She came home again with bruises on her arms. She always came home with new ones. Ivan hated it. He had tried to walk her home before but he couldn't save her from those men. He couldn't save his own sister! She had argued that it was okay and he didn't need to try to help her- he should protect their youngest sister. If he tried anything against those men he'd be hurt and she'd be targeted. He couldn't have that. He wished he could be stronger.
"I can help you."
Ivan blinked. He was in a dark place with seemingly no end. "Where…who…"
"You're here in my dream world Wonderland! With me! Call me Peter. I like that name." a little boy popped out of nowhere, scaring the young man.
"Wh…why am I here?"
"You said you wished to be stronger. I can help you, but you have to do something for me."
Ivan eyed the child warily. "I don't make deals with strange children."
"So you don't want to protect your sisters?"
"I do." The young man frowned sadly. "I'm weak because I have no courage…but you said it yourself - this is a dream world."
"Dreams hold magic; the more times it is dreamed the more it gains. I can give you courage." Peter grinned widely. "I'll grant your wish if you just dream of me and help fill this world."
Ivan looked around at the bleak darkness. That was all? Dream of the kid and brighten the nothingness of that plain. Sounded easy enough, however there had to be something else.
"I promise that is all I want." Peter giggled. "Don't look so surprised, mister. I'm a dream, this is my realm. I can read your mind."
"So…" Ivan said slowly. "That's all?"
"Yep!"
"No catch?"
"Making Wonderland pretty is the catch."
"Seriously?"
"Cereally."
Ivan sighed as he watched Peter giggle excitedly. "Alright. Deal."
"Yay! I won't disappear!" the little Dream cheered. "You're my Alice!"
"Your…what?"
"Bye-bye!"
Ivan woke with a start. He had fallen asleep in a wooden rocking chair with his little sister Natalia snoozing against his chest. For a long moment he forgot what he had dreamed, but his eye caught sight of a silky red ribbon between his fingers. He had only seen that object in one place. Around Peter's throat. It wasn't just an idle dream of hopeful imagination.
As promised, Ivan opened his mind to Peter every night. He filled the dark "Wonderland" with his small village. Sunflowers sprouted from every garden. The people he imagined were as nice and friendly as he wished they could be in real life. It was a perfect world.
Holding up to his end of the deal, Peter used his gained magic on Ivan. At first, the latter didn't feel a difference. However, as time went on, he didn't fear dark alleys or sideways glances from the wrong crowd. He struck up the nerve to even spit at one when they whistled at his older sister Katyusha.
Ivan started training. He was naturally large so if he built up some muscle he'd be intimidating. If he had useable, strong muscle his family would never be messed with again.
"You got big~!" Peter admired his Alice as he hung from one of Ivan's thick arms.
"Thanks to you, Peter."
"Ha-ha! I always keep my promises!" Peter's smiling ace melted suddenly. He heard though Ivan's unconscious ears a panicked cry. "Your sisters are being harassed again."
"What?" Ivan looked around the bright replica of his village. "Where? Who is harassing them?"
Peter looked sad. He had promised his Alice strength to protect his sisters, but he felt like very thing was about to go awry. "It's nothing they can't handle."
Ivan snarled. "What? You little-! Let me out of here! I have to protect them!"
"I-I can't. You'll do something bad!"
"I'll darken Wonderland if you don't let me go."
Peter frowned. "I can't."
The large mortal glared at the dream. His dark amaranthine eyes seemed to blaze with hate and anger. Slowly, the grass beneath their feet died. The sky grew cloudy. Peter broke the stare to wheel about wildly in shock.
"No! Don't do that, Mr. Alice!" he was sobbing now. "Please! You don't understand!"
"I understand perfectly, Peter. You had planned to trap me here under false pretenses. You had never planned to keep your promise." Ivan growled lowly. Lightning crackled behind him. A strong wind bellowed through the streets.
"No, no, no…" Peter clenched his fists. "Fine. Leave. And don't you ever come back!" the child shoved Ivan's middle with remarkable strength.
Ivan jumped up as he woke in the real world. His bed, nothing but a pile of blankets on the floor, was empty. Usually Natalia would sneak in and snuggle against his side, and Katyusha would follow suit.
The dark night was quiet for the first few seconds. Ivan even contemplated whether or not the Dream had lied to get a rise out of him. Finally he heard Katyusha call out in panic. They were outside.
Not even stopping to pull on his boots or coat, the young man raced to the alley beside their home. It was a frigid night with the first snow of winter falling to the dirty ground. Backed into a corner, his only family shivered in the chill. A two man team was approaching them with knives.
"Aww~. Would you look at this? She has a younger sister. She's so beautiful." One man purred in a sickly sweet tone.
"I call dibs." The other one grinned.
Ivan brought back his fist and roared. "Leave them alone!"
The men looked back only to see a large fist rush at them. They just barely dodged it.
"You stay away!" he yelled at them. In his belly a raging inferno grew hotter and hotter. "Before I make you!"
"Ha!" one snorted. "Two against one. That's hardly fair."
"You're way out of your league, here, kid." The other snickered. "You see these knives? They haven't been sharpened recently so they'll hurt like Hell!" he lunged forward, slicing Ivan across the chest.
Choking in agony, the young man fell to the ground. The pain sucked away all his air, and blinded him. Natalia broke away from Katyusha to kneel by her brother.
"Brother! Brother, are you okay? Get up, please!" her sobbing six year old voice elicited chuckles from the assailants.
"Isn't that cute?"
"She looks like an angel."
"Remember. I have dibs."
Ivan forced his eyes to focus. Natalia was shaking his shoulder; crystalline tears were cascading down her porcelain pink cheeks. Behind her was the scumbag who had called "dibs" on her. He was reaching for her tattered, threadbare, blue dress. In anger and disgust, Ivan groped around for something useful. His fingers touched a cold metal object. Without checking to see what it was, he swung it at the man.
A sickening crack echoed in the alley. The man's body collapsed like a rag doll; his face was looking behind him.
Ivan eyed the corpse in disbelief. Had he really, just so easily, killed a man? The blood coming from the man's nose, mouth, and ears; and the odd kink in his neck said so.
The cadaver's friend was staring in shock and horror. "Y-You killed him…my best friend…You bastard! You killed him!"
Ivan was able to push Natalia aside just as the other assailant threw himself onto his stinging chest. The knife was poised to stab his heart. Using what he had just murdered with, Ivan held back the man's hand and glinting knife. Ivan was much stronger. He was able to push him off and into the brick wall adjacent to them.
"Run!" he roared to his sisters.
They were frozen to the ground in complete and utter terror.
The man peeled himself away from the wall and tried to attack the prone females. Ivan raced after him. The knife nearly met Katyusha's head when the pipe Ivan still had in his grasp hit the man's midsection.
He tumbled to the ground and tried to crawl away. His arm was wrapped around his broken ribs. The pipe sailed through the air and landed square on his back. Ivan saw red as he beat the man bloody. He kept swinging even after he had died.
No one was to harm Ivan's sisters. No one. Anyone who tried had to die.
"I-Ivan! Ivan, stop." Katyusha sobbed. "Please-he's dead now. You can stop…IVAN!"
Ivan's pipe hit the mangled corpse one last time. The flesh was steaming in the cold air. The fresh snow surrounding them was wet and red. "He won't…hut you anymore. No one will hurt you."
He turned around to his sisters. Blood splattered his shirt front, face, hair, and arms. His side eyes were wild with glee, his smile was deranged.
"I won't let them hurt you. I will always protect my dear sisters."
Natalia gazed at her bloodied brother. She had idolized him as a calm and caring man. This person in front of her was not her brother. She was pretty sure he wasn't even human. He was a red demon.
"You understand that I love you, right?" he purred. The rough pad of his thumb caressed Natalia's soft cheek to wipe away a tear. She could feel the hot sticky blood smear across her skin in his thumb's wake.
Hesitantly, she nodded.
In the months that followed, many of the villagers were horrified with what Ivan had done. But soon their horror was pacified when he explained it was defense and momentary insanity. Life resumed to normal. However, the men who usually harassed Katyusha back off. Two years went by in bliss.
Suddenly the assailants came after Katyusha and Natalia again. They believed that without two years of practice Ivan could be taken down. They were horribly wrong.
The whole lot of them were found by morning mangled, bloody, broken, and dead.
Everything went downhill fast. Whoever would look at the Braginski girls the wrong way-even accidentally-were dead men. Soon it carried over to the gossiping women. Innocent travelers, too. And the village was too afraid to do anting to stop him.
Natalia hated it when she saw the rusted steel pipe by the front door drip with glistening blood. She hated and feared the red demon her brother had become. She feared he'd kill her and Katyusha if they even so much as seemed like dangers to themselves.
Sometimes she saw him by his bed clutching a shiny red ribbon and muttering to himself. He talked about a little boy named Peter and a dream land he dubbed Wonderland. He wanted to go there again and apologize to Peter. He said he wanted more power to destroy all the dangers to his sisters. He had completely lost his mind.
"Brother…" Katyusha coaxed gently. "D-dinner's ready if you want some."
Ivan looked up from his incoherent mutterings. "Kat… I would…like that. Is it Borscht?"
"Y-yes. Y-you're favorite."
"Thank you, sister."
Then the two entered the kitchen they found Natalia at the pot stirring the thick soup. She whirled around. He eyes were wide and startled.
"Natalia," Ivan greeted. "How nice of you to stir the Borscht so it doesn't burn."
"Y-yes. How nice." Katyusha murmured. "Will you help me put it into bowls?"
"Let me, Katyusha." Ivan insisted. "I don't want you two to scald yourselves."
"O-okay…"
Natalia hurried to her older sister's side. They went into the front room. Katyusha checked to see if Ivan was listening. Then she whispered harshly to the young girl.
"What were you really doing?"
"I…love brother but he …scares me. I …"
"What did you do, Natalia?"
"Don't eat the Borscht, sister."
"Katyusha. Natalia." Ivan called. "Come sit and eat with me."
Natalia locked her navy blue eyes with Katyusha's lighter royal blue eyes. "Let Ivan eat first, like usual, then excuse yourself for something-anything. I'll follow. We'll leave."
"B-but…he'll catch us…"
"He won't. Not right away." I…hate it, but I've made a plan. This is the only way to help him."
"Sisters? Are you alright?" the man's voice was becoming worried.
"Sorry, Ivan. I-I'm just drawing on the window glass with N-Natalia." Katyusha called. "We're coming."
Around the small dining table, the small family sat down in the creaking chairs. Ivan smiled. Katyusha and Natalia nervously smiled back.
"Won't you have some?" Ivan asked just before a spoonful of soup touched his lips.
"Oh, we're just waiting to see if it is still too hot." Katyusha said smoothly. Tears glistened in her eyes.
"We don't want to get burned." Natalia added.
The oblivious murderer smirked. "Of course. I shall try it first." He popped in his spoonful. "Mmm! Perfect. You did well, Katyusha."
The eldest sister was trembling. Her resolve seemed to be diminishing. "T-thank you, b-brother…"she watched with pursed lips as he downed a few more gulps. "U-uh, I'll go find b-bread. We should h-have that bread the baker gave us." She stood up.
"I'll help you, sister." Natalia stood as well. "Brother, you don't need to trouble yourself. We'll be back soon."
"Alright." Ivan slurped up some more Borscht.
The women walked into the kitchen slowly. Katyusha was crying silently. Natalia wiped her wet eyes as she crawled under the counter for the pre-prepared coats. As they opened the back door they heard a horrible hacking noise. Ivan stood and his chair tumbled to the floor. He stumbled into the kitchen. His eyes were wild; his mouth was dripping with blood, and bits of vegetables.
"We're so sorry, Ivan." Katyusha sobbed.
"It was…it was you?"
"We're sorry." Natalia pulled her sister out of the house. They fled into the street where the entire village-or what was left of it- stood waiting.
"Is he coming?" asked the mayor.
"Yes." Natalia said quietly. For an eight year old she held herself rather well in this situation.
"I see…" came the half choked voice of Ivan. "The village…made…you poison me."
His pipe dragged in the snow behind him. He coughed and hacked wetly, drenching his chest and scarf with sticky black-red liquid.
"They…threatened you…I see, I see!...I'll," his calm wide eyes darkened. "I'll kill…Them all…for you, sisters!"
"Please, brother, no! We don't want this!" Katyusha cried. Her tears were freezing to her lovely face.
"But…" Ivan raised the well-used pipe. "I'm doing this…for you…my only family…I have to protect you-"
"From what?" challenged the older woman. "The thugs? They're all dead. They were all buried in nailed caskets! I know I'm not supposed to have pity for those who attacked me but…what you did to punish them was wrong! A-And all those innocent people…You're not the brother I raised and grew up with."
"Sister…how can you…say that?" his crazy eyes darted to Natalia. She looked away.
"Ivan Braginski!" bellowed the mayo. "For your sins, we-the people of Fort Heta-sentence you to death."
Through a ragged veil of pale hair, Ivan glared at the man. The huntsmen of the village raised their guns.
"You will all die…before I ….stop protecting my…beloved sisters…" he made a mad dash into the forest to escape the red hot bullets that flew at him from the barrels of the many rifles.
"After him!"
The remaining villagers plunged into the wooded area. Dogs howled hungrily at their heels. Natalia left her sister's side to race after him as well. She was scared for him as much as she was of him. He was still her brother, possessed by a demon or not.
Ivan loped through the dead brush and snow mounds expertly. He felt his insides churn with betrayal and poison. Anger boiled deep in his lower belly. How could they? All he wanted was to keep them safe.
Stepping over a branch, he failed to see the hole half-hidden by snow. Pain flared up his leg as it twisted unnaturally. Suddenly he was falling down the slope. He tumbled head over heels, doing summersaults unceremoniously before slamming into the sharp roots of an upturned tree.
His wasn't happening. No, it couldn't be. Ivan's eye lids began to close. The cold around him, as well as the agony and turbulent emotions were fading. His fingertips felt warm. Was this death?
In the small sliver of time that the realm beyond touched ours, Peter was able to step into the snow. He had not aged a day. "You're a failed Alice." He said in lamentation.
"I-I…tried…"
Peter grinned. "You did well. Sleep now."
Ivan was so tired. He let the grip on the ribbon in his hand loosen. His body slumped against the roots. The last breath he released was slow and drawn out.
The villagers were on the slope above him staring in horror. Natalia pushed her way to the front and screamed. One large stake-like root was sticking straight through her brother's chest. It dripped with hot blood.
She ran down to his cooling body sobbing and screaming. "Ivan! Brother! I'm so sorry! Can you hear me?" she held the sides of his face. Crystalline tears cascaded down her flushed porcelain cheeks. "I'm so sorry! I love you, brother, I love you!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a boy's shimmering form pluck the red ribbon from her large, late brother's hand and slip back into the dream realm. With Ivan's soul set free from his body by the Grim Reaper, the two realms were no longer connected.
So ended the first chapter of the little Dream's search for his Alice. If it weren't for the murderous red path left in his wake, no one would have known this spade had ever existed.