by Ashley
Summary: [ANASTASIA] Anya's walk thru the Winter Palace. In her PoV. ©98. Plz read&review, thx!
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Boy, this place was a mess! Dust was everywhere, cobwebs on railings, in corners, in windows... It looked like no one had lived there for a hundred years, instead of only ten!
The Catherine Place was huge... There were halls after halls, long cobwebby corridors... BIG! How was I supposed to find this person named Dimitri who could get me a ticket to Paris? Oh well. I was there, and there was no turning back on a journey to my past, not if my name was Anya. Which it was, to be sure... Becuz, being called it for ten years counts as an offical, name, I'd say... hehe...
Maybe this'll lead somewhere! It was an old white staircase. Oddly shaped too. Cobwebs covered it. I went up one staircase and my puppy Pooka followed. Good thing I had him, I would have never gone to St. Petersburg! I trudged up the stairs. Then I took off my scarf and stuffed it in my pocket.
"Hello? Anybody home?" I called. Guess no one was. I climbed another stair. Then I came upon a long hall (What else was new?) and walked its length. Then I came to a door. It was open and I took off my hat; I could see better without it. I went through the door.
I walked through a dark room. This room had windows, which faced into the courtyard of the old palace. Everything in this room was covered in dust and cobwebs. A long table covered with candle operas and dishes ran along one wall. Cobwebs seem to thrive here. Big surprise! Oh, this place gave me the creeps! I have this strange prickly feeling, and something about this place calls to me, like I'd known it before. Why in this wide world would I? I'd never been here before, right? Little did I know what that feeling would mean later on.
I went over to the table. Pooka had dived under there. Hmmm. What a pretty plate. It was silver, with a mirrored surface. I blew the dust off of it and picked it up and starred at it. This something happened. A flicker of something, a memory maybe, appeared in the mirror! The flash showed a little girl being swung by a bearded man. What-- or who-- was it? I shook my head, blinked and put it down. That's when I heard it.
A melody. So sweet and mysterious, yet... familiar. Where was it coming from? I glanced around the dark room covered in dust and cobwebs. That music was coming from in front of me. I followed it and gasped. In front of me was a stand. Behind it was a tall, cracked mirror. The stand held a porcelain vase. I looked down at the vase. It had Russian bears dancing around the lid. The very top of the lid was carved like a pair of swans.
The sight of it stirred something inside of me. A recollection, a memory? "It's... it's like a memory from a dream..." I murmured. Then that melody grew louder. It made me feel funny, at home in this old palace. The music almost seemed to come from a set of open French doors. I followed the melody. Pooka followed me.
My gaze swept the room. It was a ballroom. A huge expanse opened up in front of me. The walls were lined with tall, dusty windows, with large dusty paintings hung above them. A large carpeted staircase led to a smooth dance floor. The sight made me almost remember... the melody called to me, I could almost remember that tune, something about someone singing... "Once upon a December..." I softly sang. Where did I remember it from? Where had I heard it?
I walked down one wing of steps to a lower dais. I remembered someone holding me safe and warm, even horses prancing through a silver storm. I looked to the wall on my left and saw a giant portrait of the last Czar and his family. Moonlight emanated from the windows and it struck the portrait with a mysterious glow. The light seemed to concentrate on the face of a small girl with large blue eyes.
I looked at the painting and then, feeling as if something were about to happen, took off my coat and gloves. The place was chilly. I began to hum that tune, like I knew it. I could remember, "Figures dancing gracefully, across my memory..." The tune burst into a full song and suddenly, from the portraits above the windows, burst men and women, dancing. They were translucent like ghosts. Their clothes were wonderful, jewels flashed like fire and the couples danced through the air. I was in amazement. What magic was this?
Two couples alighted on the stair beside me. I bowed to them and they to me. Something suddenly made me want to dance. I swept down to the ballroom floor and followed the movements of the ghosts across the room. I danced like I knew how to dance, one graceful step at a time. It made me feel strange, like this was a lost memory. I felt the mysterious music, I knew it. I don't think I had ever learned to dance, but I somehow knew how to now.
Behind me, the Czar and his family floated from their painting and came down to the dance floor. Where did I learn to dance? Three of the Czar's daughters surrounded me. One in an orange silk dress placed a bracelet on my wrist; one in pink gave me a ring and one in purple looped a string of pearls gently around over my head & on my neck.
I kept remembering someone holding me safe and warm and horses prancing through a silver storm, and all of a sudden, the three princesses broke away and I spun and suddenly, a yellow silk gown appeared on me. My rags had disappeared. The sash was blue and a golden crown rested on my head. I was like a real princess! For the moment, I could forget I was an orphan. The mysterious music whirled around me, filling me, but still I could not place it.
As I danced through the ballroom, princes and dukes danced with me. I tried to remember things from far away, long ago. Things that were flickering in the back of my mind, but were glowing dim as an ember, things my heart used to know, things it tried to remember. That tune made me feel happy, though it was a bit sad. Other voices seemed to echo the strange tune I was humming. I was the center of attention, something that had never happened to me. This was MY dream waltz; I was the princess of all of it.
Gradually, the lights dimmed. All the royal ghosts backed away. I found myself facing Czar Nicholas II. We danced only a moment and I could still hear that melody... We stopped and he kissed my forehead. I backed away. "Once upon a December..." The melody faded and I sank to the floor...
Suddenly, without warning, someone shouted, "Hey! What are you doing in here?!" I gasped and my yellow gown faded, like everything: The ghosts, the Czar, everything. I found myself kneeling on the dusty ballroom floor. I glanced behind me and I saw a guy on the opposite staircase and I took off. My dream waltz was over.
(continues as in the movie)
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ANASTASiA™ is copyright of 20thC.Fox, etc. ^_^
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. ^_~
written by Ashley ©98, edited by SimbiAni™ ©2G4