A/N: You guys are so good and awesome that you get TWO updates in one day :D Albeit they're really far apart...I really like this chapter. I'm having fun showing a more emotional side of Ezio. Kinda like he was back in the beginning of ACII. God, I feel like his MOTHER. We've known the man for, what, nearly 40 years of his life?
Now, to say a few things...
For BeachVampire17 and IceQueen: I've been thinking about who Elia's mother might be through the whole story. At first, I really wanted it to be one of Ezio's love interests that I liked-either Rosa or Cristina. But then I thought that would be too cliche, and it would be a bit TOO convenient...so I've decided that she was from a random prostitute at the Rosa in Fiore, who probably died giving birth to Elia or just dropped her off and ran. So, if there was someone who was going to be an acting mother, I'd say Claudia and Rosa (Rosa takes over the Rosa in Fiore in 150...3, was it? Which is about when the story is set). Wow. Long answer. Hah xD
To IceQueen: Actually, in ACI, if you go behind the main bureau in Masyaf, there's a garden with a looooooot of very scantily clad women in it. Not to mention that at the very beginning of the game for a really short time Altair is followed by a small crowd of these women xD I DIDN'T NOTICE THIS UNTIL RECENTLY EITHER...I thought he was all innocent PFFF.
That mental image of Cesare's intestines being pulled out of his eye sockets kinda amuses me now...xD But thank you all for the reviews! ending option number 2 is still in the lead...you can vote again for this chapter and number 5, too, if you want! At first I was rooting for a bad ending, but now that I've kind of grown attached to Elia, I'm not too sure...
Also, I'd greatly appreciate any grammar or factual mistakes being pointed out! I actually ran around the inside of the castle and replayed several memories to plan their escape-the bridge section was hardest to do, I think.
Now, read, review and ENJOY my lovely and beautiful readers that I love so very much because you're so amazing and full of awesome sauce! Personal and extra special thanks go out to all who have reviewed. You guys are the ones who helped me make this story what it is!
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Elia looked back down at the haystack and swallowed the bitter fear that rose like bile in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut and jumped, biting back a yell as she hurtled down toward the ground. As soon as she could breathe properly again, Elia scrambled out of the haystack, looking up to see her father leap up onto the windowsill and then out of it without a moment's hesitation.
"Hey, you!" Yelled a guard, making Elia spin around in alarm. He ran towards her while drawing his sword, and Elia panicked. Where she normally would have performed a disarming move or defended herself, she froze.
"Don't you dare touch my daughter!" Ezio roared, leaping from the haystack behind Elia. He wrapped his arm around her waist and twisted, lifting his hidden blade to block the blow that came hurtling down toward them. The hidden blade slid all the way to the hilt of the weapon before he swiftly kicked the guard in the crotch and dug his weapon into the man's neck. Elia had taken several steps back, still dazed from the close call.
Ezio took off then, his hand wrapped around Elia's wrist. He dragged her along behind him, glancing back when he had to pull her forward once more.
"Elia, run, please!" He begged her.
"I'm trying!" She wheezed, having difficulty breathing with her broken and weakened body. Ezio glanced around, putting his arm around her waist once more and hefting her into his arms to make the going faster. She felt so much lighter than he remembered, and he couldn't help but ask, "Have you been eating?" Elia looked at him, her eyes dull.
"No." She answered simply.
"Those shit-eating bastards," Ezio lifted his lip and what closely resembled a snarl dominated his face. Elia pressed her face into his chest to avoid looking at it.
"We need to jump into the water—" Ezio was cut off as he placed her on her feet, an arrow burying itself in his shoulder. He let out a grunt of pain and whipped around, reaching behind himself to drag it from his skin. He saw several archers on the rooftops next to the wall, drawing back more arrows in preparation to shoot. The bastards couldn't even come out and fight him like real men!
"Jump!" He shouted to his daughter, lifting his arm and flicking out his hidden blade to deal with the guards who were now rushing toward them from both directions of the wall. Elia backed up slowly, eyes wide and heart hammering as her father ran towards a group of guards, yelling out curses at them as he took several down with ease.
While her father fought off the guards, Elia stood at the edge in one of the notches in the wall, looking down at the water far below. Now she didn't just feel fear creeping up her. She felt complete terror, clutching at her heart and making it hard to breathe.
Ezio glanced behind himself at his daughter, becoming desperate to escape these guards and get them both to safety. Why wasn't she jumping? She was the one who had had to convince him to let her make her first leap of faith when she was twelve. Why was she refusing to now?
"Elia, Jump!" He bellowed, abandoning his fight with one of the guards and running toward his daughter. Apologizing to her silently in his head, Ezio held out his arms, wrapping them around her and tackling her off the wall, angling them both downward and into the water below. Elia choked back a yell of terror, nearly chewing her tongue off to keep her mouth shut. Her heart pounded in the throat and her eyes leaked tears as they dropped down to the water below.
All thought was wiped form her mind as the cold water enveloped her body. When they hit the water Elia was wrenched from Ezio's grip and she flailed uselessly in the water in an attempt to get to the surface. She opened her eyes and blinked several times to clear water from her eyes while kicking her legs as hard as she could to say afloat. Ezio kicked as hard as he could, surfacing and looking around frantically for her. He heard sputtering breath and splashing off to his right and lifted a hand to wipe his bangs out of his eyes as he turned towards the sound.
"Daddy!" Elia yelled, panic in her voice as she began to sink under. She was weak, she was in intense pain, and she knew she wouldn't be able to hold herself up for long. Already her limbs felt like lead and her side was on fire.
"I'm here!" He called back, ignoring the random and sharp pains in his ribs as he picked up his pace. He'd seen the injuries she had—he was lucky she even stayed conscious. Right now was not the time to acknowledge his pain. Ezio swam as fast as he could towards her, snagging her around the waist and flipping onto his back to kick to the bridge that connected the Vatican to the rest of Rome. He held Elia as close to him as he could, simply relieved she was in his arms and not those of the Borgia.
They made it under the bridge, and Ezio had to pause to catch his breath. The shouts of soldiers and pounding of horse hooves made Elia flinch, which made Ezio grind his teeth. He pressed his feet against the inside wall of the bridge and felt around with his hands, grabbing on to the largest handholds he could find to hold them both up. There was no way he could tread water while they waited for the soldiers to pass. Elia clung to the fabric of his robes now, pressing her face into his shoulder.
While Ezio listened for the steady thunder of soldier's feet to end, he became aware of his daughter's violent trembling. Sparing a glance downward, he quickly pressed his lips to the top of her head and murmured, "We'll be home soon, Elia. Just hold on a little bit longer."
Then he would come straight back here and force-feed that Borgia bastard his own lungs. Heat flowed through his limbs as anger gave him temporary strength, various ways of murdering that bastard general running through his mind.
He forced his attention back to the soldiers, listening carefully for their shouts and pounding feet. Finally, it was silent again and only an occasional raised voice caught his attention. Ezio let go of the wall, hugging Elia close to him once more and kicking out until he came level with a stretch of stone that jutted out from the bridge.
"Hold on to the edge, Elia." He ordered her, hauling himself out of the water (regrettably with great difficulty) and reaching down while on his knees to lift his daughter up and on to dry land. He pulled her up against the wall of the bridge and she leaned back gratefully, sliding down the stone to sit on the ground. Elia shut her eyes and hugged herself to fend off the cold that didn't seem to want to go away, still shivering violently and looking tiny in her soaked clothing. Ezio's heart wrenched as he took in how damaged she was. Even though she'd been away for only two days, he could tell easily that she hadn't been fed at all. She looked like she hadn't slept much, either, and her clothes were coated in dirt and dried blood.
Once again his anger for the Borgia flared and he glared up at the massive castle that loomed behind them. If Elia wasn't in such a terrible condition, Ezio would march through the front doors of the castle to shove Cesare's god damn head up his own ass.
"Elia, we need to keep moving, come on, get up…" He finally said while he reached down and lifted her up by her upper arms, shaking her lightly to get her to open her eyes.
"Sleepy…" She muttered, tilting her head down and closing her eyes once more until Ezio shook her more violently. He winced at the tiny groan of pain he heard from her, but shoved his discomfort down as he spoke again.
"No, no you can't sleep. We need to go, now." He hissed, walking forward and dragging his daughter with him. Elia protested weakly, until Ezio moved her in such a way that made her ribcage explode with pain. She bent over, nearly sobbing and clutching her father's arm for support. Ezio swore violently and apologized several time to her, regret at causing his daughter pain and rage at the Borgia for doing this to her eating away at his insides.
A sudden shout and the sound of approaching hooves drew his attention from his daughter.
"I'm sorry, baby," He said with regret coloring his voice, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her over his shoulder. Her weak protest of pain made him wince, but he ordered her to hold on to him nonetheless, only moments before he leapt across the water to one of the poles that stuck out half a meter or so. Ezio grunted and tipped forward on the first pole, nearly losing his balance as he let a string of curses fly from his mouth.
"Fuck!" He spat as he finally managed to balance himself and prepare for the next jump, which went more smoothly despite the constant protests coming from his daughter and her weight unbalancing him. He ran across the next stretch of stone and leapt across the two final poles, landing less than smoothly on the wooden dock that clung to the main city walls before dropping Elia to her feet. She was more awake now with pain driving her eyes open—not that Ezio felt any better because of it.
"Can you climb?" Ezio asked, his voice urgent. He was feeling paranoid and continually looked around for any guards—no doubt the Borgia expected them in the immediate area. She nodded with her wide, frightened eyes.
"Then climb!" He ordered, moving her roughly toward the wall and boosting her up as she clumsily clambered over it. She landed roughly on the ground, yelling out in pain—several citizens turned to look at her as she lay on the ground, gasping, pointing and whispering as Ezio landed beside her and coaxed her to her feet.
"Come on, Elia, come on!" He hissed, hoisting her to her feet and pushing her forward. It was only a matter of time before some guards came back this way.
He laid eyes on a horse. Without thought ran over to it and dragged the man who rode upon it to the ground, grunting to the now-shouting rider in response, "Sorry, but I need this a little more than you right now," He hopped up onto the beast and trotted over to Elia.
"Here!" He called, bending over as she forced herself to stand and grabbing her by her waist as she reached up toward him. He grunted as pain shot through his side and chest, but sat her in front of him regardless, keeping one arm tight around her waist as he grabbed the reins of the horse in the other and took off.
"Oi! You! Get back here!" The call of a guard made his heart clench. No. You will never lay hands on my daughter again, he thought with conviction, snapping the reins and shouting at the horse to run faster. He stole a glance behind himself and saw three guards, dressed in full armor and gaining closely behind him on their horses. He swore violently as he dodged and leapt over obstacles, glancing down at Elia every few moments. He took random sharp turns in an attempt to throw off the men who chased them, letting loose many colorful words as they only followed more closely behind.
They were getting nearer and nearer to Tiber Island, the time seeming to fly by as fast as he forced his horse to gallop. How much longer would his daughter be able to hold out?
"Elia? When I say three, we're going to jump off the horse and into the water, okay? Can you do that for me?" Ezio asked his daughter urgently, looking over her head and steering the horse in the direction of the headquarters as they neared the water that surrounded the island.
"I—I can try." She said, words barely above a whisper. Ezio prayed to o a god he didn't even believe in that she would make the jump. His strength was fading as well as her own, and while he was certain he could help her jump off the horse, he didn't know if he'd jump far enough to get them both safely into the water.
"One…" He began to get to his feet on the horse's back, eyes locked on the pathway ahead of them. The edge of the water was approaching rapidly.
"Two…" Elia sucked in a deep breath, wincing as her ribs creaked. She forced her tired and worn out limbs to do as they were told, balancing as well as she could on the back of the horse and gripping its mane tightly in both hands.
"Three!" She leapt forward, while her father leapt slightly to the left, both making loud splashes in the water. Ezio swam to his daughter the moment he came to the surface, panic making him near hysterical when he didn't see her right away. Bubbles surfaced in the otherwise calm water and Ezio dove to retrieve his daughter, praying that she would be conscious.
She was unconscious—whether from pain when she hit the water, or simply from exhaustion, Ezio was not sure. But he held her close to himself, against one of the legs of a wooden dock as the guards who had been riding on horseback thundered by. He did not dare to breathe until their shouting had ceased and calm once again enveloped the area.
He then awkwardly kicked and swam his way over to the wall of the impressive building that lay before him, feeling his legs and arms grow more and more like lead by the second.
His breathing was ragged as he approached the underwater entrance to the assassin hideout but he took as deep a breath as his body allowed to swim under the small niche in the wall, kicking out his feet until they met with steps. He dragged himself and his daughter up them and finally, on dry land at last, collapsed with his arms still around her. The noise brought several of the novice assassins to the room and Ezio looked up at them, attempting to get to his feet. He was able to get to his knees, but that was as far as his body would allow. He felt his consciousness fading, and with the last of his strength ordered, "Save her."
He was out before he even hit the ground.