'The white-haired draco was suspended in an endless void. Pitch blackness surrounded her from all sides; she could feel nothing... Suddenly, the place lit up with pure white, the landscape shifting into the familiar sight of the tundra. The snowy plains stretched as far as the eye could see, but the green leaves of the trees and the few flowers that popped out here and there signaled the coming of spring.
"Ugh... Where am... I...?" Taking a look at herself, Talulah noticed that, strangely, her outfit had changed back to her old dress, yet the surprises didn't end there. The more she watched her surroundings, the more familiar they became... until she finally realized where she was.
"Oh my, these... these are the fields near the hamlet." At that exact moment a thought came to her mind. "Wait, that means...!"
The draco started running as fast as her legs allowed to. A minute later, the outline of a very humble village came into her sight. The small wooden houses, the old well at the central plaza... everything was just as Talulah remembered. However, she ignored it and kept going through the dirt streets. Her steps lead her to the front door of a shack located on the settlement's edge, a door that soon was blown wide open, allowing her to rush inside.
The room was very rustic and scarce in furniture, but to Talulah it was more of a detail without significance in comparison to what was in the middle of it. There, an elafian girl was standing with her back towards the draco. Hearing the door's squeak, she slowly turned around... and there their gazes met. The girl wholeheartedly smiled at her.
"I'm glad to see you're back, Talulah."
"Alina..." She couldn't hold it back anymore. With tears on her eyes, Talulah ran to her and gave the elafia a tight hug. "Oh, Alina... *sniff* I can't believe it's really you..."
Alina was visibly confused by her friend's sudden behavior, but she reciprocated nonetheless.
"Shhh... don't cry." She gently patted her back. "It's alright, I'm here."
The two stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. Eventually Talulah pulled back from her embrace. No words were said, the genuine smile carved in her lips told everything.
Little did they know that their little reencounter was about to come to an abrupt end...
Suddenly, Talulah felt an intense spike of pain in her head that brought her to her knees. Alina immediately ran to her with worried expression.
"Tal, what's wrong? Tell me, maybe I can bring...!"
"Ugh... not, I'm fine. It's just that..." She stopped midway through the sentence. Out of nowhere, a portal of pure darkness materialized behind Alina's back, and before she could even have a grasp of what was happening, a red gloved hand stuck out of the gate and grabbed the elafia's arm. "ALINA BE CAREFUL!"
"Huh...? AHHH! TAL HELP MEEE!"
She was pulled with great force towards the portal. Talulah tried desperately to get a hold of her hand and save her, but it was too late. The hand sunk back to the darkness along with its hostage, and in the blink of an eye both vanished.
"NOOOOO!" In despair, Talulah made a rash decision and, going against all common sense, she went inside the gate. A bright flash devoured the room, until nothing was left.
/ /
When Talulah reopened her eyes, she saw that everything around her had changed. The draco now stood in the middle of a deserted courtyard. Old soviet style buildings surrounded the area, with fog blurring their outlines. It was an ominous sight.
'What a depressing place...' She then remembered the reason behind her presence there. 'I have to find Alina'. Without skipping a second, she started wandering around while crying out her friend's name.
"Alina! Alina, where are you?!" No answer came, there was only silence.
Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Talulah didn't give up and carried on with the search... but not even a minute passed when she spotted someone reading alone on a bench. To her surprise, it was a little boy, blonde, with blue eyes and no more than 10 years old. There was something... familiar to his face, but she ignored that and instead waved at him.
"Ehm, hi kid. You see, I'm looking for a friend of mine who might have passed through here, did you see her?" Weirdly, the boy didn't move an inch. The draco got a bit annoyed. "Hey, I'm talking to you! I've said that if..." She tried to grab his shoulder, but the moment she did so her hand trespassed him effortlessly, as if he were a hologram. Not believing her eyes, Talulah repeated the action to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, yet the result remained the same. She was very confused by this, but before she could come up with a logical explanation a voice was heard.
"Would you look at that, it's little Жопа."
The draco turned to the source of it and spotted two boys coming out from the fog. They were undoubtedly way older than the blonde, and their faces had a malevolent expression on them. The two walked over to the bench until they were shadowing the poor kid. He closed his book and, trying to not show fear, he spoke.
"Ivan, Petya... What do you want from me this time?"
The duo's leader, Ivan, let out a small giggle.
"You look very tense. Can't we say hello to our dear neighbor?"
"N-no... I don't see anything wrong in..."
"Good! I had thought you were ill-mannered!" All of a sudden, the other bully snatched the book he was reading from his hands, then taking a curious peek at it. "What do we have here, Master and Margarita?... Nah, you won't need it anymore." Immediately afterwards he dropped the book into a puddle of mud. The boy could only stare at the now-ruined pages of his novel, but then his friend decided to add more salt to the injury by saying.
"Why are you standing there? C'mon, go pick it up like the disgusting pig you are."
"Yeah, bad luck that you little brother isn't here today, I would have loved to toss the both of you inside the dumpsters, right where you belong."
Talulah was outraged, these bastards were abusing of a defenseless kid just to have some laughs. It was like the kids she met in Lungmen, who constantly bullied her back when she was a child. Now, returning to reality she noticed that, without them realizing, the blonde had his fists clenched.
"Don't say that about my brother." He was barely able to contain his growing anger. "If you touch even an inch of his hair, I'll kill you..."
The two laughed right at his face.
"HAHAHAHAA! Did you hear that, Petya? The cockroach is saying that he's going to kill us, how funny! HAHAHAA...!"
He couldn't take it anymore. He took impulse and, before the bullies could even react, slammed his fist against the leader's jaw. They were caught completely off guard, something that the boy took advantage of by following his fist attack with a kick to the other's balls.
"AGGGHHHH!"
The bully stumbled back while holding his jewels in sheer pain. Witnessing the results of the attack, Talulah couldn't help but feel impressed by the boy's courage. However, this wasn't over yet.
"COME HERE, you Сволочь!" Ivan threw himself against the boy and knocked him down. He then proceeded to punch him repeatedly, his hits were so strong that he ended up breaking the blonde's nose. He struggled to free himself, but to not avail; his captor was too strong.
"Fucking Лох..." He turned to his friend and said. "Hey Petya, I think the cockroach here needs some "correction". Come here and make sure he doesn't move."
The friend ran to them and grabbed the boy by his hands and legs, completely immobilizing him. The other then proceeded to sit astride above his torso, and once there took out a knife and a lighter.
"Before I don anything, do you want to say something?"
"Иди на хуй..." The boy spit right to his face. This act of disdain angered the bully to such extent that the cocky expression on his face vanished, replaced by one of seriousness.
"You..." His voice was full of venom. "I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't forget ever."
He ripped the boy's jacket open, revealing his chest to the cold outside air. After that he took his knife, turned on the lighter and started to heat up the tip. The blonde's eyes widened upon realizing what he was about to do. His body was shaking like crazy, but that didn't stop the bully from carrying on his plan. Slowly, he leaned in... and then pressed the red-hot knife against his skin.
The poor boy's screams of pain shook Talulah to her core. She helplessly watched as the bullies carried with their despicable act of torture and inflicted more suffering to their victim. Her consciousness couldn't take the horrors being committed before her, but even if she wanted to, there was nothing the draco could do. For their part, the bullies were taking a hell ton of pleasure on what they were doing to the boy.
"HAHAHAA! Who's the brave boy now?!" Laughed the leader. "This what happens when you try to stand up to us, snakey!"
Everything seemed lost, but then...
"Leave him alone."
The bullies stopped right in their tracks. They stayed frozen in place for a couple of seconds, then slowly turned their heads in the direction of Talulah. However, they weren't looking at her but rather at what was several meters behind her...
"W-who the hell are you?!" Asked Ivan with fear in his eyes.
"..." No reply came.
The draco heard footsteps, footsteps that became increasingly closer. She turned her gaze to the side... and there finally saw him.
From her position, Talulah couldn't clearly appreciate most of the man's facial features, only a minimal glimpse. His stature was pretty tall for someone of his age, but not too much. His neck-length hair was ash gray, and it was in the way of becoming fully white. Also, he was very well-dressed, waring a dark suit and a fur coat. She didn't know how to describe it, this guy had... an air of someone important.
Without lifting his gaze off them, the man walked past the draco and approached the bullies. The two were completely out of their wits, they could feel their hearts beating like crazy. The elder, however, couldn't be calmer.
"Look at yourselves, bullying someone both weaker and younger than you." His voice was deep and chilling. "Didn't your parents teach you to respect your fellows? You should be ashamed of yourselves right now."
The leader laughed nervously, trying to keep the situation under control.
"Who gives you the right to say what we can and can't do, old man?"
"You dare to raise your voice at me? Ay, ay, ay... This is what the West has done to our youth, corrupt it to its very core. Now you're nothing more than a rabble of cowards, fools, and rebels..."
As he talked, the mysterious man was coming closer and closer to them. The bullies sensed a great danger, so in a desperate move Petya snitched his friend's knife and pointed it at him.
"Sir, I-I don't know what are you up to, but come one step closer an-and I'll stab you!"
He hoped this would make the old man think twice about coming closer... but to their utter shock, he just laughed.
"Hahaha! Nice try, but I'm afraid that a simple knife won't stop me..." He opened his coat. The bullie's expressions became ones of terror upon laying their gazes on the Makarov Pistol he had stored inside his pocket. "Listen carefully. There won't be another offer, you either release the kid and get out of my sight or I swear to God that I'll not only kill you, but I'll also make sure your families get sent to fuck*ng Magadan. Now... what will be your choice?"
The two boys exchanged glares for a second... To keep things short, they let the blonde free, made a full 180 degree turn and ran as fast as they could. Talulah watched their escape with a smirk on her face. "That serves them well for abusing others...". The sound of movement brought her back to her senses. The old man didn't wait and shifted to where the boy was laying. Glaring at the man, the blonde managed to utter some words.
"T-thanks for helping me, sir. I-I tried to defend myself from those two, but..."
"Shh... it's okay, rest a bit." That said the elder kneeled besides him and examined the burn on his chest. "Damned bastards, to think that... *sigh* Let's not think about that for now. Tell me, does it hurt?"
"Well, a bit..." The young boy timidly answered. "Will it heal?"
"The bad news is that it has left a permanent mark on your skin, but apart from that you should be fine."
"Okay, thank you!" A faint smile appeared on his lips. No more words were exchanged between the two, but after a while the man decided to break the silence by saying something that would surprise more than one.
"You know? Your face reminds a lot of your father back when he was young."
"Wait, you know my dad?" Asked the boy, visibly intrigued by his words.
"Yeah, I know him. He's an old friend of mine, back from when we worked at the KGB. You can't image all the things we did with your father, we carried lots of missions in all the places one could think of: West Berlin, Cuba, Vietnam... Those were good times indeed..." At that moment something came to his mind. "Now that I think of it, I think I saw you once. It was last year at the Kremlin's New Year Ball if I remember well."
"Last year you say? Hmm..." His memories of that party were a bit blurry, but he eventually remembered. "Oh, you're right! You were the one who delivered the annual speech!"
"Yes, that was me." He confirmed with a smirk. "You have a very good memory, little one."
The boy simply smiled back.
Even if they could notice her, Talulah had watched the exchange between the two. The blonde seemed to be enjoying the elder's company, but there was something... off. She didn't know why, but something deep in her mind told her there was something very wrong about this man. His posture, the way he talked... it felt disturbingly similar to someone of her past, yet different at the same time.
Anyways, the elder man stood up and, extending his hand towards the boy he said.
"I believe it's time for you to go back home. Your parents probably are wondering right now why you haven't returned yet."
The blonde's expression reflected a bit of hesitation.
"I don't know. Ivan and Petya might still be wandering around..."
"Don't worry about them, you'll see how by tomorrow they'll have stopped to be... a trouble." He gestured to come with him. "C'mon, I'll accompany you on the way back."
These words turned on Talulah's inner alarm. She wanted to warn the boy, to tell him to not trust him... but unfortunately for the draco, she was a mere spectator to this story. She could stand there and watch everything unfold...
The boy wasn't very sure about it, but it wasn't long before he came out with an answer.
"Fine! Let's go together then!"
"That's the spirit, but before we do anything... could you make me a promise?"
"Of course, but what it is exactly?" Asked the blonde, curious.
"Well, let's say last time I talked with your father it didn't end as I had planned... I don't want to have more problems with him, so please, don't tell your parents I brought you home."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anything I promise."
"Good... Let's get going then." With that said, the two started making the long way home. The draco debated herself whether to follow the or not... In the end her instincts prevailed, and like that she ran after them.
When she caught up with the two, she heard parts of their conversation.
"... and tell me, did you fight with real spies?"
"Of course I did." Replied the man. "Each time I went on a mission, it was a fact that enemies were behind every corner."
"Wow, I can't imagine how tough those missions had to be."
"I wouldn't say they were tough, but you had to watch you mouth. Just one wrong word and could find yourself the next day dead in a back alley. In fact, at the KGB we had this saying: Only talk when you're sure there's nobody watching you... It was the golden law of the Russian secret services, and still remains to this day..."
He came to a sudden halt. Talulah was initially confused by the change of behavior, but soon that confusion turned into fear as he tilted his head to the side and pronounced words that would be engraved in her mind for the rest of her life.
"After all one can't know for sure if they're being observed... Isn't that right, Talulah Artorious?"
Everything became darkness.'