the next guard attempted to attack Pyrrha, who fell to the floor trying to dodge his attack. She turned onto her back with the biggest look of fear and terror in her eyes begging the man to stop.
Her pleas were ignored as the man went to restrain her to the floor. But when he tackled her, he gurgled and coughed up blood. Pyrrha had pointed her sword up at the last second, causing him to fall on it and be impaled. She slowly pushed the man off of her and opened her eyes. She sat up and looked around the room, her eyes so wide they looked as if they were going to pop out of her head and tears uncontrollably running down her face. Ezio felt kind of bad for the girl, as he knew what it was like being chased by authorities for a crime he didn't commit.
The sounds of more angry guards caused Pyrrha to get up and start running, she ran until she appeared in the central courtyard of the estate. As she arrived, the sound of an explosion knocked her to the ground. When she stood up, she noticed she was surrounded by flames.
"We got you now! Everyone, don't let her get away!" Guards came out of what seemed like almost everywhere and swarmed Pyrrha. She could only mutter a weak "Why" as the guards started attacking her.
She started by throwing her shield up in the same clumsy fashion she did earlier to catch a blow from the closest guard and stabbed him. As he fell she dodged an attack coming from her right said, causing the guard to impale his friend. She slowly turned around as the now infuriated guards attacked her again, only to be slain by her clumsy, uncoordinated attacks. Ezio was quite shocked by how trained men were being beaten by the frail, clumsy maid.
He continued watching as she killed the guards one by one. She clearly didn't want to as she was crying and begging them to stop the entire time. When she killed the last one, she just fell to the ground.
"Maybe," she said to herself, "maybe if I just die her and now, no one will have to suffer anymore…."
This was Ezio's perfect opportunity to swoop in and kill her, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't kill someone who was perfectly willing yet not deserving to die. He completely sympathized with the woman who laid there, totally giving up on life. Not to mention the rumors of her being a serial killer, which was the main reason he was assigned to kill her in the first place, were completely false, not counting the mass amounts of guards she just slaughtered.
He was about to leave and forget this whole incident ever happened, but saw the mysterious girl with the ring blade approach Pyrrha and perished the thought. He instead moved from the tree quietly to get closer to the courtyard so he could hear them.
"Didn't it feel good slaughtering those big bad humans?" He heard a sarcastic, malicious voice, which he quickly identified as the mysterious girl.
"No…. I didn't mean to….. they attacked me first." A weak voice replied.
"Oh, but you did! Look at all the blood on the walls and floor! If you truly didn't want to, you would've surrendered!"
"B- but I didn't do anything…."
"Liar! YOU killed Jurgis! YOU killed the guards! And YOU set the mansion ablaze!" The girl's voice became more aggressive.
"I didn't kill Jurgis! I- I…." Pyrrha started to whimper and sob as the girl kept accusing her of things she truly didn't do.
Ezio clenched his fists as the taunting continued; biting his lips so hard to keep silent he drew blood from himself.
"Whatever, I had enough of your crying and bitching. Now come on before I kill you, just like I did your mother!" The girl snapped, her voice the complete opposite of what it was a few minutes ago.
"W- what?" Pyrrha asked, tilting her head slightly at the girl. "I- I had a mother? I have a family?"
"Oops," was all the girl could simply say as she just realized what she told Pyrrha.
"I- I have to go find them!" Pyrrha exclaimed, her voice hopeful. She tried to get up and leave, but the mysterious girl stopped her.
"You're not going anywhere, wench!" The girl swung her massive ring shaped blade at Pyrrha, who barely managed to block it. The impact was so strong it made her fly to the ground. The building was on fire so long it had started to collapse. Ezio didn't want Pyrrha, who had seemed happy for the first time in the days of him following her, to die before she could even try to find her family. He loaded a bolt into his crossbow, stood up, quickly aimed at the mysterious girl, and fired, staying out of the sight of both her and Pyrrha. She cursed under her breath as she dodged the bolt. Pyrrha took this opportunity and quickly hopped through a window of the surrounding corridor, making her way to the exit of the whole estate.
She continued to run into the night, putting as much distance between her and the place as possible.
And that wraps this part up. It's funny how playing a game you haven't played in months can give you an idea for a fanfiction.
And don't worry, I totally plan on continuing this. ^_^
Also: Major shout out to Major Mike Powell III for giving me some more background information on Ezio! Now I can portray his character a bit better. ^_^
