AN: Well, this was another attempt at filling a prompt in the kink meme... It has a bit of a chase, kidnapped Leo, angry Ezio, hay on fire and some novices ._.'

Con Fuoco

by Ellyzeller

He ran over the rooftops without losing sight of the striking red glow of the guards escorting Leonardo through the streets of Rome, stopping when the group halted their march and stopped at a corner, watching them blend among the clutter of a multitude and exchanging words with someone using a black robe and a hood covering half his face.

He felt a dead weight on the bottom of his stomach, to see the group spread out and disappear among the people, while the remaining man exchanged a few words with a seemingly passive Leonardo, who was silent for a moment, until the mysterious man gave him a smirk and the expression on Leonardo's face darkened before both resumed their walk.

Ezio continued to pursuit them, grateful that the sun was beginning to set, but at the same time aware that if it got dark he could lose their track, drawing a mental map of the area and memorizing every turn, when a sudden cry behind him pulled him from his reverie and he had to duck to avoid the arrow that happened to fly just a few inches above his head.

"Assassin! Kill him!"

He cursed under his breath and barely had time to use Eagle Vision, groaning in annoyance when he detected at least a dozen red-shining figures around him.

"There he is! Catch him!"

He found himself considering to stop and finish this quickly, but the urge to just go running toward the street where the man and Leonardo had disappeared was ever more important, until he decided that having a bunch of loud guards chasing him would alert both the man and Leonardo, and it could be dangerous. Fight first it would have to be, preparing his stance and setting a cold eye on the guard who foolishly charged against him. A fraction of second and a flick of his wrist after, the hidden blade found its way through the guard's skull, and two throwing knives found themselves logged on another guard's chest.

I have no time for this, he thought and with a sign and a whistle he marked his goodbye to the guards, who at the next instant were being surrounded by novices.

So not having to worry about pesky guards chasing him down into the streets, he jumped down the tiles, running ahead and feeling even more anxious, using his second sight again and looking everywhere trying to find some hint of blue in between the few people walking on the streets, noticing immediately that he was in one of the poor areas at the outsides.

He made a stop at a corner, geting frustrated at the lack of people and houses, and still no clue of the misteryous man nor Leonardo. They shouldn't be too far away, he got distracted just a couple of minutes.

"Where are you Leonardo?" he said in a worried tone, panting lightly from the heat and exhaustion.

"Messer, are you friends with Ser Draco?"

He almost jumped in surprise at the bambina standing at his back, watching him with big fearful eyes. He just stared back at the girl who looked torn between talking to him again and running away. To his dismay, her eyes suddenly filled to the brim with sunset coloured tears, and a quiet sob escaped her little mouth. "Per favore messer, tell him to stop hurting the artista, si? He's so kind-

Ezio's eyes widened at her plea, crouching to her level and drying her flushed cheeks softly, giving her a weak smile, the vicious feeling to kill whoever was hurting Leonardo creeping up his spine and making his left hand twitch in anticipation.

"Principesa, where did he take the artista?" He asked in a fake calm voice, trying to get all the information he could from the little girl without scaring her.

The girl watched him with something akin to hope, and raised a hand to point a direction.

"Ser Draco always takes him to the old barn at the end of the road" she sniffled and Ezio stood again, giving the girl a charming grin and thanking her for the help. "Will you help him, Messer?"

He nodded, and before storming away he made a halt and gave a side glance to the little girl.

"Since when has he been bringing him here?"

The girl bit her lip trying to avoid crying, and with a shaky breath and eyes fixed on the dirt floor whispered.

"A long time?" she answered uncertain, and then looked like that was all, but when Ezio turned his back to leave, she whispered as if talking to herself. "I think - I think Ser Draco is doing something with the artista's legs, because when they come out he can barely walk, and looks like it hurts him a lot."

When she finished talking Ezio was seeing red, and was ready to rip the heart out of that bastardo's body.

He darted towards the path the girl signaled and cursed when at the last row of houses, there was nothing but an empty, dark field in front of him.

Then, just as he was about to turn around and keep searching, he saw a spec of fire in the distance and after confirming the red figure entering the old building darted as fast as his legs let him towards the house.

The fire grew bigger, quickly becoming a mid-size bonfire illuminating the shape of the barn just meters away and when he was sufficiently close to the worn out walls he started walking, breathing in and out to normalize his heartbeat, but then a pained cry from inside the building made him lose all concentration and he just got out both hidden blades and kicked open the cracking doors.

"What the-!"

Ezio stood in the entrance shocked and irated and at once deciding he was not going to let this man alive.

There was Leonardo.

A beaten, bruised, gagged and tied, almost naked, crying Leonardo.

Under that filthy, soon to be a corpse pezzo di merda.

"You! What are you doing here!" The man yelled at him and straightened, taking a sword from his side and pointing it to a unaffected Ezio, who just glanced to a terrified Leonardo and smiled weakly.

"Close your eyes Leo"

++++++...++++++

"Maestro is taking too long, what happened?"

Bianca, Fabio and Victor were sitting in a rooftop, glancing through the dark veil night casted on them while enjoying the bright, hypnotizing dance fire was entertaining them with a safe distance away. all the time aware of their Master's chase some moments ago, leaving them to worry for the unusual agitated behaviour from the always serene Ezio. That was why after they got rid of the guards obstructing Ezio's way, the three of them parted ways with the other two novices and decided to follow him close just in case.

But then his master had stopped to talk to a bambina on the road and had darted as if world was coming to an end in direction of the barn near the bonfire.

So, being the sensitive one, Bianca got down- against Fabio's bewildered cries that she shouldn't be prying on Master's life- and after some comforting -the bambina was openly crying after Ezio left- she found out a man called Draco was hurting some artist on the barn and the Master had gone to help him.

When she returned to her seat at Victor's side, she explained the situation and at Fabio's gasp she stared confused and curious, learning after a quick explanation that the Maestro was probably following a trail on Leonardo da Vinci.

"I heard he is the one who designed all the war machines the Borgia's are trying to build all across Roma" Victor said with a frown, but then he perked up "and also, before that, he was a good friend of Master and helped him to improve his blade. That he's a genious and the Borgia kidnapped him"

Bianca and Fabio looked at him incredulously, making the younger blush under his hood.

"Where did you hear all the stuff you know?" Bianca said amusedly, and Fabio chuckled at Victor's embarassed stutter.

"T-the courtesans keep saying things about how awesome Maestro is, and well-"

There was a loud whistle and the three of them perked up, directing their gaze at the barn and immediately jumping off the roof, running across the dark field and finally breaking inside the barn, all of them preparing their weapons to engage in battle at their Master's call.

However, they were baffled to see only a dark-haired man curled over himself at a corner, grunting and craddling his left arm cautiously, while loudly cursing at a serious looking Ezio, who was currently draping his cape over a blonde's shivering frame, exchanging just a few concerned glances and then the blonde barely smiled and they were amazed when his Master corresponded with a likely gesture.

"Bianca"

The woman stood straight and after Ezio beckoned her to get closer she walked and stood in front of both men, bowing slightly and ready to whatever he wanted her to do.

"He's a really dear friend for me, I want you and Victor to take him to the nearest hideout without raising suspicion or alerting the guards." She nodded and offered a shy smile to the other man, who looked at her and smiled back, making her chest tighten at the warmth in his expression. "Fabio, please make sure a dottore tends to Leonardo's injuries."

And after Ezio gave a final glance to Leonardo, he started walking towards the man on the corner fetching a torch with his left hand along the way, throwing it at a pile of hay next to him, resuming his steps while flicking his wrist in an almost enchanting manner, if not for the blade coming in and out with every flick.

"Go." He said with a cold voice, and the three apprentices shared a gulp and a chill, feeling the air around freeze and get hotter at the same time, while Leonardo just averted his gaze and let out a resigned sigh.

"Master?" Bianca ventured, coughing a little when smoke started filling the air around, and Ezio turned his neck just the slighest bit.

"I have to take care of something, now go."

And the serene smirk on his Master's lips, his only visible eye and the almost devilish shine of flames licking sinfully at the surface of both hidden blades while growing and consuming every thing on it's wake around Ezio's black-garbed frame, promised a massacre.

++++++...++++++

"Who are you?" Ezio asked with neutral voice, indifferent to the cracking noises of beams and the whole structure burning down.

"What do you care- ARGH!" The man cried in agony as an ember was pushed against his right cheek, effectively burning the exposed skin.

"I said 'who are you', idiota. Now answer" Ezio was glaring at the man, fury taking over his entire being and his hands itching to cut him to shreds and throw them to the beautiful flames, they would be the ones to erradicate the man's existence from the planet.

Arms and legs previously broken, the black haired man glared at him and recoiled when the burning ember was thrusted towards him again.

A dry, cruel laugh broke the silence.

"Il Draco... dragons are not supossed to run away from fire." chanted Ezio in an almost sing-sang voice and threw a knife at the man's left leg, ignoring the river of curses thrown at him. "Do you work for the Borgias?"

"Hah, you wish. I have nothing to do with that insolent brat." Draco crawled his way back to a crumbling wall, and smirked maliciously. "But oh how I am grateful with him for selling me that artista from time to time..." the man licked his lips and Ezio kicked him instantly with such a force that he thought he heard a crack before the man howled in pain.

He took an armful of hay from next to him and threw it over the man's legs, and dropped the ember on it, watching with fascination how the golden strands got on fire from as much as being near the embers. The clothes under it started to give in and the smell of burnt skin invaded Ezio's nostrils.

The panicked gasps from il Draco broke his reverie and he contemplated on letting the man live.

"His voice assassino! His screams were so beautiful!"

It was always amazing how with a flick of his wrist the blade found its way through flesh, being always silent on its purpose. The last heartbeat resonated through it with just a small tremor, and Ezio released his iron grip on the man's neck, ignoring the shock in his face.

"I hope you don't expect rest in death."

He turned around and headed for the exit, walking under the dark canvas and leaving behind a mass of flames and nothing else.

He needed to get back to Leonardo. For now, fire would take care of the man's sins. He would send someone to make sure that was the bastardo's end.

When Bianca returned the next morning, there was nothing in the debris that could be classified as a former body. Nothing to identify the man or what happened, but a single knife -her Master's, she recognized- shining between a pile of ashes.

FIN

So there, please leave a review to make me feel encouraged to upload some more stuff, si?