This is the third chapter! I enjoyed this one the most, lol. But it's also one of the shortest chapters I have written... Ah, well, I'll try harder next time. XD. Also, the only things in italics are things in Italian or a dream/flashback.

Disclaimer: That's right. I bought Ubisoft. Just kidding, I don't own anything except Aria...and my cat... that's irrelevant, though.

Thanks for all of the story alerts and the reviews from:

The one and only riot

Shelleythesnail

xenocanaan

brittany

rebelgoddess19

Sweet Candy Rain

I hope you all enjoy the newest addition to the story!

R&R :D

If I Surrender

Chapter 2: Put Your Florins Where Your Mouth Is

I had returned to my room after the little episode with Ezio; which I had to admit was quite hilarious. I had planned on taking a bath soon, but since my padre told me to attend Ezio's training session I decided to just rinse my face off, change my clothes and take a nap, instead.

Curling up on my new bed; which I had to admit was pretty fantastic compared to my old one. I held my necklace into the air. The light streaming in from my window glinted off of the stone which in turn caused strange symbols to reflect over my whole room. I had shown this necklace to my father once, when I was younger, and even he had no idea what they were. I frowned and held the necklace closer to my body, making all the symbols stop flowing around.

I closed my eyes and sighed a little as I attempted to get a bit of rest. For a little while all I could hear was my heart beating and birds chirping outside. It was peaceful and lulled me to sleep.

I found myself sitting in a strange dining room. It was extravagant, to say the least, and very spacious. Brilliant chandeliers hung from the ceiling over the long table; which was covered with food. I wondered who needed all of this food because I appeared to be eating by myself.

Suddenly a bright, white light lit up the entire room and I tried to cover my eyes quickly. When I opened them, the entire table was full of men and women chattering away. None of them seemed to realize I was there, even when I knocked over an entire glass of wine in an attempt to gain their attention.

I called out to all of the people but no one would listen. Sitting back and looking around the now crowded room, I spotted one person watching me very closely; like creepy close. It gave me chills but I felt like I should know who this person is. They looked so familiar but I couldn't figure out why. The man was chewing on his food slowly before smiling evilly. I gasped and covered my eyes and reopened them to find myself being hauled down a strange corridor by a tall woman. I could hear the sound of armored feet running behind us and the womans sobs. We reach a room and she pushed me towards a small hole in the wall that went pretty far back.

"Aria, my daughter. Take this and don't forget where you came from!"

I turned to look at the woman who was my mother but my view was blocked by a beautiful silver necklace that had a huge green gem hanging from it. I grasped it in my hand and shoved it into a small pocket.

The woman pushed me toward the hole, telling me to hide. Once inside the hole, the woman placed a chair in front of it in an attempt to hide it. I turned uncomfortably in the small space and peeked out to see if I could see the woman properly now but she had already turned her back on me. She was facing the door where the banging was becoming louder. Finally a few men broke through the door and pushed her aside, looking around.

"You will never have her!" My mother yelled before clumsily stabbing one of the men in the back. I graimaced as the man howled before turning and striking her down. I felt tears running down the sides of my face as they leered and groped at her lifeless body before the chair flew away from in front of the hole, causing me to jump and shriek quietly.

The man from earlier in the dream appeared in front of the hole. He leaned down and smiled the same creepy smile before reaching in and jerking me out roughly.

I woke up in a sweat and sat on the edge of my bed. I have this dream about every week and I feel like I should know what the dream means but its still so out of reach. Anytime I try too hard to remember it ends with me passed out on the floor; which can be quite embarrassing when you happen to be in the middle of training. I stood, feeling a little dizzy and crossed the room to grab some more clothes and to gather up my preferred weapons. I usually kept them in my own room as a result of being too paranoid. I strapped on the wrist blade. Thinking of the wrist blade, I glanced down at my partially missing ring finger; Ezio appeared to still have his and use the blade and I decided to ask him later about it.

Standing and covering my head with my hood, I exited my room and made my way to the training ring. As I was approaching the ring, I noted that my father and Ezio appeared to be arguing.

"No, as I said; we are leaving." Ezio replied, sounding agitated.

Mario exclaimed, "Ezio! You barely held your own against Vieri!" I saw Ezio tense up and prepare a retort but Mario silenced him with a raise of his hand.

"You won't survive a week on the road. If you want to leave - so be it." I grinned, knowing that my father would do whatever in his power to make Ezio stay. "But at least do so armed with the skills and knowledge necessary to defend yourself. If not for me; for you mother and sister."

Ezio seemed frustrated but agreed to my fathers logic. Mario noticed me and waved me over.

"Bene." He said. "You will be training with Aria. She will teach you whatever you need to know."

Ezio scoffed and crossed his arms, "She is a woman. I'm pretty sure that I could beat her easily."

I felt my cheeks grow hotter, but this time with anger. I tossed Ezio a sword and he was barely able to catch it because he hadn't been watching me.

"Why don't you put some florins where your mouth is." I said, smirking and giving a small twirl of my sword. My fathers men gave a whoop of excitement. Some were yelling for Ezio to turn the fight down, for his dignity and pride. Others were already placing bets on who would win. It seems that Ezio never turns away from a fight, even if it is with a woman.

He puffed out his chest and replied, "Best two out of three?" I nodded and we began to circle each other around the ring. Surprisingly, Ezio struck first by swinging his sword, clumsily I might add, in my general direction. I dodged and disarmed him quickly; he turned and tried to regain his sword and his fingers were inches from it before I slid my hidden blade right in front of his neck.

I leaned down to his ear and whispered, "That's one."

I barely had time to dodge the punch he had aimed at me and he got me right in the side. It stung and the air was knocked out of me for only a second but I managed to make it to the other side of the ring without Ezio being able to catch me. He picked up his sword and started towards me again. He feinted to the right but I was able to see this coming and jumped out of his way; his sword barely grazing the front of my shirt. I looked down to see a slash along my abdomen before looking back up to Ezio, who gave me a rather cheeky smile.

Ezio swung out at me and I ducked and swung my own sword towards his legs. He jumped over my blade, which really surprised me. He was quicker than I originally thought. Ezio jabbed at me with his sword and I knocked it away from me, laughing.

This seemed to frustrate him and he threw his sword back onto the ground before raising his fists to me. I raised an eyebrow but laughed and dropped my sword as well. He came at me quickly and I tried to deflect his punches but he was much stronger than me. Seeing an opening, I lunged forward and managed to land my fist on his cheek.

As soon as my fist connected, I felt his hand wrap around my small wrist tightly. I struggled to get my wrist released but with his superior strength, it was impossible. He smiled at me before sliding his hidden blade in front of my neck. I heard my fathers men grumbling as the fight was not in my favor anymore.

"That was for my foot earlier, bella."

I rolled my eyes and brought my knee up into his stomach; Ezio released me by pushing me away roughly. I pickws up my sword and whistled at one of the men standing around the ring. He smiled understandingly and threw me a shorter sword. I held them in both hands and twirled them around before dropping into a stance. I could hear all the men begin cheering for me again as well as a few catcalls. I smiled at Ezio with a dark gleam in my eyes.

"You've done it now, nipote!" Mario laughed heartily. "She does not like losing!"

Ezio picked up his own sword watching me warily. I attacked first this time and it was a never-ending flurry of attacks. Ezio barely had time to block before I was pushing him towards the other side of the ring. His blade hit my two and held me there; it was a very close position for the both of us, our faces were only a few inches apart. He smiled at me and whispered,

"Ahh, my dear, you are incredibly sexy when angry." I pushed him away from me and swept out unexpectedly with a leg tripping Ezio. He fell straight on his ass and his sword flew from his hand.

I rose my sword as if I was about to impale him and he closed his eyes. I brought the weapon down and it hit the ground with a thud. Ezio opened one eye to see the damage but I made sure the blade was only very close to his private area. He seemed shocked to see it at that place and looked up at me.

"Next time, I won't miss." I pulled the sword out of the ground and held my hand out for Ezio to take. He ignored it and got up himself and held out his hand to me. I shook it briefly before Mario told us that was enough ass kicking for tonight; we'd have plenty time tomorrow.

All of the men dispersed and headed back to their homes in the city after collecting their winnings and Mario returned to the villa. I noticed that Ezio had not moved. I turned to him to notice that he was smiling at me.

"You are very graceful, bella."

"Don't call me that, Ezio." I reprimanded. "I am your mentor now and there are many things I can teach you."

"Ah, bella." Ezio replied and he slid over to me quietly. "You will not be the mentor for long."

I looked up at him questioningly, "Perche?"

He smiled and ran his finger along the line of my jaw; I could feel myself blush and was glad that the majority of my face was hidden from Ezio because of my hood. "Because there are many things I could teach you as well."

With that, he turned and made his way back into the villa; leaving me with a very apparent blush covering my entire face. After watching Ezio enter the villa, I turned and started to run as fast as I possibly could.

Thanks for reading!

Bene - Well or Good.

Bella - Beautiful

Perche? - Why?