Ezio

The plane shook violently as the engine began to sputter. "Jenna, you have to get this thing onto the ground!" I yelled over the noise from the failing engine.

"I'm trying!" She yelled back. "Mayday! Mayday! This Alpha Charlie niner niner five Tango. Engine failure is emanate. We are going down. Repeat we are going down!" She called out our location to the person in the other end of her radio. "Hold on. This is going to be rough!"

I looked ahead and saw where she was aiming for. It was a plowed field. "Jenna, shit!" And the engine failed.

The eerie silence greeted my ears and watched the ground rush up to meet us. We were coming in too fast and too steep. "I can't get the nose up!" She screamed.

I grabbed the other control and tried to help her, but it mattered little because all we managed to do was turn slightly and it hit the ground at an angle and tumbled nearly end over end. The last thing I remember yelling before I blacked out was her name.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

The first thing that hit me was the pain as I came back to the world of the living. "Jenna?" I coughed through the smoke. Something was on fire. I turned my head and saw her slumped against the door, blood was everywhere. "Oh God, Jenna!" I yelled as I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat.

I finally managed it and got to her. Her eyes were closed and I placed my fingers to her neck. There was nothing. "No, no, no." I fell back into my seat, tears pouring from my eyes. "Don't leave me. Not yet." I looked at her and watched the smoke roll into the small cockpit we were in. I didn't care. Let me burn with her. I couldn't do this again.

Reaching forward, I coughed again and took her hand into mine. "I'm here, il mio diletto. I am not leaving you."

Silence. I would never hear her voice again. I let the side of my head rest on the head rest of my seat. I couldn't leave her. I would not let her burn. Not without me.

Tears ran down my face, and I closed my eyes. Sights of our wedding day and her smiling face looking at me, tears in her beautiful blue eyes as she said "I do." The day she told me she was pregnant. She was so terrified that I would run, but I gathered her in my arms and kissed her breathless. The moment Marcus was born. I cried alongside her as his wails filled the room.

"I will make you a promise right here and now. When this is over, I will hang up the gun and blades. I will stay here for as long as you like. I swear to you."

She sighed. "I just want you for as long as I can have you."

The conversation we had when I came home a week ago. She knew I would outlive her. She knew that every day and yet still stayed at my side. I knew I would have to live for her. Make the world right for our son to live in and raise a family in.

I cried as I released her body from the buckles and pulled her towards me. "I'm sorry." I kissed her bloody forehead and cradled her body to me. "I am so sorry."

The memories of carrying her like this caused me to stumble as I walked towards the flames and out the hole in the back where the tail section should have been. She was always falling asleep in the chair in our room reading books or manuals for a new car. She had to know everything.

When I was far enough away, I laid her gently down in a patch of grass and I collapsed next to her. My tears became wails. My wife, my beloved wife of nine years, lay in the grass next to me, and I was alive. I would always live. "God damn you!" I screamed into the sky. "I don't want this anymore!"

I heard the sirens in the distance. I knew I had to get away from here. They could not find me. Jenna had only out on the manifest that it was just her, that way if Abstergo found it, they would not know I was with her. She would be safe. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Placing a soft kiss on her lips, I stood and made it over to the plane. I needed my bag. It was stored behind my seat so I know it was still there. Quickly grabbing it, I ran into the woods, only looking back once when I hit the wood line, and fresh tears ran down my face.

Altair

"Ezio, oh god! Where are you?" Alanna had answered the phone a moment later. "We are on our way! Please just stay where you are."

"Alanna, what is going on?" I asked as I drove over the Oklahoma Kansas border.

"The plane went down. Jenna's dead." I heard the sorrow in her voice.

"Oh no. Where is he?" I had to get to him before he did something stupid.

She told me where to go and I stomped on the gas. It was at least an hour north of us. If I punched the gas hard enough, I could shave time off, and I knew the Charger could do it. It was the car I had spent a few years repairing and repainting, then abandoned when I burnt my cabin to the ground. I didn't know that Jenna and Ezio had rescued the car and fixed it back up. It was her gift to me.

Now she was gone. She had become my friend right after the incident ten years ago. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have eaten or tried to live. Jen had pushed at me until I pushed back. That was how she knew I would be alright on my own two feet. Also, she never turned me away when I would show up in the middle of the night, drunk or worse, covered in blood. It was always the same. She would grab fresh clothes for me, send me for a shower, and start the coffee. Never asking questions, just making sure I was alright.

I felt a few tears fall as I pushed the 440 to the breaking point, and then backed off. I could not blow up the car. She had told me just yesterday that she had to go back through it and redo all of my work on the motor because of the heat of the fire. The car had been almost destroyed, but she brought her back from the dead.

My brain stopped then clicked and restarted. Like she had me. The car was me. She pushed me until I could be on my own, and then went back after the Charger because I had told her it was my project. I had worked on it for years. She worked on me for years. Never gave up on me when I had given up on myself. Oh shit! I never did tell her thank you. Now, I would never get the chance.

I swiped the tears with the back of my arm as I raced towards the crash site.

I pulled up to the woods where Ezio had told Alanna he would be. I saw the smoke rising slightly from the distance. Pulling over to the side of the small road, I got out and called his name. No answer. "Call his phone." I looked at Alanna. She nodded, reached in the window and called it.

Quietly, but I could hear it in the distance. I took off in a dead run. Vaulting fallen trees and dodging bushes, I found him curled up on his side, out cold. His left hand looked like it had been burnt and blood oozed from a gash on his calf. I knelt next to him, and checked his pulse. He was still with us physically, but mentally was another thing all together.

"Ezio." I shook him gently. He stirred, but did not move. I shook him again. "Come on, man, we have to move. They are going to find us here."

"Just leave me here, Altair. I don't want to do this anymore." His voice was hollow. "I should have known better than to love again." I watched his eyes open. I shivered at the sight of them. They were dead, much like my own were when I thought Alanna was dead.

"No, you were the one that told me that love is a good thing. You pushed me until I admitted that I loved Alanna and I know you better than this. You are not a quitter. Now, come on. We have to get you to the car and out of here." I gently helped him to his feet and wrapped one of his arms around my neck. "We are brothers, Ezio. I am not giving up on you. This is how I am going to pay your wife back for saving my ass all those years ago." I grabbed his bag and held on to it.

I half dragged him, half carried him to the wood line and as soon as Alanna waved us forward, I got him in the backseat. She climbed back there with him, cradling his head on her lap.

She looked down at him, tears falling down her cheeks. "We need to move." She smoothed his hair down, and whispered to him to sleep.

I climbed in the driver's seat and took off, careful not to draw attention to us.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

We stopped for the night in a roadside motel. We gently got him into the room and striped the burnt and bloodstained clothes from his body. He was unresponsive and I could not yell at him over it. Alanna and I cleaned his wounds and burns. I ended up having to trim a few sections of his hair from the fire. Not much, but it had to be done.

Once we had him under the covers and in a restless sleep, I laid on the other bed with Alanna pulled firmly to me and wept into her chest. She ran her hand through my hair and kissed my head every once in a while, telling me it was okay.

I didn't remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, the sun was already up, and Alanna sat on Ezio's bed, watching him eat. "Come on, Ezio, you know this is not how she would want you to be." She held his hand and smiled at him.

The Italian looked at her, not uttering a word, but he continued to eat, face blank, eyes swollen from the crying. I know I didn't look any better. Alanna looked over at me, and gave me a smile. I gave her one of my own. "At least he's eating." I said as I sat up on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah." She turned her gaze back to Ezio. "I'll be back. I am going to get you your coffee from the table." She leaned forward, kissed his cheek and stood.

Walking around the foot of the bed, she grabbed two Styrofoam cups and handed one to me. "Thank you." I took it gratefully.

"I hope you don't mind, I went into town and bought a few things. I had to make a few calls as well." She handed Ezio his cup and he took it. "Step outside with me a minute." She walked over to the door and walked out.

I was only wearing a pair of sweats, so I grabbed a shirt from my bag and followed her out. She was leaning on the rail looking out at the parking lot. "What did you need?"

"I called the others and told them of what happened. I called Maya too. She already knew and was taking Marcus to the Farm. From there, I have William keep him there. Jenna's father is going to pick him up in a few days. I have told Maya that no one is to know Ezio's real name. I didn't know who else to trust. Becca and Dawson are already in Kentucky. Des and Tom are in Tennessee, and Kate and Conner are in Florida still. Their car blew a rod half way up the state." She hung her head. "William is going to look into crash. I don't think it was an accident or engine failure."

I knew what she was thinking. "You think it was Abstergo, don't you?"

She turned her head and looked at me. "Yes. They got all of this from my head. I knew who Ezio was seeing before the accident. I knew about everything. They found them because of me."

I pulled her to me. "Alanna, you cannot blame this on yourself. Do not put her death on your shoulders. It will weight you down and eat at you. If you want to blame anyone, blame the bastards that did this."

Her arms wrapped around my waist. "I know, but if I had ran with you guys that night. If I had not played the hero, everything would be fine."

"No, it wouldn't. They would have figured something out and come after us. We just hadn't covered our tracks well enough. We now have to be even more careful from now on." I rubbed circles into her back. "I need your help from here on out. I need you."

"You will always have me." She hugged me closer and we held each other for a few minutes. "Come on. We had better get in there before he does something that we might not like. He is not in his right mind."

I released her, and lightly kissed her lips. "I understand."

We headed back into the room. Ezio had placed his garbage on the nightstand and was now curled up under the blankets, trying to hide from the world. "I am going to get the bags into the car and gas it up. Can you get him dressed and moving? Moving is optional."

"I think I can handle that." I nodded and began the task of getting my clothes and his and getting us both dressed.

Desmond

I raced along the highway at speeds close to 130 mph. I had lost the black SUV that had been tailing us for the last six miles or so. Tom broke off and got off the ramp to a bypass. They could not follow two motorcycles and I was the main focus of their attention, so they stayed on me.

Zipping around a car and between two semi-trailers I saw Tom shoot back onto the highway in front of me. I gunned the gas and caught up with him. I hit the two way radios we had been using to communicate. "We need to get the hell off the highway and take back roads."

I saw him shake his head. "Not a good idea. We need to get the hell out of this area. We may have lost them for now, but they are going to find us again if we are not careful."

"So, what do you suggest?" I asked as I throttled the bike back. I had already burned through a half tank. I could not run out any time soon.

"I studied the map before we left. Three exits up is another highway. It loops south. Stay on that for twenty miles or so and then hit back roads for a while. We, both, are going to need gas soon. I am sitting where you are." He looked down at his gage.

"Sounds like a plan. You lead the way then." I pulled back a bit more and let him take the lead.

His bike shot forward and I stayed to his left and at the back tire. We stayed like that until we hit our turnoff, but we did not see the SUV pull onto the highway, and by the time I saw them, it was too late.

"Tom! Move!" I yelled, but it was too late. A small muzzle flash and his front tire blew out. I watched in horror as the bike wobbled and slid with him on the machine. I grabbed the brake and slowed down, but the SUV hit him and he went flying.

I saw him impact with the pavement I knew he was dead before his body stopped rolling. The bike went sliding down the interstate and I took off, pushing the Ducati for more. It climbed and left the hit man in the dust. Ezio was right, as I rocketed down the road. They were picking us off one by one. I had to get off and call the others. I didn't want to leave a brother behind, but I had no choice. There was nothing I could do for him. He was dead.

I felt a few tears escape as I shot between cars and tractor trailers and pulled off the exit. I nearly lost it at the end of the ramp and let the back tire whip me around and I caught it in time and shot down the street. Nearly forty minutes of running, I pulled into the station and pulled off my helmet. I don't know if they thought I was on the red Honda when they shot out the tire, but I don't think they cared. They wanted us all dead.

Filling the tank, I grabbed a drink, and paid the man inside. Rolling the bike over to a picnic table, I sat down and pulled out my cell. Three rings and Altair answered. "Tom's dead." I held my head in my hand and looked at the ground.

'What happened?'

"We were being followed and lost the tail. Coming up with another route we were taking it, when another SUV came up on the side of us. He shot out Tom's front tire and then hit him. I think they thought they had got me because they did not follow me when I took off." I growled. "Who's next, huh?"

'All of us, Desmond. We are all next. Jenna, Tom. They will be avenged. Don't worry about that.'

"What should I do now?" I was lost. I was no good with a map and I had no GPS on me. Our phones were basic phones. Burners if you will. Not traceable and cheap as hell. It was the only way we could stay in touch and not be tracked, but they still were finding a way.

'Where are you now?' He asked and I could hear paper rustling around.

"Just past Chattanooga. I think crossed into Georgia on my mad dash." I started at the ground. I was getting pissed. We just lost another, and there was not a damn thing we could do about it.

'You are on I-75 then, heading south. I need you to continue on to Atlanta. Kate and Conner are heading there now. Call them and set a place to meet. Preferably outside the city.'

"Will do. Where are you guys at?" I sat up and opened my pop.

'Just entered Kentucky. We are still a while away. Just stay low and we will all get there. Good luck, Des.'

"You too." I hung up the phone and dialed Conner's number. He answered.

'Hey, what's up?'

"Where are you?" I asked.

'At least a few hours outside Atlanta. We just got back on the road. I had to find a car and get it going.'

"I need to meet up with you. Tom's dead, Conner." I was still having a hard time with it.

'Oh shit! Damn! I can meet you anywhere on 75 or on 85. Pick one?'

Was in the only moron in this group that couldn't read a map? Most likely. "Just north of Atlanta. I will give you the exit number when I find one that looks good. I am probably two hours from there."

'Sounds good. See you then.'

I hope I saw him. I don't think I could handle losing anyone else today.

Il mio diletto- My beloved

Now I know I have used this before and I have it as amato. They mean the same thing, but it depends on how they are used and if you throw my in beforehand. It's weird, I know.

Okay, I was balling my eyes out as I wrote the first part of this. I mean, I had to walk away and compose myself so I would not cry into my keyboard. That was the hardest thing I have ever written. I have never actually killed off a character that I liked. I didn't kill one, but two in a chapter.