Bek's note: Last Chapter. Things work out though, I suppose, so it's okay.

Shall reiterate that I own no copyright to Assassin's Creed or the characters used in this story.

Ezio left through the same window he entered and climbed to sit atop Leonardo's roof. He didn't let Leonardo see due to the fact that the assassin didn't want the artist to feel any worse, but he had been biting back tears the entire way back. Now, alone in the wee hours of the night, Ezio allowed himself to cry. The last time he remembered feeling this bad was when his family was murdered. Since then he had just pushed any emotion to the back of his head, a practice he was repeatedly told unhealthy.

Pounding one fist into the roof, Ezio wiped his eyes with the other, feeling ashamed of crying. Finding his legs too weak to support him for anytime longer than probably five to ten minutes, the assassin laid back against the cold roof and dozed off.

When he awoke, the sun was creeping up the horizon to illuminate Italy. He sat up, slowly trying to recall the events of the night prior. The first few major events slowly came back, with everything else flying back in minute detail once the basic frame was constructed. Ezio forced himself up and raced across rooftops. He moved mainly on memory. Eventually he kicked open the window the house Salai had recently began living in. Leonardo asked him to help his assistant move in, and Ezio never could say no to those pleading blue eyes.

Landing on the side of a work area reminiscent of Leonardo's, Ezio scanned the room for the entrance to a bedroom. He silently crept to the presumed room and yanked the blanket off Salai's nearly naked body. Pulling the apprentice up by the hair, Ezio growled in his ear. "Tell me that you love him."

Salai flailed wildly. "Humph, mgrph, Wha?" His arms thrashed for hold on his attacker. "Merda! Lemme go! Wha d'you want?"

"You heard me. Tell me that you love Leonardo." Ezio pulled harder. "Tell me!"

Salai screeched. "I do! I do! Christ, let me go! Augh, I love Maestro, I promise!"

"Do not do anything to hurt him. I will kill you if I hear that you do." The assassin threw the young man back to his bed and quickly departed.

Leonardo lay in bed for what seemed like lifetimes after Ezio left. He had cried himself to sleep, heart aching and stomach twisting. He felt so sick and pained about the events of the previous night that it seemed to him like Ezio had died. Half of him wondered if he had done the right thing, letting go of the assassin. The other half insisted that severing the love affair would provide for a healthier relationship with someone else.

The last tolling of church bells had chimed eleven and judging by the sunlight streaking across his bed, it was nearly noon.

"Maestro! Maestro!"

Salai's voice bounded through the workshop as soon as the door opened. Leonardo heard his assistant shuffling about the main room, most likely looking for him.

"Maestro?"

"Mmph," was the most the artist could manage sandwiched between his sheets, though he knew that Salai wouldn't hear him.

Realizing his master wasn't in the large room of the workshop, Salai could be heard wandering up the short flight of stairs connecting the main room to the bedroom.

"Maestro?" the apprentice saw the tip of dirty blonde hair sticking out from the top of the bed sheets. "Leonardo?" The artist heard the worry in his apprentice's voice. Salai ran to Leonardo's bedside and yanked away the linens to reveal his master's face smothered in the pillow. Salai brushed a curtain of hair away from the older man's face. "Are you alright?"

Leonardo nodded. "I am fine." Mustering enough energy, he managed to force himself into a sitting position. Slowly looking at his assistant, Leonardo wet his mouth before asking the question Ezio had posed to him the night prior. "Salai…"

"Yes, maestro?"

"Do… do you love me? I mean… I mean, purely, truly, without a doubt l-love me?"

Salai's eyes widened. "You know Maestro, I had the strangest dream…" He stopped when he noticed the seriousness in his master's blue eyes and smiled softly. His hand ran through his lover's hair. "Of course I do, Leonardo," he answered, finishing by placing a chaste kiss on bright red lips. "I love you terribly so. Why do you ask?"

Shaking his head, Leonardo fell into the young man's embrace. "No reason," he muttered into his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around Salai's neck, kissing his collarbone and working up his neck. "Te Amo, Salai. Te amo anoche."

I feel like I now must go and write a ton of sickeningly sweet Ezio/Leo fluff to balance this, haha. I hope you all enjoyed!

Reviews and faves are love.

~BEXISAZOMBIE