Elizabeth Hessler

Morning in Forli after the attack.

Ezio woke up at sunrise, and his first thought was of surprise- his eyelids definitely looked red from the light, but he also remembered they were still in Forli. And sunlight in Forli was a rarity...

He opened his eyes to see if he was correct, and it was not simply some lunatic waving a torch in his face. It was a sunrise, alright... a very bright and beautiful red one rising over the city walls, which remained just as gray. Fluffy chunks of fog did not even flinch at the light, however, still boldly walking the street...

In front of those open curtains and window, soaking in the light sat Eden, which her eyes closed and a gentle smile on her face. The way the light spilled over her skin and hair and his white undershirt wrapped around her protecting from the slightly cold room seemed almost nostalgic.

"Morning, sunshine" she turned her head to him, and he once again remarked how pleasant it was to start a morning this way, much like they did two years ago. "What do you think? It's about the first time I saw the sun around here."

"Beautiful," he breathed, shifting to sit up. Sadly, the wound in his side refused to let him wallow in the moment, shooting pain through his body. Seems like they managed to break a few stitches after all... "Can you come back here? It seems I'm not very mobile at the moment..."

She let out a soft laugh, "And who's fault is that?"

"All mine- I beg for forgiveness at your feet and plead you to come back to bed. It's cold."

She stared, evaluating him for a long moment, before spreading her lips in a happy grin, and crawled back across the bed to his waiting arms.

After a moment, Ezio remembered something. "Who's Elizabeth Hessler?"

Eden withdrew, raising her eyebrows. "Where did you hear that name?"

"You were talking in your sleep again."

"And of course you went back to your creepy habits of watching me sleep," she playfully poked his forehead. He smiled, nodding in a self-satisfied way. "Alright, it's a dream that I had-"

There was a shy knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Eden asked over her shoulder in displeasure.

The person behind the door murmured something very lowly, and all they could hear, even with their good senses was "Morning...breakfast."

"Oh, then come on it," Eden sat up, glowing happily. The door opened, and the servant slipped inside, carrying a tray of food. Ezio felt a little bad for the man- the plates and cups were jumping in his hands lightly, miraculously staying the right side up, and he generally looked terrified. Not to mention Eden, completely disregarding the fact that she was wearing only Ezio's shirt with only half the buttons properly done and her legs totally bare, took the tray from his hands with almost exaggerated excitement when it almost fell out of his hands. "Food! Lovely!"

Ezio was trying his hardest not to break out laughing as the servant first paled, then flushed tomato red. Though his amusement quickly waned when he realized exactly what little man was staring at.

"That's my wife you're leering at," he reminded him grimly. The servant's face turned purple.

"I'd like to remind you that I'm not your wife yet," Eden threatened him with a tea spoon. "And even then I'll belong only to myself."

"Of course, mia cara, but I still don't like it when people stare at you."

The servant let out a slightly strangled "meep" sound. Eden threw him a questioning look, likely wondering why his face was that interesting shade of green.

"There's really nothing holding you," Ezio pressed on, and the man nodded shortly, looking glad as hell to get out of the room. Likely the only reason he stayed was because so far he has not seen a woman who could get dressed completely without help. He was also likely going to show the usual courtesies- asking if there was anything else they wanted and if they needed a maid... Or, that was the likely the intention, though such questions are hard to ask when you're choking on air.

"What's with him?" Eden raised an eyebrow, curiously sampling the contents of the plates.

"Nothing..." Ezio was no longer sure whether he should laugh or point out to her the fact that her behavior, while normal in the twentieth first century, was not received well. Then decided it was a lost cause- if she didn't learn that through all the three years, there was little hope she'd accept it now.

"Anyway, what were we talking about?" She licked her lips thoughtfully after tasting a rather large bit out of the omelet and sending it into her mouth.

"Elizabeth Hessler," Ezio reminded her.

"Oh, yes. She was a lovely young lady in England, from an old and a rather well-known family. She didn't like England very much, and moved around a lot, living the life people only dream off. You know, attending different balls, meeting interesting people, taking walks in beautiful parks, and then sitting by the fireplace in a warm mansion with a good book..."

"And this was a dream?" Ezio raised a skeptical eyebrow, hurrying to pull the tray of food closer to him before she finished everything herself. The "growing girl", as she once jokingly called herself, was quickly working her way through the breakfast in between words.

"I have a theory, but for now, listen," she glared at him. "So once, she met a man. He was charming and handsome, and when he heard her name, he got really excited, handing her a package, and saying that a few months previous to their meeting, his dying father asked him to give it to the woman by her name who's home was everywhere at once."

"That reminds me of something..."

Eden smiled, nodding. "Inside the package was the Talisman." She pointed to the table beside their bed where the artifact was glittering. She took it off... for what reason? Ezio mused. "Anyway, the two liked each other from the start, and soon, they had a daughter. She was an accidental child, but Lizzy still loved her..." A sudden storm cloud passed over her face, though it cleared quickly enough. "But the nobles didn't like the fact that she had an illegitimate daughter and no husband, and some fanatic of either the Church or some other strange mania tried to take the girl away. The necklace told Lizzy what was going to happen, but she was too late, and all she got to see was her daughter being burnt at the stake publicly..."

"And what happened to her them?" Ezio was now listening with interest.

"Her lover offered to take revenge on the narrow-minded nobles and supporters of the church. Stricken with her grief, Lizzy jumped at the offer. They both loved their daughter, and couldn't simply let it go, or even conduct a proper investigation. All they saw were people didn't yet let go of their barbaric methods no matter the amount of jewelery and silks that they displayed, and came to a seemingly obvious conclusion..."

Eden suddenly grew quiet, thoughtfully looking out the window to the raising sun, her eyelashes hanging lowly against the light . "They attended one of the parties in secret and poisoned all the guests. And their children."

"Oh." Ezio was not sure how to respond to that. Eden shook her head as a cloud covered over the sun, and this time a real shadow passed over her face.

"It was a massacre," Eden muttered. "And I mean, worse than what we create on a regular basis. The poison they used produced really ugly effects. The people all but exploded on the inside, dying out for nearly ten minutes while the pair stood over them and enjoyed the show.

But as we both know, Karma is a bitch, so they were both caught and killed before they could leave. The necklace was taken by one of the guards, later given to his daughter as a present, who just so happened to be the heiress of the Talisman, and it continued on it's way..."

They sat in silence for a little bit. Ezio suddenly realized that he while he was listening, he grew completely still, forgetting to eat.

"How do you know this?" he finally asked.

"It's a dream I had- you heard me talking... I think I know why I had those dreams, too..." She put her legs down off the bed, got up and began to make herself presentable, dressing and brushing her hair. "I think that I can't control the artifacts, but I'm still receptive to them, though in a different way than some," she explained as she moved. "I felt the Apple's call no matter what, but I don't think that it can control me now without my knowing it, at the very least, and the Talisman can still communicate with me, but only when I'm completely relaxed and don't instinctively push it away."

"When you're dreaming," Ezio concluded. "It makes sense. So it told you stories of it's previous owners?"

"I think it's hinting that it wants a proper master... But we can't let it have one, so it's getting angry," she shrugged. "I'd really rather not have the questionable pleasure of communicating with artifacts while I'm asleep, there's not telling what it can do then. What if one day I'll wake up with someone's blood on my hands without any actually memory as to what happened? That blood could be anyone's, too- my luck if it's just another guard, but what if it's yours, or Adel's?" she sounded slightly worried.

A grim prospect, Ezio realized after a moment of thought. Eden was strong enough to suffocate him in his sleep, or simply drive a knife through him. Even if he managed to sense the danger from his trusted friend... How to snap her out of it without hurting her?

"So what are we going to do now?" Ezio asked, glancing in the direction of the artifact again with thought.

"Lock it, throw away the key. Or an explosion would be nice. Think Leo can made a big enough one?"

"Spare Italia, please."

"Then we have to find a place for it. Monteriggioni?"

"Too obvious."

"Palazzo della Seta?"

"Locking it away in a thieves den? Brilliant." He muttered sarcastically. She threw him a grin, falling down onto the bed, now fully dressed.

"Well, then, put those two superior braincells of yours to work and pick a place?"

He thought about it for a long time, absently turning to look at her face. She didn't look like she was just possessed by the artifact... actually, she looked healthier than ever. Her pale skin shined in the sunlight coming through the window, and her eyes, looking almost golden, stared at him expectantly, but at the same time warmly, wrapping him in the familiar state of ease.

Warm, familiar... like a home, a place you would come back to. At that moment, anywhere with Eden was his home, but before her...

"Palazzo Auditore." He suddenly grinned. "My father's secret room is still concealed. We can hide it there, or even expand the place."

Her face brightened, "That's a good idea. No one will expect you to return there and hide anything, so they likely won't search the place again. And if they do, we can put traps in."

"Well-"

"Spikes, crossbows, pits of doom...

"Um-"

"-oooh, a flamethrower!"