A/N: I know everyone who reads my stories probably doesn't like Assassin's Creed but GODDAMN. EZIO AUDITORE. So this is my attempt at an ACB fanfic. We'll see how it goes, and if a plot develops. As of right now it's gonna be a bunch of romance with some action thrown in. I'm going to be using a translator for the Italian so bear with me. I'll be putting the translations directly in the story instead of that annoying bullshit where I list it at the end. But there's a few terms I hope AC fans know, like salve, signora, etc. I'm going to keep the OC from being an annoying goddamn Mary Sue. NO, ASSASSIN'S CREED THE GAME DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS UNIVERSE. I always do that with my OC fanfics because I think it's fucking stupid to make the girl say OMG I'M SOOOO LUCKY, I FELL INTO MY FAVE VIDEO GAME TO BONE MY FAVE CHARACTER. No. It ruins the story's integrity.

Warnings: Violence, obvs sex later because this is Ezio we're talking about.

Pairings: Ezio/OC.

Disclaimer: I do not own Assassin's Creed or anything associated with it.

-MalRev

There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.

-Leonardo da Vinci

Those Who See

001

Two weeks ago, I had no idea what an Apple of Eden was.

That came as no surprise—it was a secret artifact coveted by a mysterious organization that had been around since the dawn of time. The Apple wasn't meant to be public knowledge and it wasn't meant to fall into the hands of a twenty-something legal aide in the Bronx. But somehow, it did. Somehow, I was dragged into a war that had been raging across the ages without tiring.

I had no idea how I stumbled across such a powerful piece of history. All I remembered was seeing a beautiful golden orb glittering through the sludge and rainwater in a ditch, catching my eye as I walked home one evening. It was instinct to touch it. My curiosity was piqued and I'll admit that I wondered if it was valuable enough to sell. I closed my umbrella and knelt down, fingers outstretched, pushing through the cold mud and water until the pads of my fingers touched the Apple.

There was a glowing as I was painfully ripped from my reality and throw through time. I remembered being hurled into an empty space where the laws of physics no longer applied. I remembered seeing her… Minerva. She spoke softly as I shivered from the cold, my fragile human mind of the brink of collapse. Yes, it all felt so long ago and yet, as if it were just yesterday…

"Feebs, will you wake up?!"

An annoyed groan escaped my mouth as my sister yanked me up in bed, furiously trying to get me up for school. I was in my second year of college, just taking random classes to see what felt right. Getting up in the morning was far from easy for me. I'd be stuck in classes all day until three just to be stuck at work for another five hours. It was an agonizing cycle that really needed to end.

I slumped forward the second Louise let me go and she angrily shoved me over so I was lying on my side. I sighed happily and began to pull the sheets up to my neck but my sister wasn't having it. She tore them away, throwing them on the floor and stomping on them as I yawned and groggily rubbed my eyes. Another day, another dollar. Well, I didn't keep many of my dollars. They went to food and rent and—

"I swear to god, if you don't get up, I'm gonna break something." Louise had her fists clenched at her sides, already dressed to the nines at ten AM. She was a go-getter. Pretty, blonde, tall, thin. "You need to get to class on time, Phoebe! Mom and dad set aside a lot of money for you to go!"

My bed was warm and soft. It didn't want me to leave. I forced myself to sit up and stretched out my short legs until the joints popped. "Why were you allowed to spend your bonds on clothes and a car? I'd rather be driving a Lexus than listening to some boring professor prattle on about history. Must be nice living the life while I'm struggling to survive."

Louise was older than me by ten years, making her 32. She was married to a nice guy named Peter and they had so far granted me with two nephew who were both younger than eight. Peter was an esteemed plastic surgeon centered in Manhattan, where rich clients would gladly shell out thousands of dollars to have their ugly mugs changed. Louise stayed home with the kids all day and sometimes she came to my gross little apartment to bother the shit out of me.

Let me tell you, Louise had a lot of practice. She was excellent at being a pushy, annoying bitch. I loved her dearly but she had been the same way during our childhood because of the age difference. It was always the strong leader, Louise, and her fragile little sister, Phoebe. Now she liked telling me that I had to go to college and get a better education. She harped on me all the time.

I sourly picked lint off my baggy t-shirt as she went off on me. I hadn't grown up in my sister's shadow or anything—she was great most of the time. Our parents didn't favor either of us. But Louise stood out more than I did in a lot of ways. Pretty, smart, tall, blonde… I didn't sell myself short by any means. I had a healthy self-esteem. I was much more athletic and personable than my sister. Sometimes I just wished my hair was a brighter blonde like hers, or my legs were long like hers, or—

"What are you staring at?!" Louise hissed.

I realized too late that my somber gaze had locked on my window. It would take me a while to fully wake up, as it always did. I'd have to miss my calculus class. Bummer.

My sister pinched the bridge of her nose. "Have you seen the doctor like I told you to? You've been zoning out a lot lately and you know a myriad of health issues run in our family. Do you do anything I tell you to do? It would give all of us peace of mind to know you're healthy. Do you even care?"

"Yes," I said. "I'll get it done eventually. I've been really busy with work and stuff."

"Get unbusy. Stop staying up late. Do your homework and pull yourself together before you're stuck living in this dingy apartment your whole life."

Louise was gone before I could defend myself. Looking back, it was a horrible way to part with my sister. I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to my parents, either. But I guess I left behind a life I wasn't fond of. I'd never found my niche in the modern world and I doubted I ever would.

The rest of the day was clockwork.

Somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed and shuffle into my bathroom for a shower. I just stood there staring at the wall for a long time, letting the hot water cascade down my back in sheets. At that point in my life I was becoming depressed to a dangerous degree. I was losing my will to get out of bed in the morning and greet the day. It was the same shit over and over again.

But I still pressed onward. Mom told me growing up that I had a "strong" personality. I wasn't afraid to get what I wanted when there was a price attached. I used to chalk it up to her trying to make me feel better about never finding my passion in life but as time wore on I began to realize how right she was.

After my shower I hurried downstairs to hop on my bike and ride across the city to my college, LaGuardia. It was a community college, small and cheap, that offered flexible classes. I weaved through traffic as music blared through my headphones and the weight of my backpack nearly yanked me off my seat. Cars beeped and I casually flipped them off until I arrived at the front steps of my college.

There was only one massive building. The Bronx had quite a few colleges so people spread out fairly evenly and none of them were particularly crowded. LaGuardia was constructed from the remnants of an old British fort during the Civil War—there were still cobblestone pathways around the school and the stonework was heavily laden with ivy. It was definitely impressive. They were putting in new windows so it wasn't looking as good as usual, but time wasn't treating the building well.

I quickly chained my bike to the rack outside and rushed in to dash upstairs to my history class. I burst in the door, sliding into a seat in the back when my professor turned her back to pull down the white board. A couple of people glanced at me disapprovingly as I unzipped my backpack to take out my binder that held my precious ten page research paper. It had taken me all damn night and $20 worth of Redbull to hammer the thing out.

My day at LaGuardia went by slowly. I chewed on the end of my pen in boredom as my professors droned. I handed in a few papers. I copied down a few notes. I stared longingly out the window, dreaming of playing volleyball on a sunshine-drenched beach down south. Oh how I wished I had to the money to go on a vacation. I'd have loved to spend a weekend doing absolutely nothing.

But I was an adult, so I had a ton of responsibilities. There was no way I could swing a vacation. I had to grind my way through college, get a better paying job that I hated equally as much as working at a law firm, and try to go through life happy. Maybe I'd meet an attractive guy somewhere along the road. I wasn't painfully ugly or anything, just sort of short. I could probably find someone at least half as hot as Peter. God, Louise was so lucky. Her husband was smart, successful, funny, and drop dead gorgeous.

I frowned at my reflection in the window. There I went again, belittling myself in the image of Louise. It wasn't healthy. I was perfectly fine the way I was. No need to be jealous of my sister's life. Besides, I didn't like kids, nor did I want them. It was cool living the way I did. I was free as a bird.

Classes were over soon enough. I gathered my things and headed back to my bike to pedal down the road to my job at Callaghan & Partners. It was run by a well-to-do lawyer named Rachel Callaghan and her brother, Henry. They mainly dealt with construction workers who were injured on the job and were extremely good at what they did. I hadn't seen either of them lose many cases. Then again, they left me to do menial, simple work. I sorted papers. The secretary, Margaret, did most of the heavy lifting.

The sun was starting to set as I pedaled over to work and I heard thunder rumbling in the distance. Ugh, I'd have to walk home. My bike didn't cooperate well when it was wet. I sighed as I avoided the potholes I knew all too well and finally arrived outside the small building where I'd be spending the next five hours of my life chasing paper.

The office was warm and Margaret had the space heater running. I shivered as I hung up my jacket, cursing the slow start to spring this year. It had snowed two weeks ago, dashing my hopes of bringing my nephews out to play in the sunshine.

Margaret laughed softly on the phone as I adjusted my ponytail in the glass on the door. She was middle-aged and soft-spoken, almost my opposite. Despite that, we got along very well. She had traveled the world as a little girl and often told me about her adventures with her family. Her parents raised her for the longest time in Italy, where she'd easily picked up the language and new friends. Margaret taught me a bit of each language she knew but I didn't retain much. I wasn't a good learner.

After she hung up the phone she beamed brightly at me. "Salve, Phoebe! There isn't much to do tonight, just a bit of organizing. Our bosses have already headed home for the evening. After you file some papers away for me you can head home if you'd like."

"Thank god. I'm so tired today. It took forever to get out of bed."

"That doesn't surprise me, bambino. Perhaps you should head to tuo letto (your bed) earlier, hmm?" She looked at me over the rim of her glasses, smirking.

I shrugged morosely. I hated when she threw Italian at me. It was hard to learn. "I guess so, signora. What kinds of papers am I organizing?"

Margaret set me to work and I was occupied for another hour or two. She rattled off more Italian as I organized and I rolled my eyes when I replied, struggling to draw the words from memory. I couldn't escape school. I was always learning somewhere. Even Louise pressured me to pick up an arts and crafts class like sewing so I could 'expand my horizons.' I was sick of it. I wanted to settle down.

Little did I know, those Italian lessons were about to come in handy.

When my work was finished I checked in with Margaret before leaving. She usually stuck around to close everything down for Rachel and Henry. I tiredly pulled on my coat and trudged out into the torrential downpour, leaving behind my cherished mentor forever. I shuddered in the cold and took off down the street, sticking close to the side of the road to avoid the cars. I couldn't wait to curl up in bed…

"Oh no!" I exclaimed when I stepped in a particularly deep puddle.

I stopped to check the damage of my new shoes, kneeling down in the rain and hating my bad luck. Of course it had to happen to me. On top of everything else, I ruined my new shoes. I huffed angrily and muttered a string of obscenities until something shimmering gold caught my eye. Slowly, my gaze traveled along the dark pavement to a beautiful round object lying in a ditch.

For a few seconds, I didn't move. I stared in shock at the orb as rain pattered around me. Most of it was covered by mud and water but from what I could see, it looked valuable. Maybe I could sell it to a pawn shop and buy another pair of shoes. I leaned forward on my hands and knees and stretched my fingers through the downpour toward the brilliant object that almost seemed to be calling me.

My nails sank through the cold mud as I stared at the thing, transfixed. I pushed through the dirt up to my elbow and I could practically feel the gold glittering in my eyes. Was it a divine test? Was God seeing if I was a greedy bitch like the rest? I reached as far as I could, excited and terrified.

The edge of my index finger's nail just grazed the edge of the Apple of Eden. Everything stopped.