moesartblog

[moesartblog]

Chapter 11

okie okie

Chapter Masterpost

Seeing his father’s body hanging lifeless from the gallows, Ezio suddenly felt a torrent of adrenaline take him over. Harshly shoving cheering spectators aside, he focused all his energy on sprinting straight for Uberto, with the fury in his heart giving him unprecedented speed. Just as he was about to reach the scaffold, he saw Uberto notice his rapidly approaching presence, and quickly signaled some guards in a panic. Two burly, armored men flanked Ezio on each side, and violently gripped each of his arms, completely halting his progress. All he could do for now was try to wrest his arms from their hold, and yell. 

“I’LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOUVE DONE!” Ezio’s voice carried clearly through the half cheering, half murmuring crowd. Uberto, feeling a little more secure, confidently stepped forward on the scaffold to meet Ezio’s eyes. 

“Threatening a gonfaloniere? Should I suspect you have the same treasonous intent as your father?”

“Bastard…!” Ezio spat out, still struggling to free himself. 

“Guards, arrest him for this credible threat upon my life, and suspicion of treason!” Uberto ordered. The reality of this situation was starting to become more vivid to Ezio. If they could kill his father so easily, being arrested here would make his like forfeit. He wouldn’t be able to protect his family if he was brought in. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, he maneuvered in a way to twist both the arms of the guards hard enough to let his arms go. As he stumbled back, he tried to gauge if he might be able to sprint past them to reach Uberto, but as he saw them unsheathe their weapons, all hope of that was lost. 

By this point the crowd had thinned out considerably because of the commotion. He took a look around to measure his options as the guards began to circle him. He noticed a familiar face, an older courtesan with a worn dress, looking at him warningly. “You better run, boy. And fast!” She whisper-shouted just enough for Ezio to hear, but the guards to not notice. With such a clear warning, he sprang back toward the crowd, sprinting for the closest building. The guards were in hot pursuit, but the second Ezio had leapt up the closest ledge, their heavy armor halted any sort of capture they might make, and they watched the young boy disappear over the edge of the rooftop.

—-

With the wind fluttering his hooded cape wildly behind him, Federico ran like a bat out of hell directly towards the Vespucci household, winding through streets which seemed to be holding less people than usual. By the time he had turned the corner towards the direction of the front door, he was heaving breaths, and his heart was slamming in his chest. He approached the door trying to regain his composure, and he lifted his hand to knock on the front door, but he stopped just before hitting it. If Ezio was here, he surely wouldn’t have let anyone in the Vespucci house, save Cristina, know it. So, Federico walked around the side of the abode to where Cristina’s window was. 

He scaled the side of the building when he was sure no one was around and held onto the ledge of the window. He tapped lightly to see if anyone familiar would answer, silently praying Ezio hadn’t left as he was making his way here. 

“…Hello?” Cristina asked expectantly. Federico tapped once more, and Cristina swung open the glass with a smile, until she looked down to see Federico. Her smile drooped down into a disappointed expression. 

“May I come in? It’s urgent...” Federico said softly. 

“I suppose… Just make sure no one sees you.”

Federico obliged and discreetly maneuvered his way into her room. “I need to speak to Ezio. Where is he?” 

Cristina furrowed her brow a bit. “I don’t know,” she responded incredulously.

Federico turned to face her fully from looking around the room for signs of his brother. “Cristina, if he is here, I need you to tell me. This is no frivolous matter.” His tone was uncharacteristically stern, to which Cristina sneered at him. 

“I have not seen Ezio since the day of that fight you two had on the Ponte Vecchio. Now tell me what is going on. I don’t like not knowing why I’m being accused of hiding him.” Cristina’s worry and impatience was bubbling up. Hearing that Ezio was not only not here, but hadn’t been for days, Federico’s stomach sank. The combination of a lack of sleep and the sudden realization that his brother could be anywhere had him stumble back a bit and have to steady himself on Cristina’s bureau. She quickly jumped over to help right himself, letting go of her previous annoyance. “Federico… are you alright? Can you please tell me what’s wrong?”

He looked at her and then went to the window trying to parse out the next best option for him. “I am sorry to worry you, Cristina.” He attempted to climb out the window, but her hand quickly stopped him. 

“No. Do not leave until you tell me what is going on. You cannot barge into my room, fill my head with vagueries, and anxiety, and then just leave.” Cristina’s tone was resolute, and the Auditore did see how his actions were unfair to her. 

“I do not have much time, but simply, our father has been arrested,” Cristina blinked softening her gaze and grip, “And now I do not know where Ezio has gone, so I must find him.” 

Cristina fully relinquished her grip on him and fiddled with her fingers. “I’m sorry, Federico…I want to help. If I see him today, I will send him straight back home. I promise.” Federico nodded, grateful for her sincere offer. With a small smile, he thanked her and made us way back down to the streets below.

His hood now back up, he hastily made his way back through the streets. Figuring heading straight home as soon as possible to look for clues to where he’d gone might be the better option, rather than guessing and failing again. He was able to hear talk from other passersby, whispering about a “gruesome” and “grand” event. He heard the word execution several times, and his worry was starting to get to him. 

Occasional comments of “I wonder what will happen to the family…” and “It was about time” as he winded through the streets made his thoughts swirl, and the amount of deflection he was having to do for himself was immense. It couldn’t have been his father. The right evidence was taken to the right people. It would certainly make for some interesting talk to learn of which family had been the victim of a public execution. People wouldn’t be so cavalier about it being Giovanni… would they? 

Madness was wrapping his mind, and the only way he knew it might slightly abate was to make his way home... And to avoid the piazza…

——- 

Maria was too restless to continue staying in bed and so had decided to go down to a lower floor room, by a window to do some embroidery work. It was doing just enough to keep her mind from spiraling. But the peace didn’t last long. 

Ezio, completely disheveled and out of breath, gracelessly stumbled into the room his mother was sitting in, startling her upright. She quickly set her supplies down and briskly walked over to her son, who was wide-eyed and stood still. 

She cupped her hands around his face with a bit of force. “Ezio Auditore! What were you thinking!?”

Ezio said nothing and kept staring blankly downward. The stern expression on Maria’s face slowly morphed into one of confusion. “…Ezio?” she asked worriedly. He looked up at his mother, and finally seeing her face, he could not hold back the torrent. Hot stinging tears streamed down into his open sobbing mouth. His body shook violently, as he gripped his mother’s shoulders tightly, bowing his head.

“M-mama… I’m sorry, mama…! I couldn’t …! I c-… s-save him…! Mama..! I’m s -sorry!” Almost every word was broken with a heaving sob or shaky inhale for breath he couldn’t seem to find enough air for. He kept his head bowed begging for forgiveness. Maria regrettably knew exactly what a reaction like this meant, and she couldn’t move. With her son hanging onto her shoulders, shaking with tears, she could only stare. Forward. Her world was now fully in the hands of chaos, and no one emotion could push its way to the front of her mind. 

“Madonna?” Annetta quickly entered hearing the sudden noises and saw the lady of the house staring blankly ahead, with a weeping son clinging to her as if he was about to slip away and die if he let go. She rushed over to try and get Ezio’s attention, hopefully to calm him down and figure out what had happened. He was able to let go of his mother, only to cling onto Annetta, looking at her with a face full of tears, snot, and drool. It had been many, many years since she had seen the young boy look like this. She used a spare cloth to try and wipe his face and calmly ask him what was wrong. 

Through several seconds of hard sniffing and fighting sobs, he meekly uttered out “He’s dead…!” 

The second Maria heard that, a feeling finally shunt its way to the forefront, and she let out a single cry, as if she had been hit, which caught the other two’s attention. It took a moment, but her blank stare also started to fill with tears, and she began to weep, face buried in her hands, her knees beginning to buckle. Anetta quickly shifted from Ezio to Maria’s aid, guiding her back to her chair. The second she sat down, she let out a wailing cry that ran her throat raw, drawn out until she could expel no more breath. Her face was red and twisted with grief, and each inhale was a labor unto itself. Anetta tried her best to comfort her, through her own growing grief. 

Ezio continued to sob, watching his mother’s heart break in front of him, knowing in his mind it was his fault. He should not have left the house; he should not have provoked the Pazzi. He should have kept out of trouble. He was unsure of how to console her. He was unsure if he even could. All he could do was stand small, shrinking himself away to give his mother’s grief room to breathe. 

“…Who is going to tell them?” Ezio asked through sniffling. Anetta looked between the both of them and decided they were in no position to do such a thing. And with the now fragile position of the household, things would need to start moving quickly. 

“I will. You two stay here.” She quickly left the room to head upstairs when she saw Girolamo descending them with the two younger Auditore in tow. 

“What is going on? We heard yelling…” Claudia asked. Anetta patted her on the shoulder softly.

“I need to speak to the both of you for a moment. Go into the Sala, and wait for me there. I need to speak to Girolamo for a moment alone.”

With the tone she had, Claudia and Petruccio both knew better than to try and push back on anything right now. They both headed towards the Sala and when they were out of earshot, Anetta turned to Girolamo. 

“What the hell is going on?” He asked worriedly. 

“Giovanni is dead,” Anetta said very matter of fact. Girolamo reeled back as if he had been struck. 

“Merda…” He very quickly signed a cross across his body, before sighing. “Is that what the yelling was?”

“Sí. I think… I think, when he snuck out, Ezio may have seen his father killed.” Thinking about it made her heart ache. 

“Oh… that poor boy…” Girolamo had immense sympathy for them. He briefly rubbed a hand across his face. “So… what happens now?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems likely we will need to leave this place very soon. I have a place to put them up in for a short while. If any new details come up, I will let you know.”

“Mm, understood. Anetta, no matter what happens, it was a pleasure working with you all these years.”

She smiled at him. “Likewise. Now it’s best you go see to lady Maria and Ezio, while I will… inform the young ones of what had happened.” Girolamo nodded and made his way over to the other room. 

—-

Federico had decided to give the Palazzo della Signoria as wide of a berth as he felt he could on his way home, since he was absolutely in no shape to be seeing the result of an execution. When he turned a corner into a street that led to the front of his home, he noticed some guards attempting to cajole open the front gate which he had thankfully locked. These guards did not seem particularly friendly and based on their behavior it didn’t seem they were attempting to enter to bring the family good news. He sneakily made his way around the side of the palazzo, and when he saw an opportunity, ran over to a door he knew how to deftly unlock with some unique maneuvering of the lock. Once he had finally gotten inside, he immediately made his way to the courtyard, careful to make sure the guards he had seen earlier had departed. Just as he was about to activate his gift to look for signs of where Ezio may have gone, he heard a considerably alarming cry from one of the rooms nearby. On instinct, he instantly ran towards the source of the cry, and swung open the door suddenly, to which he saw a sight that made his stomach sick. His mother looked at him somewhat startled, with a face stained in tears, holding a weeping Petruccio in her arms. Anetta was standing to the side, holding an also weeping Caludia. Finally, he saw Girolamo, standing over the hunched figure of Ezio, who held his face in his hands, silently. Federico’s mind was hitting a block trying to register the scene before him. He had an ugly feeling that he knew the cause, but to admit it, even just in thought… He didn’t know how to handle it. 

Maria stood up, sniffling away what tears she could for the moment, and still holding Petruccio, moved toward her eldest son. Her steps were sluggish, and she had to close her eyes and breathe hard to keep from breaking down again. Federico’s thoughts kept repeating the word “no” over and over; louder and louder as each step of his mother brought her closer. When she was finally close enough, she looked him in the eye, solemnly, to which she was greeted with a look of dread. She slowly brought a hand to rest on his cheek. 

“My boy… your father…” Maria tried to speak to him, but after those words he couldn’t register what she was saying. He didn’t want to. 

“… Are you sure?” Federico asked hesitantly. He saw Ezio flinch out of the corner of his eye. 

“Sí, my son. Ezio… Ezio witnessed it.” Hearing that suddenly something in his head shifted. He knew the grief would be coming soon, but right now he had to be the pillar for the family to rely upon. He walked over to his brother, knelt in front of him, and placed a hand on his shoulder, but said nothing. He wasn’t sure if he could utter anything. But he wanted Ezio to know he was still here for him. 

From his head still held in his hands, Ezio spoke. “… I couldn’t do a thing…” Federico was curious as to what he meant but didn’t push. “The moment came, and I froze… I could have reached him in time…” by the end of his sentence, his words were starting to sound strangled. Federico stood, and gently tugged on his brother’s shirt to have him stand as well. His younger brother obliged and stood mournfully. The eldest swiftly brought Ezio into a full strong embrace. He firmly rubbed his brothers back as he quietly stated, “I’m sorry,” and “It wasn’t your fault”. It took him a moment, but Ezio finally reciprocated the hug, gripping the back of his brothers cloak tightly, weeping into the crook of his neck. They stood together like that for a couple minutes, before Federico relinquished his grip a bit.

He was thinking about what needed to be done now. He was the eldest son, and the responsibilities of the family now fell to him. But he was just 22 now suddenly having to juggle his father’s death and his family’s future. He knew he didn’t have time to inquire about what had happened, and that the most important thing now was where they should go next. 

“I don’t believe it is safe for us here any longer. We will need to leave the palazzo, probably indefinitely.” Federico sighed. “What I don’t know is where we could possibly be housed until we sort this out.”

Anetta suddenly chimed in. “I do. My sister’s place will work to hold all of you.”

“Good.” Federico said with a relieved sigh. “That’s good… we all need to leave as soon as possible. Based on the couple of guards I saw trying to enter our gates, I’d say we don’t have much time left. I need everyone to grab what they can carry and meet me in father’s Scritto as quickly as possible.” He paused for a moment. “Essentials only.” 

The youngest Auditore pried his face away from his mother’s side. “Will we… be able to come back at some point?” 

“I don’t know, Petruccio. I’m sorry.” His youngest brother’s face became forlorn, but he nodded anyway. “I will meet back up with you all shortly.”

With that, Federico left, hearing Anetta and Girolamo beginning to guide the family to their rooms to pack. He headed for his room first, hastily grabbing a sack to stuff some clothing in. He wasn’t thinking very hard about what he was bringing. Most of his mental energy right now was being used to not think about his father. But even with that, he couldn’t keep away the nagging thought about his father’s assassin equipment. That is something that should not be left behind. As he stuffed the last doublet he cared to bring in the sack, he quickly made his way to the stairs where he nearly ran into Ezio heading the same way. 

“Sorry, Ezio.”

“Are you finished?” He was clearly exhausted, carrying his own bag of items, though Federico didn’t feel like there was nearly enough. 

“Almost. I must grab a couple of father’s things. I’ll be right there.” Ezio watched him as he left. Federico emerged into the courtyard and slipped into Giovanni’s office to activate the fireplace hidden room. Ducking under and getting that scent of the passageway in his nose, he had to fight back tears knowing this may be the last time he will see this place. Composing himself, he grabbed several items from the chest he had rummaged through earlier, including a dagger, a bracer with a broken blade, some old documents, and an old green silk ribbon he remembers his father used to tie his hair with occasionally. 

The last thing he was moving to bring with them was his father’s armor. He was fiddling with the straps when he heard a gasp from behind him, startling him upright. Ezio was ducking in to look at the room in shock. “What… what is this?”

“Ezio! I thought you would be waiting with the others.” He knew Ezio would learn of this stuff eventually, he just wished it wasn’t like this. 

“I wanted to help… How did you know this was here?” Ezio asked starting to sound accusatory. 

Federico had to swipe back hair that had fallen into his face to seem composed. “Ezio, I will tell you about this I swear, but not right now. Please, go find the others.” His attempts at a stern tone were undercut by a sound of guilt in his voice. To which Ezio straightened his face to become unreadable. 

“Alright.” Ezio’s tone was cold. He left promptly, leaving Federico to finish his task. 

He entered the Scritto last, with everyone carrying some amount of supplies. He walked over to his mother and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled at him and moved to activate another mechanism which revealed another passageway, this time with stairs leading into the dark underground. 

The two youngest Auditore both looked at the moving stone with shock and wonder. They had a cacophony of questions to ask, but neither could summon a word. Ezio, in contrast, gave a slightly incredulous look at his brother, who didn’t meet his gaze. He was in disbelief at the things hiding in his own home, and he could feel the ugly creeping of resentment settling inside himself. There were so many questions, but he decided to stew quietly given the urgency of the situation. 

Maria led the group slowly down the stairway into the depths below. With Federico at the back, he had just activated the mechanism to close the passageway when he heard the front metal gate loudly crash to the ground outside. As the stone sealed up, he briefly glanced out the window to see a group of guards start storming their home. Just in time, the way back was sealed, and Federico had to take a breath to fully take in the moment. Even if he did come back home, what would become of it by then? 

Half jogging, he caught up to the rest of his family as they found their way through the tunnel guided by Maria’s single dimly lit candle.

——

Viola paced back and forth in her room, fuming, but also anxious about her situation. She didn’t feel any of what she said was wrong, but she regretted her outburst, and now she would have to deal with the consequences of it. The thought of being in the countryside made her feel a bit sick. She enjoyed the noise and culture of the city, and, while she had always considered herself more grounded than the rest of her family, she was still interested in the latest fashions, and gossip her friends in the city provided. It broke her heart to think she would be leaving it behind. 

She huffed, wiping away the beginnings of tears, and heard a small knock at her door. 

With a sniffle, she quietly said, “Come.” She presumed it was Guilia coming to help her, but she instead saw her brother peek in from behind the door. Her look of disappointment was palpable. “What do you want?” She asked, turning around to grab some more of her jewelry for packing. 

“You should take back what you said,” Vieri said, uncharacteristically quietly. 

“Why? I meant every word,” Viola said, tossing a necklace into a box. 

“Because then you may not have to leave.”

Viola turned to face him.  “Whether I stay or go has never seemed to be any of your concern before. Why care now?” 

Vieri was starting to fiddle with the stitching on one of his gloves, looking everywhere but at his sister. “… I know you don’t want to leave.” 

“Once again I ask; Why do you care?” 

“I don’t want you to leave…” Vieri said. Viola was slightly taken aback at the sudden sincerity. “You annoy me endlessly, and I will never understand how you couldn’t see what we were trying to accomplish with the Templars but…” Vieri wanted to be honest, but that had never been easy with anyone in the family. “Just apologize, rescind your words, and I’m sure you’ll be allowed to stay. I don’t believe father truly wants to send you away.”

Viola thought she was about to get more of the Vieri she used to know, but the excuses for their father’s behavior quashed those hopes. She rolled her eyes and moved to sit on the edge of her bed. “If that was true, he wouldn’t have threatened me by sending me away.” 

Vieri tentatively moved to sit next to her. “It was just his way of… showing he cares.” Vieri wasn’t sure how to try and explain his father’s thought process. 

“You must stop trying to defend his actions to me. Despite everything, maybe getting away from here would be good after all.” She said leaning back on her hands. Vieri tensed up. 

“I still don’t want you to leave… I… hate to admit it but… you are essentially the last friend I have here…” 

Viola looked at her younger brother, noticing a slight tinge of red painted on his cheeks. She sighed, and leaned onto him, to give him a sideways hug. “I haven’t seen this side of you in a while, fratello. I wish I had seen more of it before I had to leave.” 

Vieri kept his gaze trained on the floor but reluctantly leaned into his sister embrace. He wasn’t sure what to make of that comment. He always had felt like himself. In honesty, he swore it was Viola who had changed.

“...Something… strange happened today,” Vieri said. Viola looked at him questioningly. “Rodrigo Borgia had brought his children with him to view the execution, and he asked me to watch after them briefly while he discussed plans with father,” Vieri could see Viola start to lose interest in his Templar dealings. “Anyway, his daughter admitted something to me that… I’m not sure how to parse…” 

“What did she say?”

“She said something about her father saying it is a daughter’s duty to act as the wife in her father’s bedchambers sometimes… or something. She said her father told her not to tell anyone, but she cannot keep a secret.”

“Ugh.” Viola wrinkled her nose. “Che schifo! And you still follow this man?” 

Vieri blinked and realized he didn’t have a good answer to that question. “I… I am trying to protect our family’s legacy. That is all. Rodrigo be damned, but if he can further the Pazzi name-”

Viola stood up suddenly, groaning.  “Perhaps I’ll pack faster so I don’t have to hear any more of these speeches.” 

Vieri was starting to get annoyed, but he stood up and awkwardly stood by, thinking of what to say next. “I saw how she and her brothers acted toward each other.” Viola turned slightly to look at him. “I don’t want us to end up like that…” With that, Vieri made his way to the door but paused momentarily in the doorway. “I will write to you.” He headed off down the corridor. 

Viola pinched the bridge of her nose, with exhaustion starting to take her over. She was unsure of what the future held for her, but despite it all, she still held hope.

[moesartblog]

Chapter 11

okie okie

Chapter Masterpost

Seeing his father’s body hanging lifeless from the gallows, Ezio suddenly felt a torrent of adrenaline take him over. Harshly shoving cheering spectators aside, he focused all his energy on sprinting straight for Uberto, with the fury in his heart giving him unprecedented speed. Just as he was about to reach the scaffold, he saw Uberto notice his rapidly approaching presence, and quickly signaled some guards in a panic. Two burly, armored men flanked Ezio on each side, and violently gripped each of his arms, completely halting his progress. All he could do for now was try to wrest his arms from their hold, and yell. 

“I’LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOUVE DONE!” Ezio’s voice carried clearly through the half cheering, half murmuring crowd. Uberto, feeling a little more secure, confidently stepped forward on the scaffold to meet Ezio’s eyes. 

“Threatening a gonfaloniere? Should I suspect you have the same treasonous intent as your father?”

“Bastard…!” Ezio spat out, still struggling to free himself. 

“Guards, arrest him for this credible threat upon my life, and suspicion of treason!” Uberto ordered. The reality of this situation was starting to become more vivid to Ezio. If they could kill his father so easily, being arrested here would make his like forfeit. He wouldn’t be able to protect his family if he was brought in. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, he maneuvered in a way to twist both the arms of the guards hard enough to let his arms go. As he stumbled back, he tried to gauge if he might be able to sprint past them to reach Uberto, but as he saw them unsheathe their weapons, all hope of that was lost. 

By this point the crowd had thinned out considerably because of the commotion. He took a look around to measure his options as the guards began to circle him. He noticed a familiar face, an older courtesan with a worn dress, looking at him warningly. “You better run, boy. And fast!” She whisper-shouted just enough for Ezio to hear, but the guards to not notice. With such a clear warning, he sprang back toward the crowd, sprinting for the closest building. The guards were in hot pursuit, but the second Ezio had leapt up the closest ledge, their heavy armor halted any sort of capture they might make, and they watched the young boy disappear over the edge of the rooftop.

—-

With the wind fluttering his hooded cape wildly behind him, Federico ran like a bat out of hell directly towards the Vespucci household, winding through streets which seemed to be holding less people than usual. By the time he had turned the corner towards the direction of the front door, he was heaving breaths, and his heart was slamming in his chest. He approached the door trying to regain his composure, and he lifted his hand to knock on the front door, but he stopped just before hitting it. If Ezio was here, he surely wouldn’t have let anyone in the Vespucci house, save Cristina, know it. So, Federico walked around the side of the abode to where Cristina’s window was. 

He scaled the side of the building when he was sure no one was around and held onto the ledge of the window. He tapped lightly to see if anyone familiar would answer, silently praying Ezio hadn’t left as he was making his way here. 

“…Hello?” Cristina asked expectantly. Federico tapped once more, and Cristina swung open the glass with a smile, until she looked down to see Federico. Her smile drooped down into a disappointed expression. 

“May I come in? It’s urgent...” Federico said softly. 

“I suppose… Just make sure no one sees you.”

Federico obliged and discreetly maneuvered his way into her room. “I need to speak to Ezio. Where is he?” 

Cristina furrowed her brow a bit. “I don’t know,” she responded incredulously.

Federico turned to face her fully from looking around the room for signs of his brother. “Cristina, if he is here, I need you to tell me. This is no frivolous matter.” His tone was uncharacteristically stern, to which Cristina sneered at him. 

“I have not seen Ezio since the day of that fight you two had on the Ponte Vecchio. Now tell me what is going on. I don’t like not knowing why I’m being accused of hiding him.” Cristina’s worry and impatience was bubbling up. Hearing that Ezio was not only not here, but hadn’t been for days, Federico’s stomach sank. The combination of a lack of sleep and the sudden realization that his brother could be anywhere had him stumble back a bit and have to steady himself on Cristina’s bureau. She quickly jumped over to help right himself, letting go of her previous annoyance. “Federico… are you alright? Can you please tell me what’s wrong?”

He looked at her and then went to the window trying to parse out the next best option for him. “I am sorry to worry you, Cristina.” He attempted to climb out the window, but her hand quickly stopped him. 

“No. Do not leave until you tell me what is going on. You cannot barge into my room, fill my head with vagueries, and anxiety, and then just leave.” Cristina’s tone was resolute, and the Auditore did see how his actions were unfair to her. 

“I do not have much time, but simply, our father has been arrested,” Cristina blinked softening her gaze and grip, “And now I do not know where Ezio has gone, so I must find him.” 

Cristina fully relinquished her grip on him and fiddled with her fingers. “I’m sorry, Federico…I want to help. If I see him today, I will send him straight back home. I promise.” Federico nodded, grateful for her sincere offer. With a small smile, he thanked her and made us way back down to the streets below.

His hood now back up, he hastily made his way back through the streets. Figuring heading straight home as soon as possible to look for clues to where he’d gone might be the better option, rather than guessing and failing again. He was able to hear talk from other passersby, whispering about a “gruesome” and “grand” event. He heard the word execution several times, and his worry was starting to get to him. 

Occasional comments of “I wonder what will happen to the family…” and “It was about time” as he winded through the streets made his thoughts swirl, and the amount of deflection he was having to do for himself was immense. It couldn’t have been his father. The right evidence was taken to the right people. It would certainly make for some interesting talk to learn of which family had been the victim of a public execution. People wouldn’t be so cavalier about it being Giovanni… would they? 

Madness was wrapping his mind, and the only way he knew it might slightly abate was to make his way home... And to avoid the piazza…

——- 

Maria was too restless to continue staying in bed and so had decided to go down to a lower floor room, by a window to do some embroidery work. It was doing just enough to keep her mind from spiraling. But the peace didn’t last long. 

Ezio, completely disheveled and out of breath, gracelessly stumbled into the room his mother was sitting in, startling her upright. She quickly set her supplies down and briskly walked over to her son, who was wide-eyed and stood still. 

She cupped her hands around his face with a bit of force. “Ezio Auditore! What were you thinking!?”

Ezio said nothing and kept staring blankly downward. The stern expression on Maria’s face slowly morphed into one of confusion. “…Ezio?” she asked worriedly. He looked up at his mother, and finally seeing her face, he could not hold back the torrent. Hot stinging tears streamed down into his open sobbing mouth. His body shook violently, as he gripped his mother’s shoulders tightly, bowing his head.

“M-mama… I’m sorry, mama…! I couldn’t …! I c-… s-save him…! Mama..! I’m s -sorry!” Almost every word was broken with a heaving sob or shaky inhale for breath he couldn’t seem to find enough air for. He kept his head bowed begging for forgiveness. Maria regrettably knew exactly what a reaction like this meant, and she couldn’t move. With her son hanging onto her shoulders, shaking with tears, she could only stare. Forward. Her world was now fully in the hands of chaos, and no one emotion could push its way to the front of her mind. 

“Madonna?” Annetta quickly entered hearing the sudden noises and saw the lady of the house staring blankly ahead, with a weeping son clinging to her as if he was about to slip away and die if he let go. She rushed over to try and get Ezio’s attention, hopefully to calm him down and figure out what had happened. He was able to let go of his mother, only to cling onto Annetta, looking at her with a face full of tears, snot, and drool. It had been many, many years since she had seen the young boy look like this. She used a spare cloth to try and wipe his face and calmly ask him what was wrong. 

Through several seconds of hard sniffing and fighting sobs, he meekly uttered out “He’s dead…!” 

The second Maria heard that, a feeling finally shunt its way to the forefront, and she let out a single cry, as if she had been hit, which caught the other two’s attention. It took a moment, but her blank stare also started to fill with tears, and she began to weep, face buried in her hands, her knees beginning to buckle. Anetta quickly shifted from Ezio to Maria’s aid, guiding her back to her chair. The second she sat down, she let out a wailing cry that ran her throat raw, drawn out until she could expel no more breath. Her face was red and twisted with grief, and each inhale was a labor unto itself. Anetta tried her best to comfort her, through her own growing grief. 

Ezio continued to sob, watching his mother’s heart break in front of him, knowing in his mind it was his fault. He should not have left the house; he should not have provoked the Pazzi. He should have kept out of trouble. He was unsure of how to console her. He was unsure if he even could. All he could do was stand small, shrinking himself away to give his mother’s grief room to breathe. 

“…Who is going to tell them?” Ezio asked through sniffling. Anetta looked between the both of them and decided they were in no position to do such a thing. And with the now fragile position of the household, things would need to start moving quickly. 

“I will. You two stay here.” She quickly left the room to head upstairs when she saw Girolamo descending them with the two younger Auditore in tow. 

“What is going on? We heard yelling…” Claudia asked. Anetta patted her on the shoulder softly.

“I need to speak to the both of you for a moment. Go into the Sala, and wait for me there. I need to speak to Girolamo for a moment alone.”

With the tone she had, Claudia and Petruccio both knew better than to try and push back on anything right now. They both headed towards the Sala and when they were out of earshot, Anetta turned to Girolamo. 

“What the hell is going on?” He asked worriedly. 

“Giovanni is dead,” Anetta said very matter of fact. Girolamo reeled back as if he had been struck. 

“Merda…” He very quickly signed a cross across his body, before sighing. “Is that what the yelling was?”

“Sí. I think… I think, when he snuck out, Ezio may have seen his father killed.” Thinking about it made her heart ache. 

“Oh… that poor boy…” Girolamo had immense sympathy for them. He briefly rubbed a hand across his face. “So… what happens now?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems likely we will need to leave this place very soon. I have a place to put them up in for a short while. If any new details come up, I will let you know.”

“Mm, understood. Anetta, no matter what happens, it was a pleasure working with you all these years.”

She smiled at him. “Likewise. Now it’s best you go see to lady Maria and Ezio, while I will… inform the young ones of what had happened.” Girolamo nodded and made his way over to the other room. 

—-

Federico had decided to give the Palazzo della Signoria as wide of a berth as he felt he could on his way home, since he was absolutely in no shape to be seeing the result of an execution. When he turned a corner into a street that led to the front of his home, he noticed some guards attempting to cajole open the front gate which he had thankfully locked. These guards did not seem particularly friendly and based on their behavior it didn’t seem they were attempting to enter to bring the family good news. He sneakily made his way around the side of the palazzo, and when he saw an opportunity, ran over to a door he knew how to deftly unlock with some unique maneuvering of the lock. Once he had finally gotten inside, he immediately made his way to the courtyard, careful to make sure the guards he had seen earlier had departed. Just as he was about to activate his gift to look for signs of where Ezio may have gone, he heard a considerably alarming cry from one of the rooms nearby. On instinct, he instantly ran towards the source of the cry, and swung open the door suddenly, to which he saw a sight that made his stomach sick. His mother looked at him somewhat startled, with a face stained in tears, holding a weeping Petruccio in her arms. Anetta was standing to the side, holding an also weeping Caludia. Finally, he saw Girolamo, standing over the hunched figure of Ezio, who held his face in his hands, silently. Federico’s mind was hitting a block trying to register the scene before him. He had an ugly feeling that he knew the cause, but to admit it, even just in thought… He didn’t know how to handle it. 

Maria stood up, sniffling away what tears she could for the moment, and still holding Petruccio, moved toward her eldest son. Her steps were sluggish, and she had to close her eyes and breathe hard to keep from breaking down again. Federico’s thoughts kept repeating the word “no” over and over; louder and louder as each step of his mother brought her closer. When she was finally close enough, she looked him in the eye, solemnly, to which she was greeted with a look of dread. She slowly brought a hand to rest on his cheek. 

“My boy… your father…” Maria tried to speak to him, but after those words he couldn’t register what she was saying. He didn’t want to. 

“… Are you sure?” Federico asked hesitantly. He saw Ezio flinch out of the corner of his eye. 

“Sí, my son. Ezio… Ezio witnessed it.” Hearing that suddenly something in his head shifted. He knew the grief would be coming soon, but right now he had to be the pillar for the family to rely upon. He walked over to his brother, knelt in front of him, and placed a hand on his shoulder, but said nothing. He wasn’t sure if he could utter anything. But he wanted Ezio to know he was still here for him. 

From his head still held in his hands, Ezio spoke. “… I couldn’t do a thing…” Federico was curious as to what he meant but didn’t push. “The moment came, and I froze… I could have reached him in time…” by the end of his sentence, his words were starting to sound strangled. Federico stood, and gently tugged on his brother’s shirt to have him stand as well. His younger brother obliged and stood mournfully. The eldest swiftly brought Ezio into a full strong embrace. He firmly rubbed his brothers back as he quietly stated, “I’m sorry,” and “It wasn’t your fault”. It took him a moment, but Ezio finally reciprocated the hug, gripping the back of his brothers cloak tightly, weeping into the crook of his neck. They stood together like that for a couple minutes, before Federico relinquished his grip a bit.

He was thinking about what needed to be done now. He was the eldest son, and the responsibilities of the family now fell to him. But he was just 22 now suddenly having to juggle his father’s death and his family’s future. He knew he didn’t have time to inquire about what had happened, and that the most important thing now was where they should go next. 

“I don’t believe it is safe for us here any longer. We will need to leave the palazzo, probably indefinitely.” Federico sighed. “What I don’t know is where we could possibly be housed until we sort this out.”

Anetta suddenly chimed in. “I do. My sister’s place will work to hold all of you.”

“Good.” Federico said with a relieved sigh. “That’s good… we all need to leave as soon as possible. Based on the couple of guards I saw trying to enter our gates, I’d say we don’t have much time left. I need everyone to grab what they can carry and meet me in father’s Scritto as quickly as possible.” He paused for a moment. “Essentials only.” 

The youngest Auditore pried his face away from his mother’s side. “Will we… be able to come back at some point?” 

“I don’t know, Petruccio. I’m sorry.” His youngest brother’s face became forlorn, but he nodded anyway. “I will meet back up with you all shortly.”

With that, Federico left, hearing Anetta and Girolamo beginning to guide the family to their rooms to pack. He headed for his room first, hastily grabbing a sack to stuff some clothing in. He wasn’t thinking very hard about what he was bringing. Most of his mental energy right now was being used to not think about his father. But even with that, he couldn’t keep away the nagging thought about his father’s assassin equipment. That is something that should not be left behind. As he stuffed the last doublet he cared to bring in the sack, he quickly made his way to the stairs where he nearly ran into Ezio heading the same way. 

“Sorry, Ezio.”

“Are you finished?” He was clearly exhausted, carrying his own bag of items, though Federico didn’t feel like there was nearly enough. 

“Almost. I must grab a couple of father’s things. I’ll be right there.” Ezio watched him as he left. Federico emerged into the courtyard and slipped into Giovanni’s office to activate the fireplace hidden room. Ducking under and getting that scent of the passageway in his nose, he had to fight back tears knowing this may be the last time he will see this place. Composing himself, he grabbed several items from the chest he had rummaged through earlier, including a dagger, a bracer with a broken blade, some old documents, and an old green silk ribbon he remembers his father used to tie his hair with occasionally. 

The last thing he was moving to bring with them was his father’s armor. He was fiddling with the straps when he heard a gasp from behind him, startling him upright. Ezio was ducking in to look at the room in shock. “What… what is this?”

“Ezio! I thought you would be waiting with the others.” He knew Ezio would learn of this stuff eventually, he just wished it wasn’t like this. 

“I wanted to help… How did you know this was here?” Ezio asked starting to sound accusatory. 

Federico had to swipe back hair that had fallen into his face to seem composed. “Ezio, I will tell you about this I swear, but not right now. Please, go find the others.” His attempts at a stern tone were undercut by a sound of guilt in his voice. To which Ezio straightened his face to become unreadable. 

“Alright.” Ezio’s tone was cold. He left promptly, leaving Federico to finish his task. 

He entered the Scritto last, with everyone carrying some amount of supplies. He walked over to his mother and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled at him and moved to activate another mechanism which revealed another passageway, this time with stairs leading into the dark underground. 

The two youngest Auditore both looked at the moving stone with shock and wonder. They had a cacophony of questions to ask, but neither could summon a word. Ezio, in contrast, gave a slightly incredulous look at his brother, who didn’t meet his gaze. He was in disbelief at the things hiding in his own home, and he could feel the ugly creeping of resentment settling inside himself. There were so many questions, but he decided to stew quietly given the urgency of the situation. 

Maria led the group slowly down the stairway into the depths below. With Federico at the back, he had just activated the mechanism to close the passageway when he heard the front metal gate loudly crash to the ground outside. As the stone sealed up, he briefly glanced out the window to see a group of guards start storming their home. Just in time, the way back was sealed, and Federico had to take a breath to fully take in the moment. Even if he did come back home, what would become of it by then? 

Half jogging, he caught up to the rest of his family as they found their way through the tunnel guided by Maria’s single dimly lit candle.

——

Viola paced back and forth in her room, fuming, but also anxious about her situation. She didn’t feel any of what she said was wrong, but she regretted her outburst, and now she would have to deal with the consequences of it. The thought of being in the countryside made her feel a bit sick. She enjoyed the noise and culture of the city, and, while she had always considered herself more grounded than the rest of her family, she was still interested in the latest fashions, and gossip her friends in the city provided. It broke her heart to think she would be leaving it behind. 

She huffed, wiping away the beginnings of tears, and heard a small knock at her door. 

With a sniffle, she quietly said, “Come.” She presumed it was Guilia coming to help her, but she instead saw her brother peek in from behind the door. Her look of disappointment was palpable. “What do you want?” She asked, turning around to grab some more of her jewelry for packing. 

“You should take back what you said,” Vieri said, uncharacteristically quietly. 

“Why? I meant every word,” Viola said, tossing a necklace into a box. 

“Because then you may not have to leave.”

Viola turned to face him.  “Whether I stay or go has never seemed to be any of your concern before. Why care now?” 

Vieri was starting to fiddle with the stitching on one of his gloves, looking everywhere but at his sister. “… I know you don’t want to leave.” 

“Once again I ask; Why do you care?” 

“I don’t want you to leave…” Vieri said. Viola was slightly taken aback at the sudden sincerity. “You annoy me endlessly, and I will never understand how you couldn’t see what we were trying to accomplish with the Templars but…” Vieri wanted to be honest, but that had never been easy with anyone in the family. “Just apologize, rescind your words, and I’m sure you’ll be allowed to stay. I don’t believe father truly wants to send you away.”

Viola thought she was about to get more of the Vieri she used to know, but the excuses for their father’s behavior quashed those hopes. She rolled her eyes and moved to sit on the edge of her bed. “If that was true, he wouldn’t have threatened me by sending me away.” 

Vieri tentatively moved to sit next to her. “It was just his way of… showing he cares.” Vieri wasn’t sure how to try and explain his father’s thought process. 

“You must stop trying to defend his actions to me. Despite everything, maybe getting away from here would be good after all.” She said leaning back on her hands. Vieri tensed up. 

“I still don’t want you to leave… I… hate to admit it but… you are essentially the last friend I have here…” 

Viola looked at her younger brother, noticing a slight tinge of red painted on his cheeks. She sighed, and leaned onto him, to give him a sideways hug. “I haven’t seen this side of you in a while, fratello. I wish I had seen more of it before I had to leave.” 

Vieri kept his gaze trained on the floor but reluctantly leaned into his sister embrace. He wasn’t sure what to make of that comment. He always had felt like himself. In honesty, he swore it was Viola who had changed.

“...Something… strange happened today,” Vieri said. Viola looked at him questioningly. “Rodrigo Borgia had brought his children with him to view the execution, and he asked me to watch after them briefly while he discussed plans with father,” Vieri could see Viola start to lose interest in his Templar dealings. “Anyway, his daughter admitted something to me that… I’m not sure how to parse…” 

“What did she say?”

“She said something about her father saying it is a daughter’s duty to act as the wife in her father’s bedchambers sometimes… or something. She said her father told her not to tell anyone, but she cannot keep a secret.”

“Ugh.” Viola wrinkled her nose. “Che schifo! And you still follow this man?” 

Vieri blinked and realized he didn’t have a good answer to that question. “I… I am trying to protect our family’s legacy. That is all. Rodrigo be damned, but if he can further the Pazzi name-”

Viola stood up suddenly, groaning.  “Perhaps I’ll pack faster so I don’t have to hear any more of these speeches.” 

Vieri was starting to get annoyed, but he stood up and awkwardly stood by, thinking of what to say next. “I saw how she and her brothers acted toward each other.” Viola turned slightly to look at him. “I don’t want us to end up like that…” With that, Vieri made his way to the door but paused momentarily in the doorway. “I will write to you.” He headed off down the corridor. 

Viola pinched the bridge of her nose, with exhaustion starting to take her over. She was unsure of what the future held for her, but despite it all, she still held hope.

[moesartblog]

We all really took the wrong lesson from trying to adjust marginalized characters who may embody stereotypes

Anyway, i need to see more 100% in your face masculine butches who unabashedly love women and being butch

[moesartblog]

practicing drawing furries

[moesartblog]

practicing drawing furries

[moesartblog]

another drawing of a scene from my fic :p

[moesartblog]

Chapter 10

SO. Real quick, I know canonically Vieri is born and dies years before the few characters introduced are even born, but i dont care lol. I wanted to have had them have some sort of interaction when they were younger for later in the story. :)

anyway hope you enjoy!

TW: Brief Mentions of Child Sexual Abuse

Chapter Masterpost

For the remainder of the night, the entirety Auditore household sans Giovanni remained in the bedroom of their parents. It was a long and restless night. The only ones who seemed to get any amount of sleep were Petruccio, who remained in his mother’s waking lap, Claudia who had crawled onto the foot of the bed and curled up there to rest, and Rinaldo still tired from the day, and his age catching up with him. Federico had quietly grabbed a chess board from an adjacent room to play with Annetta, knowing neither of them were going to be able to sleep. He had offered to play against Ezio but his little brother refused, being too worked up to focus on a game. He sat in a separate chair across the room, with his mother repeatedly having to ask him to stop agitatedly stomping his foot so the others wouldn’t wake up.

Ezio’s mind just wouldn’t stop racing, and it was starting to drive him mad. A few times he had involuntarily moved towards the door to leave before his brother would catch his arm and ask him to sit back down.

“…I just don’t understand.” Ezio’s quiet but firm voice cut through the silence in the room.

“What don’t you understand?” Federico asked, pausing his game.

“Isn’t there something we can do?” Ezio desperately asked.

“You already brought that letter to Messer Alberti, sí?” Annetta asked softly.

“Yes, but… I just…” Ezio gripped his hair in frustration. “Maybe we could go back to his cell together, and find a way to get him out?”

Federico fully turned around in his chair to face his younger brother. “Do you not have faith that the gonfaloniere will handle all of this?”

“I… yes? No? I don’t know! He assured me everything would work out, but… agh I don’t know I have this awful feeling in my gut.”

“Of course you do, Ezio. Something horrible has happened to our family today. It is not unusual to feel these things.” Maria said, trying to be as reassuring as possible.

“No, that’s not- ugh! None of you are listening to me!” Ezio’s volume was starting to rise as he got more worked up and his mother had to gesture for him to quiet down. “I have to get out of here...” Ezio was starting to spiral, when a quick catch of the light caught his eye. It was a small stream beaming though a gap in the drawn curtains. Finally, it was daytime. He peeked through the curtains carefully and saw dawn coming across the sky as well as people beginning their days out in public. Ezio sighed in relief. “It’s sunrise! We can finally leave this damned room!”

Just as he was about to burst out the door Federico stopped him. “Ezio, we can probably move about the house safely, but we should still stay put, and keep a low profile until we receive word about father from someone. I’m sure we’ll hear something soon about the acquittal. But it’s still likely until then that people will have their eyes trained on us. I don’t want anyone else to get arrested, so please just stay in the house.” Federico was trying desperately to retain some amout of calm idealism about him, but sleep deprivation was making that difficult. Ezio took a moment to look at him, frowned and huffed out a dejected “Fine. I guess I’ll just… go grab some food…”

Claudia suddenly shot up. “Can I come too? This room is becoming unbearably stuffy and I need to breathe.” Ezio smiled at her and gestured for her to follow him, which she obliged with a happy bounding over toward the door.

“Wait!” Petruccio suddenly spoke, which startled the others who had assumed he was still asleep. “Could you also grab me some parchment and a quill with ink when you come back up? Please?”

“I’ll go grab that, Petruccio.” Federico said. His younger brother smiled at him sweetly.

Federico took a left out the door, while the other two siblings took a right, and walked down the stairs side by side, careful to not misstep in the dark.

“Ezio?”

“Mm?”

“I never got a chance to ask you the other day about Duccio,” Claudia said quietly. “How did he react when you told him the engagement was off?”

Ezio scoffed softly. “He reacted with blood in his nose, and piss in his hose.” His tone was smug, remembering the scrap he ended up having with his almost-brother-in-law.

Claudia grew a wicked grin across her face. “Good.” Ezio looked over at his little sister, a little concerned at the sinister tone she was taking, but happy that she had ended up detaching her feelings from him. She didn’t deserve to suffer over someone like him.

When they entered the kitchen, the atmosphere was dark and cool. The only light came from streams beaming through the slatted window shutters.

“I don’t imagine it would be wise to try and cook anything right now.” Ezio said looking for wayward food.

“Perhaps we can when father comes home-aha!” Claudia suddenly held up a large chunk of Pecorino Romano from a lower cupboard. “Found it!”

Ezio squinted int the dim light to see what she had found. “That would pair well with some bread and wine.”

“Well, then you go grab that, and I’ll start dicing this cheese.”

“Leave some of the softer pieces for me. I know your penchant for hiding all the best parts for yourself.” Ezio could feel his sister’s frown, even with his back turned to her. He started rummaging around for some wine and bread, with a tray to place it all on. Meanwhile, Claudia grabbed a kitchen knife from a knife block nearby, and began carefully cutting.

“…Ezio?”

“Yes, sister?”

“... I know it may seem foolish, but… father’s arrest has been so stressful and… There is a part of me that wishes Duccio was here.” Ezio fully looked at his sister, whose head was held lower than it had been before. “I know what he really is, and I don’t need to hear a whole spiel about it, but… there were times when he was kind, and his comfort would have been welcome here, now.” She finished off her sentence with a little sniff, trying to hold back tears. Ezio promptly stood up and walked over to his younger sister to wrap her in a hug from behind.

“You’ll hear no spiel from me, for your sake. I know how you feel.” Ezio moved to look her in the eye. “I desperately wish I could see Cristina for some comfort.”

Claudia frowned at her brother. “Some comfort, huh?”

Ezio frowned in turn, rolled his eyes, and moved away to return to searching for wine and bread. “I don’t mean that kind of comfort. Something about her eases any anxiety I have…  She has a way of speaking that would ease the sun to set.”

Claudia looked at him incredulously. “‘Ease the sun to set’? What dusty tome of poetry did you steal that from?”

Ezio stood up, finally holding a bottle of wine, and a small loaf of bread. “She’s also there for me when my family refuses to give me even a moment of grace.” He walked back over to his sister and set the items down roughly. Claudia wasn’t fazed in the slightest. Even through the jeering, the both of them did appreciate the small moment of normalcy between them. “Do you think Federico would be upset if I snuck out to visit her?” His feelings were genuine, but his tone was more humorous than anything.

“He said to not leave the palazzo, so yes, I do think he would be, even if it was to go off and make love or whatever it is you do with her. Sun setting, and all.” Claudia picked up the tray of cheese and started to walk towards the entryway of the kitchen when Ezio stopped her.

“Would you mind bringing up the wine and bread as well? I want to step outside for a bit to get some fresh air. Oh! And…” Ezio scrambled away for a moment and brought back two cups of clear water. “Some water for you, and Petruccio.” He finished off his sentence with a smile.

“I am forced to carry all of this up the stairs myself, and I do not even get a sip of wine as a reward?”

“You should take all of your grievances up with mother, since she’ll be the one to reprimand you.” Ezio gave his forlorn sister a pat on the back, and he made his way outside.

Claudia, tired of being treated like this after so much stress, snuck a large gulp of wine directly from the bottle as she was ascending the stairs.

——-

Ezio, desperately needing some amount of air, discreetly stepped out into a dark corner of the palazzo’s front courtyard. It took just a few deep breaths for him to calm down a bit and put his mind at some ease. Sitting underneath the shade and peering out the front entrance gate to see the city bustling as usual was comforting for him, despite everything. He decided to sit a little closer to the entrance, without being seen, to try overhear some of the conversations people were having. Most of what people were talking about were spattered gossip, and politics, but one voice caught his attention.

“The trial is starting soon! We should hurry!” He heard a woman say excitedly to some companion.

A trial? That must be for father!

He was going off a hunch. Other people’s trials could be taking place, and the start of the judiciary’s work day was about now, at around 9 o’clock in the morning. But the stress of everything going on had him focused on almost nothing but his father. As he stood up, he was having a heated debate in his head about what to do. He promised his brother he would do not leave the palazzo. He didn’t intend to be causing any harm by seeing his father’s acquittal, but he could also see a scenario where he comes home with father to his brother, and the relief of seeing the both of them would… still make Federico upset for disobeying him, but just slightly less. But Federico was an understanding person. He gave Vieri plenty of chances to show kindness even when he didn’t deserve it.

At the end of it, Ezio figured it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. He was aching to see his father again. Federico would understand. And so, he quietly snuck out the entrance towards the piazza of the Palazzo della Signoria.

———

Federico returned to his parent’s room with the items his younger brother had requested, and Petruccio sprang up from the bed, grinning widely.

“Here you are,” Federico said, gently handing over the supplies.

“Grazie!” Petruccio carried the items to the desk that was situated towards the back of the room, typically used for Giovanni’s work. He took a seat and began prepping a quill. Federico quickly looked over everyone else; Rinaldo who was still sleep, Anetta, who had decided to keep her hands busy sewing some patterns into linen, and his mother who was “resting my eyes for a moment”. Satisfied at the state of things, he quietly pulled over a chair to sit next to Petruccio and watch what he was working on. It was hard to tell what he was doing, and after a bit of starting, Petruccio was discreetly trying to cover up the page with his arm.

“Brother… do you have to stare while I illustrate?” Petruccio said quietly, blushing.

Federico leaned back. “My apologies. I was just curious about what you had decided to commit to parchment.” The youngest brother looked at his page skeptically for a moment and furrowed his brow.

“I was attempting to create one of those illusion drawings. The sort where you see one thing one way…” He held up the paper in a particular orientation. “and then see another thing, another way.” He then rotated the paper 180°.

“Ah.” Federico was pretty sure he knew what his brother meant, but his skills in drawing were unfortunately lacking.

“Can you tell what it is supposed to be?” Petruccio asked so innocently that it made Federico almost panic at not knowing the answer.

“Oh! Aeh… it’s a, um… well from this angle, it… a bird…?”

Petruccio’s face fell. “It is meant to be an amphora…”

“Oh, well, of course,” Federico started fumfering. “Yes, I see the-the handles and-“ he suddenly stopped seeing Petruccio start to giggle.

“I jest, Federico. I do not know what I was drawing, I was just testing out the quill quality.”

Federico blinked, then roughly ruffled his little brother’s hair. “That kind of attitude is going to get you in trouble someday soon. Mark me.”

Right then, Claudia entered the room, looking over dramatically exhausted, carrying a tray with bread, cheese, cups of water and a bottle of wine. “Your highnesses, I have brought you provisions.” She set her charcuterie down on the bedside table. “You are welcome.”

Federico rose to grab the tray, with a smile for his sister. “Grazie, Claudia. Where is Ezio?”

“He said he needed to get a little bit of fresh air. He’ll probably be up shortly.”

“Ah, so that’s why you came to us carrying all of this. Thank you again for your sacrifice, sister.”

She smiled snidely, grabbed a small handful of cheese and sat down to eat. Federico handed out wine to the three other adults in the room and served the bread and cheese to those who wanted some. Federico sat down and began to nibble on some bread for himself following some hearty sips of wine.

Maria, now sitting up in bed, took small sips of her drink.

“Did you not want wine, Madonna?” Rinaldo asked her.

“Mm, no, this is fine. I just feel I should save some of it to celebrate Giovanni’s return.”

Federico was glad his mother was remaining optimistic about this whole situation, at least outwardly. There were a lot of things to point to that would have this situation conclude poorly. But she held her head high. It’s something Federico had always admired about her. He smiled and took a bite of some bread. A few minutes went by with everyone eating, and a relaxing of the air. Aside from a few moments of sibling bickering between Petruccio and Claudia about the portion sizes of their bread not being equal, the room was starting to settle.

“Federico? Perhaps you should ask Ezio if he would rejoin us. Just while we eat,” Maria asked her son. Federico could tell there was a very slight tinge of motherly worry in her request, and she wanted to make sure her family was in sight for the moment. He nodded and exited the room to go quietly call for his brother.

He first checked outside in the courtyard but saw no sign of his brother. Returning inside, he began calling around the palazzo for Ezio. After the 5th call, Federico was starting to feel the seeds of worry creep in his gut. Perhaps with more rest he could manage these feelings with ease, but he was simply heightened. He started to more frantically look for his younger brother. With each room he checked in, the absence of Ezio was worsening his anxiety. By the time he was sure he had checked every small crevice in the house, he ran back upstairs.

“Claudia!” Federico walked briskly over to his sister, who nearly dropped her snack hearing her name so suddenly. “Did Ezio say exactly where he was going to get some air?”

“I don’t know,” she responded, shrinking a bit. “He just said he needed some air. Was he not in the courtyard?”

“No. He’s not anywhere in the palazzo.” The eldest sibling pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I asked him to stay put! He couldn’t wait just a few more hours to hear of any news!?”

“Well…” Claudia got a guilty look on her face. “When we were downstairs grabbing food, he did mention… he was missing Cristina, and that she would be able to comfort him through all of this…”

Federico stood still, with an expression as if he had been smacked. “He wouldn’t…” Federico looked at his mother who was trying her best to hold her composure and gave him a look that both of them fully believed… he would. He sighed exasperatedly. And began moving toward the door. “I’m going to go bring him back. I will take every care to make sure we come home safe.”

——

Ezio had expected to go straight into the Palazzo della Signoria itself for his father’s trial, but he was fully stopped by a large gathering in the center of the piazza. He tried to push aside people, to get a better view of what was happening. He was able to push his way to the fountain area, and stand a little higher upon the edge. He could finally clearly see a hanging scaffold, with a man clad with a dark hooded robe obscuring his face, as well as the gonfaloniere Alberti droning on about charges for a man condemned to death, with an executioner on the far side of the scaffold, hand rested on the trap door lever. Between them, was a single empty noose held above. Seeing all of this, Ezio felt unnerved but also sympathy for whomever that rope was intended for. He did not want to see any executions though. He couldn’t understand the morbid fascination some people had with seeing death.

He was a moment away from jumping down from the fountain’s edge when a name cut through the noise of the crowd that stopped him in his tracks.

“Giovanni Auditore!” The gonfaloniere boomed the name across the crowd, and they erupted into booing and jeering when the head of the Auditore household was escorted up the steps by a burly looking guard, armed to the teeth. Ezio was nothing short of stunned, and it was as if his legs had suddenly been replaced with the heaviest marble. The only sounds that were entering his register were the charges listed off by the gonfaloniere, his father’s protests, and his heart pounding in his ears. With his mind spinning in swirls and valleys a million miles a second, he was trying to figure out just how to get his body to move. To make it to his father.

“… Do you have any evidence to counter these charges?” The gonfaloniere asked, underpinned with mockery.

“Yes! The documents that were delivered to you LAST NIGHT!” Giovanni shouted in fury.

The Uberto bore a smug grin. “I know of no such documents.”

“He’s lying…” Ezio could only manage a small whisper at first. “He’s lying!” A little louder now, one or two people looked in his direction with quizzical expressions. He still felt miles away from being able to move his body even a centimeter.

“In the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, I am forced to sentence you to death by hanging. Dio, abbi pietà della tua anima.”

Giovanni began violently struggling against his restraints. “You may have my life this day, but we will have yours in turn, I swear it! I swear it!!”

In a haze of a moment, Uberto raised his hand to indicate the executioner to activate the mechanism. To Giovanni, falling in slow motion, he felt gravity pull at every fiber of his being far heavier than it ever has in his life. He felt a panic flood his veins so intensely that he was sure it was death by fire he had been sentenced to for a moment. Just as quickly as it appeared, it washed away to make room for a calm that numbed his entire body. For a split second, he noticed his gift had started to activate, and as he was moments away from the end, in the sea of red and blue glows, he swears he saw Ezio in the crowd, glowing golden against the piazza fountain, wearing his favorite green doublet. The last thing he felt were the beginnings of regret-

SNAP!

Ezio’s entire mind crumpled under the weight of its own motion, and he stared wide eyed at the scene unfolding before him, the sound of the snap ringing in his head. The only thing he could utter past his lips were whimpering breaths with hot tears welling at the edges of his vision. No matter how much they stung his eyes, he could not manage to look at anything other than his father’s hanging body.

With no known sign of why he was able to summon this will, he forced himself forward through the crowd he suddenly realized was cheering. His shoves got rougher, whimpering “father…” over and over again.

———

High above the crowds filling the piazza below, Francesco and his son watched the snuffing out of a long-time enemy of their family, while Jacopo stood out of sight in a far corner of the room. Francesco smirked satisfactorily the moment Giovanni’s body stopped moving at the end of the rope.

For Vieri, perhaps he’d feel more satisfied under different circumstances, but with how things ended up, all he really felt was a heavy weight in the bottom of his gut. He was able to manage a smirk when he noticed some commotion, and the sight of a familiar ugly green doublet fleeing the area. Though it was a short-lived feeling of victory.

As Francesco watched the grand master and Uberto leave the scaffolding to return inside, he dusted his shoulders. “One more obstacle out of our path.” Every word was hanging in a satisfied tone. “Ahh I feel I can finally breathe again. Uncle, it’s a shame you chose not to witness our victory with your own eyes!”

Jacopo looked at his nephew with a halfhearted grin. “Death of any kind not the sort of entertainment I enjoy, I’m afraid” he said quietly.

Vieri fidgeted with his hat in his hands, thinking over what the future held now. “Father?”

“Mm?”

“If… what is the plan now?” He was struggling to find the right words to voice his anxieties without seeming like he was shunning the cause.

“The same as it has always been. With one less complication.”

Vieri wasn’t entirely convinced. The Medici were close to the Auditore, and having had the head executed publicly by way of a close associate was absolutely going to put more scrutiny on any enemy of the Medici. But he opted to keep these thoughts to himself for now. Another lecture was not something he wanted to deal with right now. He placed his hat back upon his head to make it seem he was no longer worried.

The door to the room they had situated in suddenly opened, and Uberto, along with an unhooded Rodrigo Borgia came in, trailed behind by three young children. Vieri looked them over a bit, as it was unusual to see other young members of the templars. The eldest looking boy looked to be about 11 or12, and stood as tall as a young boy can. He looked strikingly like a young Rodrigo. The other two seemed to be fairly similar in age, another young boy, perhaps around 7 or 8, who stood gloomily, as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. And, presumably, a sister with similar features to her next oldest brother, except for her strikingly blonde hair. She stood demurely, clearly also wanting to be elsewhere, but not as obviously as her brother.

“The deed is done, gentlemen.” Rodrigo said to the room with a hearty laugh. The other older men laughed with him, with congratulatory applause. “Now we can commence with the next phases of our plan, with little pushback.”

“We are ready to hear your plans, if you are prepared to share them maestro.” Jacopo said.

“Do you see that my son?” Rodrigo said to his eldest. “One day you shall have command of a room just like I, and you will continue the glorious legacy of the Borgia. Right Juan?”  His son nodded eagerly, and he patted his head tenderly. His younger brother sneered at the attention he was getting and continued to pout. “Now, gentlemen, I do have next steps in mind, but first…” He looked over to the youngest Pazzi. “Vieri would you kindly take my children downstairs, and watch over them for me? I will not be long.” He finished off with a smile, but Vieri was in a bit of disbelief.

“I… but don’t you think I should hear what you have to say?” Rodrigo’s grin turned slowly downwards which prompted Francesco to step in.

“Do as the Maestro says, boy.” His father stood firmly in front of him, with an unwavering tone. Vieri felt slighted but knew he was out of his depth trying to argue with anyone else in the room. He sullenly walked out of the room with the three young kids behind him.

“Behave yourselves!” Rodrigo said loudly before closing and locking the door. Vieri could only sigh in disappointment. The two boys ran gleefully down the stairs, racing each other, while the little girl walked quietly next to him.

The four of them ended up in the main meeting hall of the first floor, and Vieri immediately grabbed a seat, with a disgruntled huff.  “You two,” Vieri said sternly at the two boys horsing around. “Do not. Touch. anything. If a single thing here breaks, I’m going to tell them exactly who did it. Capisci?” The little boys nodded coyly and went right back to wrestling with each other. The smaller girl grabbed a chair that was about as tall as she was, with some effort, dragged it over next to Vieri. He eyed her curiously but made no further remark as she silently took a seat next to him.

“… Your name is Vieri, correct?” The young girl asked.

Vieri was a little taken aback hearing her speak. “Sì...?”

“I am Lucrezia.” She smiled earnestly, and very suddenly but carefully grabbed his hand. He had a brief instinct to flinch away but thought better of it. At the very least if he was still not able to prove himself to the Grand Master in meetings, he could show loyalty by putting on a good impression for his children.

“… Piacere di conoscerla.” Well, the facade could only go so far, and his tone didn’t exactly carry a genuine sound to it, but Lucrezia seemed satisfied, nonetheless. She didn’t speak again after that, just watching her brothers while still holding his hand.

It felt like hours passed, the way it feels to wait for any parent to finish a conversation without you. At one point, the younger of the two boys, who he had surmised was Cesare from the way the two boys yelled each other’s names, ran over to his sister and whispered in her ear. She smiled a small grin and got up to follow her brothers behind a desk. Vieri didn’t think much of it. He was sure they were causing some trouble, but, as long as they didn’t break anything, he didn’t care.

After a couple minutes, the three of them emerged from behind the desk, the two brothers seeming to be searching for something, while Lucrezia walked right back up to him. “Messer Pazzi? Juan seems to have lost his ruby necklace. It was a gift from father, and if he can’t find it, he’ll get in trouble.” She was beginning to fidget with her hands. “Could you… check the stairs, m-maybe it fell off when they were running down here.”

Vieri was a little suspicious about all of this, but if this does turn out to be true, once again, it may be a positive mark for him to find it for him. He sighed, and walked back to the stairway, investigating each stone step, with no sign of any necklace. He checked them once more before giving up and walking back to the hall. The second he reentered through the doorway, a sobbing Lucrezia ran up to him, grabbing the bottom of his tunic. “M-Messer Pazzi, I am s-so sorry!” Her words were intercut with heaving sobs, and Vieri was completely stunned. “There wa-was no necklace! I lied to you! I’m s -sorry!” She buried her puffy red face in his tunic, sobbing uncontrollably. Vieri had no idea what to do or even what happened.

“You traitor sister!” Juan stomped up behind her, and swiftly yanked her long hair back, to which she cried out in pain. “You weren’t supposed to tell him that!”

Cesare was quick to follow behind his brother. “You cannot do a simple task correctly!”

“HEY! THAT IS ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!” Vieri yelled at them loud enough to echo throughout the room. He forcefully wrenched the brother’s arms backward away from their sister. With them crying out in pain, and struggling against his grip, he dragged them toward the other side of the room. When he finally tossed them down, his mind caught up with him. So much for getting on their good side. He couldn’t believe the state of this family, and yet it reminded him a bit of him and his sister. “Tell me what is going on. Now.”

Cesare folded his arms and pouted, while Juan scoffed with a wry smile. “We were just having some fun…” Juan said dismissively.

 Vieri sneered at him. “What would your papa think about how you’re acting?”

“He’d say I was doing exactly what I should be to ‘take on my future role as a military commander’” Juan responded with an air of pride. Cesare turned away from his brother still pouting.

“Tugging on your sister’s hair is preparing you to be a military leader?” Vieri asked sarcastically.

“Fooling an enemy into leaving the area is!”

“And you think this childish stunt will make him proud?”

Juan scoffed again and muttered. “More proud than your father is of you…”

Vieri flinched at the sudden callous comment. He was a fraction of a second away from fully body smacking the child when he heard footsteps descending the stairs.

“What is going on here!?” Rodrigo demanded, little Lucrezia now at his side. Juan jumped up and ran right past Vieri, deliberately shoving into his legs, into Rodrigo’s arms.

“We were just having some fun, papa,” Juan proclaimed innocently.

“I find your sister weeping, and you call that fun?” Rodrigo’s tone was ice cold, and his eldest son withered under his father’s gaze. “We will discuss this further on our way home. Cesare!” He yelled for his other son to follow them out of the room. The young boy shared a brief glance with Vieri before running over to his father. Just before they fully left the building, Lucrezia tugged on her father’s robes to quietly speak to him, and when she finished, the quickly ran back to Vieri. She looked up at the perplexed Pazzi, and waved her hand to have him kneel to hear her. He might not have indulged her in other circumstances, but both his father and Rodrigo were watching him, so he cautiously knelt down. She cupped her hands around his ear, and moved her head to whisper to him.

“Can I tell you something?” She whispered. Vieri quirked an eyebrow, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “When father and I sleep in the same bed, sometimes he tells me it is a daughter’s duty to take up the responsibilities of a wife for her father. He says I should not tell anyone he said this, but… I hate keeping secrets…”

Vieri was flabbergasted. She moved away from him calmly, briefly squeezed his hand, and ran back over to her father smiling. Vieri needed to take a full minute to process what had just transpired. Why would she tell him that? Why would she tell him that? What is wrong with this family? Francesco appeared behind him as he stood up.

“What did she say to you?” Francesco asked.

“She said it was a secret.” Vieri responded quietly.

“Hmph. You would keep a child’s secret?” Francesco mockingly.

Vieri had to make an effort not to sneer at his father’s comment. “…It was just about why her brothers were causing trouble… trying to climb the desks and such…” Francesco hummed, not pressing the issue further. He and Jacopo said goodbyes to Uberto, and the Pazzi family made their way outside to head home. As they exited the Palazzo della Signoria, Vieri looked toward the cart that carried body of the Auditore father, and that dread he felt before started to creep up in his stomach. It grew outward across his body the entire walk back to their family’s palazzo. Between the public execution of an enemy, and the strange interactions with the Borgia family, he felt his future was more uncertain than ever. He occasionally glanced at his father to gauge his feelings about the day’s events, and each time was the same expression carried on his weathered face: stern determination.

By the time they had entered the front gate of their home, Vieri was deep in uncertainty, but there wasn’t a moment of peace that may have been found in their halls. Viola stormed up to the three of them right as they entered, fury painting her features.

“I HOPE THE THREE OF YOU ARE PROUD OF YOURSELVES!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. The stern look that had held Francesco’s expression vanished, replaced by utter surprise. Jacopo was just as bewildered, and Vieri, while stunned, cowered, knowing this was not going to end well.

“Viola-” Francesco started softly, but Viola immediately cut him off.

“I cannot believe the complete idiocy that plagues the men in this family!”

Jacopo stepped in a small amount. “Viola, please, calm yourself-“

“Do not tell me to keep calm! You put this entire household to the mercy of the wolves, publicly executing a known enemy of our house because you wish to… what? Make a statement? At what cost?!”

Vieri was internally somewhat relieved he wasn’t the only one who felt this way about the situation, but he dared not speak up. Francesco stepped forward towards her with a somewhat surprising amount of reservation. “Viola, this execution needed to happen to ensure the future of our house. To continue to pay for your food, your clothing and makeup, your dowery!”

Viola was wholly unconvinced. “You can tell yourself all you like you did this for the family, but everyone here knows the only reason you did this was as revenge for the Auditore father getting you arrested. You should start standing ten toes deep in your selfishnesss, father, lest people start accusing you of hypocrisy too!”

Francesco was starting to lose his temper. “You are speaking about matters which you do not understand, young lady.”

“Am I? What do you think, Vieri? Am I being unreasonable?!” Vieri looked at her like a startled deer, and then at his father who was incredibly obvious in his desire for his son to keep quiet. He looked back at Viola sheepishly, who only responded with a disappointed sneer.

“At least my son has the sense to trust his father’s choices, and not disobey him at every turn!”

“Perhaps you should just simply cast me out, then! I sometimes wonder if uncle Guglielmo was the only sensible one in this family, getting away from the rest of you!”

Francesco moved forward to attempt to size his daughter up. “I told you to never speak his name in this house again!” His threats fell just as short as his stature, compared to Viola who towered over him, just like her mother. She didn’t flinch at his biteless barking. Francesco stepped back and took a breath. “Perhaps you need some time away from the city after all. I believe the villa near San Gimignano may be more to your liking.” Viola was slightly taken aback. “Or perhaps a nunnery? You may find more verisimilitude amongst their ranks.”

Viola frowned gravely, fully understanding what her father was doing. “You know what? Fine.” She said raising her head up haughtily. “Send me to the villa, father. I will be glad to be out of your life as this house crumbles around you. I will have my things packed by tomorrow morning.” She looked at her younger brother, who was starting to show signs of doubt, but she quickly turned and went straight to her room to prepare.

When she had finally left their sight, the previously stern and serious Francesco seemed to age ten years on his face alone. He took a deep breath, and let out a labored sigh, while his uncle walked over to pat his shoulder.

“I know this may seem bleak, but I believe it is for the best she not be around Florence when our plans unfold.” Jacopo said quietly to his nephew.

“I will never understand where her animosity for me came from, or why she cannot see I do what I do for her own good…” Francesco was expressing a gentleness for his daughter that Vieri was only witness to a handful of times. He couldn’t help feeling jealous at hearing him talk about her like that, especially after the way she had just acted.

“Perhaps… I could speak with her… make her understand…” Vieri moved to be in his father’s direct line of sight, but he could feel him looking right through him.

“It’s not worth it, Vieri. The deed is done. Say your goodbyes tomorrow…” Francesco, trailing off, made his way toward his room to rest. Jacopo, who had needed to finish some business in the city, gave Vieri a brief sympathetic look, before exiting the Palazzo. Vieri stood alone amongst the white pillars of the courtyard, and the morning sun reflecting the bright tiling directly into his eyes.

[moesartblog]

Chapter 10

SO. Real quick, I know canonically Vieri is born and dies years before the few characters introduced are even born, but i dont care lol. I wanted to have had them have some sort of interaction when they were younger for later in the story. :)

anyway hope you enjoy!

TW: Brief Mentions of Child Sexual Abuse

Chapter Masterpost

For the remainder of the night, the entirety Auditore household sans Giovanni remained in the bedroom of their parents. It was a long and restless night. The only ones who seemed to get any amount of sleep were Petruccio, who remained in his mother’s waking lap, Claudia who had crawled onto the foot of the bed and curled up there to rest, and Rinaldo still tired from the day, and his age catching up with him. Federico had quietly grabbed a chess board from an adjacent room to play with Annetta, knowing neither of them were going to be able to sleep. He had offered to play against Ezio but his little brother refused, being too worked up to focus on a game. He sat in a separate chair across the room, with his mother repeatedly having to ask him to stop agitatedly stomping his foot so the others wouldn’t wake up.

Ezio’s mind just wouldn’t stop racing, and it was starting to drive him mad. A few times he had involuntarily moved towards the door to leave before his brother would catch his arm and ask him to sit back down.

“…I just don’t understand.” Ezio’s quiet but firm voice cut through the silence in the room.

“What don’t you understand?” Federico asked, pausing his game.

“Isn’t there something we can do?” Ezio desperately asked.

“You already brought that letter to Messer Alberti, sí?” Annetta asked softly.

“Yes, but… I just…” Ezio gripped his hair in frustration. “Maybe we could go back to his cell together, and find a way to get him out?”

Federico fully turned around in his chair to face his younger brother. “Do you not have faith that the gonfaloniere will handle all of this?”

“I… yes? No? I don’t know! He assured me everything would work out, but… agh I don’t know I have this awful feeling in my gut.”

“Of course you do, Ezio. Something horrible has happened to our family today. It is not unusual to feel these things.” Maria said, trying to be as reassuring as possible.

“No, that’s not- ugh! None of you are listening to me!” Ezio’s volume was starting to rise as he got more worked up and his mother had to gesture for him to quiet down. “I have to get out of here...” Ezio was starting to spiral, when a quick catch of the light caught his eye. It was a small stream beaming though a gap in the drawn curtains. Finally, it was daytime. He peeked through the curtains carefully and saw dawn coming across the sky as well as people beginning their days out in public. Ezio sighed in relief. “It’s sunrise! We can finally leave this damned room!”

Just as he was about to burst out the door Federico stopped him. “Ezio, we can probably move about the house safely, but we should still stay put, and keep a low profile until we receive word about father from someone. I’m sure we’ll hear something soon about the acquittal. But it’s still likely until then that people will have their eyes trained on us. I don’t want anyone else to get arrested, so please just stay in the house.” Federico was trying desperately to retain some amout of calm idealism about him, but sleep deprivation was making that difficult. Ezio took a moment to look at him, frowned and huffed out a dejected “Fine. I guess I’ll just… go grab some food…”

Claudia suddenly shot up. “Can I come too? This room is becoming unbearably stuffy and I need to breathe.” Ezio smiled at her and gestured for her to follow him, which she obliged with a happy bounding over toward the door.

“Wait!” Petruccio suddenly spoke, which startled the others who had assumed he was still asleep. “Could you also grab me some parchment and a quill with ink when you come back up? Please?”

“I’ll go grab that, Petruccio.” Federico said. His younger brother smiled at him sweetly.

Federico took a left out the door, while the other two siblings took a right, and walked down the stairs side by side, careful to not misstep in the dark.

“Ezio?”

“Mm?”

“I never got a chance to ask you the other day about Duccio,” Claudia said quietly. “How did he react when you told him the engagement was off?”

Ezio scoffed softly. “He reacted with blood in his nose, and piss in his hose.” His tone was smug, remembering the scrap he ended up having with his almost-brother-in-law.

Claudia grew a wicked grin across her face. “Good.” Ezio looked over at his little sister, a little concerned at the sinister tone she was taking, but happy that she had ended up detaching her feelings from him. She didn’t deserve to suffer over someone like him.

When they entered the kitchen, the atmosphere was dark and cool. The only light came from streams beaming through the slatted window shutters.

“I don’t imagine it would be wise to try and cook anything right now.” Ezio said looking for wayward food.

“Perhaps we can when father comes home-aha!” Claudia suddenly held up a large chunk of Pecorino Romano from a lower cupboard. “Found it!”

Ezio squinted int the dim light to see what she had found. “That would pair well with some bread and wine.”

“Well, then you go grab that, and I’ll start dicing this cheese.”

“Leave some of the softer pieces for me. I know your penchant for hiding all the best parts for yourself.” Ezio could feel his sister’s frown, even with his back turned to her. He started rummaging around for some wine and bread, with a tray to place it all on. Meanwhile, Claudia grabbed a kitchen knife from a knife block nearby, and began carefully cutting.

“…Ezio?”

“Yes, sister?”

“... I know it may seem foolish, but… father’s arrest has been so stressful and… There is a part of me that wishes Duccio was here.” Ezio fully looked at his sister, whose head was held lower than it had been before. “I know what he really is, and I don’t need to hear a whole spiel about it, but… there were times when he was kind, and his comfort would have been welcome here, now.” She finished off her sentence with a little sniff, trying to hold back tears. Ezio promptly stood up and walked over to his younger sister to wrap her in a hug from behind.

“You’ll hear no spiel from me, for your sake. I know how you feel.” Ezio moved to look her in the eye. “I desperately wish I could see Cristina for some comfort.”

Claudia frowned at her brother. “Some comfort, huh?”

Ezio frowned in turn, rolled his eyes, and moved away to return to searching for wine and bread. “I don’t mean that kind of comfort. Something about her eases any anxiety I have…  She has a way of speaking that would ease the sun to set.”

Claudia looked at him incredulously. “‘Ease the sun to set’? What dusty tome of poetry did you steal that from?”

Ezio stood up, finally holding a bottle of wine, and a small loaf of bread. “She’s also there for me when my family refuses to give me even a moment of grace.” He walked back over to his sister and set the items down roughly. Claudia wasn’t fazed in the slightest. Even through the jeering, the both of them did appreciate the small moment of normalcy between them. “Do you think Federico would be upset if I snuck out to visit her?” His feelings were genuine, but his tone was more humorous than anything.

“He said to not leave the palazzo, so yes, I do think he would be, even if it was to go off and make love or whatever it is you do with her. Sun setting, and all.” Claudia picked up the tray of cheese and started to walk towards the entryway of the kitchen when Ezio stopped her.

“Would you mind bringing up the wine and bread as well? I want to step outside for a bit to get some fresh air. Oh! And…” Ezio scrambled away for a moment and brought back two cups of clear water. “Some water for you, and Petruccio.” He finished off his sentence with a smile.

“I am forced to carry all of this up the stairs myself, and I do not even get a sip of wine as a reward?”

“You should take all of your grievances up with mother, since she’ll be the one to reprimand you.” Ezio gave his forlorn sister a pat on the back, and he made his way outside.

Claudia, tired of being treated like this after so much stress, snuck a large gulp of wine directly from the bottle as she was ascending the stairs.

——-

Ezio, desperately needing some amount of air, discreetly stepped out into a dark corner of the palazzo’s front courtyard. It took just a few deep breaths for him to calm down a bit and put his mind at some ease. Sitting underneath the shade and peering out the front entrance gate to see the city bustling as usual was comforting for him, despite everything. He decided to sit a little closer to the entrance, without being seen, to try overhear some of the conversations people were having. Most of what people were talking about were spattered gossip, and politics, but one voice caught his attention.

“The trial is starting soon! We should hurry!” He heard a woman say excitedly to some companion.

A trial? That must be for father!

He was going off a hunch. Other people’s trials could be taking place, and the start of the judiciary’s work day was about now, at around 9 o’clock in the morning. But the stress of everything going on had him focused on almost nothing but his father. As he stood up, he was having a heated debate in his head about what to do. He promised his brother he would do not leave the palazzo. He didn’t intend to be causing any harm by seeing his father’s acquittal, but he could also see a scenario where he comes home with father to his brother, and the relief of seeing the both of them would… still make Federico upset for disobeying him, but just slightly less. But Federico was an understanding person. He gave Vieri plenty of chances to show kindness even when he didn’t deserve it.

At the end of it, Ezio figured it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. He was aching to see his father again. Federico would understand. And so, he quietly snuck out the entrance towards the piazza of the Palazzo della Signoria.

———

Federico returned to his parent’s room with the items his younger brother had requested, and Petruccio sprang up from the bed, grinning widely.

“Here you are,” Federico said, gently handing over the supplies.

“Grazie!” Petruccio carried the items to the desk that was situated towards the back of the room, typically used for Giovanni’s work. He took a seat and began prepping a quill. Federico quickly looked over everyone else; Rinaldo who was still sleep, Anetta, who had decided to keep her hands busy sewing some patterns into linen, and his mother who was “resting my eyes for a moment”. Satisfied at the state of things, he quietly pulled over a chair to sit next to Petruccio and watch what he was working on. It was hard to tell what he was doing, and after a bit of starting, Petruccio was discreetly trying to cover up the page with his arm.

“Brother… do you have to stare while I illustrate?” Petruccio said quietly, blushing.

Federico leaned back. “My apologies. I was just curious about what you had decided to commit to parchment.” The youngest brother looked at his page skeptically for a moment and furrowed his brow.

“I was attempting to create one of those illusion drawings. The sort where you see one thing one way…” He held up the paper in a particular orientation. “and then see another thing, another way.” He then rotated the paper 180°.

“Ah.” Federico was pretty sure he knew what his brother meant, but his skills in drawing were unfortunately lacking.

“Can you tell what it is supposed to be?” Petruccio asked so innocently that it made Federico almost panic at not knowing the answer.

“Oh! Aeh… it’s a, um… well from this angle, it… a bird…?”

Petruccio’s face fell. “It is meant to be an amphora…”

“Oh, well, of course,” Federico started fumfering. “Yes, I see the-the handles and-“ he suddenly stopped seeing Petruccio start to giggle.

“I jest, Federico. I do not know what I was drawing, I was just testing out the quill quality.”

Federico blinked, then roughly ruffled his little brother’s hair. “That kind of attitude is going to get you in trouble someday soon. Mark me.”

Right then, Claudia entered the room, looking over dramatically exhausted, carrying a tray with bread, cheese, cups of water and a bottle of wine. “Your highnesses, I have brought you provisions.” She set her charcuterie down on the bedside table. “You are welcome.”

Federico rose to grab the tray, with a smile for his sister. “Grazie, Claudia. Where is Ezio?”

“He said he needed to get a little bit of fresh air. He’ll probably be up shortly.”

“Ah, so that’s why you came to us carrying all of this. Thank you again for your sacrifice, sister.”

She smiled snidely, grabbed a small handful of cheese and sat down to eat. Federico handed out wine to the three other adults in the room and served the bread and cheese to those who wanted some. Federico sat down and began to nibble on some bread for himself following some hearty sips of wine.

Maria, now sitting up in bed, took small sips of her drink.

“Did you not want wine, Madonna?” Rinaldo asked her.

“Mm, no, this is fine. I just feel I should save some of it to celebrate Giovanni’s return.”

Federico was glad his mother was remaining optimistic about this whole situation, at least outwardly. There were a lot of things to point to that would have this situation conclude poorly. But she held her head high. It’s something Federico had always admired about her. He smiled and took a bite of some bread. A few minutes went by with everyone eating, and a relaxing of the air. Aside from a few moments of sibling bickering between Petruccio and Claudia about the portion sizes of their bread not being equal, the room was starting to settle.

“Federico? Perhaps you should ask Ezio if he would rejoin us. Just while we eat,” Maria asked her son. Federico could tell there was a very slight tinge of motherly worry in her request, and she wanted to make sure her family was in sight for the moment. He nodded and exited the room to go quietly call for his brother.

He first checked outside in the courtyard but saw no sign of his brother. Returning inside, he began calling around the palazzo for Ezio. After the 5th call, Federico was starting to feel the seeds of worry creep in his gut. Perhaps with more rest he could manage these feelings with ease, but he was simply heightened. He started to more frantically look for his younger brother. With each room he checked in, the absence of Ezio was worsening his anxiety. By the time he was sure he had checked every small crevice in the house, he ran back upstairs.

“Claudia!” Federico walked briskly over to his sister, who nearly dropped her snack hearing her name so suddenly. “Did Ezio say exactly where he was going to get some air?”

“I don’t know,” she responded, shrinking a bit. “He just said he needed some air. Was he not in the courtyard?”

“No. He’s not anywhere in the palazzo.” The eldest sibling pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I asked him to stay put! He couldn’t wait just a few more hours to hear of any news!?”

“Well…” Claudia got a guilty look on her face. “When we were downstairs grabbing food, he did mention… he was missing Cristina, and that she would be able to comfort him through all of this…”

Federico stood still, with an expression as if he had been smacked. “He wouldn’t…” Federico looked at his mother who was trying her best to hold her composure and gave him a look that both of them fully believed… he would. He sighed exasperatedly. And began moving toward the door. “I’m going to go bring him back. I will take every care to make sure we come home safe.”

——

Ezio had expected to go straight into the Palazzo della Signoria itself for his father’s trial, but he was fully stopped by a large gathering in the center of the piazza. He tried to push aside people, to get a better view of what was happening. He was able to push his way to the fountain area, and stand a little higher upon the edge. He could finally clearly see a hanging scaffold, with a man clad with a dark hooded robe obscuring his face, as well as the gonfaloniere Alberti droning on about charges for a man condemned to death, with an executioner on the far side of the scaffold, hand rested on the trap door lever. Between them, was a single empty noose held above. Seeing all of this, Ezio felt unnerved but also sympathy for whomever that rope was intended for. He did not want to see any executions though. He couldn’t understand the morbid fascination some people had with seeing death.

He was a moment away from jumping down from the fountain’s edge when a name cut through the noise of the crowd that stopped him in his tracks.

“Giovanni Auditore!” The gonfaloniere boomed the name across the crowd, and they erupted into booing and jeering when the head of the Auditore household was escorted up the steps by a burly looking guard, armed to the teeth. Ezio was nothing short of stunned, and it was as if his legs had suddenly been replaced with the heaviest marble. The only sounds that were entering his register were the charges listed off by the gonfaloniere, his father’s protests, and his heart pounding in his ears. With his mind spinning in swirls and valleys a million miles a second, he was trying to figure out just how to get his body to move. To make it to his father.

“… Do you have any evidence to counter these charges?” The gonfaloniere asked, underpinned with mockery.

“Yes! The documents that were delivered to you LAST NIGHT!” Giovanni shouted in fury.

The Uberto bore a smug grin. “I know of no such documents.”

“He’s lying…” Ezio could only manage a small whisper at first. “He’s lying!” A little louder now, one or two people looked in his direction with quizzical expressions. He still felt miles away from being able to move his body even a centimeter.

“In the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, I am forced to sentence you to death by hanging. Dio, abbi pietà della tua anima.”

Giovanni began violently struggling against his restraints. “You may have my life this day, but we will have yours in turn, I swear it! I swear it!!”

In a haze of a moment, Uberto raised his hand to indicate the executioner to activate the mechanism. To Giovanni, falling in slow motion, he felt gravity pull at every fiber of his being far heavier than it ever has in his life. He felt a panic flood his veins so intensely that he was sure it was death by fire he had been sentenced to for a moment. Just as quickly as it appeared, it washed away to make room for a calm that numbed his entire body. For a split second, he noticed his gift had started to activate, and as he was moments away from the end, in the sea of red and blue glows, he swears he saw Ezio in the crowd, glowing golden against the piazza fountain, wearing his favorite green doublet. The last thing he felt were the beginnings of regret-

SNAP!

Ezio’s entire mind crumpled under the weight of its own motion, and he stared wide eyed at the scene unfolding before him, the sound of the snap ringing in his head. The only thing he could utter past his lips were whimpering breaths with hot tears welling at the edges of his vision. No matter how much they stung his eyes, he could not manage to look at anything other than his father’s hanging body.

With no known sign of why he was able to summon this will, he forced himself forward through the crowd he suddenly realized was cheering. His shoves got rougher, whimpering “father…” over and over again.

———

High above the crowds filling the piazza below, Francesco and his son watched the snuffing out of a long-time enemy of their family, while Jacopo stood out of sight in a far corner of the room. Francesco smirked satisfactorily the moment Giovanni’s body stopped moving at the end of the rope.

For Vieri, perhaps he’d feel more satisfied under different circumstances, but with how things ended up, all he really felt was a heavy weight in the bottom of his gut. He was able to manage a smirk when he noticed some commotion, and the sight of a familiar ugly green doublet fleeing the area. Though it was a short-lived feeling of victory.

As Francesco watched the grand master and Uberto leave the scaffolding to return inside, he dusted his shoulders. “One more obstacle out of our path.” Every word was hanging in a satisfied tone. “Ahh I feel I can finally breathe again. Uncle, it’s a shame you chose not to witness our victory with your own eyes!”

Jacopo looked at his nephew with a halfhearted grin. “Death of any kind not the sort of entertainment I enjoy, I’m afraid” he said quietly.

Vieri fidgeted with his hat in his hands, thinking over what the future held now. “Father?”

“Mm?”

“If… what is the plan now?” He was struggling to find the right words to voice his anxieties without seeming like he was shunning the cause.

“The same as it has always been. With one less complication.”

Vieri wasn’t entirely convinced. The Medici were close to the Auditore, and having had the head executed publicly by way of a close associate was absolutely going to put more scrutiny on any enemy of the Medici. But he opted to keep these thoughts to himself for now. Another lecture was not something he wanted to deal with right now. He placed his hat back upon his head to make it seem he was no longer worried.

The door to the room they had situated in suddenly opened, and Uberto, along with an unhooded Rodrigo Borgia came in, trailed behind by three young children. Vieri looked them over a bit, as it was unusual to see other young members of the templars. The eldest looking boy looked to be about 11 or12, and stood as tall as a young boy can. He looked strikingly like a young Rodrigo. The other two seemed to be fairly similar in age, another young boy, perhaps around 7 or 8, who stood gloomily, as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. And, presumably, a sister with similar features to her next oldest brother, except for her strikingly blonde hair. She stood demurely, clearly also wanting to be elsewhere, but not as obviously as her brother.

“The deed is done, gentlemen.” Rodrigo said to the room with a hearty laugh. The other older men laughed with him, with congratulatory applause. “Now we can commence with the next phases of our plan, with little pushback.”

“We are ready to hear your plans, if you are prepared to share them maestro.” Jacopo said.

“Do you see that my son?” Rodrigo said to his eldest. “One day you shall have command of a room just like I, and you will continue the glorious legacy of the Borgia. Right Juan?”  His son nodded eagerly, and he patted his head tenderly. His younger brother sneered at the attention he was getting and continued to pout. “Now, gentlemen, I do have next steps in mind, but first…” He looked over to the youngest Pazzi. “Vieri would you kindly take my children downstairs, and watch over them for me? I will not be long.” He finished off with a smile, but Vieri was in a bit of disbelief.

“I… but don’t you think I should hear what you have to say?” Rodrigo’s grin turned slowly downwards which prompted Francesco to step in.

“Do as the Maestro says, boy.” His father stood firmly in front of him, with an unwavering tone. Vieri felt slighted but knew he was out of his depth trying to argue with anyone else in the room. He sullenly walked out of the room with the three young kids behind him.

“Behave yourselves!” Rodrigo said loudly before closing and locking the door. Vieri could only sigh in disappointment. The two boys ran gleefully down the stairs, racing each other, while the little girl walked quietly next to him.

The four of them ended up in the main meeting hall of the first floor, and Vieri immediately grabbed a seat, with a disgruntled huff.  “You two,” Vieri said sternly at the two boys horsing around. “Do not. Touch. anything. If a single thing here breaks, I’m going to tell them exactly who did it. Capisci?” The little boys nodded coyly and went right back to wrestling with each other. The smaller girl grabbed a chair that was about as tall as she was, with some effort, dragged it over next to Vieri. He eyed her curiously but made no further remark as she silently took a seat next to him.

“… Your name is Vieri, correct?” The young girl asked.

Vieri was a little taken aback hearing her speak. “Sì...?”

“I am Lucrezia.” She smiled earnestly, and very suddenly but carefully grabbed his hand. He had a brief instinct to flinch away but thought better of it. At the very least if he was still not able to prove himself to the Grand Master in meetings, he could show loyalty by putting on a good impression for his children.

“… Piacere di conoscerla.” Well, the facade could only go so far, and his tone didn’t exactly carry a genuine sound to it, but Lucrezia seemed satisfied, nonetheless. She didn’t speak again after that, just watching her brothers while still holding his hand.

It felt like hours passed, the way it feels to wait for any parent to finish a conversation without you. At one point, the younger of the two boys, who he had surmised was Cesare from the way the two boys yelled each other’s names, ran over to his sister and whispered in her ear. She smiled a small grin and got up to follow her brothers behind a desk. Vieri didn’t think much of it. He was sure they were causing some trouble, but, as long as they didn’t break anything, he didn’t care.

After a couple minutes, the three of them emerged from behind the desk, the two brothers seeming to be searching for something, while Lucrezia walked right back up to him. “Messer Pazzi? Juan seems to have lost his ruby necklace. It was a gift from father, and if he can’t find it, he’ll get in trouble.” She was beginning to fidget with her hands. “Could you… check the stairs, m-maybe it fell off when they were running down here.”

Vieri was a little suspicious about all of this, but if this does turn out to be true, once again, it may be a positive mark for him to find it for him. He sighed, and walked back to the stairway, investigating each stone step, with no sign of any necklace. He checked them once more before giving up and walking back to the hall. The second he reentered through the doorway, a sobbing Lucrezia ran up to him, grabbing the bottom of his tunic. “M-Messer Pazzi, I am s-so sorry!” Her words were intercut with heaving sobs, and Vieri was completely stunned. “There wa-was no necklace! I lied to you! I’m s -sorry!” She buried her puffy red face in his tunic, sobbing uncontrollably. Vieri had no idea what to do or even what happened.

“You traitor sister!” Juan stomped up behind her, and swiftly yanked her long hair back, to which she cried out in pain. “You weren’t supposed to tell him that!”

Cesare was quick to follow behind his brother. “You cannot do a simple task correctly!”

“HEY! THAT IS ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!” Vieri yelled at them loud enough to echo throughout the room. He forcefully wrenched the brother’s arms backward away from their sister. With them crying out in pain, and struggling against his grip, he dragged them toward the other side of the room. When he finally tossed them down, his mind caught up with him. So much for getting on their good side. He couldn’t believe the state of this family, and yet it reminded him a bit of him and his sister. “Tell me what is going on. Now.”

Cesare folded his arms and pouted, while Juan scoffed with a wry smile. “We were just having some fun…” Juan said dismissively.

 Vieri sneered at him. “What would your papa think about how you’re acting?”

“He’d say I was doing exactly what I should be to ‘take on my future role as a military commander’” Juan responded with an air of pride. Cesare turned away from his brother still pouting.

“Tugging on your sister’s hair is preparing you to be a military leader?” Vieri asked sarcastically.

“Fooling an enemy into leaving the area is!”

“And you think this childish stunt will make him proud?”

Juan scoffed again and muttered. “More proud than your father is of you…”

Vieri flinched at the sudden callous comment. He was a fraction of a second away from fully body smacking the child when he heard footsteps descending the stairs.

“What is going on here!?” Rodrigo demanded, little Lucrezia now at his side. Juan jumped up and ran right past Vieri, deliberately shoving into his legs, into Rodrigo’s arms.

“We were just having some fun, papa,” Juan proclaimed innocently.

“I find your sister weeping, and you call that fun?” Rodrigo’s tone was ice cold, and his eldest son withered under his father’s gaze. “We will discuss this further on our way home. Cesare!” He yelled for his other son to follow them out of the room. The young boy shared a brief glance with Vieri before running over to his father. Just before they fully left the building, Lucrezia tugged on her father’s robes to quietly speak to him, and when she finished, the quickly ran back to Vieri. She looked up at the perplexed Pazzi, and waved her hand to have him kneel to hear her. He might not have indulged her in other circumstances, but both his father and Rodrigo were watching him, so he cautiously knelt down. She cupped her hands around his ear, and moved her head to whisper to him.

“Can I tell you something?” She whispered. Vieri quirked an eyebrow, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “When father and I sleep in the same bed, sometimes he tells me it is a daughter’s duty to take up the responsibilities of a wife for her father. He says I should not tell anyone he said this, but… I hate keeping secrets…”

Vieri was flabbergasted. She moved away from him calmly, briefly squeezed his hand, and ran back over to her father smiling. Vieri needed to take a full minute to process what had just transpired. Why would she tell him that? Why would she tell him that? What is wrong with this family? Francesco appeared behind him as he stood up.

“What did she say to you?” Francesco asked.

“She said it was a secret.” Vieri responded quietly.

“Hmph. You would keep a child’s secret?” Francesco mockingly.

Vieri had to make an effort not to sneer at his father’s comment. “…It was just about why her brothers were causing trouble… trying to climb the desks and such…” Francesco hummed, not pressing the issue further. He and Jacopo said goodbyes to Uberto, and the Pazzi family made their way outside to head home. As they exited the Palazzo della Signoria, Vieri looked toward the cart that carried body of the Auditore father, and that dread he felt before started to creep up in his stomach. It grew outward across his body the entire walk back to their family’s palazzo. Between the public execution of an enemy, and the strange interactions with the Borgia family, he felt his future was more uncertain than ever. He occasionally glanced at his father to gauge his feelings about the day’s events, and each time was the same expression carried on his weathered face: stern determination.

By the time they had entered the front gate of their home, Vieri was deep in uncertainty, but there wasn’t a moment of peace that may have been found in their halls. Viola stormed up to the three of them right as they entered, fury painting her features.

“I HOPE THE THREE OF YOU ARE PROUD OF YOURSELVES!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. The stern look that had held Francesco’s expression vanished, replaced by utter surprise. Jacopo was just as bewildered, and Vieri, while stunned, cowered, knowing this was not going to end well.

“Viola-” Francesco started softly, but Viola immediately cut him off.

“I cannot believe the complete idiocy that plagues the men in this family!”

Jacopo stepped in a small amount. “Viola, please, calm yourself-“

“Do not tell me to keep calm! You put this entire household to the mercy of the wolves, publicly executing a known enemy of our house because you wish to… what? Make a statement? At what cost?!”

Vieri was internally somewhat relieved he wasn’t the only one who felt this way about the situation, but he dared not speak up. Francesco stepped forward towards her with a somewhat surprising amount of reservation. “Viola, this execution needed to happen to ensure the future of our house. To continue to pay for your food, your clothing and makeup, your dowery!”

Viola was wholly unconvinced. “You can tell yourself all you like you did this for the family, but everyone here knows the only reason you did this was as revenge for the Auditore father getting you arrested. You should start standing ten toes deep in your selfishnesss, father, lest people start accusing you of hypocrisy too!”

Francesco was starting to lose his temper. “You are speaking about matters which you do not understand, young lady.”

“Am I? What do you think, Vieri? Am I being unreasonable?!” Vieri looked at her like a startled deer, and then at his father who was incredibly obvious in his desire for his son to keep quiet. He looked back at Viola sheepishly, who only responded with a disappointed sneer.

“At least my son has the sense to trust his father’s choices, and not disobey him at every turn!”

“Perhaps you should just simply cast me out, then! I sometimes wonder if uncle Guglielmo was the only sensible one in this family, getting away from the rest of you!”

Francesco moved forward to attempt to size his daughter up. “I told you to never speak his name in this house again!” His threats fell just as short as his stature, compared to Viola who towered over him, just like her mother. She didn’t flinch at his biteless barking. Francesco stepped back and took a breath. “Perhaps you need some time away from the city after all. I believe the villa near San Gimignano may be more to your liking.” Viola was slightly taken aback. “Or perhaps a nunnery? You may find more verisimilitude amongst their ranks.”

Viola frowned gravely, fully understanding what her father was doing. “You know what? Fine.” She said raising her head up haughtily. “Send me to the villa, father. I will be glad to be out of your life as this house crumbles around you. I will have my things packed by tomorrow morning.” She looked at her younger brother, who was starting to show signs of doubt, but she quickly turned and went straight to her room to prepare.

When she had finally left their sight, the previously stern and serious Francesco seemed to age ten years on his face alone. He took a deep breath, and let out a labored sigh, while his uncle walked over to pat his shoulder.

“I know this may seem bleak, but I believe it is for the best she not be around Florence when our plans unfold.” Jacopo said quietly to his nephew.

“I will never understand where her animosity for me came from, or why she cannot see I do what I do for her own good…” Francesco was expressing a gentleness for his daughter that Vieri was only witness to a handful of times. He couldn’t help feeling jealous at hearing him talk about her like that, especially after the way she had just acted.

“Perhaps… I could speak with her… make her understand…” Vieri moved to be in his father’s direct line of sight, but he could feel him looking right through him.

“It’s not worth it, Vieri. The deed is done. Say your goodbyes tomorrow…” Francesco, trailing off, made his way toward his room to rest. Jacopo, who had needed to finish some business in the city, gave Vieri a brief sympathetic look, before exiting the Palazzo. Vieri stood alone amongst the white pillars of the courtyard, and the morning sun reflecting the bright tiling directly into his eyes.

[moesartblog]

Ok since I’m having a flare up of symptoms and I’m cleaning old stuff out, I feel like posting some of my various old Knick knacks and toys and stuff. First with my littlest pet shop collection I built over many many years, organized loosely by clade.

Canids

[moesartblog]

Ok since I’m having a flare up of symptoms and I’m cleaning old stuff out, I feel like posting some of my various old Knick knacks and toys and stuff. First with my littlest pet shop collection I built over many many years, organized loosely by clade.

Canids

[moesartblog]

OH FUCK

promare, simplified

[moesartblog]

promare, simplified

[moesartblog]

idk why but i feel the need to make a little note about my characterization of vieri and how it differs from canon.

I simply dont have the skill to write a redemption arc for a character who poisoned multiple people for accidentally beating him in rigged competitions, or mutilated the people who worked under him for not doing his orders properly or whatever. i just dont wanna deal with it frankly. SO, my version of him, rather than inviting over families of competitors who happened to beat his rigging to poison them, actually has them invited over and served food with things like laxatives or something of a similar caliber. It's more humiliation based, rather than full villain murder evangelion dad hands. He doesnt kill anyone until after he is fully brought into the templars, after giovannis death.

And he can still be mean, loud, and cruel to those who work under him, but i'm just taking full spontaneous mutilations off the table.

and also also I know i already rewrote the scene but i am eliminating the rapist angle too. I just cannot even begin to want to deal with that. it felt like a cheap "hes the Bad Guy, so rapist!" sort of thing for this character. i dunno. maybe its weak willed of me to not want to deal with the ramifications of a redemption arc for a character who is a rapist, brutal torturous murderer, but this is meant to be a silly fic at the end of the day. Maybe when i write personal stories with more time and care i can delve into that.

[moesartblog]

Assassin's Creed Fic Master Post

Hello.

This is a post to keep all my fic chapters in one collective post so it can be read more easily while i don't have to link every chapter in every new post I make lol.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 7.5

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

[moesartblog]

Hi I love your au and I literally SQUIRMED at the sight of a new chapter because you're doing a such interesting job with it 🫶🏽

Aww thank you! It’s good to know other people enjoy this silly thing I’m doing lol

[moesartblog]

Is your fic on ao3? What’s the plot?

I’m not on ao3. The less sites I’m on the better lol

The conceit of my fic is basically if only Giovanni had been executed with Federico and petruccio still alive. And also doing a bit of an overhaul and expansion of vieris character, as well as his sister because I feel like they were a huge missed opportunity in the second game as a foil to ezios character.

But also waaay back in the day I was an avid shipper of fedvi and this is also partially a way to justify that old ship to myself lol

Also I figure since I’m gonna be posting on tumblr, I’ll make a master post with links to each chapter so it’s easier to navigate.

[moesartblog]

I wonder if I should return to posting on my old deviantart account