I do not own anything from the franchise, just my OC and minor plot changes.

Hi guys! Sorry it took so long to update, that wasn't my intention at all. I just got caught up with RPing as Ezio and some other life stuff got in the way, like school, so I just never got around to working on this. But now I'm back and hoping to update a little more quickly this time! Please enjoy! I don't have much else to say.

Thank you for all the reviews and subscribers thus far. xoxo

Chapter Twelve: Homecoming

Everyone who partook in the invasion of San Gimignano slept well for that day and it was decided that there would be a celebration of some sorts in the evening.

Ezio found Trinity walking up through the hallway just as he had come out of his bedroom, having slept for a solid ten hours. She was only in breeches, boots, and her thin, sleeveless shirt because her right shoulder was bandaged up from Vieri's blade. When she saw him, she stopped.

"Ah, you're awake," she said flatly. "Your uncle requests your presence."

He eyed her, unsure as to why she was speaking so formally to him but he brushed it off. "Where is he?" he asked.

She turned on her heel. "Out in front of the villa," Trinity replied. "Come."

He followed her, down the stairs and outside. There was a gathering of the mercenaries that took part in the fight last night, all with tankards of ale. Some were injured, wrapped in bandages…a few were even using some sort of crutches for support.

"And here they are!" cried Mario as the two teenagers approached the group that were around the dueling ring. "Our campioni (champions), Ezio and Trinity!"

"All hail Ezio and Trinity!" the throng cried, raising their mugs in a toast to them. Trinity wanted to roll her eyes; just for killing Vieri and they were being praised as if they were champions?

Ludicrous, she thought idly.

Ezio, however, enjoyed the glorification and attention. "I see you've wasted no time starting the celebration!" he laughed, walking up to them. Some of them clapped him on the back in a congratulatory fashion and one pressed a tankard of beer into Ezio's hands.

"And why not?" said Mario with a grin on his face. "You've done us a great service, nipote. With Vieri dead, la Toscana (Tuscany) will grow quiet once more. Do you know that means?"

Before Ezio could guess, someone in the crowd shouted, "Non più lavoro (No more work!)"

"Si passa tutto il giorno a bere (We can drink all day)!" another mercenary chimed in.

"E a puttane (And with whores)!" added a mercenary in the front.

Trinity, who was leaning on the fighting ring, immediately snorted in disgust. "Uomini (men)…" she sighed while there was an awkward silence that settled over the crowd because of how honest the mercenary was.

"What?" he said shrugging his shoulders. "It's true!"

At this, the men all laughed because it was indeed true. Trinity rolled her eyes, heavy irritation laced in her expression as she gazed at Mario expectantly.

Mario took the hint. "Come, Ezio. Walk with me," he said turning back towards the villa. Trinity pushed herself off the wall as Ezio followed Mario up the stairs.

Once they were out of earshot of the others, Ezio spoke up. "The Pazzi answer to another," he said seriously to Mario. "A Spaniard."

Mario cast a very dark look at the two young assassins. "His name is Rodrigo Borgia…one of the most powerful men in all of Europe…and leader of the Templar Order…"

Trinity blinked at the statement as they climbed the stairs. She gripped Mario's sleeve with an outraged expression, causing him to turn. "Wait, you knew this man's name the whole time!" she cried, not sure quite how to feel.

Mario and Ezio paused on the stairs to gaze at her with confusion.

"Yes…why? What's wrong?"

Trinity immediately facepalmed, feeling irritation rise in her throat. "Because that is the man that killed my family…" she growled between her fingers. "…I had wasted two years of my life…searching for him…or just his name and you already knew. Could you have not said anything!"

Mario stared for a moment longer and could not help but burst out laughing at her, in which she glared furiously at him.

"In my defense…you refused to tell me anything of your endeavors when you left Monterriggioni two years ago," he chuckled, putting a hand on her shoulder in a feeble way of consoling her. "How could I have known?"

She opened her mouth to argue but Ezio immediately put a hand over her face and pushed her away to keep her quiet.

"If Rodrigo Borgia is the leader, that makes him responsible for the murder of my father and brothers as well," he said darkly while Trinity looked as if she was going to explode from rage; his hand was still over her face and she was attempting to pry it off.

"Yes," Mario replied, resuming the climb up the stairs. "And he will kill you too, given the chance."

Ezio finally released her face and followed his uncle, not before receiving a very painful punch in the shoulder blade from Trinity.

"Then we have to stand against him if we ever wish to be free." Trinity had tried to appear calm as she spoke, though her inner rage was hard to rein in. She didn't blame Mario for not telling her…he had a point. She did not want anyone to know of her travels, so how could she expect him to have known that Rodrigo Borgia was the man who slaughtered her family?

They were at the front of the villa now when Ezio growled. "But not until every other Templar has fallen to my blade…. They deserve the fate I shall bring them," he spat. "And father's list will guide me."

Once in Mario's study, he finally turned to them with a very serious expression, one amplified by his battle-scarred face. "Where will you two go next…?"

At this, it appeared that Ezio was at a loss for words.

"Firenze," Trinity replied after a moment of silence. "I think Francesco de' Pazzi should share the fate of his son."

Pure disgust was rank in her tone at the thought of Vieri. How revolting he was, even with her little interaction with him.

"A sensible next step, Trinity," said Mario approvingly. "I have no doubt that he intends evil for the city."

It was decided they would leave for Firenze in the morning and so Mario began their preparations for their leave. He was not so keen on Trinity leaving so early with the wound she had received on her back, but she was adamant and stubborn, refusing to stay in Monterriggioni while Ezio goes to Firenze. She was not about to let him run off and possibly fail the assassination.

Meanwhile, Trinity had spoken with Claudia, who apparently was stuck doing busy book work for Mario now that she was staying for quite some time, about tracking the money Trinity was pouring into the city for repairs and improvements. The local architect was respectful, having called her "miss" more than a handful of times.

She dearly hoped that Ezio would be able to begin paying for such things, since she wasn't expected to help Monterrigioni prosper because it was under Auditore name, not Aldinucci.

Even still, she wanted to repay Mario for accepting her without question.

While she was tending to her money being put to good use, Mario finally decided to show Ezio the Sanctuary of assassins behind his office bookcase. Trinity met up with them down there once she was finished, having only seen the Sanctuary once before when she was a small child on a visit to Firenze.

"…these are the assassins who guarded the freedom of humanity when it was most threatened," she heard Mario telling his nephew as she rounded the corner.

The statues of the ancient assassins were impressive, as she had thought initially. Although, as a child, they seemed so much larger than this, so there was a small disappointment that sat in her chest upon her second sight. Ezio and Mario made their way towards the statue of Altair, locked behind a grate with his armor.

"That is the armor of Altair," said Mario, both staring at the black armor with a sort of reverence. "Little is known about Altair's life…but his armor is light and very strong. I'd give it to you…but I don't know how to retrieve it."

Trinity frowned from behind them, not so keen on the idea of handing Ezio something so valuable so early in his time as an assassin. In a way, she was happy they had no way of getting into the locked area; this wasn't out of jealousy, but more out of desire to preserve the name of Altair before Ezio more than likely mucks it up.

Mario continued to speak. "My great-grandfather told me that it would remain locked away until all its protectors were made whole."

It was clear that Ezio had no idea as to what Mario meant, and Mario did not look all that enlightened either.

"My father told me that there were crypts throughout Italia…hidden tombs filled with treasure where these six were moved centuries ago…" said Trinity after a moment of silence. She had remembered her father speaking of the Sanctuary's prized armor and that there were rumors of such crypts. "Perhaps…they have something to do with it."

She moved over to one of the statues, the Egyptian one. "See…this here looks like it's a type of key of some sort." Trinity pointed to the circular indention at the base.

"Yes, in my younger days," said Mario thoughtfully, "I had sought out those crypts…but with no success. I admit, I did not put entirely too much effort into looking for them though."

Ezio folded his arms. "Perhaps we will have better success."

Mario clapped him on the shoulder with a laugh. "I would hope so. It would be a wonderful sight to see you in Altair's armor."

Trinity snorted quietly. If he gets to it sooner than later, it'll go to his head.

Ezio and Trinity arrived in Firenze about midday the next day, having left in the early hours of that morning. Ezio had made it a point to have said his goodbyes to his mother and sister the night before, while Mario saw them off today.

There was a sadness in Ezio's eyes that Trinity noticed, one she knew he would deny if she were to bring it up to him. However, it was easily recognizable in his tone as they had approached the city about a half hour prior, his regular irritation leaving and one of despondency replacing it.

Trinity automatically pulled her hood down, hoping that any guards that had been present from her last visit here, would not remember the two hooded assassins that escaped after the Auditore execution from two years ago. Anyone recognizing them would be highly unlikely but she wanted to be safe.

During one of their moments to rest their horses for a few minutes, Ezio had made it clear he wanted to visit Leonardo again, to which Trinity agreed to, since he could translate the Codex pages that they had taken from Monterriggioni.

She glanced at Ezio as they walked through the busy streets of Florence, unnoticed by anyone; she was pleased with this since she had no intentions of engaging in anymore fights. Her shoulder was only starting to heal from their skirmish with Vieri and his men two days prior and she was still quite sore, if not stiff.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it…?" she said finally, automatically casting her glance across the streets at where guards were placed. Firenze was a little relaxed as opposed to other cities but…seems like they kept guards on the roof since she was last here.

Ezio did not reply, but only cast a quick look. It was obvious he was deep in thought and Trinity let him be.

About twelve minutes later, they arrived at Leonardo's workshop, or at least they were hoping it still was.

Ezio stopped in the courtyard, however, and held out the few Codex pages he had been carrying for Trinity. "You go ahead. I have some business I need to take care of first."

Trinity raised a brow at him, not moving to take the Codex pages. "And what business is that?" Her tone was a little rough, mostly because it had been his idea to see Leonardo as soon as they arrived.

It was obvious Ezio was hiding something but he smirked at her as he pushed the Codex pages into her hands. "Tell Leonardo I will be by soon!" said Ezio with a small laugh, already walking away.

Trinity rolled her eyes; she already knew he wasn't going to answer her and the fact that he thought she was stupid was aggravating. She knew full well where he was going and it bothered her that he had to attend to his needs before attending to the Codex pages…or seeing his old friend.

She opened her mouth to call out a snide remark to him, but instead, stopped herself. With a heavy and slightly irritated sigh, she turned back to the workshop door and knocked, holding the Codex pages close for safekeeping.

After a moment, the door opened and Trinity found herself gazing upon the friendly face of Leonardo Da Vinci.

"Signorina Trinity!" he cried, clapping his hands on her shoulders and kissing her cheeks without hesitation. She laughed lightly and he led her inside. "It's good to see you're still alive! And Ezio? Is he with you still? How is he?"

Trinity chuckled again, letting her gaze set upon the workshop which was filled with finished works of art and countless other things she couldn't fathom. "Grazie, and Ezio is here in Firenze, though he ran off to attend to some business. Probably to look at his old home, to see what had become of it. He should be back shortly." She smiled broadly at him, noticing how much brighter Leonardo's face lit up to hear Ezio was in Firenze. After a moment, she gestured around the room. "Just look at this place! The past two years have been very kind to you!"

"They have, they have!" Leonardo was enthusiastic but after a moment his face turned concerned. "But…you…? You are not the same are you?"

Trinity could not help but smile gently at this, turning her gaze to the wall behind him. "…all things change in time…"

Her reply had been soft but she quickly refocused herself. "But Ezio and I were here in hopes that you could help us with something."

"Anything for you, amico mio (my friend)."

Trinity grinned and held up the Codex pages that they needed translated. Leonardo's face was as bright as the sun when he saw them and he eagerly took them from her grasp.

"Aha! You found more! How exciting!" he exclaimed, moving over to his work table quickly.

He was certainly a small child in an adult's body, at least to some extent. Leonardo pulled out one of the first and hovered over it momentarily, having gone silent. Trinity moved to join him, looking over his shoulder though she knew it would take her months to figure these out…not a matter of hours.

"Hmm. This one is tricky." He was thoughtful, scratching his goatee absently as he stared at the page. Trinity had been admiring his paintings for the last ten minutes or so before he spoke. "Clever in its use of ancient languages...Oh… Oh!"

"What?"

Leonardo glanced at her very briefly. "It seems to be a manual of sorts for different assassination techniques," he said, deep in his translating. Trinity smiled.

"Oh good, Ezio might learn something useful," she said offhandedly as she went back to his desk. She knew, however, she could benefit from looking at it as well.

"Wait! What's that?" Leonardo put a hand up to stop her from reaching over to take the page, further giving her an image of an over excited child stuck in a man's body. "It's not so much a design this time…. Just a series of sketches… Hmmmm. What to make of all this?"

She was not following anymore, which she already knew would happen once he was too far into his work. "Aho! But of course! And why not? What an inspired idea!"

Trinity nodded and gave a weak smile, thoroughly confused since his sentences were revealing nothing, as he took her hand in his to look at her hidden blade and bracer.

"Well, if it's alright, would you make it for me…while I go and fetch Ezio?" She hoped he was talking about some type of invention.

Leonardo shook her hand excitedly. "Of course, of course! While you're away, I'll have my assistant set up some dummies for you and Ezio to practice on with the techniques in this manual fragment when you return with him."

Trinity nodded approvingly, about to agree but Leonardo turned around and shouted, "Hey! Vincenzo!" and cutting her off.

She slipped away when the painter set about explaining what he wanted done in the courtyard just outside his workshop, but not before Leonardo stopped her momentarily to measure her left arm.

Once safely outside, Trinity immediately took to the roofs, unconcerned with the stares of the civilians below or even some comments they made about her climbing.

If she was right about Ezio's whereabouts, he may be harder to find than she would have hoped for.

The moment he was out of sight from Trinity, Ezio broke out into a light jog down the streets of Firenze, having no intentions of stopping until he reached his destination.

Within five minutes, he was gazing upon the window he use to gaze at almost nightly two years ago. It was cast open, which made for perfect entry way. He could hear her voice…dismissing a maid or the like before it went silent. Ezio scaled the wall covered in vines and hoisted himself up into her window, balancing at the balls of his feet as he gazed at his old love.

She hadn't changed at all…maybe only slightly, more radiant now that she was more of a woman and less of a child.

It took her about a half a minute before she gasped from fright at him sitting in her window with a smirk at his lips.

"E-Ezio!" Cristina had been putting up her hair idly before she felt like she was being watched. She had not expected to see him…not after so long…. "What are you doing here?"

There was a strange sort of fear in her voice as she stood up, which threw Ezio off momentarily. Was she not happy to see him?

"I only just came back to Firenze," he replied smoothly, hoping to use his usual charm to warm up to his old love. He approached her slowly before he put a hand to her cheek. Again…that sadness in her eyes was unmistakable. "Look at you…as beautiful as ever."

At this, Cristina's eyes began to brim with tears and she made a noise of exasperation. "But…Ezio I-" She couldn't find the right words, nor meet his gaze so she turned away. "I just…it's been two years!"

It was all she could say…even though she wanted to say more.

Ezio took her hand in his, using his other to turn her face so that he could look into her eyes again. "And I thought of nothing else."

He did not expect her to brush him off and walk away from him, cheeks tear-stained now. "What is it?" He reached out to touch her shoulder and she cast him a watery glance.

"I-I'm engaged to married!"

There was a sting to his heart at these words but he let his face remain relatively impassive at the news. It was clear, she was not pleased with it herself as she attempted to dry her cheeks. "My father kept asking me to choose…he wouldn't stop until I picked someone. And I…I thought I never was going to see you again…so I…just…"

She faded off, fighting back more tears and struggling to hold his gaze. However, before Ezio had a chance to reply, there was a shriek of a woman, calling out to Cristina.

"Cristina! Manfredo! Manfredo is going to be killed!" shouted the woman, accompanied by a man, in the street below just as Ezio and Cristina leaned out the window.

"What!"

Cristina sounded as though she was surprised and slightly distraught.

"The man he lost money to," said the man with her urgently. He pointed off down the street. "They dragged him off to the end new bridge!"

Ezio was confused, as well as angry because these two had just ruined his reunion with Cristina. "Who the hell is Manfredo?" he demanded, looking at Cristina with dark eyes.

She put a hand to her face in distress. "Fidanzato mia (my fiancé)!"

Without thinking Ezio leapt from the window, sprinting across the rooftops to the new bridge the man had been speaking of. He knew this was important, maybe not to Cristina but it was important for her life…for her future. He would do anything to protect that, especially…

…because he knew that Cristina deserved better than what he was going to provide her. He wouldn't be able to be with her at all times…he was now leading the life of an assassin, and he would not subject her to have to deal with the consequences of his actions.

There were a total of five men near the new bridge as Ezio ground to a stop at the edge of the roof. One obviously was unarmed; that must have been Manfredo, and the others didn't quite look like guards, but he wasn't entirely sure if they were mercenaries either.

Didn't matter; Ezio had to safe Cristina's fiancé from his own stupidity.

Trinity was losing her patience fast. Firenze was never a city she memorized, having always thought she would rarely visit the place, though now she regretted it.

She had looked for Ezio relentlessly; true it had only been a max of fifteen minutes, but when sprinting hard and avoiding guards across rooftops, with some shooting volleys of arrows in her direction, one gets a little tired, or at least irritated.

With a huff, she turned once more, having been standing on a higher point of the city to see if there was anything that would give his presence away. He was in assassin's robes, so spotting him would be easy for her.

There was a commotion a few streets down, by the water way and what looked like a construction of a new bridge. Townspeople were gathering…and if…

That was him. There was a figure in white and by the looks of it, just engaged into combat.

"Idiota!" she hissed under her breath, leaping across the roof to one across the street and below. She tore into the direction of fight, aggravation nearly exploding. Her shoulder stung with the sudden harsh moment again; she wondered if she reopened the wound or not but she pressed on.

Trinity slid to a stop, gazing upon the fight from a high vantage point. Four guards against Ezio and an unarmed…noble maybe? She couldn't be sure. His clothes weren't entirely fancy or embellished enough to be of too high of rank.

She was not about to just leap into a fight uninvited, or with her shoulder still torn up from her previous skirmish. Instead, she gripped one of her throwing knives, waiting for an opportunity to strike. These guards had no armor, in fact they just looked like body guards of another noblemen, nothing special about them.

Trinity leapt down to a lower part of the building, bathing her into shadow as she waited for a moment for an opening.

Ezio cut down two guards easily enough and was dealing with the third. Trinity took this moment to throw her knife at the final guard that was advancing on the unarmed noblemen. The force behind the throw, which lodged the knife into the back of the guard, caused him to fall off the bridge and into the water.

With a final stab, Ezio ran the last guard through, turning to try to tend to the fourth but stopped short when he saw the nobleman standing there alone. Trinity smirked slightly, getting ready to move towards them and scold Ezio for his stupidity.

"Grazie messare!" said the man, putting his hands together gratefully as he approached Ezio. "You don't know how close-"

Ezio immediately backhanded the noble and gripped him by the collar, leading him towards the edge of the unfinished bridge, as if to push him into the water.

"Hey! Aspetta (Wait), what are you doing! I-I can't swim!"

Trinity furrowed her brow in utter confusion, having stopped from moving from her hiding spot. Why did he save him only to…?

She let her question trail when Ezio half snarled at the noble. "Do you love her?"

"What?" Even in this situation, it was clear the unnamed man was confused by the question.

"Do you love her?" Ezio repeated, tone harsher. "Cristina, you idiota! The woman you're about to marry!"

Trinity rolled her eyes, realizing where this was going. With a heavy sigh and an irritated expression, she leaned against the wall and continued to watch.

"Y-yes I do!" cried the man, glancing down at the water beneath him. "I swear I do! Kill me here and I will die still loving her."

Trinity could not help but snort at how idiotic that sounded and she crossed her arms, now slightly amused.

"You are never going to gamble again." His voice was stern and ominous as he brought the man about a foot away from his face.

"N-never, messare!"

Ezio brought him even closer, tone grower darker. "You will be a good husband to her," he said firmly, "or I will hunt you down…and kill you myself."

And with that, he shoved the man against a wall lining the bridge before turning on his heel to leave. Trinity snorted again, backing into the shadows further and Ezio passed by her.

After a moment, she followed him from the roofs, making sure to avoid guards…or just kill them, whichever she felt was more necessary, while Ezio moved through the crowds quickly, obviously intent on getting somewhere. Trinity made sure to stay hidden thought it was not hard when she was above him and his attention was elsewhere.

Trinity glanced further down, and saw a young woman quickly coming in the opposite direction towards them. It was that woman from before, she realized, the girl Ezio left behind. She racked her brain for a moment...Cristina was her name…wasn't it?

An involuntary groan escaped her lips just before Ezio caught Cristina by the arm and almost roughly pushed her against the wall. Trinity made a look of utter disgust, watching Ezio kiss Cristina fiercely, urgently with a hand against the wall and the other at her waist.

The young assassin on the roof practically glared at the pair from behind, impatient for them to discontinue so that she could bring Ezio back to Leonardo. Her irritation with him never seemed to dissipate; it was always there, only varying in levels of aggravation.

Any day now, she spat mentally, glancing up to see if guards were close, which they were not.

Finally, Ezio pulled away, taking a step back from Cristina. She was gazing at Ezio with a sort of adoring look, one that caused Trinity to gag on. The pair was silent for a moment, unaware of their surroundings around them.

"He's fine and he'll make a good husband." At first his tone was almost nonchalant, and Cristina gave him a look of disbelief before his voice went much darker again. "I made sure of it."

Ezio, without so much as another glance at her, turned and walked away. Trinity immediately put a hand to her forehead, mentally cursing his indiscretion.

"Wh-what?"

He left Cristina standing there with the most confused expression before he turned the corner and moving into the crowd.

Again, Trinity followed him for a little ways, giving him time to mull over what he had just done. When a space cleared, she leapt down from a low beam, right beside Ezio, who jumped just slightly at her sudden appearance.

"Siete veramente stupidi (You really are stupid)…" Trinity sighed as she rose to a stand. Ezio cast a dark glare at her.

"Why were you following me!" he snapped angrily.

Trinity tilted her head slightly and frowned at him. "Because you can't even be in Firenze for an hour until you get into a fight with some guards…" she said impatiently. "And for what..? To let a girl you love marry someone she clearly doesn't want?"

Ezio averted his eyes away momentarily, realizing Trinity had seen a lot more than he had hoped. "…that is my decision."

He turned away to start walking again; Trinity however looked to her right for a moment.

Cristina had just stopped some thirty feet away, catching sight of Trinity, with Ezio a few feet ahead of her. There was a moment where they held gazes before the assassin shook her head just slightly, silently telling Cristina not to follow.

Trinity held the gaze for one more half a second longer before she turned away to catch up with Ezio.

The two of them were silent once more, snaking through the civilians back to Leonardo's workshop.

"You did the right thing…" said Trinity, though it sounded like she didn't actually want to agree with something like that. "Although you lack tact-"

Ezio shoved her to the side, cutting her off, without so much as a glance at her. "Stai zitto (Shut up)."

Trinity huffed as she straightened up, not before punching him hard in the arm and they continued their way back to Leonardo.