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Unlike most of the girls of your age you didn’t have parents, you didn’t have a pretty house or even a surname that identified you, the only thing you had was you, yourself and you alone, no one to call father or mother , brother nor sister, less aunt or uncle, no one to refer as family. Yes, this was your life, the life of a stray orphan that had passed all her days in the streets of all Italy, from Sicilia to Siena, and today arriving for the first time to the republic of Florence, and you were planning on heading north still. Maybe most of the people could say that your life was a sad one, but honestly you enjoyed it as much as you could everyday by travelling from town to town, nevertheless not everything was rosy and happy, you have met the cruelty of the rich and the humbleness of the poor, it was the same in every city you visited and you have the feeling that in this place would be exactly the same.

Wearing old dirty rags and a hooded black gabardine, that you were sure when you found it was Brown, you proceed to walk around the city looking for what may be your next house to rob, as you walked you saw all the fancy people going in groups of 4 or 6 dressing clean, almost shimmering clothing, they all as always gave you disgusted looks as you walked near them as if you were the plague itself, the women gossiped and the man murmured things like “poor child” or “I wonder where his parents are” you didn’t need the pity of anyone, the sooner you got money the sooner you would leave to the next city on your list, Venice, you have heard that in the floating city there is a kind of guild of thieves, maybe you could stay with them for a while before heading more to north and then to wherever the wind takes you.

-.-.-.-.-

The sun was setting when you finally found a house of your interest, it would be better said a villa, and a very generous one, the walls were decorated with flags that you knew should belong to the family that lived in there, a nostalgic sigh escaped your lips.

-It should be good to have things like that… -You murmured to yourself as you leaned slightly on a wall next to you. It was true, you hated rich people, but you had to admit they always got all the pretty stuff, that is why in the first place you decided to start this “hobby” that slowly became a way of living to you. –Bene (good/ok), let’s get to work. –You adjusted the Hood of the gabardine a Little lower so your face wasn’t very clear because of the shadow it caused.

Walking carelessly around the villa you analyzed the structure of the building, checking for possibly weak spots, opened Windows, balconies, vines that looked strong enough to be climbed and the occasional damage in the walls to put your feet and hands on them, but to your surprise everything was squeaky clean, not imperfections of any kind, it looked now as safe as a fortress. –Well plan B. –You said to yourself and began checking the entrances of the house, they were close, and by this hour there should be flickers of light in at least one window, but there wasn’t, meaning the house was empty, it was a start at least. You started to look up for a climbing spot finding it right next to the villa, another odd in your favor.

The hard part wasn’t the climbing, it was the descending, everything always seemed taller to you while looking it from above, chills travelled down your spine before taking the hint to start climbing down, you almost fell two times because of the good placed vines inside the house, it was so ironic that it seemed hilarious.

Once you were down the real work had begun, you didn’t know when the family was supposed to return so you were in a race against time.

There were many doors to pick from but the one in the middle was the one which called your attention

-A…u…di…to…re… Auditore… -You spelled the word. Since you hadn’t received education the only thing you could do was memorizing shapes and sounds of pronunciation, it was in moments like these that you thanked for your very good memory. Going back to business you guessed that maybe this door leaded to a studio, and what did you always find in studios? Boring documents and useless stuff, small statues and painting at much but never anything worthy over 150 florins. You sighed in deception and looked at your right, there was the winner. You smirked and approached the door quickly taking out some metallic tools from your pockets, the only ones that you would call “best friends” in only one minute and a half the door was open. Pushing it gently the door moved forward revealing the darkened hallways of a noble house.

-Bingo –You chuckled and started to wander around, you’re bare feet echoed in the firm walls scaring you occasionally. Even the eyes of the people in some of the paintings looked like staring at you, the dark made everything always scarier than it really was, so to make yourself comfortable you took out your small knife and started to rip them off their frames but very carefully, they looked very well done, even in the dark the smallest details could be perceived there was no doubt that whoever made them one day would do something big. There were at least three more in the hallway; one by one they ended carefully placed inside your leather bag along with you’re the throwing daggers you had for your personal protection and some florins, you thought about taking the statues in the small stands too but they were just too heavy and too big to carry. –Maybe for another time. –You panted as you returned one of a woman to its place and kept walking to the next floor.

You kept walking with only the distorted light of the moon through the windows as company, it didn’t take you long to remove some other good paintings and one or two ornaments, for sure you have enough money to get food for a week, but if you wanted to leave the city you would need more, because for what you have heard the travels from the port of Forli to Venice weren’t exactly cheap and even less if you didn’t have a pass, it was necessary to get some more stuff, and for that you had an idea on mind, if you could only find the room of the couple, you would be able to take the jewelry in there.

When you were in half of your hunting some noises from outside called your attention, you ducked and walked from the front of a door to a nearby window, only peeking a little through the downside of the crystal, there was a carriage and a man was getting down to open the door, From the inside emerged first an older woman, “the mother”, you thought, after her a young lady, “her daughter obviously” you murmured, after both of them were out a kid came, and then two young boys one taller than the other.

-Merda (Shit)… -You hissed bitterly, if they found you, there would be trouble. Just when you thought that everyone had gone out the head of the family emerged, he didn’t look very threatening but honestly, rich people were masters in keeping their soft and refined appearances, only god knew who they really were and to be honest you didn’t want to stay and find it out.

Without standing up you proceeded to undo the lock of the door and open it just to see if you could get anything else before your hurried escape, your hands went everywhere and anywhere at once not being subtle at all but sadly there wasn’t anything of worth to carry with you, in fact there was nothing, it was a very simple room, a boy’s room perhaps…

-Oh no… -You gasped, it hit you so hard that made you froze, you had entered one of the boy’s room, but which one? The kid, the younger or the eldest, you hadn’t the slightest interest in knowing, so with no remorse you hurried towards the window at the opposite side of the room and started to do your magic, but right now, from all the times you have done this, they didn’t seem to cooperate as expected, you were getting more anxious and looked back at the door every second, there hadn’t been noise for a while, maybe they didn’t live here, maybe they were only passing by or something, you wanted that so bad to be true and for a second you believed it and calmed down enough to unlock your only escape route.

When the muted “click” came you let out a big sigh of relief, it was over now you could just jump out and walk away from here, you were adjusting your bag before peeking out to see if there was anyone outside and to your luck, as always, it was clear, no guards or fancy people walking around and even there was a haystack just a few meters from the window, it was only matter to jump.

-I FOUND HIM! –A voice startled you from behind and when your head snapped backwards to see the owner you almost had a heart attack, it was one of the brothers, it was hard to see him in the dark but you could notice that luckily it wasn’t the taller one. –Give back what you took from us and we will spare your life. –The tried to hide the pinch of fear in his voice with an arrogant voice, he was a spoiled kid; there was no way he could had a chance against you. –Don’t make me repeat myself. –He hissed this time, the kitty was showing his claws, you had to contain the chuckle that wanted to go out, you didn’t see his face but his gaze was perceptible, thanks to the angle of the light and the hood your face remained anonymous.

With silent steps you moved backwards until feeling the edge of the window against your lower back you turned and put quickly a foot on it getting ready to jump into freedom, you could feel yourself lift but not in the correct direction, A hand gripped tightly your left arm and tossed you onto the floor, your head met it first, damn that buzzing in your ears that would leave you a really bad headache later, but right now there were much more important matters like the fact that you had been caught.

With all the energy in your body you kicked and squirmed under your captor, even head butted him once just by chance, you heard a grunt of pain and felt a small air of victory but it didn’t last long, he had immobilized you entirely, the hood for some magic reason still covered part of your face. –Listen well, tell that snake of Vieri to… -The words of the boy became only hot breath when he pulled away the hood, his eyes narrowed dramatically as he met your (E/C) ones, this short moment of confusion was your perfect chance to escape, you kicked him right in the gut with your knee and rolled away from his grip grabbing something in the process, something heavy.

-I bet this is worth at least 500 florins. –You mocked at him and looked at the pendant that covered your whole hand.

-Give it… back –. He retorted in the floor, a very wrathful gaze was thrown upon you.

-I don’t think so figlio di papá (Daddy’s boy) I will keep it for you. –You mocked and put it inside the bag with the other goods before going to the window and jumping off to the haystack, when you came out of it the boy was in the frame of the window looking down at you holding still his belly, just to tease you blew a kiss at him and then walked into the dark streets disappearing between the shadows.

*~*~*~*

The stay in the city prolonged farther than you expected, thanks to the paintings you had permanently “borrowed” from the family, you managed to get a good amount of money, enough to afford new clothing and even shoes as well as a new gabardine, it was necessary for a thief like you to change constantly to not get caught. Sadly with the everyday spending the quantity you had slowly lowered down, it was frustrating and even daunting, but some coins wouldn’t stop you from getting what you wanted. Though you had a last resource of money, the collar you took from that boy days back, it was worthy a good sum but it was so pretty you couldn’t sell it like the other things, you had never had pretty things like these, at least not for too long of course, it was as far as your experience told you made from gold and that beautiful red orb, a ruby, in its centre made it just too pretty to letting it fall in the hands of contrabandists or merchants, their offers were good though, Most of them had offered you even the triple of its value and you had to admit you were really tempted to give it away but there was something that kept you off doing it.

You had considered going back to that rich house and get what you could but that would be just too stupid, so you opted for the casual and very effective pick pocketing, it was easy and quick, and if you were careful enough it was possible to gather up 300 florins per day. It was easy to spot which people had more money than those who doesn’t, it was as simple as just bump into them to take the coins and ran, minutes later they would realize about the loss but it would be too late, you would be already counting it on a roof laughing satisfied.

You could say you were just a stray cat on the run, going wherever you wanted and doing whatever you liked, sadly you didn’t count with the extra lives but in that way it wouldn’t be so fun.

You had up till now at least 2000 florins, but a little more wouldn’t do no harm, so you put your feet into the streets again looking for the last target of the day, one called specifically your attention, a young man, his features seemed very familiar but nowadays all men looked the same to you so you didn’t give too much attention to it. Blending with the surrounding you approached the unaware boy and bumped into him and slipped your hand carefully of not touching too much to not raise suspicions.

-Sorry… -You said without looking at him and kept walking unfazed but the texture in your hand made you a little disconcerted, it was a little raspy and the size… coin weren’t this big, when you looked at your hand the urge of slapping yourself almost took over, you had a letter instead of money and not a common letter, when you turned the envelope the words on it kicked you in the guts. –Gi...ova…nni… AUDITORE?! –that last name seemed to haunt you, a silent gasp escaped from your lips, then this could only mean that the boy who carried this letter was…

-EHI! Come back here ladrone! (Thief) –That irritating voice shouted, there was no doubt, it was him, you looked around and saw the boy approaching dangerously quickly, your mind went blank giving the only command of running, avoiding and pushing people from your way, but it wasn’t enough to get rid of that persistent noble, and more problems came when you caught the attention of a group of guards nearby. –Cazzo (fuck)!-You panted and saw the men behind, you were running out of breath and your feet were about to fail you when an idea came, with all the pain in your soul you dug your hand deep in your bag and took a fist of coins throwing them at the sky, the crowds fastened towards the floor when they saw the sparkling metal in the air, blocking the vision and path of the guards, it gave you enough time to hurry into some boxes and climb the house behind them.

From the roof you could still hear the rustle of the people fighting each other for a piece of your now lost treasure, you pouted in frustration and sat on the tiles for a minute to regain breath an energy, it was then when you wondered where did the boy went, he wasn’t with the guards.

-I knew it. –Someone spoke from behind making you jump onto your feet again, a dagger in your hand now pointing at the owner. –Wait, don’t… -He lifted his hands in surrender. –I just want to talk, perfavore (please). –Thanks to the daylight it was easier to recognize the features of his body, and his clothing.

-What do you want figlio di papá? –You hissed coldly at him and saw his arms returning at his sides.

-Please my name is Ezio bella. –He spoke delightfully and took a step further,you instinctively took one backwards checking on not falling from the building. –would you give me back that letter? –He asked peacefully and gave you a puppy eyed look, you looked at the paper and then back at him, it had no worth to you so there was no need on keeping it. You threw it at him and were about to continue your way when he pulled you from your arm. –wait! –Again with this, you pushed him away maybe too hard because he fell on the tiles, he looked startled at you and… intimidated perhaps?

-You have your letter now let me go. And don’t follow me. –You scolded and received a confused expression in return. –What? –You asked just as confused as him.

-You are pretty strong for a woman. –if somebody else had told you that you possibly had ignored it, but the fact that a rich kid was the one judging you was too much to let it pass.

-Well I have to be, if not I would starve. You know, not everyone was born with your privilege. –Those words came colder than expected and it really had a reaction on him by the way he looked at you.

-So you don’t do this for fun? –The naiveness in his voice was concerning.

-Why would I do this for fun? –You answered with another question; seriously you didn’t get rich people.

-I sometimes pick up fights just to pass the time; I thought you were doing the same with this. –He stood up and fixed his clothes.

-Unlike you, I don’t have my life arranged I have to do this for a living, but of course a noble like you wouldn’t understand… you should probably start looking around you and see how the real world is –You cut it coldly and put your feet going when he spoke from behind.

-But you don’t seem older than me. –He said confused and tried to reach you again but before he could even get a meter closer to you a small dagger landed just centimeters ahead of his feet making him give clumsy steps backwards.

-I told you not to follow me. –You severed your voice to sound threatening. –Go back to your house and don’t get in my way again. –Both held gazes for a few seconds, but after a while you noticed that he wasn’t looking at your face anymore.

-Why do you still have it? –Ezio asked a little amused and pointed at your chest with his head, just right where the collar was hanging.

-I’m still a girl, I like pretty stuff. –You justified yourself poorly. –Besides I told you I would keep it. –You smiled mockingly and he smirked.

-Show me how you live, how the “real” world is… -He paused for a second. –Your world. –The soft arrogance in his tone was unsetting, he looked very confident about asking such request.

-Why? –You asked concerned. –Have you heard the phrase “curiosity killed the cat”? –You expected with this daunting him but what you gained was a pretentious gaze in his face.

-If that was true, shouldn’t I be dead by now? –He extended his arms as a mocking movement as he looked at you in the eyes even though they were slightly covered by the hood, you couldn’t help but chuckle, this boy wasn’t like nothing you have faced before, he was interesting for a rich kid.

-Fine if that is what you wish, meet me here tomorrow at 5 in the morning, you will see how is my everyday life. –He bent at you as a display of gratitude.

-Perfetto (perfect). –He returned to his normal posture again. -May I have your name mysterious hooded lady?-You narrowed your eyes with a little smile doubting if really give him such important information but in the end succumbed.

-(Y/N) figlio di papá. –You mocked at him again.

-Please bella, call me Ezio. –He said as he took some steps backwards before turning and running away across the following rooftops.

-Ezio… -You murmured before a thin smile was drawn on your face, the days to come will be definitely the most fun you would have since you were a kid. –Maybe not all the rich people are the same. –With only saying this a warm feeling filled your chest, you gave a last look towards the direction he ran minutes ago before climbing down the roof and walking into the streets again, the day wasn't over yet and there were still many things left to do.