Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
A/N: Hey! Guess what? It's a new chapter and the plot is beginning to fester.
One of my biggest pet peeves (probably originating in the Naruto fandom) is when an author takes an original character and throws them into a new, typically harsher lifestyle, while giving very little attention to the motivation – especially when the lifestyle is particularly rough and the character is particularly sheltered (and what is more sheltered than a teenager living in the 21st century?). For example – original character falls into Naruto-universe, the love interest her author has in mind for her is a ninja, so she will become a ninja too. 'Cause hey, if you fell into the Naruto-universe wouldn't you want to be a ninja too? I would. I totally would – up until I got hit in the face or kicked in the stomach or lit on fire by a jutsu. Yeah… really?
The same thing goes for Assassin's Creed Universe. Girl falls into universe. Girl meets up with Ezio and pals. Girl follows Ezio around and calls herself an assassin. Well yeah, I think that sounds like fun – up until I'm expected to do a Leap of Faith and my fear of heights kicks in and I need to be carried down, or up until I stab someone and my fear of blood kicks in and I faint. Also, not that fast of a runner – no upper body strength to speak of… yeah, and I figure I'm pretty normal. So – I don't get how someone can plop your average teen into the Renaissance and suddenly call them assassins, or even come up with a believable reason for why they would chose that kind of life. I mean, Ezio saw his brothers and father killed and that still didn't convince him to become an assassin – it was that, coupled with the desire to protect his mother and sister (and uncle) that finally led him down that path.
What am I trying to get at, you're wondering?
This is kind of difficult for me. Yes, some of you guessed it – Margherita is graduating. No longer is she the vain, narcissistic, whiny, snarky, inventor. No – now, she's going to become the vain, narcissistic, whiny, snarky, assassin (who sometimes invents things, you know, when she's bored). And that transition is painful. Painful!
You want to know why? Because she's vain and narcissistic and whiny and really doesn't like manual labor and that's how I made her and now I need to figure out why in the hell she would ever want to get dirty and do… things… like, that assassins do. Because normally, she wouldn't. So, that's my challenge of the day and I figured it's never too early to plant the seeds of assassin-hood and resentment and so the seeds have been planted… and I just wanted you to know that it was very painful to do so. At least this game lends itself very nicely to the transition of normal people to full fledged assassins.
Anyways, if you happen to read something in this chapter or a future one that makes you go, "Ginny, what the hell are you doing? Are you serious? Really? Really? That makes no sense. Margherita would never say/do something like that – it's too Mary-Sue. You're getting lazy, Ginny – your realism is faltering," then by golly gosh geez – you tell me that I will fix it.
Enjoy.
(Also, I think this takes the cake for longest Author's Note I've ever written. For any story. Ever. It's like 1/14 of my whole chapter. Dear Lord.)
When in Rome
By: Ginny
In the early morning two voices could be heard conversing in bed.
"Are you going to bring it up, or should I?"
"I don't know what I want to do at this point. It doesn't seem like the best time."
"Well, it isn't the best time."
"But it's never going to be the best time."
"So should we do it now?"
"Right now?"
"Or within a few days."
"Would you be ready by then?"
"Would you?"
"Do you still want to do this?"
"Yes. Do you?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
"Okay."
Margherita sat up and sighed. "I'll talk to Claudia today about getting together a small ceremony."
Ezio watched her stand. "Before you return to the brothel I would like to show you where the hideout is, so that you can go there each night." He paused for a moment. "You still want to stay with me, right?"
Responding with a hazy nod, Margherita got dressed. Sure, he had hurt her. But she still loved him and had missed him and if she couldn't stay at the brothel, she was going to remain with Ezio. The assassin followed her example and the two set out. "Lead the way, my assassin," Margherita snarked.
She blinked. Yeah, she could work with this.
Sure, it wasn't the standard home setup – there was no main entrance room, there was no kitchen or dining room, there was no actual bedroom. There was however, a small stove in the back room and a small table with two chairs. And, she realized, her meals would probably be taken with Claudia and Maria at the brothel anyways. She wondered if Ezio would be joining them as well… It was one thing to forgive his betrothed; it was another thing to forgive his pesky little sister.
"The bed is back here," Ezio explained, showing her into the room. It would fit two people, Margherita noted and was in a more isolated location in the back room. Good. No one would walk in on them enjoying their honeymoon. "How do you like it?"
She surveyed the room one more time. "It works," she said.
"Ha, I'm glad of your approval."
"Are you trying to snark with me?" she asked, approaching him with a swagger in her step. "Because truly Ezio, no one can ever out-snark me."
The assassin gave a chuckle and met her steps forward by grasping her hips. "I would never think to ever try to out-snark you, my love."
He kissed her. And just like that, their discussion last night was forgotten… for now.
The first time Margherita had experienced a wedding ceremony in this century, it had been her own. It had been a desperate affair, fearful and quick. She had worn her best dress. Leonardo had smiled uneasily at her and held her hand. The whole while, Margherita had prayed to some foreign deity that this was a viable solution to their problem. When it was finally announced by the priest that they were married, Margherita had felt her heart clench and her stomach drop to her knees.
This time, it was a little different.
Claudia and Maria were in attendance. Leonardo was not. Neither was Rosa. And it was Ezio standing across from her, smiling every time Margherita glanced over at him. She was wearing a dress Ezio had bought her last minute before the ceremony – after Claudia had nagged him, of course (What else were little sisters good for, after all?). The whole time, she listened to the flowing Latin language the priest was reciting, wondering vaguely what it meant and thinking perhaps to learn the language (She was always looking for a new hobby – even though nothing quite compared to her hot air balloon). And when the priest announced that they were officially married, Margherita grinned and turned to Ezio so that they could share a kiss (One of many, many, to come, she promised herself).
With happiness coursing through her body, she followed Ezio back to Tiber Island and they shared their wedding night together.
"Wife," he called her, holding his hand out to guide her to their bed.
"Wife," he grunted, as he slipped inside her.
"Wife," he whispered, as they both drifted off to sleep.
The architect finished within two months, but Margherita didn't move back. Claudia promised she would always have a room ready, though, just in case.
While Claudia was the one in charge, Maria worked as an overseer, making sure all of the girls had everything they needed. Margherita's jobs included helping change bed linen and running errands for her sister-in-law (oh the joy of finally being able to say those words!). Ezio called her an "errand girl". Margherita called him an "asshole".
But in all honesty, Margherita did have to say that mindless labor was getting on her nerves. After ten years of bouncing from project to project that challenged her intellect and another ten years after that of spending most of her time reading and researching, changing stained bed linen was not something she even vaguely enjoyed. Please keep in mind, this was a brothel. Stained linen is very different from dirty linen. Stained linen was still sometimes wet. Or sticky. But overall, disgusting.
But Claudia needed the help…
And then one day a strange woman entered the room Margherita was cleaning, and took over her job without a word. Margherita stared at her for moment, confused, before she went to find Claudia in the main lobby room.
"I hired a maid," she explained, not even looking up from her log book. "My sister-in-law shouldn't be cleaning rooms."
The blonde leaned against her desk. "What exactly should your sister-in-law be doing instead?" she snarked.
"The girls are inexperienced," Claudia complained. "Madonna Solari was a true idiot. They don't know how to pickpocket, they don't know how to distract guards, they don't know how to use any kind of poison! It's ridiculous!"
Margherita blinked at the younger girl. "You can bitch all you want, Claudia, but what do you want me to do?"
"Teach them," she simply put, placing the log book down finally.
"And what makes you think I know anything about being a courtesan?" she crossed her arms.
Claudia chuckled. "I'm certain you know all there is to know about what a courtesan does in the bedroom. But you've also spent a lot of time with thieves and Ezio – you know what he needs. Anything is better than what they know now."
She uncrossed her arms and frowned at Claudia. Then she thought about. Then she decided it was a good idea.
"I'll go make a list of skills," she mumbled and left the room.
For the next few days, Margherita spent time reviewing and re-reviewing. She spoke with the courtesans – specifically, Tessa – about what they knew and didn't know. There were also all of the memories she had of the video game – all the things she remembered the courtesans in the game doing. Finally when she had a full comprehension about what they needed to know, she worked out a plan of attack and then a class schedule. Claudia allowed them time off from their scheduled clients in rotations so that they could take Margherita's classes but the brothel could still run.
Armed with her attack plan, Margherita stood in front of the first three girls. All three of them were scheduled for this time and all of them seemed to be looking forward to learning. "Anything to help the handsome Assassin," they had said.
Margherita had bitten her tongue to keep herself from reminding them that that handsome Assassin was her husband.
"Okay," Margherita glanced between them, intimidated for a moment. Then her eyes flickered down to the sheet in her hand. Oh, right. Her safety blanket. "Let's start with the basics. We're going to go for a walk. Follow me."
She led them out of the brothel and into the streets.
"I like the outfit, Margherita," one of them commented.
The blonde glanced down at herself. Oh. Yeah. She had borrowed one of Tessa's dresses. She didn't want to stand out like a sore thumb with the other courtesans. As far as anyone knew, they were just four courtesans walking around, flirting with some guards. Not a big deal.
"Thank you," Margherita murmured. Then she focused her attention back to the lesson. "You see those guards over there?"
Not thirty feet left of the inn that was across the street, a group of guards stood in a circle. The street was busy with the normal afternoon traffic, but their uniforms made them stick out like sore thumbs.
They all nodded.
"When Ezio is out and about, he needs to stay out of their sight. Sometimes the crowd will cover him enough. Sometimes there isn't a crowd and he'll need you. There is a scheduled rotation still in place for you to draw customers in. When you are out on your rotations there are only four of you – hardly enough to be considered a crowd. Claudia can't afford to release any more of you so you need to compensate. This can be done multiple ways: approaching the guards to keep their focus away from Ezio, or walking with him and simultaneously flirting with the guards from afar. Either way, the guards will totally ignore Ezio and instead focus on you.
"When you approach them, the goal is to keep their attention as long as you need to before slipping away with making them suspicious. Make excuses. Be polite. But once Ezio is out of danger, you need to get yourself out of danger as well. If you're too abrupt though, the guards will instantly realize you were just a cover. Also, some girls still need to stay back in case there are more guards later on. Two girls is probably the most needed to approach guards, with two staying back.
"When you walk with him – as I said – you aren't enough of a crowd to totally block him from view of the guards so you need to distract them. That means doing the same things you do when you're trying to seduce new clients. The only difference is that you can't get them so riled up that they abandon their station and follow you… because then they would see Ezio, too.
"Any questions?"
The three girls shook their heads.
Margherita smiled, nodded and whipped out a fan from her bodice. Flapping it flirtatiously, she said, "Then let's practice."
The next few days passed in a similar manner – wake up, fight Ezio off of her with excuses of being late, shove fruit down her throat in an impromptu breakfast, arrive at brothel, grab the girls she would be working with for that day, walk around the city teaching both by instruction and example, treat the girls to lunch with money they had pick-pocketed, return the girls to the brothel, grab food in the market, arrive at the hideout, cook the food, have dinner with Ezio, take a bath, have sex with Ezio, sleep, do it all again the next day.
It was a pleasant sort of life.
"Good job, everyone!" Margherita gushed. They stood in the lobby, and Margherita had just finished last minute notes. "Okay, you all seem to have the basics down. In the next rotation we'll go over some other methods of distraction and evasion." Okay, she was being vague purposefully – she had no idea what the lesson for the next rotation would be. "So, yeah… Good job, again, and I'll see y'all next week."
And with that, the lesson was adjourned. Two of the girls thanked Margherita and left, but one remained. Margherita took note of this and asked, "Is something wrong Masina?"
The olive skinned brunette shook her head, but still hesitated in leaving. Finally, her gaze flickered to the older woman and she opened her mouth, "Will we be learning how to use weapons?"
"Weapons?" Margherita inquired, leaning against the counter in the lobby. "What did you have in mind?"
Masina shifted slightly, and glanced away. "Forget about it," she finally mumbled and tried to walk away. The blond stood up straight and grabbed her arm.
"No, seriously, what did you have in mind? I'm new to this whole let's-teach-courtesans thing, so I'm always looking for new things to focus on. I've never been a courtesan, I don't know what kinds of things you are able to do or what kinds of skills you guys need to know, or should know, or whatever." Margherita let the girl go and leaned back against the counter now that Masina didn't look like she was going to vault. "Are you thinking of learning how to disarm a guard and use their weapons against them? Or are you thinking of arming the courtesans?"
Briefly Margherita recalled how in the game the courtesans were, in fact, armed with daggers.
"Well, my brother gave me this," Masina pulled a small dagger from the folds of her skirt. She placed it into Margherita's outstretched hand. The blonde turned it over, observing the finer details of the knife. It was well worn but when she pressed it lightly against her thumb, it still drew blood. Margherita gave it back. "Even though I carry it, I can't use it – I don't know how. Last time I had to use it, he got it out of my hand and threw it across the room."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Margherita grabbed the girl by the shoulders and tried to catch her gaze, but it stayed firmly on the floor. "Who is "he" and when did this happen?"
"It was a while ago, don't worry about it. It was just a client." The girl glanced up and shook her head. "It's not like that kind of stuff doesn't happen, Margherita. We're bodies for hire; men buy us and can do what they want. Some men like us in pain. It just gets dangerous when the men try to kill us – that's why I pulled my dagger. Please don't worry," she pleaded. "It's gotten a lot better now that our brothel is run by the womenfolk of an assassin."
Margherita released the girl and reached around the counter for some parchment and a quill. "What do you suggest?" she glanced at her, but when Masina just gaped at her Margherita clarified, "Like, um…" She started jotting words down. "Close combat – grabs, holds, breaking both, weak spots, whistles," she put a big question mark next to that one, "weapons –"
"Daggers, swords, hammers," Masina put in.
"Yes…" the older woman wrote that down. Then the quill came up to her lips in thought… "What about poison?"
"Poison works."
"Arming the girls with daggers is a good idea… but what about something that seems less threatening…" Suddenly, the blonde reached over the counter again and grabbed another piece of paper. Margherita bent over, blocking Masina's view of the paper as she scribbled a drawing onto the parchment. "Hm… sheathed in the shoe? Or a hair decoration?"
Even though she couldn't see the paper, Masina spoke up, "What about the fan?"
"The fan!" Margherita exclaimed, pointing her quill at Masina in her excitement. Immediately, she moved to another section of the paper to begin another drawing.
"Welcome to the Rosa in Fiore, as you can see, the most popular brothel in Roma," Claudia's voice rang out. Masina looked over, as Claudia personally greeting a customer was rare and noted who had just arrived. Margherita couldn't be bothered – sometimes she was as bad as Leonardo when she was engrossed in a project.
"Ah, Ezio," she breathed.
Now, that got Margherita's attention. Her husband very rarely visited the brothel, and when he did, he met with the architect, pestered Margherita about her "errand girl" status and then left.
"My money went well invested," the assassin stated. Apparently he hadn't noticed his wife over by the counter as he approached his mother and sister.
"Here I keep a list of the skills taught to my girls," the younger Auditore was explaining to her brother.
Margherita gave her fledgling sketch one last look over and then shoved it into her traveling satchel, along with the paper filled with the additional curriculum. "Thank you for your help," she said softly to Masina, touching her arm gently. Then she made her way over to her husband and her in laws.
"Who is teaching them?" Ezio asked, glancing over the curriculum Margherita had drawn up herself. He was suspicious. In fact, it was probably her handwriting that had given her away – those sloppy strokes that were supposed to symbolize written words but looked more like the abstract languages far to the East.
"I am," she spoke up as she joined them.
"You?" the assassin questioned. His eyebrows shot down – he didn't seem too pleased about that. And then his eyes traveled down her body… Oh yes, she had forgotten that she was wearing a courtesan-worthy outfit, once again borrowed from Tessa. His expression darkened.
"I said I would be helping Claudia with the brothel," she explained. "I was sick of being an "errand girl" as you liked to tease, and Claudia informed me that, while these girls make very good bed partners, they are hardly the underground army of spies you need. I'm relatively smart and I know what you need. So, I'm teaching them."
Ezio frowned but closed his mouth and glanced back over the list. "You are not teaching them much," he complained.
Margherita bit her tongue to prevent herself from snapping at him. She was saved from responding tersely because Claudia challenged, "Think you could do better?"
"No problem," he shrugged. Cocky fucking bastard. Why had she married him again?
"Ezio," Maria interrupted, hoping to calm her two children down. "The Borgia make it difficult for Claudia's girls and Margherita is only one person trying to instruct over forty girls. There are several things you could do that would aid them…"
Though he didn't seem too eager to help, he nodded sharply, "I will keep that in mind. Anything else?"
Margherita opened her mouth to bring up the discussion she had had with Masina just moments earlier. If Ezio could teach her some blocks and grabs, and some ways of evading being grabbed – maybe even how to use a dagger, then Margherita could pass those skills along to the courtesans and nothing like what had happened to Masina would ever happen again – at least, not in this brothel and not to these girls.
However, Claudia was apparently too frustrated to deal with Ezio and so she snapped, "No." But then her angry face faded to a simple pout as the steam seemed to leave her engines. "Ezio –" she began to apologize.
"Did you find Caterina?" he asked, pointing a lone finger at his sister.
God, not Caterina again. Privately, he would ask Margherita about the progress because he was still too frustrated with his sister to personally ask her. Every single time, Margherita had to tell him that she hadn't been found yet but they were still working on it.
"We are working on it," his sister admitted.
"Good," he spoke sharply. "Come see me at Tiber Island with her location," he commanded. And with that… he was gone.
Claudia crossed her arms and watched him go without a word. Margherita simply frowned. "Caterina seems to be a top priority," the blonde commented.
"She's a valuable ally," Maria explained. "And Ezio must feel responsible for her capture."
"And Mario's death," Claudia added.
Margherita barely had it in her heart to nod in agreement, but in the end her head bobbed up and down. Then she removed the piece of parchment with the new curriculum from her satchel. "Claudia, Maria, I have something to discuss with you," she said. After the lengthy explanation of why weapons and the knowledge of how to use them was necessary, as outlined by Masina's experience, Claudia was in agreement.
"Yes, Tessa mentioned it to me the other day. I was actually going to ask you to add defensive fighting to the curriculum, but I figured that I'd wait until all the girls had the basics down."
"Well," Margherita replaced the parchment in her satchel. "I can call in a specialist –"
"Like Ezio," Claudia suggested distastefully. Even she didn't seem too keen on the idea either.
"Yes, like Ezio. But I don't think he'll go for it. You saw the look he gave me when he found out I was the one teaching the girls." Margherita groaned, "My God, he can go on all the adventures he likes, but heaven forbid the womenfolk get involved."
"He is worried for our safety, Margherita," Maria said – as always, the voice of wisdom.
"I know," she brushed some of her hair back. "But I still feel like there's a double standard going on."
"Anyway," Claudia broke in, "What would be the other option?"
"I can ask someone to help teach me – if Ezio really wants to protect me, he should be more than willing to teach me how to defend myself in case he's not there. Then, I can pass that on to the girls."
Claudia nodded, thinking this over. "Yes, that should work."
"Good," Margherita smiled. "I have the lesson plan for my next rotation."
Margherita sure hoped Ezio appreciated her lugging their dinner home. Jesus, that duck weighed more than a flippin' toddler, she decided as her arms started to quiver under the weight. She barely made it in time to throw the damned thing on the table and glare at it. Fucking stupid duck. It was almost done cooking when Ezio finally arrived home.
Home? Home? What a foreign concept. This little – well, actually, quite spacious – hideout had become a place Margherita thought of as home. Actually, her life wasn't as far off from how she had imagined it – when she was younger she had bounced around the idea of becoming a teacher and having a husband and returning from work to prepare a meal for her family. It was nice… you know, how her 21st century fantasy had translated relatively well to her Renaissance reality.
Ezio was mostly silent through dinner. Which was kind of unusual… normally he would discuss his activities for that day. Apparently he was still a little upset.
"You're angry," Margherita claimed.
"No I'm not," he shot back.
"If you weren't angry, you wouldn't know what I was talking about."
He scowled. "I don't like the idea of you teaching the courtesans."
"Someone needs to," she asserted.
Wiping his mouth, Ezio asked, "Do you honestly think you're qualified to teach them what they need to know?"
Margherita blinked, momentarily stunned. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Giving a big loud sigh, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "All I'm saying is that you've lived a very sheltered life, Margherita."
Leaning her cheek against her fisted hand, she asked, "How so, Ezio?"
"You've spent your entire life being taken care of – Leonardo paid the bills and you tinkered with your toys and your experiments. Yes, perhaps you are qualified to teach the courtesans how to flirt since you also spent a good deal of time doing that, but any barmaid knows how to get a man distracted. I just don't think you're up for the job and I can't afford to have the courtesans be incompetent – not when I have the Borgia to deal with as well."
She sat in silence, staring at the grains of the wooden table.
"Look, Margherita, I don't mean to insult you."
It started with a slow, single nod and grew to be almost an instinctive head bobbing. She stood without a word and cleared the table. As she reached for Ezio's plate, his hand around her wrist stopped her. "Margherita, please understand," he begged, realizing now that he had honestly upset her.
"I do understand," she said softly.
And he let her take his plate.
Ezio went to take a bath. After she was done with the dishes, she was supposed to also bathe and then retire to the pseudo-bedroom with Ezio. Instead, she put on her cloak and left.
She was barely out the door when she bumped into Machiavelli.
"Awfully late to be taking a walk, isn't it, Margherita?" he asked.
Giving a small smile – too tired to feel even a little bit embarrassed or intimidated by this man, she explained, "I'm staying at the brothel tonight."
"Ah, and how are things at the brothel? I hear everything is back up to tip-top shape and Ezio might actually be able to rely on the courtesans for delicate matters."
"We're getting there," she explained. "I'm actually the one teaching them their skills…" Margherita glanced back at the door, "Even if some people think I'm only qualified to teach them how to be a whore."
Machiavelli caught her disgruntled look and smiled. "I'm certain you will make a great teacher," he said. And he seemed sincere.
"Thank you," she replied, returning the smile. Maybe this guy wasn't as big a hard-ass as she had thought previously.
"If that is all, I have business with your husband." He nodded and made a move to go passed her.
"Wait!" Margherita caught his arm. "You know how to fight, don't you?"
The man blinked at her for a moment before he slowly said, "I am an assassin. I know how to fight."
And there he went making her feel like a small child again. Great. But, he was her best shot given that Ezio was being an ass and there was no way in hell she would ever be able to find Le Volpe on her own – that man was less human, more living shadow.
"Could you teach me?"
"You want to be an assassin?" he asked.
"No, I just need to know enough to be able to teach my girls – and I'm not asking about how to break someone's neck or gut them like a fish… more like, how to get out of a hold – where to hit an opponent to keep them from running after you – maybe also how to wield a dagger so that the girls have some offensive protection." She stopped to take a breath. "Please, these girls are defenseless out there. If it's not their clients getting rough on them, it's the guards that will inevitably attack them if they realize that that pretty girl who was just flirting with them was actually helping the assassin escape."
Crossing his arms, he looked her over. "And why can't Ezio do this?"
"I already told you, he doesn't think I'm qualified. He was against us coming to Roma, he was against us taking over the Rosa in Fiore, and he is against me even teaching the girls how to distract the guards… It would be a waste to have someone come the brothel every single day to teach the girls – the system works like a rotation so that the brothel can still run at the same time. If you just teach me, I can teach all the girls."
He let out a breath from his nose, deflating a bit. "And Ezio will be okay with this?"
"Ezio never comes to the brothel. He'll never have to know."
"Fine. I'll be by tomorrow at noon." He held out a hand.
Margherita shook it gratefully, smiling and saying, "Thank you so much, Machiavelli."
The two parted ways and the blonde was left to transverse the dark streets of Roma alone. Which isn't as scary as one would think… having walked the modern day streets even later into the night. Pulling the cloak closer around her body, she smiled to herself. Not qualified, her ass. Ezio could complain about her "sheltered life" as much as possible, but God damn everything, she was the wife of an assassin and she was sick of being left on the sidelines. As she got within sight of the Rosa in Fiore, she set her jaw in a firm line.
For the first time, she knew the determination of an Auditore.
A/N: So, um - who's happy that they're finally hitched? Show of hands, anyone?