Author's note: Hello, I'm back! Warning: It's going to be a little brutal in the second half of this chapter. Descriptions of persons/meanings of words will always be in the end of each chapter (when it's necessary).
The next morning, Alexandra blew up at her daughter. "Why did you invite this kitchen boy to our ball?"
Anastasia didn't think it would be such a big problem. "I asked Papa and he said Dmitry could come."
"But why did you ask your father? Why did you want him to come?"
Dmitry heard the conversation when he walked through the corridor to clear the breakfast table. "He's my friend," the girl responded, "also, you didn't care that Olga invited her crush too."
Her mother stared at her in disbelief. "Are you trying to tell me you're in love with this peasant?!"
"He isn't a peasant!"
"Please answer my question."
Anastasia glanced to Dmitry who was hiding behind the door which was a few centimeters open. Please, Anastasia, don't say something wrong.
She gulped. "Not yet."
Oh, no! Why did she say that? Now her mother is going to hate me even more!
"What do you mean?"
"I'm only 11. Why should I be seriously in love with someone?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? He's a servant, not your suitor! You deserve better. I tell you, if you end up with him, you'll bring dishonor to our family!"
"But I still can be friends with him," Anastasia contradicted.
"Why aren't you friends with children from our class?"
"His character is just like mine. We understand each other in a way."
"Do you see why I don't want you to be friends with him?"
"No."
"Alright," the woman took a deep breath, "I forbid you any contact with him. The same applies to your siblings."
"But Mama -"
"He has a bad influence on you. Perhaps, you can see him once a month, but only until you're 15. Then we'll find a suitable husband for you."
Anastasia was about to say something, but accepted it. At least she could see him once a month. Dmitry quickly disappeared in the Grand Duchesses' dining room before her mother left the bedroom.
When the woman was out of sight, he rushed into his friend's bedchamber. Anastasia began to cry. It was very rare to see her in this state, but now the moment came. And it wasn't just her great acting qualities, but actual tears of sorrow. Dmitry embraced her and caressed her strawberry blonde hair. "I'm so sorry! I didn't want you to get into trouble. It's all my fault!"
"It's not your fault," she sobbed into his chest, "It's my fault. I never should have said this to my mother. I'm so stupid!"
"No, you're not. You're the smartest girl I know and your mother just overreacted. But at least we can meet once a month."
"But only for three years from now on. Then she will forbid us to ever see each other again." The girl continued crying. Dmitry didn't know what to say anymore and kept holding her in his arms. He never wanted to let go. Anastasia looked up and suggested, "We can write letters."
"But how are we going to make sure we get them?"
"I have a plan. You know Anna Vyrubova?"
Dmitry nodded.
"We can give the letters to her and she'll deliver it. Mama only said we can't meet but there was no talk of writing letters!"
Anastasia stood up to get some note paper for Dmitry. "Here. If you need more paper, just ask me."
In the following weeks, they wrote letters everyday. Anastasia gathered them in her commode. When Dmitry came to visit her, he gave her the letters she wrote him so that they could collect all of their letters. When they would be older, they could reminisce about some special moments.
They kept writing until her stay in Tobolsk in the winter of 1917. Then she would write her last letter to him.
Although Anastasia's mother forbade Dmitry to ever see her daughter again two years ago, he followed them to Tobolsk and eventually to Yekaterinburg. The night after he arrived, he witnessed something terrible that he will never forget in his entire life.
It was around midnight, when the Romanovs were told to wait for the motorcars that will take them to a safer place, because the White Army was approaching. The family was led to a small room in the basement to gather for a picture by Yakov Yurovsky. But he wouldn't take a photo … The man who walked in seemed to be in his fifties and had a dark beard. They wanted to get rid of the "rumors" of the family's death. "In view of the fact that your relatives are continuing their attack on Soviet Russia, the Ural Executive Committee has decided to execute you," Yurovsky explained.
Nicholas turned to look at his family and then back at Yarovsky and asked, "What? What?"
The head executioner quickly repeated what he said, and then calmly pulled the Colt out of his pocket and shot Nicholas II directly in the heart.
Dmitry flinched as he watched the terrible scene through the windowpane. It was beyond his imagination.
The other eleven men were then told which members of the family they were to kill. Alexei was repeatedly beaten as he clawed pathetically at his father's coat. Yurovsky then shot the boy twice through the ear. Because of his hemophilia, he was the easiest to kill.
The Tsarina died almost instantly, mid-prayer, when she was struck on the left side of the skull.
Dmitry rushed into the house and down to the cellar, trying to help them. He knew it was hopeless, but he couldn't watch them being brutally murdered while he didn't even try to help them.
The girls had gems and diamonds sewn inside their underclothes, originally to hide their jewelry from the guards. Their executioners shot at them over and over but they still did not die because the bullets bounced off the gems. But then Olga was knocked backwards by the collapsing bodies of her parents. As she stumbled backwards, one of the bullets shot upwards through her jaw and shot her right away.
Tatiana was shielding her two younger sisters with her own body. Seeing Yarovsky approach her, she dragged herself to her feet to face him and was shot point-blank through the head. She died standing.
Although Anastasia and Maria had several bullet wounds, they were still alive. The two youngest girls were huddled in the corner of the room. Maria was trying desperately to claw at the doors in the hope of escape. Dmitry tried as hard as he could to open the door, but it was locked. The girls fainted in fear.
The corpses were wrapped in bedsheets and loaded onto a waiting truck. When the bodies were being moved, Maria sat up and screamed. The head executioner hit her in the face with the back of a rifle until she stopped screaming. He then stabbed and shot everyone again to make sure they're actually dead.
When the soldiers were called into Yurovsky's office and no one else was there, Dmitry ran over to the truck and carried Anastasia away. When he finally got to a hospital, he carefully laid her down and knocked at the door. He placed his hand on her heart to check if she was still alive. The lower segment of her body was covered in blood, her eyes were closed and she was white like a canvas. Dmitry would have taken her home to care for her, but he didn't even have a flat. Besides, the doctors and nurses could do their job better than him. The young man bent down to her and whispered, "Goodbye, my Nastya. I hope we'll meet again someday."
Then he pressed a kiss to her forehead, knocked again, and ran away as he heard someone coming to open the door. It was very hard for him to leave her, but he had to. If she survives, she would certainly come back to him soon.
None of them deserved to have a tragic end like this. Besides the Tsar and his family, four of their servants died with them. They could have at least been sent into exile. He has heard from Anastasia that her father's cousin offered them to flee to England. Why didn't they do it? He could understand why they didn't want to leave their homeland, but they should have known that their country isn't safe anymore! Nicholas has made mistakes and wasn't the best Tsar the world has seen, but he wasn't worth to be assassinated. At least Dmitry would still have Anastasia if he ever sees her again ...
Anna Vyrubova: one of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna's ladies-in-waiting who was often on hoilday with the family and got along well with the children
Nastya: short for Anastasia