Where is Your Heart Chapter 4: You Found Me, a hetalia - axis powers fanfic

Right, fourth chapter… WHOO! I am so happy for those that are still reading. 3 You get lots of love. And because it is the fourth, the 'Savior' will be appearing slightly in the next chapter. Yay! A little hint to may they who be.

Ok… I think I should warn you all… that this isn't a happy story. A lot of gore, character death, violence, mutilation, blood shed… suggested rape and highly implicated rape too… thought I should mention that minor detail…

And if I said that there were no more domesticated animals… I lied. There are a few horses and oxen and stuffs. And then there's Prussia's eagle/Gilbird.

Oh… and this chapter isn't focused on the main-main characters too much. I just felt like writing this one… And there is a mega time jump too. So, I apologize for any confusion that may occur. Oh, and this character hasn't been introduced to the story yet, so sorry for throwing his past at you like this… . Even though I partly did it in the first two chapters anyway. I'm sorry, ok. And this character gets nearly a whole chapter to themselves because I love them to squishy!

But anyway… I will do a few of these specific character chapters, but not for everyone unless someone asks to just have one for their favorite character put in, but otherwise I'll just do the ones that contribute to the main story. So don't say that I'm just writing crap and tell me to get back to the main storyline because this is it. :D

You Found Me: Kelly Clarkson

Is this a dream

If it is

Please don't wake me from this high

I've become

Comfortably numb

Until you opened up my eyes

To what's it's like

When everything's right

Oh I can't believe

You found me

When no one else was looking

How did you know just where I would be

Yeah you broke through all of my confusion

The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave

I guess you saw what nobody could see

You found me

So here we are

That's pretty far

When you think of where we've been

No going back

I'm fading out

All that has faded me within

You're by my side

Now everything's fine

I can believe

You found me

When no one else was looking

How did you know just where I would be

Yeah you broke through all of my confusion

The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave

I guess that you saw what nobody could see

The good and the bad and the things in between

You found me

PS~! This chapter is frustratingly long. But I just had more than I thought to put in. I actually only put in less than half of what my brain conspired. So no whining and just read it. And Finally, all the character chapters I DO do will be long. But eventually the normal chapters will be the same or longer.

:::

IVAN

Normal five year olds weren't made to do this work. To toil in the fields blizzard or no blizzard until the skin on their fingers started to split and their lips crack. And what they grew they received none of as the orphanage sent it away to feed the fat nobles who received food from every possible corner of the country.

But he was happy and to him his life was bliss. Because he still had his twelve year old sister to look out for him and sneak him food that she risked her life to get, and his two year old sister who gave HIM something to protect and both his sisters gave him purpose. And they were probably the most happy and unscathed children at the orphanage.

Though sometimes, when no one was looking, he would cry for his sisters. Because his elder sister, Katuyasha, was raised in gentle ways and the bitter work they did now was making her hard and with only slight chance that she would smile during the day.

At night time after a dismal supper that to the orphans seemed a wholesome meal, she would be taken away and would not return for many hours, sometimes not until the next morning, where the owner of the orphanage would carry her unconscious, back to her bed.

He wouldn't find out why for many years, that would seem as only days.

Late one night as he was seven now and cuddled up with his four year old sister to keep her warm, Natalia, Katuyasha now at fourteen shook him awake gently and slipped him some food that he hid under his pillow for morning. Even though he was half asleep, he promptly noticed the limp she tried to conceal and she blushed with tears on her cheeks as he stared at her leg.

"I have to leave Vanya… I can't take it here anymore… Natalia is too young… but when she is your age, please run away as well and head for the border. I'm running south to where it is warm and I will meet you at the border on your ninth birthday alright?"

Ivan nodded, contemplating it all in his young mind. "Why are you leaving…?"

"I want to make a better life for us dorogoi … And I can't do it here." (dear) She smiled kindly at him, wiping his eyes of the tears that had begun to fall and in time would hold within a wounded heart. But for now they fell silently and she dried them as a mother would. Biting her bottom lip, she kissed Ivan and the sleeping Natalia on their foreheads one last time before she stood up and turned quickly to stop herself from going back on her plan and she snuck out of the orphanage, stole a plough horse from the stables and fled the orphanage and the country.

The next few years passed by as much the same as they usually would. Natalia grew more beautiful everyday and was one of the few rare beautiful children chosen to learn music and how to read and write. That was how Katuyasha and Ivan had begun their lives at the orphanage and were fed hot meals that filled the plate. That was until they expressed their strength and durability to the environment and were put to work immediately. Ivan whispered to Natalia before she was moved out of the cramped children's quarters to her own room, to not show them that she was as durable as her siblings so she could escape the hardships.

She did as she was told and now it was she that snuck food to him though more than Katuyasha ever could have and it was much more good for him than cold gruel that within the last year before his ninth birthday, he grew much more than the working orphans ever did, and was soon the tallest child there of his age. Around this time he told Natalia of their escape plan and she all too readily agreed. She had the means of easily obtaining provisions and jackets and blankets, and Ivan was strong enough to defend them from anyone that tried to stop them and guide the new plough horse from the stable no matter how stubborn and flee to the border.

It so happened that on the eve of their escape, as Natalia worked at embroidery with the rest of the 'beautiful' children, keeping an eye on her brother as he worked in the field, helping harvest the wheat, barley and flax, that a stranger rode in on a stormy grey stallion and a wagon being pulled by another less noble horse.

Ivan shivered as he rode past, staring down at the boy with a cold eye. He rode up to the door of the orphanage and dismounted the stallion, walking inside after being greeted by the owner of the orphanage. Ivan had no idea who he was and what he was there for, but he didn't intend to find out. So he turned back to tying a bundle of wheat. He was in a good mood today. The sun was peaking out from behind the clouds and behind the children's quarters he had found a sunflower. Small and frozen before given time to grow, but a sunflower none the less, which he had hidden under his bed to take with them to the border.

He couldn't wait to leave and see his sister again. Katuyasha would be sixteen now. Maybe she had found a husband and they would be a big family somewhere nice and warm and sunny. All he knew was farming so maybe he could farm for work and sell the produce fairly. Work off what he knew and make a life from it. Natalia would be able to put her talents to use. Maybe she would become a famous violinist. Or make dresses for wealthy women. She was terribly good at both these things.

These were the hopes of a boy who would be nine in a week. And that was how life should have been.

"So you are saying you want to adopt a child, sir?" The owner of the orphanage, to give him a name of no meaning as he is but a faceless man in this story, Vassili, asked the stranger who had yet to share his name.

"Da… That is what you are able to do at an orphanage?"

"Uh… da… The children outside are hard workers and feed the country… but the children we keep indoors are well educated and ready to be taken into a good home…"

"… Show them to me…"

Vassili gave a curt nod before leading the stranger to the large room, that had once been a ballroom now giant multi-purpose classroom, with only eleven children left to it, each with their own tutor.

The small portly man, Vassili, showed the taller, more masculine man, around, introducing each child to him. But he shook his head and pointed out their flaws. He needed someone perfect. At this, Vassili chewed the inside of his cheek.

"Our most talented and gifted orphan, Natalia. I regret to let her go as even the empress has taken a liking to her when she came last time on a visit."

The nameless man looked at Natalia and she narrowed her eyes, glaring back at him. They stayed that way, gaze locked for lord knows how log before he broke it and she kept glaring.

"Nyet… She is too stubborn and bred to be pampered. Let the empress have her. I need a child who is hardy and can stand many months outside in the winter blizzards."

"… Well… we have three working children that stood outside in the winter blizzards last year to cover and hold down the crops."

"Excellent. I will pay three hundred pieces of gold for your most hardy and durable child."

"Um… yes sir… Please follow me." They walked away and Natalia seethed inside. That was adoption… like paying for cattle. Warning bells began to ring faintly, but before they could get louder and bring her to attention on what was going to happen, she was called back to work by her tutor. She was half way through her third line of writing out the principles and laws of the new emperor's family, when something in her mind clicked and she could hear nothing but the loud chiming of the bells in her head, like that off a monastery.

She threw aside her ink and quill, staining the poor tutor's dress and ran after Vassili and this stranger.

"Ivan… come here please…"

Ivan looked up from the pile of wheat bundles he had been stacking with another faceless character that was helping him. Vassili was calling him to the door of the orphanage. He was in awe when he stepped in as he hadn't been inside the actual building since he was a little child. It had changed so much, with fresh sunflowers in old antique vases, depicting bears dancing and white swans with crowns on their heads, wings spread mid flight.

So pretty, he thought. But his attention was called aside when the doctor that overlooked all the ailments at the orphanage pulled him aside roughly and he winced. In the corner of the room stood the stranger who had stared him down and was doing so again. He looked away.

The doctor was squeezing his calf muscles and arms, moving them around to flex them and test their resistance. He pressed his hands against his stomach to see if it was firm with muscle as it was.

Satisfied, the doctor stood up and he was made to open his mouth to look at his teeth and oral hygiene. He used a mirror to shine light into his eyes and test the pupil dilation and did the same to see if inside his ears were clean.

He may have been a working orphan, but he kept himself well. Asides from being a little dirty from the work already done that day, Ivan was in perfect condition. Physically and hygienically.

"What's going on?" He asked as any curious and slightly scared child would.

Vassili put on a plastic smile, something he had only ever seen when he had asked him about Katuyasha when he had returned her to her bed all those times.

"Go upstairs and take a bath and change into some new clothes Ivan."

He didn't have a choice. The doctor and his assistant had already taken him by the arms and were leading him up the stairs to the bathroom.

Just as the disappeared up top, Natalia ran into the room with a fierce expression on her face. She stormed over to Vassili and pointed her finger at him.

"You're not taking my brother away from me." She hissed. Vassili didn't want to hurt Natalia, especially as the empress was looking to adopt her for lack of being able to have her own child. So he called one of the servants over and a guard and they went to take her back to her lessons.

"NYET! You won't take Vanya from me!" She started screaming as the guard picked her up.

"Take her to her room." Vassili said. "She can eat and take her lessons there until she learns to behave and not raise her voice."

The guard and servant did as told. And she was carried screaming out of the room. Still too small at seven years old to do anything but struggle and scream. And when they locked her in her room her screams turned to tears and she stopped hitting the door.

As she cried, she made a small prayer for her brother's safety and that he would somehow escape and make it to the border and to their sister, also taking a vow that she would find them when she was old enough and big enough and that she would pray for her beloved brother who had cared for her so much, she would pray for him every night.

Clean and in new clean clothes, Ivan wrinkled his nose, feeling stiff and odd in the different clothing. He wondered what all this was for. He was a worker. Workers did not get clean clothes. Workers did not get hot baths with fragrances from the east. And workers most definitely did not get doctors check ups out of the blue. That was on their birthdays and Christmas only. That was their present. And even then it was only a half a check up.

But when he was dry and dressed, the doctor and his assistant lead him back downstairs where the stranger handed a bag of something that chinked noisily to Vassili. He wanted to ask what was going on again… but the stranger looked down at him and… and… and SMILED. But it wasn't friendly. It was chilling. Ivan preferred the blizzards to this.

Vassili looked to him and smiled plastically again.

"Would you please take Ivan to our customer's wagon…?"

Ivan got it immediately. He wanted to scream and cry but he couldn't. He couldn't stop the doctor and assistant from walking him outside, where all the orphans stopped work to stare at his frightened face. He couldn't stop them pushing him into the back of the wagon and closing the door behind him.

He was shaking uncontrollably. This couldn't be happening. He was escaping with his sister the next night. They would be going somewhere warm. They would be leaving everything cold behind. He couldn't see anything going on because of the large roof pf linen and furs that darken everything and kept the warmth inside. And underneath all the blankets and cushions, save for a few pots and crates at the opposite end to the doors, the whole floor was basically one big mattress. It was odd but he couldn't think about it as he lost balance on the plush cushioning under him as the wagon started moving.

Now he really wanted to scream, but his voice had fallen silent. He wanted to cry but his eyes were dry. The only way he could show how scared he was, was through all the shivers that wracked his body, despite being in the warmest place he has ever seen. He was scared of the man who he now belonged to.

Something caught his eye as the wagon bounced around and he crawled over to it, pulling it out of the pot that had held it. It was a pipe. Natalia had showed him pictures from one of the books she had to learn from. She read it to him so he could learn too, because he couldn't read or write, and he had learnt that it was used to get water. It pulled it up from more pipes under ground.

Using it as a link to what he was leaving behind, his sister, he clung to it and pressed himself into the corner. As he sat there he thought.

Maybe this strange man was only mean looking because he was awkward around people. Like in the stories he heard of people that were supposedly scary but they found children and young teens on the side of the road and took them on adventures and taught them how to fight and so many other things and they became real fathers to the children they taught and loved them more than anything.

These childish hopes sent Ivan into dreams where the world was good. The stranger worked him hard like in the stories, but he really cared for him and they ate hot borscht by the fire. They went back for Natalia and Katuyasha found them and they lived to call this man father.

But as we all know, childish hopes and dreams are always dashed by heartless reality.

The wagon came to a sudden halt, jolting Ivan awake. He clutched the pipe to his chest when he heard the heavy sound of boots crunching down on the snow.

The locks on the other side of the wagon doors were being undone. He wanted to smile and impress this stranger… but he just couldn't. The door opened and he saw the night sky and stars outside. The stranger stepped into the wagon and closed the doors before sitting down and taking his boots off. Silence.

Ivan was scared of what he would do… but he came across the thought that the wagon was his home and it was night time. He would be following his usual times and going to sleep. And though he was hungry, he didn't say anything.

Now that he was able to get a close look at this man, he saw he had black hair with a rough black goatee and close to the skin beard. His clothes were patchy and his skin worn and ageing.

Ivan guessed he was probably forty to fifty. He kept observing him until he was surprised out of his thoughts by being spoken to.

"When is your ninth birthday?" He asked, staring at him coldly.

"… I… um… In seven days from now…"

"I see… Ivan is it…?"

He nodded.

"… Come here…"

Ivan hesitated.

"Come here now boy!"

Ivan flinched and crawled over, still holding the pipe.

Before he knew what was happening, fingers were digging into his cheeks as the stranger held his face up. His heart hammered in his chest as his mind told him to do anything to get away. But he was frozen on the spot, eyes wide with fear. Even his shaking had stopped.

"Hm…? You seem to be holding my pipe pretty tight there…"

He took the pipe away from him and smiled before throwing Ivan on his stomach. He tried to scramble away and make it to the door. Maybe he could lock him inside and escape.

But he was pulled back down by a cold hand at his heel. He cried out his voice finally working and a few scattered tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Don't bother… no one will hear you…"

He didn't know why, but Ivan clamped his mouth shut and refused to make anymore noise. But the tears did not cease. He felt his pants being removed and he froze again. What the hell was this man going to do…?

He felt the man raise him onto his knees, but keeping his head down on the blanket.

"If you like this pipe so much… then I want to give it to you as a gift."

There was a great pain and Ivan felt like he was being torn in half as the pipe was pushed into him. His mouth hung open mid scream, yet he could make no noise.

It went in as far as his body would allow it to before the man pulled it back out and then it went back in. In, out, in, out. A perfect rhythm was established and Ivan cried for the last time.

He was told to call the man General Winter. And he did. He received the pipe every night until his tenth birthday. On that night, the cold metal cylinder was disregarded and was replaced with something far worse that left him filled with a foreign substance and the moans of the older man ringing in his ears.

He always passed out after he was abused. But he became so used to it that he waited for it everyday. He was fed well and still grew, his body never diminishing, only growing stronger for all the sitting around he did.

He never saw the daytime sky. Just a glimpse of the night time sky when Winter would climb in and take him.

Now it is the day of his twelfth birthday. He is lying on his back, staring at the furs and linen that shake with the movement of the wagon. He is only wearing his brown leather pants because of the heat. They are traveling through one of the Russian deserts. He can see the light peeking through the cracks in the ceiling.

He has a smile because this is all he knows now. He doesn't remember the orphanage. But he can faintly remember his sisters. Not their names, just them. And his sunflower. His one little sunflower that was dead before it lived. But it was still beautiful to him. Sometimes, when the General would actually talk with him before taking him, he asked him about what he liked and about anything he could remember.

He probably knew more about the twelve year old Ivan than he did.

But he had mentioned the sunflower. How it had made him happy. Winter was not patient… and before Ivan finished his sentence he was being used again. But the next morning, when he woke to the moving wagon and a plate of breakfast, he saw that Winter had also pulled out one of the crates and opened it.

During tough blizzards, when even the General couldn't stay outside, he had sat inside and used the spare time to teach Ivan to read. The day time was the best time for Ivan. The time when the General actually smiled with a sparkle in his eye. He'd been taught how to fix his clothes and make new ones, to tie knots and handle rope, to keep the wagon's roof in one piece from the inside while Winter kept it from the outside and even how to handle a knife.

But on this open crate, there was a note with scribbled writing.

Use these to make your sunflowers.

The crate was full of crepe paper and cellophane and pipe cleaners and other craft supplies, salvaged from a different time.

So Ivan had followed the note and with childish enthusiasm, spent the day making not only sunflowers, but other colorful flowers that would only exist in his mind. Then he'd put them all over the walls of the wagon and hung a big cellophane sun from the roof with cotton ball clouds in white, blue and green.

That night, the general had stepped inside the wagon and was in awe. Childish were the decorations, yes… but it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. In the middle of the mattress, Ivan was fast asleep with glue and paint dried out in his fingers and hair and he was covered in rainbow glitter so that when the General closed the doors and turned on the oil lamp, rainbows seemed to come off of the boy, completing the garden he had made.

The silver haired boy had stirred at the sound of Winter putting all the unused materials away and for the first time in a long time he had shied away.

The General had smiled his day time smile and he shook his head. "Not today."

Ivan had been confused and Winter beckoned him over. He crawled over warily and sat beside him with their backs against the wall as prompted. Then the General put an arm over his shoulder and told him what a wonderful master piece he had created. Now Ivan was really confused. He was acting the way a father would. The next day, for fear of this strange fatherly self, Winter set the routine back to normal. The chest and crates remained locked and Ivan was left to do nothing but stare at the roof of the wagon and the newly obtained decorations.

That evening, the General tied the horses to a tree as he did every night and stepped inside the wagon, intent on setting things back to normal.

But in the darkness, Ivan looked very much adult, all childishness faded as he sat waiting for what was to come.

And then the General thought… God, I'm making him relive my life… He was not the only one to endure it. It was a world wide cult. No one had a choice to live it. Taken in when they are orphans and trialed through horrid things until they become hard and cold. When their masters die, they wonder for five years before seeking a companion from an orphanage and the process is repeated.

But even if hundreds of other boys, one of the reasons he refused Natalia, were undergoing the same torment… He felt sorry for only Ivan. He couldn't do it anymore.

"Ivan…? Vanya…?" He used the pet name that he had heard that girl use for him the day he had bought him. At the name, Ivan snapped to attention and looked at him. "Enough of this, da? I'll not touch you again."

There was a horrid moment of awkward silence and he was surprised by the boy hugging him. "Spasibo…" (Thankyou) And he repeated that word continuously until he fell asleep in his arms.

Now he lays on his back, staring at his six month old garden. It is his twelfth birthday and his smile reaches his eyes. He can read and write fluently now with all the extra lessons he gets before bed.

General Winter has taken the role of father upon himself. And Ivan couldn't be happier. He sometimes gets sad when he thinks of what has happened in the past… but it cannot be helped. It is behind him and he is simply happy again.

The reason he is lying on his back and doing nothing today is because he has spent the first few hours of the day just drawing with charcoal on old paper with faded foreign words across them. The General likes to collect things from the past, from the time they called the "Modern Age". If it were anyone else but Ivan, he would have murdered them brutally for drawing on the papers with writing even he cannot read.

But he lets Ivan draw and make things and the inside of the wagon becomes more decorated and colorful by the day.

He still wasn't allowed outside, because Winter had told him that he had people watching him, and he couldn't let him outside for awhile. But he occasionally left the door open a crack if he had to get water, so Ivan could peek out and see the day, or he would bring him a real sunflower, giant and golden. Nothing made Ivan happier than sunflowers, but the first time he had gotten one, he was so excited that he fell asleep cuddling it and was completely distraught the next morning to find the petals wilting and the stem snapped in several places. Winter had only chuckled and told him that to keep flowers for as long as possible, they must be cared for. So he gone back to the field and planted a sunflower in one of the pots he kept things in. It had once been small but was now giant and Ivan watered it everyday and even made a re-sealable hole in the roof to open to give it sunlight.

General Winter liked waking up in the mornings to find Ivan had curled up against him in his sleep rather than distance himself. The nights were less… cold. And Ivan like waking up to a good morning and breakfast rather than being alone.

As he lay there, full of childishness, Ivan thought that even though some things were missing from his life, he like nothing more than being the General's son. Even if he had misused him, it was all forgiven in favor of family.

"It's a nice day today…" He whispered to himself and his sunflower. It was especially nice since Winter said he had a birthday present for him. He'd never gotten a present before, unless the pipe was counted, and was giddy with excitement.

But his thoughts were pulled away from this when the wagon came to a sudden halt and he sat up with a curious look. Being unable to see, he listened, slightly scared.

He heard another wagon coming to a halt beside theirs and there was a conversation between Winter and another man.

"Ah… General. I've been looking for you." This stranger's voice was heavily accented and came from… Romania… probably.

"… Why would you be looking for me?" Winter's voice was cautious.

"Well, they say you have a pupil. And you've had him for awhile now. He should be what twelve now…?"

The General's voice sounded like he had just clicked onto something and there was a hint of distress in there. "He's only just turned twelve today… he's not ready."

"Why, they have training one month before they turn twelve and that's when they begin… Or did you hap across a slow learner…?" The other voice was mocking now.

"No… He is a quick learner…"

"Then bring him out then!"

"I… I refuse it."

"General, if you refuse this, I will have the entire cult down on you."

Winter sighed as if accepting defeat.

"Alright… "

"Good… now prep him up and I'll get mine ready too."

Ivan heard the General dismount and the stranger copy like wise. There were two sets of footsteps, though one set fainter than the other and Ivan shielded his eyes when the doors were opened to let sunlight into the wagon.

Winter left it open to let his eyes adjust and he stepped in to sit beside the boy.

"What's going on…?" Ivan asked with a curious head tilt.

"I…" General Winter looked at the boy he had come to see as his son before petting his hair lightly as he spoke with a sigh. "You have to come outside now and meet someone else who was adopted like you."

"What's going to happen…?"

"… You have to fight…"

"What…?"

"To the death…"

"Why…?" The silver haired child was panicking now.

"It's the law of the community I live in… If you don't cooperate they will execute you… I'd prefer you to have a chance at survival."

Ivan gave a shaky sigh before nodding. "Alright…"

They both knew he had a fighting chance. He was well built and tall for his age. He could use this to his advantage.

The General sighed again, nodding as well, before stepping back out.

He saw the boy Ivan would be fighting.

He had dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin. He looked like he came from one of the far South-West countries and looked to be sixteen or seventeen. Big and brawny. Winter instantly feared for the boy in his care. He was twelve. Only twelve and three feet shorter than this giant.

"You know the rules Winter, as soon as both their feet touch the ground, the fight is on. Back away from him as soon as he touches the dirt."

The General nodded and helped Ivan out of the wagon that was still abit too high for him, but as soon as he was standing, Winter stepped back and he stumbled, not used to solid ground after so many years.

His opponent was fast and seeing the boy fumble, he used this to his advantage and was there almost instantly, slamming a fist into Ivan's face.

The boy stumbled more and fell to the dirt. He scrambled back to his feet and moved away.

The other stranger laughed. "You haven't trained him at all Winter. You've fallen like so many others and kept him as a pampered pet. And to think we use to call you the strongest of us."

The General sneered and Ivan saw his pained expression.

He wasn't going to die here today and make a laughing stock out of his would be father.

The dark giant moved towards him again but he ran forward into him, holding onto his stomach like his was hugging him and forcing him back with all of his strength until they both tripped over each other's feet.

Still having trouble with the solid ground prospect, Ivan was slow to getting back on his feet. The giant beat him to it and kicked him to the ground before sitting on his stomach and laying blows to his head and face. He wanted to kill him quickly.

The twelve year old did his best to block, but that meant he could hardly get a hit in, which only made it worse for him. Looking for anything that would help, he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at the other's face.

The giant cried out and jumped off of him, trying to clear his eyes. The boy scrambled up again, still unsteady, and moved out of the way.

As he thought of how he could win this, the giant sneered at him and walked over to the back of his own master's wagon and pulled a curved sword out of it.

Winter seethed inside. "Vanya, you are allowed to have any weapon of your choosing, but once you choose, you cannot change. The rules say that now he has opted for a weapon, he must wait until you have chosen, but be quick about it."

Ivan nodded and ran to the back of the wagon and reached for one of the General's swords, when something else caught his eye and glinted in the sun in an appealing way. He wrapped his fingers around it and stepped back out into the open. When they saw what he had chosen, the General looked pained, his opponent smug and his opponent's master burst out laughing.

"You can't do much against a sword with a pipe boy!"

Ivan frowned and ignored him, focusing on the dark giant. He ran towards him and swiped the blade to cut off his head but the by ducked and moved in between his legs so that when he stood next he was behind him and the other was angered by this as he turned around and tried the same thing, But Ivan stepped out of the way, crouched to the ground and smashed his pipe into his knees. The blade went flying and landed a few meters away and the giant crashed to the ground with a growl of pain.

He couldn't move because one of his knee caps were shattered. And for a slight moment, his look was of fear. Ivan didn't want to hurt him. But then he sneered like an animal and tried to pull him down to the ground. The boy slipped and landed on his knees and the older boy tried to punch him and scratch him desperately. No… Ivan thought. No, he is an animal.

Now kneeling over him he started bring the piped down on his face. One of the dark giant's wrists snapped when he tried to block and he cried out in agony, human characteristics returning and he began screaming and begging for it to stop. But it didn't.

Ivan continued the onslaught and soon he was motionless and lifeless and the twelve year old was covered in blood, the face of the dead opponent unrecognizable and caved in. But something in Ivan's mind kept telling him to crush it even more… so he did. Never stopping.

The dead boy's master sighed and lit a pipe. "Well Winter, it looks like I'm in need of a new pupil now. Congratulations. Imagine what he'll be like when you teach him something. I'm jealous." And the he SMILED like a kindly old man and mounted his horse and rode off, his own horse and wagon following closely and he left the body behind.

When he was gone, Winter looked to Ivan, who had finally stopped beating the face of the dead boy.

HE was investigating the blood he was covered in and turned to face his father figure with a smile and darkened eyes, and he thought he heard a telltale noise emit itself from the back off the boy's throat…

NO! He was no longer a boy. He frowned and stormed to the back of his wagon and started a bon fire a few meters away before walking back and moving Ivan away from the body so that he could burn it.

To his horror, Ivan smiled as he watched the body burn. Like it was something he just couldn't miss. He looked happier than he was with sunflowers. And something in the General snapped. And angry fiber bristled and set off the rest. He went back to the wagon and pulled out all the things that the boy had made and threw them on the fire. Ivan watched him watched him, a panicked expression across his face as the cellophane sun melted with the burning paper flowers and drawings. The General glared at him.

"You are no longer a child!" He half yelled. "And children have no need of toys and such!" He thought for a moment before taking something else from the wagon and carrying it to the fire. Ivan was really panicked now. He started shaking as he saw his sunflower get thrown into the flames and burn with the dead boy.

He didn't understand. He had been told he would die if he didn't fight. So he had fought and won… isn't that what the General wanted? Why was he so angry all of a sudden?

He walked over to the blood covered boy and dragged him by the wrist, back to the wagon. Inside he moved the crates and pots to line the sides and took Ivan to the back wall where a chain was unveiled that the things had hidden. He sat Ivan down with his back to the wall and chained his hands above his head.

"What are you doing…?" He asked, unable to hide the distress and panic in his voice.

"When a boy wins his first fight he is always restrained like this. It's tradition." General Winter said blankly and pulled out a strip of clothe, tying it around his eyes. Now blinded, Ivan was really panicking and asking to be let go. Begging him to say that it was just a joke.

"It's no joke Vanya. It was all a lie. We all try to get close to you so that when this happens, you crack. How else do you think we get good fights out of you, you pathetic creature?"

The boy went to say something but he was gagged with another strip of clothe.

Winter left him to struggle against his bonds and stepped back outside to watch all the beloved decorations burn. He sighed and walked over to his horse, pulling a box out of his saddle bags and looking inside it. It was the sweet cake he had bought from the bakery of a village they had passed through that morning. He glared at it and threw it on the fire and close the wagon up before mounting his stallion again and moving off.

He couldn't tell how many years had passed. His life was different now. He could never see unless was fighting. He was unable to speak unless he was fighting or being fed. That was his life now. The decorations were forgotten and even his sisters. All he had was his pipe, the fighting and the man who tormented him.

But it had been too long since the wagon last moved. He had won the last fight so they should have been moving immediately after the body was burned.

Technically bodies, as two average spectators who had been cheering him on were dead as well. He couldn't help it that they had stepped inside the ring.

But why weren't they moving. He was eager to get to the next fight. But then he heard something and listened.

"You did your job too well Winter." The leader of the cult said. "He has completely snapped and I doubt he would see someone and simply say hello. You have to put him out of his misery."

They both looked to the platinum haired male who seemed to be staring through the new metal blindfold at them. It was creepy. But he was probably asleep as usual in between fights.

"I… You know I can't… You're the only one I've told about the garden he made me… I can't kill him… maybe there is a chance that we could make a new law or find anything to help him. We could stop the fighting and work to get him back to sane mind… He's still in there… I know it…"

"I'm sorry. He's seventeen. It's too late for him Winter. I know that he is special to you but you're just leaving him to suffer this way."

"Please… Anything… I'm begging you."

There was a moment of silence before the cult's leader sighed. "May I speak with him…? We shall see if the boy you would have called son is still in there."

The General nodded and the leader stepped into the wagon and knelt in front of Ivan. He took his blindfold off and dropped it to the floor. Two wide violet eyes stared back at him.

"Ivan… I'm going to talk with you… but to do that I have to take the gag off… will you cooperate…?"

There was a pause before Ivan nodded slowly and he stretched his jaw when the gag was removed.

"Spasibo…"

"Ivan… We're going to give you one last chance… if you fail, we will have to execute you… if you pass you will be expelled from fighting and the cult."

"Oh really…? And you think I will ever pass with the deaths of two innocent people on my hands…?" He tilted his head and smiled. The leader frowned.

"You will be taken to a special place where they will help you…"

I don't need help, Ivan thought as the gag was going to be put bag on. NO! His mind reeled in protest and he lashed out, the man in front of him, screaming as his teeth carved through his wrist and sliced his veins open. Ivan narrowed his eyes as he looked up at him and the leader tore away from him with another cry of pain.

He sneered and got out of the wagon, glaring at Winter. "This THING will be executed at sunrise. And don't think about running away Winter or you will have your head in a basket too!"

The leader left and Ivan smiled at the General with blood across his front, fresh and bright.

The General frowned and sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry Vanya… This is my entire fault." He put the gag back on and Ivan didn't lash out. As he blind folded him, he couldn't help but notice the few things that had changed. How he'd matured and grown and good two feet taller than his first opponent had been. But he was less stocky. But he was still that child… still a child in a young man's body.

When he made sure he was secure, Winter closed the wagon's doors and curled up, ready to go to sleep.

But as the night wore on and the moon rose higher, Ivan didn't sleep. And at exactly midnight he began pulling on the chains that held his arms slowly. 1… 2… 3… they snapped and he pulled them off of his hands. He reached up and pulled the gag and blindfold off and stretched with a smile at the sudden freedom of movement. He saw the General fast asleep and pulled his pipe to him. He wasn't afraid of this old man anymore. In fact, he was just an obstacle in his way. He woke the man up with a rough jerk and saw a frightened face. He giggled as he tied him to the wall with some rope and the broken chain.

Pulling out a knife, he ripped open the man's shirt and held the tip to his chest where he started carving. The General glared and bit back a scream. When Ivan was done he looked down to see what had been carved. It was upside down to him but he could read it well enough.

Vanya's whore

He thought it was an indication to what he would do next, but the young man with a broken mind rose to his feet and held up the oil lamp, lighting it.

With the same insane smile, Ivan gave a bow as if to bow to the empress.

"Farewell moya lyubov'~!" (My love) He said in a sing song voice and turned, exiting the wagon. Before he closed the door behind himself, he tossed the lamp bask in and the glass smashed, spilling the oil everywhere and the inside of the wagon caught alight. General Winter screamed as the growing flames licked at his skin and outside, Ivan smiled, holding his pipe close and walking away from the cult's encampment. He hummed to himself as the screams dulled and the camp was left behind and he walked through the snow.

He was happy. Finally free and outside with the night sky shining down on him clearly. Not wanting to stay in the same place, he began walking West and more into Europe.

He had been walking for many hours and the sun turned the horizon a lovely rose color when he found himself on an odd sort of road. It was very bumpy and littered with black rocks. On either side of the strange road where two long iron bars that seemed to have no end and in between spaced evenly from each other were rotting wooden planks.

Odd, he thought, but the road was leading him West, so he continued to follow it with a smile, humming and swing his pipe around.

Another good few hours following this road and he was entering a forest. The trees were tall and striped with black and white like the Siberian tigers he'd seen pictures of when he was learning in the wagon.

And then he shivered. It was strange. An odd feeling over coming him that he couldn't quite place. He had begun to feel it earlier, but was able to brush it aside. What was this feeling? It terrified him. He began to panic and started running, running into trees as he couldn't see where he was going and he tripped, falling into the snow where he curled up and fell asleep. The strange feeling only getting stronger.

"Why did you take this stranger in?" One voiced hissed.

"Because, he was unconscious in the snow in only his pants, aru. I wasn't going to leave him there to die. The wolves would had have had him." A warm, motherly yet still male voice, spoke.

"But there are already too many of us to feed aniki…" Are younger, childish voice piped up. "There's me and Kong and Mei and Kiku and Loung and you… There won't be enough food to make it to the western border if he tags along."

"Um… But he could…" A small girls voice spoke quietly. "He looks really big and strong so he could protect us from the wolves and hunt if we ask him nicely…"

"That's nonsense Mei." The first voice spoke again. "You can tell by all the different scars that he comes from that cult. He's probably insane."

"It doesn't matter Kiku…" A woman's voice permeated the silence before it fell. "Brother Yao took him in and he is his responsibility. We have little or no say in the matter." Discussion ceased, but there was a thick tension in the air.

Ivan felt a damp clothe wipe across his forehead and he frowned at the unusualness of it. The atmosphere was warm and cozy and he could hear wind outside. He frowned, thinking it too much like inside the wagon again.

Then he hear the ring of metal as a blade was drawn from it scabbard. But it had a different pitch to it from the curved swords or even the rapiers.

"Ah! Calm down Kiku, aru! I'm sure he won't hurt us… We'll be fine."

"But you saw the blood staining him. He is dangerous Yao."

"Kiku." The woman spoke again. "We have to start moving. Come out and steer the mule with me. Yong Soo, Mei, Kong, put on your coats and lead it with some wheat. Yao, join us when you're ready brother."

There was a flurry of movement and the space became less confined as five people moved out. A short while later there was a dull jolt and the room he was in began moving.

Ivan felt the damp clothe on his forehead again but he reached up with a hand and pushed it away, earning a yelp of surprise from the male… Yao, who was tending to him.

He sighed and opened his eyes slowly with a small frown as he observed that he was indeed in a wagon. But the interior was different. Not too much smaller than the one that would now be smoldering ash.

Herbs and jars of things hung from the ceiling and walls where there were a few patchy holes in the lining, but the roof was wood. The frame looked good but the panels looked to be a bit rotten.

The floor that he came to realize he was lying on was hard, not a mattress, and it was covered in wolf and bear skins. There wasn't a door at the back of which he could tell, and it was open with a few skinned and drying rabbits hanging ready to cook for the small companies supper that night.

At the end opposite the open end, there was a small window through which he could see the blurry silhouette of two people sitting and talking. Underneath the window there was an axe, a few pots, a couple of knives and scattered wet stones and a couple of cutting boards. There were also quite a few rolls of silk that could have been better organized, a small pile of wood and a pile of half constructed arrows.

"What is your name, aru?"

Ivan's attention snapped to the man tending to him.

He was the smallest man he had ever seen. Not a dwarf, but fairly short and quaint, breakable like fine china. His skin was pale porcelain and he had long loose black hair that appeared to have the texture of the silks rolled in the corner.

His eyes were like molten gold but Ivan saw another type of gold under those lashes. It reminded him of something. But he just couldn't quite place it.

He tried to think of his name… but the only one he could think of…

"Um… Vanya…"

"Vanya…? Isn't that a nickname for Ivan?" The raven haired male laughed lightly and Ivan frowned at that name. His real name. He tried to sit up but two hands rested on his chest and asked him to lay back down. "Please Ivan… You have hypothermia and have a really bad flu. The best thing for you is rest. I'm Yao, aru… Yao Wang."

"Yao Aru Wang?"

The other male just giggled. "No, aru… just Yao Wang…"

Ivan frowned at him. He wasn't stupid. It was Yao's stupid verbal tick. He tried sitting up again.

"No!" Yao shook his head quickly. "You can't… You're really sick…"

"What is sick?" Ivan had never known sickness.

For what he could remember, he had been healthy all his life in a warm wagon. But he didn't remember the orphanage as of yet. Even so, he had never been sick before his memory either, used to the cold. He would later find out that it was the warmth for so long that left him at the mercy of the cold.

"Um, aru… sick is when you don't feel particularly normal… you can feel a bit dizzy or light headed as well when your sick and you feel really warm or cold."

Ivan nodded and lay back down as asked. As soon as he relaxed, Yao pulled out the clothe and began wiping his forehead again. And as he did that, Ivan watched him curiously. People were'nt like this. People beat him, and raped him and fought him. So… Yao was not human. Therefore, Ivan relaxed around him. Still cautious and silent, but relaxed none the less.

The Russian was content to lay there in silence, flicking his eyes to and from the foreign objects that decorated the wagon. And then of course, back to this intriguing not-human, Yao.

But unlike Ivan, Yao was used to talking and bickering with his siblings, and the silence was deafening to him.

"U-Um… so were you a part of the cult that has the encampment further back on the rail, aru?"

Ivan sighed and nodded.

"You must be one of the generals then if you were walking around, aru."

Ivan shook his head.

"Then… what were you, aru?"

Ivan refused to speak. But Yao had a vague idea of what was on his mind and he looked over the scars on his body, some quite recent. He hadn't even taken the right of passage for a regular boy or the cult yet. Which meant he was still a fighter.

"Um, aru, how old are you?"

"… Seventeen."

Yao cursed in his mind. He had never had a thing to do with the cult, but he knew that boy's in it usually took the right of passage by sixteen at the latest. There was only on reason why Ivan wouldn't have gone through it yet.

"Are… Are you-"

"Am I sane? Is that what you are going to ask of me?" Ivan stared blankly at the rotting roof of the wagon.

Yao nodded. "Yes, aru."

"Well I can assure you that I am perfectly insane-Don't draw out that knife."

Yao lowered his hand from his waist where he had been reaching for his hunting dagger. They had heard a rumor from a general who had passed them with his wagon slightly before they found Ivan. That there was a fighter that had been pushed past the mental barriers of any normal fighter. He was the first to actually kill spectators and he had gone missing. That was why many other generals were fleeing. They were all terrified of this fighter.

"How… How did you escape, aru?" The Chinaman asked resuming wiping the larger male's forehead as if not terrified by this. He wished Kiku was there in the wagon with him. But he knew he could handle himself if need be.

"I pulled my chains out of the wall and burnt my master alive."

"Um…" Yao was speechless. Suddenly recurring thoughts in his head told him to get this maniac away from his siblings. But the bluntness in which he stated what he had done, like he didn't care what anyone thought of it, which really caught Yao's attention.

Ivan looked away from him. Had he scared this kind non-human person? Would he lose the only kind person in the world and be tossed back into… into… the… cold! He didn't want to be.

Yao saw what could be fear on this Ivan's face and smiled. He was human, deep down, under the terrifying madness, he was only human.

"Well… If you promise not to hurt anyone else unless you are forced to… then you can travel with us, aru."

Ivan couldn't believe what he had heard. Like a miracle had been blessed on him, a murderer and mad man. He swallowed not knowing what to say.

But Yao needed nothing to continue chattering away. The whole day was spent telling the Russian about his companions.

Kiku was his step brother when their parents had married. Yong Soo was their half brother. Kong was born out of an affair which their father, Yao's father, had had with a local whore. But when Kong was born he took the child and only Yao and Kiku and their mother had known of it but the boy was loved none the less and was raised with Yong Soo. Mei was their half sister.

They were fleeing Asia for Europe because their land had been devastated and people slaughtered by a stranger to pass through. Yao had seen this stranger. In fact, he and Kiku had been fleeing their burning house and the butchered corpses of their parents with their brothers and sister when the stranger had approached them, cornering them and offering them to join him.

He had said he had already slaughtered the rest of Asia with his army and had been watching them for some time and wanted them to become and extension of that army.

If it weren't for Kiku and his katana, then they would have been forced to give up or died. The silent Japanese man had barely saved them when he had cut the stranger's shoulder and in his distraction they had fled. As the stranger's hood slipped slightly, Yao distinctly remembered a pair of bright green eyes and flash of brown hair with a grin of perfect white teeth to mirror cruelty. A couple of days later when they were searching for survivors in the ash and scavenging for any kind of food, Loung had come by them with her mule and wagon.

She said that she had been traveling with her father when they had returned to find their city burning. They had come across the same stranger who was bleeding from the shoulder and her father had stepped out of the wagon to offer assistance and ask if they wanted to travel with them when the stranger had cut him to ribbons. In terror, the Vietnamese woman had taken the reigns to the mule and wagon and fled as fast as they would go.

They had all been traveling now for one month and their supplies were dwindling. They couldn't hunt because anything they caught that were larger than the scrawny rabbits couldn't hang from the roof to dry and the wolves found ways to steal it from them.

Ivan had never hunted in his life, but at hearing this he asked if he could hunt and keep the wolves away… he had heard the little girl, Mei as he now knew her, making such suggestions.

And yet that was not all, for once Yao had agreed to let him do that, he also made the Chinaman agree to letting him cut wood and fix the wagon and give it doors and things once he was better.

And so a deal was struck. Ivan could travel with them if he hunted and protected them from the wolves and kept the wagon in good condition.

:::

Two months Ivan had been traveling with the Asian family. They crossed a few travelers that told them to head back because of a feud that was slowly spreading between good and evil. They were fleeing Europe. But they still pressed on, eager to make it to the border and find a good piece of land to farm. But the closer they got, the more rumors they heard tell of someone called the savior and someone called the Shadow King.

But they were only stories to the seven travelers. So they moved on.

The days were long but good and as Ivan fixed the wagon, cut wood or cut strips of meat while sitting on the roof of the wagon to keep a look out, he would watch Yao and Kiku teach their three younger siblings a great manner of things. As the children learnt many different martial arts, and writing and reading and weaponry and anything else that could be deemed useful as even dancing and using a fan of rice paper and bamboo, Loung would sit atop the roof with Ivan and they would often talk as they both cut meat or they would carve little toy animals of stray bits of wood for the children.

The wagon no longer rotted and had a sturdy support. Doors were now in place to keep out the cold and Ivan had killed enough wolves and a bear to line the roof with furs. Bunks had been made along the walls. A set of smaller ones along one wall for Yong Soo, Kong and Mei. And two others, one on the wall opposite the children where Loung had claimed the top and Kiku took the bottom and then another on the back wall where Ivan had the top and Yao was on the lower bunk.

There were times when the day had been exciting and when the children were asleep, Kiku, Loung, Yao and Ivan would talk happily. And when Ivan would say something to embarrass Yao, the Chinaman would kick him in the back through the planks that made up the bunk above him and the Russian would chuckle.

He certainly stuck out too. A tall head of silver hair with two violet eyes, traveling with six other people, all with black hair and golden eyes save for Kiku and Kong, who had brown black eyes.

But despite the difference in appearance, Ivan was their family and they accepted him.

Kiku was the least accepting of him, but he knew how to have a good time and smiled on good nights, sharing stories and jokes around the evening fire.

Loung was still a little wary of Ivan as well, but smiled and sat with him, sometimes helping him with his work and ask for advice on how to keep her father's wagon well.

The children were infatuated with him it seemed. He was like a giant climbing pole after they finished their training and lessons and were given time to play before their chores and dinner before bed and moving out the next morning. Yong Soo was the most energetic, climbing up Ivan's new coat to sit on his shoulders, declaring that now he was taller than everyone, he could easily claim their breasts. Mei climbed up just as energetically and swung back and forth off of Ivan's outstretched arm like a swing or pendulum. And Kong… well, he would just stand their silently until Ivan picked him up with his free hand and put him on his unoccupied shoulder.

But Yao had the most interesting personality towards Ivan that the Russian simply didn't understand. He smiled and laughed with him, always keen to hang around him and enjoy the simple pleasures of his company. But he constantly shied away from him, like a coiling tendril of smoke that Ivan was trying to grasp and catch with his bare hands. It confused the Russian more than anything ever had, but he was content enough to leave Yao to his own thoughts and he never pushed forward the question of his actions.

So the traveling continued as normal, all seven intent on settling down and letting life carry on. Even if they had to remain travelers for years it wouldn't matter, because the wagon was their home.

But one day this would all change with the attack of a lone wolf, desperately starving and not alone as thought to be.

They had pulled over the wagon around mid afternoon to train the children. Loung was teaching Mei how to mend clothes and do certain woman things. Kiku was teaching Kong and Yong Soo a martial arts variation and Yao sat with Ivan as the Russian carved some caribou meat into strips and hung it on a rack to dry. Yao was sewing delicate and vibrant patterns in to the recently finished scarf that he had made out of silk and the bright silk threads brought the long spiraling Chinese dragons to life and they appeared to be flying through hundreds of different sized sunflowers.

It was for Ivan because he had asked for one and a silk one would never have kept him warm, but it was a light fur wool one underneath encased with the cream silk and all held together with the glimmering embroidery. The added décor a gift for all the work Ivan had done for them.

The silver haired man was glad to wait that little bit longer. He got to spend more time with Yao as he asked what he liked. The sunflowers were obvious and made him smile, but the dragons, though he adored the detail of every tooth, scale and claw, reminded him of the paper caterpillar he had made in his old home and it brought about memories.

He was still surely insane, but being with kind people who cared for him as one of their own, helped him stay on the right side of his mind.

Until this day of course.

The wolves had attacked before, but no one had ever been hurt. Their nature was to hunt to eat to survive. Ivan understood the need to survive and so was merciful to them, killing them quickly and as painlessly as possible.

But as he chatted to Yao happily and cut strips of meat, he failed to notice the approach of one lone hesitant she-wolf. He had trained himself to look for the packs and so she went by unnoticed.

Until there was a scream and a shout of surprise.

The shout came from Kiku who had a large fresh gash in his arm where the wolf's teeth had shredded through the skin. The scream had come from either one of the boys who were both running back in terror. Kiku was close behind them, ushering them to move faster. Everyone was in shock and Ivan stood up, snatching up his pipe for the first time since he had come to the Asian family and abandoned the hunting knife.

Yong Soo and Kong got into the back of the wagon to stay safe with Mei and Loung and Yao and Kiku were watching Ivan carefully. The sight of his pipe glinting in the sun, filling them with a kind of dread.

The Wolf charged at the Russian. She was big. Gigantic. And more so, powerful. He was given no attack vantage before he had to raise the pipe to shield himself, and the wolf's mouth clamped over it.

He grasped the fur of her belly and pushed her back, half throwing her to the ground. He went to strike…

The giant cried out and jumped off of him, trying to clear his eyes. The boy scrambled up again, still unsteady, and moved out of the way.

He blinked and shook his head as the she-wolf came back on her feet. He went to strike again but the piped slipped out of his fingers…

"You can't do much against a sword with a pipe boy!"

Ivan frowned. He felt a little dizzy like the recurring thoughts in his mind wouldn't stop spinning around in a hectic mass. He could make sense of nothing.

The wolf charged again and he smashed his fist into it's jaw, sending it crashing to the ground again. He kneeled over it and clasped his fists together, slamming them into it's skull before it was given a chance to get back up.

Someone screamed and Ivan stopped his fists, midair. Who had screamed? He felt the wolf's blood running down his face and arms, soaking through his clothes. It felt… good.

The noise he had long forgotten, the death chant, rolled out of the back of his throat again and he smiled as he looked at the blood over his hands. So beautiful… he thought. There was another scream and he frowned.

Why should anyone scream on a joyous occasion?

His face darkened as he felt the anger bubble inside of him and he turned to see who had screamed and who would join his opponent… when…

His expression fell. The doors to the wagon had been closed, Loung barricading the children inside. And Yao was crying, sobbing into Kiku's shoulder, the Japanese man holding his stepbrother with one arm, his bloodied one holding his katana out in a simple way to tell Ivan to back off.

A single tear carved through the blood that coated Ivan's expressionless face. And then the first drops of rain fell before the down pour began.

Ivan scrambled to his feet and ran. He ran south, away from Yao and Kiku and Loung and the children. The not-human people he didn't want to hurt. The rain disguised his crying. The only way he knew he was crying was the burning in his eyes and the sobs that tore out of his throat. He kept running south, crashing off of trees he couldn't see, bruising his arms and body.

"IVAN!" Someone was calling out for him. "Ivan!" More than one person.

He couldn't think. His mind wouldn't let him think other than the one word.

Run. He had to keep running.

Most of the blood had been washed off by now and his hair stuck to his face as it became soaked with the rain.

He couldn't see anymore. Tears blurred his vision in a thick haze.

"Katuyasha!" She was waiting for him. He was late but she would be there. "Natalia!" He had lost her. She was here. He just couldn't find here. No… He was lost. He didn't know where he was. "Help me!"

"Vanya! Please… Come back!"

It was a new voice. The important voice. The voice his mind told him to listen to. And when he did, he lost thought on what he was doing and he tripped, crashing to the ground and getting covered in snow and mud.

Laying there under the snow and rain, he didn't want to get up. He wanted to sleep and stay that way forever until the devil came to take him to hell. Because that's where evil people go, he told himself.

He could hear the voices of his now lost family grow fainter as they wandered in the wrong direction. They would be better off without him anyway.

And then he heard footsteps…

"… Oh shit. Arthur, get over here."

"What is it Alfred?"

"C'mon… we gotta help him…"

"Huh…? Oh Go- … Help me get him up… we'll take him bac-"

:::

"Vanya?"

Someone was brushing the hair out of his face with soft hands and a gentle touch.

"Please wake up, ok?"

Maybe it was his sister and he was sick after a long day of farming barley and flax and wheat.

"Come on, we're safe now, aru,"

Wait… that voice was different.

With a little drowsy difficulty, he opened his eyes, rubbing on slightly with his free hand. His other hand was being held by someone who was rubbing circles on the back of it.

He looked over slowly and saw Yao, hair messy and dirty.

"Yao…?"

The Chinaman nodded and smiled, with a relieved look.

"Yes… It's me, aru. You've been asleep for a few days."

Ivan looked around. He was in a still room. So he wasn't in a wagon. They were in a building. The room was completely white marble with a large window and balcony opening out to an ocean view and a blue sky. It was really warm and he realized he was in only his pants with no blanket and sweating from the heat.

"Where are we…?" He asked slowly, his stomach rumbling a bit at the sudden thought of food. Yao smiled and got up quickly, walking to the other side of the room, returning with a tray filled with fruit. Ivan swallowed and sat up, taking the plate and like a starved man, ate ravenously. It was foreign, but nice.

Yao giggled. "We're in Italy. In a place called the coliseum, aru. They've been building it into a large palace structure to house nearly everyone and farm the land around it."

Ivan paused at his food. "They?"

"Yes, aru. The rumors about the Savior and the Shadow King were true. It was the supposedly bad one, the Shadow King, who brought us in."

Ivan nodded and put his fruit back down on the plate, not feeling so hungry quite suddenly. He set the plate aside and turned back to Yao.

"Yao…?"

"Yes, aru?"

With a sigh and nervous heart beat, he leaned forward and brushed their lips together in what he hoped was a way to convey what affections he felt towards the other. They confused him. He didn't know what to call it. But he had a feeling that that is what someone does when they feel such a way towards someone else.

Yao blushed madly and stayed silent and Ivan pulled back.

"I'm sorry… I don't know what to do… I just… I just don't want you to go…"

Yao smiled and rested his hand on Ivan's cheek.

"So young and foolish… I already made that promise when I met you."

The raven haired male leant forwards and pressed his lips to the Russians, guiding him into a deeper kiss and in time, though not so quickly, into more.

:::

"hm…? Vanya?" Yao looked up from the map he was reading. In his embroidered scarf and large black coat, Ivan was staring out into space with his hands in his coat pockets, the material barely moving in the slight breeze. The call of his lover brought him back to the present and he smiled.

"I'm fine Jao… Just thinking…" With a slight inclination of his head, he looked back to the horizon. "Gilbert and Ludwig are returning at last. But they are alone."

"Then something must of gone wrong." Sadiq said as he made sure all their mount's and equipment were well and sufficient.

Nothing more was said until the two Germans had arrived on site and had some water as theirs had run out hours ago.

"What happened?" Gupter asked, frowning.

"We got attacked and then when we handled those guys the palace guard arrived and we couldn't protect the kid and some freakish giant stole him and if they're not here then they got lost in the desert…" Gilbert sighed and fell on his ass in the sand.

Ivan chuckled. "Well then I suppose we have a scavenger hunt to prepare for."

:::

YAY! Chapter finally finished. I know it is long. And because it is a Sweden x Finland story, you're probably wandering what the hell is this whole chapter for. Well, there were clues as to who the Savior is. And then there are some other things you need to keep in mind.

Don't worry, next chapter there is SuFin and irritable fluff, the Savior appears, identity still hidden and Camels. Gotta love them damn camels.

Please review and take a shot at guessing the identity of the savior. I bet you'll never get it. :3

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PrussianMongrel