Disclaimer: I don't own Assassin's Creed or any of it's characters
Ezio watched anxiously from the side of the bed as his mentor was sewn back together. The blood soaked uniform had hid the damage from his eyes but now out in the open. Altair was covered in slashes, stabs, and bruises.
"Ezio," Altair hissed as one of Paola's girls pulled a needle through his skin. She offered him an apologetic smile. "Calm down. The streets are in chaos; you should use this to your advantage. Track down Francesco and kill him."
Ezio stood up from his seat. "I would never make it through the streets alive! Both sides would strike me down without hesitation." He hid the fear in his voice fairly well. Fear not for his sake but for Altair's. What if something was to happen while he was away? The young man had faith in the Altair's abilities but not when he was torn up like this.
Altair sighed, and waved away the girl as she finished up the stitches, mumbling thanks as she scurried out the door. He collapsed back onto the bed, hiding a groan as he did so. Every muscle protested with each movement. There was no way he could go out with Ezio and help the boy. He could if the need arose but he would play it safe for once when it came to his life.
"Ezio." He looked at the young man through tired eyes. There was thin cut on his cheek from Altair's own blade but he looked unscratched otherwise, still boyish and innocent in appearance somehow. Altair smiled, a cut on his lip pulled painfully, at the teen Assassin. "You can do this, you have to. Take to the rooftops to avoid the crowds and then when the time is right, use it to your advantage. Hopefully enough of Lorenzo's men know now we are not the enemy…but err on the side of caution."
Ezio nodded solemnly. While he had acted on his own before, he hadn't yet faced a mission on his own. Save for when he went after Uberto, but he had been fueled by rage then. Now he was actually thinking clearly of the dangers and his lack of experience. But Altair had faith him. The Master Assassin was worn thin but had he have been needed, Altair would have joined him.
He placed a comforting hand on the man's knee, one of the few places to escape the blade, "I shall return shortly. Do not die while I am gone." He teased and Altair gave a good-humored snort in response and closed his eyes. Ezio watched the injured Assassin slip into a slumber and exited the room, locking it behind him.
Ezio made it to where the Pazzi and Medici troops were fighting without incident. The streets up to the Piazza della Signora were eerily silent but as he climbed up over the wall onto rooftops, he could see where the men were fighting.
From across the piazza, Francesco spotted him, "You, again? Why aren't you dead? Men! Slaughter him!" the man encouraged his troops, so far none of them had yet to confront him. He used this to his advantage.
Ezio climbed the Piazza della Signora with ease. As he came upon the first guard, the young man grabbed him by the back of his doublet and yanked him backwards over the ledge. The man gave a shout in surprise but fell to the building below them with a thud. Ezio climbed up over the ledge, waiting for a moment for silence to settle over the area again.
Which never happened, as every guard on the roof came over him.
Ezio jumped off the ledge as all the men crowded below to get some distance between them and him.
He used his double hidden blades to his advantage, as all the men seemed to wield the same heavy war hammer. Soon enough he had gotten the last one.
He scaled the ladder to the top of the tower where Francesco was hiding.
"Oh the boy thinks himself a master swordsman. So you've drawn some blood. My men will make short work of you!"
Francesco yelled and Ezio wondered if they were the same type of men that he had just taken care of.
Ezio hung from the ledge, using gravity to send himself flying over the ledge of the second level. He jumped on the first unsuspecting guard, ending him with the double blades, the rest went down just as easy and Ezio almost laughed.
To think he had been nervous earlier.
He jumped to the last level to where Francesco was shouting for his guards.
"Guards…GUARDS!"
"No one's coming…Its just us now." Ezio said, noting how close Francesco stood to the ledge.
"Maledetto! Che il diavolo ti porti! Stammi lontano!"
Francesco shouted at him, waving a hand in fear before he turned and jumped from the ledge.
Ezio gasped at the unexpected turn of events and ran to the ledge and looked over. He saw Francesco hop out of haystack.
Ezio dove after him.
He only made it to the next rooftop before Ezio's blade was in his neck.
He turned the man over and held the dying man.
"Now Firenze will judge you for what you've done."
"It's over…it's all over." Was all that the dying man said.
Ezio remembered the words Altair had spoken earlier, not to be like the Templars.
"Meglio essere felici in questa vita che aspirare e esserio nella prossima." He laid the dead man down. "Requiescat in Pace."
He dragged the man back to the top of the tower as the people cried for liberty. There he left him for the people to do with it what they liked.
He watched as Jacopo de' Pazzi escaped on horseback.
He would go after the man in time but now he was going to go back to Altair.
Maledetto! Che il diavolo ti porti! Stammi lontano - Damn it! Damn you to hell! Get the hell away from me!
Meglio essere felici in questa vita che aspirare e esserio nella prossima- Better to be content in this life, than aspire to it in the next
Requiescat in Pace -Rest in peace
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