Note: this takes place during the gap in the timeline 1503-1507. If you played AC: Brotherhood you would know what I'm talking about. I am stretching the limits of what I could do with the time line in the 10 year jump in AC2, if 10 is not the right number of years please tell me, it would be greatly appreciated. Grazie mia amici.

The Empire

The sun set majestically in the background as the thieves set to work, putting on the uniforms of the Doge's guards, gathering the supplies they would need, and Antonio was pacing in his office, drinking from a steaming cup as he rolled the plan over in his head once more. Venezia had fallen into chaos over the years since Ezio had left. It had started slowly, a suspicious man near the guild's district, an unscheduled ship coming in for dock; it was all part of a plan. The Borgia were not satisfied with Roma anymore, they craved for more, and so they took Florence first, the massacre had been astounding, Medici and the Borgia's men alike raged through the streets, conflicts breaking out whenever the other was seen.

The Medici held their ground for a year in the city, but their numbers had dwindled down to only a couple dozen troops before long. This was when Lorenzo had sent word to Ezio Auditore Di Firenze, the Assassin. The letter, however, did not reach the young Auditore, having been intercepted by the Borgia's men surrounding the city. So then the Medici family fell from power, the Borgia's flag pinned to the chest of Lorenzo Medici as his body was paraded through the streets as a symbol of their victory. And it hadn't been a year after before the first of the Borgia's men began to occupy Venezia. The Doge had been against this, speaking out directly before the Borgia commanders, but they eventually silenced him. In his place one of the Borgia's men was appointed to replace the Doge, a plump man with an appetite for control, and woman, especially young woman.

The man was sick, twisted, and needed to be put down, and with the same tactic the Borgia used in Florence, any contact with the Assassin's was cutoff, and remained that way for seven years. Seven years of hell in Venezia, the thieves hunted like animals, hung in public, even brought before the masses of Venezia and brutally beaten. Antonio was being stalked all the same; several of their own had made attempts to assassinate him, sworn over to the Borgia for coin and comfort. His own blade had tasted the blood of his thieves; the attempts on his life had left him paranoid, desperate, and looking for something. What he looked for was not material, or a weapon, it was just a way to get to Ezio, he had heard the rumors of a white hooded assassin in Roma, building a brotherhood of assassins to fight the Borgia. But he had also heard the story of Mario's death, and that of Monteriggioni, the siege had supposedly taken both of the Auditore's lives. When they heard the news it shocked him to no end, the mere though of Ezio's death was devastating at the least.

He wasn't the only one to be affected by hearing the death of Ezio Auditore, all of the thieves felt it as well, but most of all Rosa. When she had been told the news she went ballistic, her knife had found its way to the unfortunate messenger's throat as she threatened to kill him for saying such a vile lie. The thieves were able to get Rosa off the poor man, bringing her to Antonio at his own command so he could have a talk with her. It hadn't gone much better with Antonio than with the messenger. She had screamed in his face, listed off vile names for him and everyone who had made the ingenious decision to look in on them, and she had also broken down in her father figure's arms and cried. She had vowed that day to kill whoever had killed Ezio, never once mentioning his name directly; he guessed it was too painful for her. At the moment she was running ahead of them with two others to scout out the defenses of the Doge's palace, and to 'silently' clear the way there. He only hopped they would get out alive.

00100

Rosa and the two other thieves quickly made their way across the rooftops, eliminating any guard who was posted in their way, put something was off. It was easy, too easy to slip past the Borgia's defenses, almost as if a path had been perfectly marked for their entry. She pulled herself up and onto the ledge she had leapt to from the previous rooftop, the three had decided to reach a higher rooftop to map out the guards' positions. The view from the rooftops was fantastic; she could almost make a map of where the guards were, as well as where the Doge ate his dinner.

"Hey guys! Get up here, the view's great!" she called back down to her 'slower' companions and waited for a reply. "Hey! Did you guys fall or sleep or something? We got a job to do!" Still not getting an answer she turned back to yell at them face to face, but instead of her companions waiting there she found a razor sharp sword pointing right at her neck.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" The guard mockingly questioned her, "Thieves this close to the Doge's palace? Aren't you a little bit out of your league girl?"

"Bastardo," she sneered.

"Oh that's not very nice; I think we'll have to teach this girl a lesson." He gestured behind him, addressing his fellows holding the other two thieves. "Kill them."

"No!" she lurched forward as the guards plunged the thieves' own daggers into their owner's chests. Two guards came behind her and grabbed her arms, securing her where she stood. The leader of the guards turned back to her, his sword sheathed but his hand still resting on his sword belt.

"Now," he said as he slid the back of his hand against her cheek, smirking sadistically as he did so, "What to do with you." The two holding her still laughed as she jerked her head away from the leader's hand, a look of disgust and hatred burned onto her face. The guard opened his mouth to continue his sadistic game, but found he couldn't as he suddenly fell to Rosa's feet, an arrow lodged through the back of his head. The guards holding her fell equally limp as the deadly tips ripped into their flesh. And then she found all the guards dead at her feet, the vile leader who had planned to rape her, the two who had held her in his reach, and the two who had killed her friends, all dead.

Shadows began to stir around her and slowly they started to come towards her. Soon the shadows took shape, white robes with deep cowls hiding their faces, men and woman alike in their ranks. She starred in wonder as five of the white robed figures stepped from the shadows, all bearing the same seal on their belts, the seal of the Assassins. She barely breathed as one of them passed her, kneeling down and closing the guard's eyes with a flick of its wrist before whishing the guard peace in death.

Just as she began to ask them who they were she was cut off by the scream of a man from across the street, the Borgia's corrupt Doge. He had seen the handiwork of the assassins and was screaming for the guards, running for his life. As he rounded the corner of the rooftop he was cut off, a flurry of flowing white robes stopping the fleeing man in his tracks. The Assassin slowly eased the man's dying body to the ground, a strange feeling of remembrance filling her as she saw the Assassin's robes. They were noticeably different than the others; his belt had different patterns woven into it, the same symbol of the Assassins still in the center. Red drapes came down from a sash drawn across his waist securely, he had metal armor on him, stronger looking than the plates worn by the Assassins around her.

She saw him mumble a few words before he did something strange, he took a feather from his belt and dragged it over the trickle of blood that was oozing from the side of his mouth. He tucked the feather inside the Doge's lips and stood up from the dead man's body, looking to his left spotting the mass of Borgia soldiers rushing to the scene. He lifted his left hand and tightened it in a fist, and the assassins acted accordingly to the command. Swiftly they returned to the shadows, disappearing into the night just as silently as the legends said. The soldiers rounded the corner and found the single form of the head Assassin standing over the dead body of the Borgia's Doge.

"Stop him!" A soldier shouted to the others around him, "Stop the assassino!" The guards charged the Assassin, and she watched as he turned, pausing only to send the smirk that had haunted the posters all over the city for years, and then he jumped. He disappeared over the edge of the wall while the soldiers looked over the ledge frantically searching for the disappearing Assassin…

00100

Hours later Rosa could be found storming down the halls of the guild's headquarters, heading strait to Antonio's office. Several thieves heard her cursing Antonio to be plagued by a whore the next time he met one. As she stormed down the halls she tried to force the vivid picture of the Assassin who had killed the Doge out of her mind, mostly because he had given the guards the same smirk, the exact same smirk that the Assassino Di Firenze had become infamous for. The only difference between the two was his robes and beard, the last time she had seen Ezio he had been cleanly shaved. But she still couldn't get it out of her head, the picture lingering like subtle pain just after she had recovered from the arrow in her thigh over ten years ago.

The doors of Antonio's office were flung open by the fuming form of Rosa, her fiery accusations coming out before Antonio could even say a word. "What the hell happened at the Doge's palace? Who where they!" Rosa's glare suddenly caught the form of a blond haired woman standing next to Antonio's desk, robes almost identical to Ezio's drawn over her body. "And who the hell is she!"

Antonio cover his eyes with his hands for a second, musing on what to say when the woman cut into Rosa's shouts.

"So you must be Rosa," the woman said, "Il Mentore sends his regards and apology for arriving late."

"Who the hell is Il Mentore?" Rosa continued with the fire still in her words.

"He is our mentor, our leader." The woman continued, "He is also our best."

"Then what are you!" Rosa asked heatedly.

"They are like Ezio," Antonio cut in, "they are known as the Brotherhood, the Brotherhood of Assassins." The Assassin next to Antonio gave a small bow before speaking again, her eyes a cold blue that reminded her of an eagle.

"He is correct, my name is Anetta, and I am a student of Il Mentore myself." Anetta paced in front of Rosa as she continued, "and I was only given the title Assassino two months ago, so I am not considered to be a high ranking member of the Brotherhood. I was sent here to give Antonio any assistance he will need to take out targets that Il Mentore marked on this map." Anetta pointed to a map pinned to the wall next to her, several places circled in red. "I was also instructed to give this to the thief we saved from the guards." Anetta produced a letter from her belt, the small rolled up paper slightly bigger than Rosa's hand. "Mentore wrote it himself."

Huffing, Rosa took the letter and stuffed it into her pocket before she moved around the Assassin and walking strait to Antonio, "Why the hell didn't you tell me!" she hissed at him. Obviously getting annoyed at Rosa's behavior Antonio ran a hand through his hair before he turned and answered her question.

"Because I only learned of this an hour ago, after you had already left." He mentally sighed and continued, "Anyways I think you should get some rest, we have much to do tomorrow." Without another word Rosa briskly walked from Antonio's desk and out the door, muttering silent curses as she walked. After she was out of earshot Anetta turned to Antonio and began to speak.

"Are you sure she will understand?"

"Yes," Antonio replied, "she is strong, and this will pass over her before the sun rises. Besides, she hasn't even been told the worst of it."

"The worst?" Anetta questioned, "I would have thought that it would be the best considering."

"Normally, yes. It would be the best news for her to have ever been told. But over three years after she found out… I don't want to know what will happen to him when he gets here."

"Mentore is very smart; no doubt he will find a way to tide her over."

"Let us hope, signora, let us hope."

00100

Rosa barely slept that night, tossing and turning, not getting a single resting moment as she tried to forget that goddamn Assassin. Why did he look so much like Ezio, is his death not enough for me to suffer? Not to mention that bastardo still owes me for the race he lost. She hadn't opened the letter from 'Il Mentore' yet, feeling contempt towards the Assassin's leader for a reason she couldn't grasp. She still had the haunting suspicion that 'Il Mentore' was the same Assassin she had seen at the Doge's palace. She felt the heat of the sun as it weaved through her window, the rays silently hitting her flesh, as well as something else. It was strange, a feeling that she was being watched…

She tensed as she heard the subtle breeze coming from outside, but that was impossible; her window was closed when she went to sleep. She heard a small creak come from her floorboards, confirming her suspicions, someone's in my room! She leapt from her bed in her night shirt and slacks, her faithful stiletto clutched firmly in her hand. She caught sight of the end of a white robe tail as the intruder fled. She raced after the intruder and picked up a throwing knife from her pouch hung on the wall. She jumped onto the rooftop outside of her window, looking in all directions for whoever had intruded into her room. She lowered the throwing knife as she failed to find the intruder who had already slipped away. She huffed in annoyance as she clambered back into her room, replacing the knife back into it's pouch. She pulled on her shirt and boots, tightening the laces before she finally placed her favorite cap on her head, the gift from thirteen years ago fitting a perfectly as when Ezio had given it to her after her old cap had fallen into the river during their routine escape from the guards of Venezia.

She missed those days, the days that she had spent in the company of Ezio, the Assassino Di Firenze. Those days had been the best days of her life, not having laughed, or traded jibs with a friend like she had with Ezio ever again after them. She could still remember when Antonio had said that Ezio had gone to Roma to investigate the Borgia, and try to locate what they were so interested in. She had almost broken down and cried right there, in Antonio's office, having to quickly retreat to her room to hide the tears that began to leak from her eyes. Why hadn't he told her, given her some kind of goodbye before he had gone? Why? But that was the past, and she had to focus on the future, perhaps a little thieving would help clear her mind. And so she set out into the streets of Venezia, searching for something to help her forget.

00100

Outside the canal entrance to the Thieves' Guild one of the Assassins stood waiting, a piece of parchment tucked into his hand tightly. The Assassin was male despite his female partner, both receiving their orders from Antonio to do odd jobs to help the guild reform some of what the Borgia had efficiently taken over. The Assassin turned his head as a flying form of white robes dropped down to his right, the Assassin immediately recognizing his superior.

"Mentore," he greeted him, "We have done as you've asked. And we also were able to recover this from a Borgia ship that docked today." The Assassin held out the parchment in his hand, the higher ranked Assassin thanking him as he took it.

"Grazie," he said, "and what of the Borgia patrol that was lingering near the guild yesterday?"

"Dead," the Assassin replied, "Anetta took care of them -silently of course- last night as they made their rounds."

"Va bene, do you have anything else for me?"

"No, but the thieves' leader asked to see you. He said that their was something he had to ask you in person."

"Grazie. We do have much to discuss…"

Aaaand down comes the cliffhanger. By the way, Anetta is actually based off one of the Assassin recruits; her name comes from a friend of mine. I tried to tie in some of both Rosa's and 'El Mentora's' personality. If anyone guesses who he is you get a shiny gold star! Anyways, reviews are always appreciated, constructive criticism as well, and flames… well why would you do that? Until next time mia amici.