So I tried to make Juan and Octavian reenact what Ezio did to the river without making them look like magicians, but then again, they were probably fake people to trust.

Originally, I was gonna have Ezio use the Apple to kill a guard and make his blood infect the Tiber and all the water sources, but I scrapped it.

Chapter 13: The River of Blood

Rome, Italy, 29 March 1516

16:00 pm

Ezio came out of the villa looking for Rosa amongst the sea of guests. He saw Rosa with the mare and she saw him. They ran to each other, hugged, and kissed a little.

"What happened? I saw his face and he was angry at you. Did he do something to you?" Rosa quickly asked for she had so many questions and was worried about her husband.

"I think I made things worse. Let's get out of here first. I'll explain on the way." Ezio got on the horse's saddle making room for Rosa to get on. Rosa got on and Ezio took control of the reins and walked out of the villa gates. Ezio explained to Rosa about what he told Cesare. "Cesare only saw the Assassins as slaves and nothing else, just like his father." Ezio then told Rosa about Cesare giving out the order of doubling the Assassins' workload.

"His heart has hardened, and he became arrogant," Rosa pointed out. "He just doesn't understand."

"But he will. If a holographic eagle and my reasonings aren't enough to make Cesare convinced, then there must be a way."

"Use the Apple to see what will."

"It is too powerful for me. Jupiter warned me about its power."

"Did Jupiter show you that it was Cesare you would have to confront back in the cave?"

Ezio looked back at Rosa. He never thought about why Jupiter didn't show him it was Cesare he had to face.

"No, he just mentioned 'the Pope' and no name. I didn't even ask who. I assumed it would be Rodrigo."

"Ezio, look around us."

Ezio halted the horse to a stop and looked at the mud fields seeing that Cesare was true to his word. He had told the guards to double the slaves' workload and the guards shouted at them to work harder and meet their quota by the end of the day or face death. Ezio grimaced at the view of the slaves working extra hard. He didn't mean for any of this to happen. He commanded the horse to walk and he and Rosa looked at the calamity of the slaves. Some slaves saw them walk by and gave them angry stares. They knew Ezio was responsible for this misunderstanding. Unbeknownst to Ezio and Rosa, an old man working in the mud pit threw a ball of mud at Ezio. It hit his face and made him fall off the chestnut mare and into one of the pits, hitting his face on the hard mud.

"Ezio!" Rosa called out. She got off the horse and into the pit to check on Ezio if he was hurt.

"I'm fine." Ezio said as he wiped mud off his face with his glove. "Who did that?"

"So, Ezio," a familiar voice called out. Ezio and Rosa looked up and saw that the voice was coming from Federico. He had gotten old with a beard, few wrinkles, and bags under his eyes. He was not happy to see his younger brother at all. Behind Federico were some men and women who were angry at Ezio. "How does it feel when you get struck to the ground?"

Ezio felt guilt and regret inside himself. This was the moment when he wished he could apologize to Federico after treating him, his biological sister and mom like dirt. "I didn't mean to cause you more pain. I'm just trying to do as Jupiter told me."

"Jupiter?" Federico scoffed. "When did this Jupiter start caring about any of us?"

Ezio looked at the ground feeling belittled as Federico's words struck him like bullets. Rosa comforted him as she glared at Federico with fire in her eyes. She didn't understand why Ezio's brother, her brother-in-law, was being angry at him. However, she remembered when Ezio spoke about himself seeing the slaves as nothing and he had been terrible to his blood family.

"In fact, Ezio, when did you start caring about slaves? Was it when you found out that you were one of us?"

"Don't listen to him," Rosa said to Ezio while staring at Federico. She wasn't going to let anyone belittle her husband, not even her own brother-in-law.

"No, he's right. I did not see because I did not wish to see."

"You didn't see because you didn't wish to see? Ah," Federico said in mock surprise. "Well, that makes everything fine then, doesn't it?"

"Federico!" The man jumped when he heard his name being called. It was his sister, Claudia, who had grown mature over the past years. She was disappointed in Federico for belittling their brother. "You shame yourself." Federico looked down in defeat. Claudia went into the pit to see his brother and she smiled at him feeling content that his brother came back for them. Rosa saw the girl in the beautifully intricate designed brown dress and knew that was Ezio's sister. She admired her beauty and couldn't believe a beautiful girl like her would be reduced to such horrible conditions.

"Claudia." Ezio looked at his sister feeling so much guilt in his face. "I'm so sorry. I…" Ezio was so struck with guilt and regret in his face, he hid it with his hand so that Claudia and everybody else didn't see him cry. Claudia took pity and sat down to talk to him.

"Ezio, hear what I say. I have been a slave... all my life. And God has never answered my prayers until now. I prayed for you to come back to us again and you did. God saved you from the river, He saved you in all your wanderings, and even now, He saves you from the wrath of the Pope." Ezio kept looking down, but Claudia pulled his head up gently with her hand. "God will not abandon you, so don't you abandon us again."

Claudia turned around to look at the slaves and Federico who were all gathered to hear all of Claudia's talk. She looked at them with pleading eyes which looked like she was telling them to give Ezio a second chance. They all had blank and angry expressions on them, but Ezio didn't mind them. He got up and Rosa helped him up.

Ezio saw out in the river the royal boat that carried the Pope was sailing over to the mud pits. The slaves looked out in worry and fear knowing that the Pope would come here and watch them labor. Ezio had an angry and determined look on his face as he marched over to the river. The slaves watched him go by and were amazed that he was going over to confront the Pope again. Claudia and Rosa followed along with the other slaves. Federico tagged along wanting to know where Claudia was going.

As Ezio reached the banks of the Tiber, he saw that Cesare was enjoying himself while Octavian and Juan were entertaining his son. Ezio was steaming and he ran to the banks to confront his brother.

"Cesare!" Everybody in the boat turned to look at Ezio. "Let my people go!" Ezio suddenly remembered that this was the moment Jupiter showed to him back at the cave, but that wasn't important. He only cared about Cesare releasing the Assassins.

Cesare laughed when he heard those four words. "Still gnawing away at that bone, are we?" He then told his rowers to continue rowing.

"You cannot keep ignoring us!"

"Enough! I will hear no more of this Assassin nonsense. Bring him to me." He ordered his three guards and they pulled out their daggers and jumped in the water.

Rosa was scared that they were going to arrest Ezio and possibly kill him. She rushed out to get Ezio, but Federico pulled her back to stop her from getting hurt. Rosa released herself from his grip and ran to Ezio who was standing near the water not doing anything but staring at the guards wading over to his direction. Everybody was staring at the commotion, from the slaves to the occupants in the boat. Cesare's son was excited to see some action.

As the wind blew on Ezio, he looked up at the sky and heard Jupiter's voice.

"Take the Apple in your hand, Ezio."

Ezio pulled out the Apple from his pouch and stepped in the river until it reached his knees. The guards were almost close, but Ezio placed the Apple in the river spouting out blood. It represented all the newborns who were killed in that same river. The guards stopped and looked at the water turning into a misty dark red. When Rosa, Claudia, and Federico got to the river, they looked in shock and disgust. All the slaves watched the river with mixed reactions. One of the guards stuck his hand in the bloodied water and stared at it. Cesare's son stuck his fingers in it and knew what it was.

"Father?"

"It's…" Claudia said in disgust.

"Blood!" a guard screamed. The guards all ran back to the boat screaming in fear. One guard slipped in the river but emerged and his whole body was stained of blood. Cesare got out of his throne in the boat to see what was going on. When the guards got on the boat, they splashed some blood on Cesare who looked back in disgust.

"Juan, Octavian, explain this to me!" The two men stood motionless when they heard Cesare order them, but they came back to reality.

"Ah, rest assured, Your Holiness," Octavian spoke first while holding a bowl.

"We're going to demonstrate the superior might of our God." Juan poured some untainted water in the bowl and pulled out something from his red robe. It looked to be red powder. "In the name of God!" He dropped the powder in the water and it turned to a red color. Cesare put his hand in the water and merely laughed. He knew all of this was just a magic trick.

"Abandon this futile mission, Ezio!" Cesare shouted out to Ezio who was knee-high in the water with his wife, brother, sister, and the other Assassins behind him on land. "I've indulged you long enough! This must now be finished!" The boat then sailed off and everyone looked to see it go.

"No, Cesare," Ezio whispered. "It is only beginning."

"But, Ezio, didn't you see what just happened?" Federico spoke and Ezio turned to see him. "The confidants did the same thing. The Pope still has the power over our lives."

Ezio got out of the water and laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. This was the first time he showed compassion for him and not seeing him as just a slave, but his own brother.

"Yes, Federico, it's true. The Pope has the power." Ezio turned to look at the Assassins who were feeling hopeless. "He can take away your food, your home, your freedom." Ezio walked in the crowd giving an inspirational speech. The Assassins listened and watched in hope. "He can take away your sons and daughters. With one word, the Pope can take away your very lives. But there is one thing he cannot take away from you: your faith." Rosa and Claudia smiled when they heard Ezio's words gave strength to the people. "Believe, for we will see Jupiter's wonders." Everybody turned to look at the river tainted with blood. All the fish died, and the plants turned red.

Ezio went over to Rosa and hugged her. She punched his chest.

"Don't ever scare me like that again. You could've been killed."

"I'm sorry." Ezio smiled and Rosa chuckled.

"Excuse me?" Claudia interrupted and spoke to the Venetian. "I never did get your name."

"I'm Rosa. Rosa of Venice. I'm Ezio's wife."

Claudia smiled knowing that Ezio wasn't alone all those years and shook her hand, thanking her for taking care of him. "I'm Claudia."

"I got that. And that guy over is Federico, right?" Rosa pointed to the forty-three year old man who stood behind Ezio.

"Yes," Federico agreed.

Ezio was happy seeing his wife interact with his biological family, but he snapped back knowing that he forgot about his mom. "Claudia, how is Mother?"

"She's inside at our home. We'll take you to her."

"Let me get our horse." Rosa ran over to get the chestnut mare and dragged her over to Ezio who was being led by Claudia and Federico.

"You know, when you left Rome, she felt depressed," Claudia explained while leading her younger brother and sister-in-law. "You were her only hope of releasing us out of slavery, and you broke her heart."

"I never meant to hurt anyone. Just knowing the truth about who I was made me ran away more."

"You can't run away from your problems. Sometimes, you have to face them."

"I had been terrible to you three. Not every day passes by knowing how sorry I am, but thankfully, the thieves in Venice made me feel better."

"We're here," Federico announced. Everybody came to a stop and Ezio had memories of the house in front of him: where he first met Claudia and Federico after seventeen years, how they told him his true identity, and he disbelieved it. Federico took the mare to the back of the house where she could stay there. He untied some of the supplies off the horse's back and brought them to the front door. Claudia opened the door and went inside. Federico followed with supplies in his arms. Ezio helped carrying the supplies. Soon, everybody was inside. They all reached Maria's bedroom where some woman dressed in a nurse's clothing was comforting and talking to her.

"Mom, look who came back," Claudia spoke to Maria. She looked at Claudia who moved to show Ezio dressed in the armor of Altair. Ezio took off his hood to show his face to his mom.

"Salve, madre (Hello, mother). It's me, Ezio."

Maria got out of her bed, went over to Ezio, caressed his cheek, and hugged him with tears in her eyes. Ezio hugged her back. "Please don't leave us again. I missed you."

"I promise you. I'm here now," Ezio said between tears.

"Look at you. You're all grown up now."

"That's what she said twenty-three years ago," Federico remarked, but Claudia elbowed him. He still hasn't lost his sassiness.

The nurse saw Ezio and went over to him. "Hi, Ezio. You don't remember me, but I do. My name is Annetta. I helped your mom deliver you out of her and I led her to the Tiber when that Borgia pig Rodrigo ordered his guards to kill all those innocent babies." Ezio recognized her from the nightmare he had twenty-three years ago.

"It's nice meeting you."

"My son, how ever did you survive out all alone?" Maria questioned.

"I wasn't alone. I was at Venice, and that's when I met the thieves there. They were Assassins also but weren't enslaved. That's where I met Rosa." Ezio pointed to Rosa and she walked over to the older woman.

"It's nice to meet you, madonna."

"Thank you for taking care of my son."

The two women hugged, and everybody was all happy now. Ezio then led everyone to the living room and explained everything that happened to him, starting with his experiences in Venice, him being inducted in the Creed, his marriage to Rosa, his meeting with Jupiter, his confrontation with Cesare, and ending with the first plague he created using the Apple. He pulled out the Apple and everybody were in awe of it.

"I have heard of this relic," Maria recounted. "Before we were enslaved, Giovanni read up about these types of artifacts. They're called the Pieces of Eden. They are very powerful in the hands of man."

"Jupiter warned me not to let this go into the wrong hands."

"How do we know these plagues will convince the Pope himself?" Annetta questioned.

"We must have faith and we must not give up. Soon, he will let us go and we will be free." Ezio spoke with determination.

Maria then took Ezio and Rosa upstairs to a room that was unoccupied and that was where they were going to be sleeping. Ezio carried some clothes and other items they needed. Rosa thanked Maria for everything. Soon, the plague of the river and all the water sources will be free of blood tomorrow and something else will come to convince Cesare of Jupiter's wonders.

Author's Notes:

In the next chapter about the plagues, I'm gonna try to make it dialogue free. If not, well, who knows?