Gelata HQ

The mood at the hide out was sombre, Devrim sat dejectedly in the corner with his younger brother stood beside him, occasionally giving him a slap if he looked like he was going to drift to sleep, "My daughter will kill me if you fall asleep and die, Dev, have some consideration for my happiness." Karamat avoided the punch to his leg and smirked when Devrim's sudden move made him groan, "Moron."

They watched as Yusuf carefully pulled splinters out of Giovanni's temple with a pair of tweezers. The doctors were all tending to the wounded on the docks and Ezio had nearly taken his son's eye out when trying to help, so that left the Ottoman Mentor to administer first aid. "Karamat, stop winding your brother up." he sighed, he had forgotten how the two brothers niggled at each other, "Ece, can you get your favourite Baba some of that cooling salve?" The twelve year old girl 'helping him' nodded and ran quickly out of the room, long plait whipping behind her like a tail. "Which reminds me; How did you and your sister get out of palace work today?"

The question was aimed at the man beside Devrim and he straightened, "Ece mentioned to the prince that our brother was returning home from a long trip and he insisted we take the day off, Sulleiman would not take no for an answer – especially when she had gone to so much trouble of arranging his clothing into colour order...Well, what else are the child servants supposed to do other than clean and run small errands? More and more little girls working there everyday, I guess the Sultan thinks they are too young to attempt an assassinations...Ece tripped one of them today."

The little girl ran back in and placed the salves down next to her father, taking a cloth and applying some before stepping up to Giovanni and pressing it to his neck, with how sore it looked she knew it was for that. Devrim and Ezio stood quickly, both expecting him to strike out at the child and wanting to intervene. Giovanni grabbed the sides of his chair, the wood creaking in the punishing hold as his body went rigid as flashes of memory assaulted him – he refused to freeze up in front of all of these strangers. Yusuf paused in his treatment, gently tugging on his daughter to bring her away, "Ağrıyor?" She asked quietly and watched with large grey eyes as Giovanni held the cloth to his scar, his knuckles still white from holding the chair so tightly.

"Beni şaşırttı, güzel şey." He watched her blush, her hands winding her hair in a shy gesture, seemingly pleased she had not hurt him after all and his compliment. He looked at his father and Devrim with displeased eyes, "I am not going to hit a little girl, have some confidence in me..."

"I would hope not," Yusuf said matter of factly, inspecting the cut once more and deeming it 'not too bad', "Keep that on your neck a little longer to help the swelling and maybe avoid yelling for the rest of the evening." The assassin stood up from his chair and stretched out his back, "This was easier when I was younger..."

A chorus of, "When were you ever young?" came from his children and Yusuf grumbled under his breath that he should have drowned them when they were babies, "Father," Karamat spoke up, "Shall I tell the search party to stop for the night?"

"No, if he dragged himself out of the water he is more likely to wait until dark to move in a strange place." They were speaking of Matteo, it was a pointless search but the Master was doing it for Ezio's sake. "Karamat, take Ece to bed and go home to your wife, I need you alert for any gossip you hear tomorrow. Ezio," The Italian nodded and went ahead of the man towards the library, they had things to discuss and Yusuf followed him out.

Devrim and Giovanni were left alone in the room, the older man moving behind Giovanni's chair and kissing the cut on his lover's right temple, "You handled that well, my little sister never thinks before she does something...you did not even have a panic attack." He kissed his lips gently when Giovanni tipped his head up to offer them, "How did you manage that?"

He shrugged a little, "Too many strange people to panic...I would be long dead by now if I froze up in a fight...I was worried I would not wake up." He felt Devrim rest his head on top of his and shuddered as his thoughts turned downward, "Matteo brings me back...if he can not do it with words then he just lays with me – I was horrible to him...I told him I hated him and that I was going to kill him...h-he must have felt so lonely." Feeling the tears stinging his eyes, Giovanni tried to hold on, "Why did he pick that thing up? It exploded in his hand...he died thinking I hated him!"

"No, no!" The Turk hugged him tightly, "He might be alright, he might have let it go when I shouted and is just dazed...I did not see - "

"He was holding it. I saw it go off in his face." It sounded so final and even though Devrim was holding him, he wanted his brother. "I want to go to sleep...I want to forget about today and I just want you to hold me..."

"We should not sleep for a few more hours in case of concussion, I can think of something we can do to help dull the pain." Even if it was just for a little while. His hand wandered down the gap in Giovanni's still damp clothes, pinching a nipple and catching the gasp in his mouth, Devrim planned on distracting the other from any distressing thoughts.

"Ahem." Someone had come into the room whilst they were busy with each other and they watched with fascination as the two men practically jumped a foot in the air and parted, Devrim nearly falling into the fireplace and Giovanni knocking the chair under a table. They stood at attention, stunned looks matching as they looked at the intruder.

Devrim choked out his words with difficulty, "Father! You nearly gave me a heart attack! Sneaky old fucker!" his fingers carded through his hair and he breathed a massive sigh of relief. "I nearly fell into the fire! Fuck..."

Next to him, Giovanni still hadn't moved, he had never been caught with a man before and he really didn't know what to do, "Relax, Gigi...it is just my father. I already wrote to him of you."

"Maybe so but I can not deal with you kissing boys in the main room, if you are going to go at it like rabbits, please do so in your bedroom." Yusuf picked up the papers he had forgotten and shook his head of the image, he was fine with it, really he was but it was weird...really weird. It was amusing how they had nearly killed themselves when he let them know of his presence though, even the 'scared deer' impression Ezio's son was doing was funny. "He told me he was going to bang you up against a beam and make you his personal sex slave."

Giovanni's head snapped to pin a glare on Devrim, "I did not! Baba," Too late did Devrim notice the teasing glint in his father's eyes, "I am going to kill you!"

"How did I know there was a beam if you did not write me those words?" It was a wind up but the predatory look in Giovanni's eyes as Devrim squirmed was the best, "And no gag reflex, that must be wonderful.

"...I wrote you one letter! One!" Devrim pointed an accusing finger at his father and leaned away from Giovanni as the man blushed red and his jaw dropped, "It said I was going to pursue him – nothing else! You are making it up!"

Tipping his head back and laughing, Yusuf leaned against the door frame victorious at embarrassing them both to the point of pointing fingers and goldfish mouths, "Too easy! You are so easy to wind up, Dev, and your boyfriend has such an adorable little blush," He watched the Italian stare down at his boots, humiliated to the point of nearly combusting, "Do not worry, he told me nothing, I only know about your gag reflex because we tried to make you puke the water up, your father told me." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Devrim picking up things to throw at him, "Well, I need to go – enjoy the sex!" a shoe bounced off the door frame as the man escaped.

00

Ezio laid on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, sleep would not come to him tonight or any night until he at least could bury his son and then he would have nightmares. Why did he follow? He should have stayed in Roma! Why did that boy have to follow him to another country, he was not a child, he was an independent adult... He never planned to outlive either of his children and Matteo had been too young by far...stupid, stupid boy, should have stayed at home!

"Papa."

Ezio sat up and looked at the intruder in his room, the candlelight hardly illuminating them, "Matteo?" The figure stepped further into the room and Ezio's hope was crushed, "Vanni...Is something wrong?" He couldn't think of one time his youngest son had ever come to him on his own, maybe Yusuf sent him? "Give me a moment and I...will..."

Giovanni wasn't listening to him, not really, he got onto the bed, his back towards his father but resting against the assassin's side, "I just want to be close to you, I can not stand being alone right now and I am hurting – I know you must be too and I know you understand this kind of hurt. And I know I always told you I never needed you but right now...I...I need my papa...I need you to just..." He hadn't wanted to cry in front of Devrim, didn't want to show him how broken and lost he was without his twin – that nothing in the world would ever fit the gaping hole Matteo left behind. "I s-said...I...I can not even tell him I am sorry! Those words I threw at him are the last thing he had of me! Papa, I messed up! I really messed up!" Curling up into himself further, Giovanni couldn't stop the sobs racking through him.

"Shh," Ezio pulled the boy against him, rocking him as if he were a little child again, "I will not lie to you. The pain you feel now, it will never go away, it might dull with time but it will always hurt...You will survive it, you do not need me to tell you that though."

"I need you, I never ever stopped needing you – I just was too stupid to see it." And he held onto Ezio harder than he ever had, harder than he'd held onto Leonardo at his mother's funeral and he wasn't going to let go.

00

Constantinople was beautiful, it was busy and bright and noisy and it smelled amazing. Giovanni had never seen so much colour, "There is a catacomb in that tower." He said to Devrim as he jogged toward it.

"...There is no catacomb, I would know." What was this obsession with those things? "We are going to climb it, but first," He pulled out an arm bracer from behind his back, waiting since early morning to give it to the man, "Your very own hook blade, I have been told to have you trained how to use this by the end of the day." He pulled another blade out and shrugged a little, "Your father had them commissioned, he was going to send them to you and your brother for your twenty first birthday, one is left handed and one is right...I do not know which you are."

"Right handed." He took the bracer and studied it carefully, "The engraving is beautiful, I would have been very jealous of Matteo, he would have rubbed it in that he had one and I did not..."

"What do you mean?" There were two hook blades and they would have gotten them at the same time.

"His birthday is a day before mine...he was born before midnight bell and I was born after, so my birthday is the day after. Can I see the other?" He took the other bracer and studied that one as he had his own, smiling a little at the different engravings, personalised for them both. He gave it back and watched Devrim jog back to the headquarters, returning quickly and helping him with the bracer. He had missed the Turk, they had only been apart for the night but Devrim had been so understanding, not asking him why he had left their room in the night, not coddling him and instead acting as if everything was normal. "So, teach me how to use this, Mentor."

Devrim grinned boyishly, "I like that!" After about an hour of showing him the best things to hook onto and a few tips and tricks he knew. Devrim spotted his younger brother and called out to him quickly before the assassin flitted away, "Oi, Karamat! Hook up!" And he ran at the other, hook blade extending as he used it to flip over his brother's back and carry on a few paces before his brother returned the favour unexpectedly.

"I would love to help more, Dev, unfortunately I need to get to work." And he was gone.

Devrim watched the other retreat, "And that is a - whoa!" Giovanni ran at him, executing the same move, landing a little wobbly but it was a good first attempt, "Good, that move is useful when you need to go through a guard and there is no wall to kick off from. Are you ready to climb the tower?" At the Italian's ready nod they walked to the base but Giovanni hesitated a moment. "What is it? Too high?"

"No, not so high as some things I have climbed, this is just very open," He gestured to the people milling around, going about their daily lives, "It seems a little careless, Devrim..."

"Oh...no, it is fine!" The Turk assured him, "Gelata is the Ottoman brotherhood's. We kind of own it or we are really territorial but anyone who lives here...well, they do not see us – if you can understand that?" It had always been that way, ever since he was a toddler hanging onto his mother's skirt, watching with the biggest eyes as his father climbed the tower, no one around him seeming to notice or think it odd and all he could think was, 'will they be angry if Baba makes a big splat?'. The assassins protected the people and they protected the assassins. "I will meet you at the top!" and he was gone, eight foot off the ground before Giovanni could blink.

Giovanni struggled with the limited handholds available, still unsure of his new hook blade and its sturdiness. Devrim had deliberately slowed to allow him to catch up, suggesting good places to hold onto and where he needed to adjust his grip. Matteo would have been faster, not caring whether the hook would hold or not, would be laughing an teasing him for being so cautious...He would have... Giovanni's fingers slipped on a ledge as his thoughts wandered to his twin, almost imagining he was there with them. "Gio!" The Italian heard scrabbling above him as air whooshed up and a sudden jolt as his free fall came to a halt, his hands holding onto a metal grate in the stone. "Shit! I thought you were going to fall!" Devrim climbed down beside him, concern clear on his face, "I thought this would be a good distraction for you..."

"Sorry, it is like I have a shadow in the corner of my eyes, I can hear what Matteo would say and I just slipped. Come on, I want to see the view!" Putting on his best attempt at a smile he began climbing with more confidence, his speed gaining as he concentrated on his next holding. Ignoring the other man tailing him like a kicked puppy. They kept climbing until both pulled their bodies over the lip of the tower, "I can not believe how tired I am..." He laid out on the roof, staring at the blue sky above him as he huffed and puffed, "It was that two months of sitting on my backside with nothing to do...Never travelling again!" He felt Devrim sit beside him, equally out of breath but there was a rasp in his breathing that Giovanni didn't like. "Devrim?" Sitting up the Italian moved to look at the man, "you strained yourself."

"By climbing a little tower?" Both men jumped at the sound of Yusuf's voice – how did he keep sneaking up on them? Even worse was that Ezio was stood beside him with a smug look, "Do not look at me like that, we were here first, right?" The older Italian nodded and they meandered over to the boys. Yusuf waited for his son to stand and he almost felt like he was looking at a stranger; he had not properly looked at Devrim yesterday because of the drama going on.

Devrim's hair, which used to be loose, was pulled back in a loose tail, a teal band keeping the unruly, shoulder length waves of hair out of the way. Where there was once a bearded chin was now a ruggedly stubbled jaw line – when had he gotten so manly? There was no way his son was this broad when he left! "Did you get a job as a dock worker?"

"Someone has to move crates around and it was a good information spot, besides, everyone loves a man with strong arms." He flexed a little until his father gave him a playful shove.

Yusuf rolled his eyes, "Your ego has grown." What else was different? Ah, he was thinner, he only noticed because the man's robes were a little loose. "You lost weight too...you do not even look that much like me any more."

"Sorry about that, the stressed, old man look was not doing it for me." Devrim had hoped his father wouldn't look too closely at his weight loss but what could he do? "I have not had a proper meal in over a week, Baba, do not have new robes made for me yet, it is only temporary."

"Si, that reminds me," Ezio piped up, his arms crossing over his chest as he pinned a serious look at his own son, "What happened on that ship last week?"

Giovanni glanced at Devrim and Devrim's eyes darted about as he thought quickly. What were they supposed to say? Matteo punched the Turk so hard that it caused internal bleeding, then Matteo gave him a medicine which poisoned him and nearly killed him? "I had an allergic reaction to jimsonweed." Devrim stared at his boots as he felt the two men look at him – their eyes boring into him almost painfully until he cracked a little, "I got into a fight on the boat and someone may have landed a good hit to my belly...then I might not of said anything...for a few days...please stop looking at me like I am a mouse about to be eaten...please." His father made an upward gesture with his fingers and Devrim silently obeyed as he undid his robes and pulled the under shirt up to bare the bruising on his skin.

"Budala!" Yusuf snapped angrily as he looked at the damage, "You should be resting! Not running around and climbing! What if you bleed again? Do not think you will be as lucky as the first time, that a little bit of medicine will help you?" The Turk wanted to slap the boy for being so stupid, "You are grounded."

"I am a grown man, you can not ground me!" Devrim baulked at the idea.

Giovanni put a hand on Devrim's shoulder and without looking at him said, "It would be for the best...you need to rest, recover your strength before you continue training..."

"Seriously? You are supposed to be on my side, Gigi!"

Yusuf threw his arm around Giovanni's shoulders and pulled him into a hug, "Ha! I knew I liked this boy! He has a more sensible head on his shoulders than you." He could see Devrim winding up to argue and when someone climbed over the lip of the tower, Yusuf was quick to let go of Giovanni and hold a finger up to silence his son before he even started, "What is it?"

The assassin novice straightened as he addressed his mentor, "All the bodies have been pulled from the water, there are people who have been treated at the dock along with the bodies...I thought Mentor Auditore would want to know."

00

Docks

Ezio looked at the faces of men and women, some injured, some in a state of shock as they waited for relatives to come for them. Matteo was not among them and he turned to the rows of bodies waiting to be claimed; he hoped he would not find his son in the morbid line up. "Vanni, stay here...better yet, go with Devrim and check around the area for any sign of your brother." He might as well have said; stay here while I go find your twin's corpse by the crestfallen look on his son's face. He tapped Giovanni's chin, "Chin up." He received a muttered 'yes' and watched them walk away before turning to the bodies. The first line were all drown victims, some already with grieving relatives around them, the next line were anyone who had been burned in the blast, sailors, men...a sad little bundle that had been a small child, someone having lovingly covered the body in a brightly coloured blanket.

The condition of the bodies got worse and worse until they were unrecognisable, his only comfort was that Matteo had not been in any of the lines. "Papa, no sign of him." Giovanni told him as the two returned to him, "So many were killed...oh..." Giovanni looked at one of the drowned bodies and saw it was the blonde Matteo had spent so many nights with, "Poor girl...she did not deserve this."

"None of them did." Ezio cast one more glance at the scene and breathed out heavily, "Maybe he did swim out...he is not – Giovanni?" The young man pushed past his father and headed straight for a body at the end of the line, every body here was burned so badly it was hard to tell if they were male or female but this one...it had a ring glinting off of its right, ring finger, "Gio?"

Giovanni crouched beside the charred remains, reaching out to carefully examine the ring, rubbing ash from its surface. "Papa..." his voice trembled as he called out to the older man, "Papa this is...it is..." Feeling Ezio crouch beside him and study the piece of gold, Giovanni leaned against him heavily, "I am wrong...say I am wrong."

Devrim pulled Giovanni up bodily before he fell down against his father, "Giovanni, look at me." He turned his lover and gave him a little shake, begging for his attention, he could not let this sink into the Italian's head, "You knew what might have happened to him, you have known since yesterday."

"He...he is unrecognisable! His body is...he does not even have a face, there is no dignity in...in...Dio..." He slumped against Devrim, legs turning to jelly as everything seemed to go limp, "I do not understand..." He felt cold all over and everything seemed dampened, two voices calling his name sounded muffled and distorted as his body slowly shut down, the last thing he heard was, ' He has gone into shock!'