Authors Note: Hey so if you are reading this chapter it means that either you liked the first or just want to see how it progresses. Hoping it's the first option.

Thanks again for reading!

Chapter Two

It has been two years since the day her instructor had made sure she paid for her disobedience in blood. She learnt her lesson; Natalia never questioned her instructor again. That is not to say she was never punished again; oh no she was. At length. But it was always for different reasons; every slight infraction on her part resulted in pain but Natalia was never punished twice for the same reason. She had always been a fast learner.

"Read chapter one and two out loud please Natalia" ordered her language teacher. Natalia stood up at attention and opened her mouth; "Ультиматум лорда Керзона советскому правительству…"

She received a slap. "In English Natalia" her teacher snapped. She quickly opened her mouth again, ignoring her stinging check; "An ultimatum by Lord Curzon to the Soviet government…" and so it went on. For hours Natalia read and repeated every word out loud to her teacher in whatever language he suddenly chose. At seven years old, Natalia was already fluent in Russian, English and German. It had been easier to learn after the first punishment that was inflicted upon her due to her failure to pronounce the words correctly. She never stumbled again.

At long last she was dismissed by her teacher and Natalia began the walk back to the training room where yet another physically draining lesson was waiting. It was not that she did not like the training- indeed she was honored to have been chosen to fight for Mother Russia- it was that when they told them they would never forgot the lesson; they meant it. Her instructors never held back when delivering blows; their belief was that the world was not relenting therefore neither were they. Those who survived the training would become the greatest assassins alive, those who did not would become corpses. It was a tough way to life and a painful way to die but it was a way.

Natalia walked into the large training area. It was empty save her instructor and another girl; she headed straight to where they waited. Her instructor turned to look at her as she approached. "Natalia." He greeted her with a nod, before turning his attention to both girls standing before him.

"Today you will fight each other. It has been too long since either of you have fought an opponent of similar stature or ability therefore the Masters upstairs has requested this match. No weapons are permitted save your body. BEGIN!"

The two girls instantly dropped into their fighting stance, warily circling each other, trying to find a weakness. It was the other girl who struck first; darting forward she delivered a stunning blow at Natalia's head which Natalia blocked before retaliating with a strike of her own. It continued this way for several minutes; the opponents exchanging a flurry of fists and kicks, almost too fast to see. The instructor observed from the side as the match progressed. Natalia's opponent began to get angry as none of her strikes met their target; it showed in her movements, they began to get wilder and off target. Sensing an opening, Natalia feinted to the girl's left- unprotected- side before changing the direction of her fist towards the right. The fist struck the girls side with a resounding crack as several ribs broke. The girl grunted and instinctively lowered her arms to her wounded side; Natalia used the moment of weakness to vault over the girl and place her in a choke hold from behind. The girl knew she had lost and so stopped fighting, waiting to be released. Looking up, Natalia glanced at her instructor awaiting instructions. The instructor walked over to them both and with a cold look down at the fallen girl spoke to Natalia,

"Finish her"

Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked up at her instructor before looking down towards her fallen opponent; she saw the girl's features reflect her own but this time in fear. With one last look at her instructor, Natalia sharply twisted her arms and the girl fell limp to the ground: her neck broken.

Natalia stepped away from the dead girl before standing at attention before her instructor; no sign of the emotional battle raging inside her displayed on her face. Her instructor studied her before stating,

"Next time you will not hesitate"

Natalia glanced at the floor before returning her gaze back on the instructor. "No master" she replied softly, "I will not"

"You will not what Natalia?" he further questioned. Her voice cold and hard, she replied, "I will not hesitate a second time"

The instructor nodded, a small cold smile playing at the edges of his lips. "Dismissed." Natalia bowed then left the room. Not once looking back at the life she just took.

Back in her room, Natalia began to cry silently to herself. All the emotion she had hidden deep within herself now came to the surface as she saw the lifeless face of the nameless girl she had just murdered with her waking eyes. She curled herself up into a tight ball on her bed and cried herself to sleep.

The next morning came faster than she would have liked however Natalia did not dare be late for breakfast; last time she was, she was not allowed to eat for three days. A punishment they said that reflected her actions: that she did not need to eat anything. Natalia quickly washed and dressed before making her way to the mess hall. Meal times were the only time outside of sparring did she see any of the other girls. No one spoke during the meal; it was forbidden as friendships were not permitted. It was also an easy way to get unwanted attention by the instructors if you were seen talking to anyone. After finishing her cold, god forsaken breakfast, Natalia made her way to her first lesson of the day: Geography.

"The measure of how far north or south a place is from the equator is?" asked her Geography teacher

"The measure of how far north or south a place is from the equator is called latitude, Sir." Replied Natalia calmly.

"Good Natalia. Come up to the map and plot where you are if your longitude is 36 degrees and latitude is 98 degrees." Natalia obediently walked over to the map and began to calculate where exactly she would be. Five minutes later she placed her pin over America; specifically Washington. She stepped back and looked at her teacher; her teacher walked over and studied the map, checking the calculations. Nodding to himself he turned back to Natalia, "Correct" Natalia nodded "however, it took you far too long Natalia, do better next time" She lowered her gaze to the ground, nodded once before making her way back to her seat.

"Now let's see how good your memory is. Turn your attention to the map in your text book page 104…"

And so it went on for the next three hours, tedious studying of old maps and quick fired questions. Natalia's attention never wavered despite how bored she was; it would never end well for her if it did.

The rest of the day passed in a blur; math, languages, full combat sessions and knife throwing. By the end, Natalia was exhausted both mentally and physically; not to mention that she had earned several more impressive bruises to add to her growing collection on her body. She was deeply asleep that night, too tired for the nightmares when suddenly something caught her leg and threw her off the bed onto the floor. Half awake, she did not have enough time to defend herself before an onslaught of punches and kicks descended. The beating went on for hours. It finally stopped when dawn approached and Natalia was left with several broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and three broken fingers. She had just struggled into a sitting position when her door opened for the second time. Ivan walked in looking furious. Walking over to her, he grabbed her hair and hauled her to her feet before shoving her against the wall. "This is the best of your instincts?" he spat at her "you cannot even sense when someone enters your room, why then should I continue your training when you are nothing more than a failure?" Natalia stood there shaking in fear and pain as Ivan continued to scream at her. "You have failed me for the last time Natalia; I shall recommend your termination to the other Masters upstairs." He finally ended with, releasing her from the wall; he turned to walk out of the room. "NO" shouted Natalia in desperation, knowing that if he walked out of the door she was a dead girl walking.

"Please master, I beg you, give me another chance. I will not fail you again, I swear it" she continued begging as Ivan stopped at the door. Looking back at her Ivan spoke softly, "and what will you do if I give you a second chance?"

She looked up from where she was kneeling on the floor; "Anything" she whispered "I'll do anything"

Ivan smiled coldly at her and replied before leaving the room, "Very well Natalia, I will see you again soon. For now get to your lessons"

Natalia nodded before dragging herself back to her feet and stumbling to where her uniform lay. "Thank you" she whispered and then promised herself that she would never fail Ivan again.

It was three months later when Ivan came back to visit her. Natalia had kept her word and had obeyed all commands put to her. The instructors had noticed the change in her and were pleased with her accelerated progress. After that night; Natalia was never caught by surprise again while she slept and beat anyone who attempted to sneak up on her during the night. She was currently taking down half a dozen girls of various ages whom she had been pitted against. Ivan watched alongside her instructor as the last opponent fell to the ground unconscious. He clapped slowly as Natalia walked over to where the two men stood. Bowing deeply to them both, she stood at attention. "Well done Natalia" her instructor praised her. She nodded. Ivan studied her silently for several minutes before speaking, "Come with me Natalia, it is time you fulfilled your end of our little bargain" with that he turned round and began walking towards the exit. She swallowed hard before following him.

Ivan led her down several corridors before reaching a stair case which led down into the basement. She had never been down there before; it was forbidden. He led her into a large room with an observation window at one end and a chair in the middle. He instructed her to stand at the right end of the room and not move. She obeyed. Ivan left the room and came back five minutes later with two guards dragging a third person between them. The guards tied their prisoner to a chair in the middle of the room before retreating back out the door. Ivan walked up behind him and pulled the hood off his face and revealed her uncle, bloodied from the beating he had been given but nevertheless it was her uncle. Natalia stared at him; old memories awakening inside her from another life, another time. She looked at her master once before returning her attention on the unwanted ghost. "Natalia" Ivan spoke, his voice hard. Her gaze snapped to him as he gestured for her to walk forwards. She complied. "Do you know who this is?" he asked her. She nodded slowly, "Yes Master, I do" his gaze hardened.

"Whatever he once was to you; is he no longer understood?" he further asked. She simply stared at him in shock. Walking swiftly forward, he struck her face, forcing her to stumble backwards. "Answer me Natalia!" he snapped at her. She recovered quickly. "Yes Master. I understand. He is no one to me" Natalia replied quickly, anxious to avoid being hit again. The prisoner stared at Ivan in horror before turning his attention back onto Natalia.

"Do you know who she is?" Ivan asked him, voice soft. The man shook his head.

"Well that's not very nice now is it? You don't recognize your own niece? How sad" Ivan shook his head, his voice dripping with false sadness. "Viktor Romanov, allow me to introduce your niece, Natalia Alianovna Romanova"

The man shook his head again. "You lie. Natalia died alongside her parents in the fire that night. This girl is not my niece." Ivan chuckled slowly at his denial before waving Natalia forward. "Look closely Viktor and see your own resemblance in her face. Natalia did not die that night, only her parents did." Natalia stopped right in front of him and watched as he studied her face. "It is not possible" he spoke softly "and yet here you are моя маленькая бабочка (my little butterfly)" he began to weep openly and without shame with tears of both joy and sorrow. Natalia reeled like she had been hit. Again. She stared at him with pity before her expression turned cold. "You are not my uncle" she spoke, her voice devoid of all expression. "What?" he asked her and when no response was forth coming, he turned his head to face Ivan "what did you do to her?" he demanded. Ivan placed his hand on Natalia's shoulder. He coldly replied "I made her stronger". Removing his hand from Natalia's shoulder, he turned her around until she was facing him "He is a traitor to Mother Russia Natalia; there is only one punishment good enough for traitors." She switched her gaze between him and her uncle several times; appearing to come to a decision she settled her eyes on him. "What would you have me do Master?" she asked quietly. Ivan handed her a knife. "Kill him" he replied simply. Natalia took the knife and began to approach her former uncle.

"Natalia don't! You don't have to do this. Natalia please! Don't do this. I can help you; I can get you out of here. Natalia." He shouted at her, pleading for his life as she approached him.

"She will kill you Viktor, because I ordered her to" Ivan told him as he watched Natalia walk behind him, her face cold and unforgiving. "All traitors of Mother Russia will die" she informed him coldly before wrenching his head back and swiftly slitting his throat. She looked into his eyes as the light was extinguished before walking towards where her master waited. When she was half a meter away, she knelt before him, her head bowed. She missed the satisfied smile that made its appearance on Ivan's face. "You did well today Natalia" he told her quietly "you made Mother Russia proud". She looked up at him; her face devoid of all emotions as she simply replied: "Master"

Authors Note- oooh Natalia really is starting to lose her humanity isn't she? Killing her uncle like that *shakes head* not to fear all of it will be gone soon so keep reading.

Also the longitude and latitude thing is just made up- not true in the slightest so don't get too bothered with it.

Please tell me what you think and Thanks to all who are reading and following; you guys are the best.

More will be posted soon so keep an eye out.

Thanks again