Romano sat in a chair, glaring at any assassins that happened to walk past. Ezio had informed him of two assassins he sent to watch out for Italy. The nation was certain the assassin had an ulterior motive, most likely to snatch his little brother as well. "You just want to drag my stupid brother into this!" Romano had snapped when he heard.
"He was already involved." Machiavelli had reminded the little nation.
"This is for his own safety." Ezio attempted to assure Southern Italy.
Romano didn't believe the assassin, he should've known better than to think for a moment they wanted to help. Anything that came out of their stupid mouths were just lies. "Bullshit, you're going to get him hurt!" He had shouted. Whatever trust he had in this order collapsed into dust when he thought what Cesare might to do to Italy if he found out the situation Romano was in. Especially if the captain general thought the nation was cooperating.
Now the nation was forced to wait here, for what, Romano wasn't sure. He had refused to listen to any more of whatever the assassins spat out. The other assassins occasionally gazed his way with curiosity and he heard, much to his frustration, two of the girls talking about how cute he was. Sure they were pretty, but this wasn't the time to think about girls. At least, that jerk Machiavelli had left. He noted that most of these assassins wore white and scarlet much like Ezio, but there were a few with plainer white clothing.
Romano resolved to scope out the lair of these assassin order while Ezio continued on with his plans, however found little particularly helpful. He found the room where Ezio kept all of his weapons, sharp blades and daggers terrified the nation, so he kept his distance from the glinting steel. A box in the room caught his eye. It sat innocently on a desk a depiction of a feather carved into the front. Romano casually walked up to it, hoping to find some sort of poorly hidden secret. Instead there were only feathers, which in hindsight wasn't much of a surprise. What kind of assassino keeps a box full of feathers?
Wanting to get escape the deadly weapons, Romano wandered into another room, filled with paintings. He've seen every one of them before, some he was present when they were painted. It was mostly his brother with talent, but the Renaissance also affected South Italy as well much to Romano's joy. Yet he grew bored of staring at the paintings and continued his scouting.
He stumbled upon the armor room. Romano noticed the armor was of less quality Ezio wore now, he concluded this was were the master assassin stored his weak armor when he gets something more suited for his job. A few odd models of inventions stood on decorated tables. They seemed like war machines to the nations and made a note to ask Ezio about them.
"Ciao!" Romano looked away from the models to a blond girl wearing the plain white smiling at him. It was the same woman Ezio helped when he burned the Borgia's flags. "I've seen you earlier, no? What is a kid doing here?"
The nation sighed internally. Che, Why do people always talk to me like I'm a child? Before he could tell her he was a nation, an assassin wearing the plain white too spoke. "Weren't you paying attention? This is Lovino, Maestro Auditore is keeping him safe from the Borgia."
'Lovino'? If he used Romano's alias then Ezio haven't told them about personified nations. "Mi dispiace, I didn't know." She said to Romano. "I hope I didn't make you upset."
Romano was taken by surprise that someone he saw killed a few guards a few hours ago is now feeling remorse of the possibility of upsetting a stranger. "No worries, bella." The nation felt a bit flustered. "You know my name, what is yours?"
"Laura Boccanera." She beamed, patting his head which made him blush. "This is Vittorio Vitelli." Her other hand fluttered towards the man. Vittorio watched the nation curiously which didn't shock Romano, as far as they know, he just a kid in the lair of an assassin order.
Laura's touch was comforting, it reminded him of Belgium. Now the nation was feeling homesick. Romano always written a letter to Spain every morning to let that bastard know he was okay, and safe from France. Although it would've taken a while for Spain to get it since he was so far away, that idiot made him promise. He wondered if Spain was going to be worried now that the letters have stopped. Hopefully that bastardo will come and get me away from all this crap!
"What's this?" Laura tugged on the curl in Romano's dark brown hair.
"DON'T TOUCH THERE!" Romano's face was a deep red as he pulled away. He turned his back towards them in embarrassment, in shock that a girl just touched there. It was bad enough Spain had to pull it, now a girl he just met.
Vittorio broke out in laughter while Laura merely stood there in confusion. "His face looks like a tomato!" He managed to say through his mirth.
"Shut up!" He growled and stomped out of the room. Deciding to stay by the master assassin where he knew the others weren't going to annoy him.
Ezio was busy directing his assassins to missions across Europe. Romano tried to be sneaky and listen in on his plans, but the master assassin just invited him to sit like he had nothing to hide. The nation hesitated at first then walked over and sat at the table watching him read messages from his contacts and gave his responses over to an assassin Romano came to know as Ciro, whom wore the plainer cloth, to send off on the wings of a pigeon. It was fairly dull.
Until the door slammed opened and another assassin came running in, out of breath with a weight in his arms. Ezio looked away from his plans, obviously surprised by the abrupt entrance of one of his students. The new assassin had ran as fast as he could judging by the way he was trying to catch to breath to talk. He stood from his seat hoping to hear any news at all. All the other assassins gathered, yet kept their distance. Laura and Vittorio stood among them both wore serious expressions.
The weight he carried, Romano realized, was a woman, an assassin as well clothed in red and white. Romano saw a crimson splotch on her back that dripped sluggishly towards the stone below.
"I was supposed to watch her back." The assassin kept his gaze on her body, regret plain in his voice. "Somehow he slipped pass me. He threw her body at my feet and took the child."
Ezio placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "We'll will give her a proper farewell, Bastiano." He said in a soothing voice. "Did her killer say anything to you? Can you describe what he looks like?"
"One of Cesare's agents." He locked his eyes with his master. "He wore a grey cloak, a hood covered his face. He moved like an assassin and had a blade on his left hand like a wolf's fang." Bastiano turned a cold gaze to Romano that made the nation felt guilty. "He said he'll be waiting for the boy at the Colosseo every night for a week after that..."
Romano knew something would go horribly wrong, He wanted to offer some comfort for one of his people, but his main concern was for Veneziano. He just stared at the lifelessly body he held in his arms. He noted her curly hair, her fair face, and the dried blood on the corner of her mouth. He never knew her, yet he felt pity that now he never will.
Ezio spoke to every one of his students in the room, his voice solemn. "Take Bianca, say your goodbyes, then we'll put her to rest." Bastiano nodded taking his friend away, the other members of the order followed until only Ezio and Romano remained.
"I want to go with you to get my stupid fratello from that stronzo." The nation tried to sound confident. Inside, he was scared for Veneziano and himself. This stranger had no problem killing an assassin and taunting another to get to the master and the nation. If Romano was taught to fear this order then how should he feel about the wolf that devoured them?
"This assassin-killer wanted to anger us into doing something stupid." Ezio sighed, returning to his map, staring at it in deep thought. "He knows we aren't just going to hand you over nor will we just sit here doing nothing."
"But we are going to rescue Veneziano, right?" Romano wasn't sure where he was trying to say. "That bastardo will hurt him if we don't."
Ezio remained silent for a moment, heightening the nation's anxiety. "Si, we will rescue him, but first we have to know more about this stranger."
Romano scoffed. "Like hell! We can't wait until we have more information. Didn't you hear what he said? We only have a week! We have to save him now!"
The master assassin didn't react. Only scribbling words on a piece of parchment. "Machiavelli, Volpe or my sister must have something on him."
Romano's eyes shone with unshed tears. Was this bastardo ignoring him? The small nation was determined not to appear weak and forced back the tears. He tugged as hard as he could on Ezio's white clothes. "I will save my brother with or without you." Romano did his best to keep the tremor out of his voice, to appear strong like Grandpa Rome would've done.
Ezio looked down on his nation, regret and conflict swam in his weary eyes. He knelt down to Romano's height, surprising the nation. "You've said it yourself, personifications can't die, si?" Romano nodded slowly. "But my fellow assassins can. Bianca was no amateur neither was Bastiano, both were full-fledged assassins. Yet this agent had no issue getting pass without his noticing and silencing another. We will rescue Italia, but I will not lead my brothers and sisters to their death without any knowledge."
The nation may look like a child, but he was centuries beyond Ezio, he understood what he was saying. It was painful for him to agree, to know he was here while his brother was somewhere in the clutches of a remorseless murderer. "Fine, we'll get information." Romano resigned. For now.
Itali didn't know where he was, A cloth bag cover his head and he whimpered. "W-where am I-I?" He stammered as tears ran down his chubby face. He heard footsteps, they were light on stone and so close. Italy began trembling.
"Feliciano, correct?" The voice held a smooth, Italian accent. Obviously one of his citizen, but why would one want to hurt him? Italy managed a feeble nod. "Do you know where Lovino is?"
"He'll come for me and hurt you if you hurt me!" Veneziano had no idea where this burst of courage came from. He went with his impulse. "If not him, then big brother France or Holy Rome!"
The footsteps paused then Veneziano realized he has used the names of countries instead of their aliases. Damn it, I'm so stupid. A laugh of amusement echoed curiously wherever they were at. "W-why are y-you laughing?" The fire of bravery died in the little nation's chest.
"Do you really think France or the Holy Roman Empire would send their armies after you?" The stranger chuckled and the footsteps continued to pace back and forth. "You're a cute kid."
Italy felt relief this guy didn't consider the possibility of personified nations, only mistook Veneciano for a kid trying to act tough. Well he was actually just a nation trying to act tough. Italy remembered the pretty girl trying to save him. This man had to have some skill to sneak up on her and her friend. He recalled the shocked face of the man when his kidnapper callously threw the girl's body to him.
"A-a-are y-you an a-assassino?" He didn't wore the white and red clothing he've seen the other assassins wore and he killed one of them!
"Not an assassin like them." Thats all he said.
AN: I'm sooooooooo sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've just lost touch with assassins and nations! I've actually completely forgotten what I had planned for this story, so I'm just making it up as I go. I mean I was already doing something like that before, but I had an outline in my head. Should've wrote it down. Anyways Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited and/or reviewed! You're the ones that brought me back to this story!
Every character belongs to their respective franchises!