Afterlife

part two

by Go-Go Spiders

The night-time sky was beginning to lighten when Ezio left the docks and scrambled up the side of the nearest building to the roof without being seen. After a moment's hesitation, Federico began to follow him up.

Climbing was strange as a ghost. He could still feel the surface of the building; the bumps of the stucco wall, the smoothness of the clay shingles on the roof, but the sensation was muted. Somehow the building felt less solid to him than Ezio had, as if the only reason he didn't pass through the wall was because he still expected not to be able to. Something to explore later, when he had more time.

"Where are Mother and Claudia?" asked Federico once they had reached the peak of the roof. "Are they all right?" They had still been alive and uninjured when he'd been dragged out of the Palazzo Auditore last night, but then again, he'd also still been alive last night as well. Anything could've happened to them since then.

"They're with Annetta," Ezio said. "As far as I could tell they weren't hurt. Claudia was only a little shaken, but Mother..." He trailed off and looked down at his boots. "Mother didn't speak at all. It was like part of her wasn't there. Annetta said she'd take them to her sister's, but I don't know where she lives."

"And you didn't decide on a safe place to meet up with Annetta later so she could bring you there?" said Federico.

"It...didn't occur to me," said Ezio sheepishly. "After Annetta told me what'd happened, I wanted to go find Father at the prison and they'd already left when I returned to the Palazzo later."

"Then Annetta'll be looking for you," said Federico. "Probably near the Palazzo Auditore. That's where we should go."

From their view high above the ground, the brothers tracked the movements of the patrolling city guards, trying to pick out a safe route back to the Palazzo. Compared to their rooftop race a few nights earlier, when there had only been a few guards on patrol throughout the entire city, now large groups of guards were practically crawling all over the city's streets.

Ezio let out a low groan as a trio of heavily-armed guards walked past the street below them. "The Palazzo was under watch the last time I was there," he told Federico. "It'll probably be under even heavier watch now. There are so many more guards out tonight."

"What did you expect? They're still looking for you, Ezio. Right now you're the most wanted man in all of Firenze."

"They even have guards posted on the rooftops now," Ezio muttered darkly, glaring at an archer positioned on a roof several buildings away - too far for him to notice Ezio, although he risked being spotted if he moved much closer. "How am I supposed to get past them without being seen?"

Federico eyed the throwing knives on Ezio's belt, opened his mouth, but then quickly closed it again. While Ezio had all of their father's weapons, he didn't know the proper technique for using the throwing knives. Even Federico hadn't worked his way up to bladed weapons yet, and Giovanni had actually started to teach him how to be an Assassin.

Federico found himself wishing their father had decided to train him and Ezio as Assassins together, instead of waiting for Ezio to mature a little more before bringing him into the Brotherhood. It would certainly make things easier for Ezio now. Trying to be an Assassin without any training was like being shoved into the river and trying to figure out how to swim before you sank to the bottom. Sometime soon they'd need to find someone to teach Ezio the basic skills of an Assassin, as well as someone who could repair Giovanni's broken hidden blade.

"You could throw a rock," Federico suggested instead.

Ezio scoffed. "My aim may be good, but even I can't hit the head of someone so far away," he said.

Federico rolled his eyes. "Not to hit them, to distract them," he said. "If they're trying to figure out what caused a suspicious noise, chances are they won't be paying attention to the rest of their surroundings. If you were quiet enough, you could walk right behind them and they wouldn't notice."

Ezio stared at him dubiously. "Are you serious?"

"Don't give me that look, little brother. At least give it a try," said Federico.

Still grumbling, Ezio looked around the roof for a stone that'd fallen from a wall, a broken shingle, something hard. He picked up a rock about the size of a lemon, rolling it across his palm for a moment to get a sense of its weight. When the archer was looking away from where they were hiding, Ezio brought his arm back and threw the rock towards the roof the archer was standing on.

The rock hit a chimney on the opposite side of the roof, loudly clattering down the tile. The archer's head swiveled towards the sound. He silently raised his bow and began to slowly creep towards the chimney, leaving a clear path to the next row of empty rooftops.

"Go! Now's your chance!" hissed Federico.

Ezio quietly ran down the roof and leapt onto the next building before running across the rope connecting it to the building the archer was on. As Federico watched, Ezio silently ran up the peaked roof, passing less than fifteen feet behind the archer's back before jumping off the edge to the next building, unseen.

"Nicely done, Ezio!"

Together they slowly made their way back to the Palazzo by the rooftops of Firenze as the sun began to rise, until the cluster of archers ringing the rooftops around the Palazzo Auditore forced them to drop back down to the street.

"It's better this way. Chances are Annetta won't be looking for you up on the rooftops," said Federico as Ezio climbed down the side of one building and into a small dark alley between buildings. He raised his hood over his head and stepped out into the street just as a patrol of city guards rounded the corner less than ten feet away from him. Ezio smoothly turned on his heel and walked back into the alley before they could spot him.

"I don't like this," Ezio told his brother quietly, watching the patrol walk past his hiding place. When they were gone, he cautiously peered out into the street, checking for more guards with his second sight. "I feel exposed."

"Ser Ezio?" came a woman's quiet voice behind him.

Federico turned around to see Annetta carefully slip into the alleyway with them. She brightened when she saw Ezio's face, her eyes passing over where Federico was standing without noticing him. "Ser Ezio, thank God! I thought that was you! I've been looking everywhere." She let out a sigh. "I'm so sorry, I heard what happened to your father and brothers. Horrible."

To Federico, it was obvious she'd been worried. With the news of their executions spreading through the city and the entire city guard out in the streets looking for Ezio, she'd been fearing the worst when she hadn't been able to find him.

Ezio saw her kind, sympathetic face and visibly wilted. "I-I couldn't stop them, Annetta. I tried, I swear! But there were so many guards..."

She looked at him, radiating understanding. "Please, come with me. We need to get you off the streets."

"Ask her about Mother and Claudia," Federico said.

Annetta smiled slightly when Ezio repeated Federico's question to her. "They're safe. I'll bring you to them." Annetta took his hand in hers and pulled him back towards the street.

Ezio shook his head, pulling away from Annetta. "No, it's too dangerous for us to travel together. Tell me where to go and we'll-"

Federico prodded Ezio's side with his translucent elbow.

"-I'll meet you there," Ezio finished.

Annetta glanced at him oddly for a moment before she responded. "My sister's house, just north of the Duomo."

"I'm on my way."

So, not a oneshot anymore. We'll see where it goes.