Afterlife

part thirteen

by Go-Go Spiders

From the rooftop, watching Federico tear down the posters, Ezio had heard a child crying. Careful to avoid exposing himself to the archers, he moved around the roof's chimney, peering into the maze of streets and deserted alleyways below.

He spotted the child in the corner of an empty side-street, half-hidden by shadow. He was sitting with his legs pulled up to his chest, his face buried against his bony knees. All that was visible of his head was his dark-brown hair.

Ezio felt a pang of sympathy. He was already moving for the edge of the rooftop before he was aware what he was doing. He carefully climbed down the building, jumping from ledge to ledge until he had reached the street.

Looking up suddenly as Ezio approached him, the boy tried to scramble backwards, but his back hit the wall behind him.

"Don't be afraid," said Ezio. He pulled his hood down, away from his face. Crouching down, he tried to give the boy a reassuring smile. "Tell me, little one, why are you crying? Did you lose track of your parents?"

The boy shook his head, tears still running down his cheeks. "No, my mamma and papà are dead."

"Mi dispiace," said Ezio, slipping one hand into his purse. "Do you need - "

There was a noise behind him, and the last thing Ezio remembered before blacking out was an explosion of pain in the back of his skull.

Ezio woke up with a groan and tried to raise a hand to his throbbing head. It was only when he couldn't that he realized his hands were bound behind his back with rope.

'Idiota,' Ezio thought bitterly. He'd been careful to keep an eye out for guards; he'd never thought he'd be in any danger from a little boy.

"I think our criminal is waking up, Ilario," said a young voice excitedly, too loud and too close for Ezio's throbbing head to take. He flinched away.

He was lying on his side in a small abandoned cellar, candle stubs spread all over the cellar providing a meager amount of light. Two boys dressed in tattered clothing, the one he'd found in the alley and an older boy not even Petruccio's age, crowded around him, looking at him like he was an extravagant meal. Ezio could see his belt of throwing daggers and the sword he'd taken from the guard to replace the one he'd lost lying on the ground behind the boys – next to one of the posters advertising the reward for his capture, dead or alive.

It didn't take a genius of Leonardo's caliber to figure out what they planned to do with him.

Ezio felt for his hidden blade, and was relieved to still feel the bracer and the weight of the mechanism against his arm. The boys hadn't realized it was as dangerous a weapon as the others they'd taken from him. They'd managed to tie his hands so that releasing the hidden blade wouldn't cause him to stab himself, but he still very carefully flexed his wrist, hearing the whisper-quiet sound of the blade sliding out. He twisted his hand to begin sawing at the ropes, suppressing a wince as the ropes rubbed his skin raw.

"What is this?" Ezio said, purposefully slurring his words to mask how aware and alert he truly was. Better to be underestimated, even if his captors were only children. "Who are you?"

"Ilario!" said the younger of the boys to the other. "Should we hit him again?" He held out a large rock to the older boy, and Ezio had the sickening feeling it was the same 'weapon' that had knocked him out in the first place.

"No," said Ezio firmly as he slowly sat up. The tiny dust-covered cellar swam in and out of focus for a moment. The boys hadn't bothered to bind his legs, but were smartly out of kicking range.

"Why not?" said the older boy, Ilario, sullenly. "You're our prisoner, after all."

"Because if you hit my head again like that, you'll kill me," Ezio said bluntly, still carefully cutting at the ropes. "And it's much easier to make a living man walk than for two young boys to drag a body all over Firenze." He paused. "Again."

Ilario scowled, unconsciously rolling one of his shoulders.

The ropes around Ezio's wrists went slack, softly falling to the ground behind him. Ezio retracted the hidden blade, but kept his hands in the same position, as if they were still bound.

"You want the reward for me, is that right?" said Ezio after a moment of silence.

The younger boy nodded enthusiastically.

"Did someone put you up to this?" asked Ezio. He eyed their clothing – in poor condition now, but made from expensive fabric once. And while they were both dirty, they didn't have the hollow look of years and years of constant starvation about them. Either someone was looking after them or they hadn't been on the streets for very long.

"No, we did it ourselves!" said the younger boy, oddly proud. "Usually my brother just picks the purse of whoever we can lure into the alley, but we recognized your face right away, Ezio Auditore. You're worth a lot more than the twelve florins in your purse!"

"Alessandro," Ilario said warningly, elbowing his younger brother in the side. "Shut up."

"Ezio! Brother, where are you?"

Ezio glanced up as he heard Federico's voice call out his name from the roof of the cellar. "In here!" he shouted.

Ilario scowled. "There's no one around to hear you, Auditore. Not even the guards come around this place."

"Ezio! Grazie a Dio!" Federico jumped down, passing through the ceiling of the cellar, and landed between the two boys and Ezio. He looked around the cellar at the two boys, the large rock in Alessandro's hands, and Ezio stripped of his weapons.

Ezio gave him a sheepish smile.

"Why is it always rocks with you, Ezio?" Shaking his head, Federico plucked the rock from the boy's grip and tossed it to Ezio, who caught it with his unbound hands.

Alessandro shrieked as the rock left his hands, attaching himself to his older brother's arm.

Ilario grabbed Ezio's sword and held it out in front of him and Alessandro, the blade quivering in his hand. From the way he was gripping it, it was doubtful he had any idea how to use a sword. "Why did you throw the rock at him?" he asked his brother tersely, keeping his eyes on Ezio.

There were tears in Alessandro's eyes. "I didn't!" he protested. "Something took it from me!"

"Honestly. I leave you alone for ten minutes and you get yourself abducted by children," said Federico teasingly. He clapped one of his hands down on the sword's blade, forcing it down and away from Ezio. Ilario struggled for a moment to try and raise the sword, but he was no match for Federico's strength. The sword stayed down.

"It wasn't on purpose, brother," Ezio said to Federico, dropping the rock. He stood up, towering over the two small boys.

"Who are you talking to? How'd you get out of the ropes?" said Ilario, struggling to keep his voice even. He had the look of someone badly out of their depth. Alessandro was just staring at Ezio with wide eyes and quietly making a hight-pitched noise behind his older brother that sounded like 'eeeeee'.

"You know what happened to the rest of the Auditore family, yes?" said Ezio. Ignoring the sword that Ilario was still trying to jab towards him, Ezio grabbed his belt and carefully rebuckled it around his waist, making sure that all of the throwing knives were still in their proper places. "The heralds have been shouting what happened to them all over the city for days."

"Your father and brothers were hung for treason," said Ilario, struggling to wrestle control of the sword back from Federico. Federico suddenly released it, and Ilario stumbled back. "But you said 'brother' before – both of your brothers are dead!"

Federico took hold of Ilario's wrist – not twisting it, just clutching it - but it was enough to make Ilario let go of Ezio's sword. Releasing Ilario, Federico caught the sword before it could hit the ground, and then held the hilt out towards his brother.

Staring up at the floating sword, Ilario and Alessandro backed away from it until they reached the wall of the hovel. Ilario thrust his arm out to keep his younger brother behind him.

"That's true. My father and both my brothers were hanged." Ezio took the sword from Federico and checked the edge on it. Finding no damage, he hung it from the loop on the belt. "They died branded traitors to la Repubblica di Firenze when there was no one more loyal to Firenze than my father."

"Why are you telling us this? How did you make that sword do that?" said Ilario, pointing a shaking finger accusingly at Ezio. Alessandro quivered behind him, only a few moments away from tears. "Are you a heretic?"

Ezio sighed, shaking his head, and knelt down in front of the two boys. Despite the goose-egg bump on the back of his head from Ilario, he found himself wanting to help the two boys. They reminded him of himself and his brothers, in a way. "If you'd handed me to the guards and asked for the 50,000 florin reward, what do you think would've happened?" Ezio said gently.

"They...would've given us the money?" squeaked Alessandro uncertainly.

"Two little orphan boys find and capture a man the entire Florentine Guard hadn't been able to take down in days," said Ezio. He shook his head slowly. "It would've been a public disgrace to the Guard, made them the laughingstock of the city that they were bested by two children. No. Easier to charge you with pick-pocketing, throw you into the Palazzo della Signoria with me, like they did my father and brothers, and keep the reward money."

Ilario and Alessandro both turned pale. "But that's not fair!" said Alessandro. "They promised a reward!"

"People make promises they have no intention of keeping all the time," said Federico. "Unfortunately."

In his mind's eye, Ezio replayed the moment he'd handed over the documents that could've saved the lives of his father and brothers to Alberti. He'd felt a sliver of doubt at the time, but it had been drowned out by his own confusion and fear, and the soothing reassurances of Alberti that he would make things right. If only Ezio'd listened to that doubt, perhaps things would've been different. He glanced over to the transparent ghost of his older brother.

The two boys were clever, but they were still just children. If they stayed on the streets, it was only a matter of time before they were caught stealing or pick-pocketing by the guards, who had no issues with sending beggar children to their deaths.

"They did promise a reward," Ezio told the two boys. "And you did capture me, after all. You should get something."

"Ezio? What are you thinking, exactly?" said Federico.

"Come with me," said Ezio. He held out a hand towards them. "I have a friend I'd like for you to meet."

Ilario and Alessandro stared at him. For a moment, none of them moved.

"Ten minutes ago, we had you tied up and ready to turn over to the guards," said Ilario quietly, his face closed off. Suspicious. "Why would you want to help us?"

"I cannot change what has already happened to my family, to my brothers," said Ezio. "But perhaps I can try to prevent something equally as bad from befalling you two."

Part of the reason this chapter took longer than usual was because I originally had someone else abduct Ezio instead of Ilario and Alessandro, but I wasn't really happy with it. I also had a different, slightly more cliffhanger-y, ending point in mind for this chapter, but it was getting too long. Next time!

I was asked why I was looking forward to the Assassin's Creed movie coming out in December. Mainly, I'm excited because: 1. The director and cast have an excellent track record, 2. The costumes and set design for the Spanish Inquisition look fantastic, and 3. I am very bad at actually playing video games (I lost count how many times I crashed Leonardo's wagon and the flying machine in ACII). This doesn't mean that the AC movie will be good, of course, but I am cautiously optimistic. c: