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Paradisa, unknown
Juan kicks his feet up on the coffee table, and he makes an unpleasant crunching noise as he sinks his teeth into a crisp apple. Ezio feels his temper rise just watching him –– true, he can be just as irreverent, but he has never been tactless or without manners. Those things were trained into him at an early age, and no taste for fighting could replace that.
"What makes you think you're so much better than us, Auditore?"
"Excuse me?" Ezio replies, dropping his jacket over the back of a chair.
Juan looks up at him with a smirk, sinking a little deeper into the couch's back. In a tone that suggested Ezio was some sort of child, he continued, "You keep moralizing at my sister about the corruption of nobility and righteous murder, but I fail to see how you are any different than us. A noble, a murderer. What makes us depraved and you a saint?"
Ezio's eyes narrow, and he raises an arm to point at the door.
"Get out, Juan Borgia, or I'll put a stop to your black heart," he replies.
Juan doesn't move an inch closer to the door. He just shakes his head.
"Not until you answer my question," he says, steadfast. "Unless, that is... you don't have an answer."
There's a breath of silence, and then Ezio replies, "I serve the people, the people whose shoulders you stand on, whose backs you break. You serve the advancement of your own causes."
"Is revenge not a personal cause?" Juan responds, and Ezio's fists curl.
"It began as a personal cause, but then it became a crusade to rid Italia of the tyrant who would destroy it," Ezio snarls. "
Juan tosses the apple aside, and it hits the floor with a thud and rolls. Ezio can feel his anger boiling over, palpable on the air, and he takes a few steps forward as Juan's smirk widens.
"Are you upset?" Juan asks.
Ezio's expression hardens. He draws his sword and points it in Juan's face, and before the Borgia can say another word, he snaps, "Which enrages you more? That I will succeed, that you will die at the hands of your brother, or that your sister sleeps with the enemy?"
Then it is Juan's turn to lose his cool, his smirk vanishing in an instant and his shoulders squaring. The blade at his chin keeps him from moving too far, and when he leans forward, Ezio slides it against his jugular in one precise cut. Any more pressure and the blood would bead against its edge.
"Well?" Ezio taunts.
"Cesare and I may not get along much these days, but with an enemy in common, we can put our differences aside, if only temporarily," Juan growls. "As for my sister... I'm afraid my opinion of her came crashing down some time ago. Your threats fall on deaf ears."
"Then why are you so eager to choke on my blade?"
Juan's eyes narrow, his expression hardening, and Ezio feels the tension between them twist to all new heights. He forces Juan's chin up with the blade. Juan moves his hand to his belt, around the handle of a stiletto.
"I'll call your bluff. You wouldn't dare lose what little favour you have left with us. So go fuck yourself, orphan," Juan says.
And then Juan moves to duck back from Ezio's blade, swinging the knife out.
Ezio doesn't pay him any heed. He presses forward as Juan moves, his blade piercing Juan's jugular, and Juan makes the slightest noise before the air in his lungs is escaping out his throat. Blood blocks the rest, streaming and bubbling forth as Ezio withdraws, and Juan is already slumping back. Ezio moves in to clutch his face, hard, to give him something to focus on.
"If I can do it once," Ezio says. "I can do it again. Remember that."
Juan is gurgling, and his body shaking with the throes of death. Ezio holds him still, one hand still on Juan's face, and Juan's chest pinned between Ezio's brace arm and the couch. For a full minute, Ezio grits his teeth.
Then he releases, slowly, and Juan's body remains frozen against the couch back. Ezio draws himself up to stand again, his white sleeve drenched and dripping, his sword clattering to the floor as he knocks it from where it was dropped on the couch. He feels calm, like the anger has drained out of him the same way Juan's blood drained.
His first Borgia.
Good.
-x-
Five days later, he finds himself joining Cesare, Lucrezia and Stephanie for a game of cards. Despite the tension between himself and Cesare, it is a rather merry time. The wine is plentiful, the food is delicious, and there are many laughs. The conversation does not stray towards the wayward son of the Borgia for many hours, until Cesare remarks on it offhandedly.
"Have you spoken with Juan since last week, sis?" he says.
Ezio places down a card, eyes flicking to Lucrezia for the slightest second before moving back down to the cards. Lucrezia looks unconcerned, and even annoyed at the subject being brought up at all.
"No," she replies.
"One can only imagine what he's gotten into now," Cesare sighs.
"Or who," Lucrezia remarks, tone light but implication unmistakable. Ezio shares a look with Stephane, whose smile says Juan is not-unlike-someone-else.
"How about you, dear Stephanie?" Cesare remarks.
"I don't talk to him that often," Stephanie says, with a shake of her head.
Cesare's eyes move to Ezio, who smiles.
"I haven't."
Cesare sighs.
"Do not waste your sighs on him, dear brother," Lucrezia replies, again with that airy tone, her eyes on her cards. She selects one and places it atop Ezio's, and her eyes meet Ezio's for a brief moment before moving to Cesare. "Whatever whorehouse he has found can keep him. Do you not agree?"
"We last parted after an argument," Cesare replies. "As little as I care for his indulgences, I would not leave us on such terms."
"And he hasn't responded to the journal?" Steph frowns.
"No," Cesare confirms. "But it's been almost a full week, and I did not expect it would take so long for him to cool off."
Stephanie's eyes drift to Ezio, who does not look up from his cards. Instead, he nudges Lucrezia's side and whispers a joke about Juan to her, and she laughs. Cesare's eyes narrow as Ezio's lips draw much too close to the side of her face.
"I have a new philosophy, Cesare," Lucrezia interjects. "Life is much too short to suffer Juan's temper. After all, if I were to ignore him for a week, I'm sure he would forget my existence entirely."
"That is not true, and we are still family," Cesare says, obviously unimpressed, and his eyes move to Ezio, who wears a smile. "Auditore, I would have you stop leading her to such conclusions."
"You heard the woman," Ezio says, finally. "Let us discuss happier matters. That is the purpose of our afternoon, isn't it?"
Cesare frowns, but his attention returns to his cards. Stephanie, on the other hand, doesn't take her eyes off of Ezio, her smile slowly waning.
Juan kicks his feet up on the coffee table, and he makes an unpleasant crunching noise as he sinks his teeth into a crisp apple. Ezio feels his temper rise just watching him –– true, he can be just as irreverent, but he has never been tactless or without manners. Those things were trained into him at an early age, and no taste for fighting could replace that.
"What makes you think you're so much better than us, Auditore?"
"Excuse me?" Ezio replies, dropping his jacket over the back of a chair.
Juan looks up at him with a smirk, sinking a little deeper into the couch's back. In a tone that suggested Ezio was some sort of child, he continued, "You keep moralizing at my sister about the corruption of nobility and righteous murder, but I fail to see how you are any different than us. A noble, a murderer. What makes us depraved and you a saint?"
Ezio's eyes narrow, and he raises an arm to point at the door.
"Get out, Juan Borgia, or I'll put a stop to your black heart," he replies.
Juan doesn't move an inch closer to the door. He just shakes his head.
"Not until you answer my question," he says, steadfast. "Unless, that is... you don't have an answer."
There's a breath of silence, and then Ezio replies, "I serve the people, the people whose shoulders you stand on, whose backs you break. You serve the advancement of your own causes."
"Is revenge not a personal cause?" Juan responds, and Ezio's fists curl.
"It began as a personal cause, but then it became a crusade to rid Italia of the tyrant who would destroy it," Ezio snarls. "
Juan tosses the apple aside, and it hits the floor with a thud and rolls. Ezio can feel his anger boiling over, palpable on the air, and he takes a few steps forward as Juan's smirk widens.
"Are you upset?" Juan asks.
Ezio's expression hardens. He draws his sword and points it in Juan's face, and before the Borgia can say another word, he snaps, "Which enrages you more? That I will succeed, that you will die at the hands of your brother, or that your sister sleeps with the enemy?"
Then it is Juan's turn to lose his cool, his smirk vanishing in an instant and his shoulders squaring. The blade at his chin keeps him from moving too far, and when he leans forward, Ezio slides it against his jugular in one precise cut. Any more pressure and the blood would bead against its edge.
"Well?" Ezio taunts.
"Cesare and I may not get along much these days, but with an enemy in common, we can put our differences aside, if only temporarily," Juan growls. "As for my sister... I'm afraid my opinion of her came crashing down some time ago. Your threats fall on deaf ears."
"Then why are you so eager to choke on my blade?"
Juan's eyes narrow, his expression hardening, and Ezio feels the tension between them twist to all new heights. He forces Juan's chin up with the blade. Juan moves his hand to his belt, around the handle of a stiletto.
"I'll call your bluff. You wouldn't dare lose what little favour you have left with us. So go fuck yourself, orphan," Juan says.
And then Juan moves to duck back from Ezio's blade, swinging the knife out.
Ezio doesn't pay him any heed. He presses forward as Juan moves, his blade piercing Juan's jugular, and Juan makes the slightest noise before the air in his lungs is escaping out his throat. Blood blocks the rest, streaming and bubbling forth as Ezio withdraws, and Juan is already slumping back. Ezio moves in to clutch his face, hard, to give him something to focus on.
"If I can do it once," Ezio says. "I can do it again. Remember that."
Juan is gurgling, and his body shaking with the throes of death. Ezio holds him still, one hand still on Juan's face, and Juan's chest pinned between Ezio's brace arm and the couch. For a full minute, Ezio grits his teeth.
Then he releases, slowly, and Juan's body remains frozen against the couch back. Ezio draws himself up to stand again, his white sleeve drenched and dripping, his sword clattering to the floor as he knocks it from where it was dropped on the couch. He feels calm, like the anger has drained out of him the same way Juan's blood drained.
His first Borgia.
Good.
-x-
Five days later, he finds himself joining Cesare, Lucrezia and Stephanie for a game of cards. Despite the tension between himself and Cesare, it is a rather merry time. The wine is plentiful, the food is delicious, and there are many laughs. The conversation does not stray towards the wayward son of the Borgia for many hours, until Cesare remarks on it offhandedly.
"Have you spoken with Juan since last week, sis?" he says.
Ezio places down a card, eyes flicking to Lucrezia for the slightest second before moving back down to the cards. Lucrezia looks unconcerned, and even annoyed at the subject being brought up at all.
"No," she replies.
"One can only imagine what he's gotten into now," Cesare sighs.
"Or who," Lucrezia remarks, tone light but implication unmistakable. Ezio shares a look with Stephane, whose smile says Juan is not-unlike-someone-else.
"How about you, dear Stephanie?" Cesare remarks.
"I don't talk to him that often," Stephanie says, with a shake of her head.
Cesare's eyes move to Ezio, who smiles.
"I haven't."
Cesare sighs.
"Do not waste your sighs on him, dear brother," Lucrezia replies, again with that airy tone, her eyes on her cards. She selects one and places it atop Ezio's, and her eyes meet Ezio's for a brief moment before moving to Cesare. "Whatever whorehouse he has found can keep him. Do you not agree?"
"We last parted after an argument," Cesare replies. "As little as I care for his indulgences, I would not leave us on such terms."
"And he hasn't responded to the journal?" Steph frowns.
"No," Cesare confirms. "But it's been almost a full week, and I did not expect it would take so long for him to cool off."
Stephanie's eyes drift to Ezio, who does not look up from his cards. Instead, he nudges Lucrezia's side and whispers a joke about Juan to her, and she laughs. Cesare's eyes narrow as Ezio's lips draw much too close to the side of her face.
"I have a new philosophy, Cesare," Lucrezia interjects. "Life is much too short to suffer Juan's temper. After all, if I were to ignore him for a week, I'm sure he would forget my existence entirely."
"That is not true, and we are still family," Cesare says, obviously unimpressed, and his eyes move to Ezio, who wears a smile. "Auditore, I would have you stop leading her to such conclusions."
"You heard the woman," Ezio says, finally. "Let us discuss happier matters. That is the purpose of our afternoon, isn't it?"
Cesare frowns, but his attention returns to his cards. Stephanie, on the other hand, doesn't take her eyes off of Ezio, her smile slowly waning.