WELL ITS BEEN A WHILE. So very, VERY sorry for not updating this sooner! There's been so much going on in my life that I've barely had the time! ANYWAY, expect most chapters from this point onwards to be unbeta'd. SchmEthan is finally at university and enjoying his life as a fresher (Getting drunk and generally being a nuisance) so I shall go without a beta for now. Anyway, enjoy! :D

SOME QUICK TRANSLATIONS:
Cinque ore cazzo!
- Five fucking hours!
Bastardo pazzo! - Crazy bastard!
Ragazza intelligente. - Clever girl.
Famiglia - Family.


March 16th, 1500. Rome.

'I implore you Niccolò; call a on a search!'

'I trust Zita and Giovanni. They will bring him home safely.'

'It's been five hours!' Bartolomeo yelled as he wheeled around from his pacing. 'Cinque ore cazzo! There's been no sign of him – we must find Ezio now before it is too late!'

'Time is of the essence!' La Volpe hissed in agreement.

'I'm sure that whatever his reason for not returning, it is a sound one. I trust Ezio.'

'From what you said, it sounded like he was out of his mind!' Bartolomeo roared, his pummelling his fist into his hand. 'For God's sake Niccolò - do something!'

'Ezio would never take off without notice,' a female voice said from the fire – all looked round to see Claudia Auditore looking at Machiavelli with the cold, hard eyes of a woman enraged. 'You underestimate him. I do not care to imagine his rage when he saw our family hung. Whatever has possessed him now, it will hound him until there is nothing left to chew. We must find him!'

Tension was thick in the air, being inhaled by three pairs of lungs and solidifying there, becoming frustration, worry and anger. La Volpe, Bartolomeo and Claudia stared at Machiavelli with wide eyes. With Ezio absent, his authority over the Brotherhood was clear.

'We will wait.' He said firmly.

'Bastardo pazzo!' Bartolomeo shouted at him, La Volpe's mouth tightened, and something behind Claudia's eyes sparked. 'You sentence Ezio to death! I'm going out to search for him, and no crazy fool will stop me!'

'If you do, you put yourself in danger. Something was calling to Ezio in his own mind – he moved like a man possessed. He can fight for himself!'

'He needs us, Niccolò! I'm going with Bartolomeo!' La Volpe said, getting to his feet.

'I will gather the Assassins.' Claudia stated, also rising.

'You will sit.'

Everyone stared at Machiavelli, who had stood behind his desk, planted both fists on the table and was managing to meet all the eyes on him.

La Volpe walked towards him. His glare was a challenge.

'Will we now?' He hissed.

The door burst open, and everyone wheeled round. For stood in the doorway was Giovanni, breathing hard and his face the one of the man who's whole sense of the world had been chewed up and spat at his feet.

'Giovanni! Where is Ezio?' Machiavelli demanded.

'You must come quickly! Something – something – Signore, I cannot describe it! Come!'

When Giovanni turned back and ran, no one waited for him to gain a headstart. Bartolomeo was first, snatching up Bianca the sword from the table, followed by La Volpe, then by Claudia and Machiavelli last, who had graciously let the lady go before him.

A moment later, there was the sound of horse's shoes thundering on cobbles as they took off into the night.


There wasn't much left of the candle Leonardo had lit so he could see his work better in the dark, but he was not awake to notice it. The parchments he'd fallen asleep upon fluttered in the wake of his breath. A quill was limp in his fingers, and his fingertips were splattered with ink. One couldn't blame the man – under Cesare Borgia's watchful eye, respite and rest were rare miracles.

This is also true for the Assassin order.

The window was thrown open, and wind flew in and extinguished the candle. It was not the wind that woke Leonardo, but the incessant shaking of his shoulder.

'Signore? Signore, wake up!'

Leonardo mumbled as reality was handed back to him slowly. First he was aware of the parchment stuck to his face – how embarrassing - but also the figure who was leaning through the window and balancing on the pane as though they were a feline without a care in the world and was nudging him desperately.

'Ezio…?' The thought tumbled out of him in a croak.

'No Signore. It's me. Zita.'

'Zita?' Leonardo said, more awake now. 'What on earth are you doing here? Did anyone see you sneak in?'

'No, Signore. You must come quickly! The Maestro needs you!'

Leonardo was suddenly fully alert. 'He is in danger?'

'He says he needs your mind, but all he needs is a friend.' Zita whispered into the darkness, and pulled out from seemingly nowhere a black cloak with a hood. 'You must hurry!'

There was no question of not going. Leonardo was on his feet in an instant (It was luck that he had fallen asleep at his desk fully clothed) and did up the cloak Zita had given him.

'This way!' She hissed, and then dropped out of the window.

'Oh Dio…' Leonardo moaned. 'Why?' Trading his beret for the hood on the cloak, he peered out of the window and saw Zita sliding down the rope as though these sort of things came naturally to her.

'Zita, I am an old man!' He hissed down to her.

'An old man with a friend in need!'

Damn that girl. Leonardo, grunting with effort, hauled himself through the window and grabbed hold of the rope. With his boots scrabbling for a hold on the brick wall outside his workshop, he made his way slowly and painfully down the rope, his limbs protesting the effort only to have Zita seize his hand the moment his feet met the ground.

'This way.'

Assassins are cats, Leonardo thought as she led him through the darkness, helping him up as he stumbled from time to time. Human felines with no regard for gravity or the dark.

It wasn't long before they were out of the grounds of the workshop – away from the Borgia, and soon there were the sounds of hooves beating on grass as they tore through the night.


The Assassins, Leonardo, Zita and Giovanni met at the bottom of the hill. The two recruits dismounted and motioned for the others to do the same, and the group tackled the hill on foot while Claudia led the way with a lit lantern held high. While the Assassins remained silent and wary, Leonardo ruthlessly questioned the two recruits in a hushed voice to why they had all been gathered here and what awaited them on top of the hill, and was not satisfied with the answer that the Maestro would explain all when they got there so thus resided to complaining that his old bones hurt until they reached the top, where all thoughts were indeed knocked straight out of his head.

'Magnifico.' He breathed. The Assassins seemed similarly stunned – the blue box towered over them all, and from it came the sense that nothing would be the same again, radiating from it like shockwaves.

'How did it get here?' Machiavelli asked as Leonardo moved towards the box, his hands clasped together and his eyes wide in wonder.

'It…just appeared, Signore,' Giovanni said. 'The Maestro said it was calling to him, and when we got here it materialised in front of him as though it had been waiting for him to arrive.'

Machiavelli's gaze travelled from Giovanni to Zita, and his look hardened. 'You can vouch for this account?'

Zita's eyes hardened in response. 'I would swear on it.' She said firmly.

'Then we are faced with something beyond our understanding, and beyond all we have ever known.' Machiavelli said gravely. 'Where is Ezio?'

'After we had been inside of it and each confirmed that we were all seeing the same thing, the Maestro sent us to fetch you and Signore Da Vinci. I presume he is still inside.'

'He's inside there alone?'

'Sì Signore.'

'That man is still as reckless as the boy I first met.' Bartolomeo growled in approval.

'It is good that Signora Auditore has bought light.' Zita suddenly said. 'Whatever powers that thing has died upon landing – there is no light inside, only the dim glow from the things inside.'

'He is in there in the dark?'

'We work in the dark to serve the light, no?'

'Ragazza intelligente.' La Volpe said approvingly, and Zita's cheeks coloured.

Away from the group, Leonardo was lost in exploration. As soon as his fingers brushed the wood of the box, he was greeted with sparks that set his soul alight. Muttering in wonder, he circled the box twice with one hand always touching it like a child with a stick and a fence – while children enjoy the noise, Leonardo was enjoying the sensations of it. There was something wondrous inside this box – he just had to get inside, he had to see –

The door opened almost in his face, and he staggered backwards in time to see Ezio appear from within. 'Ezio!' He cried in delight, and the sound snared the attention of the group behind them. As Ezio stepped forward to finally embrace his friend, the group clustered around the box, and Ezio greeted them all in turn with a small smile that had all the excitement of a child behind it.

'What the hell is going on, Ezio?' Claudia demanded in a hiss. 'I have been worried sick!'

'Believe me, this will be well worth the worry.' Ezio replied, taking his sister's free hand before looking at each one of his friends in turn. 'I have seen things, felt things tonight that I never thought possible. As I said to these recruits – accompanying me into the unknown has to be their own choice – and I extend this requirement to you, my friends. My famiglia. Will you join me?'

There was barely a pause.

'Through hell and back, Ezio.' Bartolomeo said, reaching out and grasping Claudia and Ezio's held hands.

'And twice again if needs be.' La Volpe agreed, laying his hand on top of Bartolomeo's.

'The hounds of hell couldn't stop me.' Leonardo said gravely, and his hand joined the group.

All eyes turned to Machiavelli, who eyed everyone in turn before laying his gloved hand on top of them all. 'And I shall be the voice of reason in this hell bent scheme.' He stated, with a corner of his mouth tilting upwards.

Ezio looked at him seriously. 'I appreciate more than you will ever know, Niccolò.'

Machiavelli tipped his head in response, and everyone pulled their hands away.

'Friends, follow me.' Ezio stated, and turned away into the box. Everyone filed in after him, and the door was closed behind them.


And what'll they find in there...?
Next update soon! :D