CH 34: Goodbye Francesco

We parted ways with La Volpe then. Seeing that it was still night and we wouldn't have anything to do until morning and could just wait, I told Ezio how a new mark has appeared on my map. She was just curious at first, but was thrilled and excited when I told her that it is an Assassin symbol and may be related to the seals.

So until morning, instead of doing anything else and just waiting, we went and explored the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore. There wasn't much to do, just a shit load of climbing. And after discovering the assassin tomb on top of the church, we retrieved the seal.

Haha, gotta say, this parkour cheat is really awesome. And Ezio is just built different when it comes to climbing and doing parkour. Because it took us just minutes to get to the assassin tomb on the roof of the giant church and retrieve the seal.

So seeing that we don't have anything else to do, we booked a room at an inn for a night so that we can rest and restore our energy for the upcoming chaos in the morning. We woke up early in the morning and made our way to the Duomo.

There was already a crowd, so I gently grabbed Ezio's hand and gave a comforting but strong squeeze as I looked at her with a serious small smile :"stai attento, va bene (be careful, alright)? non voglio che tu venga danneggiato (i don't want you to be harmed)."

She smiled back as she squeezed my hand as well and nodded before looking at me seriously :"alright, understood. I will be careful. You must stay calm and act carefully as well, got it? Don't you dare act rashly."

I chuckled before I kissed the back of her hand :"understood, Ashkim (my love). Andiamo (let's go)." After we walked a little and got into the crowd, we saw the Medici walking. Ezio kept her eyes and focus on them as she talked :"There's Lorenzo, and his wife. There's Giuliano, Lorenzo's brother. But where is Francesco...?"

As the Medici walked, Ezio noticed Francesco de' Pazzi and Bernardo Baroncelli breaking out from the crowd and charging at Giuliano :"There he is. Time to strike." As she said that, the fat man in red, Bernardo Baroncelli went to make the first attack :"Crepa, traditore (Here, traitor)!"

Bernardo slashed Guiliano's throat, who fell and tried to escape while his I think wife screamed in horror,but was held back by Francesco. The scream and commotion alerted Lorenzo who was talking with the monks :"Giuliano! No–!"

But while he was distracted, one of the monks who was present at the meeting at the church last night took out a dagger and slashed his shoulder. As he fell to the ground, Francesco pushed Giuliano to Bernardo and tried to stab his head, but he dodged.

Though he wasn't lucky as Bernardo stabbed him again, making him fall to the ground. The bloody noble crawled back as he begged for mercy :"No! In nome di Dio, vi scongiuro (In the name of God, I beg you)! Pietà (mercy)!"

Bernaro fled when Lorenzo drew his blade and blocked the attacks of the monks. But it seems that Francesco was really persistent as he repeatedly stabbed Giuliano while Lorenzo was occupied :"Nessuna pìetà, cane maledetto (No mercy for you, dog)! Muori (die)! Muori (die)! Muoriii (DIE)!"

After killing the defenseless noble, Francesco who sounded really like Cesare Borgia let his dagger stay in the dead body of Giuliano while he drew his blade and rushed at Lorenzo. But Lorenzo wasn't half bad in swordsmanship as he blocked Francesco's attack and stepped away from him.

Francesco took a stance as he glared at Lorenzo :" Your day is done, Lorenzo! Your entire family dies by my sword!" you would think that the Medici would have some guards with them, but no~, there were only a few of them who came to help while Francesco's men surrounded Lorenzo.

Me and Ezio nodded at each with serious looks before we attacked the Francesco's men who were wearing black and red uniforms. I quickly took out my daggers and started to take them out one after the other as me and Ezio looked out for each other all throughout the fight.

And after a quickly killing all of the extras, I rushed at Francesco and switched the dagger on my right hand to point up as I tried to stab him. But the lucky bastard dodged to the side with a curse. But I wasn't done yet as I quickly switched my dagger to point down again as I tried to slashed him with my dagger.

But he blocked it with a grunt before I lifted my foot and kicked him in the gut. As he was kicked back, I snorted with a disgusted look :"quindi questo è tutto ciò che i Pazzi possono fare (so this is all the Pazzi can do). No wonder all of your family members can be taken down or killed so easily."

He glared at me as he slashed at me with his sword :"ti ucciderò, bastardo (i will kill you, bastard)!" we exchanged blades for a little while before my talent in fighting won over his experience, and seeing Ezio also joining me after taking care of all the guards while I had Francesco distracted, he saw it as too much before he fled and some more of his guards rushed at us.

But they were nothing as well as we killed them too. But Francesco unfortunately got away. Lorenzo looked at us as he pointed at me and then at Ezio :"You... saved my life." But his wounds seemed to be bad as he dropped his sword and dropped on one knee while holding his shoulder.

Ezio :"It's nothing. But the man who did this to you has to pay!" I walked to him and lifted him up by his arm as he grunted in pain :"Not now... I need help first. To my home. People I can trust there... Can you...?"

Ezio stopped as she wanted to run after Francesco and nodded at me and Lorenzo. We agreed to escort him after he picked up his blade from the ground :"I'm losing a lot of blood..." but Ezio just kept going as he followed us :"Hang on, Signore! We're moving as fast as we can."

As we ran, we saw just how much chaos the attack of the Pazzi has made as there were their guards fighting Lorenzo's guards and fires blocking some alleys. As we ran, Lorenzo roared in rage :"Francesco de' Pazzi! I'll kill him! I'll wipe his entire family from the city! They'll be ERASED!"

Ezio :"Quietatevi, Signore (Be still, sir). Conserve your energy, or we'll be delivering a corpse. We're almost there now..." we all then reached the back entrance of the Palazzo Medici after having a small fight with a group who blocked our path.

After taking them down as well, I knocked on the door as Ezio looked around in case more guards came to cause trouble and get killed eventually :"Lorenzo's been wounded! Aprite la porta (open the door)!"

One of the Medici guards opened a small gap on the door and looked at me :"What's the password?" but there wasn't any need for that as Lorenzo himself looked at him through the gap :"Poliziano! Open the maledetta porta(fucking door)!!"

The guard quickly opened the door for us as he closed the door behind us and assisted Lorenzo in walking and sitting somewhere to rest :" By the Thrice Greatest! Come in. Quickly! The city is at war! Hurry!"

As Ezio turned to leave and I tuned to follow my beloved lover, Lorenzo reached out as he called out :"wait… I am in your debt. Tell me. Why did you help me?"

I shrugged as I nodded towards Ezio beside me :"my love decided, I acted upon it. She's more of the brain in the team with me being thee muscle."

Ezio :"You are not the only one who lost a brother to the Pazzi. My name is Ezio Auditore."

Lorenzo :"Ah! You're Giovanni's daughter... Your father was a good man. He understood honor, loyalty."

But in the middle of his sad look, a guard rushed inside from the outside :"The Pazzi thugs are storming the Palazzo della Signoria! We can't hold them off much longer–" but he was cut off by the Poliziano :"No! If they get inside, they'll murder all our supporters and put their own devils in power!"

Lorenzo grunted in pain as tried to get up :"Then my survival would mean nothing. I have to..." but realizing that he was too weak to do anything, he grabbed Ezio by forearm which was covered with the hidden blade :"Francesco de' Pazzi... Help save our city, Auditore... Kill him."

She agreed silently with a nod before we walked out and after a while, met up with Poliziano and another guard, outside Palazzo Medici who brought new information about Francesco's location for us to use.

Guard :"Signore, signora. I saw Francesco lead a battalion around the back of the Palazzo della Signoria. I fear he may be seeking another way in."

Poliziano :"Go! Before it's too late. Do what you can."

We nodded without wasting any more time and taking the rooftops to not get involved in the chaos of fighting the Pazzi guards. After reaching the rooftops of one of the building close to Palazzo della Signoria, Francesco somehow saw and recognized us from the top :"You again!? Why aren't you dead? - Men! Slaughter them!"

But the slaughtering was done by only us as we killed all the guards on top of the Palazzo while the bastard ridiculed :"Oh! The children think of themselves as master swordsmen. So you've drawn some blood! My men will make short of you!

Desisti! (Stop!) You're only delaying your inevitable and painful end!

What do you think you are proving? That you're loyal servant of that dog, Lorenzo? Death shall be your reward!

I grow tired of this game. Guards, finitelo! (Finish him off!)"

But after he saw all his guards killed by us, he tried to flee once again :"Guards—! GUARDS!" but Ezio glared at him as we got closer :"No one's coming... It's just us now." But he was still stubborn as he tried to jump from the building to probably a haystack as I remembered from the game :"Meledetto (damn it)! Che il diavolo ti porti! Stammi lontano (Damn you to hell)! Stammi lontano (Get the hell away from me)!"

You couldn't stop him from doing so in the game, but this was reality now, so I quickly threw one of my daggers at his hand which was on the stone. The dagger pierced his hand and stuck it to the wall which it pierced from how sharp it was.

He let out a painful scream before Ezio rushed at him quickly and pierced his chest with her hidden blade. He gasped with wide eyes for air as the force that Ezio applied to him when stabbing him pulled him down and his hand was cut into two as my dagger stays on the wall :"Now Firenze will judge you for what you've done."

"It's over... It's all over..." was all Francesco could mutter out before death started to pull him away and Ezio said one of her parting words and then the legendary phrase :"Meglio essere felici in questa vita che aspirare a esserlo nella prossima (Better to be content in this life, than aspire to it in the next). Requiescat in Pace (rest in peace)."

{Third person POV}

As the Pazzi supporters were gathered in front of the Palazzo della Signoria and screaming :"Libertà! Libertà! Libertà... (liberty!)" Jacopo joined in on a horse :"Libertà! Libertà! Libertà! Popolo e libertà! (Liberty! Liberty! Liberty! People and liberty!)

As the crowd continued their cheers, their screams came to a stop completely when a dead, naked with nothing but a towel around his body was suddenly hanged. When Jacopo looked at the body, he immediately recognized who it was :"Francesco…?"

When he looked up at the Palazzo, he saw a number of people such as thieves cheering while Ezio and Ali observed him while sitting like two eagles on the wall before jumping and walking away in the shocked gazes of the people.