-Midnight, Ezio's POV

Ezio slowly rode up to the stables outside the city, gently nodding to the poor man sitting there waiting to put his horse away like he had asked him to do earlier that day. To think, he stayed up this whole time waiting for me... Such loyalty Ezio thought with a deep sigh as he dismounted his horse and paid the man some extra florins for all his trouble. He slowly walked through the streets towards home, his mind racing with thousands of different thoughts. Why had he slept with Cristina? He had promised himself to let her go so many years ago but once she popped back into his life, he felt something for her all over again. Why though? He shook his head to clear his mind of her, but one thing was sticking out about this whole ordeal that made Ezio the most nervous... He had so easily fallen for Cristina again when he was certain that his heart now harbored feelings for Altair. But how did that all happen? As he thought more on the matter, the more the answer became easier to identify: Cristina was a part of his shattered past, something he wanted to fix for his father and brothers' sakes... So seeing her made his heart jump at the feelings he had in the past; his mind had shut off the real world and replaced everything he had now with figments of his past. A past with so much ignorance of all the evils that plagued this world. A past in which he had been carefree with not a single worry or responsibility in the world.

"It is a good life we lead, brother."

"The best. May it never change."

"And may it never change us."

It did make sense in his mind and his head cleared away those troubling thoughts as he grabbed the front door handle and swung open the door. As he forced his face to make the carefree smile everyone knew and loved, his arms stretched out in preparation for his sister who would usually be jumping into his arms right about now... Where is everyone?

"Hello? I'm home," Ezio called. He mentally smacked himself when he thought about how late it was; they could all be asleep.

"Welcome home, fratello," Claudia's voice resonated lowly from the living room. Ezio walked in to see his sister and mother sitting side by side on the couch, neither looking at all pleased with his appearance.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest, his gut instinct telling him to run. The girls said nothing at first, their eyes just staring into Ezio's as if they were waiting for something. Personally, Ezio thought they were staring into his very soul... which was very unnerving.

"Something wrong? You come here to ask us if something is wrong? Figlio, I thought I taught you better than this..." Maria sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What?" Ezio asked, his voice and eyes baring the same message: Confusion on every level.

"So, what did you do while you were in Florence? Did you get side tracked from the real reason you were there? Or was your main goal of going... to see someone?" Claudia asked, the darkness in her voice seemed to dim the candles. Shadows were staring at Ezio from all angles, their accusing eyes tearing Ezio's esteem apart from the seams.

"I... I really don't know what you're talking about ladies. Isn't it time for bed? I'm awfully tired from the ride there and back. Maybe we can talk more in the morning," Ezio stuttered lightly, his calm mask quickly crumbling.

"Tired from the ride? No figlio, I don't think that is what tired you. We know what you did," Maria snapped back, her anger boiling like a pot of tea boils on the stove. Ezio stared at them dumbfounded; he knew at that point what they were talking about. They knew about Cristina... But how?!

"Before you ask why fratello, ask me who else knows about this?" Claudia quickly asked before Ezio could say a word.

"...Very well. Who else knows?" Ezio slowly asked, his head playing tricks on his nervous mind. He could of swore he saw figures on the walls coming towards him.

"Well, let me tell you a small tale, figlio. Someone important to you was being nice enough to go all the way to Florence to give you a letter. Now this letter was a very important letter from a certain thief but it would have to have waited till your return to be read. But this person was happy enough to go to a city they had never been to before just to give you the letter. And when they finally find the place the thieves had said they saw you going to, what is it they see? You, having sex with some woman you said you had let go of!" Maria yelled, the motherly yell everyone in their hearts knew. It wasn't loud but it still shook fear in the hearts of even the biggest men. The realization hit Ezio like a ton of bricks and as his eyes widened and mouth dropped, the ladies in front of him knew that he understood perfectly who it was that had seen it all.

"No..." He whispered as his hand grabbed his hair and pulled on the roots lightly. Everything was going downhill and he didn't know how to catch it all at one time.

"He waits for you in your room," Maria whispered and with that, both women got up and left the room to ascend the stairs, retiring for the night in their respective rooms. Ezio looked up at the staircase. He thought about going up and confronting Altair a couple of times, but each time he did, his hand rubbed his neck and he swallowed hard. What am I going to do?! Going up to see him will probably make all of this even worse! But not going will more than likely ruin my chances of ever fixing all of this! ...I could just go to sleep on the couch and wait to talk to him in the morning, but then he'd probably slit my throat in my sleep, Ezio thought, his hand rubbing his chin gently. Finally, he made up his mind and walked up the stairs. He didn't want to show Altair that he was a coward and wasn't prepared to pay for his actions, no matter how severe they were probably going to be. As Ezio grabbed the door handle to his bedroom and peeked his head in, a knife quickly pierced the wood right next to his face from the other side, almost making Ezio scream out in complete surprise.

"Since you didn't scream, I'm assuming I missed," Altair's hollow voice spat from the other side.

"Si, but not by much," Ezio replied slowly as he entered the room and slowly closed the door behind him, closing the door on his life it seemed. He looked over and saw Altair sitting in a chair right next to the open window, the moon's glow washing over him like a thousand suns. His lightly dried tear stained face glittered in the light, but they didn't shine with sadness... They shone with anger and betrayal. The newly polished knives in his lap also glittered...

"Altair... I-"

Swush

Before Ezio could finish his sentence, Altair had thrown another knife at his head. Lucky, Ezio saw it and quickly moved.

"Come on Altair, could you please stop with the knives?" Ezio pleaded, hoping he'd comply instead of throw more.

"Why? I didn't think you could feel pain. Since you can so easily go around and dish it out to everyone else," Altair spat as he looked away.

"People that inflict the most pain are in turn the ones most afraid of it," Ezio sighed, but he quickly looked back up at Altair when he heard him chuckle darkly.

"Good, then it will give me great pleasure to kill you!" He yelled as he quickly jumped at Ezio with such fast reflexes that Ezio barely had enough time to move just enough to the left to miss the knife that Altair slammed into the wall.

"Altair, come on! Let's talk about this!" Ezio quickly stated as he ducked away from a flying knife.

"No! Why should we talk about it now when you've already said enough through your actions?!" Altair growled as he threw another knife. Ezio moved as Altair lunged again but this time he grabbed him and pinned him to the wall roughly, wincing when he heard Altair yelp lightly in surprise, his knives falling to the floor.

"I know what I did was terrible and I'm sorry! I don't know why it happened!" Ezio quickly stated but Altair was only listening halfway.

"Hahaha! Are you a child?! 'I'm sorry' doesn't work in the real world!" Altair spat. He pulled his knee up and kneed Ezio right in the middle, winding him enough for Altair to push him to the ground and put a knife to his throat, but Ezio's hand grabbed his before he could hurt him severely.

"Just listen to me for a minute, Altair! Please!" Ezio pleaded, both his hands holding back both of Altair's that were pushing down on the knife. One wrong move from Ezio and his life was over.

"Why?! Why should I listen to you? I follow my heart and it tells me now to clear the way of the thing that is causing me all this pain! And guess who that could be?! That's right, YOU!" Altair screamed, his head shaking back and forth as new tears flowed down his face.

"I understand! I don't know what came over me! I promised myself I let her go many years ago. But seeing her reminded my mind of the good days when my father and brothers were still around, so my heart wanted to go back to that time... At least for one afternoon!" Ezio stated, his mouth spilling all the thoughts that he had been harboring. Altair's eyes widened at Ezio's confession, his own mind thinking of the good days before his father had died, but he quickly shook his head of those thoughts. His small shift of strength gave Ezio enough time to throw Altair off of him. Sadly, his back hit the wall pretty hard.

"Why must you want something from the past? In the end, you have to remember that they are the past. Not the present or even the future. They are gone and they will never come back. They are just memories, memories you can only cherish and hold onto but can never experience ever again. No matter what happens down the road, if you wish to live, to continue with your life, you must move on and give them up. So why not let the memories of the past go and make new ones with someone from the present?" Altair spoke softly. His face was twisted from the pain of his wound hitting the wall as hard as it did and his crying eyes no longer held the sharp pain of fury they had earlier.

"Altair..." Ezio whispered. The words he had heard just then sounded like a message from superior beings. That very sentence Altair had spoken held so much meaning and love to it that Ezio really didn't know what to say.

"No... I don't want to hear another word from you. Just get out," Altair stated quietly, his head hung low and his bangs hiding his face. Ezio shook his head, got up and began to slowly crawl towards Altair so he could check on his wounds. Altair looked up at him and Ezio immediately regretted not leaving when Altair had told him to nicely because seeing his face now made the Borgia look like little boys in a playground.

"Go away! Are you deaf?! Do your ears not work?!" He shouted, his fingers quickly grabbing a knife that was lying next to it and, in one fluid motion that Ezio didn't see coming, flew his hand forward and cut Ezio's right cheek. Ezio backed up a little distance away from Altair, his hand instinctively going up to feel the wound. He sighed in relief when he realized it wasn't that bad of a cut. He got up and went to walk out the door, but his eyes caught the letter that Antonio had sent him earlier lying on the bed so he grabbed it then slowly closed the door behind him.

The scene that had just transpired was still fresh in his mind as he slowly sank to the ground, his back resting on the door. Everything that had happened seemed so surreal that Ezio didn't want to believe it but he knew that it all had happened and was as real as the sun rising each morning. 'Why not let the memories of the past go and make new ones with someone from the present?' That sentence made so much sense that Ezio felt like he had been living a lie these 11 years because of the suffering he had let his heart live with what happened to his family. He told everyone that he did what he did because he wanted to avenge his fallen family, but really he did it all because he couldn't let it go. Even after so long, he still hadn't gotten over his father and brothers' deaths. As long as his family's murderers lived, the past memories wouldn't go away... The past he longed to relive wouldn't go away. He couldn't move on until he had killed everyone responsible for the tragedy of the Auditore family. Well no more! Ezio thought as his fingers gripped the letter. He was going to live each day in the present and each person he killed would be for justice. No one else would fall under their hands. He slowly opened the letter, his face twisting into sadness when he heard Altair's sobs but he had to push that sound away so he could focus on the letter. Maybe he could fix his friendship with Altair later.

-5 minutes later

Ezio slowly folded the letter up and thought deeply on the words he had read. Antonio had found Silvio and Dante and he wanted Ezio to come up with a plan to kill them. In addition, Antonio's men had found out that the mercenary leader Bartolomeo was being held captive somewhere in the district where Silvio and Dante were hiding, so freeing him was going to be a great help. Ezio slowly rose and walked down the stairs till he reached the living room where he laid down on the couch with a big sigh. So many things he had learned today, so many bad decisions and good life lessons. Why things had to happen the way they did was beyond Ezio's reasoning, but maybe tomorrow would bring a better day... Maybe. One last thing ran through Ezio's mind as sleep beckoned his tired eyes, a thought he should of been thinking of from the moment it happened and the whole idea brought a small smile to his face: he had been so scared of Altair that he let himself get kicked out of his own bedroom.