Ezio leaps across the rooftops, trying to follow Speranza. She's fast, and he loses track of her among the numerous amounts of women dressed in the same kind of gown.

Her smirks at her cleverness. Hiding in plain sight...it's a good strategy.

He continues along the rooftops, studying everything around him.

"Mario said her father attacked a Templar encampment. Would she be foolish enough to try and avenge him?" he thinks.

"No," he mumbles to himself. "She wouldn't be that stupid."

Even as he says this, he breaks into a sprint, leaping and jumping down banisters and ledges until hitting the road again. He continues down the path the Templars took earlier, praying that what he thinks has happened hasn't yet come to pass.

----------

Outside the city, Speranza crouches in the shadows on the edge of the Templar camp. She pulls her concealed sword out, testing the weight in her hand.

In front of her, the man who gave the orders to murder her family laughs, and her eyes narrow with hatred.

"It's time to pay, Tarso Capitani, you bastardo," she murmurs.

She takes a deep breath, a small smile playing across her lips.

----------

Ezio hears screams and people yelling angrily in fast-paced Italian as he sprints down the road. He pushes himself harder, his cloak billowing out behind him.

Firelight can be seen flickering in the distance, and he notices the screams starting to die down.

He rushes into the camp, where Speranza is fighting bravely with Templars screaming her last name and yelling at each other to do something. Her hair flies around her face, having fallen from the bun it was pulled into. She has a fierce look in her eyes, and she grits her teeth as she slashes and stabs and parries any sword coming her way.

He begins fighting Templars, and her eyes fall on him. She scowls and continues with her own engagement.

Soon, most of the Templars are dead, save for the few that managed to escape. Speranza throws her bloodied sword to the ground.

"Ezio, are you cazzo folle?! What are you doing here?" she demands, kicking a limp Templar in anger.

"Revenge is never the answer," he says calmly, moving towards her. "Even if they killed your family."

"It is in this case! Tarso got away, and now I have to hunt him down again..." She falters, wobbling slightly. "This is...this..."

"Tarso? How..." He stops, noticing her grimace in pain. "Speranza?"

She collapses into a heap onto the blood-stained soil, and Ezio rushes to her side, placing his arm under her neck and lifting the upper half of her body off the dirty ground. Her dress is dirty, ripped, and blood-stained. The dark material is stained around her middle, and he reaches to touch it. Her hands shake as she pushes it away.

"It's just a scratch..." she mumbles as she passes out.

Ezio's eyes widen, and he uses his knife to cut away some of the material around her stomach. A deep gash, definitely from a sword, reddens her torso. It's worse than his stab wound, far more fatal, and he brushes the strands of hair from her pale face.

"Stay with me, Speranza. Please. I'll get you some help," he whispers, lifting her bridal style off the ground.

He breaks into a run, holding her tightly to him. The city is still far away, but he's determined, fire running through his veins. He has to save her. He has to.

"Hold on. Only a little farther."

The bustle of the city has died down when he arrives, and only a few stragglers notice the assassin and his wounded companion. He tosses a few florins onto the ground to distract them.

Ezio reaches the house he's looking for, kicking the door hard with the toe of his boot. A very sleepy looking Leonardo opens the door, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Ezio? What's the..." His eyes fall to the woman in his arms. "Oh."

"Please, Leo. She isn't going to last long," the assassin pleads.

Leo nods and ushers them inside, clearing off a large wooden table. Ezio lays Speranza on it carefully and pulls his hood down. He presses an ear to her chest, sighing with relief as he hears the faint thumping of her heartbeat.

"She's alive," he reports.

Leo appears, holding a small knife and a cloth. He cuts away the rest of the loose fabric around her dress, leaving her entire wounded stomach revealed.

He hands Ezio the cloth. "Put pressure on the wound."

The assassin obeys, pressing the cloth against the bloody gash. Leo busies himself with medicines, his back turned to the pair. Ezio keeps gazing down at her, watching her chest rise and fall shakily, as if each breath is a battle that has to be fought.

"Please survive, Speranza," he whispers.

Bastardo: Bastard

Cazzo folle: F*cking insane