I do not own Assassin's Creed or any of the associated media or content. I do own Natalia Fia-Costa, Isobel Payne and the parts of this plot that aren't from the game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. This fic goes along with the game, but the focus is elsewhere. Sort of a companion piece. It is rated for language, violence and sexual content.

Assassin's Creed: Fires of Rome.
Sequence 03—Within The Brotherhood.

Natalia settled into the life of the assassins quickly, throwing everything she had into the assignments she was given in other countries and tried not to think about her daughters in the hands of the Borgia. Ezio and the team he had assigned to trail the girls kept on them, but the Borgia were either smarter than they appeared or someone had alerted them to the assassins tailing them, because they kept moving Anna and Katarina, effectively eliminating any chance the cabal would have to retrieve the girls. But they were still alive, and that gave Natalia hope. She knew Ezio would keep his promise. She knew she'd have her girls back. As soon as there was an opportunity—or any sign that the bad guys would harm the girls—the assassins would move in with deadly force.

As there was nothing she could do to help the situation, and worrying was only going to get in the way, Natalia worked at taking out the Borgia everywhere she could. She learned the skills her fellow assassins had to teach and began to rise through the ranks quicker than anyone had expected, taking to every new weapon and manoeuvre as if she was born with the knowledge and had just forgotten how to apply it. She spent all her free time practicing, except when she was in Rome, at the headquarters, when she spent her time with Ezio. Sometimes they trained, but more often than not, they just talked.

Currently, Natalia was seated on the edge of the roof of the headquarters while Ezio walked in a small, slow loop behind her. They had been reviewing the latest intelligence on the Borgia who currently had her daughters, trying to figure out if there was anything they could do at this juncture, if there was any opportunity for them to move and rescue the girls.

"I'm starting to feel like we're never going to be able to save them," she sighed. The young woman put her head in her hands, leaning farther over the edge of the building. "At least they're still alive."

"Natalia," Ezio said, appearing at her shoulder, "stop talking like that. We will get your daughters back."

She huffed a little and climbed to her feet, turning in one fluid motion to face her mentor, her friend. He flashed her the tiniest smile that completely disarmed her and she smiled back. "Stop it."

"What? Making you smile?"

Natalia stepped into Ezio and gave him a playful shove. "Is there anything we can do this time?" she asked.

"Possibly."

Natalia's mood swung upward, as did the corners of her mouth. She felt like screaming with joy, but, standing on top of one of the tallest buildings in Rome meant the sound would carry. She didn't want to wake anyone up or get the guards called on her at all, so she settled for giving Ezio a wide smile and asking, "Can I come?" She didn't have to know the plan to want to join in; there was something in Ezio's dark eyes that made her feel like this might be it—the opportunity they had been waiting for to get her daughters back with minimal bloodshed, minimal Borgia involvement.

Ezio nodded, once. "I am sorry it has taken so long."

Natalia frowned. "Ezio, there is nothing to apologize for. I would have loved to have been able to get Anna and Katarina back right away—hell, I would love it if they had never been taken, but they were, and we couldn't get them back right away without a lot of innocent bystanders getting killed unnecessarily and probably a lot of assassins as well. I know that now." She stepped closer to him again, for the more experienced assassin had resumed pacing his slow circle. "Ezio, you and the assassins gave me hope that I would get my daughters back and the means by which to keep anyone else from going through what I did. You have nothing to apologize for."

The man who had killed so many Borgia, who was the head of the assassin cabal, just stared at her for a moment, apparently speechless. After the moment passed, he just nodded and then made for the door. "Shall we go?"

"I just have one more question."

Ezio stood with the door open, facing his friend. "Yes?"

"Do you think I will be ready to become an assassin soon?"

"Natalia, you have risen through the ranks faster than most of your comrades and you have been displayed signs of a true assassin since the day I met you, so yes, I think you will become an assassin very quickly."

She nodded and ran one hand back through her black hair as she approached the open doorway. "A true assassin?" she asked as she passed Ezio and started down the stairs.

"A true assassin is someone who was meant to be an assassin, someone who has had the knowledge and the skills within them from the day they were born. It is something passed down through families, through bloodlines. It is not something you can learn, and not just anyone can become a true assassin."

Natalia was silent for a few steps before she stopped and turned around so she was looking up at Ezio, standing a few steps above her. "I know nothing about anyone in my family having been a true assassin—I did not even know there was such a thing. But if you think that maybe I am meant to be a true assassin, then I will do whatever you think I should to achieve that, Ezio."

He nodded and gestured for her to keep walking. "It is not unlikely that whoever in your family who is descended from the assassins decided to keep it from you. It would not have been the first time a family no longer wanted to be associated with us and it would not be the first time a mother or father did not want their daughter to become an assassin."

"Well, my parents keeping things from me would not be something shocking to discover."

An hour or so later, Ezio and Natalia were riding through the streets of Rome, heading for the bridge that would take them into the farmland on the outskirts of the city. That was where the scouts had spotted Anna and Katarina, at a Borgia camp outside of their infernal towers. They had decided to go by themselves, as it would be easier to sneak in and out and two would cause a lot less panic than anymore assassins. The sun was setting behind them, just as they had planned. They would do this under the cover of darkness.

The horse Natalia had been given to ride was a large black gelding, bigger than any horse she'd ridden before, and he was anxious, wanted to run. Next to Ezio's calm chestnut mount, it almost made Natalia laugh. As soon as they broke out of the cobblestoned streets of Rome, she dug heels into the horse's sides and took off, the horse's excess energy propelling them way ahead of Ezio and his horse, but it did not take the assassin long to catch up to Natalia. At a galloping pace that was nearly an all-out run, the land between Rome proper and the Borgia tower in the distance disappeared rather quickly and it wasn't long before they had to slow the horses down and dismount, so they could sneak the rest of the way on foot.

The wall outside the camp was high, but it was almost nothing to Ezio and Natalia, who dropped lightly down into the shadows on the other side a few seconds later, without so much as a second thought. Natalia crouched behind a nearby wall and adjusted her hood; Ezio was standing above her, peeking around the same corner, standing so close his legs were pressed against her back.

"Why are the uniforms white?" she whispered as quietly as she could. "It would be easier to sneak around if they were black."

Ezio just smiled down at her.

They watched a patrol of guards walk by their hiding place before moving quietly down the alley to a low building which they easily pulled themselves onto. The girls were in a building near the back of the compound, not quite a jail, but close to it; the actual prison was right next door. The assassins leapt onto the adjacent building, using the window sills and other decorations on the outside of the building to ascend to an area where they could survey the compound without being seen. There was one guard on top of the building, leaning on the low wall and looking very bored. Ezio nodded, giving Natalia the single.

She pulled herself up beside the guard as he was looking the other way and drove her hidden blade into the man's chest, puncturing the thin leather armour and going up into his heart. He didn't notice until it was too late, and even as the life left his face, he looked confused, as if he didn't understand that he was dying. Natalia laid the body down, tucked up against the wall as Ezio climbed onto the roof as well.

"Anna and Katarina are over there," he said, pointing to a small square building. There were only a few guards outside, and they were mostly focused on the prison. "It should not be too hard to get in."

"No, it'll be getting out that will be difficult. Are we going to sneak around the back?"

Ezio nodded. "Most of the guards marched out yesterday to meet Cesare and his men as they returned to the city, so even if we are seen, there will not be much backup."

"Huh. Lucky."

Ezio looked sideways at Natalia, who flashed him a wild grin full of her excitement and anticipation for what was about to happen. With a small shake of his head, he led the way down the building and across the shadows to the far wall of the encampment. Another small contingent of guards passed, and as they moved beyond the range of vision, Natalia and Ezio crept along the wall to the edge of the building. Natalia peeked around the corner and saw the guards all clustered around the door of the prison next door. She gestured to Ezio and he moved out ahead of her, allowing her to sneak into the building through the front door; the guards were so occupied with whatever they were doing that they didn't even notice as Ezio turned and entered the building behind her—it seemed that when the head of the Borgia guards were away, the lesser guards let their stupid and lazy instincts take over.

Anna and Katarina were lying on a bed of straw at the back of the building, ropes tied around their wrists held them in place, anchored to the supporting pillar of the building. Anna's cheeks were stained with tears, her fingers flexing against the ropes as she kept herself from sobbing loudly and her eyes were locked on Katarina, who was lying awfully still.

As Natalia moved closer, she saw the blood-matted straw beneath her daughter's body, the blood in her hair at the back of her head and the way the line of her scalp wasn't quite right...

Katarina's skull had been bashed in.

Natalia's hand flew to her mouth and she dropped to her knees between her daughters; Ezio remained by the door, watching and waiting and leaving his friend to deal with the horrific situation until she needed him.

"Mommy?" Anna breathed.

Natalia turned away from her late daughter to focus on the one she could still save. She pushed her hood back and smiled at the young girl. "Anna, Mommy's here." She untied her daughter's hands and pulled the girl close. Her eyes began to burn as Anna latched on, pressing her face into her mother's shoulder and sobbing. "Shh Anna. You have to be quiet so we can get out of here."

"Who is he Mommy?"

"His name is Ezio. He's a friend."

As if his name had summoned him, Ezio's hand appeared on Natalia's shoulder. "Let's go Natalia," he said quietly.

She nodded, cast one last look at the broken body her daughter and followed Ezio back towards the front door. They repeated the cover and run procedure they'd used to get into the building, but as they were making for the shadows of the wall, a guard spotted them and yelled.

"Get out of here Natalia," Ezio said, no longer trying to keep his voice quiet.

"Ezio—"

"Go, ride to the mercenaries' headquarters. I will find you there."

Anna was shrieking loudly and Natalia was afraid to leave Ezio alone to deal with the Borgia guards, but she nodded and ran to the shadows, somehow clambering over the wall and hitting the grass on the either side with Anna still in her arms. She whistled as she'd been taught and the horses appeared from where they'd been grazing moments before. The former farmer's wife climbed into the saddle, her daughter in front of her and spurred her horse into motion. She'd been to the mercenaries headquarters before and met their leader, Bartolomeo d'Alviano and quite liked him. They'd be safe there.

As they rode, she tightened her arms around her daughter and let the tears stream silently down her cheeks. Katarina had joined her father in the afterlife, far too early, and Natalia felt responsible. She kissed her daughter's head and said a silent prayer that Ezio would make it out alive.

"Natalia was a tough one," Rebecca breathed as she watched her computer screen. There were tears in her eyes and her arms were crossed over her chest, as if she was hugging herself.

"Why didn't she go back?" Shaun asked. He was standing behind Rebecca, a hand resting idly on one of her narrow shoulders.

Desmond sighed, barely perceptible and turned her eyes to Isobel, who was still out, even though the Animus wasn't turned on anymore; it was the first time she hadn't awoken immediately after the session had finished. "Natalia trusted Ezio completely. She wouldn't disobey his orders. She never did. He told her to go, she went. But more so, she had to save her daughter." Desmond realized his hand was resting on Isobel's knee. He didn't move it.

"It's like some tragic love story," Rebecca observed. There was a smile on her face now.

Desmond wanted to laugh, but nothing really came out. He squeezed Isobel's knee and just gave Rebecca and Shaun a weak smile and nodded. Before anyone could say anything else however, Lucy walked back into the Sanctuary—she'd been spending a lot of time in the city or doing work in the stairwell, away from Isobel and Natalia. She looked at Isobel still unconscious in the Animus and then at Desmond's hand on her leg. She dropped the bag of food she was carrying on the table by the mini-fridge and then set about stocking it, obviously ignoring the situation. Desmond didn't move his hand.

Isobel started to stir then and the young man turned his attention to her. She opened her olive green eyes and they were red, like she'd been crying, and she reached up to Desmond with her arm that wasn't attached to the machine. He moved across to grab her hand and help her sit up. Rebecca obliged the silent request and detached the young girl's arm from the machine, letting her get up, even though she had to move slowly and be supported by Desmond in order to do it. She leaned heavily on Desmond and he wrapped an arm around her waist as he helped her across the room to the sleeping bag she'd been using.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Isobel nodded. "That just wore me out a lot... I'm not really sure why."

"It's happened to me before." Desmond sat Isobel down on the ground, her back against the stone wall of the sanctuary. He brushed her hair back from her sweat-dampened face and wiped away the few tears that had trickled out of her eyes. "Of course, I never cry," he added with a small smile as he sat down beside her.

Isobel laughed and leaned into Desmond, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

Lucy crossed the room, a can of Coke in hand. She handed it to Isobel and crouched down in front of her. "How are you feeling?"

Isobel, more than a little confused, accepted the drink, blinking slowly. "Uh... I'm all right. Just exhausted."

Lucy gave her a warm smile that looked more than a little forced, but Isobel appreciated the sentiment. "Just let me know if you need anything," the blonde woman said.

Isobel didn't plan on asking Lucy for anything, but she nodded and thanked her for the drink before she returned to her computer across the room. Isobel took a drink from the Coke and leaned in Desmond more, her eyes flickering closed. If she could have seen Desmond's face, she would have seen him looking across the room at Lucy. But then she would have seen him turn his attention to her and lightly press his lips to the top of her head before he removed the can of Coke from her hand which allowed her to curl up to Desmond and go to sleep.

Author's Note.

Okay, super sorry this took so long. I'm trying very hard to stick to my updating order, so sometimes I gotta fight to write what's next instead of what I want to update next. Also, it is now March, which means five research papers... UGH. Also, personal issues. Nothing serious, but man. That's a lot of stuff to wade through to write.

Anyways, enjoy.

Next Chapter: Sequence 04—Promotion.