... i don't even know what to say. Sorry? I was uber distracted with school and helping my aunt out with her horses. But, with that huge ass storm coming, i have monday and tuesday off of school! Then AC3 comes out! quite possibly the best week of the year!

InkOverLoad: oh my god... thank you so much! i really didn't want her to be a run-of-the-mill Mary Sue... but then again it's very hard to make her not a Mary Sue at all. Oh! I'm sorry about my grammar I tend not to proofread these...

Disclaimer: yeah... you know


To say that it was the storm of the century would be undermining it a bit. As the snow whipped around the buildings, the wind whipped the buildings around. The villa creaked and moaned with every gust, and I honestly wondered if I'd end up in Oz at some point.

Mario made it a point to make us all stay inside, though I doubt anyone would lest they wanted to contract a cold. Amidst all the cold, Lyon had found his way to the Villa claiming that it was too cold at his home. Here, we had a fireplace, a nice big one to huddle around, which we did quite fervently.

"Uncle Mario says that the storm shows no signs of stopping anytime soon," Ezio explained as he plopped down next to me. I, of course, was sitting in front of the fire, rubbing my arms violently. Surprisingly, when he came over, Ezio draped a blanket around the two of us, and we both subtly scooted closer to one another.

"Oh joy. Another few days in this winter wonderland," I growled. Freezing my ass off 24/7 for the past five days was not a happiness booster and it was easy to say that I was not a happy camper.

"It'll be over soon enough, mia cara." Ezio assured. He patted my head lightly. "Summer will be here before you know it."

I smirked at him. "I'll hold you to that one."

A taller body sat down next to me. "Buongiorno," Lyon greeted, rubbing his hands together to keep warm. He glanced over at Ezio and I. "I see you two have gotten cozy," he remarked with a grin. Over the past year, I have been drilling Lyon nonstop on Italian- in return for teaching me archery- and he has progressed beautifully. His accent was quite good and he pronunciation spot on. I was a pretty good teacher if I do say so myself. Along with our teachings, Lyon has noticeably warmed up to Ezio and I, and has been acting like himself now. No more playing it safe.

"Sì," Ezio said. "There are blankets over there." He pointed to a corner.

"Grazie," Lyon said, and went to get a blanket.

We sat bundled up by the fire for a very long time, saying only but a few words. That is until I groaned. "I'm booorreeed."
Ezio laughed lightly. "Bene. What do you want to do?"

"Let's play hide and seek tag!" I chirped childishly.

Lyon laughed. "Hide-and-go-seek is for little children!"

"So? We're not that old!" I protested.

"We're eighteen Melina!" Ezio groaned.

"Well technically I'm seventeen," Lyon interjected.

Ezio sent him a pointed look. "Melina, you can't be serious."

"Oh. I'm dead serious. Besides, what else is there to do?"

"Chess?"

"Ezio, last time I played chess with you, you kicked my ass in under three minutes," I muttered.

"Maybe Lyon is better," he suggested.

Lyon laughed. "I suck at chess! If you beat Melina in three minutes, I doubt I'd last more than one!"

I turned to Ezio, and lifted a challenging eyebrow.

He huffed. "Fine!"

I smiled widely. "Thanks."

"You're lucky I like you…" he grumbled.

"What're friends for?" I said sarcastically.

Lyon cleared his throat. "So.. who's going to count first?"

I quickly brought my hand to my nose. "Not it!"

Lyon caught on quickly, and did the same. We both smirked at Ezio.

He furrowed his brows. "Oh so now you two are conspiring against me?" he muttered half-heartedly.

"Oh yeah…" I mumbled sarcastically, "we're definitely planning to overthrow you!"

Ezio laughed. "Just go hide."

He counted to 50 before he went looking for Lyon and me. While I had no idea where Lyon was, I was hiding in Ezio's room, behind a chair under a window. That way, I could run out if he were to find me.

It was about a minute before both Ezio and Lyon came clambering up the ladder to Ezio's room. "Why would she be in here?" I heard Lyon ask. "She'd only get herself trapped."

"There're windows, Lyon. She can just go outside if she wanted to."

"Right… you guys can run over rooftops… forgot."

When Ezio finally looked into my hiding spot, I sprung up to my feet, pushed to window open, and flung myself out onto the Villa's rooftop. I ran to the edge, jumping off into the awaiting haystack, and ran off into the streets. Not far behind me, I heard Ezio's feet crunch under the snow. It was only a matter of time before he caught up to me.

I ran as fast as I could, which apparently wasn't fast enough. Ezio easily caught up to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and spinning me around. "Ti ho beccato! (I caught you!)" he yelled excitedly.

I whirled around in his grasp and smiled widely. "See? It was fun!"

"Sì, but now Lyon has to count," he explained. He let go of me, and I felt the cold creep back up on me. Honestly, I wanted to snuggle up in his arms for a little while longer. Oh. God. What was that?

Back at the Villa, Lyon waited for us at the foyer. "Geeze, Melina," he sighed. "You really are an… adventurous one aren't you?"

I giggled lightly. "You could say that. Now, it's your turn to count!"

For the rest of the afternoon, Ezio kicked our butts at hide-and-go-seek. We never caught up to him, though Lyon had come close on a few occasions. But after a few run-abouts through Monteriggioni, Mario had finally told us to stay inside, unless we wanted to get sick.

I plopped down on my bed. "Now what?" I asked the two boys in the doorway.

Lyon shrugged. "What is there to do, really?"

Ezio came and sat on the edge of the bed. "Uncle Mario does seem a bit angry with us, so it's best we stay upstairs for the rest of the evening."

Lyon came to sit on the other side. "But what is there to do?"

Just then a sneeze racked Ezio's body.

I winced. "Oh no, you aren't getting sick, are you?"

Then, Lyon sneezed.

I groaned. "Great. Just great."

Just as I had predicted, they were both sick, and had to spend the next week awkwardly sharing my bed, whilst I slept in the small chair in the corner. It seemed that they both shared the flu. Thank god I was up to date on my flu shot. Well, that was last year. Crap.