Author's Note: With any luck, this chapter is the second last of the Romanov Empire world before we move on to the next world...which by the way I'm kinda stuck on which one to pick next before returning to Olympus Coliseum.
The options I have in my mind so far are Agrabah, the Jungle Book, the Great Mouse Detective and Tangled. Think I'll be able to make up my mind by the end of this chapter, but which do you guys think should I do-Other than Tangled, of course-?
Only way to find out is at the end of this, so in the meantime, let's continue on.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or Anastasia.
CH30: Truth and Inner Change.
The rest of the night went, sort of, better once the group went back to their cabins after drying off. The worldly travellers still couldn't figure out what had gone wrong or what Anya meant on this 'Romanov curse', though both Jack and Skuld suspected that it had something to do with her past. Sora on the other hand, suspected that someone in this world with a dark heart was causing not only the nightmares, but also possibly the train crash that nearly costed them their lives.
Either way, there was no sense in worrying about that now. Once the boat docked early the next morning, the group boarded a double decker bus that would take them to Sophie's house where Anya would try and prove that she was the Grand-duchess. At the moment, though, the young woman was getting increasingly nervous.
"Where's Uncle Boris from?" Dimitri asked.
Instead of answering, Anya asked, getting paranoid, "What if Sophie doesn't recognise me?"
"She will. You're Anastasia!"
Anya sighed, stating, "It's just that three days ago, I didn't have any past at all and now I'm trying to remember an entire lifetime."
"That's why you've got Dimitri and us." Noctis encouraged, then repeated Dimitri's question, "So, where's Uncle Boris from?"
"Moscow?" Anya guessed.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at a large house that Vlad lead everyone to as he was at the front door, knocking on the door. It opened to reveal a maid who responded kindly in french, only for a blond-haired woman, upon seeing Vlad, squeal happily before shoving her maid back and blocked the door while eying him happily.
"Sophie Stanislovskievna Somorkov-Smirnoff!" Vlad cooed, while happily and romantically kissing the woman, obviously Sophie, on the arm which she enjoyed as she greeted him back, while the others shared glances...
"Vladimir Vanya Voinitsky Vasilovich!" Sophie replied. "Well, this is unexpected."
She then noticed the rest of the group, except for Myde and Jack who lingered back for too long, and Sophie apologetically but still happily continued, "But look at me. Where are my manners? Come in, everyone."
While Sora and the rest of the group followed the two 'lovebirds', Myde and Jack, who noticed too late as they looked at the front yard, and Pooka, who'd gotten stuck in the gate before getting himself out, all hurried over to try and catch up. Too late, the door closed on their faces so hard that the impact caused the two men to fall backwards, holding their now sore noses.
Jack's once again was a bit out of shape as he shifted it back painfully, before he muttered, "Obviously none of them even noticed."
"Too bad they're not gonna let us in, that's for sure." Myde grumbled sourly after his knocking went unanswered. Or if they heard it, they ignored him. So the next best thing he, the pirate and the dog had to do was head over to the nearest window and peek through it, which is what they did while inside, everyone gathered.
"May I present Her lmperial Highness the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolayevna?" Vlad stated as he and Dimitri brought Anya forward while Sora and the rest of the group watched on, slightly anxiously.
"Oh, my." Sophie blinked, rather surprised as she circled around the young woman in her blue dress. "She certainly does look like Anastasia. But so did many of the others."
Once they all took seats, Sophie almost immediately inquired to Anya, "Where were you born?"
"At the Peterhoff Palace." Anya replied.
"Correct." Sophie improved. "And how does Anastasia like her tea?"
"I don't like tea. Just hot water and lemon."
Sora and the others shared glances once again, shrugging as they realised that this was possibly the test to see if Anya was the real Anastasia or not. Otherwise why else borther with the quiz?
Outside, Myde groaned before turning around and slumped slowly to the ground, leaning against the wall. "Great...Pop-Quiz. I hated those things."
"One must know a patience, mate." Jack pointed out as he sat on the ground next to his companion, even though he had no idea what this 'pop-quiz' word meant, but if it had anything to do with Sophie's questions, it's a new way of pronouncing the test.
Surely it shouldn't take too long. Right?
One hour later...
As the sundial now read about 2PM, Jack decided he underestimated the timing. He'd never been so bored in his life, just sitting around waiting, and there wasn't even an ocean view and no movement either. Pooka paced back and forth out of boredom in the flower bed, and Myde had fallen asleep, snoring his head off due to waiting.
The pirate himself in the meantime, once again turned his attention to his Compass which, as usual, spun around all over the place. Much to his frustration.
"Finally," Sophie's voice alerted both Jack and Pooka as the two turned their attention back to the window.
Inside, Sophie continued with the (finally) last question, "You'll most likely find this an impertinent question, but indulge me. How did you escape during the siege of the palace?"
Vlad looked a bit horrified and dismayed, while Dimitri mentally groaned as he turned away and shook his head in dismay. None of them even thought this was coming. Sora and the others looked at each other, now worriedly.
"Uh oh." Lea whispered softly. Well, that went right out of the window. No where Anya would know about that!
Or maybe she did, because the young woman was deep in thought. In her mind, she saw herself, as an familiar eight year old girl, with an old woman, in a large bedroom filled with toys and something else...and she also saw a figure of a boy as a door opened in a wall...
"There was a boy. A boy who worked in the palace. He opened a wall..." Anya answered, before trailing off and chuckled at her own silliness, shaking her head as she apologised, "I'm sorry. That's crazy. Walls opening."
Upon hearing this answer, Dimitri slowly gazed at Anya's back, eyes wide with an expression of now shock, realization and disbelief dawning. As memories came into his own mind, and that he never mentioned anything about his own childhood at all, it matched with what Anya had told Sophie.
Which also explained why Anya resembled so much of Anastasia...because Anya truly is Anastasia. She had escaped after all and survived...only to have rendered amnesia as nothing else came to the young woman's mind.
Everyone else held curious looks, oblivious to Dimitri's expression.
"So, is she a Romanov?" Noctis asked after a moment of silence.
"Well, she answered every question." Sophie replied, which made almost everyone smile in relief.
"You hear that, child? You did it!" Vlad cheered and Anya leaped up happily as the two shared a hug, with the worldly travellers cheering or just smiling in relief.
"Well, well. She really did come through." Isa muttered with a proud smile.
"You did it!" Roxas cheered happily.
"Oh boy!" Donald jumped up and down happily.
"Hooray!" Goofy cheered.
Kairi clapped happily before asking Sophie, "So when do we get to see the Empress?"
"I'm afraid you don't." Sophie replied, sadly. The cheering went silent as she continued, "The Empress simply won't allow it."
"You mean...?" Riku muttered.
"No way." Sora muttered, now disappointed. Coming all this way and the Empress won't let them, or anyone else for that matter, see her at all?
"Aw, gee." Mickey muttered, sadly.
Vlad on the other hand, requestly inquired to Sophie, "Now, Sophie, my bright diamond, surely you can think of some way to arrange a brief interview with the Dowager? Please?"
After thinking about it while playfully avoiding Vlad, an idea quickly occured to Sophie as she turned to Anya and asked, "Do you like the Russian Ballet?" and when Anya nodded a yes, the older woman continued, "I believe they're performing in Paris tonight. The Dowager Empress and I love the Russian Ballet. We never miss it." and winked at Vlad who, at first didn't get it, but when he heard the rest of the woman's sentence, he suddely realised what she was on to.
As did everyone else.
"We did it!" Vlad cheered after a few minutes later, rushing outside to meet Dimitri who had retreated to think about what he'd just learned from Anya, and Jack, and Myde, who'd woken up and heard what happened, rushed in with Pooka to congratulate Anya.
Vlad then pulled Dimitri into a hug and spun him around before putting him down while saying, "We're going to see the lmperial Highness tonight. We're going to get the 10 million roubles."
"Vlad, Vlad...she is the Princess." Dimitri pointed out, now that the money was the last thing on his mind. In fact, the more he thought about this, the more he began to realise who wrong this entire thing had been. Now that he was fully aware of Anya's idenity, the only thing that mattered to him was having her reunite with her grandmother...
Which meant that, given how, as much as it irked him to admit it, he'd fallen in love with her, he would have to leave her side. Too bad Vlad was too happy to hear him.
"Anya was extraordinary! I almost believed her. And Sophie..." Vlad continued on, making Dimitri gaze him with a shocked and dumbfounded expression. The older man actually thought Anya made up the Door in the wall part?
By then, Anya and the girls in the worldly travellers group rushed out in excitement, the forming saying happily, "Sophie wants to take us shopping for the ballet. Shopping in Paris. Can you believe it?"
Later in the early evening, everyone went to the streets of Paris to many stores, even though the worldly travellers decided to decline in going to the ballet, especially since only Anya, Dimitri and Vlad managed to get tickets for the show along with Sophie(who along with the Empress) always got a discount.
At least there weren't any Heartless around...for now.
By the time Anya rejoined the worldly travellers as they prepared to head out to the theatre, the group were quite stunned at her gorgeus deep navy blue dress with a couple of sashes attatched to the back which were transparent. Both also sparked like stars in a night sky and her white long gloves matched as well. She also had a false-fur coat around her which also made her look perfect.
"You look really beautiful, Anya." Aqua admired.
"Really suits you." Lea added after giving out another very impressed whistle. The others nodded in agreement, even though most of the boys in the group were speechless.
"You think so?" Anya asked, blushing a little.
Mickey nodded, "Of course! I don't think anybody would disagree."
Sora on the other hand, couldn't help but suddenly imagine Kairi in a similiar dress, only that in his mind, the dress Kairi wore was a light pink similiar to her outfit she was wearing now in reality, long and elegent, sparkly and without gloves, and glittering silver hair-clip in her hair.
It wasn't until the real Kairi's hand waved in front of his face that snapped Sora back to reality as he blinked, realising that he zoned out a little.
"You okay, Sora?" Kairi asked.
"Uh...Y-yeah!" Sora nodded, blushing a little in embarrassment. It didn't take long before Riku, Terra, Ven, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Goofy and Donald snickered in amusment at Sora's reaction. They knew what he'd been thinking about.
"I have to admit, I'm really nervous." Anya spoke up once again, fidgeting a little.
"Ah, you'll be fine." Myde said with a smirk. "Worst thing that'll happen the Empress'll not recongise you at first, but when she does, boy is she gonna be really shocked."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, think about it. You were eight years old the last time she saw ya', right? Now you've grown up, and she'll be like, 'She's grown up so quickly!', or something like that."
Isa in response whacked Myde on the back of the head, causing the younger man to whine, "Ow!"
"What Myde was trying to say is," Lea began while giving the mullet-haired man a small glare before smiling at Anya, continuing, "We get that you're a little nervous, as most reunions after so long tend to be, but in the end, we're pretty confident that you'll do just fine."
"And if anything goes wrong, we'll be here for you if you still need some help." Skuld added kindly.
Anya smiled warmly when the others nodding in agreement once again, before she replied, "Thank you, everyone. For everything."
As much as she was nervous and somewhat excited to finally be able to return to where she came from, Anya had to admit, she was going to miss Sora and the others as they had stated that once she was settled in, they would be leaving to continue their own adventure.
"Well then, your grace." Jack spoke, gesturing for Anya to go first while bowing slightly, gentlemen like.
Waiting outside of the Opera house, Dimitri sat on the first step after coming to a conclusion after having thought about it all day, while Vlad, still oblivious, paced back and forth nervously, a little paranoid that something might go wrong.
"We don't have anything to be nervous about." Dimitri told his friend who finally sat down next to him, while he continued, in a tone of sadness, "She's the princess."
"I know, I know, But..." Vlad rambled.
"No, no, you don't know." Dimitri sighed, standing up before finally revealing the truth he hasn't told anyone, even his best friend, about. "I was the boy in the palace. The one who opened the wall. She's the real thing, Vlad."
After a moment of silence, Vlad finally came to the actual same conclusion, and amazement dawned onto him.
"That means, our Anya has found her family." He muttered, before standing up. Like Dimitri, a sudden change inside him emerged and real happiness, not for himself or Dimitri, but also for Anya, dawned. "We have found the heir to the Russian throne. And you..."
"Will walk out of her life forever." Dimitri concluded, much to his friend's shock. "I mean, Princesses don't marry kitchen boys."
Vlad on the other hand, knew that now was the time to no longer play along, as he told Dimitri sternly, "You've got to tell her."
"Tell me what?" Anya asked as she and the others made their appearence, only having caught on what Vlad just said. When the two men turned, they were stunned at her appearence.
"Uh...how..." Dimitri stammered, before regaining his composure as he answered, "How beautiful you look."
"Well, thank you." Anya replied.
Nodding and waving at the worldly travellers a goodbye for now, Anya walked into the building with Dimitri, arm in arm, as Vlad bowed to Sophie who also approached and the two did the same, while Sora and the others stood outside, believing that this would be the last time they'd ever see Anya now that she was going to meet with her grandmother.
"Wonder if she'll be okay." Kairi muttered, thoughtfully.
"She'll be fine." Sora ensured her. "I'm sure of it."
"So...now that Anya and the others are at the ballet...what do we do?" Myde asked, skeptically.
"Yeah, don't we still have to find the gummi-block piece or something?" Noctis added, holding his hands behind his head.
As though remembering something, Goofy suddenly pulled something from his pocket and held it out to show to his friends while saying, "Gawrsh, I almost forgot to show ya's."
When they looked, their eyes widened as a small orange and blue cube was shown and most of the group recongised it.
"Where did you get that?" Jack asked, stunned.
"I found it outside of that diner-bar before we entered. Ya' know, the one where all the ladies were dancin' on stage and Vlad had to rescue Sophie's shoe after she accidently flinged it off?" Goofy replied, thinking back on how Vlad had to run onto the stage and made a bit of an embarrassing but also amusing attempt to avoid in colliding in with the girls who were doing some kind of dance.
"Well, that's one other less thing to worry about." Lea commented, impressed.
"Great! Good work, Goofy." Mickey praised happily. "Looks like things turned out just fine after all."
However, it appeared the King spoke too soon, because all of the sudden, Heartless appeared surrounding the group who were startled in alarm of the monsters appearing again. While mentally groaning, they all summoned their weapons to fight yet again.
Sora, Roxas and Ven tossed their Keyblades boomarang style as the three weapons spun and destroyed fifteen Heartless in total before they retrieved them and then clashed and slashed at the monsters. The trio then used Ultima Spells to throttle their opponents.
Aqua spun her Keyblade mid-air while glowing in white light, preforming her Dream Weaver ability while facing a French-Styled Heartless before she cartwheeld out of the way and then moved to help Kairi who casted her Pink Orb Magic at three other Heartless and the two then held hands before spinning around elegently to create a wind made out of light which caught five other Heartless before the monsters were vanquished.
Mickey and Riku joined hands before they spun around in mid-air, holding out their Keyblades as Light from their weapons shot out, destroying the Heartless who made the futile attempts to attack them and were destroyed as they were hit by the powerful attacks. Lea tossed his Chakrams at the two Neo-Heartless before retrieving them and then blasted out a huge wall of Fire, sending out to the two Heartless as well as the smaller Shadow Heartless.
Terra and Isa slammed their weapons downward at the those annoying fat Heartless which can only rechieve damage on their backs and were knocked into the other fat Heartless, bouncing until the two men managed to destroy them. Skuld leaped high into the air before slashing and whacking at the flying Heartless that attempted to attack her but were destroyed in the process befroe she decended back onto the ground safely and continued the battle.
Xion and Donald held up their weapons which touched at the tips which created a Firaga-Blizzaraga Spell combined which rained down at the Electric Type Heartless who got wet and had electroduced themselves into oblivion due to this before the two seperated and continued to fight the Heartless on their own. Goofy spun around while hitting the Heartless with his shield, knocking them down while Myde created water pillars to engulf the monsters, drowning them before he moved on to whack them with his Sitar.
Jack fought one Heartless with his Keyblade swordsman style before managing to slice it's head off before he ducked just in time before another could slice his head off. Fortunately for the pirate, he was saved when Noctis suddenly appeared via warpping and slashed, and clashed against the Heartless with his own sword, slicing it down-side-ward and destroying it. After Jack thanked the younger man who nodded back, the two continued fighting the Heartless along with their companions.
But this time, the numbers were getting to them as one Heartless manage to catch Sora, Ven and Roxas by surprise, smacking them back where they landed in the middle and accidently crashing into Lea, Terra and Isa, while the rest of their friends were also knocked back, and all of them crashing onto one another into a small pile. The remaining 20 Heartless crept closer to them as they fumbled to get up quickly, knowing that, panickly, they were in serious trouble this time.
Before any of them had the chance or even the Heartless had the chance, the latter were somehow instantly destroyed when a single huge slice destroyed the monsters with perfect ease, eliminating them instantly. By the time Sora and his friends got off each other and stood up slowly, stunned at what just happened, the real shock kicked in as a figure in a familiar black coat, but the zipper desgined differently to resemble a heart, stood calmly.
In his hand was a strikingly and horribly familiar weapon in his grasp. And not just any weapon...a Keyblade, and not just any Keyblade either, but...
"Wh-But how!?" Sora stuttered, horrified as he instantly recongised that very Keyblade; the evil blue Eye on the blade, the gothic design...
"It can't be!" Mickey gasped, horrified, as where most of the worldly travellers. The only ones who weren't as shocked at the Keyblade were Myde, Jack, Skuld and Noctis.
"If that's true then, that means..." Goofy muttered, scaredly.
"Xehanort!?" Ven exclaimed, before standing in defense as did the rest of the group, even though those who didn't recongise Xehanort or his Keyblade were still confused.
Lea shook his head, grunting, "I thought you died when Sora and Riku destroyed you that damn thing!"
"This is Xehanort and that's his Keyblade?" Jack asked, dumbfounded. He then shuddered, "His is the most creepiest of them all."
To the group's surprise, the figure just gazed at the keyblade while asking, in a completely different voice than what they were expecting, "Oh, you think that I'm Xehanort because of this? Nah, not even close but good guessing."
"He doesn't seem like Xehanort. I can't sense his heart or darkness." Aqua reluctantly admitted.
"Doesn't even sound like Xemnas either. His voice is a bit too high." Myde shrugged, cluelessly.
"Are you saying that I sound girly?" The figure asked, with somewhat challenge in his tone.
The mullet-haired man shrank back a little, saying, "Uh, no. What I meant is that your voice isn't low and deep like, uh...like a bear or a stomach growling."
"Where did you get that Keyblade?" Terra demanded, ignoring Myde's comment.
The figure shrugged while dismissing it, "Where I got it? It happened after Xehanort died. His heart had been too connected to it that when those two there temporarely destroyed it. I guess you could say, it wasn't always his to begin with."
"What?" Sora asked, dumbfounded. "How does that make sense?"
"Man, you got a lot to learn, don't you?" The figure shook his head with a shrug. "I guess I can give you a bit of a hint; Where I came from is a long story, but let's just say, by eliminating the successor, it allowed the original owner to return and reclaim what had been his to begin with."
"Are you giving us a riddle?" Noctis grunted, not in the mood for mind games.
"So what you're saying is that you returned the moment Xehanort was destroyed." Skuld asked, suspiciously. "You didn't happen to have...disappeared, did you?"
"Disappear?" Ven asked, blinking.
"Faded, vanished, gone without a trace...caught on, didn't you? I mean, you and Ventus wouldn't have been made the second generation of the Foretellers if you didn't figure it out, right?"
"How did you know about me and Skuld and the Foretellers!?" Ven demanded, almost angrily.
That's when something came back into Skuld's mind as shock, realization and somewhat horror filled her expression, and she asked, "You...you're the Master of Masters, aren't?"
The figure then suddenly cheered and clapped childishly like, "I knew you get it! Congratulations, Master Skuld!"
When the question and the answer finally registered in the minds of almost everyone else, Sora, Roxas, Xion, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, Ven and Lea all exclaimed in shock and disbelief, "WHAAAAAT!?"
Jack and Noctis both shared a puzzled and shocked expressions, while Isa and Aqua shared a horrified and disbelieved expression, and Terra's jaw dropped slightly. Myde blinked, dumbfounded at this new revelation.
"You gotta be kidding!" Lea protested, wide-eyed. "YOU'RE the guy Skuld briefly told us about!?"
"Okay, what am I missing?" Noctis asked, more lost than he was a few minutes ago.
"How did you return and why are you possessing the Keyblade that's meant to be destroyed?" Aqua demanded.
The Master of Masters chuckled, explaining, "Simple. My body is connected to all of my power, and while I'm not supposed to reveal much, I can at least tell you that the destruction of the Keyblade's current owner not only restored in restoring itself, but also restoring me. Through the Gazing Eye of the weapon; My eye, in fact."
"You...pulled out your eye and placed into your keyblade?" Goofy scaredly guessed, which made the group have different disgusted reactions.
"Ewwww." Myde groaned, feeling sick.
"Oh, so that's how you guys react, huh? That it's completely gross!" The Master of Masters mocked.
"Well, it is a icky and painful thing to do." Roxas pointed out.
"Never mind that." Skuld shook her head, before taking a few steps closer to the man who was the Master of the Foretellers. "You knew about the original Keyblade War. Do you have any idea what Master Aced is doing?"
A tensed moment of pause.
"I can tell you that what Aced has in mind is what he believes is for the sake of the worlds. Though, I have to admit, it's not really a good thing. My eye told me that, even when wasn't even around. Though given how it also gave other wielders the power to foresee the future and the past, that's how your friends here had a little bit of trouble when it came to Xehanort." The Master of Masters explained.
"You mean...you can see the future?" Mickey asked, before muttering in realization, "Gosh...that explains how Xehanort knew about Sora and Riku's mark of mastery."
"No wonder he was always one step ahead of us." Lea grunted, angrily. "Because you and your sick joke in causin' all of this to begin it!"
"Hey, I'm not exactly proud in all of this." The Master of Master shrugged, before stating to the redhead, "Though, thanks to you and Roxas, you changed the future when it was originally not possible. Which also lead to this moment."
Before the worldly travellers could ask whatever else they wanted to say, the Master of Masters then noticed or rather sensed something and backed away, saying, "Hey, I'd love to stay and chat, but your friend is about to come meet you guys and you still have other things to solve on your own. I mean, where's the fun in revealing all of it right now?"
"Wait!" Sora cried out, racing to catch the man, but was too late as the Master of Masters vanished in a corridor of Light of Darkness, causing Sora to slow his pace until he came to a stop. The teenager grunted angrily, kicking the ground once, "He's gone!"
"Strangely mannered, that one." Jack commented.
"He knew about everything...right from the beginng and just let it all happen?" Skuld muttered, shaking her head in disbelief, her heart aching at the sudden truth. "All of the foretellers...having fought each other that created the Keyblade War...and the Master of Masters just let it all happen...!?"
"Skuld..." Ven muttered, feeling sorry for his friend, and feeling utterly guilty at the same time. Such a truth hurt more than anything else, and it made it worse when he couldn't remember much about it at all either.
"So...everyone even the past were all used?" Sora muttered, lowering his head. Most of the group shared uncertain glances, and while some information did help a little, they were left with more questions; what was the Master of Masters' intentions? Why didn't he reveal any of this and just let it all happen? Did he actually want all of it to happen? And Xehanort's Keyblade...originally came from the man they just confronted?
"Oh! An'!" Myde suddenly cried out as he turned around and saw...a rather fuming Anya storm out from the building, which got everyone else's attention. Seeing this, they all rushed over which, upon seeing them, she slowed down to a stop but looked away, angrily.
"What's wrong? Where's Dimitri and the Empress?" Xion asked, worriedly.
"He lied." Anya replied, furious.
"What you mean?" Lea asked, blinking. The conversation with the Master of Masters was instantly shoved back into his mind.
"Dimitri only used me to con the Empress to get her money! He lied from the very beginning and...Ugh!" Anya grunted, still fuming.
"What?!" Sora and the rest of the group exclaimed, shocked and horrified.
"The Empress heard about him before we even got here..." Anya explained.
"Why that little...!" Donald grunted angrily, and was about storm into the buildling to give Dimitri a piece of his mind, only for Mickey, Sora and Goofy to hold him back before he did anything reckless or stupid.
"So he lied to us." Riku grunted, now angry at Dimitri as well.
Lea angrily ran his fingers through his head, sighing while trying to keep his temper in check, "I knew there was somethin' suspicious about him."
"Con artists are never honest, and doing what he attempted to do with you and the Empress is not something to be forgiven." Jack sighed, angry himself.
Anya, sighing, then once again stormed off, which surprised the others who, including Donald who calmed down but still bitterly thinking about smacking Dimitri to next Tuesday, hurried to follow her.
"Anya? Where you going?" Kairi asked, worriedly.
"To Sophie's. I'm leaving Paris and going back to St. Petersburg. I should've just worked at the Fish Factory!" Anya answered, and she could feel the beginning of tears forming in her eyes.
"You're not serious, are you!?" Sora cried out, shocked. "I mean, sure what Dimitri did was wrong, but you're just giving up now, even when you came all this way?"
"Yeah. So you're not the Empress' grand-daughter after all. Why not just stick around for a little while longer to find your real family while you're still here? You can't at least give up on that, right?" Myde agreed.
Anya paused, shaking her head. "If I did have a family here, someone would've noticed, or at least I would've noticed someone to look similiar to me. Besides, I can't just randomly ask people if they lost a daughter or granddaughter or niece ten years ago. For all I know...maybe I had a family who planned on moving here as a gift for me or something...and they all died and I have no one left..."
"I hate to say it but...she does have a bit of a point. Just knocking randomly isn't such a good idea." Noctis hesitatedly agreed.
The rest of the worldly travellers all sighed. Here they had hoped that Anya would find something...and yet coming here now...was a waste of time and all for nothing.
"Comrade Phlegmenkoff was right." Anya muttered, shaking her head again. "I was right; I'm just a nameless, skinny, no-account, nobody, with no past and no future. All I have is the necklace given to me by someone who is dead."
"That's not true." Mickey pointed out as he approached the distraughted young woman, as his heart ached in sympathy. "You have us, because we're your friends."
"Still..." Anya muttered, and while she did appreciate the worldly travellers, who she at least knew, with their honesty, were her real friends, not Dimitri, she also knew, with an aching heart, they couldn't stay and she couldn't go with them. "Can I...ask all of you at least to help me get back to Russia? I mean, you don't have you and I don't want to be anymore of a pest than I already was from the start..."
"Who says you're a pest? Of course we'll help! It's the least we can do. Right?" Sora replied, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement, while Kairi went over and gave Anya a comforting hug in an attempt to cheer her up.
Which did...a little.
A little while later, while Anya had left with the worldly travellers to Sophie's house as they'd been invited to stay for a little bit, Dimitri, having failed to get Anya to know the truth while feeling guilty for his actions, had drove a car he'd stolen and parked up right in front of Sophie's house, with the angered and not impressed Empress in the back seat, having brought here against her will.
Dimitri then walked out of the car front seat before opening the back seat, saying to the old woman firmly, "You have to talk to her. Just look at her. Please."
"I won't be badgered by you a moment longer." The Empress informed him stubbornly.
Holding back the urge to sigh in exasperation, Dimitri knelt down low as he pulled out the beautiful box he carried with him since St. Petersburg, asking, "Do you recongise this?"
Gazing at the box, the Empress gently plucked it from the young man, and indeed she recongised it, asking softly, "Where did you get this?"
Instead of answering, Dimitri told her, softer this time, "I know you've been hurt, but it's just possible she's been as lost and alone as you."
A moment of pause, and then the Empress, seeing how she wasn't going to get out of this, sighed in exasperation, "You'll stop at nothing, will you?"
"I'm probably about as stubborn as you are." He replied.
Upstairs in one of the guest bedrooms, Sora and the others sighed while Anya was packing up her clothing in her suit before noticing a rose which Dimitri gave her earlier and glared at it before throwing it into a trash box when the door knocked.
"Go away, Dimitri!" Anya snapped, not borthering to look.
"Maybe it's Sophie?" Skuld suggested.
"I'll get it." Mickey volunteered, before opening the door carefully. His eyes widen in shock and surprise when the person standing there wasn't either Dimitri or Sophie. It was an old woman in evening clothing, with a staff used as a cane. She wore a crown on her head. Sora and the rest of the group also saw and they all immediately stood up.
"Oh! Um...H-hello, ma'am." Mickey stuttered, nervously before bowing and allowing her to enter. Sora and the others, even Jack and Noctis who caught on a second later than his friends, and Myde whom Lea elbowed in the ribs to follow along, did the same.
When Any heared what Mickey said and turned, shock and embarrassment dawned onto her, as she recongised the woman as the Empress whom she saw through the telescope, having been sitting with Sophie.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I... I thought you were..." Anya quickly apologuised.
"I know very well who you thought I was, as did your friends." The Empress replied, before she asked the young woman and the group, "Who are you?"
"I'm Sora, Your Highness." Sora, introducing himself and then the rest of the worldly travellers, before introducing Anya, a little awkwardly, "And this is...well, she calls herself Anya, as do the rest of us-well, we call her Anya too."
"Anya was hoping you can help her, your majesty." Kairi added, gently.
The Empress, while mentally admitting that these people were nice and a bit more honest, sighed as she approached the small balcony, saying, "My dears, I'm old, and I'm tired of being conned and tricked."
"We really don't want to trick you." Aqua replied.
"And I suppose the money doesn't interest you either?"
"Nope. We only wanted to help Anya get her memory back." Lea replied, with the rest of the group nodding to confirm it.
"I lost my memory ten years ago, so I just want to know who I am." Anya added truthfully, "Whether or not I belong to a family, your family."
The Empress turned, and despite their kindness, she had to admit, she almost fell for their claims. "You're very good actors and actresses. The best yet, in fact. But I've had enough."
The group lowered their heads in disappointment. After being conned and tricked for so long, it's apparent that the Empress has too heart-broken to even tell who was lying and who was telling the truth, and as far as this went, they might as well face the facts that Anastasia was dead and so were Anya's family. Plus, there was no point in risking an argument with the Empress herself.
But as the Empress turned to leave, Anya caught a scent which was familiar and inquired, "Peppermint?"
"An oil for my hands." The Empress answered, pausing as she was still suspicious.
"Yes..." Anya muttered, as suddenly she could see more and more memories appear in her mind, and she then she spoke, as though she was experiencing her past, "I spilled a bottle. The carpet was soaked and it forever smelled of peppermint. Like you."
Sora and his companions gazed at their friend in surprise, before sharing a glance of slight confusion and realization. Did this mean Anya's memory was finally coming back for real? Even the Empress was admittedly stunned, taking a few steps back into the room.
"Uh, maybe we should leave these two alone for a little bit." Noctis suggested, seeing how this might not be a good time in staying around in a slightly crowded room.
Despite the hesitation, the group nodded in agreement, before bowing their respects to the Empress who nodded, and they all left the room to head downstairs and wait, while Anya was still memorizing what she was seeing in her mind.
"I used to lie there on that rug and, oh, how I missed you when you went away... When you came here, to Paris." Anya finished in sudden realising, and froze. It was more than just seeing it in her mind...she could somehow feel that her heart was showing her the truth and placed a hand to her head, overwhelmed.
Seeing how overwhelming it was for the young woman, the Empress sat down on a stool and gestured Anya to join her, which she did. Perhaps this young strikingly familiar woman and her friends were telling the truth about her amnesia, especially since the expression Anya held was definitely real. She then noticed something around Anya's neck which again looked familiar.
"What is that?" The Empress asked, gently.
"This?" Anya replied, gesturing at her necklace, before answering, "Well, I've always had it, ever since before I can remember."
"May I?" The older woman requested, and Anya took it off before handing over to the Empress who gazed at it. Emotion dawning as she recongised it as well. "It was our secret. My Anastasia's and mine."
Truth dawning onto them, the Empress pulled out the golden box Dimitri gave her, which Anya recongised as the same one she saw on the ferry and remembering the secret, more and more memories returned to her.
It wasn't a Jewerly Box.
"The Music Box." Anya whispered, carefully taking it from the Empress, muttering, "To sing me to sleep when you were in Paris." before she began humming and used the necklace to wind it up, and a beautiful music came with it when it opened up it's lid, revealing two miniture statues of a man and a woman dancing to it, which she began to sing the song, and the Empress instantly joined in.
Once the song finished, Anya's memory finally returned and her eyes watered with great emotion, as did the Empress'...her grandmother's. Both of them now knew the full truth, and they couldn't be any happier.
"Oh, Anastasia...My Anastasia!" The Empress' muttered, her voice full of tears of happiness, and Anya, now fully identifed as Anastasia, threw her arms around her as the older woman did the same, sharing a longing hug.
They were finally reunited.
While Kairi, having hidden herself behind the door, tried not to cry in happiness at the heart-warming reunion, before she walked off silently to rejoin the others and inform them of what she saw. Outside of the house, Dimitri stood on the street, gazing up at the window while blowing a kiss before he walked away in sadness.
Meanwhile, at the top of a clock tower unnoticed by anyone, Rasputin, Bartok and Arydn took residence there and it was a day after Anastasia had finally reunited with her grandmother, much to the sorcerer's chargin. But he decided not to let that stop him.
"Bartok, get me a comb. Find some cologne. I want to look my best." Rasputin told the bat.
"That might take some work, sir." Bartok pointed out.
"We don't have much time to dwaddle, because we're attending a party." Arydn said smoothly while placing a newspaper flat on the table wher Bartok stood.
"A party in Paris?" Bartok asked, excitedly.
"Exactly."
Quickly looking forward to a party after reading the newspaper, which the headlines said, "Royal Party planned, Romanov Princess Found!", Bartok then began to dance while while demostrating dance-moves to the two men, "Oh, boy! I could teach you the latest dance step. It starts with a woo! And then you get really crazy with the hips, sir. It's fun!"
"We'll let the Grand Duchess, Anastasia have her moment!" Rasputin informed his companions, his back to them and not having listened to what Bartok had said.
"Who cares?" Bartok replied, still dancing.
Ardyn chuckled, before finishing for Rasputin, "That is when we kill her along with Sora and his friends."
"Right, and then..." Bartok trailed off, realising what the plan was, stopped dancing while asking in shock. "Kill her and those guys? But what happened to the party idea?"
Rasputin approached the table, while answering, "That's where we'll kill her." before grabbing the newspaper and shred it into pieces, growling, "CRUSH her at the height of her glory!"
"And we're back to the crushing." Bartok muttered in exasperation, before saying pleadingly to Rasputin, "Sir, I am begging you, please, PLEASE, forget the girl and her friends and get a life!"
"Oh, I'll get a life, Bartok..." Rasputin replied, before grunting evilly, "Hers!" before laughing manically.
Things were looking from up to down here.
To say that Sora and the rest of the group had been shocked and relieved that Anya really was Anastasia would've been an understatement. But after realising that it all made sense, they were just happy that their friend had returned to her only family who was just as happy to have her granddaughter back.
The worldly travellers were now walking through the large chamber room of the Palace as they'd been summoned by the Empress who wanted to speak to them. Sora and his friends paused in their steps as they saw their friend, the very Princess they helped, stand there. Anastasia now wore a crystal tiara with a golden sparkly dress with a blue sash across her chest and sleeves that just hung on her arms.
The Princess saw them and smiled as she approached. "Sora, everyone..." She greeted.
The group nodded, before they bowed to respect their friend now as royalty, with Terra greeting back with a well mannered, "Your Highness."
"Really, it's not necessary." Anya smiled.
"Of course it is, your highnie." Jack replied. "Not to mention it is something you must get used to."
"Not to mention it would be disrespectful for us not to." Riku added, smiling warmly. "We're glad that you found your family and got your memory back."
"I never could've done it without either of you." Anya replied, before muttering a bit sourly, "And as much as I hate to admit it...I couldn't have done it without Dimitri, either."
None of them could blame her for being bitter. Dimitri was still on Anastasia's bad list and while she had cooled down, it had hurt her knowing that all he cared about was the money. Sora and the others aren't too happy with him either.
"Speaking of the Con-Artist..." Myde grumbled as a familiar figure caught his sight. When everyone else turned to see, annoyed expressions filled up their faces as, a little surprisingly, a not-smiling Dimitri came down from the stairs, apparently having been called in by the Empress as well. Most likely to get the 10 Million Rubbles.
"Hello, Dimitri." Anya greeted.
"Hey, Dimitri." Sora greeted, in a none-too-pleasent voice, folding his arms against his chest.
"Hello." Dimitri greeted.
"Did you get your reward?" The Princess asked, indifferently.
"My business is complete." He replied in a matching tone.
Noctis rolled his eyes, while sarcastically saying to Dimitri, "Congratulations."
"Young man," An elderly butler approached, saying to Dimitri, "Like these people, you will bow, and address the Princess as 'Your Highness'."
"No, it's not-"
"Please," Dimitri kindly held up a hand, bowing to Anastasia, before continuing, wanting to make this conversation short. "Your Highness. I'm glad you found
what you were looking for."
Seeing how Dimitri was leaving, Anya replied, "Yes, I'm glad you did, too."
After a slight pause, Dimitri bowed for the final time, saying, "Well, then. Goodbye, Your Highness." before walking past her and waving a farewell to Sora's group, muttering a soft, "So long, guys." and then walked through the hallway.
"Uh...see ya." Sora waved back, a bit awkwardly.
"Her Majesty awaits you." The butler said to the worldly travellers, gesturing them to upstairs.
The group nodded, before bowing their respects to Anya again and then walked up the stairs to meet with the Empress herself.
Anya watched her friends leave, before gazing back to where Dimitri disappeared, and while she knew he couldn't hear her, she whispered, "Goodbye."
Yet, none of them knew that they weren't out of the woods just yet, as the final trial of the Romanov Empire world was just around the corner...waiting for them.
A/N: This was originally gonna be the final chapter of the Romanov Empire, but after struggling on how to fill up the timing between the Ballet and Anya's reunion with the Empress, it ended up like this. So half of the next chapter will definitely end the adventures of this world and the second half will lead on to the next.
Which I still haven't decided which one I want to do next. See you all in the next chapter!