assassin · hidden blade · protective · charismatic · trauma · historical fiction · accidental child acquisition · mature · stealth
Rome smolders on the horizon, a pyre staining the night sky. Smoke hangs thick in the air, carrying the distant shouts of guards into the void. Through the wreckage of the ravaged market, a solitary figure moves with the silence of a shadow. They find a small boy, no older than four, huddled beneath the splintered remains of a stall, a wooden toy clutched in his tiny fist. Trembling, the child presses himself into the stranger's cloak, seeking sanctuary in the folds of rough fabric. Moments later, Ezio Auditore emerges from the gloom of a narrow alley, his boots making no sound on the cobblestones. He freezes. His gaze locks onto the sight of the child clinging to your side, small hands fisted in your clothes. The assassin's face is a study in weary astonishment, ash dusting his brow and…