Following around his master in the depths of his dark lair, Bartok seemingly grew aware of what tragedy was to happen that night.
"Bartok, bring me the reliquary" demanded the evil Rasputin- who swore on his life the night before that he shall be the one leading the demise of the Romanov family.
Morphing back into his human form, Bartok gathered all the items necessary for his master who was harnessing his holy powers for evil. Although Rasputin preferred him in his familiar form of an albino bat for it allowed him to spy from above and report back. As a human he was thin and tall with dark hair and an olive Russian complexion. Almost failry handsome, if you will, for Rasputin also used his boy from time to time for his more primal needs.
Upon finding the boy- Rasputin used his magic to give him his shape shifting capabilities so he could be utilized for times like this.
"I need you to watch everything that happens tonight my boy" he cooned as he walked up to the boy, taking one of this bony fingers and scraping his long pointed villainous nail down the side of his face. Caressing his masters hand , rough with age, he kneels down before him.
"I'll do anything for you, sir" he begins kissing on his fingers like the good submissive that his. The kisses become desperate as Bartok fears something might happen to his beloved master tonight as his tries to fulfill his curse. Ripping his hand away, Rasputin steps away as he feels himself beginning the swell beneath his clothing.
"There is no time for your worship! I must save my energy to cast this curse and harness my powers into my reliquary, for my soul shall be no more ! You must go now! Fly above the palace and make sure you see every Romanov child die!"
Quickly, Bartok does as commanded and turns himself back into the evil bat sidekick. He notices the bright green lights beaming from the lair as he is flying off. This means Rasputin had sold his soul to the dark forces , casting a spell upon the royal Russian family. Soon chaos would ensue. Rioting in the streets caused everyone to turn against all the Romanovs. Armed comrades then started clearing out the royal palace and on site execution of any Romanov child.
Rasputin's evil curse seemed to be going as planned. Hearing screams and gunshots, Bartok resumed human form briefly as he landed on an outside landing of the palace so he could peer in.
"Hurry children!"Nicholas pleads as he runs his family unknowingly towards an army of troops. Perfect thought Bartok. They will all be killed at once. Then he sees the youngest dutchess fleeing in the opposite direction as the others.
"My music box!" the young Anastasia exclaims. She is still dressed in her ballroom outfit: mid ankle length cream colored dress, black tights, and pink dance slippers. A light winter jacket was hastily thrown on top. Surely she would be soaking wet from the snow and windy ice as soon as she left the palace.
"Anastasia come back! Come back" screams her grandmother, the empress Marie. Bartok watches as they run into the opposite end of the palace. Hurrying into her room, Anastasia finds the special box her grandmother had gifted her earlier that night.
"Anastasia!" The grandmother rushes in after her just as a loud round of deadly gunshots fire from where they just were. She panics as she realizes they are trapped. Then, out of no where- the lingering servant boy appears from the hidden passageway used by the help. He hurries them away from the window where unbeknowningly Bartok is peering in- now in bat form.
"Out this way, through the servants quarters" the boy pushes them through the door.
"Rasputin, she's getting away'" Bartok alerts his master - who uses the magical reliquary to see where exactly the empress is headed with the last Romanov girl. He watches as the secret passage enables the getaway of the girl just as troops storm in demanding the servant give up where they'd gone. His fighting ends with a solid gun butt to the head. Fearing what happens next , Bartok flies off in search of his master, assuming he may now take drastic measures into his own hands.
Assuming the servant quarters eventually led to the gardens in the back of the palace, which then turned into a canal that connected to the main river that flows under the Alexander bridge, Bartok flies above scanning for the two escapees. But the snow is falling heavy and the wind is blowing hard making it hard for anyone to see. Also assuming that the Romanovs were headed towards the train on the other side of the river, Rasputin had rushed to the bridge in hopes of apprehending the girl and killing her with the dark magic of the reliquary. But, the empress tries to have a better way of hiding them by crossing the river underneath the bridge as opposed to going on the street and risk being seen.
"Keep up with me, darling" the empress assures the scared dutchess as she takes her by the hand and hastily steps onto the frozen river. Rasputin adheres to their plan and braces himself for a leap off the bridge. Bartok perches himself on a post above the bridge as he tries to stay hidden but still be able to watch his master. He assumes the evil man will use the powers to destroy the girl but the harsh snow is still making it difficult to clearly tell all that is happening..
Rasputin lets out a malevolent chuckle as he hoists himself over the edge of the bridge, landing harshly on the thin ices. Consumed with rage and the adrenaline to kill, Rasputin foolishly loses his reliquary as he feels an animalistic urge to end her life physically with this bare hands.
Tossing the reliquary beside him and letting out a terrifying yell- Rasputin takes one more leap on top of the girl, ripping her hand from her grandmother and bringing them both down harshly in the snowy ice. Screaming in fear, Anastasia flips over to the cursed man with an evil smile as he latches his deadly hands around her right foot. The empress not being able to clearly see in the darkness , stops in fear as she realizes that Rasputin now possesses her granddaughter- violently thrashing her by the leg in attempts to kill her.
"Rasputin!" She screams as she desperately clings onto her granddaughter by the arms and shoulders trying so hard to protect her from this wrath.
"Let me go, please" Anastasia begs as she felt his grip on her ankle become increasingly tighter. No matter how hard she tried twisting her foot and kicking her legs, she wasn't able to gain any strides in shaking the evil man off of her. Bartok notices thin spiderweb cracks were beginning to form on the ice surrounding the violent tug of war happening before him. With the reliquary being out of reach, he realizes the only way this will end is by Rasputin managing to choke the girl to death while holding off the grandmother and all before the ice breaks beneath them...better act fast the sidekick thought to himself.
"You'll never escape me, child" Rasputin bellows as he takes a hand away from her foot and grabs higher up on her leg violently dragging her closer. The soaking wet toes of her slipper trailing chunks of snow and ice through his long beard near his mouth , also tangling and intertwining with the fingers he has wrapped around her foot.
"Never!" He breathes right as reaches up to grab the girl even further up her body. It seems as though the empress was about to lose her grip on the girl and Rasputin will succeed in finishing the Romanov when the ground beneath them shifts and they hear cracking of the ice starting. Trying to be tactful , Rasputin looks around for the reliquary but it all happens so quickly. With his right hand still latched onto Anastasia's foot, he tries reaching for his powers but misses and slowly his legs begin going under water. The ice crumbles slowly around the girls legs as his free arm splashes in the freezing water. He paralyzes at the feeling of icy daggers seeping through his clothing and the river begins to suck him down. He then thinks maybe I can drown her with me. Letting out a nervous shriek, he yanks hard on her ankle on last time- causing the ice to break around them more and managing to partially pull her leg in the ice waters along with this arms.
Anastasia screams as she feels the heel of her foot splash in the water "LET ME GO" twisting her ankle around in his bare hand now wet and digging into her skin. Before he can act, the empress pulls her granddaughter back and the girl manages to slide her foot out of his deadly clutches nearly peeling her soaking wet slipper off with his nails. The empress quickly drags the girl to safety before the hole in the river grows massive. They watch as his body is consumed by the ice and thrashing for help before running away and continuing their escape.
Bartok watches from the bridge in horror as his beloved master begins to struggle for his life.
"BARTOK" screams Rasputin in a bloody terror as he cannot reach the reliquary and the weight from his cloak filling with water is making it impossible for him to stay above the current.
"Master!" Bartok swoops down to the river before resuming his human form of the loyal boy. He rushes to the now extremely large hole in the ice but it's now so big that he cannot reach his master from the edge on all sides that look stable enough. It is a truly scarring moment for the serviant boy as he desperately tries reaching out to the center of the hole, trying to grasp his masters hand which is flailing above his head in survival. He begins screaming in sobs as Rasputin head and arms flail for air, grasping at the remaining chunks of ice, truly helplessly drowning in the dark night.
Bartok thinks about how this all went wrong. Where is the reliquary now? Did I sink in the river when the ice broke? Why didn't he just use the demonic powers to kill the girl in the first place? How was it possible for his master to just be defeated like this?
The wind uncovers the reliquary hidden and buried deep in the snow just as Bartok watches the last of Rasputin disappearing in the icy waters. Dead. He snatches the reliquary before shifting back into his bat form and flying off to see the mess his master had just left behind.