Winter was coming. Dmitri could feel it in his bones. Even through all the fighting, the daily injuries, and the cut rations, he couldn't help but remember this time around twenty years ago: He was barely eighteen then. He had helped deliver the Grand Duchess Anastasia to her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie. Those few nights he spent in Paris with her were the best of his life. After that, though, they returned to the fringes of Russia, re-entering the forgery business, getting those who they could out of the rapidly worsening Soviet state.
When the war came, he made sure to get Anastasia and their child, Alexi as far away from Europe as possible: America. He knew in his gut that the war would soon be knocking on Russia's doorstep, as had the last. He spent the last of the reward money the Dowager Empress had given him to buy the real papers to get them to America, and gave whatever he had left to help them start again. He wondered how the winters were in Alaska. That was one of the things Ana insited on: if she had to leave, she wanted to be as close to Russia as possible. She was a real piece of work, that girl. He figured that was the reason he loved her so.
He turned her locket over in his hands one more time. A last gift of sorts. "Together In Paris." was engraved on the surface, a promise originally from her grandmother to her that passed from her to him. A musisng smile placed itself on his face.
"Hey, Reznov, you figure we could push the Germans back by winter?"
"If we have anything to say about it, Dmitri."
"Good. Come, my friend, rally the men. Let's go kill some Germans."
"Dmitri, It's two in the morning. I haven't slept in a week, some of the men even longer."
"True. But winter isn't stopping its advance, and neither are the Nazis." So netier shall I.
With that, he grabbed his rifle, and headed out to keep his appointment.
Togeter in Paris, by winter.