Hi everyone!

I JUST finished AC2, finally! And after going back to 100% stuff like feathers, I couldn't find Leonardo anywhere. At all. And was devastated by this.

Haven't played AC3 (doesn't come out until February for PC's :((( so I'll have to wait. This time, though, I did make sure not to make any more fatal errors in guessing the next game like last time. In another fic, edited now, I hadn't realized Maria introduced Leo and Ezio. Anyways. Forgive errors. I have seen very little of AC3).

Enjoy!

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Leonardo is gone.

Ezio can't admit it to himself fully, hasn't even considered the possibility for the past few days. It's denial like a lifesaving technique, frantic and desperate, and performed again and again, long after it could have helped. He returned from Rome to find that, for the first time in such a long time, that he has no idea where Leonardo is. Ezio doesn't pause to think of anything else, doesn't linger over how wrong that is, so wrong it's glaringly obvious, wrong like the sun rising at midnight, and goes straight to Leonardo's workshop in Venezia.

He's here, of course, Ezio thinks, and keeping himself from sprinting to the workshop is a struggle. Why wouldn't he be here? There's no reason to be worried. No reason to be worried, except he doesn't know where Leonardo is, and the thought makes his breathing sharp and erratic, makes him tense and closer to scared than he's ever been.

The workshop door is locked. The workshop is closed up and vacant, and Ezio tries the door handle again, as if it will miraculously unlock and he will find Leonardo within. The handle jams up at his attempts, and a careful circling of the building, prey circling a slumbering predator, reveals only emptiness.

He's not here. The thought echoes in a staggering crescendo, and for a moment, Ezio can do nothing but stare in disbelief at the empty workshop, as if it's betrayed him by being empty. But why would he- Ezio begins to thinks, but he cuts the thought short, because Leonardo can't be gone, and bolts for the docks. He's not gone, he's not, Ezio tells himself, the frantic panic only making it seem more like a lie, he's not gone, he's just not here.

The dock workers that recognize him look momentarily puzzled to see him again, before forgetting him entirely. Ezio boards a ship and waits at the railing, staring down into the grey, churning water.

He can't be gone, he thinks, and it's all he can manage to wrap his head around. He can't explain why, exactly, can't explain why suddenly he's frantic, why suddenly, the whole world has spun around to revolve on this axel, around just Leonardo. There is nothing to worry about, no threats, no dangers, and yet, Ezio can't breathe.

He'll be there, Ezio fails to convince himself, he'll be there, he'll be there, he'll be there. He drops his head into his hands and listens to the sound of the waves, heart hammering in his chest, like it's trying to fight its way out to tell him something he refuses to hear.

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Ezio arrives in Firenze, heart pounding and nerves tensed painfully. This is ridiculous, he tells himself, as he clings to self-control and forces himself not to run, I'm sure he's fine, wherever he is.

Of course, the question has never been whether or not Leonardo is fine. Not knowing where Leonardo is, not being able to find him- it's like having his life's purpose torn away, left unbalanced and staggering, like failing at everything he's ever been meant to do, all at once. It makes no sense, that this would be have the ability to freeze everything for him, but all the same, Ezio can't deny any more than he can explain the fact that he's frantic with the need to know that Leonardo isn't suddenly absent from his world. Leonardo has to still be here, everything can't have changed while he was in Roma, he can't have lost everything because of all he's done, because if he lost Leonardo because of all he's done, he'd go back and wouldn't do any of it.

Leonardo has redefined him, and without Leonardo, there's the terror that he'd go back to the way he was. Ezio had been bent on vengeance, but standing over his last target's limp body, the howling voice of rage in his mind had been replaced by Leonardo's, telling him this won't bring them back, and telling him, don't you remember how you always respected Federico's ability to walk away from a nearly-finished fight? Remembering that will keep him closer than breaking his beliefs in his name. Ezio had walked away.

He finally reaches the workshop door, and standing before it now, he closes his eyes and hopes. I need to find you, he thinks, and is suddenly struck with the need to break down sobbing, ridiculously hard to overcome, I just need to find you.

There is no answer when he knocks.

This is how his world will fall to pieces- slowly, devastatingly, already over while he discovers more and more broken pieces, and he won't understand why this will be what ruins him.

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Hope everyone enjoyed that! Please review!

Love ya,

Sunshine