The final part! My very first Ezio/Leo journey has come to an end! *sob* Hope you all have enjoyed this. So... to everybody who's favourited this, let's have some final thoughts from you all, eh? ;) What did you think? Did you enjoy it?

Oh, and I've just realised someone in an earlier review asked me if Ezio's wife Rosalie was the same character as Rosa in AC2. The answer to that is no. Rosalie is an OC I invented myself, and I apologise for the confusion. When thinking up a name for her I completely forgot how similar her name is to Rosa's.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. But one last thing: thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has followed me through my very first Assassin's Creed fic journey. Your love and support through your subscriptions and reviews is appreciated more than you will all ever know!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ezio or any other mentioned Assassin's Creed characters, they belong to Ubisoft. As for Leonardo Da Vinci, he belonged to himself as far as I'm aware!

There was an inevitable silence between them. Leonardo waited for a response. Ezio was at a complete loss for words. A million thoughts seemed to run through his mind at that moment. So much had happened in the past. Ezio would have been lying if he'd said that he hadn't ever contemplated his true feelings for Leonardo during the past forty years, between the magical yet fleeting moments they spent together and then the great amounts of time they spent apart. Of course, he had always loved the man, and it would have been easy for either of them to start losing the will to see the difference between love and in love. It was a simple human instinct. Ezio easily trusted Leonardo more than anybody else he had ever met, and it could have been the simplest thing in the world for two open-minded individuals like themselves to let a romance blossom. Ezio trusted Leonardo with his life. It would have been so simple to hand his heart over to the man, no questions asked.

"Leonardo..." was all he could force himself to whisper.

"I- I'm sorry, Ezio. B-but... I just..." Leonardo began to stammer, only stopping when Ezio gave him a pleading glance. He took in a breath, and started his sentence again. "I do not want to make you uncomfortable. Our friendship is a very important piece of my life. But I could not leave this world, and leave you, without telling you the one piece of information about myself I have never trusted you with."

"Leonardo." Ezio turned so he was sat facing his friend. Leonardo couldn't force himself to look at Ezio at first, until the younger man reached out to his chin and turned his head so they were finally making eye contact with each other. Leonardo had a guilty look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Ezio. You are my dearest friend, and I –"

Ezio raised a hand to silence him, and Leonardo's voice trailed off.

"Leonardo, I have loved you for a very long time."

Now it was Leonardo's turn to be shocked and confused. "You... mi dispiace, what?"

Ezio laughed quietly. "I have trusted you with everything about me. It would be impossible for me not to love you. Do not misunderstand me, I am in love with my bella Rosalie, she is everything to me, and I could never even dream of betraying her. But although you and I took our different paths in life, I have always loved you. Throughout my entire life, loving you is the easiest thing I could have ever done."

"Ezio, it warms my heart to hear you say this to me."

The two shared a small smile between each other, no more words needed for the moment.

"Maybe it is time we tried to sleep for a while," Ezio finally spoke, leaning back against the headboard.

"Hmm, maybe you are right, amico mio," Leonardo agreed, shuffling and shifting back against his pillows.

Ezio's eyelids fluttered shut, and he began once again to attempt to fall back into slumber. The night had taken an unexpected turn, but he felt at ease knowing that he had finally explained to his friend just how he truly felt. He hadn't expected the words to fall out of his mouth so quickly, and nor had he expected Leonardo to speak of his feelings so bluntly and suddenly, especially after such a long period of absence in each other's company. But he was glad that it was done with. For so many years Ezio regretted that he could not save the ones he loved, but at the very least he wished he could have said goodbye to them, and explained just how much they meant. He was just an immature, foolish teenager then, but his family had meant everything to him. He could only hope that, wherever they were, they understood just how much love he felt for them.

Ezio felt himself beginning to slip into unconsciousness, when in the faint distance he could hear the sound of someone's voice. He felt a hand grabbing at his arm urgently. In a second his eyes shot open, and he turned to Leonardo, who was sat up in bed, leaning forward, his breathing shallow and wheezy.

"Leonardo!" Ezio cried out, a sense of dread flooding through him.

Leonardo turned to his friend, the two locking eyes, and it was as if they both knew. The letter Ezio had received had been correct. The timing of his arrival had been almost perfect. They'd had their time together, and now it was coming to an end. The final goodbye was imminent. Ezio could almost feel the clock turning back. The same knot in his stomach that he'd had as a teenager when he was forced to helplessly watch the wooden panels slide out from underneath his father and brothers' feet. The same knot he'd had over a decade earlier when he stood on a rooftop in battle-stricken Monteriggioni, as Cesare pulled the trigger on the gun he forcibly held against Mario's throat. The same knot from three years earlier as he watched his mother laying in bed, weak and frail, taking her last breath. He'd lost so many; yet he was so unprepared to lose another.

"I'm going to get Anna," he assured Leonardo, as he leapt off the bed and headed for the bedroom door.

"No, NO, Ezio!" Leonardo spoke, his voice raspy as he struggled to maintain his breathing. "Come... sit... please."

Ezio stopped in his tracks, wondering why Leonardo had asked for such an unusual request. Leonardo was such a popular and loved person; Ezio knew the best thing would be for him to be surrounded by the others who loved him. But nevertheless, Ezio did not want to distress Leonardo any further. He shut the bedroom door quietly, then made his way back toward the bed, sitting on the edge of Leonardo's side of it, taking his friend's hand in his.

"What about everybody else? Anna... and His Majesty would want to see you – "

"Ezio. No. Just you and me... this is what I want. Quiet. Peaceful." Leonardo looked so pale, so weak and frail. So different from the Leonardo that Ezio had met so long ago. The former assassin silently cursed age and time in his head. It was so unfair. Leonardo had been such a brilliant man, cursed by the fact that the sands of time seemed to flow so quickly, and that it knew nothing of recklessly taking the lives of others along with it.

"Are you sure?" Ezio questioned him, still gripping tightly onto the painter's hand.

Leonardo nodded weakly, leaning back into his pillow once again. "Ezio... I asked His Majesty to send you the letter... it was so important to me that I have you here with me..."

Ezio couldn't find the right words. He just fixed his gaze on his friend, feeling so much emotion that it honestly overwhelmed him. He knew that he knew better, but he couldn't hold it back. So many years, so many times holding back his true feelings. He never held back anything with Leonardo. Ezio had entrusted him with everything, and that wouldn't change with his final moments.

"Thank you, amico mio. My world... was always so much brighter with your presence." Leonardo's breathing was beginning to slow, and his voice was barely audible. Ezio leaned close, slipping his free hand around the back of the elder's head and supporting it gently.

"As was mine with yours."

Leonardo stared right into Ezio's deep, beautiful hazel eyes, giving him a weak smile which Ezio immediately returned. His breathing continued to slow, and his grip on the younger man's hand seemed to loosen slightly.

"Ti voglio, mio fratello," spoke Leonardo quietly.

"Mi caro fratello," responded Ezio, mustering all his strength to fight the whirlwind of emotions inside him, "Ti voglio bene."

And with that, Leonardo took one last deep breath, and exhaled slowly, his eyelids slowly shutting. Ezio watched his friend carefully, part of him in disbelief at what he was seeing. Leonardo's body became still. His head lolled back against Ezio's firm hand, and Ezio closed his eyes, glancing away at the window for a split second. A sigh escaped his lips. He knew it was over.

Glancing back, he very gently began to stand up, slowly removing his hand from behind Leonardo's head so that it fell back against the cool feather pillow. Ezio gave his friend's hand one last tight squeeze and then, very reluctantly, let it go.

Without thinking, Ezio did the last thing he would ever do for his friend. He leaned in close to him, gently brushing the hair away from his face. He kissed his forehead, letting his lips linger for a few seconds, and then drew away slowly.

Fighting back the emotion was terribly difficult, but Ezio managed to restrain his tears. There was no more future for them; all that was left were the memories Ezio was more desperate than ever to hold on to. But there was the bright side: his very best friend, his brother, was finally at peace.

"Requiescat in pace."