Alright. So this chapter isn't my favorite. But honestly I think I wrote this chapter four different times, and this one was the least sucky.


Anastasia pinched the corner of the curtain between her thumb and index finger and carefully peeled it back enough to glance outside. She felt a little thrill of excitement. Looking out the windows had been expressly forbidden by both the guards and her mother, who feared someone might recognize them and attempt to free them or kill them, respectively. It was dark outside, now, and the train was speeding through the country side, so she figured there was no one outside to see her. She was sure she'd still get in trouble if she was caught, but there was also not much they could do to her.

It was Papa who had figured it out, that first day on the train. They were told they would spend a few days on the train and then be transferred to a boat to get to their destination. Spending all that time travelling could only mean one thing: they were headed for Siberia. She supposed there were worse places to be, but wasn't looking forward to the frigid Siberian winter months that were coming.

It had been days now, and Anastasia had to wonder if they were planning on keeping them all on the train for the rest of their lives. They hadn't even been allowed to stretch their legs when the train stopped for supplies every so often. Instead, Anastasia often opted to walk up and down the length of the compartments she was allowed in.

For her family, that meant their sleeping compartment, the dining car, and a car full of normal train seats. It was small and cramped, but it was still more freedom than she'd heard their entourage and servants were getting. They were confined in two cars, one for men and one for women, and wandering out of those cars was strictly forbidden, not even for meals. Anastasia shuddered to imagine what the bathroom situation was like for them. She had seen cattle treated better than the guards were treating the servants, and it didn't sit well with her at all.

"What are you doing?"

Anastasia yelped and hit her head against the window as the voice made her jump. She quickly turned, arranging her expression into one that she hoped looked innocent.

"Don't sneak up on me like that, Mashka," she breathed, pressing a hand to her heart.

"Maybe if you weren't breaking the rules, you wouldn't have been so startled," Maria quipped. Even still, she walked forward and pulled the corner of the curtain back as well.

"You can't really see much," Anastasia admitted. "It's too dark outside now."

"I'm told this is mostly farmland anyway," Maria said. "Not very interesting to look at. I can't believe this is all Russia, though. I never knew it was so large." Anastasia nodded in agreement. She wondered why it hadn't occurred to her that the land her family had ruled for centuries could be so vast. She had seen maps plenty of times and knew that Russia was the largest country on the globe, one-sixth of the entire world's surface in total. It just hadn't sunk in what that meant until the past few days.

"Where do you think we're going?" Anastasia asked her sister, who shrugged in response.

"I know as much as you do," she said. "Though I did overhear Mama say she hopes we're going to the town that Father Grigori was born."

"Pokrovskoye? Why would they send us there?" Anastasia frowned. She knew exactly why Mama would want to be sent there, but she didn't think the government would be so kind to them. She knew most of the Russian people didn't think of Rasputin kindly, and besides that, sending their family there could be viewed as giving them what they wanted. No, she was certain they would not be going to Pokrovskoye. Judging by the expression on her sister's face, Maria had come to the same conclusion. Anastasia reached out and took her sister's hand as she started to sniffle.

"I told Dmitry that it didn't matter to me where we were sent, as long as we were together," Maria said. "I think he believed me. I wish I could believe it myself." Anastasia bristled at the mention of Dmitry, but stamped the feeling down.

"Why don't you?" she asked.

"Is it something you would believe right now?" Maria asked, lowering herself into a seat nearby. Anastasia grudgingly shook her head. "Don't be mistaken, I am very glad we're all together. But I don't think that makes up for everything that's happened to us."

"What do you think will happen to us?" Anastasia asked. Once again, Maria could only shrug.

"I can tell you what I hope will happen," she offered. Anastasia nodded. "I'd like to think the provisional government will get this nasty revolution business sorted out. I don't think we'll ever be allowed to rule Russia again, but maybe they'd allow us to live in peace in the country side. Papa could be a simple farmer. I think he'd like that. And we wouldn't be duchesses anymore. We would all be free to do what we wanted with our lives."

"I've thought about that part," Anastasia said. "I would go and visit Nana in Paris first, but I'm not sure what I would do after that."

"I think I'd like to see the world a bit, and then settle down," she said. "I feel like there's so much to discover about the world." Anastasia bit her lip, then gave into her curiosity.

"Who do you think you'd want to marry?" she said lightly, trying not to raise her sister's suspicion. "Do you think you've met them yet?"

Maria frowned. "Well, the only people that were ever considered for me to marry were foreign princes. I doubt they would be allowed to marry us once this is over."

"But you said we'd be ordinary girls," Anastasia pressed. "We'd be allowed to marry ordinary boys, like soldiers."

"I suppose," Maria said. "Maybe I'd meet someone while travelling around."

"So no one's caught you eye, yet?" Anastasia asked. "None of the soldiers or guards or, well, anyone?"

"I haven't really thought about it much," Maria admitted, rising. She headed toward the door of the car they were in, then paused in the doorway. A second later, she turned to Anastasia with a bemused look.

"What?" Anastasia asked.

"You should know, Nastya," Maria said, "that you shouldn't worry. I don't think I've met the person I'll marry yet." She left then, the implication of her words hanging in the air. Anastasia couldn't help the smile that slowly spread across her face. She shouldn't be surprised that Maria had been able to see right through her. They had shared a room their entire lives, and Maria probably knew her better than anyone else in the world. She should have known better than to underestimate her sister. Anastasia lingered at the window for a few more minutes, deep in thought.


Anastasia jerked awake to the sound of someone pounding hard on the compartment door. All around her, her siblings and parents were sitting up in their bunks, looking just as startled as she was.

"Wake up! It's time to go."

"Go where?" Maria asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "They still haven't told us."

"Are you up yet?" Anastasia swung her feet out of bed and onto the floor as her papa stood up and opened the compartment door.

"Good morning," he greeted the guard peacefully, as if they hadn't been rudely awoken mere seconds before. "We were just getting up now. Might we have a few minutes to gather our belongings?"

"Don't get smart with me, Colonel Romanov," the guard growled. "Get your things together and report outside as soon as you're done. Be sure you have everything. Once this train leaves, it's not coming back." The guard stalked off as Nicholas closed the door.

"Come, my loves," her mama said, getting out of bed as well. "Hurry, so we don't make them angrier."

It didn't take long at all for them to gather the possessions they'd brought on the train with them. Most of their luggage and their servants' luggage was in the baggage car, so they only had a few suitcases and some personal items to keep track of. Anastasia changed her clothes quickly, throwing her nightdress into her suitcase after making sure her music box was still there. She hadn't moved it from her suitcase since she had put it in there, but double checking made her feel better. She couldn't imagine if it was lost.

Within ten minutes of waking, she and her family were standing with their suitcases outside the train while workers unloaded the rest of their luggage from the baggage car. They were throwing the bags haphazardly from the train, not caring what they landed on. Suddenly Anastasia was very glad her music box wasn't in one of those bags. Surely it would have been broken five times over by now.

"Mitya!" Alexei cried, and Anastasia looked over to the next train car. Their servants were being herded off the train, and she was horrified to see the state of them. Most of them look disheveled and exhausted. Dmitry had quite a bit of stubble covering his jaw, and it was so different from how she was used to seeing him that she was actually speechless for a second. The second he heard his name, though, Dmitry attempted to give them a small smile and wave.

"Where are we to go now?" she heard her mother ask one of the guards. "Are we staying here?" Anastasia and her siblings looked around. It wouldn't be so bad to stay here, she thought. It appeared they had arrived in a small, quaint town next to a river. All the buildings and houses looked small compared to what they were used to, but then again, they had been on a train for days now, so she wasn't about to complain.

"No, not here," one of the guards said. "There is a steamer boat waiting for you across town. It will take you to Tobolsk."

"Tobolsk?" Olga said with an air of disdain. "Why there? There's nothing in that town, I've heard."

"We're told the people do not view you as negatively as they do in St. Petersburg. It will be safer for you there," the guard replied. "The town is only accessible by the river, and that freezes over in the winter. There will be less of a chance for the Bolsheviks to reach you."

'Less of a chance for us to escape, too,' Anastasia thought bitterly. Once the river froze over, she knew they would be cut off from the outside world. It would be no better than staying in their home in the Winter Palace.

"Everyone is accounted for, sir," another guard reported. The first guard nodded and thanked him, then gestured for the family to begin loading themselves into the motor cars waiting to take them to the steamer.