Chapter Text
Ivan stared at the paper that his student had been practicing his English on. It was rather well written for a beginner, sure there were some grammar mistakes here and there but still, pretty good. Ivan would not say he was the best at English, but he was still decent. His father made him fill up notebooks with English so that he would be able to travel and help the union with trade. It was a pretty useful skill that he was grateful for. Especially because it helped him with work. Ivan gave his best sweet smile and looked at his student."You did a great job. Here, I wrote all the parts where you mess up."
"Thank you, Mr Biginsky," His student was tall and named Kim Herber. It was weird calling him a student because he looked around 50 years old and was wearing a brown suit with a red tie. He had white hair with black glasses and was staring at the paper with a content look on his face. "Best be off now, don't want to keep your next student waiting."
"What student?" Ivan asked innocently, still smiling.
Apparently his smile was not as sweet as he imagined as Kim started to slowly back out of the room. "The other people wanting to learn, if there aren't any others I have some friends who would love to learn but I have to go now." Kim ran out of the room leaving Ivan to think for a moment;
What did he do wrong?
>><<
Ivan looked down at the body of his older sister. Her hair was covered in frost and frozen blood as were her clothes. The reality of what was happening, of what had happened was suffocating. His father was screaming and his younger sister was trying to drag him inside and clean his wounds. He wasn't that hurt. He needed to help her, Natalie seemed to disagree as she kept dragging him.
"YOU MONSTER! YOUR SISTER IS FREEZING AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Ivan didn't want her to die, he wanted to protect her, like mama made him promise.
He was inside now, Natalie was wrapping his wounds with bandages. It wouldn't help with his now missing finger but he was still great full.
"You really messed up this time?" Natalie asked. Ivan could only nod as he was still crying and shaking violently. "You know," Natalie smiled, "You are a monster, I know it was a mistake but you, with all your perfection, shouldn't make mistakes." Ivan knew this wasn't going anywhere good.
Suddenly he was not seven and in the living room but 10 with Natalie pressing a knife to his throat. It hurt, he couldn't breathe, yet he still screamed for anyone. His father was in the room next to him, yet he wasn't doing anything. His neck was now covered in knife scratches. He could feel the blood coming down from his it, so warm, he deserved the pain.
Someone was crying, he couldn't know why someone was upset for him. He could feel his consciousness fading as someone ripped Natalie away from him.
"Now you'll always remember not to make mistakes so you can be perfect." Someone made Natalie shut up.
>><<
What the hell was that? Ivan woke up to a loud banging and crashing noise. Had someone broken in? Ivan got out of bed, still in his pajamas and now holding a pipe because it was the closest thing to a weapon in the room.
As he walked outside his room he could hear a soft voice swearing. Maybe the robber messed up in his entrance? I mean why would he purposely make so much noise? As he got ready to attack he thought back to his dream, 'monster'. If someone broke in he shouldn't hurt them. He put away his pipe and walked through the noise.
Looking at the person who made the ruckus, he was now glad to have not brought his pipe. He was a small man, wearing a nice-ish suit with a red tie. Hia short,black hair gave the impression of a very neat person, the type Lutwig would like. He was swearing quietly in a language that sounds similar to Chinese but not quite (definitely of Asian origin though.) He believes he has seen him at dinner a few times. He was an inventor that oftentimes had to be told to keep the noise down despite the man himself being quite shy. He never leaves his apartment unless for errands or one of his friends dragged him. He believed his name was Kikuru or Kiki, Kiku!
Kiku looked up at Ivan and backed away off the floor with embarrassment. "Apologies if I interrupted your new years celebrations." The Kiku gave a small bow in greeting. "I was fixing some lights for a show tonight at a nightclub." Kiku explained before giving him a strange look. "Odd clothes for new years? If you don't mind me asking!"
Ivan gave him a converting 'it's okay smile' which seemed to not help at all.
“It’s new years?” Ivan gave a little head tilt. “I wasn't aware, where does the time go?”
Kiku looked like he was considering something before he asked, “would you mind doing something for me.” Kiku looked at Ivan with something of hope in his eyes
“What is it? I'm planning on going back to sleep soon.”
“Please, I only need to take these to the nightclub, you can stay and I'll pay for your drinks ,” Ivan was unsure. Kiko was looking so desperate and hopeful.
Still looking unsure, Kiku added. “You can keep 20% of what I get.”
Ivan thought that did sound good. “Let me get something nice to put on for a moment.” Ivan went back into his room and put on the one suit that he hadn't put on in a long time. He took his hat and walked out of the room. He grabbed one of the things that Kiku was holding.
Guess he was doing something this new years