Of all things, it would be the weather.

[Alessia Jiron[Inactive]]

Alessia kept her cover behind the bed. She held her chest a little applying the right pressure to stop the bleeding. When she looked up the whole room was covered in smoke. She moved a little towards the scene. Then voice from the person who attempted to kill her for information came back into the scene. The voice gave her the chills more or less but none the less this man aimed for the other girl, and all she could do was stand there frozen not able to move. When Diego however, threw himself in front of the bullet she couldn’t believe what happened. “NO!” She yelled knowing that it was never a good fate going against the bullet. Ali knew why he did it to save the life of the other girl but she didn’t want that to be the case. She ran over quickly as soon as the Templar was dead just to make sure he was at least breathing. She didn’t want anyone to die just because of her stupidity. When the other girl spoke about getting her things she nodded. “Right… I’ll see if I can’t find something for him as well.” She said knowing it would be better for Diego for her to find some sort of medicine. Alessia ran out of the room not even waiting for Nicola, she knew how important it was to get out of there quickly and safer than how they came in. She realized that she hadn’t grabbed a weapon or anything to really arm herself with. The girl didn’t want to go back yet because she didn’t want to seem like she didn’t know what she was doing when she kind of did. Her memory served her well as she turned down a random corner and found her sword. It meant her bag wasn’t much further than that. She put the sword around her waist and stood next to the wall hearing footsteps coming toward her.

[Diego Liberatore]

He felt himself slipping, moving closer and closer toward the floor. His feet tried to move beneath him, to gather up more of his weight, but it was difficult for them to obey. He moved from embracing her now that the threat was eliminated, to gripping her arms, trying to balance and stabilize himself. It failed. Thick, cold and darkened blood stained the front of his clothing, while the same hot liquid dripped down his back. Meanwhile she mirrored and tried to comfort him, pleading for something he couldn't understand. Sleep? Oh, how he wished he could sleep. Sleep sounded so sweet right now, he wished he could curl up where he was, despite where he was, and make the pain go away. But he couldn't. Instead the cold metal burned his flesh. It burned when he moved, it burned when he stood still. The worst, though, was that he could hear it. He could hear it in his head as it scraped against his bones. His knees felt weak.

Diego, stay with me now.
Look at me!
Hey!

"I'm not going anywhere," he muttered breathlessly, "Until you get me on my feet." He tried to move towards the wall, tried to inch his way closer to it. "Rahmil, get me on my feet." he repeated. Diego wasn't stupid; he knew what happened to people when they fell down. They didn't get back up. He had to stand up. He couldn't sit, he couldn't lay down. They had a small window of time, and they needed to move. They needed to get out of the church.

Suddenly he remembered. His eyes darted around the room, searching. Where were the other two, Nicola and Alessia? The woman had been wounded too, that much he remembered. From here on out, they needed to move as a group. He turned his head to look at Rahmil, seeing her face for the first time since she had come in through the window. She was scared, frightened even, he might have argued. Diego tried to give her a smile, but it ended up being more of a wince. The worst was over in their day, or so at least he wanted to believe. He reached one bloodstained hand out to her and pushed a strand of hair away, that had been sneaking back onto her face. "Go help the other two so we can go." he said, softer and less demanding than before. "And then come back and help me."

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola raised an eyebrow at the sudden turn of command. He stepped away from his kill and retrieved his crossbow, which was now covered in fresh blood from the pools of which soaked through the floorboards. As he returned it back to its rightful place on his back, he studied the injured Templar just a few feet away from him. He looked hard at the bolt that protruded from his back with unblinking eyes, watching it shine like his familiar friends that also inhabited his quiver. Though somewhere in his mind, a thought was aroused. He just couldn't help but imagine that the bolt that imbedded itself deep in the traitor's back could have been Nicola's own. And though the Templar had just sacrificed so much for his friend Rahmil, he felt anything but sorry for him. You deserve it, he thought somewhere deep within his mind. You deserve it.

When Nicola finally fixed his gaze to locate Alessia, another Assassin he could call an acquaintance, she was nowhere to found. Shocked at his own incompetence to notice her exit, he ran out the door quickly, searching for any trace of the familiar white robes that identified his companions.

[Rahmil Binachi]

"I'm not going anywhere,"
Rahmil almost laughed with relief. He was still talking, he was going to be okay.
Then he was even giving out orders, wanting to be on his feet.
She nodded a few times too many, as well as too fast for her own good. However she pushed through her growing hysteria and struggled to help him up, the blood stained floor making it difficult to gain friction.
Leading him towards the wall, she continued to hold him up. There was no way he would be able to stand on his own for long.
Then he smiled. Well, okay, it was more like a wince, and pushed a strand of damp hair out of her face. Only to smudge her face with blood- his or someone elses- was unknown.
But it made her laugh, and she gave him a smile back.
"Go help the other two so we can go." he said, softer and less demanding than before. "And then come back and help me.
This ended her laugh and put a determined, stern look on her face.
" _{There is no way I am leaving you like this L'orso, not an option. Alessia and Nicola are looking for her things, and will hopefully find an exit in the process.} "
She shook her head as she spoke, holding firm eye-contact in not backing down.

[Alessia Jiron[Inactive]]

Alessia knew that she had to find her stuff quickly and without being seen. It was knowledge she couldn’t last long in a fight. She peered around the corner seeing a guard coming her way. As the guard passed her she pulled her sword out and snuck behind him putting her sword right through his back. The female assassin was becoming better in the art of stealth than she was in fighting with someone. She laid him gently to the ground before she pulled her sword out of the man and wiped the blood off of it. She held her chest again as the pain kept throbbing. Ali knew her best chance was to get out of there soon as she found what she needed. She started running again not caring that she was going out on her own for her stuff. She put the sword back in the sheath before she started running again. It was a bad thing to run when you were injured but she didn’t care too much. Her main goal was the book and her bag and where it was. She felt her legs just give out from underneath her and she fell to the ground quickly. Her body was telling her to stop fighting and give into the pain. She couldn’t stop she had to get herself out of the church. She grabbed the wall to stand her up and started to walk down the hall. She knew that she could hear the guards talk about where her bag was at. Alessia started to walk holding the wall hearing footsteps. She looked back seeing familiar clothes, the assassin’s robes. She knew they were coming to help her. The female leaned against the wall waiting for whoever was coming for her. She knew she had to at least hold on to the wall to keep a balance. The assassin figured it was only a few more corridors before she could reach the bag. “Please hurry we need to get that book.” She yelled back at the person who was coming her way.

[Diego Liberatore]

Rahmil was the only person he knew who could change emotions so quickly. From scared and almost shakey, to relieved and laughing and smiling, and then back to her normal stubborn self. Even so, he was glad for her to call him 'L'orso' again the way she had before, absent of suspicion and mistrust. He didn't know how long it would last, but for now it was good. Far better than 'Diego', which she had called him moments before when he fell. The other woman still had no idea of his true position and identity, and he wanted to keep it that way. And the name was far better still than 'Templar' or 'traitor', as he was sure he had already earned from Nicola. That was a mess that still needed sorting out.

Diego stood there, one hand gripping the old stones in the wall, the other around her shoulder for support. As his balance came back to him, his adrenaline began to seep away, depleted, leaving him in an exhausted agony he tried hard to suppress. It would only frighten her again, he thought, to see him like that. And he would not let himself fall into her arms again, the way she had said Davide did before he died. He would not be the second man in her life to do that to her, to put that kind of fear in her. Diego would not die, that much he knew for certain. The pain he felt assured him of that. It wasn't the kind of pain that apologized for itself, promising to be quick and humane in return and to end in death. It was the kind of pain that went on arrogantly, making its home in his wound and swearing occupancy until it was forced to leave. It was constant and worsening, and instead of putting that strange fear and hope into him for his own human mortality, it placed both a gut-wrenching foreboding and longing to get to medical aid. It made him dizzy. His stomach turned, forcing him to close his eyes for a few minutes while they waited.

When the lightheadedness eventually lifted, Diego looked at Rahmil again. She looked out-of-place to him. Despite her cold exterior, her thirst for vengeance and seeming indifference for death, he didn't think she belonged. She didn't belong in this bloodstained church, hurling herself through windows and over rooftops, putting herself in harms way. For what? She didn't join the Creed for the desire to kill, or even to serve. She joined to take revenge for the fate dealt to her late fiance. Diego would have liked to have known her, before it all happened. Before her life changed, and maybe even before his had. Even as he eyed the dried blood that traced the visible hilt of her daggers, he knew she wasn't a real killer. The blinded men who had given up crawling and now lay somewhere next to lifeless, heaving in small gulps of air on the floor could attest to that. It wasn't truly in her to kill. But she had killed, and it had changed her. "None of that is yours, is it?" he asked, referring to the blood that stained her clothes, which was his way of asking if she was alright. It didn't look fresh, but it was difficult to focus on it to be sure.

As for himself, he didn't want to believe he had been changed by his occupation, though in his heart he knew he had. As much as he hated death, as much as he hated killing, it had almost become routine. His hesitation had dwindled over the years, his skills augmented and sharpened. The regret, the guilt and the weight in his heart had become more bearable, more familiar. But at least he still had a living purpose driving him forward; a reason to do what he did. Something he had almost thrown away today with one thoughtless act. An act which, if given the chance, he would do again without question.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola lifted his head slightly as he heard his companion call for him. She mentioned something about a book? He increased his pace slightly into a quick jog until he was by her side, and place one of his hands against the wall to support himself so he was at level with her. "Which way?" he questioned. If this supposed book was so important that she left without waiting for him, he assumed it had to be a high priority.

His heart jumped a little as he heard the familiar clang of armor. Nicola cursed quietly to himself and unsheathed his hidden blade, ready to fight.

[Rahmil Binachi]

Silent screams of pain ripped themselves from his facial expressions.
She could tell he was in pain.
She could tell he was holding back,
toughing it out for her.
She shook her head and gently shifted herself to make his standing more comfortable, patting his arm reassuringly with a small smile.
"None of that is yours, is it?"
Of course he wouldn't ask her straight on.
" _{Yes, I am okay. But you do not look so good. Will you be able to stand on your own if I check these soldiers for some kind of medicine?} "
She motioned with her free hand to all the blinded and....dead that littered the floor.
There had to be at least something hidden among their fabric and blood.

She just couldn't stand to see him like this, to see his face pale while fighting down the pained expressions that hid just behind the mask.
Yes of course she was helping by just holding him up, and just all around being there.
But his adrenaline supply was running on empty, and she was afraid he was going to pass out.
Whether it be from blood loss or just pain in general, she didn't want to see it happen.
Yet at the same time she didn't like seeing that arrow sticking out of his back either,
that arrow that could be sticking through her heart.
In the same way though, he had his own arrow through her heart. Because, come on.
He wasn't dead yet was he?
He stuck,
he stuck he stuck he stuck he stuck.
He was everything she was taught to stay away from, yet here she was, fighting to keep him out of pain,
fighting to keep him
alive.

[Alessia Jiron[Inactive]]

Alessia knew that she needed the book it was the one thing that was on her mind. She didn’t know why but she knew it was somewhere close it was all the guards talked about. A room down the hall a bit but no one had ever said they opened it. Nicola came towards her and asked her where the book was. “I am not sure really but the guards would say the book is down the hall just a bit. They said it was guarded but no one has looked in the book so it must be in a library or something is what I thought.” She started speaking standing herself up and getting off the wall. She started walking knowing that there was a hall just up ahead that they could hide in without the guards finding them. She pulled out her sword just in case the guards would catch up with her. Ali didn’t want anyone to get hurt more than what had just happened. She started walking but used the wall to carry her weight as she walked fast. “Come on, we stall any longer that they will find us and we can’t fight there is only two of us and I can barely fight.” She spoke with hast knowing it was important that they didn’t have a confrontation. Alessia knew she couldn’t fight against the guards she had a slash across her chest and it was causing her enough pain. The clattering of the armor seemed to get louder as she turned around to look at who was coming and sure enough it was the guards coming. She gripped her sword and readied herself to fight if she had to she knew she could with stand a little. She looked around analyzing what she needed. One thing though, a hallway was just a head. “This way.” She whispered and started running towards the hallways before vanishing in it. She hoped Nicola was going to follow her and not take on the guards by himself. The female assassin was going to sneak behind them and kill them.

[Diego Liberatore]

Soft, careful, gentle and womanly hands touched his arm quietly, and came with a little smile shone his way. These were not the hands of a killer, this much he knew. Balancing himself on his feet, he let go of the wall to reach over and take one of those hands. He held it there for a moment against his arm, as to express his gratitude and tell her that it was going to be ok. And maybe to assure himself of that as well. The room spun in his vision, and he let go of her hand to grip the wall again.

"No no don't touch it." he said almost immediately, when she offered to search for medicine. He was like a little boy, longing for the treatment that would make it better, but also fearing the process. His stomach already knotted over as he thought about what would lie before him once they were out of the church. How much alcohol he would consume, he didn't know. But he knew no matter the amount, it wouldn't be enough to numb the pain. Only enough to make him forget it the next morning. In the meantime, he was like a dog with a wound. He didn't want anyone touching it. Creams and ointments would not take away the problem, the metal that scraped against his bones. "Please." he added after a fashion, correcting himself to be polite. Please don't touch it.

Diego looked at her as he heard the clanking that echoed through the halls. It was distant, further, as if almost on the other side of the church. It went on rhythmically for a bit, as if they were moving, and grew only slightly louder. They hadn't spotted their assassin comrades yet, and he listened. Waited. Contemplated.

If a fight broke out, if the two sides did meet each other, he considered the outcomes. Nicola was a smart guy. Bull-headed, maybe, inexperienced. But not dumb. And he didn't know the woman well enough to fit her into the equation. She had gotten herself into this mess, but she had also survived it, despite being alone. Could those two fight their way through the brawn? Could they outsmart the brawn? Still looking at Rahmil, he considered her. What would she do? They both agreed her hand to hand combat was lacking, but what she wasn't she made up for by being sly and foxy. But would that be enough to keep her alive if she went charging in, emotions high? She had said she wouldn't leave him, but that was before they heard the remainder of the guards. Would she go, and leave him there? He would, if he was her. Diego wouldn't stay with himself. He was still a traitor, still the spy. A part of him wanted to believe she understood him, maybe even accepted him, but given their confrontation that morning he had his doubts.

His eyes flicked from her to the door through which Nicola and the woman had gone, to the door on the other side of the room. If he was a Templar, as he was - but if he was a twisted son of a bitch, like the man lying dead on the foor - he would put the book as far away from an exit as he could. To protect it, if it was really that important. And if the woman was right, and the book was through that door, then he was fairly confident that the exit would be somewhere through the other. That was where he would go if Rahmil decided to find her friends. He would try to find the exit on his own. He would not become a liability for her to try to protect, if they tried to flee the guards and brought them back through here. Fighting wasn't an option for him anymore, and unfortunately neither was protecting. He couldn't swing a sword, and he certainly couldn't move fast enough to block any more arrows. He was useless. He was the one who needed protecting, and Diego didn't want to be that man. So he would try to get himself out, if Rahmil left. It would be safer for everyone. If the other two assassins couldn't handle the guards. If Rahmil left. If they tried to flee the guards, and weren't cut down before hand. It was a lot of if's, but it still left him thinking.

Once he got his theories and his plans straight, though, reality had to come bursting in and ruin everything. If all those things happened, would Diego really leave? The answer, of course, was no. He couldn't bring himself to leave, even if he could walk a little faster. Even if he could, somehow, escape the church. He wouldn't. He wouldn't leave Rahmil and her friends behind, not knowing their fate and not knowing if he could change it. Thinking through it all, he wouldn't blame her if she abandoned him. But he wouldn't abandon her. Despite the logic, the reason, he knew he couldn't.

So as the calm, rhythmic, distant clanging grew slightly louder and most likely closer to the other two book-seekers, Diego squeezed her shoulder. "Keep yourself safe." he said, trying to sound more casual and not so protective, though once he said it he realized he had failed. Whatever you do.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola nodded quickly with high alert as the female Assassin spoke, constantly reverting his eyes behind them to search for the first sign of guards. He hadn't spotted any yet, but he knew they were approaching faster and faster with every beat of their constant clanging. He felt his fists squeeze tightly as she continued to direct him into the long, forbidding darkness ahead. He trusted that she knew what she was doing; their very lives--his and hers, as well as their companions they left behind--were hanging in the balance.

[Alessia Jiron[Inactive]]

Alessia knew they could take them if they ambushed them from behind it was easy actually. She knew it was a lot coming from her since she was the one who got herself captured. The female made herself flat against the wall and listened carefully to her surroundings. She knew this was just a stupid chance and luck that this would work. In her mind she knew she could take them as most of them were weak. She looked over at Nicola and gave him a little reassuring smile. The guard’s footsteps grew louder as you could hear them march more. Soon enough they were passing by the dark corridor that the two assassins were at. As soon as the last guarded walked by she moved quickly stabbing him in the back before carefully letting him drop to the ground. She started on the next few guards and before she knew it there was one left. Her plan however failed when he turned around seeing her standing there. He drew his sword and struck her sword. Alessia moved to where she was on the side of him before she put her sword right through his body. She pulled it out and wiped the blood off on his cape. “Let’s go shouldn’t be too much further.” She spoke as she started to run a little.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola did as Alessia did, and laid his back flat against the wall as the guards proceeded to walk right past them. He held a deep breath as they moved right by him, keeping himself completely silent as their clanging continued, and finally decrescendoed into the darkness. Grinning, him and his companion made short work of them.

He side-stepped a verticle slash from one of them, and returned his own blow by unsheathing his hidden blade into his gut, and responding with a quick stab to the neck. The next few guards experienced similar fates, and it wasn't long until they had finished the last of them. Nicola wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and turned to the female Assassin as she spoke. Giving a quick nod, they continued once more into the long, unlit hallway.

[Alessia Jiron[Inactive]]

Alessia smirked a little as this was easy work they would be doing at this point. Even if she really didn’t know where they were going in reality she remembered hearing every hallway they walked by when they took her to the tower. As she turned around to see if there were any guards left; she seen Nicola finished the rest of them quickly. She had to admit the other assassin was good at what he did. The female continued on down the dark hallway ahead of them. She knew that the darkness would be their best friend when the guards came. She continued to walk figuring soon they would reach where the destination of the book. She looked down the hall to see if she could find maybe a heavily guarded area. Her eyes scanned the area a head of them hoping no sign of guards because she knew once they got to that point of the book they’d have to fight straight up. Clanking could be heard from down the hall and laughter from the guards. Alessia became more observant of her surroundings. She moved quietly seeing around the corner to see what she had to deal with. A little frown played her lips as she seen about 30 guards surrounding one door. It had to be the place, and to her dismay it had to be the one with everyone around it. Ali knew there was a Templar on the inside of the room. She turned back to Nicola with a little worried look on her face. Distraction was the only way she knew that she could pull it off. Usually she would own up her own way of distracting the guards before killing them but she was in her assassin’s robes and she was wounded. “What should we do… it’s pretty much blocked not to mention who ever is on the inside… I’d offer distraction but I don’t think that is going to work well. Idea?” She asked him curious to hear what he had to say about their little situation.

[Rahmil Binachi]

Rahmil was at a complete and utter loss. She desperately wanted to help Diego, to stop the bleeding, but he wouldn't have it.
Fear widened his eyes at the thought of medicine, and it was beyond Rahmils knowledge to just pull the arrow out.
To make matters even better, the sound of metal clanking against metal made her even more desperate.
She tried to keep herself calm, to take steady breaths and figure this all out- but her mind was just too crammed with everything at once that she was surprised she hadn't exploded yet.
Turning her head away from him she studied the room before her.
Blood,
bodies,
fallen Templars,
forgotten weapons,
blood,
and a empty bomb casing.
She let out a loud huff of air and closed her eyes for a moment.
Blocking out all the outside noise.
Then it struck her- right in the face.
Her eyes flew open and she looked at Diego with a new hope.

" _{Please tell me you have another bomb L'orso,
oh please say you do.} "