Chapter 5: Sequence 1 (Part 3)
At the end of the day, Ezio returns to his father to check and see if he has any more errands for him. He then knocks on the door and enters his father's office.
"Ezio! Come in, son." Giovanni greets his son once more. "I need these packages delivered to associates of mine in the city. I also need you to retrieve a message for me from a pigeon coop not too far from here."
"Va bene. (Okay.) I'll get it done." Ezio nods.
"Come back here when you're finished." He says before pausing for a moment. "There are some things we need to discuss. And please, my son, stay out of trouble, hmm?"
The girls decide to read the two letters that are meant for his associates. More letters means more clues. However, when they tried to access it, they got a notification.
'Giovanni has sealed this letter. It would be wrong to open it.'
"Okay, that's odd." Yang comments as she tries to open the other one, which gave her and her teammates the same result.
"Seems we can't open them." Blake deduces. "And I guess it's wrong for Ezio to read them anyways."
Ezio then sets off to his first destination at an enclosed yard, only to find no one there.
"You Giovanni's kid?" A voice asks.
The teenager turns around to see a thief and a courtesan and realizes that they're some of his father's associates.
"No, idiota (idiot). He just happens to look EXACTLY like the man." The courtesan sarcastically says to the thief.
"Give it here." The thief says.
Confused slightly about the association of his father with the two, Ezio hands them the package.
"Don't worry boy, we're not contagious." The thief assures the teen before looking at the courtesan beside him. "Least I'm not."
Annoyed at his remark (Team RWBY has the same reaction as her), the courtesan then elbowed the thief in the chest, and after receiving the package, the two left Ezio. On arriving to his next location of the delivery, the teen found a mercenary on a nearby platform, who called over to him.
"Here. Over here!" He shouts with a whispering tone.
Ezio climbs the platform and shows him the package.
"I have a delivery from–."
"-Giovanni Auditore?" The mercenary interrupts the boy as he is in a hurry.
"Yes."
"Were you followed?"
"No…? Why would I be followed?" The teen asks confusingly as he looks around a bit if he was followed.
"Give me the package." He says as the teen gives it to him. "Tell your father that they're moving tonight. He should as well."
"Who's moving? What's going on here?" He asks but the mercenary begins to leave without answering. "Wait! Come back! Explain yourself!"
However, without looking back, the mercenary left Ezio standing in confusion.
"Why didn't he answer to Ezio?" Ruby asks, confused.
"That mercenary seems to be in a hurry." Weiss answers her question. "Whatever he was talking about, it can't be good."
"Guess we'll have to find out from Giovanni once we take care of retrieving the message from the pigeon coop."
"Why a pigeon coop?" Yang questions. "Wouldn't they even have Scrolls for better communication?"
Tython answers her question with another note of his.
'No Yang. This is the Renaissance. Phones (Earth's version of Scrolls), computers, anything technologically advanced in Earth's 21st century didn't exist yet. Back then, people uses pigeons to carry messages much faster than humans on foot. Not as fast as the internet but fast. They ARE birds after all.'
"Oh." She simply says. "Never mind."
Following this, Ezio went to the pigeon coop that was asked of him, which is located on a rooftop. He then reads it quickly and starts to head back home when he witnessed several guards running in the direction of where his destination is.
'Memory Synched'
"Where are those guards going?" Ruby asks.
"It looks like they're headed for…" The blond brawler says before her eyes widen in shock. "Guys, they're headed for the Palazzo Auditore!"
"What?!" Her friends shouted with the same shocking expression.
"Those guards are going to arrest his family!"
"Then don't just stand there, Yang!" The heiress shouts at her. "Get back there before the guards do!"
Yang nods without a word as she controls Ezio with the controller.
Heading back home quickly, Ezio arrives inside the household where his father's office is trashed.
"We're too late." Yang says.
"Oh no." The cat Faunus says.
"Dear Oum, no." The heiress says.
"Please no." The scythe wielder quietly whimpers.
"Father? Federico?" He calls for them as he looks around the office but got no response.
He began to worry when no one answered, and after hearing a quiet noise behind him, Ezio moved just in time to avoid a vase from hitting him. The one that almost hit him was none other than Annetta, the Auditore family's only servant.
"Oh! Ser Ezio! (Sir Ezio!) Thank God!" She exclaims in shock and relief that he didn't end up arrested.
"What happened? Where is everyone?" He asks her.
"They took your father and brothers to the Palazzo della Signoria– to prison!" She says in horror.
"And my mother? My sister?" He asks further, worried if the guards have arrested them too.
"Ezio…" Claudia calls out to him as she and their mother came out of hiding.
The girls sighed in relieved that at least half of his family didn't get arrested.
"Claudia! Are you alright?"
"Yes. But mother..."
"She's in shock. They... When she resisted..." Annetta tries to explain but hesitates to speak further.
"It's not safe here. Is there a place you can take them?"
"Yes." She nods before realizing that there is a safe place for his mother and sister. "Yes! To my sister's."
"Good. Do that." Ezio says in relief. "In the meantime I'll go see my father."
"Be careful Messer Ezio!" She warns the older teen as he heads out to where his father and brothers have been imprisoned. "The guards were looking for you as well."
"We need to be careful." Blake advises. "This notoriety on the screen is telling us to avoid making close contact with guards or other enemies."
"Why?" Yang questions. "Wouldn't it be best to just fight our way through?"
"Yang, this is a stealth game!" Weiss reminds her. "We're supposed to not attract unwanted attention while completing an objective! Going in guns glazing isn't everything you know!"
"Sis, I hate to break it to you, but they make a good point." Ruby agrees with them. "What's the point of attracting attention if you can't at least learn to be discreet?"
Her teammates were shocked at how wise she can be sometimes.
"Wow." Yang says. "I was not expecting some wisdom from you, sis."
"I have my moments." The team leader shrugs.
Yang sighs in defeat.
"Alright. We'll do it your way, guys."
Ezio made his way to the Palazzo della Signoria without attracting any attention to himself, and then climbed the prison tower to find his father.
"Ezio!" Giovanni exclaims at his cell's window where his son is on the other side, still latched on from high above.
"Father! What's happened?"
"Took a bit of a beating, but I'm alright." He answers before turning serious. "What of your mother and sister?"
"Safe now."
"Annetta took them?"
"Yes…" Ezio nods before realizing what he asked. "Wait. You knew this would happen?!"
"Well it's obvious, considering Giovanni is an Assassin." Blake comments as this was no surprise for her.
"He probably came up with a contingency plan in case he and his family gets arrested or something far worse happens to them." Weiss agrees with the cat Faunus.
"Not the way it did... And not this soon. It doesn't matter now." He briefly explains before looking away from his son for a bit.
"What do you mean?" Ezio asks in confusion to what's going on. "Explain!"
"There's no time." He speaks again. "Listen closely: Return to the house. In my office is a hidden door. Use your talent to find it. Beyond lies a chest, take EVERYTHING you find inside. Much of it may seem strange to you, but all of it is important. Do you understand?"
"Yes." The teen nods in understanding as he continues to listen what his father tells him to do.
"Good. Among the contents is a letter – and with it some documents. I need you to take these documents to Messer Uberto. He was with me in the office yesterday morning."
"The Gonfaloniere. I remember." Ezio recalls. "Now please – tell me what's happening. Are the Pazzi behind this? There was a note at the pigeon coop. It sai–."
They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind Giovanni's cell.
"Go Ezio! Go now!" Giovanni exclaims his son as Ezio lets go and falls down the tower, landing in a haystack on the Palazzo's rooftop.
'Memory Synched'
"Wha-?!" Ruby exclaims. "But what did the note from the pigeon coop said? It had to be important!"
Tython's note appears once more to give the girls an answer.
'The game never mentions it again since we'll never get to see it at all. The reason for this is still unknown to us.'
"Great. A plot hole that's never been explored again." Blake mutters in annoyance as her teammates agreed. Plot holes are a real pain in the ass and never gets explored again for no reason.
Deciding to move on and forget about it, they went back to the gameplay.
Knowing that the fate of his father and brothers is in his hands now, Ezio returns to the family house to recover the items in a hidden room requested by his father. Ezio walked into his father's office and search his surroundings for a hidden door.
"Father said there was a door here…"
Closing his eyes, Ezio opens them again to find his surroundings black and white, and found the hidden door in the fireplace highlighted gold.
"Oh!" Ruby realizes. "Ezio has Eagle Vision!"
"Interesting. I guess that explains how Desmond got it from his other ancestor." Weiss guesses before getting another Tython note.
'Not true, Weiss. There is like a thirty percent chance that any human would inherit the ability. Desmond already had Eagle Vision since the day he was born, but he hasn't even discovered it on his own. Therefore, the bleeding effect through the Animus was able to unlock it for him.'
"Well that's disappointing." The heiress mutters under her breath at this revelation.
Ezio presses a switch, revealing a secret room as he goes inside. He then finds the chest Giovanni had mentioned, and he opened it to find the documents. Along with them, he also finds a broken blade and bracer, a Syrian Saber, an old piece of parchment, and a white hooded robe. Badass music plays as he suits up (with a single small leather spaulder and black cape attached on his left shoulder), and sheathes the Saber, and raises the hood over his head before taking the bracer and parchment along with the documents, which he held in his hand.
"I need to bring this to Messer Uberto."
As Ezio left his home to speak with the Gonfaloniere, two guards confronted him in the family courtyard.
"Traditore! (Traitor!)" One of them shouted at the teen.
"Hey! What's with the swords? Aren't you supposed to arrest me?" Ezio questions the guards in confusion.
"No."
"What do you want, then?" He asks again as he prepares to draw his sword.
"For you to die."
And like that, the guards draw their weapons as they are ordered to kill him.
"Well, that's not going to happen." He says as his sword's already out in his hand. "So why don't we explore other options?"
"There are no other options."
Left with no choice Ezio easily kills the guards in combat and makes his way to Uberto's house. When he got there, the teen (with his hood down) knocks on the door twice and the man eventually opens the door, seeing him in a confused and desperate state.
"Ezio Auditore? What are you doing here at this hour?" He asks while surprised to see the teen being up during the night.
"It… I don't…" Ezio pants from all the running to Uberto's home.
"Wait, child. Take a breath. Collect your thoughts."
Ezio regains his breath and presents the documents to him.
"My father and brothers have been imprisoned." The teen says in desperation and panic. "I was told to bring you this."
"Ahh. I see now." Uberto says while taking a look at them before calmly explaining the situation to the teen. "It's a misunderstanding, Ezio. I'll clear everything up."
"How?"
Just then, a hooded man in black garbs walks past Uberto inside his home after briefly seeing the commotion between them.
"The documents you've given me contains evidence of a conspiracy against your family and against the city." The Gonfaloniere explains further. "I'll present these papers at the hearing in the morning and they'll be released."
"Thank you, signore." Ezio says in relief.
"Of course my child. Do you need a place to stay?" Uberto offers. "You're more than welcome here."
"No grazie. (No thank you.)" Ezio turns down the offer politely. "I'll meet you at the piazza."
Uberto nods in understanding.
"Don't worry, Ezio. Everything is going to be fine." He assures the boy before closing the door on him.
'Memory Synched'
"Hold on." Yang interrupts the story. "That makes no sense. I though Ezio's father dies."
"Yeah." Weiss agrees with her. "And who was that guy in black?"
"Probably one of his friends I guess." Ruby guesses without a second thought. "At least it's all over for Ezio and his family now."
"No." Blake says with suspicion in her voice as her friends turn to her attention. "Something's not right. All of this is too easy. And the Gonfaloniere… there's something about him that doesn't sit right with me."
"So you're saying that Uberto is somehow involved in this mess?" The heiress questions with a raised eyebrow.
"Possibly." The cat Faunus shrugs. "I can't be certain, but I don't think we should let a person's kindness fool us."
"Then let's not waste any more time then." The blonde brawler advises her teammates. "Plus, where did Ezio spend the night at if his house isn't an option?"
Tython's note appears once more.
'Most likely Cristina's place since she the only one left that he can trust the most.'
"Figures." Yang comments. "Alright, back to the game everyone."
29 December 1476
After spending the rest of the night at Cristina's, Ezio makes his way towards the piazza, relieved that his father and two brothers would be released from prison and that everything can go back to normal. When he approached the piazza, however, he is shocked to see his father and brothers each bound to a noose and ready to be executed. Uberto Alberti is seen standing on the platform, along with another man beside him, the very same man Ezio had seen at Uberto's house the previous night. Ezio starts to realize that something wasn't right.
"Oh no." Says Ruby with dread. "But I thought tha-."
"I thought that they would be released" says the blonde brawler, confused as to why they are still not released.
"Exactly." the heiress comments "Didn't he read the document that Ezio gave him or something?"
Blake decided to say nothing and remain silent since she knew that there was something wrong from the very beginning.
"Giovanni Auditore, you and your accomplices stand accused of the crime of treason. Have you any evidence to counter this charge." Says Uberto Alberti as he slowly walks to Giovanni and his 2 sons.
"Yes." Screams Giovanni with anger in his voice. "The documents that were delivered to you last night!"
Alberto shakes his head and slowly walks away from Giovanna and his 2 sons while saying, "I am afraid that I know nothing of these documents."
Hearing this and knowing that Uberto has betrayed them, Ezio shouts the only thing he can think of. "He's lying!" But as nobody responds he says to himself, "I need to get closer."
"I knew there was something wrong when Ezio gave him the documents!" Says Blake. "I mean, it was way too simple to begin with."
"I don't get it why would he lie about the document." Says Ruby, wanting to know the reason as to why he lied about the document.
"I'm sure that the reason for that is written in the letter, sis." Responds the blonde brawler, already forgotten what Tython had said about the note.
"Yeah. The note that we will never see or hear from again" Weiss reminds her again.
"Oh yeah…. that sucks." sighs Yang in disappointment.
"In the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, I am bound to pronounce you GUILTY. You and your collaborators are hereby sentenced to DEATH." Declares Uberto with a dark tone in his voice.
"YOU are a traitor, Uberto – and one of THEM! You may take our lives this day – but WE WILL have yours in return! I swear! We wil-!" But before Giovanni can end his sentence, Uberto had already nodded his head to the executioner and lowers his hand. And thus, sadly hanging Ezio's father and two brothers.
"FATHER!" Ezio lets out a heart piercing scream as he sees his father and brothers getting hanged while rushing towards the gallows.
Team RWBY has different reactions. Blake feels sad for Ezio but also has a feeling of respect. Yang is beyond angry as her eyes are red that Uberto who first seems to be a friend betrayed them, Weiss pretty much has the same reaction as Blake and Ruby looks down in sadness and honestly almost cried when Ezio shouted 'father!'.
"I didn't expect that; I mean aren't heroes supposed to save their friends and family and win in the end?" The red reaper questions with a depressed tone in her voice.
"Like what I said on the first day of Beacon, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." The cat Faunus reminds her of what she said before.
"I guess not…." She sighs. "It's just…. Well, you know…just imagine seeing your own father and brothers being killed right in front of you."
"Yeah. I hope that day will never come sis." Says Yang with the depressed voice Ruby has. But if you listen well, you could hear a little bit of anger as she gives her sister a hug.
Weiss remained silent as her sister fights in the army. While she knows that her sister is one of the strongest people that she knows, that still doesn't mean that she doesn't fear for her sister's life.
The man standing beside Uberto whispered into his ear upon seeing Ezio, to which the Gonfaloniere pointed him out to the guards.
"There! Grab the boy! He's one of them!" He orders as the guards restrain Ezio.
"I'll kill you for what you've done!" He swears to the traitor before breaking free from the guards holding him and pulls out his Syrian Sabre.
"Guards! Arrest him!"
More armed guards approach the teen and a Brute disarms a scared Ezio from his Sabre with a swing of his axe.
"Abbattetelo! (Put him down!)" Uberto orders.
Just as the Brute goes for the kill, Ezio notices the same thief and courtesan he met yesterday.
"You'd better run, boy. And fast!" He advises the teen.
Knowing that there's no time to recover the sword that was knocked out of his hand and seeing that he's outnumbered, Ezio takes the thief's advice and runs away from the piazza with the guards in pursuit. A little while later, he successfully escapes from the city guards. However, everything that happened for the past twelve hours shook and traumatized him. He has lost half of his family and failed to save them. Knowing that he can't go back to the Palazzo Auditore as the city guards have seized it, Ezio swears to himself that he'll avenge his father and brothers' deaths from the traitor Uberto and kill him, while hoping that he won't make the same mistake again with his mother and sister. Whatever it takes.
'Memory Synched: Sequence 1 Complete'
The girls watch as when those words came up, the Animus ends the simulation as the world fall apart before the screen turns white.
"Looks like we completed Sequence 1." Yang says. "Shall we continue, guys?"
"Hold on." Weiss interrupts the blonde brawler. "I think it's getting late now and that we should head to bed now."
"Aww." Ruby whines. "But I want to see what happens next!"
Just as she says that, Ruby yawns as it's almost past their bedtime and Tython contacts them again.
'Weiss has a point, Ruby. It's probably late on your end, so I'll stop monitoring you guys.'
"And how do we know you won't go back on your word?" Weiss questions the note with suspicion in her eyes.
Suddenly, the game automatically saves and exits the game before the console shuts down for them.
'Because right now, I got some other things to do in my life on my end. So if you're trying to contact me, I won't be able to reach you guys while I'm away. Now if you don't have any more questions, I'll let you four get to bed. See ya tomorrow, girls.'
"Hold on! That's not enough proof that you won't watch us sleep or see us showering one at a time!" Weiss exclaims angrily.
However, Tython isn't answering as he had turn off communications on his end.
"Huh." Yang says with a shrug. "Guess he's already gone now."
After a few more minutes, still no word from him. Therefore, Team RWBY concludes that he won't be stalking them anytime soon and will hold his end of the bargain.
"Well," Ruby yawns once more as she sleeps on her top bunk. "I going to sleep now. G'night, guys."
Her teammates said goodnight to their team leader as they tuck themselves in and turned off the light before falling fast asleep. Tomorrow, the next sequence will introduce the difficult Glyph puzzles that will give the girls more of the game's lore to learn about.
To be continued…
