[Fanfic] Bear Skin Part 2/?
P-P-P-P-PART 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woooooo! And i know its not in the correct week but.. um... yeahhhhh. Oh, and mods, the first part was in the correct week and was 3,496 words long. This part is 2,696 words!
Ivan felt warm. Warm and rested. And… sore? He shifted slightly, feeling that there was a large weight on his stomach. Slowly, he cracked open violet eyes, only to be met with piercing blue ones. He looked down slightly to find that a young boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen sat perched on his chest. The boy had hair that looked like gold and pale, almost translucent skin that spoke of someone who had never done a day’s work.
“So you ARE a human!” The boy chirped, a wide grin lighting up his face.
Ivan couldn’t say anything for a few moments. He did not understand why this boy wasn’t scared of him, nor repulsed by him. “Yes,” he replied slowly, still staring blatantly at the adorable child in front of him.
“Come on then!” the boy said, “daddy made breakfast! He wants you to meet my sisters!” the boy said, promptly jumping off of Ivan. “So what’s your name anyways? Or should I just call you bear man? I’m Alfred by the way,” the boy prattled, leading Ivan out of the room.
“My name is Ivan,” he said, smiling. Listening to the boy talk was quite amusing. It was almost like the child was blind and could not see Ivan’s outwardly appearance.
“Yvonne? Isn’t that a name for a woman? I think I might have an Aunt Yvonne, but she,” Alfred said, quickly being cut off.
“Ivan. EE-von,” Ivan repeated.
“OH! IVAN!” Alfred said nodding, “That makes more sense. But then again, under all that stuff you’re wearing, you may have been a girl. Who knows!” Alfred laughed, leading Ivan to the kitchen. “So...” Alfred said, as they descended the stairs. “You’re gonna marry one of my sisters?”
Ivan nodded, “That is what your father promised me in return for helping him out.”
“Wow,” Alfred said as they rounded the corner to the kitchen, “You must have…” He started, but was cut off by a scream.
“What is that!?” A woman said, yelling and thrusting a finger towards where Ivan and Alfred stood in the doorway. “Father!” the woman shrieked, turning to a stunned and embarrassed looking Francis. “You must be out of you mind if you want me to marry that… that… that thing!”
Ivan shrugged slightly. He had gotten used to this reaction. He felt a slight pull at his sleeve and looked down to see Alfred staring at him. “That my oldest sister…” Alfred trailed off, turning to look at the blonde woman who stood, fuming at the table, a disgusted look plastered across her pretty features.
“And father, you really can’t expect me to marry him can you?” piped up another voice, belonging to the other woman who sat at the table. “I need a husband who will be a husband, not a beast who isn’t even close to being a man.”
“And that,” Alfred said, tugging again on Ivan’s sleeve, “is my younger older sister…” Alfred said, nodding towards the other woman who wore a scandalously low cut dress and had a mess of auburn hair piled upon her head.
Ivan sighed. There was no way these woman would be able to accept him. He would much rather marry someone like Alfred.
“Daughters please!” Francis pleaded, silent up until now, “This man has helped us out so very kindly and generously, and this is his reward for allowing us to have something on the table to eat and fine clothes for you to wear!”
“I really don’t care father,” the elder daughter said. “That man is disgusting. He looks like he’s been cursed and he smells like he hasn’t bathed in years!”
“And really father, how do you expect us to live and keep a man like that happy! He’s more beast than man, it looks like to me, and I so dislike a cold bed at night!” the younger daughter said with a sneer.
Ivan sighed again, moving to turn around. He didn’t need a wife. In three more years he would have all the company he would ever want. He would be rich, live in a grand mansion and most of all he would be clean.
“I’ll marry Ivan!” came a loud voice to Ivan’s left.
Everyone in the room seemed to hone in on Alfred as soon as the words left his mouth. “Dearest, you cannot do that!” Francis said, “Mr. Ivan needs a wife not a…” he started but was cut off by Ivan’s gruff growl.
“I accept,” Ivan said, before leaving the family standing in the kitchen, completely dumbfounded.
--
Ivan walked back to his room humming a cheerful tune. For the first time in months he felt happy. His burden felt light and the bear skin tied to his back felt like air. Everything had worked out better than planned. He would be able to marry Alfred instead of one of his bothersome sisters.
He turned slightly after hearing the soft pitter patter of feet behind him. He then felt a small hand tug at the bear skin on his back. “Uhhh… Ivan?” Alfred asked, “You’re not mad at me are you?”
Ivan smiled, crouching down to the boy’s height, “No, of course not, actually I’m very happy I get to wed someone like you!”
“But I’m just a brat! That’s what my sisters always say and I don’t want to listen to them, but I can’t help it! I wanna be able to grow up big and strong so I can support my whole family especially my brother!” Alfred said.
“Your brother?” Ivan asked. He had been under the impression that Alfred only had two sisters.
“Yeah, his name is Matthew. Do you wanna meet him?” Alfred asked. “We have to be real quiet cause he’s always real sick and sleeps a lot.”
Ivan nodded and let the boy pull him towards a door at the end of the corridor. “Daddy is always sad that Mattie’s sick. He blames me and my momma,” Alfred began.
“ But I don’t think it’s her fault. You see, me and Mattie are twins, but I’m the only one that came out healthy. Daddy says originally we was both gonna die, but momma made a deal with this strange man saying she’d trade her life for ours. Daddy didn’t want her to, but she did anyways. I came out okay but Mattie always looks like he’s gonna die. That’s why Daddy is always trying to spend money to make more money so that he can get medicine for Mattie,” Alfred said, looking downcast.
“It’s cause Mattie looks just like momma,” Alfred said, finishing his story as the pair stood outside the door.
Ivan briefly wondered if the strange man Alfred’s mother had made a deal with was the same strange man he had made a deal with. He then slowly looped am arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulled the child close. “If you do not wish for me to see him, we can go somewhere else,” Ivan said, at seeing how uncomfortable the boy looked.
“Do you mind?” Alfred said, still leaning against the older man. “We can go outside instead.”
Ivan smiled as he followed the boy outside. He sat down in the lush grass and watched as Alfred ran around for a few seconds and then laid out next to him. Ivan blushed at the proximity. It was amazing to him that a boy like Alfred had the courage to marry someone like him. “Why do you want to marry me?” Ivan asked, causing the blonde boy to roll over to stare at him.
“Because….” Alfred began, pausing for a few seconds. Ivan just stared at him. That perfect golden hair, eyes the color of the sky, pale skin with a splash of freckles across the nose. He was too perfect. “Ummm… because,” Alfred finished.
“Articulate,” Ivan said with a smirk.
“Shut up!” Alfred whined, “It’s more than that really. I wanted to help… to be a hero. I’m such a burden, and I know my sisters didn’t want to marry you and I didn’t want them to go through with something they didn’t want to do. And I like you. Your… nice. Kinda weird, but nice. And you have pretty eyes!”
Ivan sighed. This boy, Alfred, was more amazing than he would have though. Overbearing, and too enthusiastic at times, but he had a good heart, even if he was an idiot. “You’re an idiot you know that?” Ivan said, “Are you really okay with marrying a complete stranger just because he had nice eyes?”
“So tell me about yourself!” Alfred chirped.
So Ivan did.
Ivan’s stories carried on long into the day, the sun moving from high in the sky to hiding below the trees. They only stopped once, when Alfred brought them dinner. Ivan told the boy about his past, his sisters, the man in the green jacket and the curse he had been placed under. And when he finished telling Alfred about these things, he began telling the boy old stories his sister had told him. Tales of princesses and kings, curses and sorcerers. He spoke until the boy drifted off, and then he spoke no more, only moving to carry the boy to bed.
--
Ivan spent the winter at Francis’s home. He worked, shoveled, cleaned. Anything that needed done he did. He watched as Alfred grew another inch. He watched as Alfred’s sisters shunned him for befriending Ivan. He watched as Francis would slip into Matthew’s room and then slip back out, leaving for days at a time. And for the first time, Ivan was not cold, even though the outside world was covered in ice.
However, spring soon came and Ivan knew he had to make his way back to where he had first made his deal with the man in the green coat.
--
Ivan stood in front of the door. He knew he had to leave, yet it was bittersweet. “Why must you go?” Alfred whined, clinging to Ivan’s side, ignoring the fact that he was making a scene in front of his sisters and his father.
“Listen to me,” Ivan said. Bending down slightly to look Alfred in the eyes. “I will return in three years, to marry you, alright?”
“S’not fair…” Alfred pouted, tears gathering in his eyes.
“Come now Alfred, you say you always want to be the hero, so be the hero!” Ivan said, trying his best to sound reassuring.
“M’kay,” Alfred mumbled.
“I will see you in three years, Fredka. Do not forget,” Ivan said as he walked out of the house.
Alfred watched with sad eyes as Ivan left the house.
“I can’t believe you’re actually going to wait for him!” came a snide voice, a voice that could only belong to his older sister.
“Really Alfred, why would you throw your life away and marry someone who doesn’t even want to stay with you hmmm?” his younger sister chimed in.
“Shut up! The only reason he has to leave is so he can go see the man in the green coat!” Alfred shouted before dashing away.
His sisters only laughed, but his father immediately ripped the door open and ran after Ivan.
--
“Ivan! IVAN! WAIT!”
Ivan stopped and turned slightly at the sound of his name, surprised to find Francis running over to him.
“You…ha….you said,” Francis panted, out of breath, “that you were going to see the man in the green coat right?!” he practically yelled, “if… ha…. So, I need you to give him this!”
With that, Francis pulled out a yellowed looking letter from his waistcoat. “I’ve been looking for this man for…ha… almost fourteen years now, so please… please make sure he gets it!”
Ivan nodded, taking the letter from Francis. He remembered the story Alfred had told him about him and his twin. He now knew that finding the spot he had almost died in all those years ago now bore more importance. He wasn’t the only one that had been cursed by the man in the green coat.
--
Ivan returned to his old routine after leaving Francis’s home. He stayed away from villages and only traveled at night.
He thought of Alfred often. He dreamed of what their life would be like once he was normal. He thought endlessly about what if would be like to be accepted into society. He wondered what it would be like to stand at Alfred’s side, to touch him, to hold him, make sweet love to him. They would be able to move somewhere warm, live together without the bothers of his sisters. Perhaps he would even buy medicine to cure Matthew, if it would make his sunshine happy.
Finally after many months of traveling, he arrived back at the spot where he had first met the man in the green coat.
--
Ivan waited for many days until the man arrived. He seemed to just materialize out of the mist, or perhaps grow out of the frost covered ground. “Ah! So you did come!” the man said, sauntering over to where Ivan sat.
Ivan just nodded. All he wanted was for this to be over so that he could return to Alfred. “Yes. I am ready for you to fulfill your part of the bargain,” Ivan said, a menacing smile on his face.
“Really now? So impatient? Do you have someone you need to get back to? But then again, who would ever want a disgusting monster like you?” the man in the green coat said, his eyes narrowing and a wicked pointed smile gracing his lips.
Ivan just smirked. He thought of clear blue eyes and blonde hair and how Alfred would look when he returned.
“Ahhh…” the man said, “So even you have found someone! But I thinks that I could find you someone better!” he mused, “If so you would be willing to make another bet with me?”
“I do not think so,” Ivan said, his voice rough, “However, I do have something for you,” he said pulling out the letter Francis had given him. “It’s from Francis Bonnefoy.”
The green eyed man just smiled wider than Ivan thought was physically possible, ripping the letter from Ivan’s hands, before savagely tearing it open. He smirked that began to read it out loud.
“It was all a mistake and now I wish to correct it. My wife gave her soul to you for one son, so now I wish to give my soul to you for the other.”
“Ha!” the man said, a wheezy, cruel sounding laughter coming out of his mouth, “Francis, Francis, Francis. You had to have known that you would be seeing me either way! But I suppose this does get your boy off the hook!” With a small flare of green light, the letter caught afire. Ivan could only watch as the man dropped the thing to the ground and pulled out a small leather bound volume and scratched something down.
“November twelfth. Consider the exchange made Mr. Francois “Francis” Jean Bonnefoy!” he said with another laugh before snapping the book closed.
“And now for you!,” the man muttered. “What had I promised you?”
“No,” Ivan said, effectively cutting the man off. After what he had seen, he figured the only way to deal with this man was to match his cruelness “I will be making the rules now. First you will clean me. Second, I wish for God to know nothing of my dealings with the likes of you. Third, I wish to keep the purse and finally, you will deliver on your promise. All the riches I could desire.”
The man smirked, his cat like green eyes glinting. “Fair enough, a promise is a promise.”
--
The first thing Ivan did was march straight into the nearest town. He marched down those streets like a man who had just been freed from years of slavery. He bought himself the finest clothes he could find, as well as a magnificent horse. After eating a good meal, he began to make his way towards the place he had left Alfred.
He traveled for many days, staying in tows along the way, always able to find accommodations. It shocked him slightly at first, how people were so receptive and welcoming to him. However, he could still flash them a cruel smile and they would scatter like cockroaches.
The days he traveled quickly turned into months and those months quickly turned into years. Before he knew it, the three years had passed, and then four, and then five and he still had yet to return to Alfred. He knew he was close, only a few more weeks of travel and then he would be in Alfred’s village and would be able to claim the man as his own.
However, merciless thoughts plagued his head. What if Alfred had found another? What if he had gotten injured, or even killed in the time he had been away? What if he wasn’t the same person he left behind all those years ago? No. No! He had to stop thinking like that. Everything would be fine once he reached Alfred.
Ivan felt warm. Warm and rested. And… sore? He shifted slightly, feeling that there was a large weight on his stomach. Slowly, he cracked open violet eyes, only to be met with piercing blue ones. He looked down slightly to find that a young boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen sat perched on his chest. The boy had hair that looked like gold and pale, almost translucent skin that spoke of someone who had never done a day’s work.
“So you ARE a human!” The boy chirped, a wide grin lighting up his face.
Ivan couldn’t say anything for a few moments. He did not understand why this boy wasn’t scared of him, nor repulsed by him. “Yes,” he replied slowly, still staring blatantly at the adorable child in front of him.
“Come on then!” the boy said, “daddy made breakfast! He wants you to meet my sisters!” the boy said, promptly jumping off of Ivan. “So what’s your name anyways? Or should I just call you bear man? I’m Alfred by the way,” the boy prattled, leading Ivan out of the room.
“My name is Ivan,” he said, smiling. Listening to the boy talk was quite amusing. It was almost like the child was blind and could not see Ivan’s outwardly appearance.
“Yvonne? Isn’t that a name for a woman? I think I might have an Aunt Yvonne, but she,” Alfred said, quickly being cut off.
“Ivan. EE-von,” Ivan repeated.
“OH! IVAN!” Alfred said nodding, “That makes more sense. But then again, under all that stuff you’re wearing, you may have been a girl. Who knows!” Alfred laughed, leading Ivan to the kitchen. “So...” Alfred said, as they descended the stairs. “You’re gonna marry one of my sisters?”
Ivan nodded, “That is what your father promised me in return for helping him out.”
“Wow,” Alfred said as they rounded the corner to the kitchen, “You must have…” He started, but was cut off by a scream.
“What is that!?” A woman said, yelling and thrusting a finger towards where Ivan and Alfred stood in the doorway. “Father!” the woman shrieked, turning to a stunned and embarrassed looking Francis. “You must be out of you mind if you want me to marry that… that… that thing!”
Ivan shrugged slightly. He had gotten used to this reaction. He felt a slight pull at his sleeve and looked down to see Alfred staring at him. “That my oldest sister…” Alfred trailed off, turning to look at the blonde woman who stood, fuming at the table, a disgusted look plastered across her pretty features.
“And father, you really can’t expect me to marry him can you?” piped up another voice, belonging to the other woman who sat at the table. “I need a husband who will be a husband, not a beast who isn’t even close to being a man.”
“And that,” Alfred said, tugging again on Ivan’s sleeve, “is my younger older sister…” Alfred said, nodding towards the other woman who wore a scandalously low cut dress and had a mess of auburn hair piled upon her head.
Ivan sighed. There was no way these woman would be able to accept him. He would much rather marry someone like Alfred.
“Daughters please!” Francis pleaded, silent up until now, “This man has helped us out so very kindly and generously, and this is his reward for allowing us to have something on the table to eat and fine clothes for you to wear!”
“I really don’t care father,” the elder daughter said. “That man is disgusting. He looks like he’s been cursed and he smells like he hasn’t bathed in years!”
“And really father, how do you expect us to live and keep a man like that happy! He’s more beast than man, it looks like to me, and I so dislike a cold bed at night!” the younger daughter said with a sneer.
Ivan sighed again, moving to turn around. He didn’t need a wife. In three more years he would have all the company he would ever want. He would be rich, live in a grand mansion and most of all he would be clean.
“I’ll marry Ivan!” came a loud voice to Ivan’s left.
Everyone in the room seemed to hone in on Alfred as soon as the words left his mouth. “Dearest, you cannot do that!” Francis said, “Mr. Ivan needs a wife not a…” he started but was cut off by Ivan’s gruff growl.
“I accept,” Ivan said, before leaving the family standing in the kitchen, completely dumbfounded.
--
Ivan walked back to his room humming a cheerful tune. For the first time in months he felt happy. His burden felt light and the bear skin tied to his back felt like air. Everything had worked out better than planned. He would be able to marry Alfred instead of one of his bothersome sisters.
He turned slightly after hearing the soft pitter patter of feet behind him. He then felt a small hand tug at the bear skin on his back. “Uhhh… Ivan?” Alfred asked, “You’re not mad at me are you?”
Ivan smiled, crouching down to the boy’s height, “No, of course not, actually I’m very happy I get to wed someone like you!”
“But I’m just a brat! That’s what my sisters always say and I don’t want to listen to them, but I can’t help it! I wanna be able to grow up big and strong so I can support my whole family especially my brother!” Alfred said.
“Your brother?” Ivan asked. He had been under the impression that Alfred only had two sisters.
“Yeah, his name is Matthew. Do you wanna meet him?” Alfred asked. “We have to be real quiet cause he’s always real sick and sleeps a lot.”
Ivan nodded and let the boy pull him towards a door at the end of the corridor. “Daddy is always sad that Mattie’s sick. He blames me and my momma,” Alfred began.
“ But I don’t think it’s her fault. You see, me and Mattie are twins, but I’m the only one that came out healthy. Daddy says originally we was both gonna die, but momma made a deal with this strange man saying she’d trade her life for ours. Daddy didn’t want her to, but she did anyways. I came out okay but Mattie always looks like he’s gonna die. That’s why Daddy is always trying to spend money to make more money so that he can get medicine for Mattie,” Alfred said, looking downcast.
“It’s cause Mattie looks just like momma,” Alfred said, finishing his story as the pair stood outside the door.
Ivan briefly wondered if the strange man Alfred’s mother had made a deal with was the same strange man he had made a deal with. He then slowly looped am arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulled the child close. “If you do not wish for me to see him, we can go somewhere else,” Ivan said, at seeing how uncomfortable the boy looked.
“Do you mind?” Alfred said, still leaning against the older man. “We can go outside instead.”
Ivan smiled as he followed the boy outside. He sat down in the lush grass and watched as Alfred ran around for a few seconds and then laid out next to him. Ivan blushed at the proximity. It was amazing to him that a boy like Alfred had the courage to marry someone like him. “Why do you want to marry me?” Ivan asked, causing the blonde boy to roll over to stare at him.
“Because….” Alfred began, pausing for a few seconds. Ivan just stared at him. That perfect golden hair, eyes the color of the sky, pale skin with a splash of freckles across the nose. He was too perfect. “Ummm… because,” Alfred finished.
“Articulate,” Ivan said with a smirk.
“Shut up!” Alfred whined, “It’s more than that really. I wanted to help… to be a hero. I’m such a burden, and I know my sisters didn’t want to marry you and I didn’t want them to go through with something they didn’t want to do. And I like you. Your… nice. Kinda weird, but nice. And you have pretty eyes!”
Ivan sighed. This boy, Alfred, was more amazing than he would have though. Overbearing, and too enthusiastic at times, but he had a good heart, even if he was an idiot. “You’re an idiot you know that?” Ivan said, “Are you really okay with marrying a complete stranger just because he had nice eyes?”
“So tell me about yourself!” Alfred chirped.
So Ivan did.
Ivan’s stories carried on long into the day, the sun moving from high in the sky to hiding below the trees. They only stopped once, when Alfred brought them dinner. Ivan told the boy about his past, his sisters, the man in the green jacket and the curse he had been placed under. And when he finished telling Alfred about these things, he began telling the boy old stories his sister had told him. Tales of princesses and kings, curses and sorcerers. He spoke until the boy drifted off, and then he spoke no more, only moving to carry the boy to bed.
--
Ivan spent the winter at Francis’s home. He worked, shoveled, cleaned. Anything that needed done he did. He watched as Alfred grew another inch. He watched as Alfred’s sisters shunned him for befriending Ivan. He watched as Francis would slip into Matthew’s room and then slip back out, leaving for days at a time. And for the first time, Ivan was not cold, even though the outside world was covered in ice.
However, spring soon came and Ivan knew he had to make his way back to where he had first made his deal with the man in the green coat.
--
Ivan stood in front of the door. He knew he had to leave, yet it was bittersweet. “Why must you go?” Alfred whined, clinging to Ivan’s side, ignoring the fact that he was making a scene in front of his sisters and his father.
“Listen to me,” Ivan said. Bending down slightly to look Alfred in the eyes. “I will return in three years, to marry you, alright?”
“S’not fair…” Alfred pouted, tears gathering in his eyes.
“Come now Alfred, you say you always want to be the hero, so be the hero!” Ivan said, trying his best to sound reassuring.
“M’kay,” Alfred mumbled.
“I will see you in three years, Fredka. Do not forget,” Ivan said as he walked out of the house.
Alfred watched with sad eyes as Ivan left the house.
“I can’t believe you’re actually going to wait for him!” came a snide voice, a voice that could only belong to his older sister.
“Really Alfred, why would you throw your life away and marry someone who doesn’t even want to stay with you hmmm?” his younger sister chimed in.
“Shut up! The only reason he has to leave is so he can go see the man in the green coat!” Alfred shouted before dashing away.
His sisters only laughed, but his father immediately ripped the door open and ran after Ivan.
--
“Ivan! IVAN! WAIT!”
Ivan stopped and turned slightly at the sound of his name, surprised to find Francis running over to him.
“You…ha….you said,” Francis panted, out of breath, “that you were going to see the man in the green coat right?!” he practically yelled, “if… ha…. So, I need you to give him this!”
With that, Francis pulled out a yellowed looking letter from his waistcoat. “I’ve been looking for this man for…ha… almost fourteen years now, so please… please make sure he gets it!”
Ivan nodded, taking the letter from Francis. He remembered the story Alfred had told him about him and his twin. He now knew that finding the spot he had almost died in all those years ago now bore more importance. He wasn’t the only one that had been cursed by the man in the green coat.
--
Ivan returned to his old routine after leaving Francis’s home. He stayed away from villages and only traveled at night.
He thought of Alfred often. He dreamed of what their life would be like once he was normal. He thought endlessly about what if would be like to be accepted into society. He wondered what it would be like to stand at Alfred’s side, to touch him, to hold him, make sweet love to him. They would be able to move somewhere warm, live together without the bothers of his sisters. Perhaps he would even buy medicine to cure Matthew, if it would make his sunshine happy.
Finally after many months of traveling, he arrived back at the spot where he had first met the man in the green coat.
--
Ivan waited for many days until the man arrived. He seemed to just materialize out of the mist, or perhaps grow out of the frost covered ground. “Ah! So you did come!” the man said, sauntering over to where Ivan sat.
Ivan just nodded. All he wanted was for this to be over so that he could return to Alfred. “Yes. I am ready for you to fulfill your part of the bargain,” Ivan said, a menacing smile on his face.
“Really now? So impatient? Do you have someone you need to get back to? But then again, who would ever want a disgusting monster like you?” the man in the green coat said, his eyes narrowing and a wicked pointed smile gracing his lips.
Ivan just smirked. He thought of clear blue eyes and blonde hair and how Alfred would look when he returned.
“Ahhh…” the man said, “So even you have found someone! But I thinks that I could find you someone better!” he mused, “If so you would be willing to make another bet with me?”
“I do not think so,” Ivan said, his voice rough, “However, I do have something for you,” he said pulling out the letter Francis had given him. “It’s from Francis Bonnefoy.”
The green eyed man just smiled wider than Ivan thought was physically possible, ripping the letter from Ivan’s hands, before savagely tearing it open. He smirked that began to read it out loud.
“It was all a mistake and now I wish to correct it. My wife gave her soul to you for one son, so now I wish to give my soul to you for the other.”
“Ha!” the man said, a wheezy, cruel sounding laughter coming out of his mouth, “Francis, Francis, Francis. You had to have known that you would be seeing me either way! But I suppose this does get your boy off the hook!” With a small flare of green light, the letter caught afire. Ivan could only watch as the man dropped the thing to the ground and pulled out a small leather bound volume and scratched something down.
“November twelfth. Consider the exchange made Mr. Francois “Francis” Jean Bonnefoy!” he said with another laugh before snapping the book closed.
“And now for you!,” the man muttered. “What had I promised you?”
“No,” Ivan said, effectively cutting the man off. After what he had seen, he figured the only way to deal with this man was to match his cruelness “I will be making the rules now. First you will clean me. Second, I wish for God to know nothing of my dealings with the likes of you. Third, I wish to keep the purse and finally, you will deliver on your promise. All the riches I could desire.”
The man smirked, his cat like green eyes glinting. “Fair enough, a promise is a promise.”
--
The first thing Ivan did was march straight into the nearest town. He marched down those streets like a man who had just been freed from years of slavery. He bought himself the finest clothes he could find, as well as a magnificent horse. After eating a good meal, he began to make his way towards the place he had left Alfred.
He traveled for many days, staying in tows along the way, always able to find accommodations. It shocked him slightly at first, how people were so receptive and welcoming to him. However, he could still flash them a cruel smile and they would scatter like cockroaches.
The days he traveled quickly turned into months and those months quickly turned into years. Before he knew it, the three years had passed, and then four, and then five and he still had yet to return to Alfred. He knew he was close, only a few more weeks of travel and then he would be in Alfred’s village and would be able to claim the man as his own.
However, merciless thoughts plagued his head. What if Alfred had found another? What if he had gotten injured, or even killed in the time he had been away? What if he wasn’t the same person he left behind all those years ago? No. No! He had to stop thinking like that. Everything would be fine once he reached Alfred.