"Break-Time: Thoughts of the Past"
by SimbiAni™

Summary: «ANASTASIA» After the trio jumped from the train, they started walkin, & eventually get to snowless ground; to pause, rest, dream, & banter! Does Dimitri really recognize Anya? And what really happ'd that fateful nite so long ago? ©98. Plz read&review, thx!

(warning: this fic is already 7 years old... lmao once again, its OLD and not new!)

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Part One:

"Ughh! Are we gonna walk to Paris?" Anya was getting tired of walking since the train wreck.

"We'll take a boat in Germany." Dimitri said, all too calmly.

To Dimitri's plan, Anya responded with mock skeptism. "Oh...! Then we're walking to Germany!"

Dimitri shook his head. "No, your grace, we're taking a bus."

"A bus!" She faked amazement...

"Mm-hmm," said Vladimir.

"That's nice." And relief.

"See that bridge up ahead?" Dimitri pointed.

"So?" Anya shrugged.

"That's where we'll have a time-out and rest, since you seem to be so exhausted, your highness!" His sarcasm was obvious.

"Why, thank you!" She scowled, but was happy they'd be stopping soon.

Part Two:

They reached the area before the bridge and put their bags (suitcases) down. Vlad stood on the bridge, looking at the water. Dimitri went and laid against a tree, while Anya sat on one of their bags. As she twirled her fingers through her hair, she became bored. Very bored. She watched some birds in the sky, butterflies among the flowers, squirrels in the trees, but her attention slowly turned to the dozing Dimitri. And her vision blurred.

She closed her eyes, and saw, a memory. It wasn't clear to her, but this is what she remembered: It was a night, long ago, before the war, she was in a room, her room, with someone, a boy, about her age, maybe two years older than her. He was her friend, a new, but good, friend. They were talking by the window. Anya couldn't really make out the exact words (but we can). The boy said, 'You're fun, Anya. Thanks for being my friend.' And the girl- "It must be me!", thought Anya- replied, 'You're welcome. I get kinda lonely at night, anyway.' She smiled, and the moonlight shone on her eyes. He smiled, too. They stared at the stars. Anya saw her favorite one. She pointed toward it. 'Do you like that star?' He shrugged. 'It's fine...' Then, seeing her real interest in them, he got an idea. 'It could be ours... So whenever one of us looks up at the sky, we'll see it, and... know.' She smiled again. Then she held his hand.

And then, Anya opened her eyes. "I wonder who he was..." She continued twirling her fingers through her hair. Looking at Dimitri, she thought, nah, it couldn't be; what are the chances? Impossible, that's what. She shook her head at that ridiculous thought.

Part Three:

Meanwhile, Dimitri had fallen asleep against the tree, and was dreaming. What would they do when they got the money? Oh, yeah, first, he'd buy a big house, no, a mansion, for him and Vlad. Then, the finest clothes and food would be theirs. Yeah, that's what they would do. Finally, rich and worry-free. No problems at all, except firstly that they just have to get that girl to the dowager empress as soon as they teach her what she needs to know. Oo, he couldn't wait.

Though, he still wondered what had happened to the real grand duchess. He'd heard the rumors about her disappearance, and couldn't help missing her. They'd been friends in the palace only briefly, because he worked there as a kitchen boy, and then, that night, was the last he'd seen of her. Oh, man, what could've happened to her? Maybe that Rasputin had gotten her... he shuddered to think of that evil man who'd terrified the Royal family on their anniversary. Well, whenever she was now, he hoped she was safe.

Dreaming, Dimitri remembered the last night he and Anastasia got to talk. He was visiting her room late, like always, so no one could say 'servants shouldn't bother the royalty', and she was waiting for him. Mostly, all they did on the nights they met was talk, about things like planning what tricks to play on her sisters and the up-tight servants. Like that time she had Dimitri make the cook chase him out onto the little bridge, and Anastasia got to push that big, angry cook right into the brook below! That was a very funny time, though her father wasn't too happy at the cook's complaints, but like he would punish a sweet little girl like Anastasia? -Dimitri smiled at the memory. They'd been young, just children, yet it was still amusing to recall.

Anyway, that night they had something more important to talk about. She had been a bit frightened by what had happened earlier that night. Dimitri was, too, kinda, but he wouldn't admit it. Instead, he tried to pretend it was nothing to be scared about, and he tried to comfort her by making her laugh. Joking was often a part of their conversations; it helped when they needed laughter. Like now. Smiles. They held hands, too. Such good friends, could comfort each other just by being together.

Soon, it was time for her to get a few hours of sleep before daylight was to come. She climbed into bed and he quietly tip-toed out her door.

Part Four:

It was later that night the bad people attacked the palace. They seized the gates and barged through the doors. The Royal family was woken in surprise by the servants. The Dowager Empress Marie got up quickly and rushed to Anastasia's room. Pulling her outta bed, they hurried downstairs.

When Anastasia sleepily realized they really were escaping the palace, not to come back, she remembered she'd left her precious music box back in her room. So she ran back. Marie was alarmed by this and followed.

In her playroom, Anastasia retrieved her music box from the dollhouse. Marie closed the main doors behind them, and urged Anastasia to go through the side doors.

Somewhere else in the palace, Dimitri had been woken up late, and in a panic realized Anastasia must be in danger, too. Instead of taking the hallways to her room, he went through the servants' wall passages. He found them in the playroom, and saw them about to use the side doors. So he figured it'd be better for them to escape through the servants' quarters where they wouldn't be seen leaving the palace. 'No, no, Anastasia, this way!' She turned to him, and 'cuz she trusted him, followed. Marie did, too. Absent-mindedly, Anastasia rushed through the secret door, dropping her music box while. Then Marie went through.

But Anastasia came rushing back in exasperation. 'Dimitri! I dropped my music box!' He had almost shut the door. All he could hear was the sound of the men charging toward the playroom doors. 'What box? What did you say it was? I didn't hear you!' She shook her head, scared of the loud noises in the palace. 'I forgot to tell you about it! But it's special! Please find it!' For a moment, they shared a look of understanding. 'I will! But, go, now!'

He closed the door just in time. Men broke down the playroom doors and in an attempt to distract them, he threw a vase at them. So one of the men struck him with the handle of his shotgun.

Dimitri lay still for a moment, deciding not to rouse their anger further, as long as they didn't discover the secret door. When they had searched the room, and were gone, he stood up, slowly, and looked around. Suddenly, he saw the golden box nearby and picked it up. 'Well, Anastasia,' he whispered, 'I hope you make it outta here safe...' He looked out the window. Trains were leaving the station. Maybe Anastasia will be on one of them. 'I'll be here if you ever come back.' Exhausted, he sat on a close chair, holding the box tight. Wait, what kind of box did she say it was? Maybe a jewelry box..but how does it open? After examining it, he realized it was locked, and he didn't have the key. So he gave up and waited for morning to come, by falling asleep.

Part Five:

Suddenly, in-the-future Dimitri awoke with a start.

Anya was staring right at him.

"Don't do that!"

"What?" She was kneeling beside him. In her extreme boredom over on the suitcases, she'd found it only slightly more interesting to watch Dimitri sleep and dream.

"What do you mean, what? Don't stare at me like that!"

"Well, sor-ry! Didn't mean to annoy you, cranky!"

Dimitri bit his lip to come up with a line back at her, but he couldn't. Maybe it was because he was still tired... "Yeah, right. I'll bet you didn't..." He muttered. Blinking his eyes, he looked over at her. "Who're you calling 'cranky?'" He rubbed his eyes and slowly stood up.

Anya did, too, smiling, 'cuz she was always ready with a line back at him. "Um, like, you! Cranky!"

He glared at her. There's no way she could be his Anastasia. To make sure, he'd never show her the golden box thing... "You can't be royalty talking like that, anyway!" He said that aloud.

"Oh, what's that? You just can't take someone talking back to you, now, can you?"

Dimitri was starting to get really bugged. That memory had kinda scared him, and only once again reminded him what had really happened. "Can too!... Leave me alone..." He tried to busy himself by shaking out his coat over by the suitcases. She followed, her curiousity showing clearly in her eyes.

"What were you dreaming about? You had this far-off look on your face..."

He kinda wanted to tell her, and in his sleepiness, almost did. "A memory... forget it! I ain't gonna tell you!"

She got the feeling he really wasn't, so she nicely gave up. "Fine." And she sat down, once again, on the suitcases.

Nearby, on the bridge, Vlad had been watching their interactions. He smiled with fatherly approval. These two were definitely great together.

Then Vlad realized what, who, awaited him in Paris. His dear Sophie! He hadn't seen her in a long time, and he knew she would be happy to see him, too. Caught up in this new realization, he danced around, singing about his Sophie.

(continues as in the movie)

...

ANASTASiA™ is copyright of 20thC.Fox, etc. ˆ-ˆ

PS. Believe it or not, this is a work of fiction. All the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary.
Any resemblence to actual persons etc, living or dead, is completely coincidental. ˆ-˜
©98