"Get him! He's getting away!"
Ezio was bursting at full speed over the roof tops, jumping gaps as he yelled over his shoulder, "I was shoved into you! Now leave me alone!" He stopped right in his tracks as the roof ended and let out to a six story drop! Ezio looked back at teh gaining guards, but there might even be the slightest chance he could reach the other side!
He took a step back and lundged, as he was inches away, his hands churned the air for a grip, and by some mericle he managed to latch a couple fingers to the edge. Unforchinately, his small victory was short lived as he felt a sharp pain to his shoulder. Taken by surprise his fingers released and he begun to fall! At first he was sure it would be a quick death to him, that he'd just break his spine or land of his head. To his amazement otherwize, he felt a hard slam as he hit a wooden platform, the air excaped from his lungs on impact, and he rolled off and slammed into something below. The light scent of freshly picked flowers was the last he sensed before everything faded.
He felt as though he had been trampled on by a horse when he first started to collect his thoughts. But there was something else. The scent of flowers seemed to get more overpowering than before. And another smell hinted the air. He felt something on his face twitch, blood. The reak seemed to mingle with a variety of others that it took a moment for him to reconize.
Somehow he could already see the soft petals in a flower cart before he even opened his eyes. He could overhear a group of people speaking, clearly about some Lugini character. But he tuned them out as he peered out over the side of the cart. He had to blink as bright light nearly blinded him, and when his eyes ajusted, he had wondered what had happened to his eye sight. The colors were ranging more than usual from intense to dull, like he wasn't even seeing through his own eyes.
"Hey? What are you doing in there?"
Ezio felt some new found body hair bristling up his spine as he looked aorund for the owner of the voice.
"Hello? I'm right here."
His ear twitched in the direct of the sound. Wait, ears don't twitch. He looked down at the person. Correction, not person, the cat! And cats don't talk!
"I haven't seen you around these parts." The cat went on. He was a ginger tabby tom with a spash of white fur on his chest and muzzle, his green eyes glowed with curiousity.
Ezio got lower in the cart. "I'm loosing it. It's just a nightmare and I hit my head a little too hard on the platform," He muttered to himself. Although it was more to assure him than anything.
"What's your name?" The ginger tom asked him.
Ezio blinked, "Ezio."
The tom mewed a friendly reply, "I'm Antonio." He took a couple steps back. "Why not come down here."
Ezio nodded hesitantly and was going to use his hand to fling him up and over the edge, but when he saw the dark brown paws that replaced them, he let out a yelp of surprise and stumbled backwards into the petals. He heard Antonio as he sprung up to the edge to fish him out, then felt the skin on the back of hsi neck be lightly bit as the ginger pulled him up.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "You're acting like you've never seen your own paws before."
Ezio was trembling now as he looked himself over, his body sleek, and covered in dark tortieseshell fur. A long and short furred tail twitched behind him. And he could feel claws as they slid out to grip the wood for a little more balance. Suddenly he felt sick, and was fighting the urdge to make a run for it.
"Ezio?" Antonio meowed in consern. But then he assured, "Why not you come with me. I have a good nest near some nice housefolk."
Ezio looekd back over himself, and finally took into note that his shoulder was encrusted with dry blood from the crossbow bolt wound. But he had no way to agrue. "Alright. I'll go with you."
If Antonio was a human, Ezio was sure he'd be smiling. The ginger tom laid his tail around Ezio's neck to guide him down and let him walk on his own as he trotted through the streets.
Antonio stopped and looked over his shoulder to see Ezio still following. The sky was glowing a deep orange as sunset played on the horizon, bathing the cobblestone streets in the flamelike light, making the ginger tom's fur look as if on fire. WHen he stopped, there was a small wooden box with the bottom covered in hay as well as there being a dish of milk near it.
"I'm sure they don't mind another cat." He told Ezio as he ofund a comfortable spot in the nest. Ezio simply sat down on the street. "Aren't you gonna come over here and get some rest?"
For a moment the now feline assassin hesitated in answering, consitering that he thought it would be ocward for him to be in the same bed as another man. He simply shook his head. "I'll just sleep on the ground."
A new mew came from a crack in the wall, "Antonio? Is that you?"
The ginger tom stood and came to the crack in the wall, "Angelia. It's me. I've brought a friend." He turned to Ezio. "Come here and meet my mate!"
Ezio padded up next to him, and peered inside the crack, a fluffy white she-cat with bright amber eyes looked to him. Her belly swollen with soon to come kits. "It's a pleasure."
The queen purred, "Any friend of Antonio is a friend of mine."
"I found Ezio coming out of a flower cart." Antonio explained.
"Now what where you doing in there?" She asked.
Ezio looked to his paws in embarrassment, "I... kind of... fell into it. From the rooftops."
"Now why would you even bother being up there?" Angelia let out a mmrrow of laughter. Then she looked up at him again, "Oh my! You're shoulder! How bad is it? Does it hurt?" She hauled her self up on her short legs as she came up to examine it. "Please lay down so I can get a better look." Ezio obidiantly laid down as Angelia started to rasp her rough toungue over the wound and blood crust. He rested his head on his paws as he dozed off to the sound of her steady lapping.
Ezio came too again, pale dawn light filtered in through the crack that lead into the small nursery. Angelia was resting on her side next to him, her white flank steadily raised and fell in time to her breathing. He stood up, ignoring his stiff limbs, and squeezed out and got just past Antonio.
With a yawn, he arched his back extended his front legs out until he heard a crack, then found himself cleaning his bed matted fur. But it was his temparary substitute for a proper bath. As he was grooming, Antonio stood up and went aorund to the alley way. A few minutes later, he had returned with a few mice dangling out of his mouth by the tails.
When he put them down, he batted Ezio one with his paw, "Breakfast!" Ezio looked at the rodent for a long moment, wishing he could be having a normal breakfast. But his growling stomach and weakness from hunger made the mouse far too tempting. He settled down and bit into it. His eyes brightened as he tasted the sharp tang of warm blood and meat. In a few mouthfuls, he finished it off and licked around his muzzle for any last traces before scrapping the remains under some dirt in the corner.
A new thought came into his mind, I can't stay like this! My friends! Claudia! Mother! They need me! I need to find Leonardo! At once he was sure of what he was going to do.
Looking around, he reconized some of the walls of the buildings around him. Maybe he could get to the hideout and find Machievelli.
Ezio slipped into the crack and looked at the two as Antonio and licking Angelia between the ears and she was craning her neck to lap at his muzzle. When he came in, the two stopped and the ginger tom greeted him kindly, "Hi, Ezio! Why not I show you some of the best place for hunting_"
"That's very kind of you," Ezio inturrupted. "But I must to be leaving. Thank you for letting me stay for the night. But I have to find someone."
Angelia tilted her head, "Who?"
"An old friend of mine," Ezio answered her. "I won't forget you. Addio (Goodbye)." He turned and slipped through the crack, leaving the two as he started towards finding his friend, and the only hope of him ever changing back to normal.
