A/N: Hey everyone! Here is the newest chapter! I have almost finished the next chapter and it will probably be up around next week, hopefully. I only updated once last month, I'm sorry, I was in the midst of planning a trip to Italy! A couple of teachers and students are going from my college and we will be visiting Rome, Florence and Venice. I'M SO EXCITED! If I can raise enough money, that is. lol. R&R! :3

Disclaimer: I don't own Assassin's Creed. Just Aria.

Thanks to all who reviewed (and alerted and favorited - this story is also up to 9,800+ views and I'm pumped for hitting 10K!):

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If I Surrender

Chapter 10: Surprise Encounter

Ezio and I left for Monteriggioni the next morning after Leonardo had made us each of our hidden blades able to hold poison. I had to admit, this would come handy; just walk by someone casually and barely knick them with it and continue on your way. We came to the edge of the city, near the gates when I heard a familiar whinny. I jogged on ahead, feeling excited that I was able to see my dearest friend.

D'Angelo trotted towards me when I came out of gates, the man who was watching the horses came over and demanded that I remove the other steed as soon as possible. I gave him a little more florins than he had asked for and he happily left me alone. I glanced into the stable as Ezio came to my side. A few men were trying to get Diavolo to calm down and were failing miserably. The horse bucked and snorted at the men, looking at them as angrily as a horse could. I laughed and patted Ezio on the back before saying,

"Good luck." Ezio gave me an exasperated glare before turning and entering the stable. I laughed as I continued to hear the commotion. D'Angelo nudged my shoulder with his head, whining again. I pet his head before revealing an apple from my sleeve; I had taken it on the way out of the city, when a merchant had his back turned away from the crowd. D'Angelo made a rather happy sound before snatching the apple out of my hands. I pet his mane as I raised myself onto the horse and waited for Ezio to return.

Suddenly, Diavolo came running out of the stable at breakneck speed with Ezio frantically clinging to his neck. The look on his face was very comical and as the horse bucked again, he flew from his back and hit the ground, hard. I couldn't contain my laughter as Ezio sat up, cursing before running at the steed again. The horse pawed at the ground, almost looking like a bull as it lowered its head and charged at Ezio. Ezio dodged just barely and a group of people were forming around us to watch the display. I noticed a small boy with a basket full of apples standing nearby. I jumped off of D'Angelo and made my way to him.

"Salute," I greeted as I dug around my money pouch for some florins. I dropped a few in his basket. "May I have a few apples?" I asked and the boy nodded vigorously and held the basket out for me to choose. I grabbed two nice sized one before patting the boy on the head and turning away. Giving a sharp whistle, Diavolo and D'Angelo both looked my way; D'Angelo noticed the apples almost immediately and trotted over to me happily. Diavolo kept looking back and forth from me and Ezio, who was circling around the horse to try and jump on his back.

Diavolo kicked out his back legs, almost kicking Ezio, who dodged and moved away from the horse again. Diavolo started walking towards me hesitantly; the people around me all backing away as he came closer. I held my ground and held the steeds gaze, cooing his name softly as he got closer. Once he was close enough, I held up the apple to him and he started gnawing on it. I raised my hand to pet his neck, pausing when he flinched at the movement and then continuing once he calmed back down. As my hand touched his soft, black coat the people around did a small cheer, careful not to spook him again before leaving and going on with their business.

Ezio came to my side, slowly. "How did you do that?" He held out a hand to pet Diavolo as well but the horse nipped his hand as it got closer to him. Ezio scrunched his nose up and jerked his hand away, cursing silently.

"I have found that all creatures just want to loved."

"And what do you want, mia cara?" Ezio asked as he wrapped an arm around my waist, kissing my neck gently. I tilted my head out of instinct, giving Ezio more access to my neck and thought about what I wanted. I honestly hadn't given it much thought, a great portion of my life had been dedicated to training and training alone.

"There is no room for love for one in our position." I said, moving slightly so he would stop kissing me. People were beginning to stare. I grabbed the reins and gestured for Ezio to climb up.

"None whatsoever?" Ezio asked as he watched Diavolo warily. He edged around the side of the horse, trying to sneak to the saddle. As soon as he touched it, Diavolo looked back at him quickly but I cooed and got his attention again.

"None whatsoever." I answered once Ezio was on his steed, petting Diavolos' neck in order to calm him. I passed Ezio the reins and climbed atop D'Angelo. I noticed that Ezio was looking at me strangely. "What?" I asked, feeling a little insecure.

"So, all that has happened between us means nothing to you?" Ezio said, sounding surprisingly bitter as he turned Diavolo and began along the road back to Monteriggioni. I was frozen to the spot, barely noticing as I nudged D'Angelo with my feet and went to catch up with him. Of course, I cared but things just weren't that simple.

"I would not have pegged you for such a romantic, Ezio."

"Si, and if you tell anyone I will have to kill you." He gave me a mock menacing look and I smiled and stuck my tongue out at him. Ezio smiled back slightly, but it did not quite meet his eyes. "You have avoided answering, though. You don't have to worry about hurting my feelings, Aria."

"Ezio…" I paused, taking a deep breath and a time to think of what to say. "I - DUCK!" Ezio made a confused noise that sounded like 'huh?' and was struck by in the shoulder by an arrow. Diavolo reared and Ezio flew off of the horse and hit the ground; he didn't get up. "Merda!" I cursed as I turned D'Angelo towards our attackers. A group of men appeared from the bushes, all holding heavy weapons and smirking at me menacingly. They were wearing Pazzi armor, the family emblem glaring at me in the sun.

I kicked at D'Angelos sides and we took off towards the group. Unsheathing my sword as a few of the men jumped out of the way of us; one man didn't jump far enough and I was able to catch his neck with the tip of my sword. I didn't have long to celebrate the easy victory against the one man because I felt a heavy thud hit D'Angelo and he went down, I jumped off of him, rolling forward to ease my fall. I withdrew my other sword and faced the group that was quickly surrounding me. I looked toward D'Angelo and saw a large spear protruding from his flank. Looking past him, I noticed Ezio was still in the same spot. I focused back on the men surrounding me; there were at least five. This wasn't looking good.

Going into a defensive position, I waited for the men to attack. They were yelling repulsive and vulgar things at me; telling me what they would do with my body once I was dead. My vision was practically red by this point; these men dare to harm my steed and then dare to think that they can mutilate my corpse. I yelled and switched to an offensive position and began my assault.

I brought my long sword down on one man who looked like he was the commander of the group. He blocked it with his blade and pushed me away from him roughly enough to make me fall backwards; I flipped back over on my feet fast enough to block another blade with one of my swords and we were stuck at an impasse so I thrust my shorter blade into his stomach and withdrew it to fend off another. Another man run towards me with his sword raised but I dodged and moved to behind him and stabbed him in the back.

As he fell the last three men looked at one another with fright in their eyes. I took this distraction to jump forward and impale a man through his stomach. I looked back to my other attackers to find that there was only one man left; the commander had disappeared from my sight. The mans hands were shaking and his sword quivered as he held it in front of him. I smiled at him and said, "boo." He jumped backward at the sound of my voice and right into Ezios' waiting blade.

"Glad to see you're finally back with us." I smirked at him and he gave me an annoyed look. His eyes widened suddenly and he ran forward and pushed me to the side. I turned quickly just in time to see the commander slide his blade across Ezios' abdomen. Ezio let out a strangled sound of pain and punched the commander in the face, twitching his wrist barely to make the hidden blade come out and stab through the mans head.

"Ezio! Are you okay?" I rushed to his side and he turned and smiled at me. It was obvious that he was in pain but he refused to let me look at his wound. Brushing my hand away as I reach it towards his stomach.

"Si. It's only a scratch. We should check on D'Angelo, though."

I gasped and fled over to my wounded friend. He hadn't moved an inch from where he fell and the blood was gushing all around the spear. I covered my mouth to keep my sobs from coming out as I laid my hand on the side of his long face. He opened his one eye barely and whinnied at me; Ezio laid his hand on my shoulder.

"We should probably put him out of his misery; I do not think he will survive a wound like this." I nodded and shrugged his hand off of my shoulder. I took out one of my daggers and held it beside his throat before sliding it across.

"Requiescat in pace, mio caro amico." I whispered softly as tears fell from my eyes.

I heard a heavy thud from behind me and turned quickly, holding my dagger in front of me in case we were being attacked again. I saw Ezio laying on the ground, unconscious again by the looks of it. As I approached him, I noticed that his hand was on his wound as if to staunch the blood flow. I moved his hand carefully and gasped at the deep red coloring of his white robe. Stupid, stubborn Ezio should have let me look at it sooner! I started trying to take off his robes but after that seemed to take too long, I cut them off of him.

Grimacing at the long and rather deep cut across his abdomen, I ran back to D'Angelos' corpse and grabbed my medicine bag. Rushing back to Ezio, I took out some medicine that I had gotten from a doctor yesterday and dabbed it across the wound, pausing every time he flinched. I wrapped him up tightly, hoping that it would help the blood flow stop; if it didn't then we would have to sew it.

I gave a sharp whistle and could soon hear the familiar sound of hoofs trotting on the ground. Diavolo walked up to me slowly and I felt like he was almost eying D'Angelo in fear. I cooed and calmed him before taking out mine and Ezios' spare blankets; placing one over D'Angelo and the other I tucked around Ezio tightly. He was shivering and looked very pale from the blood loss. I had wanted to move locations for the night but it would be impossible to move Ezio now. Sighing, I stood and went to look for some sticks for a fire.

By the time Ezio had awoken, I already had a decent fire going and some broth cooking in a small pot we kept with us. He attempted to sit up before falling back again, murmuring in pain. I put my hand on his chest gently to keep him from trying to get up again. The pervious try already had his bandage soaked with blood. I shook my head; we would probably have to sew it.

"Stay still, Ezio." I whispered and his eyes fluttered open; they seemed hazy and he gave me a half-smile that turned into a grimace. I slowly started unwrapping the bandages, trying to ignore all the times Ezio hissed in pain. Finally, once it was off, I checked the wound for infections but thankfully, there wasn't any. I frowned, not yet, at least; I would have to work quickly. "Ezio?" I asked and his head turned my way but his eyes didn't open. "I don't have anything to numb the pain but I do have to sew this wound together or you're going to bleed out." He gave a slight nod before his head fell back to rest on the small pillow I had tucked behind his head. I went to my knapsack and got out a needle and some thread. Father always said that it was a necessity that any good Assassin would have.

I went back to Ezios' side to find that his eyes were open and he seemed a little more alert. He was still pale and felt cool to the touch but he seemed to be conscious of his surroundings. He eyed the needle and thread as I rubbed a little bit of medicine across the wound.

"Do you know what you're doing?" His voice was weak and it seemed like it took a lot of work for him to speak to me. I paused in my movements before putting the thread through the needle.

"I won't lie to you, Ezio. I am an Assassin, not a dottore; this will hurt." Ezio nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain to come. As I slipped the needle through the first bit of skin he tensed up but didn't cry out. I moved it across his wound as quickly as I could without hurting him too much. After a few agonizing minutes, I finished, tied the thread and then cut it with my dagger. I rubbed a little more medicine across it, just in case; I didn't want Ezio to get an infection because of my carelessness.

Ezio opened up one eye to look at the wound before giving me a tired, lop-sided smile. I timidly gave a smile back, wondering what was on his mind. He laid his head back heavily and sighed and I chuckled, moving from his side to the fire to grab the broth. I had taken it off of the fire a little while earlier to cool. I helped Ezio sit up, wrapped the blanket around him and leaned him against a nearby tree and then poured a little bit of broth into a small bowl for him to eat. He sighed contentedly after taking a long drink and leaned his head back, closing his eyes.

I had sat a little bit away from him, to give him some room while he ate but tried to stay close enough to help if he really needed it. I stared into the fire as if I was in a trance; I must have had a strange look on my face because Ezio spoke suddenly, his voice sounding a little more healthier.

"Are you well?"

I looked over at him and rose my brow in good humor. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" His eyes went past me for a small second, lingering on the place where I knew D'Angelos' body to be. I shook my head and stood up, brushing off the dirt on my robes before crossing our small camp and taking Ezios' bowl to get more broth. As I poured the broth, I said, "I will be fine, Ezio. There is no need to worry about me." I passed him the bowl and his fingers lingered on mine as I pulled away.

"You spend all your time worrying about others, bella." Ezio said after taking a small drink. "You should let someone worry about you for a change."

I sat down right beside Ezio and leaned against the tree, our shoulders were touching slightly. Ezio was drinking out of the bowl with one hand and the other was in between us. I reach over and squeezed his fingers, causing him to pause in mid-gulp before continuing and looking over at me when he was finished. "I appreciate the effort, Ezio, truly. But I do think that we need to head to Monteriggioni as soon as possible to get you checked out by a dottore." I said after taking his bowl and laying to the side.

Ezio made a small scoffing sound before answering, "I'm fine."

"Don't be stubborn." I growled impatiently at him, he was obviously in need of a real dottore. I reach over and lifted the cloth bandages I had wrapped around it to check and see how it was looking. Ezio sighed as my fingers barely touched his abdomen and I could feel the flush already starting to creep up my neck; it was like Ezio had me stuck in a permanent blush lately.

Ezio started to retort but I never gave him the chance because before I even thought about what I was doing, I had my lips pushed against his. It was chaste and short, but that wasn't what was important. Up to that point every move had been made by Ezio and I had no idea what kissing him might mean for us. I had no idea what Ezio would think. I leaned away and placed the bandage back over the wound; it was looking a little better and the bleeding was slowing now. As I started to move away Ezio grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to his side.

I still refused to meet his gaze; I couldn't believe that I just did that, how stupid of me! I could feel Ezios' breath on my neck, near my ear.

"Grazie, Aria." His voice was deep and his breath was hot on my neck. "I guess I owe you now."

"Just let me out of that little bet we had and I'll consider us even." I turned and smirked at his surprised expression. Hah, thought I had forgotten so easily, did you? I thought to myself triumphantly.

"Ha! You think I will let you go that easily?" I stared at him; my glare was unwavering. "Okay, okay. You win this time but only because I am too tired to argue."

"Good choice." I replied coolly and Ezio rolled his eyes at my tone. I stood and dumped some water I had gathered from a nearby stream on the fire. I grabbed my saddle bags from D'Angelos' body and put them on Diavolo before I gathered the rest of our belongings. Turning back to Ezio, I found him standing in front of me and he looked very pale. There was a little bit of blood on his bandage but it wasn't anything life threatening. I handed him one of his spare shirts before I whistled sharply, causing Ezio to grimace at the sound and Diavolo trotted over to us, warily. "Will you be able to get on?" I asked as I grabbed the reins to hold the horse still.

"Si." Ezio replied shortly and lifted himself onto the horse in a swift movement. He moved forward and looked at me expectantly. I shook my head.

"No, I will take the reins." Ezio gave me a haughty look as if I was insulting his manhood. Rolling my eyes, I continued, "In case you pass out. You've lost a lot of blood." The look in his eyes faded and he nodded briefly before moving back to give me room to get on. Once I was on, he wrapped his arms around my waist and he rested his head against my shoulder.

"I think I prefer this, anyway." Ezio said cheekily as he pulled me closer to his body. I blushed, thankful that Ezio couldn't see my face at the moment. I nudged Diavolos' side and we continued our way to Monteriggioni.

It had taken a few hours for us to finally come to Monteriggioni; I didn't want to wear out Diavolo too quickly. He already had more weight to carry than he should. Ezio was sleeping on my shoulder still, his arms were limply wrapped around my waist. I took Diavolo up the steps to Villa Auditore.

"Ezio?" I whispered as we came to a halt in front of the doors. He sighed faintly before groaning and sitting up all the way. I slid off the horse gently and helped Ezio down as best as I could. He swayed on his feet as I watched one of my fathers men come up to us. His name was Armando, I think.

"Salute!" The man said as he took the reins from my hands. I placed a hand on Ezios' arm to steady him; he was looking more pale by the second.

"Salute, will you go fetch a dottore as soon as possible?" I asked as we started towards the door. Armando nodded before hollering at another of my fathers men to come help him with Diavolo. Ezio and I continued on inside but as soon as we stepped a foot in the door, a squeal sounded and Claudia flew down the steps to our side. Maria came down much more slowly.

"Salute, Claudia." Ezio said weakly. "Mother." He gave both women a small hug, moaning in pain when Claudia squeezed him tightly. She jumped away from him with wide eyes. I shook my head as I lead Ezio towards my room because I didn't think he could make it up the stairs. Maria followed as Claudia ran to find Mario. I sat him on my bed and forced him to lay back as we waited for the dottore. I sat on the edge and he grabbed my hand, squeezing it as he fell back asleep. I didn't remove my hand but I could feel Marias' gaze on my back.

"Aria! Ezio!" My fathers' voice boomed as he walked into the room. He noticed Ezio sleeping and lowered his voice. "What happened, figlia?" His eyes strayed to our joined hands before going back to mine with a questioning look. I shrugged and took my hand away.

"We were ambushed on the way back." I answered and Claudia gasped. "Ezio was injured pretty badly." I lifted his shirt and the bandage to show them the wound.

"Hello?" A mans' voice came from the main hall and Claudia ran to see who it was. A few moments later, they both returned and the dottore came to the bed. He studied the wound before turning to us all. "He will be fine; the sewing has helped but you must be sure to cut it out before it becomes attached to the skin." He held up a pouch. "He must take this medicine once a day." Mario walked the man back out. He came back and asked Claudia and Maria to leave. Maria left without a word, as expected but Claudia huffed angrily and gave a few snide comments before Mario gave her a very pointed look; she backed off instantly.

"How was the mission?" He asked once the sound of their footsteps faded away.

"It was a success but Jacopo de Pazzi escaped." Mario nodded solemnly as he went to stand by my window. "We need to find him."

"My men have been searching but the bastardo stays hidden from our sight." He replied, his voice was thick with anger. Ezio groaned suddenly causing Mario and I to turn towards him. He opened his eyes and looked confused for a second before recognizing my room.

"Ah, zio." Ezio greeted as he slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position.

"Salute, nipote. How are you feeling?" Mario asked.

"I've felt better, that's for sure." Ezio replied with a small grimace on his face. He touched his side as if it pained him and I passed him the pouch with his medicine in it. He nodded his thanks as he took it.

"Where were we?" My father mused for a moment, tapping his chin. "Ah, yes. Finding Jacopo."

"We have a list of his conspirators." Ezio said, looking between the two of us. He quickly relayed the information that Lorenzo gave him. "One of them must know where he is!"

"Sounds like a fine plan to me. My men and I will scout out the men that are hiding in the countryside. Aria." He turned towards me. "You will take out the two men in the city." I nodded but I could see Ezios' confused expression out of the corner of my eye.

"What about me, zio?"

"You are too wounded to fight." Ezio looked upset. My father waved his hand at him. "Do not worry, we will get the job done well enough." He turned to me again. "I will go and begin the arrangements."

After he left, Ezio and I sat in silence. "You must be careful." I looked towards him, surprised.

"You think I can't handle it?" I asked, getting angry but keeping my face blank as can be. Ezio shook his head and grabbed my hand.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you, Aria. I don't know what I would do." I swooned because who wouldn't? That was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me. I leaned forward and kissed him once. He smiled as I moved back.

"I will be fine." I patted his cheek gently. "Get some rest." He nodded and laid back on the bed as I left to go help my father with the planning.

Thanks for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

:3

Mio caro amico - my dear friend

Salute - Hi