Last night, Ivan cried in his sleep again.
I couldn't help but worry over him, but nothing seemed to calm him down this time. His whole body was tense and shaking, his breathing labored, but he didn't actually cry. Maybe he would have felt better if he did, I don't know. What I do know is that it scared the shit out of me.
He called my name in his sleep. Not "flower," no, he curled up into a ball and murmered my name over and over. I couldn't let this go on, so I started shaking him to try and wake him. When his eyes opened, they were distant and hollow like he was still dreaming. He looked up at me like that, a hollow and blank expression, for what seemed like hours before he finaly relaxed and returned to normal.
This morning, he didn't get dressed or go to his paperwork like normal. Instead, he sat in the windowsil with his cat curled against his chest and a hot cup of tea steaming beside him. It gave me goosebumps to see him like this, something was very, very wrong. Later in the afternoon I decided to find out.
Gently, I pulled the cat away from him and set the feline ontop of the bed to sleep before crawling into the windowsil and taking it's place. I pressed my back against Ivan's chest and after a few minutes passed by, he wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my hair.
"Ivan" I breathed, "what happened to you?" His grip tightened slightly and he sighed against me neck, sending a chill down my spine.
"When I was in the military" he began, propping his chin on my shoulder, "I was captured and became of POW. In order to interrogate me, they tortured me. When I tried to escape, the shot me and blew out one of my kneecaps. It-" He licked his lips, "it still haunts me. Not just the things they did to me, but the things I've done to others in that same position."
I pulled his arms from around me and turned so I was facing him, cradling his face in my hands. He reached up and took my hands in his, turning the palm up and tracing the lines and creases. We sat together there the rest of the day, talking back and forth about nothing. I knew somewhere deep inside me that Ivan didn't want to be left alone, and to be honast neither did I. I don't really rememeber when i had fallen asleep, only waking up curled into a ball next to him.
The innocence of his sleeping face made my heart flutter, the smooth skin around his cheekbones and the way his mouth stays slightly open, the edges twitching up into giggles every once in a while in a good dream. I wonder what I look like when I sleep, am I innocent looking or am I the kind of person who looks like a twisted inmate? The thought makes me giggle, damn! I woke him up!
His smile streatches and he reaches up to grab a chunk of my hair, combing it between his fingers.
"I have to leave for a while today, flower" he whispers against my hair, "I have to go into town on buisness."
"Aww" I whined, " what am I supposed to do while your gone?"
"Your choice, you have free reign over the house." My eyes widened at the thought and almost instantly I thought of the ballroom.
This is going to be fun.
Once Ivan was gone, I made my way down the twisting hallways until I found the double doors of the ballroom again. Inside, Feliciano and Lovino were hard at work. When I walked through the doorway, Lovino glared in my direction and Feli ran over to greet me. Lovino doesn't trust people around him and his brother, but who could blame him?
Feli grabbed my arms and we flung ourselves and each other around the room haphazardly in a silly dance while Lovino cursed up a storm at our childish behavior. While we were recovering from a giggle fit, the doors swung open and my heart sank.
Natalia.
The brothers quickly filed out of the room at her order and left us alone, a quick look from Feli confirming my fears.
Theres some people who want you gone...
"I see you've been rather close with my brother lately, Maria" her voice was practically dripping with malice, "I would advise for you to back off."
I held her gaze, "and who do you think you are to advise me on anything? Besides, we are only friends" if you could call it that I wanted to say.
"You better hope, for your safety, thats all it will ever be" she snapped, turning to leave. She laid her hand on the doornob, "and this conversation is between only you and me, if my brother finds out-" she gripped the nob for emphasis, "I'll stab you in your sleep. Are we clear?" I couldn't help it, I snapped.
"Stab me? In my sleep? Stab me?" I laughed deep from within me, me soul ached. I Charged at her, grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head into the door. Once, twice, three times the thud echoing around the room. Her nails dug into my arm and scratched at my face where she could reach, her leg coming back and colliding with my knee. I stumbled back, throwing her onto the ground in the process. She crawled ontop of me and hit me over and over, my jaw creaking under the blows and blood filling my mouth. I shifted my weight to knock her off of me and I sat ontop of her to pin her down.
Over and over my fists hit her untill her nose broke. Only the did I stop, getting up and walking to the door.
"You know Natalie-" I mumbled, reaching for the doornob, " people like you make me sick. You think you can say or do anything you please just because you expect those around you to falter at the look in your eye. You should learn to defend yourself, you have no idea who it is your fucking with. You don't know when someone might snap and kill you." I turned to face her groaning form as she was trying to lift herself up off the floor. I pulled the door open, pain rushing up my shoulder and made my way to the end of the hall.
"Holy shit! What happened?" Feli exclaimed, wiping his hands on his apron and coming over to help me.
"Don't worry about it, send for a doctor for Natalia." His eyes widened in surprise and he nodded in understanding before taking off down one of the many hallways.
"Ivan's going to murder me" I groaned in agony, "I fucking beat up his sister, he's going to kill me."
"You'd be surprised in what he understands" a voice said from a little ways away and I craned my neck to see who it was. There was a man in a uniform kneeling beside me with a rag and a bowl of warm water. He wet the rag and began dabbing away some of the blood from my face.
"I'm sorry, but who are you again?" I breathed, trying not to be rude, "I don't remember names very easily."
"That's quite alright, love. My name is Francis, we only met once. How is your right arm, can you move it?" I nodded and did so, pain prickling up my spine as I did.
"What did you mean by 'you'd be surprised'?"
" I mean what I say, I've known Ivan a long time and I've seen him take the side of another because his sister deserved it. She has a habit of getting on people's bad side."
"I'll say."
Little did I know just how right Francis was. Turns out Nat has had quite a record of threatening people because of her attatchment to her brother. When Ivan got home, he visited her in her room and told her she had to remove herself and her belongings from the house before the next morning. "This is the last straw" he told her.
That night, I slept in his arms under the effects of heavily dosed painkillers.
I love you, Ivan..
Alrighty so this was kinda a spur of the moment idea! How'd it turn out?
There will be more twists to come so be ready!
Love to all my readers! (RAWR)
Please R&R
~Yulie
