A/N: Dear readers, I may be starting a spin off fic soon about Ezio's adventures through the "Assassin Tombs." I kept them out of this story because I thought they would interrupt the flow of the plot, but as they were an important part of the game, I thought they deserve a place in my reboot.
It was a beautiful, sunny day with bustling streets, people in many colors, many styles...but it was all cover for an ugly reality that haunted Florence.
The most powerful men in Italy were waging war on his home state, and they were winning: grinding deeper into the countryside day by day.
He sat on the bench outside his home, the ghosts of the people he needed to avenge behind him, the city he was failing to keep from Templars in front of him. For two years he had done what he could to aid the fight against the forces of Naples. But every week the heralds gave worse and worse news.
What a strange world he had been thrust into, a supposedly disbanded order of crusader knights working underground to wage war on his home town, throwing away thousands of lives, for some bizarre obsession he did not understand.
The lives of the civilians in the city, outwardly, continued as usual. But he could not know what went through their minds.
How perverse if, after all this, his childhood home became property of his enemies, after his string of successes, his vengences? But with the current course, a sober mind would not say that would be the end point.
Was Sixtus a Templar? Or just a puppet of his nephew? Perhaps he was prey to that "Apple of Eden" Mario talked cryptically of. Or perhaps it was just family love that tugged his strings.
But someone stuck out from the crowd. Yes, Lorenzo de'Medici himself! Coming to see Ezio!?
The Auditore perked up.
"Signore Medici, what brings you here?" Ezio asked, genuinely curious.
"Ezio," the Medici said, then beckoned him with a swoop of the hand. "Walk with me."
The Auditore stood. He had not seen Lorenzo out in the opened in months. He approached, but tensed a little inside worrying there might be bad news.
"Come," Lorenzo said reassuringly, warm but with a hint of serious undertone, and they began walking together.
Ezio opened his mouth to ask what this was about, when Lorenzo began, "Thank you for all you and your Order have done for us. I may not fully understand your fight, but I appreciate your assistance." A playful child ran past them.
"It is my pleasure, signore. I only wish I could do more." And he meant it, though maybe more malevolently than Lorenzo realized.
"We have a titan of an enemy, and for the past two years the currents of this war have always moved in their favor."
"I am well aware," Ezio said glumly as they passed a working stone mason. He knew this, but hearing it from the mouth of their leader made the reality all the more harsh.
"Our traditional allies abandoned us, though our efforts have been gallant on our own."
Why rub salt in the wound? What was this about?
"At long last I have a decided, I have to try something new, something daring."
Oh? That sounded more like what Ezio wanted to hear. They passed a doctor pedaling his wares.
The Medici noble continued, "I wanted to speak to you one last time, for I believe it may be the final time we conserve."
That was an ominous and curious thing to hear a noble say. It was usually for them to stay comfortable and crisp-minded in a fortified castle, not to risk their lives like Ezio and his fellows. What could he...
"I want to thank you, Ezio," he said in a voice weathered and earnest. "My city took those you held dearest, and yet you risked your life a hundred times over for me."
Not for him.
"It was not your fault for falling for Pazzi trickery, signore."
"That is for God to judge," Lorenzo said humbly. It was true, Ezio did not know the circumstances. But then the middle-aged man stopped, and the Assassin realized they were at a dock of the Arno river, a medium sized ship at port.
"This is why I wanted to say my farewell. Where I voyage, I am not sure I will return." He was leaving his city in war time!? Why? He had already given up on persuading his allies to assist. What on Earth could this be!?
"Where are you going, signore? Can I be of service?"
Lorenzo chuckled and shook his head.
"No, my friend. I intended to arrive on conciliatory terms. And my odds of success will be derived from my diplomatic skills, not my soldiers."
"Where are you going?" He still had not answered the question.
"Naples," the noble said. Those words stung like a bee.
"Naples!? Our enemy!? Is this surrender!?" Ezio nearly choked on this words.
"Only of my body, young one. I am giving myself over to King Ferdinand, in custody."
"Why? What will that accomplish?" Ezio felt like an outraged child scrambling for understanding.
"I wish to speak with him. He may see reason." This sounded crazy...surreal to hear from someone as collected and sober Lorenzo de'Medici.
"And if he doesn't?" Ezio countered sharply. He had to pull Lorenzo back to sanity. He felt like a drowning man scrambling against the undertoe.
"Then this war is lost. But I think we see that is inevitable on our current course."
Hearing those words from the leader of his home was all the more crushing...but he was correct.
Ezio was at a loss for words. The ship groaned as it floated upon the river beside him.
Lorenzo looked him straight in the eyes and put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you child. For saving my life. For all you have done for me and this city."
"You are sure about this?" Ezio questioned. Though he remembered his logic was sound.
"Yes, child. I am."
And with that, Lorenzo turned to board his ship, wood creaking nonchalantly beneath his regal feet.