CH 20: A visit to prison

Ezio was really confused now. Some people were weird and some would act weir or out of character sometimes, like Ali himself, but these people were just being confusing as fuck now :"alright, what the hell is going on?"

Even though Ali had some clue of what was happening, he still had to keep his mouth shut. So he sighed through his nose with a nonchalant face and shrugged :"don't ask me. I'm as confused as you are for why they are acting like that."

Ezio shook her head with a slightly frustrated sigh :"fine, let's go and get the letter that father was talking about. And even though it's unlikely, he may tell us why these associates of his act like this and are so weird. Let's go."

The last letter that was supposed to be delivered to Giovanni should have been sent using a pigeon, so they just took the rooftops as they jumped from a building to another instead of going down on the street and climbing back up later on.

That wouldn't be anything to do for the two either, but they stilled wanted to do it like this. Ali also would warn them if the Pazzi were in his map, so they were killing to birds with one shot. Staying out of trouble and cutting down on things to do.

It didn't take long for them to get the letter from the pigeon either, Ezio just opened the door of the cage that the birds were in and took the letter from its leg before looking back at Ali with a smile :"alright, we're done with the errand. Let's take the letter back to father and ask what's going on."

Oh, he knew what was going on, alright. But even though he felt guilty for keeping it in and letting her go through this, he still had to. Ezio was far too much of an assassin to risk her not becoming one. Her motivation was revenge after all.

So if he saved her father and brothers, the people who he has tried to stay just as "my friend's family" and not get close, he would take away the reason for Ezio having such a raging desire for revenge.

And if that revenge was taken away, the chances of Ezio becoming an assassin would drop sharply. And through that, people who she would have killed, tyrants who didn't care about the lives of people like the Borgias wouldn't be killed.

So Ali did NOT want to mess with Ezio's origin story and how she became an assassin and for what reason. So he nodded back with a slightly guilty heart and a hurt one for letting people who acted kind towards him get killed.

He smiled after a sigh :"alright, let's go then."

The way back was smooth and comfortable since Ezio now knew of Ali's gift and could avoid trouble when she wasn't in the mood to deal with it. And Ali had a hard time keeping his guilt that knew would pass away rather quickly.

That was something else that he felt guilty about, his sense of morality and the way he has been brought up made him unconsciously feel bad that he will let it slide off that easily and probably even forget about it.

Ezio noticed the change in his mood too, but just ignored it and thought of it as "just Ali being Ali". Since it was rather normal for Ali to randomly do something or for something small to happen to him. Ad she thought this was one of those moments.

When they finally made it back, Ezio didn't bother to knock as she got worried when there was no sound or light from the sound. But when she opened it, she saw that some parts of the house are messed up.

Some of the decorations and furnitures were also broken while some woodworks were on the ground. She carefully looked around as worry creeped in her heart :"father? Federico?" but quickly dodged when she felt an approaching attack as Ali behind her signaled her :"be careful!"

And an attack did come, in the form of a vase. When Ezio successfully dodged the attack, she looked at who the attacker is, only to see one of the maid who recognized her :"*gasp* signorina Ezio! I'm sorry! Thank god!"

Ezio looked at her with worry as Ali walked to her side while she questioned the maid :"what happened? Where is everyone?"

The maid :"they took your father and brothers to the Palazzo della Signoria, to prison!"

Ezio :"and my mother? My sister?"

But thankfully and fortunately for her heart, Claudia's voice came out from behind a cover or something that had fallen :"Ezio,. Ali." Ezio quickly walked to where the voice came from, and opened her arms for a hug immediately when she saw her :"Claudia! Are you alright?"

Claudia :"yes, but mother…" as she nodded towards her mother, Ali was saddened to see how she was just staring off without saying anything or reacting to their arrival.

The maid :"she's in shock. They… when she resisted…"

Ezio :"it's not safe here. Is there someplace you can take them?"

The maid :"yes. Yes! To my sister's."

Ezio :"good. do that. In the meantime, I'll go see my father."

Ali :"and I'm not letting you go alone. I'm coming with you." He just received a nod from the serious Ezio for that.

The maid :"be careful, madonna Ezio, messer Ali! The guards were looking for you as well." The two nodded at her with serious looks before they started to run at full speed towards their destination, the prison.

As they were running, Ezio didn't even look at him as she continued running :"Ali, we're going to make the most use of that map of yours. So tell me what is the best root and way to get to where my father and brothers are."

Ali :"alright then, follow me. I will take you there by the easiest way while avoiding the guards or enemies as best as we can." And so, she slowed down just a little so that Ali could easily lead the way.

When they reached the street or field that the prison is, Ali nodded towards a place where they can climb up even easier :"follow me. There are a few nuisances around here. And we will have a easier time climbing the prison from here."

She followed after him as they climbed up a building and started running from there as they jumped from one to another a few times. And as promised, Ali brought them to a building that was literally connected to the prison.

Ezio :"thanks. ora, andiamo a questo (now, let's get to it)-!" but she was interrupted the moment she was about to climb up the wall by Ali :"whoa, hold your horses, Ezio. There are a few guards patrolling here. We should be careful and sneak around."

She nodded at him as she followed him. After climbing a little, kinda like a floor of the rooftop, she saw what Ali was talking about as a guard came and went around the rooftops. Ali closed the distance and whispered so that the guard wouldn't be alarmed :"sneaking isn't anything big or new to us. We wait for him to go that way, then we will quietly rush to the ladderand go up."

Because of their… adventures together, they had also sneaked around so they wouldn't get in trouble. So this time, they also did as Ali said and ran to the ladderquietly without getting noticed by the guard.

After climbing the ladder, they quickly leaned against the wall to be out of the sight of the guard before Ali nodded upwards and whispered :"there are two guard up there, one on the right and one on the left. But we can avoid them too as long as we go when they aren't looking back."

She nodded again before she waited for Ali's signal to begin. And the moment he gave the signal, they both climbed the ladder and ran behind the clueless guards before they hurriedly but carefully and professionally climbed the tower like structure.

Ali told her where to go, and thankfully, it was high enough to be out of the guards' field of vision. And when Ezio reached the place Ali pointed at her to go, her father's voice was heard :"Ezio!" Ezio immediately looked behind the bars :"father! What's happened?"

Giovanni :"took a bit of a beating, but I'm alright. What of your mother and sister?"

Ezio :"safe now."

Giovanni :"Annetta took them?"

Ezio :"yes… wait. You knew this would happen?!"

Giovanni :"not the way it did… and not this soon. It doesn't matter now."

Ezio :"what do you mean? Explain!"

Giovanni :"there's no time! Listen closely: return to the house along with Ali. In my office is a hidden door. Use your talent to find it. Beyond lies a chest. Take EVERYTHING you find inside. Much of it may seem strange to you, but all of it is important. Do you understand?"

Ezio and Ali :"yes."

Giovanni :"good. Among the contents is a letter, and with it some documents. I need you to take these documents to messer Uberto. He was with me in the office this morning."

Ezio :"the Gonfaloniere. I remember. Now please, tell me what's happening. Are the Pazzi behind this? There was a note for you at the pigeon coop. it sai-" but just before she was about to say something, there was a loud bang of a door getting shut.

Giovanni :"go, Ezio! Go now!" so without wasting anytime, both of them fell to the haystack that was just conveniently there. They didn't waste anymore time there either to risk getting noticed by the guards.

So the moment they fell, Ezio got out of the haystack and did a leap of faith to quickly get to the ground by jumping into another haystack like thingy. Ali looked down from where he was standing or sitting like Ezio was :"sigh, fuck my life. This is good and bad…"

And he then trusted his cheat of and after taking a deep breath, he also did a leap of faith to another haystack! It wasn't the first time that he had done a leap of faith, he had done it multiple times in the past.

And no, by past, I don't mean in the game. Since befriending Ezio, he had done a lot of things. Because Ezio being the kind of person that she is, easily became excited when she found out that he was so talented and was interested in her leap of faith.

So she forced him to train on doing it. But the reason he was nervous just now, was because he had never done it from this high up. So he was still a little worried even though he was literally immortal along with Ezio.

After he got out of the haystack, he sat on the edge of it as he just breathed for a while as Ezio came to his side :"stai bene (are you alright)? Breath, Ali, breath. In… out… in… and out… are you alright now?" she got a nod in response :"alright, let's go. We should hurry up."

And they hurried alright. They quickly ran to their house at such a speed that it hardly took them a minute to reach there. When they reached and Ali took the lead to open the door in case there was danger, Ezio said to no one in particular :"father said there was a door somewhere here…"

Ali looked at her while more relaxed since there didn't seem to be any danger and smirked :"and he also said that you should use your gift to find it, right? You do that. And while you are doing that, I will go and retrieve my own stuff. I had hidden them away, so the guards nor anybody else could take them. Take care."