Back in 2014, I wrote a couple of stories around Anastasia/Bartok the Magnificent, and I'm jumping back in with a third one centered about my favorite kind and cuddly little white albino bat! Sit back, grab your popcorn, and let's enjoy the adorable little bat!
~Ditching that Thing~
The Romanovs are dead, all of them. His master sold his soul to the Devil to get revenge against those he believed betrayed him, and in turn once the purpose was fulfilled, thus his master fell through the frozen lake and was dragged down into Hell, the deal met and the Reliquary went dormant. Bartok called out for his master one last time, seeing the rotting corpse of a man sinking through the broken ice, the evil and demonic weapon floating in the icy water.
"Hokay, should I leave this thing to float around in the water and melting ice, or keep it so nobody else can use this evil glow tube of darkness and whatnot?" pondered Bartok, grabbing the strings the evil Reliquary were attached to and began pulling it from the icy waters. "Come on, please, give a bat a break! I'm just one bat and not much muscle on these bones either!" He complained, yanking the weapon and pulling it from the waters, with it landing right on top of him.
Groaning, Bartok felt himself pinned underneath the somewhat heavy Reliquary, as he shuddered in fright seeing demonic eyes and faces staring at him with murderous intent and filling his body with an overwhelming sense of dread and a cold sensation that made his bones rattle. Letting out a high-pitched scream, Bartok jumped from the evil weapon and clutched his chest, panting heavily.
"Wow, I tell you what, you are one evil little tube of nastiness!" Bartok pointed to the Reliquary, before the strings on the artifact wrapped around the bat's little body and glowed menacingly. "Stay back, I can kick you down, you know?"
The Reliquary acted with a mind of his own and a few demons emerged from it, snarling as they sadistically cackled and flew around the poor albino bat, with the evil weapon shooting up into the sky like a rocket and flying off into the night sky, with Bartok screaming to the top of his lungs, hanging onto the Reliquary for dear life. "Mayday, mayday! Somebody help!" He screamed, as looked down to the see the Russian city below him, the Romanov house up in flames, and chaos running amok.
The hellish ride ended as quickly as it began, dropping Bartok and itself off in one of the albino bat's haunts, behind a picture frame in the halls of the Old Palace. After catching his breath and almost assuming the Reliquary was gonna murder him, to his surprise it went completely dead and all that remained a gold vial with green smokey goo inside. He stood the artifact back up and slowly moved away from it as much as he could.
"Don't make me all jumpy with the glowing and smoke people! Just stay there and do nothing, alright? Okay!" Bartok sighed, overcome with exhaustion as he climbed into his makeshift bed and fell asleep within minutes.
At first, the Reliquary would fill Bartok's dreams with color and fright. Visions of murder, of pillage and torture, and fires engulfing everything in there wake. And everywhere he looked, green demons reeked havoc all throughout Russia. He awoke sweating and hyperventilating from the horrific nightmare, before glaring and chuckling at the artifact. "I tell you what, that Reliquary is no joke. Even makes dreams into nightmares."
Bartok couldn't bring himself to destroy the Reliquary, out of fear his master might one day return and invoke his wrath upon him for destroying his power, along with condemning his soul to the fiery pits of Hell, though considering he sold his soul and life to have this power, he was already doomed to eternal suffering.
Years passed and Bartok began growing increasingly lonely. He was far from his home and most of his family were in Czechoslovakia and the Russian bats here really weren't the kindest of bats to be around, none of them cared for his personality. He would be visited by his nephew Izzy from time to time, with the two of them usually going out to steal fruit and chat up a storm until they both fell asleep, with Izzy always finding his uncle's sense of humor pretty funny. However, things would change in the next few months, he met a purple and white colored bat highly sensitive to the cold named Brandon, whom he met and saved from a hungry cat. They became fast friends and Brandon ended up living with Bartok at the palace, making a home for himself with his new friend. The relationship ultimately become romantic and the two became lovers, with Bartok giggling as whenever they snuggled together.
Bartok accepted that his master was long dead, easing into his new life with Brandon and taking up a job as a street performer for the children, earning a modest living for he and Brandon. He began to forget about the Reliquary and it soon collected dust in the corner. He was free and happy, dating a cute and very lovable purple bat, with Brandon especially loving it whenever he kisses him and commenting on how cute Bartok looked whenever he was kissed, telling him it's his thing as he kissed him again and again, snuggling into him as they remain embraced with one another.
After nearly a decade, Brandon and Bartok were married and lived out their days in peaceful bliss, with Bartok finally deciding to shatter the evil weapon. It was just taking up space and they were in the process of getting some new furniture for their place, along with it being the final remnant of his master Rasputin. With help from his lover, Bartok and him lifted the Reliquary up and carried to the edge of their haunt, looking down to see two humans with a girl willing to play Anastasia.
"Hey, check it out, Bartok, looks like those desperate saps are looking for another lovely lady to play the Anastasia part." remarked Brandon, holding onto back end of the evil weapon. "So many greedy people try and fail to grab that fortune from the old lady."
"Anastasia, yeah, just one problem there, fella. Anastasia's dead. All the Romanovs are dead." replied Bartok, just the Reliquary began coming back to life, unaware to both bats. "They're dead. Dead, dead, dead."
"And they're gonna walk away with no jewels nor gold." replied Brandon, grinning as he held his end of the weapon up. "Come on, let's finally shatter this dusty old tube of slime."
With a heave, Bartok and Brandon threw the Reliquary from off their home, seeing the evil weapon almost shrieking as it tumbled down to the floor and shattered into a million tiny pieces. There was a huge explosion of green energy from the destroyed weapon, with the demonic entities inside flying around in circles, before flying right into the ground itself and disappearing never to be seen again.
"Wow. I mean, wow! Huge explosion, followed by evil smoke people flying around and splatting headfirst into the ground. Talk about, wow." remarked Bartok in awe at what he just saw. "Am I right, my love?"
"Yeah, you for sure are, Bartok. For sure." replied Brandon, scratching the back of his furry head as looks around at the ruins of the destroyed Reliquary and then back to the humans leaving the palace. "I wonder where all those scary creatures went to?"
"Probably gone back from where they all came from." commented Bartok, as he smiled at Brandon and pulled him closer. "I don't know why I kept that dumb thing for so long, but I'm glad it's gone. Too scary looking for our place."
"I couldn't agree more, my love!" smirked Brandon, grabbing Bartok and crushing his lips against his, there noses touching as they kiss.
Bartok moaned softly into the kiss and closes his pink eyes, keeping one leg up as Brandon kissed him so intensely. Upon breaking the kiss, Bartok had his tongue out and spun around blissfully, just as Brandon grabbed his hand and pulled him in his embrace, with Bartok chuckling and wrapping his wing-like arm tightly around his purple lover, both of them smiling at one another.
"Wow, I tell you what, wow!" grinned Bartok, just as Brandon kissed him on his furry cheek, making him laugh as he cuddled his lover closely.
"Now that's the catchphrase I love hearing!" giggled Brandon, kissing Bartok again as he pulls him closer, with both of them retreating back in their haunt, with Bartok closing the curtains behind them as he let out a nervous chuckle.
A warming feeling engulfed the palace upon the destruction of the Reliquary, with the place almost seeming a little brighter, despite them being in Russia of all places. Over ten years since the end of the Romanov family and the demise of Rasputin, Bartok finally closed the chapter on his time as his master's minion and moved on to his future with his lover in tow. Besides, his job as a street performer earned him the name of Bartok the Magnificent and kids thought of him as a hero, though to Brandon, he called him Bartok the Beautiful, something that always left Bartok blushing like a tomato when he's called that.
Ditching that evil thing was the right call. He's a peace-loving albino bat after all, with not an ounce of evil in his little heart. Plus, it really just didn't belong in their home anyway.
The end.
Bartok's such an adorable little bat! I still remember when I was Brandon the Albino Bat, it was such a joy writing about him again! I'm glad he left that evil Rasputin behind at the end of the movie, he was right it would only end in tears and it did. Anyway, I'll catch you all later, gotta get back to writing about Randall Boggs! BeastlyBat93, signing off!
