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Exhausted. Plain and simple. Fitz felt every nerve in her body fray in that instant. She had failed on so many levels. She was discovered, she was caught, and she should've been killed. To walk away with her life was the greater shame. Her cot creaked when she turned over onto her stomach, full of dead butterflies. I reek of failure. I'll just smother myself now and save Burke the trouble. She pressed her face into the pillow, almost actually trying to do so. I'll probably fail at that, too.

She finally drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Some hours later, Grant came into check on her. He didn't want her to be hurting like she was, but what could be done? He'd never seen some one come out of a mission so shaken before. Was she going to want to go back in? She couldn't possibly be okay with pushing forward with this. But they were Assassins, at least they had been before they had changed everything. Did becoming The Secret undo everything they had meant to do? Whose side are we on anyway? Hell, maybe we're following what the First Civilization wanted. Who the hell knows?

Grant silently left the room and left Fitz to her shame-coma. In the work room, Hanover was sitting cross-armed on her stool going over the feed. She saw him approach out of the corner of her eye. Her body turned toward him, but her eyes shifted to Burke, who was determined not to make eye contact with anyone at the moment.

"How is she?" she asked her spy.

"She's asleep. I guess that's good." Grant sat on the corner of her desk. "I didn't want to get closer. Just let her sleep it off."

Hanover nodded, her eyes closed, appraising the information. "For the best. The first one's always the worst."

Grant frowned. "Oh?"

Again, she nodded. "I was what, twenty-two? Twenty-three? Thereabouts. I was in Montenegro back when it really wasn't save to be there. Serbo-Croatia has always been pretty bad, but then...you didn't want to be there unless you actually had to be there and someone had a gun to your head. I was on the trail of a Templar who was using civilians to run weapons back and forth across the lines. Real bastard. Half the time, they didn't realize it, just in the trunks of cars or whatever, jimmy then open and dropped them.

"I had this guy in my sights for days. Figured his routine, knew his men, his men's men. Complex, stations, caches, the lot. I go down to the back entrance, where some of the weapons were being offloaded. I get into a good position for the snipe. Sitting for three hours on my belly, freezing my ass off in this run-off pipe. This guy comes out at last, to survey his collection. Swear to God, he looks right down my sights at me, like half a click away, winks at me. I scurry out backwards through the pipe to have five of his men draw down on me. Some little kids saw me and told their parents, who told them in exchange for letting them go another week without paying protection."

She waited for some kind of interjection from Grant, but none came.

"Three days of getting beaten, threatened, torture..worse. I broke. Not gonna lie. I cried like a bitch and told them to kill me. I begged them to. I put the barrel in my own mouth and dared them to. They didn't. The man himself came in. I told him to kill me. He spit in my face and said no. I got to life with the shame that I had failed. Then, he brought the little boy who had reported me into the room. I knew exactly what was going to happen. He introduced the little boy to me. Sorka. That was his name. Sorka told me what his dog's name was. Noni. He told me what his favorite food was. Pizza, the way his dad made it. Then he was shot in the back of the head right in front of me. I shut down. I was untied, kicked one last time for good measure, then dragged out to the main gate and left there. My team had already left the country. A group of men carried me the American MASH unit a couple of miles away. My papers were missing, so I got deported after a stint in the prison hospital which was no picnic."

Her eyes were streaming, but her voice never changed. "But that...is a story for another day."

Grant sat dumbfounded. His eyes were glassy, trying desperately not to overflow.

"We're Assassins, yes. But we are human, too. We have faults. We cry, we lose our tempers, we switch sides for whatever reasons, we kill. Desmond Miles ran away and became a bartender and he was raised to be an Assassin. Hell, Ezio had his weaknesses. He left Masyaf empty-handed, quitting to have a family. He cried over women. It's when you completely harden your heart, turn off your empathy that you get into trouble. You become a killing machine, only good for that. When you can shut out everything and the only info you give is name, rank, and serial number, they'll just shoot you dead. We kill, but we do it to save something, to preserve freedom from the Templars who want to control.

"I guess the short version of all of this is: Live. Feel. Care. Care about something. She'll be okay in time. We need to be strong when she's weak. She'll be ashamed of herself for a while, but I can guaran-damn-tee you she won't let it happen again, and I bet you won't, either."

Grant shook his head. "Why did you tell me all this?"

Hanover pressed the insides of her eyes, milking her tear ducts to stop the tears. " Like I said. He told me to live with the shame. It's not shameful if no one else knows. Now," she said, patting him on the knee, "why don't you go and wake her up? I imagine it'll take her some time to get dressed and ready."

"Sure. Okay." He left his perch on the corner of her desk for the bunks.

"Grant. You going to get her up?" Burke asked. He didn't look up, which was probably good since Hanover was trying to calm down still.

"Yeah."

"Good. Make sure she's okay."

"On it." Grant continued back down the hallway. He felt like everything he had just been told was sitting squarely on his chest. How was he supposed to help Fitzy anyway? I guess just...be there for her?

He knocked on the door lightly, waiting for some kind of movement from within. "Fitz? Fitz, you awake?" Grant didn't hear anything, so he entered slowly. "Hey, it's time to get up now."

Fitz was rolled over on her side, facing him. Her eyes were red and her face was swollen.

"Come on, we need you to get up now." He sat on the bed next to her, putting an arm around her. "Think you can do that?" She just buried her head in her pillow.

"Hey now. I know this sucks. But you're here, right? You made it back."

No response, except for tensing shoulders.

"I bet every one of us has messed up at one point or another," he offered. He didn't know if Hanover had shared the story with her as she had with him. That was up to her. "But the truth is that you survived and you can fix it."

"Like Burke is going to let me do anything ever again." came the muffled reply.

Grant sat her up, pulling her shoulders. She looked a mess. He tried not to instinctively laugh. It was his little sister's birthday party dress incident all over again. "Now look. Burke's probably a little upset with you. But I bet he's glad you're safe. I didn't see him climb into the Animus and volunteer, did he? You're brave. You've gotten to touch history like nobody else."

"If by 'touching' you mean history threatening to kill me," she grumbled, wiping her nose on her arm.

"That's still more than Burke's gotten from it. We're all pulling for you, Justine, but you've gotta make it worthwhile. If you give up now, it's done. We're stuck in some new timeline where we're the bad guys. I don't wanna be the bad guy. Burke's plan made us the bad guys. You need to save us."

"Neither do I, but- but how can I fix it?"

"You have to be strong enough to continue. You have to complete this mission. You pull on your Assassin pants, fix your hair, deliver your message, take down the Borgias, then maybe, just maybe, we'll be rid of the Templars, find the Pieces of Eden, and never have to worry again."

She looked him in the eye for the first time through all of this. He was the newest addition to the group, but he hit this problem on the head. She took in a shaky breath and nodded forcefully. "I'll save us."

He smiled. "Good. That's my girl. But seriously, fix you hair. It's frightening."

For a second, he couldn't tell if she was laughing or sobbing.

"I was in a shame-spiral. What's your hair's excuse?" Laughing. It was laughing.

"My hair's fantastic, thank you very much." Grant hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Welcome back." The two sat on the edge, resolving silently to be braver. For Fitz, it was getting back into the Animus. For Grant, it meant actually kissing her.

"I'll let you get dressed. Come out when you're ready to be laced in, okay?" He stood up and left.

"Send Yusef in first. I want to be cleared medically."

"Sure thing."

Grant went down the hall again. He told Yusef she had wanted him to check her out first before she suited up. The medic went to his work. Hanover and Burke both looked up expectantly.

"She's back on board," Grant sighed. Hanover smiled secretly.

"Good job, Grant. Hopefully she'll learn." Burke put down his book and went back to the database.

Hanover walked over to Grant. "I'm sure she will." The younger mouthed a 'thank you' to her.

After a while, everything seemed ready to go again. Yusef had cleared her, she was laced, snooded, and ready to go once again. Fitz already felt better, but she knew she was going to have to try ten times harder. Burke, though neither knew it, was thinking the same thing.

"Can you do a final check on the date I'm landing on? I was off by three months last time." Burke opened his mouth but she continued. "-I know you're going to say 'that's not what gave you away' but I'd like to make sure we're hitting the right place. After all, it's my ass in the chair." She looked him dead in the eye. "Please and thank you!" She turned back to her leader. Grant shot her a look, not sure if he should be proud or terrified.

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Burke saluted, chuckling to himself. Glad to see she's found her backbone finally. Truth be told it wasn't a bad idea to check. He combed the database quickly, having re bookmarked pages he thought would be useful. The file on the Auditore line flickered onto the screen.

"Grant, check your coordinates against this date: 14 July 1475."

Grant looked everything over. "1475? For Giovanni Auditore's execution? That's not right."

"Yes. It should be 29 December 1476," Yusef interjected.

Fitz looked over her shoulder at Burke. His plan was to blame for this. "A full year and half off? Well, glad we caught that."

He blinked. "Indeed. That's what we have as his death date, so please adjust it accordingly."

"On it. Gimme fifteen, twenty minutes." The young man dove into his program to redial the date and location.

"Take your time and get it right," Burke said, but it was already being done. Damn. He wiped his face and exhaled heavily, scouring the database further. Hanover was turned away from him, so he thought to inspect her file again. She was still the blood-link to the Auditore line. Fitz' misfire in the past didn't change that. At least that was good news. He logged out and powered down.

"Fitz, come here a second." He waved her over. Her expression was a mix of beaten dog and exasperation.

"Yes?"

"I'm glad you're continuing on. I'm sorry I snapped at you. It wasn't fair and I don't know what happened."

She shook her head. "No, you were absolutely right: I was being a princess about it and took the encounter for granted. I'll be more observant and less trusting in the future." Her eyes were dark.

"Don't shut down on me. You're the best for this. That's why you're the one going in. We don't need you to be a robot, Don't think that's what I'm asking you to be. I am asking you to be careful."

"Okay, fine. I'll be careful."

Burke held her by the shoulders, inspecting her for a moment. "Okay. Get in there."

"You got it."

Once the new coordinates reset, the team took their places again. Grant helped her down again and placed the sensors. "You good to go?"

She looked down as she watched him hook her in. "Yeah. At least this time I can be the last thing he sees, so there's that."

Grant paused a second. "Don't get all revenge-y on me. That's not going to help anyone."

"Sorry." She stared into the visor. He tried to catch her eye, but she was not having it. He turned away and she lifted her ring and kissed her scar.

"Okay, set for July 14th in 1475. Mission target: Giovanni Auditore's execution. I'll be setting you down ten minutes before it happens in an alcove of the plaza."

"Good luck, Fitzy. You can do this." Hanover clenched her hands to offset the prickling sensation she was feeling.

"Count me down, Thom."

"Ten. Nine. Eight..."

The flash didn't stun her as much as it had before. Perhaps she was getting used to it. She looked around to orient herself. The scaffold was there in the middle. Three nooses hung from its support beam, hardly swaying in the breeze. A crowd was already beginning to gather. Fitz stepped around the column to join the mob.

When she had gotten about halfway, Giovanni and the others were being carted out by the guards. Someone called the crowd's attention to them and the booing and yelling began. She picked up the pace to get into position. Giovanni and his son Federico were being pushed up the steps to the deck. The traitor Uberto leaned in to his accomplice and exchanged low words. The elder Auditore stamped and shouted for someone to arrest Uberto, but no one came to his aid. Good.

Fitz had pushed her way near the front of the crowd. The deck of the scaffold was too high to be seen here. She let herself be shuffled up in the mob, getting to a more central location. There, perfect. She could see them all. With everyone yelling and shouting, she figured how to make herself stand out. She stood perfectly still. The tide of the onlookers pushed against her, but she held her ground. Giovanni looked desperately out onto the sea of merciless faces. She couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain he found her. It took about three seconds for him to remember her. His eyes went wide, but it did not stop the scene to be played out.

Within a few moments, Ezio, now a young man pushed his way through the crowd. As father followed son up until the last, she kept her eyes firmly locked on him. Uberto's call for the guards scattered the crowd away. She watched the soon-to-be-Assassin find his purpose for revenge, fighting for his life. As guards ran in from all directions, she casually walked back to her jump point. Her mission was complete. She looked at her holster and punched in her return code. The flash went off, drawing Ezio's attention for a split second before he ran from plaza to find the rest of his family.