A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, but things haven't been working upstairs in my head properly. I just couldn't come up with something until inspiration hit me like a ton of bricks. So here's what came about…Also because I became rusty with the story line (why the fuck did it happen all of a sudden. Especially now…xP), I have used the powerful website of Youtube to get my memory back. The storyline will be affected, because of the fact that Amalia is now written into it, so if things don't go exactly the way it did in the game, please don't bash me for it. It's called FANFICTION for a reason, a fan that rights a fiction about subject a or b (Durr).
The storyline won't be affected that much, but there will be stuff here and there that you will notice that wasn't in the game, or stuff may have been removed for the sake of my sanity, because writing the entire story into a fanfiction will pick my brain to the point where I will start foaming at the mouth. So for the sake of everyone…this is how it'll go.
Disclaimer: I only own the ear wax in my ear and the dirt under my fingernails…so don't hate.
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The sun peered through the window, landing on her pale face which made her groan as her eyes opened to the blinding sun. She squinted and placed a palm over her eyes to shield them from the sun, as she got up to close the blinds that had been opened. Rubbing at her eyes a bit somewhat took the sleep out of her eyes, but when she stumbled over the covers that had been thrown off of the bed, that had definitely gotten her up. Curses flew through the air as she picked herself off of the floor and dressed herself in under two minutes. It was her fault that she had tripped over the duvet, but she couldn't help but curse even more at her stupidity. "If anyone ever saw that I tripped over that, that would be the most embarrassing thing ever." She grumbled, finally tucking in the last of the duvet into the bed frame to keep it from hanging. As she finished her hand brushed against the side of her leg, and she remembered that that had been the leg that had been burned in the fire. She couldn't help, but pull back the clothing to see the dark lines that ran up all the way into her inner thigh.
At the thought of her leg, it brought back memories of Federico, and how he had risked his life to save her. Why did he have to die so soon? The man hadn't even been married yet, or had the chance to have children, but that was all taken away from him in the blink of an eye. She sighed as she exited her bedroom door and headed down the stairs to see where everyone exactly was. Silence had engulfed the villa and she was curious to know where Mario and Ezio were. At the moment she didn't see anyone in the room next to where she was standing, but instead she headed outside to see if anyone was there. Upon leaving the villa, and bounding down the steps, she heard Mario's tone getting very icy as he talked to Ezio.
"But nipote, I have given you these skills that you might better prepared to strike against our enemies…" Mario trailed off, not so sure as to why Ezio was acting the way he was.
"And if they find me, I will." Ezio replied with a nod of his head.
"You want to leave, Ezio?" Mario said, now getting completely fed up with him. "To throw away everything your father fought and died for?" He yelled now getting angrier by the second. "To deny your heritage? Fine! Come vuoi Arrivederci e buona fortuna! (So be it. Goodbye and good luck). Mario stormed off, and bumped shoulders with Amalia as she stood there, utterly confused as to why Mario was so mad.
"Uncle, wait-" Ezio started, now confused as much as Amalia was. "Why is he so upset?" Ezio asked, directing the question to the thief that was standing a couple of feet away from him.
The thief stepped forward, arms crossed with an amused expression on his face. "How can he not be? Vieri's been harassing us ever since you first arrived. To be expected, I suppose. Given his heritage…" The thief told him. Amalia watched as the thief walked closer to Ezio to better emphasize his point. Ezio turned his head in the direction of where Mario had stormed off to and his eyes made contact with Amalia's. There was no emotion behind it, but instead Ezio broke contact and started walking towards her. She awkwardly stood there, not entirely sure what to say as he came closer towards her. "I trust that you had a good night, Amalia." He asked politely, now standing in front of her. She shrugged, but thanked him for the bed as to not be rude at his kind hospitality, especially after what had happened yesterday. "Is Mario alright?" She found herself asking, and looking up at him as he had a good couple inches on her. "I must speak to him right now, but…in the meantime you must stay inside the villa. I believe that you owe me an explanation, later, as to why you have shown up now."
Bastard had to just have the last word. Ezio stalked off towards the villa, leaving Amalia standing there, wondering what in the hell she was supposed to tell him. 'Tell him the truth,' a voice whispered. She turned around scared out of her mind. What in the hell had just spoken to her? Surely she must be going crazy to have heard a voice in the middle of the day randomly. Maybe it was just the sleep that was talking. Standing there seemed very stupid because for one she seemed out of place, so she ran in the direction of where Ezio had disappeared to. She assumed that he had went to where he and Mario had been speaking to each other the previous day, and her instincts had been proved right.
Ezio was standing there talking to a thief when she entered inside the room. "Are you headed somewhere?"
Ezio glared at her from the corner of his eye as the thief continued to talk, as if not interrupted by her. "You will find what you need at the stables." The man told him. Amalia raised an eyebrow at Ezio, which he ignored completely. "So…" She trailed off, now standing next to him. "Can I come with?"
"No!"He told her, walking around her to head to the front door.
Amalia pouted and crossed her arms. "Aww, come on! You're no fun at all." He gave her a dirty look from the corner of his eye and continued walking away from her. She ran up to catch with him as he exited the villa and headed in the direction of the gates. "I do not know you, or your intentions. Federico was the only person to know you in the short amount of time that you stayed with my family and I, at our villa back in Firenze. Just because Federico liked you, doesn't mean that I have to like you too."
"I just was wondering…" She mumbled, now utterly sad at how blunt he was with her. "Where are you headed exactly?"
"San Gimignano." He responded, his tone now bored completely. Amalia froze mid step, now thanking her brain for asking him where he was headed. She honestly shouldn't have been shocked at all, because for some strange reason she knew his life like the back of his hand. It was a little frightening to see pictures of Ezio's life flash behind her eyes, but she quickly shook her head, hoping that Ezio would think nothing of it. "Uh…I think I might pass on following you." She inched back a couple of feet and turned around, rushing back in the direction of where she had came. "Why do you stop now. Is there something that you aren't telling me?" He questioned, while catching up to her and grabbing unto her wrist. Amalia felt a jolt of fear come over her as she thought about going back there and seeing an angry Demarco standing there.
She honestly wouldn't be surprised if the man showed up here demanding to see her. She had indeed left him on a whole, and he probably had a rough idea of where she was exactly headed, seeing as though she had asked him more than once if he knew how to get here. "There is isn't there."
"No…I-I just don't like that place. It gives me the chills. How about you go do your job, and I'll stay back here. Hm." She smiled at him just to make it seem like her little lie was convincing, and bolted straight from Ezio the second he let go of her wrist.
"Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap!" Amalia was fuming as she stepped into her room that Mario had given to her the night before. How was she supposed to deal with this now. For one, Ezio had a feeling that she was hiding something, in which she was, and secondly he had wanted to talk wth her when he got back. What exactly was she supposed to say? Tell him that a crazy madman had taken her in and then she escaped here to come and find him.
"Fuck." She breathed, trying to calm herself down as she sat stiffly on the bed, instead of her nervous pacing back and forth in front of the window that overlooked the muddy courtyard. "I need to take a nap. Maybe that'll clear my mind." Before Amalia could even get settled into bed nicely, her stomach grumbled loudly. How could she have forgotten to eat this morning? "I wonder if there are any maids in this house. I didn't even see a kitchen coming inside here."
For the next ten minutes, she explored the house, looking to see if she could find a kitchen, or just anything to eat, but she couldn't find anything. It was like this house was empty to begin with, and it seemed even emptier when there was no food inside. Amalia yelled out loud, clearly frustrated with the lack of food inside of this villa. She figured that she might as well try and find something outside of the villa, perhaps a restaurant of some sort. Amalia wondered if they had things like that back then.
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Tired. That's exactly how she felt at the moment. It was if something had torn inside of her and eaten any remaining food that was left in her stomach. How was she supposed to survive if nothing was inside of her stomach. It was even worse because Ezio had not returned yet with Mario and it was nearing nightfall. She had spent the entire day roaming around the villa to get accustomed to it, but the thought of food never once left her mind. Surely Ezio must be doing this to her on purpose, but she didn't have any evidence that he was so she let it drop. At the moment Amalia was lying on the ground in front of the training ground, staring up at the skies as it turned from a pretty shade of orange to that of purple and pink's.
Footsteps were unbeknownst to her ears as she continued to gaze at the sky. A shadow soon was looming over her and she covered part of her eyes at the sudden darkness. "Hey. I was trying to watch the sunset you know." She whined, not really taking in who was exactly standing in front of her. "I believe that you are blocking my way, Signorina." Amalia took her hands away from shielding her face to notice that Ezio was standing right in front of her.
"Thank the lord that you're here." She yelled while getting up and brushing off her cloak. "I am hungry and haven't eaten all day, waiting for your ass to get back here, but guess what you take forever in a day to just get from San Gimignano to here. What the hell man?" Ezio's eyebrows rose in annoyance and he crinkled his nose in disgust.
"There is a kitchen here Amalia. Have you checked inside there for food?" He asked, turning away from her to make his way towards the thief's that were standing a little ways off from them.
"I'm not that stupid alright. Give me some credit. Of course that would be the first place I'd look." She mumbled, now following Ezio like a shadow. "And here he is! Our campione, Ezio!" Mario boomed, startling Amalia as she saw that he popped up out of nowhere. "All hail Ezio!" The thieves yelled in unison while raising their cups into the air. "I see you've wasted no time starting the celebration." Ezio replied happily, removing his hood so that his face could be shown.
"And why not? You've done us a great service, nipote (nephew)! With Vieri dead la Toscana (Tuscany) will grow quiet once more." Mario paused for effect before continuing. "Do you know what that means?" He questioned looking around at all the thieves standing near him.
"Basta lavorare! (No more work!)" One thief replied, jabbing his friend next to him in the shoulder while having a wide grin plastered unto his face. "Si passa tutto il giorno a bere! (We can drink all day!)" The one that had gotten hit in shoulder replied, bring his cup up higher than his head. "E a puttane! (And with whores!)"
A silence washed over them and Amalia walked in front of the thief that had made the comment and punched him as hard as she could in his arm. "Is that how you think all of us woman are. That we just whore ourselves out because we have nothing else better to do with our lives." She said angrily, teeth now clenched in anger. "Well I wouldn't really say that you count for a woman." A man replied, being completely blunt with her.
If steam could come out of her ears, Amalia would have been a boiled kettle by now, with how angry she was getting by the second. "What it's true." The thief that had made the comment about whores said while shrugging his shoulders. All the surrounding men started laughing, making Amalia wish at that moment that she had a knife to just slice their throats for thinking so lowly of woman.
The laughter had died down, and Mario placed a firm hand on Ezio's shoulder. "Come, Ezio. Walk with me." Amalia watched behind brown locks as Mario and Ezio disappeared into the villa. Her eyes narrowed and waited until they were gone completely from her vision.
Amalia had a feeling that this was a really, really bad idea, but something just forced her to eavesdrop on their conversation. It was like something in the back of her head was telling her that she needed to listen to what they were saying. After successfully sneaking away from the thieves, she looked around to make sure that no one was watching her as she ran towards the back of the villa. Light flooded from the back of the doorway and she saw Ezio standing next to Mario as they stared at a wall in front of them. Quickly, without making so much as a sound, she held her cloak to make sure the fluttering didn't attract their attention as she stooped down next to the door, out of sight.
"….not your father's work. Someone else has translated it."
"Leonardo Da Vinci. A friend."
Amalia's breath hitched at the familiar name. Why was Ezio talking about him and what were they discussing before when Mario had said someone else had translated it. She listened pressed up closer to the door and listened, hoping to figure out exactly what they were discussing. "Do you see the way the words cross from one page to the next?"
"There's something underneath it all. Some kind of map." A pause engulfed her ears, but she couldn't pick up what was said after because Ezio's voice was too low. "Your father and I managed to make out bits of a prophecy scrawled across the pages. It was written by an Assassin like us who long ago held a 'Piece of Eden'. His name was Altair…
Altair? And what is a Piece of Eden.Confusion etched her face as the next couple of sentences that she tried to hear was muffled. "…exactly why we collected these pages."
"…All of it. I"ll start with the page I took from Vieri. Leonardo will decode it for us."
"Dammit," She whispered, clearly frustrated that she had missed a good chunk of the conversation. "Also, Uncle….About Amalia."
"What of her nipote?" She could hear movements in the room before talking could once be heard again. "Something happened in San Gimignano that I must say, found very interesting."
"Well speak. Do not keep an old man waiting." Mario replied.
"I…overheard a man speaking of an Amalia."
Amalia's eyes went wide as one man's name flashed through her head. Demarco. "I am not sure if that man is talking about the one that is staying here, but I stayed just to hear what he was saying."
"Did he say anything that might say she is a spy?" It was if Amalia was in the room, watching as Mario's forehead creased in worry. "No..No! Nothing of that Uncle. It is just that he said that he is traveling here to seek out an Amalia. Saying that once he finds her, that she will be his forever. He spoke of taking her in and giving her nothing but hospitality, and once he had turned his back on her, the moment that he was most vulnerable at, she takes his gifts, money and leaves."
Amalia didn't stick around to hear what Mario was going to say, but she instead ran around to the front of the villa so that she could head inside to her room. Ezio would definitely come up here after his conversation with Mario. After hearing the news about what Demarco might do, Amalia started to panic. He could be headed here right now, probably conjuring up ways to torture her, or thinking of other ways that he could be paid back. And for some reason, a thought in her mind knew that it had nothing to do with actual working in the kitchen or tending to his house.
"I don't want to be a whore!" Amalia yelled, now tugging at her hair, clearly skittish at the moment. She was pacing around the room, hand under her chin, trying to come up with a plan that could definitely be full proof. At the moment, nothing came to mind, so she opted to lie face first into the pillows hoping that she could smother herself to death without having someone else do it for her.
Because her face was buried deep into the pillow she didn't hear the knocking and opening of her door. It wasn't until she felt the bed sinking in that she got up to turn around and see who the person was. There standing in front of her was Mario, Ezio and one other thief that looked a little too annoyed to her liking.
"Heh.." She breathed out, crawling backwards until her head hit the backboard of the bed. "Is there something that you aren't telling us, Amalia?" In her mind she pictured herself shaking her head, but what the three of them had seen was her nodding. Before she could take back what she had done, Ezio had grabbed unto her wrist, tightening it so that it was in a death grip. "Okay…I'll tell you. But it's not really something that I'm hiding."
Ezio titled his head making Amalia remember Demarco who was the man that had really gotten her into this situation. "What do you mean by that?" He questioned, standing up and dragging her to her feet as well. "There's this man named Demarco Costa." She paused so that she could untangle Ezio's death grip from around her wrist, finally giving her back some feeling into it. "I had met him when I had collapsed in San Gimignano. He had been kind enough to give me a place to stay and food to eat, but one day when he had visited his friend Antonio, he had returned seeming a little off. To be real, Demarco had been a really nice man who I wouldn't have mind dating, but after that day he had come out things just didn't seem right about him."
She sighed and turned around to try and gather her thoughts. She should really leave out the part about two men visiting her, which she knew who they were, but didn't really say anything. The two men that had been inside Demarco's home that day had been Vieri de Pazzi and his father, Francesco. There was no doubt in her mind that Demarco had something to do with being a Templar, but she couldn't just give that information away to them. What if they accused her of lying and said that she was a spy! What the hell was she supposed to do then?
"Anyway…" she started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Yes Come in." Mario called. The door slowly creaked open to reveal a woman dressed in all brown, with an extravagant gold hairpiece. "Sir Mario. One of the men from downstairs wishes to speak with you."
"Tell them that I am busy at the moment!" He told her, making a wave like gesture indicating that she should leave. "But sir! The man tells me that it is very important."
"Can it not wait for a few more minutes? I will be down shortly." The woman nodded, and Mario turned back towards her telling her to finish the story quickly. "As I was saying…I knew that I had to leave because something inside of me told me that something bad was going to happen if I didn't leave. So I packed my clothes, some of his money as well as food and left on horseback. He had chased me for a good while, but I think that he got tired and just decided to turn back around.
"I believe that this man is after you though. I overheard him and someone else speaking that he was going to come here and look for you." Ezio told her, even though she already knew from eavesdropping on them. To make it seem more believable though, she made her eyes widen and her jaw drop. She sat quickly on the bed, trying to "calm" herself down, but really couldn't "It is okay Amalia. We will do everything to protect you, but you need to tell us the actual truth. There are still some empty holes in this story that you tell us." Ezio said, not having any type of anger on his face or in his tone. "How could you stop him though? You can't just not welcome him into the city! That would just be too suspicious."
Mario sighed as he and Ezio exchanged looks with each other. "I believe that it would be better if she stuck close with you Ezio. It would be easier to protect her if she's closer, than if she stayed here in the villa."
Ezio nodded, and Amalia smiled, thankful that Ezio hadn't said now to her sticking close to him. "Well signorina, I am headed to Florence shortly. Maybe it would be best if you accompanied me on my travels." She smiled and did something that she thought that she would never do. She hugged Uncle Mario and then hugged Ezio, but their hugged lasted a little longer because Amalia couldn't but help stay close to that hardened chest of his.
"Well it is settled then. Amalia shall be traveling with you for the time being. As for you Amalia…I think it would be best that you train a little before you go with Ezio. Troubles might come your way and I want you to be prepared if anything were to happen." She nodded and turned to look at the thief that was standing in front of her. Mario continued to talk as if the hugs hadn't been initiated. "This is my best swordsmen Adamo. He will train you tonight, for tomorrow morning you will be rising up early to reach Florence as soon as the sun comes up. Even with Amalia's smile on, you could definitely see how fake it was. She was grinning widely, a little too much, and her hands twitched at her side. Of course she was scared to train, but it was for the best. She couldn't have Ezio standing out there defending her all the time. It would be for the best, and she would just have endure it for tonight.
"Come, signorina. We have much work to do."