She could hear it in her sleep, a piano playing a peaceful melody, like a lullaby; but soon it began to modulate to different tonalities, the accidentals making the melody lose its characteristics until it became the opposite, becoming quicker and louder by the moment; the softest Adagio had now been replaced by the angriest Presto as she moaned in her sleep,

"No... no... no"

Her breath becoming quicker and labored as the melody became more furious, moving in her sleep until she awoke with a loud shriek; but she could still hear it, the broken melody which had now been replaced by darker pieces, the low notes angrily played, provoking fear inside of her, and now tremolos on the higher notes, it almost sounded like Night on a Bald Mountain, but this was even more frightening and furious; she got up from the sofa and ran to the piano, she was overwhelmed by this music; but as she approached the piano, she discovered that nobody was playing, but she didn't hesitate any moment longer, she closed the piano roughly, and immediately the music stopped.

"I was playing the piano"

She screamed, she knew who had spoken, it had been Olga, but she... She was dead, she had seen her die in front of her eyes, killed by that monster; she turned immediately, but rather than finding Olga reprimanding her in front of her stood Lily with a lantern in her hand and looking worriedly at her, her lips were moving, but she couldn't hear anything.

"Anastasia, Anastasia" Lily repeated, sickly worried for her; she was now standing in front of her, and had begun shaking her, trying to get her out of this trance.

She could her now and feel her movements, her hearing had returned, just as all of her senses, but what was still missing was her ability to respond to her; it was as if she had been asleep while still been conscious and now she was fully awake, or mostly awake, she still couldn't answer her, couldn't move a muscle. Her body had now stopped responding to her commands, letting her feel every inch of the pain that it brought, but in a twisted way she had been accustomed to the pain, becoming numb to it; she didn't care anymore if her legs hurt, and if they seem to not be able to keep her standing, if her vision became blurred because of the pain, if any movement sent a bolt of pain through her body, she had risen above it only to drown into another pain; her mind drowned in the nightmare; it was still fresh and vivid within her; it was also confusing her every thought, she could still hear it somewhat whatever it was; was this going to be the first of many? Was this how she was going to be forever, running from her nightmares? But she had to be brave and strong, like the soldiers who suffered, but she knew that even soldiers had nightmares like hers, while she had been helping in the hospital during the war she had heard them in their sleep, and they couldn't sleep because of what they had seen and they could never forget what they had seen; just like her, it was an injury that went to deep inside of her to be forgotten.

"Anastasia, are you okay?" Came Lily question, that brought her out of her thoughts; but she could have snorted and laughed out loud at the question, she was never going to be okay; the feeling of dread, of cold hands on her, of lying on top of dead bodies, her families bodies, those feelings were never going to leave her, they almost made her feel dirty, but she knew that even a bath couldn't have washed away this feeling from her, after all, you can only wash the exterior, not the interior, where the feelings resided; she'll have to learn to live with it, there were no other ways.

"Anastasia"

She simply shook her head, which was still bowed and not looking at the woman in front of her, instead, she was looking at the gold bracelet with their initials, OTMA, what had become of that? Only A surviving through all of this, and if you could call that surviving; she was now starting to wish that she had died down there too, wishing to have died close to them; in the end, what had become of her? A lonely girl, distraught, desperate, empty, and utterly lost, did it have any sense going on? Into this dark and unknown future? The greatest cruelty wasn't being killed, but surviving while everybody else didn't, wasn't it?

"Anastasia" a now worried more than ever Lily spoke her voice wavering and filled thick with emotions, she had been trying to speak with her, but she had been met by a wall, made of darker and darker thoughts, she could see her trail of thinking, a descending spiral that reflected itself on her body, her hands falling on her sides, head heavily bowed with the chin almost touching her shoulder, standing there less erected by the second, almost collapsing on the ground.

"Malenkaya, please look at me" she begged; her nickname brought her back from her thought as it caught her off guard, her head quickly turning to face her, eyes widened and now looking very intensely at her, she had also bolted upright, her lips firming into a thin for a brief moment, before loosening a little; her hands now on her sides, reacquiring the composture of a grand duchess, like she was.

"I know that you have suffered a lot," Lily said, placing her hands on her shoulders, and looking deep into those deep blue eyes; "but I want you to know one thing for certain, that Dmitry, I, Vlad, and Nikolai would be always there for you, from now on and forevermore; you may have lost your family, but you're not alone, we're here for you, please remember this; and know that even in the darkest moment, you have people always ready to listen and help you"

She then proceeded to hug her, after some time and very slowly Anastasia hugged her back, and as she rested her head on Lily's shoulder, Lily could feel it getting wet, Anastasia was crying now, as she was gently rocked, in a calming way, a motherly way and for the first time in a while, Anastasia felt at home, it wasn't like it, but it was very near, she felt the wonderful emotion of being loved, she basked in it, she had been in a desert and now was in an oasis. Maybe she wasn't as alone as she had thought?

"I'll get you something to help you sleep," said Lily after some time; Anastasia nodded at her, she was calm now; the nightmare now a distant memory, the dark feeling still lingered on her, but she was feeling that things were going to be better, it was the brightest she had ever been since the execution; the pain was still there but it would soon go away, it was only going to be a matter of time.

Lily came back a few moments later with a white pill in one hand and a glass of water in the other; her eyes silently asked the question, because Lily responded to her: "It's a drug that will help you sleep, no nightmare will come to haunt you this time" She then led her back to the sofa, she first placed the drug and the glass on the small table and fixed the sofa and the cushions before leading her to it.

Anastasia seated on the comfortable sofa before taking the pill with some water, "Lily, could you please stay with me until I fell asleep" she asked grasping at her hands, she had whispered it, almost childlike, her cheeks reddening a little; Lily quickly nodded and said "Yes"; so Anastasia laid on the sofa while Lily fixed the blanket on top of her, being careful not to harm her.

"Thank you," Anastasia said, her voice thick with sleep, yawning a little; before closing her eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.

"Oh, it's nothing dear," Lily said kindly to her, and moved her eyes to the door, "It was no problem, I'm waiting for Vlad and Nikolai to come back with Dmitry, they went..." But she stopped when she saw that Anastasia was soundly sleeping, but more importantly, peacefully; she then whispered to her, "Good night child", before lightly kissing her forehead; and stood from the sofa and went for the armchair although it looked like that she wasn't going to wait for much longer.

The sun was rising outside the house, marking the beginning of 21 July 1918; it was 8 o'clock in the morning; the gentle yet cold breeze of the morning wind could be felt every now and then and the frost on the grass was reflecting the morning sun rays, while slowly melting into the water; it was a cold summer morning in the city and outside it was even colder, but for Lily and Vlad it was not that cold, truthfully, for them, the morning wasn't that cold, almost mild it was, as they were used to the colder winters and hotter summers of Saint Petersburg, especially the last years, which had been very cold indeed across all Russia; but the climate for this morning was quite mild and because of that they were peacefully eating their breakfast outside the house while making some small talks.

"I've heard that the Germans made another offensive on the western front, Kaiser... Something they called it" Lily said, while she spread the butter on the bread; even if the newspapers were controlled some information about the outside world still licked inside the country with many delays, but it arrived.

"I wouldn't care about that, my dear" her husband responded, while he too was spreading butter on the bread, and also taking it with half an egg too; unlike his wife he had a much more narrow-minded approach on the news, "if it doesn't happen in Russia than it isn't that important, we're out of that war" he finished with disgust, hating the humiliating Brest-Litovsk treaty; he then proceeded to eat the egg and the bread in one gulp.

"You eat like a pig," Lily said, sighing; it might be the hundred times that she has said that to him; but as the news about the world, his brain was to this for thick for understanding.

"I have a much bigger stomach to satisfy," he said pointing at his fatness, "while you, eh..., is there a stomach there?" He asked teasingly pointing at his wife's slim belly.

She rolled her eyes, and smiled, "I know that it may surprise you, but I have a stomach too, like every other being, it's just that you are..." Not finding another kinder world that would get the concept to him, she had to resort to, "..fat, yes as fat as a cow"

"What a kind wife I have found for myself," he said, raising his eyes to the sky; she seemed to love taunting him about his fatness despite liking it very much, he had to wonder if she wanted him fat as to mock him as much as she did, but luckily she only did that in private. "May God bless Dmitry's future wife then, please my Lord be kinder to him than you were to me with his life partner"

"Always so dramatic" she reprimanded, before reminding him of a little detail that he seems to have forgotten about, "you should remember, that it was your dramatics that awoke Malenkaya yesterday, did you forget about that, eh?"

"Hey, I was only opening myself up, it wasn't my fault that she was sleeping so lightly" he defended himself, raising his hand, of which one had a knife with some butter on it.

"Put your hands down, I don't want butter on the floor," she reprimanded him, and he compiled immediately. "Good, see you don't need to be so dramatic, and by the way, Dmitry's future wife is certainly going to be Anastasia,"

"I agree with you, but yesterday," he inclined his head on one side, while also shrugging a little, "eh... Things didn't go as planned"

He was met by a snort, "What were you thinking that she'll be kissing the hell out of him, after her family died?", she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Ok," he said nodding, understanding her point; "but from the way that Dmitry reacted it has to be very, very bad"

She snorted again, before giggling softly; "I love that boy with all of my heart, but you know very well that he can easily overreact, and overthink even the smallest thing; you know how he is, you forget that when you once said to him, " no" he thought that you didn't want him anymore"

"You're right," he said, before mumbling "as always"

Her response was a kick in the shin.

Their peacefulness was interrupted by the sound of a horse approaching, it was Nikolai, and he was looking grimly at them; he had the Cheka uniform on him; also he had some papers tucked under his arm, he didn't even bring the horse in the straddles, he bound it there on one of the columns of the portico, and went up the small stairs, and didn't even take a seat before saying one word to the couple.

"Alapaevsk"

The couple looked among themself, blinking a few times, neither of them knew about this city, or wherever it was; but it seemed that it was troubling him, very much.

"What about Alapaevsk, what happened there?" Asked Vlad frowning at him.

"Grand Duchess Elizabetta Feodorovna, grand duke Konstantin Konstantinovič, grand duke Igor' Konstantinovič, grand duke Ivan Konstantinovič, grand duke Sergej Michajlovič, the nun Varvara Jakovleva and prince Vladimir Pavlovič Palej; have all been killed between the 17 and 18 of July, in Alapaevsk" his answer was met with shocked expressions, but he continued with equally darker news, maybe even darker, "also Moscow has authorized the execution of the Dowager Empress, her two daughters, grand duchess Xenia and Olga Alexandrovna, and all of the other relatives that are in Livadia, also the arrest has been confirmed of grand dukes Dmitrij Konstantinovič, Nikolaj Michajlovič, and Georgij Michajlovič Romanov"

"It is as clear as day, that they want the Romanov family wiped away from the face of the earth," said Vlad, grimly and it also meant that they'll have to protect more carefully Anastasia, nobody outside of the house could now, that she was there.

"But the grand duchesses and the Empress are safe in Livadia, they have the Germans there?" Asked Lily, looking at both of them; she had met them when she was still a lady in waiting and liked all three of them, especially Olga, who was always around the kids or was taking them to some party, throw for them by the Empress.

"Yes" conceded Nikolai, "but for how long? The Germans aren't in a good position"

"But it's not like that if the Entente makes a breakthrough in some front then the whole structure crumbles down, is it?" Argued back, Lily.

"That's precisely what's going to happen" Vlad answered for Nikolai, "the whole structure there is like a chain, but it has weaker and stronger rings, if a weak ring broke that the whole structure can come crashing down, some stronger rings will stay in place, but eventually them too will come down"

"Listen to him," said Nikolai, looking at her, "after all he was a general; wasn't he, count?"

"Yes I was," Vlad said, pushing out his chests, and raising his chin, before returning to a more normal composture and a not so prideful one, and grumbling "just like every one of noble birth"

"Do you know where is Dmitry?" Asked Nikolai, changing the subject, rolling his eyes at his friend, and also taking the papers that were under his arm.

"I'm here" grumbled somebody behind them, with a voice thick of sleep, and almost growling at them; Dmitry was standing at the door, yawning and stretching himself, eyes still closed and looking annoyed at been there.

"Good you're awake" Nikolai nodded, before placing the sheets of paper on the table and taking the first one, "I'll go straight to the point did you kill Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky?"

"He doesn't deserve to be called with his patronymic" Dmitry responded disgusted, now very much awake, and also approaching Nikolai, who still was looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"Did you?"

"Yes, I did, a bullet in the head" Dmitry responded annoyedly, taking the paper from his hand, "What's this?"

"I'll explain it to you, it's not a nice read," Nikolai said, shaking his head sadly, he took a breath and began, "that paper is called Yurovsky's note, there is written the accurate description of what has happened the night that the royal family was killed, but there is a problem through"

"What problem? And why is named after him, when he couldn't have written it?"

"It is incomplete, apparently during the journey between the Ipatiev's and the mine, he wrote it; he didn't mention Anastasia's possible survival, instead he wrote that one of his comrades, comrade Gleb Vagarov, took care of some problems related with possible followers, or something like that, either way, the Bolsheviks do not know that she is still alive, and that has to remain a secret until we have decided what to do with her"

"She'll decide what to do" Argued Lily frowning at him.

"Yes of course," said Nikolai, nodding; "but until she has decided nobody can know about her, nobody"

"Ok, ok, you're clear, not even priests can know about her," said Dmitry sarcastically; "now can you answer my question, how on earth does this paper or note, or whatever it is exist? And why is it named after him? Thank you"

"For the first question," Nikolai began ignoring his sarcasm, "apparently in the murder of the royal family and their servants were elven, five of them were killed by you and those were Yurovsky, Mikhail Medvedev, Stephen Vaganov, Pavel Medvedev, and Pyotr Voykov," he said reading from another paper, "the other one I told you, Gleb Vaganov was killed by Anastasia"

"Anastasia killed someone," Lily said, deeply shocked "she can't harm anyone it's not in her"

"People can either change or die when affronted with reality," Dmitry said shaking his head, he knew all too well about that, he had seen in his brothers in arms when they realized that they had killed a human being, not everyone was as used to death as him.

"It seems with a gem, an emerald to be more precisive" Nikolai taking our from his pocket an emerald, it had a sharp tip, with some blood on it.

"That is the missing emerald from her necklace," Lily said recognizing the emerald immediately; but this brought another delicate matter on the table; what to tell to her? After all, Anastasia was very close to her grandmother, the music box was intact, but the necklace was an entirely different matter.

"You will speak to her about it, won't you?" Asked Vlad, they had already talked about the matter, without Dmitry, but he seemed to catch up with it very quickly.

"Of course," said Lily, nodding.

"Now back to where we were," Nikolai said bringing back the old argument, "five of them are still going around, and now they are seeking rewards for their "accomplishment", one of those Ermakov found his dead body, Yurovsky's, and the note in one of his pockets, he completed it with few wrong details" he shook his head again, "the other five were dismissed because of their actions... Better not knowing them, believe me; anyway none of them received any awards or advancements, because there is a growing suspicion that something went wrong, and they are right about that, but they don't know what is the problem, for now at least" he sighed, "also one of those is a commissar, he is a friend of Sverdlov, so he wasn't as questioned as the others, and now lives in Moscow, how corrupt... The gems are safe?"

"Yes, they are" Dmitry responded, confidently and nodding, "they are with the priest as the bodies,"

"Good," Nikolai nodded, "apparently some tried to loot the bodies, but they were stopped, that's why Anastasia had still the gems and the clothes when we found her,"

"And the rest?" Asked a Lily appalled, her face shocked and pale, since this argument had started.

"They're not naked," Dmitry said, shaking his head too, "at least not anymore, they're covered with veils which had been consecrated by the priest personally, for him they could be proclaimed martyrs, something that I agree with"

"Yes, possibly" Nikolai conceded, "the Bolsheviks are searching for the gems, apparently as soon as they knew what the family had, they could have proclaimed the tsar again, if it meant that they could place their hands on them"

"You can relax about that," Dmitry said shrugging, "we hid the gems and the bodies in separate locations and the priest won't tell anyone what he has unless he has my personal approval, unless they destroy the church, then nobody is going to find them"

"Well done," Nikolai said approvingly, "I think that we can close this argument for now, at least"

"Yes, we can," Vlad said, placing an arm around his wife's shoulders, Lily had now her face set in shock and was as white as milk, eyes looking at the horizon; the others acted colder and more distant, but either they were used to knowing about the human brutality, or they had seen with their eyes the ordeal, but instead her mind had stopped at the knowledge of how much they had suffered, and how much they were humiliated, after all, she loved and still does deeply those people.

"Can I speak with Anastasia?" Asked grimly Nikolai, even if he wasn't in the mood for these big talks, forces bigger than them were moving; "the sooner we start, the sooner we can plan"

"I'm here," a feeble voice said, everyone head turned to face Anastasia, who was heavily leaning on the door, her face pale and white as her dress, completely the opposite of her wild curly red hair; eyes looking at the horizon like Lily's, but those were different, there was no spark of life behind them; only the larger pupils looking back at flashback and nightmares, at least that was what she was seeing, her haunted expression told as much.

"How much did you heard?" Asked Dmitry with a softer and gentle voice.

"Enough," she responded with her voice still as feeble and almost a whisper.

"I'm sorry," Nikolai said, bowing his head, "But, we need to talk, about many things"

"I had figured out as much"

Thank you all for reading this, I hope that you all liked it, if it did them feel free to feedback that I always appreciate them, even if you have some constructive criticism please tell me, have a nice day, and bye-bye.