Starting out on a Journey

By Misanagi

Rating: PG13

Pairings: 3x4 get together. 2+4 (friendship), 1+3 (friendship) and background 1x2.

Warnings: AU. Fantasy elements and historical inaccuracy. Fusion with the animated movie Anastasia.

Summary: A journey might hold not only the answers to Quatre's past but also to his future.

Dedication: For Anne, who wanted this fusion and has always been wonderful to me. Merry Christmas!

Thanks a lot to Cait, Lil, Ruth and Windsor for the beta. hugs you all lots

Prologue

Not so long ago there was a young prince who lived in a palace. He was the youngest of a large family and the only son of Czar Winner. His mother was my beloved sister, who fell in love with the Czar on one of her journeys and decided to marry him and remain in the cold land of Russia. As the daughter of a Sultan, she was deemed worthy enough to marry the Czar. She gave him eleven daughters before finally giving him a son. She died in childbirth. The first time I traveled to Russia was for her funeral and that's when I met Raberba.

Even though he was only a baby he looked exactly like his mother, with the unusual pale features, golden hair and blue eyes. Over the years, I came back to visit Raberba as often as I could and watched him grow into a bright child. When my father died, my older brother became Sultan and allowed me to go to Europe on diplomatic missions for our Kingdom. Paris was the city I spent most of my time in but still my traveling to Russia became more frequent. I spent my time with Raberba telling him stories of the desert and showing him how our people lived and fought. Every time I had to leave, Raberba would ask me how long it would take for me to return, so on my last visit to St. Petersburg, I brought him a present.

"Uncle Rashid, thank you!" He was looking at the sand clock turning it over and watching the sand fall.

"That's not all," I said, taking something out of my pocket. It was a silver chain with a pendant engraved with Arabian symbols. I took the clock from his hand and inserted the pendant in a small slot at the base. It opened up to show a modern clock, the handles moving slowly. "You need to wind it up here.

" I moved his hand to the small mechanism and showed him how. Then I closed the watch and put the chain around his neck. "It'll be our little secret."

He smiled and nodded. I took the pendant and showed him the small inscription on the bottom, /Paris/. His smile brightened. "Are you taking me with you, uncle Rashid?"

But before I could answer, the doors of the great hall opened, and an old man walked in. His name was Tsubarov. He had held a high position in the military until the Czar expelled him for putting the people in danger.

"I curse you, Czar Winner, you and your family," Tsubarov announced. "You will all die in a fortnight. That will be my revenge." Then he vanished, in the middle of the great hall and no one could stop him.

His dark omens would tragically become true.

Tsubarov had traded his soul for the power to kill the Winner family. A fortnight later the people revolted with the support of the army forces, still loyal to Tsubarov, and broke into the castle, killing everyone in their path.

I was holding Raberba's hand as we ran when he suddenly stopped and headed back to his room. "My clock, I forgot it!" he said. I ran after him but by the time he had found the clock there were armed soldiers at the door, effectively blocking our path.

"Over here!" said a young voice. It was a brown-haired servant boy, about Raberba's age. He was holding Raberba's hand and pulling him to the other side of the room. He opened a secret panel in the wall and pushed Raberba through it. The clock fell on the floor.

"Hurry!" the servant signaled to me.

The last thing I saw before I closed the panel was the boy being hit by a soldier.

The secret passage led us outside. We barely crossed the palace gates when Raberba was pulled away from me. I turned around and saw Tsubarov, holding a knife above his head, ready to strike Raberba. I threw myself at him and used my own dagger to stab him in the heart. I wasted no time, took Raberba by the hand and ran.

The streets were in chaos but we managed to get to the train station where I was helped up a moving wagon by the people in it. I pulled Raberba up but his hand slipped away from mine and he fell down on the snow.

That was the last time I saw him.