A/N: Yes, it's been quite some time since I've updated. Hopefully this makes up for everything, but I've been super busy. Now I'm free, so it took me about two days to write this. On and off of course, I mean this chapter's really short so to me it's kind of pathetic. Occupying my time watching Dexter because I've had writer's block, but I've also had another fanfiction on LJ that I've been keeping up with as well, so that also contributes to the slow updates on here. FYI, my lesson learned is to NEVER have three fanfiction's going at the same time. It's way too hard to keep up with, especially with my schedule. So yes, I have now learned my lesson, but I'm trying to finish up the other ones so my main focus can be on this one.

Disclaimer: I own my OC'S and the new storyline that I'm about to be introducing, while writing the regular Assassin's Creed II storyline.

OoOoOo

"Amalia. Antonio has called for you." My eyes snapped open to see Bianca standing in the doorway to the room that she had provided me with. "Why does he need me now?" I groaned, rolling over as my back was now facing her. "He tells me that it is of an important matter. Please get up Amalia."

"You're lucky I'm one of the nicer Assassin's." I mumbled, finally agreeing to go and see what Antonio wanted. I'm pretty sure it wasn't that important. He probably just wants to get me up and annoy me to the point of punching him in his face. Towards me, he loves to tease me more than I liked. Always making sure that the things he does aggravates me, so he can get a pissed of reaction out of me. At the sound of the door closing, I made my way out of bed, stretching my arms and listening to the cracks that came along. I was very stiff from dragging Riccardo's body around all day yesterday, as I had never lifted something that heavy for that length of time before. It had surely been something new, and I knew that that should have been a sign to tell me that I needed to work out more.

Not that I was going to, but it was just something to think about in the near future. If I ever needed to overthrow a guard larger than me, then using my arm strength would definitely come in handy.

I didn't want to keep Antonio waiting any longer, seeing as though I had been putting of going to him for a little while now. The walk towards his study wasn't very long, and I was glad that the sun wasn't too high in the sky to make heat blaze down on me. Being an Assassin in the summertime wasn't really something that I looked forward to.

Why you may ask? Well the fact that we wear BOOTS in the summer might say something. Oh and did I forget to mention that the robes that we wear may seem light, but in all honesty, it was extremely heavy. On top of that, because I'm a woman, it's required for me to wear these tights that stick to my skin like glue. Taking off my clothes is something that I don't look forward to because the sweat makes it extremely hard to peel off.

A cool breeze passed over me, and I smiled as I knocked on Antonio's door. There was a bit of shuffling inside before the door was swung open to reveal Ugo. "Please. Enter!" He said smiling a bit at me. At that gesture my mouth turned upwards, but upon stepping inside, it dropped as my eyes met Ezio's.

Great. Ezio was here as well. Why should I be surprised though? Of course he would be here. The man practically worked for Antonio, but some part of my brain had tried to expel that thought for as long as possible. I had been hoping that I wouldn't run into him, because he wasn't really on the top of my friends list….not that the list was very long, but still. Because of the way he treats me, and how he acts towards all the other, woman I've tried to keep my distance for as long as possible. To give him a break, because I'm sure that he's sick of seeing my face everywhere.

"Amalia, How nice of your to join us." He stated while giving me his infamous icy glares. "Sorry. Couldn't help but make you wait for me." Antonio shook his head a bit, and waved me to take a seat as he continued talking. "Ezio, You'll approach from above under the cover of night. Emilio has posted archers around the Palazzo . Kill them. But do so quietly. As they fall, my men shall replace them." The plan seemed flawless, but there was still something that was bothering me as Ezio asked Antonio a question.

"What about the guards?"

"When you've finished with the archers, we'll regroup in front of this building here," He said, pointing at a model of their district. "We will discuss the next steps." Ezio nodded. "Nessun problema (Not a problem). I'll take care of the archers and return to you."

"As for you Amalia." My head snapped up at the sound of my name. "This is a perfect opportunity to assassinate Antonio Ricci when he least expects it. With all the commotion that will be going on, I am positive that his guard will be let down."

"And that's where I go ahead and kill him." He nodded and walked around his desk so that he was now standing in between Ezio and her. "Then it's settled." Ezio left without a second thought, but not before glancing in my direction. Of course I didn't pay him any mind, but instead stood up so that I was now standing in front of Antonio. "Where shall I find him?" I asked, fingering a loose piece of thread on my new robes. "Near the palazzo. My men stationed around there have told me that he is staying in a villa a few buildings from there. It is easy to spot out. I'm sure you will not have any trouble finding it?" He asked, looking up at me from a piece of paper that he had been writing down on.

"No. It shouldn't be." I replied, convincing him more than myself. "Then be on your way." I took that as my cue to exit, but was shocked to see Ezio as I exited Antonio's office. He was standing a few paces off, near the exit to the thieves guild with his arms crossed in front of his chest. I knew that he wasn't just standing there to look good, but was waiting for me. It didn't help that we were both headed in the same direction, which meant that I couldn't avoid him even If I wanted to.

Just my luck of course.

"We need to talk." He said, as I walked past him. "There's nothing that we need to talk about." I told him, avoiding his gaze completely. "Yes we do." He uttered, grabbing unto my wrist, preventing me from walking anymore. "What happened while I was gone? How did you get that wound? I know you're not telling me something." He questioned, giving me a hard stare.

A sigh escaped my lips as I turned around to stare at him. "Listen," I started yanking my wrist out of his grasp. I tried to ignore that hurt look that etched across his face, but it lingered there making me feel worse than I already was. God I feel like such an idiot at the moment. "I know that we aren't on the best of terms right now, but we really don't' have time to discuss all of this." Right now, I knew that I was just trying to avoid the conversation on a whole, and Ezio probably knew to as he got that look that spelt B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T. "Antonio's trusting us with a mission and we need to complete it on time ok. I promise that we'll talk about this later, but for now, can we just get on with what we're supposed to do." Later always seemed to come up in our conversation's nowadays.

Whenever something happened we would always say we'll talk about it later, or just try to avoid it completely. In all honesty I hated doing that, but as long as we actually did discuss it later, then my conscious won't bother me that much. "You promise." He responded, looking into my eyes to make sure that I wasn't lying to his face. "Yes, now go." I told him, pushing him on his chest a bit. He lingered as his mouth opened to say something, but it was as if something told him not to, and his mouth snapped back shot. With one last look, I watched him run unto a set of boxes nearby, and disappear over the top of a roof.

I visibly slouched in relief, now glad that I didn't have to deal with Ezio. My heart wasn't really looking forward to talking, but I knew this would come sooner. We had been putting off talking for quite some time now, but addressing this now actually made some weight lift off of my chest. For one, I was distraught over the whole Demarco thing and meeting him tonight, which is actually making me mad. How was I supposed to kill Antonio, when I'm supposed to meet Demarco? Surely there would be some conflict there. It just meant that I would have to clean up this Antonio mess quickly and then find my way to Demarco. The sun had already gone down making me more nervous than ever.

I was determined to find this Antonio before Demarco found me.

Now how in the hell was I supposed to do that.

OoOoOo

"No, Please. Get away from me. I did nothing wrong." The man yelled out, backing himself into a corner.

"Look, I really don't have the time to deal with your sob story, as I am really late in meeting someone, so just come over here so I can kill you."

"Never. Guarsd. GUARDS!" Amalia rubbed her temples with her right hand as she used the left to take a dagger out of her pocket. This man just wouldn't die any quicker. It was already late, and she had wasted enough time finding the right moment when to reveal herself to the man, but now that she had, she instantly wanted to get this over with. Antonio had left her on a wild goose chase as he had escaped her grasp the first time, as he had ran out into the streets trying to avoid her blades. "Just get your ass over here. I'm seriously not in the mood."

He charged at her with a sword raised high, making a crooked smile creep unto her face. "Finally." I whispered, dodging the man's sword with much ease. Shocked at me dodging his sword, he didn't have enough time to turn around and avoid the dagger that lodged itself into his throat. Blood squirted out of the deep incision into his throat, and Amalia ripped it out before turning around and running towards the Palazzo. In my mind I was having a mental breakdown as I watched the moon rise higher into the sky. It was well past sunset, and I was sure that Demarco wouldn't be there. Nobody would wait for that long just to have a discussion with someone. Especially about something so insignificant, that it was actually pointless for me to attend. The only reason why I was even going was to at least try and extract information out of him. It would also be very useful to kill him as well because he was honestly being a pain in the ass.

For one, having his men following me was something that I never wanted to experience ever again. Don't you think that that's just a little bit creepy? If I wanted to find someone, I wouldn't go to the extent to make my people trail them like that.

I shook my head to rid myself of these thoughts. What I needed to do right now is mentally prepare myself for what's up ahead. If he were to lunge at me, I had the option of falling into the Arno. That seemed like a good idea, but then something hit me. I stopped as I saw the Palazzo up ahead.

Ezio had been sent to kill Emilio there, which meant that all the thieves would be inside the Palazzo. Was that why he had asked me to meet him there? He must know that meeting there would be a death trap for him. If only I had informed someone of what was happening, then they would be able to sneak up behind him and kill him instantly. It wasn't that Demarco was a threat to them…well yet at least. But he was just a hindrance to our plans. With him working with Emilio, he had been able to stop all of our plans of overthrowing them, but if Emilio is killed, what is Demarco left to do.

Absolutely nothing.

This must be a big break for us. Demarco must not know that we were going to seize the Palazzo tonight. Which just makes everything better. This should be easy then.

I climbed to the building next to the Palazzo and waited. Something that I had forgotten to do was learn how to climb buildings like that. Rosa had taught Ezio had to climb to a scaffolding that had seemed nearly impossible, but of course me, at that time, hadn't thought of it important. Instead, I had walked past them, too caught up in my anger to realize that learning this simple trick would help me in the long run. Now I was stuck standing here looking like an idiot, wondering how in the hell I was going to climb that.

As I stood there wondering how I was going to tackle this task, I felt a sharp pressed against my back.

"So nice of you to join me." A voice whispered into my ear. "Demarco." I muttered angrily. "What kept you so long my dear? Afraid that I would kill your precious Assassin."

"He has nothing to do with this, so get on with why you asked me to come here."

"You still don't know." I tried to turn around to punch him, but he easily grabbed my arm and placed it behind my back in the most uncomfortable position. "Not so fast." He mumbled making his hot breath tickled my ear. "Antonio was just bait. And you took it much too easily." My eyes widened. Had this entire thing then been a distraction to get me by myself. Well he did say in the note that he wanted me by myself, but I still would've came with no one even if he hadn't written that. What in the hell was he planning? "You my friend are coming with me."

"I'm not going anywhere." I yelled, using my head to hit him in his nose. He cried out in pain letting his grip on me slack. I took the opportunity to turn around and punch him in the stomach, but a man came up out of nowhere and tripped me. I fell to the ground, but quickly stood back up. Both Demarco and that man stood in front of me grinning like an idiot, while my eyebrows creased in confusion. "What the hell are you laughing at?"

"You." Demarco mumbled. His eyes shifted a little bit, causing me to turn around just in time to catch the hilt of the sword that was coming towards my head. "Nice try." I mumbled, glad that Demarco had looked behind me. If I hadn't seen his eyes moving, I probably would have been knocked unconscious.

"Why don't you just give up already? I thought that we were here to talk."

"I am, but I want you to come with me."

"For what reason." I asked now crossing my arms in front of me. I thanked god that both men had laid off and hadn't attacked me yet. Demarco had shown some compassion as he held his hand up, telling the men to stop their attack on me. I was out of breath already. "You have ruined my plans, yet again Salvatore." Ugh. Here we go again with the stupid last name thing. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Those damned thieves have tarnished my name. No one takes me seriously now, and Matroniano has made sure that I do simple jobs that won't alter his plans."

"That's not my problem." I said trying to remind him that he's the one that had made stupid decisions.

"I had told Matroniano that if I captured you, then that Assassin will surely come after you. But he didn't believe me. With you gone, that Assassin will follow and we will have you set as bait so that we can then seize the opportunity to kill him."

What an idiot. Way to tell the enemy what you're planning. "And you're telling me this why…" I answered, not really getting the point to his rambling. "Because you will be mine Amalia. I'll make sure of it." With that, Demarco and his two men jumped off of the building and disappeared into the night.

"Well that went better than expected." I said laughing out loud to myself. For some reason i felt that a load of stress had been lifted off of my shoulders, and I was glad that Demarco had been dumb enough to tell me what he was planning. It was always nice to know what the other was planning. "Thank god for idiots."

OoOoOo

I came just in time to see Ezio exiting the Palazzo. His head had been looking down at the ground, for he hadn't noticed me standing there. "Where are you headed?" I asked, startling him out of his thoughts. "I have a meeting to attend." He said slowly, looking at me with sadness in his eyes. "Is something the matter?" He shook his head. A silence came over us as I followed behind Ezio. It was awkward, as usually when we had time to our self we would joke around and tease each other. But the teasing seemed to stop and now our relationship seemed to be very strained. "I had left you because two men had been following me." I told him, now thinking that this would be the best time for us to talk. "What are you talking about?" He turned to look back at me, but not slowing down his pace one bit. "The day that I said that I had to leave…"

He nodded a bit. "Go on."

"The men had been following me because they had been hired by Demarco. It wasn't easy getting off of their tail, but with the help of a thief I managed."

"That still does not explain your wound." I unconsciously touched the bandage. "Well…I said I managed, but only for a short while."

"Meaning…?" He trailed off, waiting for me to finish the sentence. "Meaning that I had been on top of a roof, trying to follow you and Rosa, because you seemed to be in trouble, when the men came up from behind. It was an ambush."

"Why would they attack you?" He asked, stopping in front of a door. Without realizing it, we had been heading in the direction of Leonardo's workshop. I had been so caught up in telling Ezio that I didn't realize we were going to visit him. "They gave me a letter, which told me to meet Demarco tonight."

I looked away from Ezio's gaze as he looked a little bit angry. "And you didn't tell me?" He questioned, lessening the distance between us. "I didn't think I needed to." I said turning to glare at him. "I can take care of myself you know." He placed a hand on his forehead, closing his eyes, as he tried to calm himself down. "Amalia. You know I care for you…" He started, but I cut him off. "No actually. I don't know." My arms crossed, sending a message to him that I wasn't playing games anymore.

"Why would you think that I didn't?"

"Hmm…Let me guess." I said, tapping a finger to my chin. "The fact that you chase skirts, when I'm standing on the side, hurt that you would do that. If you really did care, then you would show it to me unconditionally."

"You know it doesn't work that way. I thought that we discussed everything before. That we had come to equal terms."

"Equal terms Ezio! Not variable. Two different meanings." He didn't get it at all. You don't say one thing and do another. It just didn't make sense that he would be doing this. God, I needed to get over his ass. Claudia was completely right. I felt stupid for not listening to her right away. Ezio really wasn't someone that was reliable on keeping his word. Yes, when it came to work he would take up his responsibility and do what is right, but in a relationship…no. "Ezio. Say what you mean…and mean what you say. Don't just give me empty words that have no heart behind it." I turned away from him, ready to go in a random direction, but he hugged me from behind, stopping me in my tracks. His forehead touched my shoulder lightly, making me close my eyes. "Please..." He whispered, trying to make everything right again. "Can we not just go back to the way we were before? I don't like this new you. It pains me to see you getting hurt and treating me this way."

"You contribute to that factor Ezio. And you know that."

"Please..." He whispered again, this time kissing my shoulder, to at least try and convince me. Something told me to give him another chance, but another part of me just wanted to give him up. To let go of the one thing that was turning my life upside down. I wasn't being literal with the turning upside down. But he was plaguing my thoughts, too often for me to count. Instead of listening to my brain and giving him up, my heart took over. I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck as his arms came to snake their way around my waist. "You better mean it this time Auditore." I whispered into his ear.

He nodded, not exactly trusting his voice, and a smile graced his face. Uh Oh. That doesn't look like a good smile. "Does that mean…"

"Don't push it." I warned him, leaning back a bit to stare into his eyes. "Push what." He teased, chuckling a bit. I should have hit him, but instead I smiled and laughed along with him. "I see where back to our old selves."

"Yes, and let's keep it this way." I added, meaning everything that I said. It was unnecessary for us to be arguing with each other. Especially for stupid reasons. "At a time like this. What do you suggest we do?" He asked as I watched a mischievous grin dance on his lips. "If you even think of the s word.."

"I won't."

"You better not."

"Not yet at least." I slapped his chest. I didn't realize that we were still hugging this entire time, until his arms moved down a bit more as he leaned in close to my face. His lips were mere centimeters from mine, making my heart skip a beat. We both started leaning in, as my eyes started to flutter close.

"Finally! I was hoping that you two would make up." My eyes snapped open to see Leonardo standing there with an innocent smile on his lips. I rolled my eyes and pulled away from Ezio, wanting his arms back around my waist. "Leonardo…" I whined, stomping my feet. "You just had to ruin that didn't you?"

"Of course. What are friends for?"

Ezio laughed.

Damn that man and his charms.