I'm just gonna put it out there (incase people haven't noticed) but I update on the same day every week. Saturdays, Melbourne time! Just saying! ;)
At first I thought my sense of hearing was completely gone. But then everything was blue, and it was like the world rippled back neatly underneath me. White noise turned into the same sound I heard every morning. I all but flew out of the bed, and landed on the floor with a distinct thud. I crawled to get away from the bed, and by the time I realized what was going on, I was breathing heavily in the very corner, with my back against one wall and my head leaning on the other.
What the hell was going on?
My head started to pound, and I struggled with my head between my hands for a time, but it never ended. Unrelenting. I didn't even attempt to move. I could swear I heard Leonardo's call, but I felt like I was being pulled between two realities. My skull was splitting in half.
I didn't even know I was crying. I had to feel Leonardo's cold hands on either side of my face before I knew he was even there.
"What is it? What's wrong, Abigail?" but I couldn't reply. I couldn't. He tried to pry me out of the corner but I just would not go, and even then he just tried to pull my hands away from my face. I'd feel horrible for this later, but all I could think about was my head. Leonardo closed the shutters, and the room was devoid of all light. It made only the slightest of changes.
I don't know how long I sat there; it was somewhere between ten minutes and five hours, but I couldn't pin it down further than that. I could swear in amongst it all, I saw Ezio, except he was wearing clothes from my time, and he was clean-shaven. I woke up again, and a cold cup of coffee sat by my bedside. I could feel my blood pulsating behind my ears, and I was too weak to stand, so I didn't try to leave the bed. I curled up in a ball, and waited for Leonardo to return, hoping it would be soon.
Half an hour passed, and the door creaked open. A stream of light cut the room in half, and for a moment, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Leonardo crept in, and the door closed, leaving us in utter darkness. He filled the seat beside my bed, and leant forward with his hands on his knees.
"Abigail?" he whispered.
"Yeah?" I croaked weakly.
"Are you okay?" he looked straight into my eyes, or he did from what I could tell in the dim lighting.
"I think."
"What happened?" he asked, taking one of my hands and covering it with both of his. I shook my head in meaning to say I don't know. He patted my hand twice, and let it go.
"Can I open the shutters?" and again, I shook my head. He sighed, and moved toward the door. I may aswell have been dying, for the way he was acting.
"…Leonardo?" I croaked out before he managed to slip out. I could hear him freeze in the doorway.
"I'm sorry." I said, and rested my head on the pillow again.
I think I heard him reply, but it was awfully quiet. I must've fallen asleep again, because when I came around, the shutters were open, and the moonlight was startlingly blue. Physically, I was fine. I couldn't remember my dreams anymore, and I hadn't that headache. It had just completely vanished. I fell out of bed in a mad rush to head downstairs. Leonardo had left a ticket by my mask, with a note mentioning that he didn't want to wake me.
I raced up the stairs and tied my hair back; it could be done last. The dress was much, much harder to work. I had to step into to, and then tie it up at the back, and then make it sit right. It must've taken me a great deal of time, because when I'd finished, I could swear the moon had moved considerably.
It was probably the quickest that I'd ever gotten ready for something ever, in my life. Fifteen minutes from when I officially had the dress on, I was out the door. I took a key and shut the door behind me. I decided to take a few knives with me, just in case, aswell.
This particular dress was probably the most lavish thing I'd ever owned and worn; it had about 5 layers of skirts, the innermost made of the finest silks found in the era. The outermost layer had small amounts of whale bones stitched into the bodice for shape retention. Altogether, it costed a fortune, and I really believed that this was the only chance I'd have to really wear it. My other dresses were nice, but nothing like this. I'd even asked for concealed blade-shaped pockets, which cost me about a hundred extra florins. The seamstress was angry about it, but since I was willing to pay, she obliged.
The ball wasn't too far away; it was in the Dorsoduro district, where I was the previous night. When I arrived, I almost didn't want to go inside; the place was just so beautiful. I didn't even know if it was some kind of important land-mark, but I knew it was beautiful. I reached the doors, and the men on either side of the door went to halt me. I flashed the small, gold-laden square of parchment and they let me pass through. I hid the ticket in one of the more un-classy places.
It wasn't an exclusive party like the Doge's had been the night before. The tickets were both given out, and purchased. Leonardo's connections earned him two for free, and I was incredibly glad, because they were very expensive. Really, the price ensured that the poor folk couldn't get in, which I felt was tragic. All the same, there was the reality that the majority of the noble class didn't enjoy to mix with the poorer classes, because they were uneducated and stereotypically uncouth. It defeated the point of Carnevale, and everyone here completely missed it. It was just another party. Nobody was supposed to know anyone else anyway.
The interior of this building was a dream. There were chandeliers with lit candles, huge buffets running down the entire back wall, and so many people. I had to walk up a flight of stairs, and then when I was inside, go back down stairs into the main chamber. Any way of getting out of the building involved going up stairs. The place was teeming with people, and everywhere, there was a yellow glow of candles. There were enough candles here to last a single family ten years. I don't know why they didn't just install gas lights. It gave off a mysterious atmosphere though… and I loved it.
I let my skirts fall their full length to the floor, and weaved in amongst the people. Women boasted feathers that towered far above their already huge hair. I felt like a child in a china shop; everything's so beautiful, but you can't touch it. I circled the room once, searching for Leonardo, and just when I was starting to begin thinking he wasn't here, a light tap fell onto my shoulder. I turned, and Leonardo stood, positively giddy, staring at me.
"You look beautiful tonight, my dear." I smiled, bowing back at him.
"I'd say the same for you." And he took my hand.
"Come. I have someone I'd like you to meet." And he whisked me away into the night. Time passed incredibly fast. The person he introduced me to, had me very nearly in tears. Alessandro Botticelli; the man who painted the Birth of Venus. He kissed my hand, and we engaged in small talk for some time. Really, it was so hard to act like I didn't know him prior. Honestly, I could only tell you the one painting by heart, and I didn't even know the year, so I couldn't even speak of it. Leonardo was really my main guy, and I was living with him at the moment. If my art teacher believed this.
There weren't any speeches or formal greetings for this party by a host of some kind—or if there was, I'd missed them completely. Leonardo made a point to ask how I was, and I told him that I'd recovered. I still didn't know what had happened, and I wasn't nearly prepared to tell him I was seeing things, but I moved the conversation quickly. Someone had paid real musicians over the terrible minstrels on the streets to play for this, and there were more than ten of them on a stand built specially for the scenario. I didn't see a single face; everyone had a mask. I made the effort to stay by Leonardo.
There was a flash of red, and I squeezed my eyes shut. He picked up on it immediately, tightening his grip on my hand. But it was only for a second. We reached the food table, and I reached for a strawberry, delicately pulling back all the green leaves. Just as I went to bite into it, a foreign, but not recognisable voice appeared in my ear. I had to cough the strawberry back up, without getting it down my front.
"Behind you." And I turned around. Dante, in all his huge and completely unsubtle manliness was advancing, with his eyes fixed on me. Eye contact, and he smile as he drew closer.
For me, it was more like a lion being completely fixated on his prey. As he slowly closed in on me, I began to feel the weight of a thousand eyes. A thousand anonymous eyes. I felt the room getting hotter, but endured. He reached me, and we bowed politely as every other did.
"It was fortunate of me to see you here. Did you arrive home safely last night?" I nodded.
"Yes, though I left with quite a fright." His face turned grey, and I began to wonder if I could get words out of him. Behind him, and a little bit to the right, was Leonardo. I caught his eye and he gestured to somewhere behind him. I nodded ever so slightly at him, and he nodded in reply, turning and heading for that place. So I knew where he'd be when I finally ended this conversation.
"Did you deal with the situation?" I asked, cutting Dante off from his mumbling.
"Yes—well, sort of. In a way." And he left it at that. No details, no elaboration. What was I going to have to pull just for him to leave me alone? This was getting awkward.
"May I?" he asked, taking my hand. I obliged, and he led me onto the dance floor. We joined in with the celebrations. It wasn't extremely elaborate, but lucky enough that I was at the end, so I learned it quickly. When the song ended, again, I was tugged to a new location. It surprised me when the heated room turned into cool night air, and the swelling number of people disappeared.
"You do look quite beautiful this evening." He told me. I could already see where this was heading. He just wanted arm candy. Personally I never thought myself as the type for that.
"Thank you." I said quietly.
"Cristina, what are your thoughts on myself?" Seriously. Fucking seriously.
"Well, I admit that I do not know you very well."
"Of course. But what do you think, regardless? There must be something running the mind of a woman at all hours." I bit my tongue. Now this was just degrading.
"I find you quite… agreeable." God, I had to grasp at straws for something. Maybe if I could just stretch my way out of this conversation. I didn't care enough about this to stand here complimenting the guy.
"Agreeable? Hmm. Not handsome, or courageous?" I searched for any conceivable reason that he'd want to know this. One does not simply beg for compliments, I thought.
"I haven't seen your face properly, nor have I seen you do anything requiring courage." His eyes narrowed. Really? Was he really that vain?
He didn't reply. Or maybe he did, I wasn't sure. Every thought I had was overcome by something else, a compulsion. It reminded me of… gold. I looked back between where my attention was drawn, and Dante, how he stood looking quite unhappy with himself. Or me.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to leave." I said, turning to walk away.
"Why can you not stay? The night has only just begun." I took one look at him and walked off. He didn't follow me immediately, but I had about five metres head start.
I was in a hurry. I didn't know why, there was just… something inside me. An urgent need, that had somehow replaced everything inside me. It was like it was all I was, and it was calling to me and I was coming for it. I waded through the crowd of people, narrowly avoiding someone's drink.
And then I saw it. Well, him. He walked off just as I saw him. Outside. Fantastic.
I traced the walls, until I found a door. I slipped through it, and turned a corner, and there he was. I disappeared around the corner again, but he was aiming for my general direction. He probably didn't even notice me, but I sure as hell noticed him. He was walking with an entourage, so I did probably what I didn't do best to hide. I climbed.
Or tried to. My shoes were fine but I couldn't get them out from under my dress. I could barely breathe in this and yet, here I was, trying to climb the building.
I abandoned the idea, quickly, and decided to gain a few paces, and turned another corner. Something weird happened then. I don't think I could fluently describe the experience, but it was like I knew exactly where he was. Like the wall was transparent and there was nothing between us. I was leaning against the wall, so what I was seeing in my head must have been something completely different. Well it can't have been reality.
He was almost at the corner now, and I poised to attack.
