Darkness: Chapter 12
Title: The Darkness Within Me
Characters: Russia and two OCs
Rating: PG13 for violence
Summary: Little girls with sweet smiles should never be trusted
It was snowing like always. Something Ivan was grateful for, for once. It meant that some things didn't change and maybe there was still some stability in the world. However, Ivan knew that was false as too many of his nightclubs and streets were too quiet and empty. The snow looked almost untouched by his citizens' shoes this early in the evening. Everything felt wrong, aside from the snow; the ever constant reminder of Russia's circumstance in the winter.
Ivan looked over to his American partner, surveying the area, and rolled his eyes. Of all the agents he had to get stuck with. He would have preferred Lee since he seemed to know spells that could prove to be quite useful. Still, he would have to make do with the bickering blonde.
He strode off through the snow and straight for the Kremlin. Abigail worked to keep up with his long strides while looking around at the stores boarded up with signs saying, "WE ARE REBEL FREE! WE LOVE RUSSIA!" Abigail's blood chilled at the prospect of the Russian rebels and what they were capable of if the American rebels were anything to go off of. However, there had been limited news of what was happening inside the country so Abigail had no idea if there was possibly a child nation such as AJ.
Ivan knew.
The signs proved as much. Why else would his people be putting them up if they weren't divided? And why else was his blood boiling in rage and discomfort? Yes, there was certainly a child nation terrorizing his country, but to what extent? With the lack of people wandering around on the streets, it made it incredibly difficult for Ivan to search for rebels or children. And worse, he wasn't able to get in contact with his KGB or government officials, though he knew that the entire government had probably gone into hiding. If there was one thing Ivan knew his people were good at, it was rebelling. They topped even Francis and all of his riots through-out the years.
As the duo entered the Red Square, Ivan looked around, expecting to see some sort of security in the high level danger zone such as the Kremlin. He was surprised not to see a single sniper or even a police man patrolling the perimeter. All of the lights were off, casting the entire area into almost complete darkness. The only light came from a few lone street lamps down the street, but all lights were shut off just short of the Red Square.
Abigail, confident that there was no one around, whispered into the silence to Ivan. Her breath created a fog before her mouth. "Sir, are we looking for a secret passage into the Kremlin?"
"Da," Ivan replied with an equally hushed whisper. He stopped near a seemingly random spot in the square, glancing around for a few tense moments, Abigail looking as well. Counting in his head, Ivan took a few steps before squatting on the ground. He pulled up one of the stones with his fingers in a tiny notch just barely big enough for his pinky finger.
"A secret passage in the middle of the square?" Abigail crossed her arms with an eyebrow raised. "That's not very secretive."
"But what does it matter to find the entrance if you can't make your way around?" Ivan asked her, flashing a cold smile her way. He quickly made his way down the ladder knowing Abigail would follow.
Soon, the two were at the bottom with even more darkness closing in on them from all sides. Abigail moved to turn on a flashlight, but Ivan stopped her. He took off in the dark, smiling to himself to hear Abigail stumble after him. He figured Alfred would be upset if he came back with the agent, so he reached out and took hold of her jacket's sleeve, dragging her along.
"I think this is kind of a rule of thumb with countries to have secret passages in dank, dark places," Abigail mumbled in English. Ivan turned to look at her.
"Rule of thumb?" Ivan asked. "I'm unfamiliar with that American term."
"It's not American. "Abigail said, returning to Russian flawlessly. "It's just an English phrase. It means like an unwritten rule everyone follows."
"And you think all of the countries have secret passages?" Ivan asked, turning sharply around a corner. Abigail felt herself being whiplashed like a doll with Ivan. "That's interesting… I didn't think America needed one."
"There's one like this in America too. It stretches underneath all three of the national monuments. That's where our base is. I bet George and Sir Jones are there now," Abigail explained.
He cocked an eyebrow, still making his way through the passageway. "Are you sure you should be sharing such information with me?"
"Of course. Sir Jones wanted me to tell you, actually." Abigail stated matter-of-factly. "He said it might come in handy if this keeps up and we need a place to all meet. I assure you, only nations and those in the agency know of this place. And even among the nations, Sir Bonnefoy and Sir Kirkland are the only ones to know."
Ivan was unimpressed. He knew that the more nations and people that knew, the higher chance there was there had been a leak in the system. Despite the fact that some of the higher-up politicians knew of the passage the two were in didn't mean they knew how to navigate in the underground labyrinth.
"Awfully trusting, aren't we?" Ivan asked with a roll of his eyes. Figures, with Alfred, he thought.
Abigail started to say something, but she slammed into the back of Ivan when he stopped abruptly. There wasn't any ladder or door but rather an unmarked wall. Ivan pressed himself against it, slowly opening the door disguised as a wall. Abigail waited until Ivan motioned for her to go inside first.
With her gun drawn, Abigail quickly scanned the area of where they had arrived inside the Kremlin. It was just an ordinary corridor, one that probably hundreds of politicians walked through daily without notice of the unassuming wall. Abigail nodded to Ivan who came through the opening and promptly shutting the door. The nation took off down the hallway, Abigail on his heels.
The entire building was quiet despite the lowly lit rooms. There didn't seem be any signs of struggle or if the people had rushed out. There wasn't even the smell of smoke of documents being burned or shredded papers in trashcans. Abigail was amazed. It just looked as if the entire Russian government was on vacation.
"Sir," Abigail began, her voice sounding far too loud in the empty room. "How do you know the child will be here?"
"I'm not expecting it to be there. What I'm looking for is information," Ivan replied. He headed upstairs knowing that he was making a beeline to his office.
"What about?"
"Anything. All information regarding my people, the government, happenings; everything lies within my office. If that thing's been spotted, there will be a report on it there." Ivan stopped when he had reached his office. The large doors had his name on a decorative plaque outside. He pushed past the doors, hoping that the child would be sitting in his chair. A perfect target for him to jump on.
Nothing looked disturbed; Ivan's hundreds of leather-bound books still in place, papers semi-scatter on his wooden desk. Various pictures of battles and landscapes hang on the walls, along with the occasional weapon. He was disappointed that the child wasn't in sight and moved to his computer in hopes there would be messages or reports. Abigail closed the doors, scouring the room and silently hoping that the child was really just hiding in plain sight. Confident that there was no danger, she stood by the door with her gun still drawn.
Watching Ivan, Abigail felt a small smile. "You know, you talk of how trusting Sir Jones is as if it's a bad thing, and yet you just opened yourself to me with your trust as well."
"That was because I had no choice," Ivan replied, not looking up. "You have to come along with me."
Abigail shrugged. "You could have left me to wander that labyrinth back there, but you grabbed on to me."
Sighing, Ivan turned his computer off. There wasn't a hint of a message and the device hadn't been touched since he had left. "Da because if I came back to America without you, there'd be such a hassle and I don't have time for pointless things like that."
Ivan moved to check his desk and all of its contents then. Still, Abigail wasn't convinced. She moved over to check as well. "You say that, but I don't believe you."
"And why is that Miss…Woods was it?" Ivan tried to keep his happy tone in place despite the growing irritation he felt crawling up his neck. This American was full of questions.
"Because you protected Sir Jones," Abigail replied simply causing Ivan to stop. "I know that you nations have set feelings that you can't ignore- those of your people. It grows stronger when you're around your people, but I also know that you nations have you own feelings...and it's mainly affection for the other nations that you chose to feel regardless of the political situation at home."
"America…," Ivan started, but then a growl emerged. "He is nothing more than a means to an end..." He spun around to face Abigail, his eyes having that slight glow. "MY end. If he went down now...well you've seen what has happened. I was trying to prevent that to keep MY people from being drug down because of HIS problems. It has NOTHING to do with 'trust' or 'affection' or any other sunshine and rainbow phrases out of your self-help book."
"I'm sure that's really what you feel..." Abigail flashed a condescending smirk the Russian's way. He grabbed her by her shoulders, forcing the blonde to look him in the eyes.
"Exactly how I feel."
Abigail wasn't affected by Ivan's cold stares and chilling tone. "So tell me, then. If you wanted him to fall...why exactly did you hold him so protectively when Tom came to get you?"
Ivan gritted his teeth. She was going to harass him the entire way wasn't she? Releasing her, Ivan moved to his book shelves. "Don't you have any other more pressing concerns? Surely harassing me is the least of your worries."
Abigail made a mocking noise as if she was thinking. Ivan clenched his jaw. "Mmm, not really... I mean, things seem to be going pretty smoothly because of all the tight restrictions in place and everyone's on edge around here, probably accounting for your foul mood; well fouler than normal. And it was far too easy to enter here, even with your clearance, so it seems the government has fled. Plus with all the signs on the stores and the furtive stares everyone gave one another shows that not only does everyone suspect one another, but that what's left of the government here has been placed on the ultimate edge as they search for the rebel groups. Besides, I figured it was much too quiet here and we needed some conversation to pass the time."
"Then I guess I should feel gratitude that I was blessed with the most talkative of the bunch," Ivan said, spitting each word out.
Abigail laughed, her smile looking far too much like Alfred's own. "Me? Oh no. Jeff is the worst. Jeff and Sir Jones are too similar. It's a bit eerie at times."
Ivan was about to turn and smack the woman across the face, hoping to shut her incessant talking up, when he found something was amiss. A photo of him and his sisters from when they were younger was turned away. He snatched it, wondering just who had touched one of his personal belongings when he saw there was a note attached to the front.
It was written in crude Cyrillic jumping from cursive to regular as well as multiple mistakes, scribbles in the margins, and a crude drawing of Ivan with X-ed out eyes; just of that of a child's. Ivan felt his heart jump knowing that his suspicions of a child existing being confirmed, but then his body went cold as he started reading the letter.
~Dear big brother, Ivan,
This is your new little sister, Catherine. I'm here to tell you that you need to die. It'll be much easier this way if you just point the gun at yourself. I'm too young to get my hands bloody, don't you think? If you really think you can do anything, you're dumber than I was told. So please, don't even try looking for me.
Lovely weather isn't it? I'm staying nice and warm with the people that love me, unlike you.
Oh and you should get rid of this stupid picture. It's really old and ugly.
Catherine~
Ivan felt himself shaking as he reread the letter a few more times before he shoved the letter in Abigail's face. He then paced back and forth, thinking of just where he could go now? The underground markets? The bars and nightclubs? The mafia? But he knew those would be the places that would support this Catherine child-oh she had to pick that name of all names.
"She has your President," Abigail said quickly. "It says here she's with people that love her, but I bet that's a lie. She's probably holding them hostage."
"So what do you propose we do, oh number 1 agent?" Ivan asked, shakily.
This time, Abigail didn't make a mocking noise of thinking. She really was thinking hard as she too began to pace. "With that note, it's possible she's still in the city. If not, then St. Petersburg would be the next best choice. However, this city is more liberal and would have the strongest support for her."
"So?" Ivan asked agitated. "Is this the best you can do, American?"
Abigail turned to start an argument when there was a loud gunshot from behind her. She collapsed on the floor, blood coming from her chest. Ivan looked up in surprise to see a little girl with sandy blonde hair, much like his, and black eyes. She wore a thick purple nightgown with a fur collar covered by a lavender scarf. She looked quite adorable and harmless with the matching light purple fur hat atop her head. However, the smoking pistol in her hand and the malicious grin on her face said otherwise.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ivan shot the girl between the black eyes with Abigail's gun that she had dropped when she had fallen. The little girl fell backwards with a loud THUMP. Ivan looked to the blonde lying on the floor and knelt next to her.
"You Americans… Can't you do anything right?" he mumbled. He started to turn her over when the woman started to scramble up. Ivan pushed her back down. "Don't move you idiot. You could bleed to death."
"Don't," Abigail croaked out. She touched the blood and held up her fingers. "Smell. It's fake."
Sure enough, Ivan found that he had been tricked. Exactly as the agent had planned. He couldn't help but smile as he helped her up. She waved off her look of pain as one of shock. It always hurt to be shot at despite her Kevlar. She sat up clutching her side and pulled off the now-empty blood vials out from inside her coat and Ivan could see that there were others.
"And when were you going to share this little bit of information with me?" Ivan growled.
Abigail blushed slightly, not looking at Ivan. "I didn't think I'd get hit… I never have before."
There was a loud gasp as Catherine shot up. The blood dried up on her face as the bullet wound closed. She rushed towards Abigail, her hands up and ready to choke the human. Suddenly, the little girl was hit across the room by a metal water pipe to the head. She slammed into the bookcases and crumpled on the floor. Abigail stood up in shock, looking at Ivan, slightly touched at his protection.
But he could care less about Abigail. Instead, he rushed to finish the little girl off. How dare she challenge the Great Russian Federation on his home turf and in his office, no less? He picked the girl up by her collar and struck her a few times in the face with his pipe. A little bit of blood splattered across his face and a sadistic smile crept to his lips.
Ah, somehow, he had truly missed this.
Suddenly, the little girl cried out and shot her hands out. "Stop! Please!"
Ivan, actually, found himself stopping. Catherine's shaky hands grabbed on to Ivan's pipe, her black eyes pleading with him to let her live. Ivan felt that it was all wrong, so wrong that he could punch himself for hesitating, but somehow those eyes no longer looked black. They looked young and innocent and oh so painfully familiar.
Ivan let up on Catherine and whispered, "Ana…stasia…?"
Catherine smiled as she was released from Ivan. He dropped the bloody pipe, shaking at what he had just done to his beloved princess. Abigail stood from behind and watched, confused as to what Ivan was doing and why Catherine was getting back up.
"Sir…?"
Ivan shuddered as he heard Abigail's voice, remembering that Anastasia was dead. Ivan had been there when she had been shot. He had seen her body, mangled and bullet-riddled. And yet, here she was, sitting before him.
Catherine wiped her tears and blood away. "That hurt…"
Abigail reacted quickly, pulling another gun from her coat seamlessly and aiming it at Catherine's head. "Shut up. Don't say another word to him."
The little girl looked at Abigail meekly and stifled a sound of fear. She scrambled close to Ivan, clutching at his coat. "She scares me… Do something…"
Ivan tried to blink back his swirling memories, but so many voices had flooded his mind. He looked from Abigail to Catherine and couldn't see the difference. He then saw a little girl surrounded by sunflowers, laughing and calling Ivan's human name. A gunshot and then the girl was latching herself to another girl's neck. The two struggled violently, calling out Ivan's name. But the sunflowers were shinning so bright and looked so promising, he looked away as the little girl and that other girl tumbled out of a window.
Wait, a window?
Ivan snapped out of his daydream, blinking back sunshine and warmth to find the window broken and the cold snow blowing into the room. Catherine and Abigail were nowhere to be seen. He rushed to the window to find Abigail standing over a limp body of a little blonde girl. The snow had broken their fall and since the office wasn't too high up in the Kremlin so it seemed the agent was okay.
"Are you back to normal now?" Abigail yelled, her hands akimbo.
"That…that was all real?" Ivan asked, more to himself than to Abigail.
"I can't hear you, but you were controlled! So have you snapped out of it?"
Ivan sneered at the agent, but jumped out the window. He landed with a much harder landing, but his knees could take it. Abigail seized the nation up and nodded to see that he was really was back in control of himself.
"I'm not sure what that was all about, but I've never heard of a country being controlled by another," Abigail said.
"That's because we can't," Ivan mumbled. He ran a hand through his hair as he felt himself loosing focus because of the pure fear coursing through him. "No one's ever done something like that to me…"
"Well you better make sure it doesn't happen again," Abigail started, but then her eyes lit up. "Or maybe do it to her. We can control her all the way back to America."
Ivan shook his head, regretting the action immediately. His head was filling up with more and more memories, making his head feel heavier by the minute. "Nyet, I…I don't know how to do that."
"Damn," Abigail hissed. She grabbed Catherine roughly by her collar and tucked her under her arm. "Well, we should get going before she…"
Abigail faded out as she saw a van careening towards her and Ivan. She stepped in front of Ivan, tossing Catherine roughly to the ground, and drew her gun. The van skidded to a halt, the snow flying before it in a graceful arch. But Abigail could've cared less about the beautiful view. She paid more attention to the group of highly armed men filling out of the van and heading towards her and her Russian partner.
"Sir Braginsky, I hope you get a hold of yourself right now," Abigail started. She pulled a third gun from her jacket, her first gun still up in Ivan's office and the second in the snow by her feet. "You have some really unhappy citizens."
Ivan looked over with a snarl. He was not in the mood to deal with his anarchistic Russians, but his anger was ebbed momentarily when he stood up in shock. Suddenly, a rush of even more overwhelming rage took over his body. "Nyet... These are people from Chechnya… These are worse…"
Hoshiko2's cents: If this doesn't back up what I just wrote about… http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101102/wl_time/08599202881000
Anyways, hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. I now have some sad news for you all. I'm going to be taking a break for awhile on my writing. I wanted to update this week to let you guys know, but I have a lot of issues in my life right now and certain reasons have led me to feel strongly about my decision. I know you guys love the weekly updates and I do too (gives me a deadline), but I just can't keep to it with both of my stories with all of the stress going on in my life. I'll update this week and next week for Downfall as it'd be the last chapter and I don't want people waiting forever for one chapter, but this series will be on hold.
I'm really sorry, but my best estimate would be either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Why? Because that's the only time I won't have so much work piling on top of me that I have to actually book free time weeks in advance. It's just sad… You're all welcome to bother me on my Formspring, though. With that said, see you guys when I see you!
~hoshiko
Characters: Russia and two OCs
Rating: PG13 for violence
Summary: Little girls with sweet smiles should never be trusted
It was snowing like always. Something Ivan was grateful for, for once. It meant that some things didn't change and maybe there was still some stability in the world. However, Ivan knew that was false as too many of his nightclubs and streets were too quiet and empty. The snow looked almost untouched by his citizens' shoes this early in the evening. Everything felt wrong, aside from the snow; the ever constant reminder of Russia's circumstance in the winter.
Ivan looked over to his American partner, surveying the area, and rolled his eyes. Of all the agents he had to get stuck with. He would have preferred Lee since he seemed to know spells that could prove to be quite useful. Still, he would have to make do with the bickering blonde.
He strode off through the snow and straight for the Kremlin. Abigail worked to keep up with his long strides while looking around at the stores boarded up with signs saying, "WE ARE REBEL FREE! WE LOVE RUSSIA!" Abigail's blood chilled at the prospect of the Russian rebels and what they were capable of if the American rebels were anything to go off of. However, there had been limited news of what was happening inside the country so Abigail had no idea if there was possibly a child nation such as AJ.
Ivan knew.
The signs proved as much. Why else would his people be putting them up if they weren't divided? And why else was his blood boiling in rage and discomfort? Yes, there was certainly a child nation terrorizing his country, but to what extent? With the lack of people wandering around on the streets, it made it incredibly difficult for Ivan to search for rebels or children. And worse, he wasn't able to get in contact with his KGB or government officials, though he knew that the entire government had probably gone into hiding. If there was one thing Ivan knew his people were good at, it was rebelling. They topped even Francis and all of his riots through-out the years.
As the duo entered the Red Square, Ivan looked around, expecting to see some sort of security in the high level danger zone such as the Kremlin. He was surprised not to see a single sniper or even a police man patrolling the perimeter. All of the lights were off, casting the entire area into almost complete darkness. The only light came from a few lone street lamps down the street, but all lights were shut off just short of the Red Square.
Abigail, confident that there was no one around, whispered into the silence to Ivan. Her breath created a fog before her mouth. "Sir, are we looking for a secret passage into the Kremlin?"
"Da," Ivan replied with an equally hushed whisper. He stopped near a seemingly random spot in the square, glancing around for a few tense moments, Abigail looking as well. Counting in his head, Ivan took a few steps before squatting on the ground. He pulled up one of the stones with his fingers in a tiny notch just barely big enough for his pinky finger.
"A secret passage in the middle of the square?" Abigail crossed her arms with an eyebrow raised. "That's not very secretive."
"But what does it matter to find the entrance if you can't make your way around?" Ivan asked her, flashing a cold smile her way. He quickly made his way down the ladder knowing Abigail would follow.
Soon, the two were at the bottom with even more darkness closing in on them from all sides. Abigail moved to turn on a flashlight, but Ivan stopped her. He took off in the dark, smiling to himself to hear Abigail stumble after him. He figured Alfred would be upset if he came back with the agent, so he reached out and took hold of her jacket's sleeve, dragging her along.
"I think this is kind of a rule of thumb with countries to have secret passages in dank, dark places," Abigail mumbled in English. Ivan turned to look at her.
"Rule of thumb?" Ivan asked. "I'm unfamiliar with that American term."
"It's not American. "Abigail said, returning to Russian flawlessly. "It's just an English phrase. It means like an unwritten rule everyone follows."
"And you think all of the countries have secret passages?" Ivan asked, turning sharply around a corner. Abigail felt herself being whiplashed like a doll with Ivan. "That's interesting… I didn't think America needed one."
"There's one like this in America too. It stretches underneath all three of the national monuments. That's where our base is. I bet George and Sir Jones are there now," Abigail explained.
He cocked an eyebrow, still making his way through the passageway. "Are you sure you should be sharing such information with me?"
"Of course. Sir Jones wanted me to tell you, actually." Abigail stated matter-of-factly. "He said it might come in handy if this keeps up and we need a place to all meet. I assure you, only nations and those in the agency know of this place. And even among the nations, Sir Bonnefoy and Sir Kirkland are the only ones to know."
Ivan was unimpressed. He knew that the more nations and people that knew, the higher chance there was there had been a leak in the system. Despite the fact that some of the higher-up politicians knew of the passage the two were in didn't mean they knew how to navigate in the underground labyrinth.
"Awfully trusting, aren't we?" Ivan asked with a roll of his eyes. Figures, with Alfred, he thought.
Abigail started to say something, but she slammed into the back of Ivan when he stopped abruptly. There wasn't any ladder or door but rather an unmarked wall. Ivan pressed himself against it, slowly opening the door disguised as a wall. Abigail waited until Ivan motioned for her to go inside first.
With her gun drawn, Abigail quickly scanned the area of where they had arrived inside the Kremlin. It was just an ordinary corridor, one that probably hundreds of politicians walked through daily without notice of the unassuming wall. Abigail nodded to Ivan who came through the opening and promptly shutting the door. The nation took off down the hallway, Abigail on his heels.
The entire building was quiet despite the lowly lit rooms. There didn't seem be any signs of struggle or if the people had rushed out. There wasn't even the smell of smoke of documents being burned or shredded papers in trashcans. Abigail was amazed. It just looked as if the entire Russian government was on vacation.
"Sir," Abigail began, her voice sounding far too loud in the empty room. "How do you know the child will be here?"
"I'm not expecting it to be there. What I'm looking for is information," Ivan replied. He headed upstairs knowing that he was making a beeline to his office.
"What about?"
"Anything. All information regarding my people, the government, happenings; everything lies within my office. If that thing's been spotted, there will be a report on it there." Ivan stopped when he had reached his office. The large doors had his name on a decorative plaque outside. He pushed past the doors, hoping that the child would be sitting in his chair. A perfect target for him to jump on.
Nothing looked disturbed; Ivan's hundreds of leather-bound books still in place, papers semi-scatter on his wooden desk. Various pictures of battles and landscapes hang on the walls, along with the occasional weapon. He was disappointed that the child wasn't in sight and moved to his computer in hopes there would be messages or reports. Abigail closed the doors, scouring the room and silently hoping that the child was really just hiding in plain sight. Confident that there was no danger, she stood by the door with her gun still drawn.
Watching Ivan, Abigail felt a small smile. "You know, you talk of how trusting Sir Jones is as if it's a bad thing, and yet you just opened yourself to me with your trust as well."
"That was because I had no choice," Ivan replied, not looking up. "You have to come along with me."
Abigail shrugged. "You could have left me to wander that labyrinth back there, but you grabbed on to me."
Sighing, Ivan turned his computer off. There wasn't a hint of a message and the device hadn't been touched since he had left. "Da because if I came back to America without you, there'd be such a hassle and I don't have time for pointless things like that."
Ivan moved to check his desk and all of its contents then. Still, Abigail wasn't convinced. She moved over to check as well. "You say that, but I don't believe you."
"And why is that Miss…Woods was it?" Ivan tried to keep his happy tone in place despite the growing irritation he felt crawling up his neck. This American was full of questions.
"Because you protected Sir Jones," Abigail replied simply causing Ivan to stop. "I know that you nations have set feelings that you can't ignore- those of your people. It grows stronger when you're around your people, but I also know that you nations have you own feelings...and it's mainly affection for the other nations that you chose to feel regardless of the political situation at home."
"America…," Ivan started, but then a growl emerged. "He is nothing more than a means to an end..." He spun around to face Abigail, his eyes having that slight glow. "MY end. If he went down now...well you've seen what has happened. I was trying to prevent that to keep MY people from being drug down because of HIS problems. It has NOTHING to do with 'trust' or 'affection' or any other sunshine and rainbow phrases out of your self-help book."
"I'm sure that's really what you feel..." Abigail flashed a condescending smirk the Russian's way. He grabbed her by her shoulders, forcing the blonde to look him in the eyes.
"Exactly how I feel."
Abigail wasn't affected by Ivan's cold stares and chilling tone. "So tell me, then. If you wanted him to fall...why exactly did you hold him so protectively when Tom came to get you?"
Ivan gritted his teeth. She was going to harass him the entire way wasn't she? Releasing her, Ivan moved to his book shelves. "Don't you have any other more pressing concerns? Surely harassing me is the least of your worries."
Abigail made a mocking noise as if she was thinking. Ivan clenched his jaw. "Mmm, not really... I mean, things seem to be going pretty smoothly because of all the tight restrictions in place and everyone's on edge around here, probably accounting for your foul mood; well fouler than normal. And it was far too easy to enter here, even with your clearance, so it seems the government has fled. Plus with all the signs on the stores and the furtive stares everyone gave one another shows that not only does everyone suspect one another, but that what's left of the government here has been placed on the ultimate edge as they search for the rebel groups. Besides, I figured it was much too quiet here and we needed some conversation to pass the time."
"Then I guess I should feel gratitude that I was blessed with the most talkative of the bunch," Ivan said, spitting each word out.
Abigail laughed, her smile looking far too much like Alfred's own. "Me? Oh no. Jeff is the worst. Jeff and Sir Jones are too similar. It's a bit eerie at times."
Ivan was about to turn and smack the woman across the face, hoping to shut her incessant talking up, when he found something was amiss. A photo of him and his sisters from when they were younger was turned away. He snatched it, wondering just who had touched one of his personal belongings when he saw there was a note attached to the front.
It was written in crude Cyrillic jumping from cursive to regular as well as multiple mistakes, scribbles in the margins, and a crude drawing of Ivan with X-ed out eyes; just of that of a child's. Ivan felt his heart jump knowing that his suspicions of a child existing being confirmed, but then his body went cold as he started reading the letter.
~Dear big brother, Ivan,
This is your new little sister, Catherine. I'm here to tell you that you need to die. It'll be much easier this way if you just point the gun at yourself. I'm too young to get my hands bloody, don't you think? If you really think you can do anything, you're dumber than I was told. So please, don't even try looking for me.
Lovely weather isn't it? I'm staying nice and warm with the people that love me, unlike you.
Oh and you should get rid of this stupid picture. It's really old and ugly.
Catherine~
Ivan felt himself shaking as he reread the letter a few more times before he shoved the letter in Abigail's face. He then paced back and forth, thinking of just where he could go now? The underground markets? The bars and nightclubs? The mafia? But he knew those would be the places that would support this Catherine child-oh she had to pick that name of all names.
"She has your President," Abigail said quickly. "It says here she's with people that love her, but I bet that's a lie. She's probably holding them hostage."
"So what do you propose we do, oh number 1 agent?" Ivan asked, shakily.
This time, Abigail didn't make a mocking noise of thinking. She really was thinking hard as she too began to pace. "With that note, it's possible she's still in the city. If not, then St. Petersburg would be the next best choice. However, this city is more liberal and would have the strongest support for her."
"So?" Ivan asked agitated. "Is this the best you can do, American?"
Abigail turned to start an argument when there was a loud gunshot from behind her. She collapsed on the floor, blood coming from her chest. Ivan looked up in surprise to see a little girl with sandy blonde hair, much like his, and black eyes. She wore a thick purple nightgown with a fur collar covered by a lavender scarf. She looked quite adorable and harmless with the matching light purple fur hat atop her head. However, the smoking pistol in her hand and the malicious grin on her face said otherwise.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ivan shot the girl between the black eyes with Abigail's gun that she had dropped when she had fallen. The little girl fell backwards with a loud THUMP. Ivan looked to the blonde lying on the floor and knelt next to her.
"You Americans… Can't you do anything right?" he mumbled. He started to turn her over when the woman started to scramble up. Ivan pushed her back down. "Don't move you idiot. You could bleed to death."
"Don't," Abigail croaked out. She touched the blood and held up her fingers. "Smell. It's fake."
Sure enough, Ivan found that he had been tricked. Exactly as the agent had planned. He couldn't help but smile as he helped her up. She waved off her look of pain as one of shock. It always hurt to be shot at despite her Kevlar. She sat up clutching her side and pulled off the now-empty blood vials out from inside her coat and Ivan could see that there were others.
"And when were you going to share this little bit of information with me?" Ivan growled.
Abigail blushed slightly, not looking at Ivan. "I didn't think I'd get hit… I never have before."
There was a loud gasp as Catherine shot up. The blood dried up on her face as the bullet wound closed. She rushed towards Abigail, her hands up and ready to choke the human. Suddenly, the little girl was hit across the room by a metal water pipe to the head. She slammed into the bookcases and crumpled on the floor. Abigail stood up in shock, looking at Ivan, slightly touched at his protection.
But he could care less about Abigail. Instead, he rushed to finish the little girl off. How dare she challenge the Great Russian Federation on his home turf and in his office, no less? He picked the girl up by her collar and struck her a few times in the face with his pipe. A little bit of blood splattered across his face and a sadistic smile crept to his lips.
Ah, somehow, he had truly missed this.
Suddenly, the little girl cried out and shot her hands out. "Stop! Please!"
Ivan, actually, found himself stopping. Catherine's shaky hands grabbed on to Ivan's pipe, her black eyes pleading with him to let her live. Ivan felt that it was all wrong, so wrong that he could punch himself for hesitating, but somehow those eyes no longer looked black. They looked young and innocent and oh so painfully familiar.
Ivan let up on Catherine and whispered, "Ana…stasia…?"
Catherine smiled as she was released from Ivan. He dropped the bloody pipe, shaking at what he had just done to his beloved princess. Abigail stood from behind and watched, confused as to what Ivan was doing and why Catherine was getting back up.
"Sir…?"
Ivan shuddered as he heard Abigail's voice, remembering that Anastasia was dead. Ivan had been there when she had been shot. He had seen her body, mangled and bullet-riddled. And yet, here she was, sitting before him.
Catherine wiped her tears and blood away. "That hurt…"
Abigail reacted quickly, pulling another gun from her coat seamlessly and aiming it at Catherine's head. "Shut up. Don't say another word to him."
The little girl looked at Abigail meekly and stifled a sound of fear. She scrambled close to Ivan, clutching at his coat. "She scares me… Do something…"
Ivan tried to blink back his swirling memories, but so many voices had flooded his mind. He looked from Abigail to Catherine and couldn't see the difference. He then saw a little girl surrounded by sunflowers, laughing and calling Ivan's human name. A gunshot and then the girl was latching herself to another girl's neck. The two struggled violently, calling out Ivan's name. But the sunflowers were shinning so bright and looked so promising, he looked away as the little girl and that other girl tumbled out of a window.
Wait, a window?
Ivan snapped out of his daydream, blinking back sunshine and warmth to find the window broken and the cold snow blowing into the room. Catherine and Abigail were nowhere to be seen. He rushed to the window to find Abigail standing over a limp body of a little blonde girl. The snow had broken their fall and since the office wasn't too high up in the Kremlin so it seemed the agent was okay.
"Are you back to normal now?" Abigail yelled, her hands akimbo.
"That…that was all real?" Ivan asked, more to himself than to Abigail.
"I can't hear you, but you were controlled! So have you snapped out of it?"
Ivan sneered at the agent, but jumped out the window. He landed with a much harder landing, but his knees could take it. Abigail seized the nation up and nodded to see that he was really was back in control of himself.
"I'm not sure what that was all about, but I've never heard of a country being controlled by another," Abigail said.
"That's because we can't," Ivan mumbled. He ran a hand through his hair as he felt himself loosing focus because of the pure fear coursing through him. "No one's ever done something like that to me…"
"Well you better make sure it doesn't happen again," Abigail started, but then her eyes lit up. "Or maybe do it to her. We can control her all the way back to America."
Ivan shook his head, regretting the action immediately. His head was filling up with more and more memories, making his head feel heavier by the minute. "Nyet, I…I don't know how to do that."
"Damn," Abigail hissed. She grabbed Catherine roughly by her collar and tucked her under her arm. "Well, we should get going before she…"
Abigail faded out as she saw a van careening towards her and Ivan. She stepped in front of Ivan, tossing Catherine roughly to the ground, and drew her gun. The van skidded to a halt, the snow flying before it in a graceful arch. But Abigail could've cared less about the beautiful view. She paid more attention to the group of highly armed men filling out of the van and heading towards her and her Russian partner.
"Sir Braginsky, I hope you get a hold of yourself right now," Abigail started. She pulled a third gun from her jacket, her first gun still up in Ivan's office and the second in the snow by her feet. "You have some really unhappy citizens."
Ivan looked over with a snarl. He was not in the mood to deal with his anarchistic Russians, but his anger was ebbed momentarily when he stood up in shock. Suddenly, a rush of even more overwhelming rage took over his body. "Nyet... These are people from Chechnya… These are worse…"
Hoshiko2's cents: If this doesn't back up what I just wrote about… http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101102/wl_time/08599202881000
Anyways, hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. I now have some sad news for you all. I'm going to be taking a break for awhile on my writing. I wanted to update this week to let you guys know, but I have a lot of issues in my life right now and certain reasons have led me to feel strongly about my decision. I know you guys love the weekly updates and I do too (gives me a deadline), but I just can't keep to it with both of my stories with all of the stress going on in my life. I'll update this week and next week for Downfall as it'd be the last chapter and I don't want people waiting forever for one chapter, but this series will be on hold.
I'm really sorry, but my best estimate would be either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Why? Because that's the only time I won't have so much work piling on top of me that I have to actually book free time weeks in advance. It's just sad… You're all welcome to bother me on my Formspring, though. With that said, see you guys when I see you!
~hoshiko