Chapter 8

Falling apart

Alexandra's eyes flew open as a bang resonated through her room; its origin came from the open window she had so foolishly left hanging wide after her encounter with Altair and her bath the night before. Sitting up she stared sleepily at it; her reasoning skills slow on the uptake with the morning yawning in its firsts breaths of the new day. A frown came across her face; it was sloppy and as her eyes lowered and her body swayed as no other cannon fire echoed from the outside her body began the descent back down to the inviting blankets that lay around her hips. Only when she was tugging them up to her chin did another noise reached her ears; but this one was not only a bang, this one was a crash: and it came from right outside her room. Finally startled into reality the girl jumped from her bed, the flimsy clothes hanging on her heavy frame as she took in the situation around her; the noise, the crash, had caused her door to cave in slightly; telling her that this was not a training exercise. More cannon fire resonated outside the villa's walls. Alexandra moved swiftly taking her cloak and putting it on she stuck her stiletto knife on her belt and turning to her window; for her door had been broken by the blast, saw Altair standing there holding out something: a hidden blade.

"Take it." He said his voice as harsh as the grimace that painted his mouth. "Use the damn thing." Setting it on the chair that was slightly broken beside him he vanished. Alexandra gave an exasperated groan; the whole ancestor ghost visitation was getting rather old, and the scare was wearing off with each incidence she saw him. Taking the blade she hooked it onto her arm, the weight of it feeling safe and secure. She stared at the gleaming weapon with raised eyebrows, her mouth slightly slack in shock. It had intricate patterns on its upside, the swirls where harsh and the symbols on it had no significant meaning to Alexandra, but the rust on its metal gave way to the obvious age of the thing strapped to her arm. The weapon was from another time; and it had been given to her to use for protection; and to kill. Her pause lasted only a couple of moments for the cannon balls continued to decimate the villa, and turning away from the window the Assassin girl struggled to gather items she may need before one of the monstrous hunks of stone came in contact with the wall of her room. As she took the bag that was crammed full of vials and medicine she slipped it over her shoulder, the window was now only thing in her sights as the continued noise began to grow louder. Alexandra did not hesitate, she dove for the carven window, her feet firmly planted on the still she gazed around; there was absolutely nothing to soften her landing. She gave another irritated groan; it was time for another large bruise to appear on her back. Behind her room splintered as it was destroyed, the blast causing her to lurch forward, a scream ripped from her lips as her body took to the air unwillingly. Alexandra attempted to angle herself in such a way that the landing would not cause her so much pain, but as the ground came rushing towards her she could only swear and close her eyes.

This happened way too often. The thought sliced through her mind as she twisted in a somersault just moments before the ground greeted her collar bone. Rolling to her feet she took a graced moment of a well earned breath; as a great stone that was once one of the walls of her room broke off above her. "Ah shit." She hissed lunging forward, her body stretching out; as the rock crashed a plume of dust came along with it, choking the air as the Assassin face planted onto the ground. Coughing Alexandra pulled herself up to her knees and chaos opened up around her. People where running for the cities entrance, desperate to escape, their screams like an out of tune choir that tore at the ear drums wanting anyone who heard the cries to cry with them. Standing Alexandra turned to look up at where her master's room was; it was still intact. Though it stood the threat to be destroyed at any damned second. "Ezio." She whispered her heart longed for her to see if he was alive, but the calls for help by the mercenaries tore her attention away from what she wanted. Duty was first; the innocents needed her, and she must answer their pleas. As she took off in a heavy jog Alexandra brought her hand up to her heart, praying, begging, to God that he was alive, that he was safe. A tear escaped her left eye as she went to climb the wooden ladder that was where the cries for help had originated from. Pushing her worries aside she focused on the matter at hand; war, battle, Alexandra was needed to kill.

As she braced herself on the ledge she hoisted herself up; only to find a well armored man with his back turned to her braced and blocking her way to Mario's men. How very irritating. Staying silent for a brief moment she gauged how she should take down the man before her. He was not a friend; the colors and armor he wore brought a bit of the "duh" factor to her mind. Knowing the armor was heavy and probably able to deflect the stiletto dagger she had in her belt Alexandra had to find another way to dispatch this enemy. And out of the corner of her eye she saw her solution; a dropped sword, bloodied from its last holder, the silver of the hilt drew her attention to its spectacular welding of the blade, and the best part? it was only a few feet away from her and the large man. If she was quick enough she could capture it in her hands and be able to face off with him. A grin reached her eyes but did not crease her mouth. Bracing muscles she had obtained from her many trainings with Ezio, she shot up the rest of the ladder, purposely nailing the man in the back with her shoulder, regretting it as pain laced across the very bone she had attempted to keep from breaking earlier. A grunt followed by a yell came from behind her as she dove for the weapon that beckoned her. The sound of the well defended man moving towards her brought Alexandra's heart beat up to painful; but as the sword met her bare palm the cold metal reassured her that she could kill him. Turning wielding the blade the enemy stopped his advance, raising his axe; obviously he did not believe she would have gone for the very weapon she held.

"Bring it on fat man." Alexandra growled, chewing on her lower lip as she tried to relax her shoulders in anticipation of the downward arch of that axe that was sure to come any moment. A very unintelligent response came from her opponent, and he raised his sharp axe above his head, just as she expected. Silently thanking Ezio for all of his nagging to anticipate her enemies movements she ducked and positioned her blade just above her chest, driving it inward, towards the knights vitals, changing the path of her sword last moment to avoid the swing, and drove it deep into the mans thigh. He gave a cry and Alexandra tore it away, throwing her arm forward once more this time the weapon sunk into her opponent's neck. He fell lifeless before her, taking the sword with him.

Alexandra's breath was heavy, but not ragged. Quickly retrieving the blade she glanced around; the sight of wounded mercenaries on the ramparts filled her vision. The girl went into leader mode, her lips opening and sounding; "All who can walk take the wounded and find Master Ezio; he shall have the place you can go to escape, go!" Her voice sounded with superiority they did not expect but they scrambled to follow them all the same. As the final men filled down the ladder Alexandra took a breath, looking back up; for more places she was needed. Across the way was a mercenary who manned a cannon; beside him was a empty one. That was her next destination, taking loping strides she came to the edge of the rampart, leaping onto the breaking rooftops, she found she had to dodge incoming bullets and other projectiles. Bullets? She thought as she jumped to another roof, I didn't think they... her deep meaningful thoughts were interrupted as she slipped on a shattering tiles, she threw her hands out, catching a chimney. A gasp of relief flew from her, and she pulled herself back up, returning to her run across towards the cannons; but she was careful to avoid the dangerous looking cracks. Reaching her destination Alexandra came to the vacant cannon, her ally looking at her with thankful relief and returned to firing. A mercenary notice her and ran to load her large gun. With it loaded she turned it to a mass of men that poured like an unruly river towards her home. "Not happening." She grunted as she fired. The recoil was tough, it nearly sent her to her rump; but she managed to remain upright as the man came over to reload her. She took aim once more, fired again, rinse and repeated. Each motion became second nature to her in the tense minutes; as the enemy returned fire she dove away to avoid getting hit, her man ran to reload, she would stand and quickly aim, firing in hopes of taking some of the enemy down. Her breath escaped her as she failed to dive away from the returned attack and the miss aimed cannon ball landed a ways away causing shrapnel to fly up and strike her in the back, she winced, feeling it cut through her cloak and into her skin. But her gun was reloaded and she had to concentrate once more on the attack, not the defense.

Ezio crawled up the ladder; people where running from the city and Caterina was off doing her part, as he hauled himself to the ruined ramparts, he found Alexandra manning a canon; much to his surprise, she was doing well, but bleeding and looking like she was exhausted. She had clearly been out here much longer than he had. He hurried forward and touched her shoulder; surprised as she flinched from the unexpected contact. She turned; bewildered to face him. Her lips were bleeding again, and she had a bruise on her temple. He scowled at the wounds, but took her face in his hands gingerly, his mind wondering if she was still angry from the night before. "Piccolo," He whispered. "Are you alright?"

He was alive. Alive. The relief was enough to make her knees weak. And as he held her face carefully she smiled. "I'm fine Ezio, we have been out here a while, who are these guys?" Because she hadn't been told anything about an impending attack. Of course that argument last night could have been brought up after a talk about the lurking enemy. And lucky for her she had to stumble upon it as it turned into the beast of a disagreement; but that did not matter any longer. She took her own hands and cradled his that rested on her face. "I'm so damned happy you aren't some ugly wall decoration."

Ezio frowned, "Ugly wall decoration? I think I would be quite a handsome wall decoration." He was glad she had either forgotten the fight; or had forgiven him. It was a relief.

"Quite an ugly one I would say; I believe if you got blown while still amidst the sexing process your unsightly dick would be hanging out and that in itself would be quite the odd red painting on your walls." Alexandra took his hands away and turned back to the cannon, giving it a good fire before returning her attention to Ezio. "Now if you excuse me I need to continue with this, we are under attack you know."

Ezio shook his head. "I can see that with my own eyes Alexandra; why don't you go help the citizens, I will man the cannon for a time." Pushing the girl out of the way he fired the newly loaded cannon, turning when he heard a growl of protest. "Go! Some of the enemy are scaling the walls; we don't want dead people on our hands do we? Innocents Alexandra, innocents! Go!"

She met his urging stare with an unsightly glare. But she still turned and did as he wished; he had a point, the civilians where still attempting a nearly hopeless escape. Alexandra attempted to get down to the people; but as she alighted onto the rooftops she found herself pinned down by snipers she hadn't seen. Cursing she hid behind a chimney, her attention returning to her master; he was now deep in the heat of combat, Ezio's shoulder muscles visibly bunched under the thin white fabric of the shirt he war; his legs moving in practiced but swift movements. As the clanging of sword metal reached her ears Alexandra sighed, eventually she would have to move from her hiding spot and into the line of the sharp shooters. Glancing back at Ezio, she noticed the final enemy falling before him, his gaze turned toward her, his deep earth colored eyes telling her all she needed to know: "Get out of there" they said. Taking in a large intake of air, her breast swelling she turned and began to run, the sound of firing guns echoed around her, fire burned through the side of her hand, but ignoring it she jumped to the ramparts, feeling the solid stone under her she turned to face a man wearing a dorky looking hat and red cloth on him, he held his sword high above his head, calling a battle cry that made the young Assassin's instincts kick into overdrive. Bringing her right arm up in a punching motion she flexed her forearm, hearing the mechanism of the hidden blade on her arm trigger she gave the man a grand uppercut into his jaw, the tiny sword could be seen protruding from the Templar's skull, and beside Alexandra a sound of a soft thunk beside her, and everything around her moved in slow motion.

Having pulled her weapon from the dead mans skull he fell to the ground, brain matter coming from the neat hole in his cranium. Alexandra flexed her arm once more to have the blade return to its sheath. Then slowly she opened her hand, only to revel her ring finger to be missing half way down. It lay beside her, detached and now a hunk of dead flesh. Nausea rolled up into the girl's stomach as she stared at the bone that was visible in her finger.

Only the cry of another enemy brought her back to reality, shifting her stance she turned around throwing her armed arm in the air, flexing it, feeling the blade come from its hiding place and into the hole in her hand it had created, she used it to slice the mans face open. He let out another cry; one of pain as his knees hit the ground, ruthlessly, and semi unknowingly, Alexandra stabbed the man quickly in the head, he to fell dead. This went on for a time, before she fell to the ground herself clutching her hand as the pain finally hit her. Her rasping breath was all that she heard as she looked about for her master; he was still assisting the citizens, protecting them from the ramparts as she was. Cradling her wounded hand she rocked for a time amidst the dead bodies she had created. Soon she had to take a breath, and stand, and turning to the crumpled mercenaries she barked orders, telling them to run and escape; that the city was lost and all that was left to do was leave.

They followed the orders quickly.

Loosing your finger is a wound to be proud of. It was just the voice in her mind at first, but she then could feel the breath of the old Assassin beside her. "Do not feel frightened, you will not die from the wound."

Alexandra did not turn to him; only pulled her hood up to cover her face, bloodied from the death rattles of her kills. "Don't preach to me Altair, just leave me be, this is not the time for you to show up." Turing away from him she took a leap onto a near by roof. Her hand hurt a great deal; her entire body was battered and bruised, and she was not taking any shit from Altair, no fortune cookie dialogue no confusing metaphors, she wanted straight answers, he was not one to give them. But as she continued forward; hearing the fading cries of escaping people and the calls of war she faintly caught what Altair called to her.

"But it brings you close to what you want to be."

She stopped and flicked herself back to where the Assassin had been standing moments before, but true to his nature he was gone. Alexandra did not linger watching the air he had occupied though, she knew the snipers where going to watch for an opening she could not afforded to give them. Reaching the safety of a over hang she turned, her blue eyes scanned for Ezio, finding him turned and gazing down at the entrance of the city, adjusting her position she looked down as well. It was him. He called himself "Borgia" and he held Caterina and Uncle Mario hostage, as Alexandra watched, she saw that Mari did not look well, he was attempting to crawl away, perhaps he had some wounds they could not see… the scruffy man then held up the apple, Alexandra nearly fell forward from her hiding place; shock took all her pain away and replaced it with adrenaline, how, why, did he have that? Looking back towards Ezio, she found him running towards them, Alexandra screamed at him; "No Ezio the snipers!" but he did not hear her, and continued running. Forsaking her well being she tore away from her hiding spot and ran towards him, repeating the same prayer over and over: let me get there let me get there...

"We've had to much bloodshed... I think that cleansing is in order. So consider this-

Alexandra ran harder, the men were raising their guns she could hear the clicking of the cocks, she knew they were taking aim at Ezio, she could see his face, make out his expression now; he could not see her though, his attention was on the man, on his Uncle, on Caterina. But she could still make it she knew she could.

-an invitation from my family! To yours!"

Alexandra pushed herself as hard as she could; as the bang of guns echoed the rattle of her cry was muffled, she was right behind Ezio now, the blood was blooming on his shoulders and sides, but as she captured his back in her arms and felt their feet leave the safety of the rooftops she shifted so the unconscious man would not get harmed further. She tucked his head into her breast, muttering to him as they fell.

"Don't worry... It'll be ok Ezio... just don't die on me... please." The ground came up, smashing into her shoulder, kicking her head back, Ezio's dead weight added to the amount of pressure on her body, in her blurring view she saw her masters head limp on her chest, her own form to heavy to move. Darkness closed in around her, claiming her like a prize.

Ezio awoke to pain throbbing in his body, as he heaved himself up, he saw his student under him, unconscious. "Alexandra?" He whispered, collecting her broken body into his sore arms. He looked at her; her face had a assortment of cuts and a couple of bruises, her body probably hadn't fared any better, the bag she had been carrying had been slashed and its contents where probably scattered on the ground somewhere laying forgotten. Her cloak was diced in many places; even blood stained some of the delicate opening in her clothing. Then, he noticed her mangled right hand; picking it up carefully he examined the missing chunk of skin from the side and the entire ring finger that was absent. He frowned, confused, but as he examined her forearm he saw a hidden blade, a very old and unmodified one like the one he wore.

"It was a gift." Her voice came in a rasp, bringing his attention back to her face. "From a old friend." She coughed, a small amount of blood dripping in a shallow line down her lip.

The large Italian man shook his head hard. "Foolish piccolo. This wound is not something to be proud of, you are missing a finger."

She grinned though. "In the older days… It was something to be very proud of… and I am." Alexandra pegged Ezio in the eye with a soft look, the bloodied hand escaping his grasp and being placed on his cheek. "Glad to see those... wounds are hurting you so much."

"They hurt like a bitch thank you for caring." He gave a huff and adjusted his hold on her, but she gave a protest and attempted to stand on her own. "Are you sure?" Ezio spoke softly, deep under his usual tone, causing his student to look at him with a raised eye brow; her hood had been thrown back in the fall.

"Calm down I'm as fit as to be expected, now hurry," She took hold of his hand and tugged. "I hear some guys coming... Where do we need to go?" Ezio took stalk of her well being; she was wearing down she was hurt, but then so was he. His hand folded around hers and he unsheathed his sword.

"To the villa, to the hidden room." He instructed.

The sound of a hidden blade being dispatched filled the air, he looked at her, the weapon shining red with the blood it hat drunk in the war of his family's home. Glancing at her face Ezio saw not the face of a young woman; but a face of a warrior, an Assassin. And for a brief moment, he was speechless. Then she turned to him, her clear blue eyes reminding him that she was still his student, and she awaited his instruction. Before them, enemies had heard their fall and rushed to dispatch them.

"Ready for this Ezio?" Alexandra said retrieving her hand and falling into a battle pose as the men rounded the corner in front of them.

"Always, can you keep up with me Alexandra? You're rather beaten up." A grin full of pain sketched across his face.

"Can you keep up with me old man?" Alexandra's face was split into a smile that strained with stress, a bubble of hysterical laughter coming from her lips as the men spotted them and charged.

The two of them raced forward, weapons in hand, determined to survive and reach the villa.