Note: In the game, two years passed when Ezio returned to Florence. For the sake of this plot, it was only a few weeks. Just a heads up to clear any confusion.

Another note, I did a little research, and it seems like I'm not only bending the time line of the game, I'm also changing history here. The Pazzi conspiracy was in 1479, as well as the murders of those conspirators. So... just bear with me, I suppose.

"I see you wasted no time starting the celebration!" Ezio cheerfully declared, approaching his uncle and a band of his man, all with tankards in their hands aand laughing at something. His mood lifting considerably, he had time to cool off.

The entire village was lit up in lights, wine flowing and the tavern that could be seen from here filled with people. Everything was just so happy that it was impossible to stay mad at anyone right now. That's why Vieri, Rodrigo and the conspirators flew out of his mind rather quickly.

"And why not?" Mario asked, laughing. How much did he have already, anyway? "You have done a great thing today, nipote! Vieri's dead, you know what that means?"

"No more work!" One of the men raised his tankard, and everyone cheered. "We can just sit back and drink now!"

"With whores!" Another said. There was a stunned silence. "Well what? It's true!"

Another wave of laughter.

"Go on, Ezio! Enjoy yourself!" Mario clapped him on the back so hard he almost tumbled forward.

"Thanks, Uncle, I think I will." He caught sight of a pretty girl trotting along the street, heading to the pub. Mario followed his eyes, and roared with laughter.

"That's your idea of fun? Think bigger, nephew!" he chuckled. "You know, and you might want to check up on Eden. She's already yelling songs with half the men in the tavern!"

"What? We just arrived!" Ezio looked at his uncle, bewildered. He shrugged.

"What can I say? The woman moves fast."

"I can tell!"

"She just asked to show her the tavern, and then she flew on her way."

"And you let her?" If she was insane without alcohol... oh Good Lord...

"Why not?"

"She'll massacre the entire town!"

Woo alcohol!

What? Oh, right, hi. I'm blissfully drunk at the moment, which I praise all the gods for- I've been waiting to get my head cleared for sometime now.

I stared at the man that just started banging his head against the table, and then poured myself another tankard.

It's a good night.

"Holy- That must be, like, her tenth now!"

"Lay off the drink! It's only her second."

Ezio moved through the crowd towards the center of attention- Eden. The woman was sitting on the table, her legs crossed. The man beside her was lying in a puddle of his own drool now, and she, seemingly thoughtful, looked at the tankard in her hands. When he came up to her, she lifted her head, and he was surprised to see a content, blissful expression on her face.

"Ah! There- you- are!" she cheered, a lazy smile on her face, "You're missing all zhe fun!"

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked. She stared at him for a second, childishly confused, then looking down at the beer and then back to him.

"I think... I'm getting drunk. Right?"

"Well, I can see that far!" he ran a hand through his hair, as another smile spread on her face and she took a long drink. "Why are you getting drunk though?"

"Because... because..." she slurred, her eyes going slightly unfocused as she thought about it. "Ah! Right! Vi- Ver- that one guy died! And cause there's... beer!"

"God, how many did you have?"

"God didn't have any," she giggled, "And you know what? Tha's prob'ly the problem! He didn't drink and he made- he made... us." She suddenly focused on him. "You should drink more too, ya know. You're no- fun otheri... othe... otherwise!"

There was a wave of "oooh"s in the drunk crowd. Someone began to take off their pants. Somewhere behind the crowd, a fight broke out.

"Maybe you've had enough for now." She glared at him but then smiled again, as if remembering something. After a few sloppy attempts, she pulled him closer to her by grabbing the front of his belt, making him lean down. He caught the strong smell of alcohol on her breath, her short hair brushing his cheek as she whispered into his ear. "You know, I prob'ly wouldn't mind if you took ad-hic-vantage of me right- now."

"Wha-?" he stared at her hair, bewildered as she giggled.

"Come on, you're a man, I'm... a woman. Things add up, no? Or subtr- sub... subtract?"

"No, I'm Ezio, and you're Eden…and you're drunk." Obviously so- did she not know that this stuff can kill her pretty quickly? Second tankard... Good God, no wonder she was talking nonsense.

"So?" her voice was low and seductive. "Don't tell me yo've ne'er slept with a drunk girl before. I heard girls get..." her lips grazed his ear, her breath sending inexplicable shivers down his spine, "Wild."

A blush spread on his cheeks, though he tried to fight it off. Suddenly, she threw her head and laughed, and there was a collective groan in the crowd.

"I think... everyone here owes me ten... or fife... or twe'ny.. florins!" she said cheerfully, hopping off the table and thrusting her tankard at him, "They thought- that I, I... I couldn't make you blush. So -hic- naive!"

With that, she skipped into the crowd, almost falling a few times in the process and running into someone on her way, leaving him bewildered. Absently, he brought the tankard she pushed into his arms to his lips and took a drink. It wasn't all that bad. Florence had better, though.

After a second, his only response was still, "What?"

He thought about it for a second, and then decided he was just insulted in some way. But he didn't feel like trying to figure out how, and just took another drink.

~"I'll be alright."

"You always say that."

"And I always come back, don't I?"

"I'm scared." I buried my head in his chest, feeling safer in his arms than ever. I couldn't imagine how I would survive without them, how I lived through the separation so far.

"Don't be. I lo-"

"Don't. You'll say it when you get back."

A low chuckle and he hugged me tighter for a moment.

"I will. Don't you worry."

But he didn't. And I regretted stopping him every time I looked at his picture. Soon I also regretted taking the frame and flinging it out of the window. A stab in the chest at first, but the pain dulled in my routine. Running, drinking, stealing, killing.

I realized that I could live without him. Painfully, numbly. And then even that went away. The alcohol never filled the hole, though, but it didn't stop me from trying…~

I groaned as I moved down the stairs into the dining room. The only reminder of last night was a raging hangover. As I fell into my usual spot, I was greeted by Claudia, who looked at me reproachfully. Aside from her, only Maria was present, munching on crackers. The two men that were involved in the party last night were nowhere to be seen.

"You know, you shouldn't have indulged so much," she said sternly. I rolled my eyes, immediately wincing. Okay, no. Rolling my eyes was bad. "Ale and all that noise, it's for men!"

"And I'm a woman that looks like a man," I snapped.

"No you don't! You probably clean up pretty well, but you refuse to wear dresses and skirts!"

"Spare me the lecture. You're starting to sound like my mother." I waved it off and asked Lisa for some beer. She nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. I caught Claudia's glare, and explained, "What? It's for medical purposes."

"Sure," she snorted, and immediately covered her mouth at the noise. Oh, those nobles.

"But you know..." I continued, somewhat slyly. I already got over what happened this morning. "Waking up beside an attractive man I'm sure is called Lars, fully clothed and with no recollection of how either of us got there was pretty funny."

She gasped. "You didn't!"

"No, I didn't." I sighed, "And a good thing, too, because the first thing he said when I woke him up was "Oh, god, how drunk was I last night?"

"Oh God!" Claudia choked on her food, clearing her throat quickly. "You didn't push him out of a window, did you?"

"No, though I sort of wish I did," I frowned. "Nah, just slapped him a few times, and while he was recovering, gave him a friendly push towards the door. Down the stairs."

"He deserved that! Saying that to a woman!" she seethed. "I'm glad Ezio made my previous suitor, Duccio, suffer for cheating on me- it's a disgrace."

"I don't mind," I shrugged. "Trust me, not the first time I heard someone say that. A few slaps later, it actually seems pretty funny."

"But that's... Do you have no respect for yourself?" She suddenly seemed angry and I raised an eyebrow in confusion. It took me a few moments to realize what was going on. At this point in history, women were probably treated like fragile crystal. There for display, but never for use other than child birth. I couldn't think of a metaphor for that. Insulting a noble and maybe middle class woman was like dumping... ahem, let's say paint over a masterpiece. I didn't understand the philosophy too much. But it seemed like the ladies here enjoyed the care.

"I-" I suddenly couldn't find anything to say. "I just don't mind," I repeated. Oh, yes, the wonders of sarcasm. What else will your clever mind yield? "I don't dwell on those things."

"This Lars is a disrespectful pig!"

I honestly didn't think she'd react this way. It hurt for a little when he said it, and I got a little angry, defensive and slap-happy. But I got over it fast. Besides, it hurt too much to think on it this early in the morning with a hangover.

"Please stop shouting, my ears already feel like they're going to fall off at any point!" I begged.

"And that's what you get!" she repeated. Thankfully, we sat in silence for a little bit. "What else did you do last night?" she asked, and I could see that she still tried to look stern. But her curiosity was getting the upper hand. I took the jug of beer from Lisa, thanking her.

"From what I remember, I picked a fight that involved a lot of random fist waving and drunk taunting, narrowly won, and then decided to celebrate by climbing onto the roof of the tavern. I don't remember what I yelled from there though."

"I think it was "Look at me, I'm the Queen of Bunnies and Other Furry Insects," she giggled at the memory, "I heard you in the villa."

"Ah," I said thoughtfully. "Strange. I don't remember bunnies being furry insects. When did that happen?"

"Probably around the time you thought that ale looked better dumped on someone's head," Ezio called out behind me as he walked into the room. Giving Claudia and Maria a peck on the cheek, he sat down, holding his head. I sympathetically pushed the jug of beer in his direction- my hang over was already dealt with. He nodded in thanks. "That man did not seem amused, though."

"I can't imagine why."

"Eden?' he asked, "Why is there a man by the name of Larsono at the doors, banging on them and yelling for you?"

"He is?" I tapped my chin in thought.

"Yes. He also asked how much you were paying me when I asked what his problem was."

"And what did you do?"

"Nothing. Just slammed the door of his hand."

"Hm, I didn't think he'd be that persistent," I hummed thoughtfully, "I hope we didn't get hitched last night. We don't want a repeat of last time."

Ezio spluttered, nearly spraying the beer all over the table. "What?"

"Careful, that's valuable alcohol you're wasting!" I exclaimed, "And yeah, there was this one night where me and Jake decided it would be very funny to get drunk and then get married in the church that was around the corner from the bar. I think the man that wed us was a very nice chap by the name of... Harry? Harold? Something like that. Along the way, Jake also proclaimed his undying love to me, trying to get through a sentence without breaking into laughter, while I sang the wedding march so badly the entire street plugged their ears. It was chaos. Larry would have had our heads if he could stop laughing for long enough."

"You got married? In a church?"

"I was drunk," I reminded them. Hey, at least it was with a friend, and not some stranger! "And we got an annulment easily enough. Ironically, the court wasn't far from the church, either." I paused for a breath, chuckling lightly. "The three infamous stations of the Marriage Train. "The Bar of Reason", the church of "It's True Love, Honestly", and then, the court of "I Didn't Realize She Was That Ugly". If you really try, you can go through all three in just one night, something Jake and I proved."

A rather late thought, but could people get divorced at this point in history? If not, then I was in deep problems. Then again, I could always kill Lars...

The two siblings stared at me like I came from another planet. "Anyway. Back to Lars." I said, biting my lip so I wouldn't laugh at their stunned faces and dropped jaws.

It was Claudia that spoke first. "Ezio, the man insulted her after possibly marrying her, and now he's looking for her! You should do something!"

"Excuse me! I can take care of myself," I waved my hands in front of my face in a somewhat panicky gesture. "And I don't need anyone defending my honor, though I doubt he would have even tried in the first place."

"I'm not implying that you can't do it yourself, but it's so much more romantic this-" she broke off, as me and Ezio stared at her with our jaws dropped. "What?"

I closed my eyes leaning back onto the chair. "Claudia, who ever told you that I wanted this situation to be romantic, of all things? I'm going to kick them where the sun don't shine."

She giggled. And I smiled to myself, feeling the hang over slowly go away. Romantic... oh, those nobles...

Ezio pulled the reigns, turning the horse to the side and stopping. He glared up at the villa that was a dark spot on the blue sky in the distance. He left with barely a word goodbye to Mario, collecting his father's gear and his weapons, riding off at the crack of dawn.

He'd come back, here, he was sure of it. After his business in Firenze was done, he'd come here to talk to his uncle and figure out what was going to happen next. He already accepted the fact that his father was an assassin, and after Vieri's death, he decided to embrace his heritage. Who knew? He might even come to enjoy the killing, like Eden.

Eden. He thought of the name bitterly. Though Mario asked him to bring her along. Probably for the fact that she was slowly giving half the town motivation to take up pitchforks and burn her at the stake. But he refused outright. He could do this on his own without her chewing his ear off. She could stay here, or go in any direction she wanted.

He was willing to admit that sometimes she amused him And he grew used to her insults and threats. And she was generally helpful and didn't need him to make sure she was still okay every moment during battle, but...

His thoughts were interrupted by a silhouette in the distance. He watched expressionlessly as the figure evolved into a woman riding on a horse, a long cloak draped her shoulders. Soon, he could see her smirk, as well.

He turned his horse towards Firenze again as she lined up with him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Did you actually think I'd let you ride off on your own?" She was smiling, he could tell by her voice. He didn't look at her face. "Claudia would have my head and parade it around town if that happened. I swear, she seems nice and harmless, but I still haven't forgotten what happened when I tripped over one of her shoes." He saw her move her hand to her ear subconsciously.

"She'll live."

"I won't."

"So?"

She ignored the hint. "Besides, I'm going to visit my good friend Leonardo."

"Of course you are." He paused. "Did you deal with Lars yet?"

"Pfft," she snorted. "He wasn't even a one night stand, really. The kick I gave him down the stairs said everything I had to say to him."

"You seemed to like him. Before that, I mean."

"I'd like to remind you that I was very drunk. I'd find a goat attractive. And to be perfectly honest, Lars reminded me of my last boyfriend, I think. The similarities are uncanny," she corrected him. He was admittedly confused Then she- what? "I don't even remember most of what happened last night, just the most memorable moments." She was laughing at again. Then she shook her head. "Queen of Bunnies. Oh god, the villagers were not ready for this..."

He thought back on the little bet she made with most of the people in the tavern. She didn't even remember that bit, did she? He sighed, a strange feeling of hurt growing. She didn't even think of him as man, then.

And do you really think of her as a woman? There was that snide voice in him again, Or is this about the fact that you actually do think of her that way?

Impossible. This was Eden he was talking about. Lust was all a man could ever feel for her. And only when she kept the lights off and her mouth shut. Like the closet, for example?

She heard his previous sigh, suddenly gawking at him.

"Oh my God!"

"What?" he looked around to her, startled, expecting at least a small army on their tail. She was staring at him with huge eyes.

"You're jealous!"

"What?"

"How did I not see this before? Oh sweet Jesus, you like Lars!"

"What? No, Eden, I don't-"

"Oh, no, don't mind me! Step out of the closet and into the light!" He glared at her, though shocked to find an actually amused, sincere smile on her face. He quickly realized she was just trying to lighten up the tense situation.

He sighed heavily again. This was going to be a long trip.

"Ezio! You're alive!" Leonardo crushed the said victim into a hug, and I shook with silent laughter.

"Isn't that a lovely greeting?" I beamed at the painter as he turned his attention to me, returned my smile. "Hey Leo."

"Eden, a pleasure to see you again!"

"Seems like the few weeks were not too hard on you, my friend." Ezio looked around. The workshop was nearly the exact same way as we seen it last- dusty, cluttered, but welcoming.

"Oh, no," Leo waved it off, "The guard generally ignore me around here. They didn't send anyone after that little episode." He absently rubbed his ribs. "But anyway, what can I help you with, my friends?"

Ezio handed him another one of those ancient scrolls that I remember he took off Vieri's body. "Ah! You've found another one! How exciting!"

I shifted my eyebrows in curiosity. What were those documents? Leonardo had one of those when he was fixing the hidden blade, but I never got around to asking about it. I pulled on Ezio's sleeve. "What are they?"

"What? Oh, those are codex pages, apparently written by some ancestor of mine," he shruggedm "Uncle told me about them."

"Oh."

"And here's something I found... interesting," he smirked, "Altair held a Piece of Eden in his hands."

"What? Me? Cause I'm pretty sure I'm all whole," I sarcastically said. Obviously not me. Who the hell is Altair? This ancestor?

"No, they're artifacts, actually. Like the Apple."

"But Eden never existed."

"Perhaps it did," he shrugged, looking over Leo's shoulder. The inventor looked up at us with a slightly confused look on his face. "You are not a very religious person."

"No, I'm not, and for good reasons."

"Hm. This doesn't seem to be a design, but assassination techniques. It's just a series of sketches here."

I looked over his other shoulder. "I guess your grand father wasn't a very talented artist. What the hell is that?"

"I think it's a hay stack."

"Really? Because it looks like a pile of cra-"

"Either way," he interrupted me, though I saw his mouth twitch in a smile, "I think I should practice those."

"What, you're going to stab people from carts full of tards?" I looked at him bewildered. Leo choked on laughter, and I tried to keep my face straight and shocked.

"Yes, Eden. I shall jump out of people out of carts full of crap. Because I'm such a good assassin."

"Well, it'll definitely be a shock, at least." My cheeks were starting to hurt slightly. "Though I'm pretty sure the smell will tip them off. And you won't find many carts full of crap around the city."

"Then we'll just have to settle for hay stacks," he sighed, clearly crushed. Leo was on the floor, funny noises were heard from under the table. I tried to reply, but suddenly found myself unable to breathe through the giant wave of giggling and laughter as I pictured the flustered assassin jumping out on passing guards out of carts of feces. Looking at all of this, Ezio slowly began to laugh as well, leaning onto the table for support, his entire frame shuddering violently.

It took us a full five minutes to settle down again. "Either way," Leo was still giggling slightly, and I leaned my cheek on my folded hand- I was still sitting on the floor, leaning on the table. "There's also something here about making another one of the blades I fixed for you. I think I still have the notes from last time..."

"Do you mind making it for me while I practice those techniques?"

"Yes, sure, I'll have my assistant set up a few practice dummies for you outside." He waved Ezio off, now fully in the codex page. I stayed by Leo's side.

"Do you want some help?"

"I actually do." Leo nodded as Ezio left with the assistant that appeared out of nowhere. "Can you please fetch me my tools? They're on that shelf over there."

"Can I see it for a moment?" Ezio looked at me surprised, but extended his left arm to me, the blade facing up. I picked up one of my own tools, a thin piece of metal, and prodded at the mechanism, cleaning out the dust and dry blood. I still wasn't sure how the blade worked, but I had the general idea. "Okay, extend it." He did so, and I continued working on it, getting into the process.

After a few moments, he finally asked what I was doing. I didn't reply at first, taking hold of the blade and gently pulling it out slightly farther than the mechanism allowed, and then snapped it back. "You know, I once saw a gravestone. On it, it said 'Here lies an unbeatable warrior. His sword got stuck in the sheath.'"

"Okay, I get the hint." He rolled his eyes, and as I took a step away from him, he tried the blade out.

We were still sitting in Leo's house while he went out, telling us to make ourselves at home while he was at the market. I was sitting on the table beside Ezio, looking over the sketches in the codex and making sure everything was in order- the last thing we need is his only advantage breaking down. "Leonardo did an excellent job on them," I said with genuine admiration, "I just want to be safe and make sure it's clean."

"Hmmm. Thank you."

I smiled, wiping my hands and the tool on a rag. "Thank me for not sabotaging it."

"You wouldn't."

"And how do you know that?" I raised an eyebrow, packing my stuff away into the bag that I never let go anymore. He seemed at a loss of what to say, and I nodded in satisfaction. "I could, strictly speaking, make sure that it gets stuck at the most unfortunate moment. Maybe I'm even being paid by the Templars to do so. Mario seemed to think it a plausible theory."

"Uncle likes you."

"It's possible to like someone at the same time as keeping an eye on them. Just in case. And what makes you think he's wrong, anyway?

"Why would you tell me if it was true?"

"Reverse psychology, I think. You think if I told you I was, I couldn't be with the Templars, and it would take suspicion off of me. Besides, I like to keep you on edge," I giggled. "Don't be so sure to trust your friends, my little assassin."

"What about girls that made it their life time goal to drive me insane? Can I trust those?" I looked at him, suddenly all humor gone.

"Sometimes those girls are the only one you can trust," I said seriously, "Anyway. Where are we going next?"

He stared at the wall thoughtfully. I looked at it too, just to make sure there wasn't some map that had a laid out route for us. There wasn't one, much to my dismay.

"Leonardo mentioned Le Volpe, the fox."

"I heard. Who is this guy?"

"I'm not sure, but I think he's somewhat of a leader of the thieves around Florence."

"Thus the name." I stood up and stretching my muscles. Hours on a horse can do very very bad things to your body. "Where do we find him?"

"He usually finds people himself," he shrugged, and I groaned.

"So there's no fixed place we can find him in? That just sucks. It can't ever be easy, can it."

"Nope. This is life, dear Eden."

"No, this is the life of an assassin," I grumbled, "My life at home was a bit more simple than that. Kill or die, and it doesn't matter who."

"If it was so much easier, then why were you so eager to get away from it?"

"That's-" I stared at him. I don't remember ever talking to him about this, and I immediately felt my temper rise, "That's none of your damned business!"

He didn't reply, just staring at me intently. I fumed, "If you must know, it was a ball and chain, even after I had no reason to stick around! If a stranger suddenly passed me the key, I was more than happy to use it! My sister ditched me a few years after I joined the stupid gang, saying that I was the idiot for thinking I could pull it off. And I had no one left there anyway!"

"So you ran."

"No I didn't," I snapped, "Not in that way, no. Not intentionally."

"Then what happened? What was that key?" He actually seemed curious, and I stopped dead. Tell him? I mean, he'd probably mark me insane if he hasn't done so yet, but...

I wouldn't lie, the Chaos Theory had crossed my mind a few times, even through the excitement that it was to finally get out of my chains and into the open space. That something I did would trigger a chain reaction and alter the future. But then suddenly, a thousand excuses came to mind. Such as, I was already here, with no intention of going back and I probably changed the future the minute I arrived, most likely by something I don't even know about. Like, a brick that fell from the wall because I jumped onto it landed on some poor guys head, and that guy was actually supposed to be the father of some other guy that played an important part in history. Something weird and twisted like that that made my brain hurt when I thought about it too hard.

I debated internally whether or not it was safe to tell Ezio my thought process. I mean, it' wasn't like I listened much in history class, anyway- I mainly focused on mechanical science and math. I liked fixing things, but there was little I knew outside of that. I definitely didn't know how much of the past I could tell them. And even if I could, I wouldn't.

I sighed and decided that it couldn't get any worse, only better.

"Do you remember last time we were here, I said I was from the future, and that I appeared here out of nowhere?" There was a confused silence, before I continued. "I wasn't kidding…"