An: sort of rushed it towards the end, but I didn't feel like fixing it. Smut is in store next. :D

Twit shit! twitter(dot)com(slash)alexosaurus

Seven days had passed since he had left the bustling streets of Venezia. Seven days, he had spent moving around Monteriggioni; conspiring with his uncle, and aimlessly wasting his time with the townsfolk surrounding him. Marco especially, the crazy little child never got sick of his stories.

But in that weeks' time he had grown terribly lonely, and missed his friend more and more each day. Most days he was able to hide it, but towards the end of the week, his uncle had grown tired of his supposed 'moping' and knocked a book into his head to gain his attention.

"Ow," Seeley growled; gingerly touching his fingers to the tender spot on his head. "What was that for?"

"We've had these meetings all week," Giovanni stated. "And you've grown decreasingly aware of what the hell we're talking about. Why don't you do us both a favor and ride to Venezia. Bring her to Monteriggioni for a couple days. Maybe then you'll brighten up and actually be of some help around here."

"Really?" he asked, perking up and slowly inching out of his seat. "You're sure?"

"Never been so damn sure in my life. Now go. I'm sick of seeing that childish pout on your lips."

"I don't pout."

"Maybe not when something serious happens. But when you miss a girl...you pout."

The urge to argue wound itself around his tongue, but at the thought of seeing his friend again...seeing his partner, as he had grown to call her, excited him far more than proving his point to his uncle. He forgot his rebuttal, and made his way outside of the villa. The wind was whipping with a ferocity he wasn't used to. The smell of rain clung to the thrashing wind, and the surrounding trees were bending under the weight of nature itself. It was both beautiful, and disturbing, but even that wasn't enough to captivate him from the fact that he was on a short time away from the woman who had plagued his mind since he left her.

Realization smacked him square in the face, as he thought of Rebecca, or, his lack of thereof. Even when he was in the passionate relationship with the helping hand, he never thought about her as much as he had thought about Temperance in the past few days. His near obsession with her was unsettling, but once again he pushed the thought away, and grabbed for his horse.

She was only a hour away, and he was more than eager to return to her as quickly as possible.

~*~*B+B*~*~

"It's getting nasty out there," Temperance grumbled as she slammed the door closed against the pressing wind. "I couldn't get much," she explained, as she extended her money towards their appointed banker. "But, no one is out on the streets."

"Sweetie, you don't need to explain," the scraggly thief laughed. "You do more than enough for this guild."

"I think some more rules need to be implemented around here," she hissed; nodding to the keg keeper behind the bar. "If any thieves just seem to look like they rolled out of bed, and came down here to get a drink...say that a convenient worm has made its way into the lines. Maybe then they'll feel motivated to actually leave this building and do something helpful."

"No problem Miss Brennan," the tender laughed. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Yes please," she smiled, waiting for her drink before an alcohol of some sort was placed before her. "If anyone needs anything, I'll be in the back. I need to rest my leg after all the buildings I had to climb just to find a couple people wandering the streets today."

"Do you require medicine?" the man behind the bar asked. "I can send for a doctor if needed."

"No," she laughed; backing towards the tarp covering the back room. "I'll be fine."

As her final words left her lips, she felt the soft brush of fabric against her back. She moved to turn and look behind her, but two hands shot out and grabbed her hips. Her breath escaped her lungs in initial fear, as she turned to strike whoever had grabbed her, but a rough hand encircled her wrist, and drew her further into his arms.

"Now, now," Seeley laughed in a husky voice. "I know better than to let those hands of yours loose."

"What the hell?" she asked, smiling at him, before she pushed him away from her body. "What a wonderful entrance you made, though, you almost cost me my drink, and the untouched skin of your face."

"Well I'm still as gorgeous as ever," he teased. "And it hurts to know that you value your drink more than your long lost friend."

"I wouldn't call you 'long lost'. I knew where you were, and you only left a week ago."

"I suppose I'm going to have to be the first to say it," he grumbled, waiting until she set her drink down on one of the tables before he grasped her hand. "I missed you."

For the first time in seven days her blue eyes clashed with his, and the unreadable emotion in those deep brown depths sucked all oxygen from her lungs. Her mouth opened to return the sentiment, but her tongue refused to move, and she was forced to break the contact of their eyes to gain her ability to speak.

"I assume that...since you're here, Giovanni has called for my presence?" It was lame, she knew, but it was the only sentence she could form without overwhelming emotions she didn't understand.

"In so many words," the assassin agreed. "Truthfully, he was tired of my pouting."

"Seems good enough reason for me to take some time away from here," Temperance laughed. "The other thieves have been hell to deal with. La Volpe gathered a large amount of them upstairs, and is tearing them apart. He would most likely tell me not to work, so the others can pick up the slack. I might as well leave and have a good time."

"Wonderful. I'll meet you outside?"

"I'll gather my things as quickly as possible."

~*~*B+B*~*~

"Rico," Seeley called as he stepped from his uncle's office and moved towards the city mercenary. "Where is uncle?"

Rico shrugged, and his dirty hand rose to scratch at his bald head, that was wrapped with a black cloth to cover his missing eye. "I'm not sure. He left for Romagna a couple minutes ago. He said he would be back later tonight, but he left with urgency."

"That's odd," the assassin mused. "Has the unrest grown?"

"I couldn't tell ya," Rico grumbled. "But I'm sorry sir, I must return to the cannons. We're having some trouble getting them to work properly."

"Good luck," he extended. "Will you have firing practice again tomorrow morning?"

"Yes. Dawn I believe. So I apologize in advance for disrupting your sleep."

"You have to do what you have to do," Seeley laughed, reaching forward and shaking hands with the man. "Go on about your job. Thank you for the information."

"No problem."

"Where is he?" Temperance asked, when she heard Seeley's footsteps move closer to her spot sitting on the steps of the foyer.

"He had to go to Romagna," he relayed. "I'm not sure why, but Rico told me he left abruptly."

"I hope he's alright," she whispered.

"He will be. He's a man who can handle himself, and so much more. Also, I don't want to run off into war tonight. Now, shall we retire to star-gazing on the roof, or should we make up our rooms and find something to entertain us inside the villa?"

The gorgeous thief smiled, as she stood from her spot on the steps, and laughed softly as she grasped his hand, and brought his fingers over his eyes.

"I hide," she whispered. "You seek."

~*~*B+B*~*~

They had spent hours talking throughout the night, and as the moon was rising higher into the sky, they had drifted asleep together. Her head was rested on his shoulder, as his arm was circled around her back. His nose was buried in the wild tendrils of her hair and his free hand was loosely locked with hers against his stomach. It was a pure picture of bliss, that was, until the ear splitting sound of cannon fire roused their sleeping forms.

"What the hell?" she growled, as she turned in closer to her sleeping partner, and shut her eyes closed forcefully. "What is happening?"

"Firing practice," he pushed off sleepily, as another sound, that sounded much like lightning reached his ears. "They're making a shit ton of noise."

"No wonder," Temperance whispered, sitting up against the protests that left his mouth. "But...something seems off."

"Probably the fact that you aren't sleeping," he offered, rolling onto his side, before a high pitched screeching sound brought a painful throb to his head, and a cannon ball knocked through the whole side of his room. He was quick to act; pulling Temperance back and shielding her from the wreckage thickening the air. He stood with wild ferocity, and pulled his partner from their sleeping quarters. He moved to put on his armor, but he cursed when he saw the remains of his protection melted and shattered on the ground.

"Shit," he growled, grabbing his hidden blade and running to the foyer of the villa.

"What's going on?" Temperance asked, as cannon balls rained down from the sky, and the city began to crumble underneath it's power.

"It's Cesare's army," Giovanni said, reaching for his nephew and his guest. "Monteriggioni is burning with hell fire Seeley. I need you to man the cannons on the wall. Try and hold back the Borgia for as long as possible. We need to give the people time to escape."

"Yes sir," he said, grasping his uncle's forearm quickly. "Stay safe."

"What about me?" Temperance asked. "What should I do?"

"Get out," Seeley growled.

"Hell no! I'm fighting!"

"No, you aren't," he argued, nodding to Giovanni before running towards the steps and jumping onto the back of a horse searching for an outlet from the destruction. He road through the streets quickly; dodging the falling wreckage until a cannon ball slammed into the side of a house, and the fallen stones fell directly in their path, and spooked his ride.

His back ached as he hit the ground, but the initial pain didn't keep him jumping back to his feet, and climbing the remaining buildings to the wall that was surrounding the city. He ran quickly, and jumped the large gaps that were blown away by Cesare's army. Bodies fell around him as he ran towards the cannons, and the smell of blood in the air was thick, as he reached the small artillery they had fighting back.

"Seeley!" one of the cannon hands called. "Grab the other cannon!"

And he did so without question. The heavy metal was hard to maneuver, and his muscles became strained as he aimed for the lines of cannons settled up against the hills around Monteriggioni. He was careful as he aimed; downing two or three of the enemy cannons at one time, as the sky began to color with the spilling of blood, and the large towers that carried Cesare's soldiers neared the walls they were defending.

That painful sound was heard again, and a scream rose into the air before he realized that the other cannon hand had been blown to pieces, as was the cannon that was in his hands. He moved to their last weapon, and shot as quickly as possible, until one of the large towers hit the walls of the city, and Borgia guards began to flood the corpse laden military outpost.

"I have the cannon," a lone man said. "Go after the soldiers!"

"Stay safe," Seeley whispered, before he bolted for the other soldiers, and leapt from one side of the wall to the other. A flash of auburn caught his eye as he pulled himself to his feet, but before he could grab the suspect at hand, he heard her fierce cry, and listened to the sickening sound of a blade slicing completely through the soft tissue of man.

"Temperance!" he growled, moving to her side, and helping fight away the oncoming swarm of soldiers. "What the hell are you doing? I told you to get out!"

"And I told you I am going to fight," she hissed, turning towards him, and easily slashing through the throat of the man creeping up behind them. "Now, stop worrying about what I'm not doing, and focus on helping me kill these bastards!"

"Everyone is almost out!" one of the surviving postmen screamed, as he joined into the battle. "Only a few more people need to escape."

"We need to get out of here!" Seeley screamed, as he grabbed his sword, and slashed up through the last remaining soldier.

"I can hold off the rest of these people," the postman yelled. "The others are heading this way from the other end of the city. Just get out as soon as possible!"

"Come on!" the assassin yelled, grabbing Temperance's hand, and heading towards the ladder that led down to the grounds of the city. He dropped to his feet, and grabbed her wrist, before she was off the rungs and settled on stable ground. They ran through the ruins of Monteriggioni, and looked from left to right in a search for life until they reached the steps of the villa.

"Seeley, Temperance!" Giovanni called from the top. He waited until the two reached them, before he dragged them towards his office, and opened the bookcase that revealed the underground assassin sanctuary. "Take the passage to the north," he growled. "I have forces waiting for me. Go! We will meet up in Firenze!"

"But uncle!" Seeley yelled, sighing as his kin disappeared from his sight. He turned to Temperance, and reached up to hold her bloody and dirty face in his hand. "I'm not letting him do this alone, but I need someone to lead the rest of the people to Firenze. I need you to do this Temperance, and please...please don't argue with me."

"No, not right now!" she argued. "I'm not letting you go on your own!"

"You have to," he hissed, dropping his hands from her, and running from the villa, onto the roofs of the surrounding houses.

"Seeley!" the thief yelled, as she struggled to keep up with him; dropping to her knees when the house she had leapt upon shook under her, and everything grew ominously silent. She could barely see the figures appearing in the gateway of the city, but she sure as hell could feel the pure pressure of horror.

Seeley watched his uncle being thrown to the ground before the feet of the powerful warrior; his slick black hair brushing in the wind as the rain started to pour from the heavens. A woman with long blonde hair was on his arm, and in his other hand, was the apple that Giovanni had failed to hide.

"Oh Seeley!" his voice was sweet, teasing, liquid sin. "I know you're out there, and I know about the little games you are playing against me. But this can be all over. Join me and my army...and you will receive everything that you have ever dreamed of. Come, come, assassin. I know you're listening!"

"Seeley!" Temperance hissed, as she shot to her feet, and tried to run after his retreating form. "Seeley stop!"

"Oh well. I have more important businesses to attend to. But, take this as an invitation," he extending, stepping from the blonde on his arm, and taking out the golden pistol that he had holstered in his side. "From my family," he stated, aiming at Giovanni's head. "To yours."

It was slow motion as the gun shot rang through the air; a scream of pain leaving his throat. He fell to the ground, with a bullet wound in his shoulder, and before he could recognize who was hovering over him, Temperance was trying to pull him to his feet.

"Seeley!" she called. "Are you alright?"

"God damn," he growled, shaking with anger and hatred. "GO!"

"But...but Seeley."

"No! I told you before! Now go! Just fucking go! Take the citizens to Firenze! And DON'T fucking argue against me!"

The tears in her eyes were easily disguised as she glanced down to the ground. "Where will you go?"

"It doesn't matter," he hissed. "Just get the fuck out. For once, god dammit, listen to me and just get OUT!"

They were the last words he said to her, as he left her to stand in the wreckage, with the faint sound of gun shots, and the piercing, painful feeling of heavy rain slamming against her wounds.