Disclaimer: I don't own any characters blah blah blah owned by Anthony Horowitz blah blah blah don't sue me. Same for the various Beauty and the Beast movies.

Once upon a time, in the hidden heart of Russia, a handsome young slave lived in a beautiful dacha. Although he had nothing his heart desired, the slave was considerate and kind.

"Boy! It's time!"

He was forced to work in the house filled with the gaudiest of objects -

"Da ser".

And the most beautiful monsters.

Then one night, an unexpected pastor arrived at the dacha, seeking a New Wedding to preside over. As a gift, the slave was offered a contract written on leather to designate his expected duties. Repulsed by the thought, the slave refused. But his master warned him not to be deceived by the words, for it wasn't a request the slave could refuse.

When the slave refused again, his master dragged him towards a bedroom, stripping his clothes to reduce the time until the Consummation. The slave grabbed an ornamental handgun off the wall, turned, and shot his master.

When he turned around, the pastor's outward appearance melted away to reveal a fitter, younger man.

The slave begged for freedom, but it was too late. For he had seen that there was a valuable asset in his heart.

As punishment, he transformed the boy into an operative and arranged for the inhabitants to be permanently forgotten.

As days bled into years, the dacha and its inhabitants were forgotten by the world, for the "pastor" had erased them from their loved one's memories.

But the contract he had offered was truly a horrible contract. If he could learn to survive and earn the true love of another by the time the last of the leather decomposed, he would be allowed to leave the organisation. If not, he would be doomed to remain with them for all time.

As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope.

For who could ever learn to love an assassin?

(A.N: I consider Yassen to be 17/18 in this chapter.

Don't worry if you don't understand some of it.

Most will be explained in the following chapters.

Is the contract legally binding? Hell no.

Would you want to try and break a contract with the world's largest criminal/terrorist organisation in the world, with interests in almost every country, who could find you no matter where you went? Again, hell no.)