My first Assassin's Creed fic! I am very excited to know what you think! =D
I think that, with Assassin's Creed III's realease date so close, it is only fitting to bring an end to Ezio's adventure, and to finally allow him to come back home...
Small note before you begin: I always believed Ezio and Sofia would travel for a bit before going back to Italy.
Firenze.
It had been too many years since he had last laid eyes on beautiful, graceful Firenze. A foreign warmth spread through his chest as his gaze turned away from the city to settle on the woman riding next to him, and when she looked up, her red hair gleaming in the setting sun and a smile gracing her lips, he knew he would never leave again.
"Ezio!"
He had longed to hear that voice call his name for the past five years. Dismounting, he could only turn away from his horse before he was caught in a firm, warm embrace. The corners of his lips quirked up in a small smile as he responded in kind.
"Claudia. It is good to see you again."
They pulled apart, smiling as they took each other into their arms. Although she hadn't changed much – except for the small lines now appearing around her eyes - it was not so for the other. His short beard, which she had last seen as black as coal, was now streaked with grey and, although his hair and eyes were covered by a hood, she had no doubt his hair had also grayed in the five years she had not seen him. Despite those small signs of aging, he seemed well, his frame still strong and his back still straight. As she looked him over once more, she noticed something was missing, something which had not left him since that dreadful day, almost thirty years ago, in the very same city before which they now stood.
"Ezio, your blades… Where are they?"
He stared down once more at his bare wrists as she grasped them. After a whole year, he still was sometimes startled by the absence of the most loyal friends he had ever known, still at times searching for their weight upon his wrists, for the blade that would slide upon the palm of his hands. Gently freeing himself from her grip, he covered her hands with his, meeting her quizzical gaze from the shadow of his hood.
"It does not matter, sister. Only know that I finally returned – and that I will never leave again. I have seen enough for one life – and more."
He smiled, and she smiled too. Before either of them could speak again, another voice rose, playful, gentle.
"Well, are you going to introduce me? Or will I have to do it myself?"
A red-haired woman was standing next to them, a patient smile on her lips as she blazed with the sun's last rays. He surrounded the woman's waist with his arm, drawing her closer to him, his smile broader and brighter than Claudia had ever seen it for almost twenty years.
"Claudia, I would like to introduce you Sofia," he said, quietly, as he pushed the hood off his face. Although it was lined by years of trials and pain, he was still the handsome man she remembered. "Sofia Auditore. My wife."
Claudia smiled, a secret smile neither of the other two saw as they looked at each other, her presence completely forgotten as they secluded themselves inside their own world. Turning away, she allowed the lovers a moment of peace before the night fell.
"Welcome back to Firenze, Auditores," she whispered.