:D Whoo~ New chapter~ Guess who just got their learner's permit? Me! D: Now I have to learn to drive, something I was avoiding at ALL COSTS. Meh.

Disclaimer: Mlkjlakdfj

WARNINGS: Cursing

Ivan and Alfred, now blindfolded, were shoved into a room. Their hands were still bound behind their back and Alfred was struggling fiercely.

"Let us out!" Alfred screamed. "You can't keep us in here!"

Silence answered them as they were jostled around. Ivan ended up pushed to his knees while Alfred was able to keep his balance, still standing. Ivan could almost hear the soft sobs of his sister before there was a heavy metal slam and the jingling of keys as they were locked in.

"Let us out!" Alfred's voice reached near hysterics. "LET US OUT!"

"Fredka!" Ivan snapped. "Yelling will do us no good!"

Alfred suddenly toppled over in the dark and could feel Ivan's shoulder digging into his stomach briefly before his back hit the ground.

"And why won't it?" Alfred spat. "It's better than sitting there and taking it like a bitch."

Ivan growled low in his throat. "Watch what you say, dorogoi."

"OR WHAT?" Alfred screeched from his position on the floor. "WE'RE ALREADY GOING TO FUCKING DIE!"

"IF YOU DO NOT SHUT UP THIS INSTANT I MAY KILL YOU BEFORE THEY DO!" Ivan clenched his fists behind his back and turned angrily in the direction Alfred's voice was.

"GO AHEAD AND TRY IT." Alfred rolled around until he was able to get into a sitting position, tensing in anticipation for a fight.

"Perhaps I will," Ivan threatened. He shifted around searching out the other in the blackness.

"Some body guard you are," Alfred hissed. "Aren't you supposed to protect me?"

"So I am back to simply being your guard, Fredka?" Ivan's voice was softer than it had been during the shouting match, desolate almost. The pain Alfred could hear laced within shocked him back to reality, clearing his head from the fog of panic and anger.

"I..." Alfred trailed off. "I didn't mean that..."

"Of course you didn't." Ivan snapped as he pulled his knees up to his chest.

"I'm sorry." Alfred whispered, reaching out to find Ivan, to no avail.

"Do not say that," Ivan growled. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Alfred whimpered a bit at the harsh words. The darkness and fear were starting to get to him, the panic was starting to rise again. He could almost feel the monsters in his mind closing in on him in the inky black that surrounded.

"Ivan. Please don't. Please. I'm scared and I'm sorry and I didn't mean it. Just, please." Alfred reached out yet again, searching for his solace in the night. Was it not just a few hours ago that they asking each other to be together? Hadn't they settled their feelings for each other? They couldn't just go back to being strangers after that.

"Do not plead with me in such a manner, moi slodvakee. It pains me to hear." Ivan murmured as he too went in search for the other. Their feet tangled together until they tumbled, back against back.

"I'm scared," Alfred rasped out. The darkness seemed to be closing in.

"I know." Ivan began to fiddle with the ropes around his wrists. He pushed back against the other until his fingers fluttered over the American's. He felt a flush of triumph. Alfred, having realized what Ivan was doing, moved his hand in a circular motion, loosening his own ropes. Rationality set in yet again as he focused on his task.

"Scoot a little closer so I can untie your knots." Alfred commanded. Ivan gave a soft, surprised grunt as he shifted more.

"You are able to do that?" Alfred chuckled as he gently felt around the ropes, searching for said knots.

"Well sure. Been tied up plenty a times."

"I am not sure how to take that, Fredka."

Alfred laughed.

It was dark, pitch black. Alfred couldn't see anything. It brought him back to places he never wanted to be again. The only thing preventing him from completely freaking out was the warmth of Ivan's chest against his back and the strength of the arms wrapped around his waist.

"Ivan...?" Alfred whispered.

"Da?" Their voices seemed overly loud in the darkness.

"I'm the hero, okay? And cause I'm the hero, I'll get us out of this. We'll survive, somehow. Okay?"

"Da." The words seemed bittersweet. Escape seemed like a distant hope that was blocked off by the darkness. Alfred shivered in the cold and curled up closer to Ivan. Ivan's grip on the American tightened.

"Ivan...?" Alfred whispered again into the darkness.

"Da?" They seemed to be on repeat, as the cold invaded and the darkness surrounded. They had been locked in here for days, slowly dieing from starvation. The most they had was water that was slipped to them through a small crack in what they assumed was the door. They couldn't tell for it was always dark. Always.

"Will you... finish that fairytale you told me?" That time in the apartment that wasn't theirs yet had been their home, not matter how brief, seemed like eons ago.

"Da..."

"In the forest the children picked wild flowers and made themselves wreaths. It was warm, and they ran about singing, each wearing a crown of flowers.

"Look at us!" they shouted. "Come play with us," they urged the snow maiden. "Follow us."

They went on, dancing and singing. Then all of a sudden, behind them, a sigh.

They turned and looked. There was nothing to be seen but a fast melting heap of snow. The snow maiden was no longer among them.

They called and called and shouted her name, but there was no answer.

"Where can she be? She must have gone home," they said.

Back they ran to the village, but no one there had seen her either.

During the next day and the following, everyone searched. They went through the woods and looked through every thicket, but no trace of the little snow maiden was to be found.

Vanya and Marousha felt that their hearts would break, and for a long time Marousha cried, "Snegourka, my sweet snow maiden, come to me!"

Sometimes Vanya and Marousha thought-"

The story was interrupted by a loud clanging and weak curses strung together.

"What are you going to do with us now, wankers?" A voice rasped, dry and scratchy.

"Tiddlywinks! Aren't you a mean one? I'm doing you a favor, poppet!" Came the enigmatic reply, high and grating on the nerves and almost unhinged.

"I do not see what you would 'ave to gain by 'elping us." Another weak and raspy voice sounded out.

There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a grunt of pain, before the sugar-coated tongue replied again. "Ohhh, Jacques! You didn't have to be so rough with him~! We're here to help remember?"

"Oui," was the forced out anwser. There was more banging before a small stream of light filtered in through the door. Alfred gasped as his eyes adjusted and he recognized the figures being shoved into the room with them.

"Papa? Daddy?"

Song: ПОД ОКНОМ ЧЕРЁМУХА КОЛЫШЕТСЯ - traditional Russian folk tale

xD TWO SENTENCES! TWO! That's how close we are to finishing Snegourka.

For some reason, I make Jacques mute besides saying "Oui." Weird.

Anyway, just in case you didn't know...

dorogoi - dear

moi slodvakee - my sweet

Until next time, broskis

Gilly B.