[Ezio x Reader Fanfic] May the father of understanding guide us

45} It's Not A Boat - It's A Ship

(Y/n)'s pov

I wake up slowly, forcing my eyelids open as if they were weighed down by lead ingots.

The back of my head stings as I sit up, groaning and taking a look around.

I'm in....a cell?

The grey, stone walls are cold and damp, same goes for the wooden floor and even the makeshift bed, which is nothing but a large clump of hay covered in cloth with a few basic pillows and a thin blanket. I shiver and wrap it around me, the chill of the room proving too much for the nightdress I'd been put in.

There are three solid stone walls but the fourth is comprised of steel bars and a locked gate.

I stand up and stretch before beginning to pace the room, my feet growing numb from the cold.

How did I get here? Why can't I remember?

"So you're awake now?" A rough voice calls from the other side of the bars, a tall man stepping out from the shadows.

"Yes. Where am I?" I reply as I cautiously approach the man.

"You're a clever girl, figure it out." The man folds his arms and waits, not well illuminated enough for me to see his face.

I look around the dim room. On closer inspection, the walls are indeed made of stone - stones, many of them tied into manageable bags. Interesting.

The floors. They're wooden and they're damp, very damp but not as rotten as I expected. I pick at them with my fingers and they flake off a bit at the edges but are otherwise sturdy.

I know exactly where I am.

Although the biggest hint is the swaying and the salty tinge to the air. The whole room, gently moving back and forth, gliding over the waves of the ocean we were undoubtedly sailing.

"I'm on a boat. Where to?" I ask impatiently, hopping onto my bed and sitting cross legged.

"Not so fast darling, how did you figure it out? Apart from the swaying and the salt. You were looking at the walls and the wood." He slides down the wall and sits directly opposite me.

"Why do you care?" I ask through a yawn.

"Need to know, it's my job to keep the cargo onboard as clueless as possible. So tell me how you knew."

"The stones. Ballast stones aren't they?" The man nods and rolls his hand, suggesting I continue. "And the wooden flooring. It's been wet for a very long time so there aren't any cracks in it, from expanding."

"Dad always did say you were a clever one, guess Ferdinand liked that about you." The man stands up to the bars and smiles at me, a familiar smile but for all the wrong reasons.

"I never thought I'd be seeing you again Piero, I bet your brother can't wait to see you." I joke, trying not to remember the last time I was in a room with the man in front of me.

"You're forgetting something. Maybe you aren't so smart." He grins.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Dead people can't see." He chuckles.

Dead people can't see. The words echo in my head and it hurts. Not just my head, my heart explodes and stops altogether. They repeat over and over like some sort of twisted mantra.