Chapter Text
“You should really stop fidgeting,” Katyusha tutted, kneeling down to pin the side of Ivan’s jacket. “You look great.”
“I do not feel great,” Ivan grumbled, staring ahead at the mirror. He didn’t even look ‘great’ in his own opinion. Hell, he looked like a wreck. He shook his head, trying to look at his reflection with more confidence. A fake confidence. He was dressed in a suit his sister had created herself, since his family couldn’t afford to buy him one. As always, her sewing was impeccable, on par with even the best tailors nearby. It was a plan black, though she had stitched in small details that resembled the stars in the night sky that Ivan greatly appreciated. His midnight black shoes were perfectly shined and his snowy hair was neatly combed, but it didn’t look right. His usually dull violet eyes were even duller. He didn’t like looking like this. The only comfort he had was the scarf his sister had made resting around his neck.
“It’s going to be okay,” Katyusha rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder as she stood back up. She was shorter than him by quite a lot, but the resemblance was still there. She shared his color of hair, which she kept short and expertly pinned. She was older than Ivan, but remained unmarried due to personal preference, despite nearly all of the men around her jumping at the chance to marry someone as pretty, and well-endowed, as her. She was also able to stay that way due to Ivan’s soon-to-be sacrifice.
“How can you be sure?” Ivan muttered. An arranged marriage. For money. The family on the other side of town greatly appreciated the Braginski name and status and had more than enough money to entice their parents. They had a daughter that was perfect to marry Ivan, evidently. But Ivan had never seen her, she had never seen him.
“You know our parents’ rules,” Katyusha sighed heavily, her hands delicately tracing the scarf. Ivan sighed. He wanted to wear the scarf for as long as possible, but it wasn’t ‘presentable’ enough for the rehearsal or even the wedding. He was almost afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep it after this stupid marriage. Ivan reluctantly unwound it and carefully folded it into his sister’s waiting hands. She smiled softly.
Ivan wanted to scream. He didn’t want to do this. But his elder sister didn’t wish to be married and his younger sister wasn’t near that age, nor did she want to marry anyone. Well, aside from Ivan. Their family was poor and needed to be married into money. He did not want to. He wanted to run away as fast as he could. But he loved his family.
“I still don’t support this,” his younger sister said from the doorway and Ivan turned to offer her a shaky smile. He had to reassure her that he was fine with this, that he accepted his fate. She scowled, standing under the doorway. She was very pretty as well, with the same hair color as her siblings, though she kept it long. She liked wearing dresses and being pretty, though Ivan had seen her on more than one occasion show that she enjoyed all of the activities men did. She could hunt, fight, and bet with the best of them. All of the men in town had learned to respect her, either out of their own free will or with her knife at their throats.
“I am fine, Natalia,” Ivan said simply. With a nod, he returned to looking at his reflection. That damned reflection. He looked worse without the scarf, which enabled him to show off the tie that Katyusha had also made for him. This she didn’t hold back on. It also resembled the night sky Ivan so admired, with a faint purple dusting across it for when the night was especially clear. He did not want to be married.
“We don’t know her,” Natalia grumbled. “How do we even know if she’ll be a good fit for you? I know she isn’t…”
“Now, Natalia,” Katyusha said, looking over Ivan just in case his suit needed any more tailoring, “we need to keep an open mind about this. I’m sure she’s nice and lovely and…well-suited to our brother.”
“I doubt it,” Natalia scoffed, glaring out the window. Ivan worried his lip.
Mere hours later and Ivan was standing in an unfamiliar house, standing before a priest in front of not just his family, but the family of his bride…who he stood beside. She was…rather plain. There was not much about her that was of interest and she seemed to regard Ivan apathetically, like he was a chore she had to attend to. He didn’t like her.
But that didn’t make him any less nervous. He didn’t like having so many people staring at him, it made him nervous. That was exactly the reason why he hardly left the house, except for shopping and going on walks alone. Talking to people he didn’t know made him stutter and lose his words and he felt useless. And now? Sure, he’d read the vows and knew what he should say, but the second he opened his mouth, he forgot the words. The priest looked livid with him.
“W-with this…um…” Ivan shook his head. His bride-to-be just stuck up her nose, like she was better than him.
“Hand,” the priest offered with a grumble.
“Hand,” Ivan nodded. “W-with this…hand…I…”
He dared a chance to look back, see his sisters. Natalia looked angry, but stifled it easily. Katyusha offered him a small smile that he offered back to her. That soothed his nerves slightly. But looking back at the priest made him go haywire again. He forgot where he was.
“Just…” the priest sighed, waving his hand at them, “just go to the candle part.”
“R-Right,” Ivan sighed, looking at the candle in his left hand. What did he do with this again? The bride-to-be scoffed, a tittering laugh escaping her lips. It made Ivan want to run so badly. He really couldn’t do this, could he?
“With this candle,” the priest supplied angrily and Ivan nodded. Right. He was supposed to be speaking.
“W-with this…c-candle,” Ivan mumbled. He looked to the already lit candle on the table. He was supposed to light it, right? He watched the flame flicker as he sighed heavily. His hand was shaking too badly for him to think about moving the damn candle. “I will…um…With…With this…”
“Are you even taking this seriously?” the bride-to-be shot at him and he flinched, dropping the candle. He winced when it clattered to the ground.
“I am trying,” Ivan muttered under his breath.
“Try harder,” she seethed and Ivan glared at her. This was the fate he’d resigned himself to?
“Make me,” Ivan growled back at her quietly and she stared at him in shock. Oh, he would not let himself be bossed around by anyone, let alone her. If this was how their marriage was going to go, this would be quite interesting.
“Let’s take a break,” the priest grumbled, glaring at Ivan. As if this was entirely his own fault. “You obviously need more time to learn your vows.”
“Fine,” Ivan said simply, turning on his heel and leaving the room before anyone had a chance to stand up. Fine. He’d take a damn break… The doors to the room closed solidly behind him and he stopped in his tracks, letting out a long breath of air. He was useless at this, wasn’t he? He shook his head, storming out of the stupid, opulent house that the rich people could afford. He didn’t like it there, it was stuffy and there wasn’t enough life to it. It just seemed so dead inside…
When Ivan stepped out into the chilly afternoon air, he realized he didn’t know what to do. He was taking a break, yeah. But where? What was he going to do? He didn’t know the vows enough to practice them… But the idea of going back into that house made him shiver. No, he’d get some air, clear his head, and then come back. They could deal with waiting for him. He felt bad for leaving his sisters behind, but they could socialize far easier than he could.
He walked forward and glanced around. There was a forest just behind the manor, its leaves wilting and changing colors with the season. Ivan sighed with a small smile, that would be perfect. He walked with purpose, feeling rather exposed in the flat land to the forest, sighing with relief when he reached the shelter of the trees. He finally allowed himself to slouch.
He walked forward, shoving his hands into his pockets. But in the right pocket, his hand brushed against something cold, circular. His blood ran cold as he pulled out the small, simple ring and frowned. He was so busy being a bumbling idiot that they hadn’t even gotten to the ring part… Ivan stared at the ring as he walked, easily stepping over roots and bushes. He wasn’t even startled by the small animals that darted around his feet. No, he felt at home here, where he could be alone, without worrying about what others thought of him.
“What is it, again?” he sighed. “There’s the candle, the hand, the wine, the ring, is there anything else?” He continued his musings, curling a fist around the ring to keep it safe and warm. This was important to his family, he could do this. He reached a small clearing where quite a few leaves had scattered onto the ground. There was a little root sticking out from the ground under a tree and Ivan smiled slightly.
He could practice here, couldn’t he? There was no one to stare at him, make him stutter, judge him.
“With this hand,” Ivan said, raising his right hand, the one holding the ring, “I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness.” Ivan smiled to himself. He knew the words, he could really do this. He knelt down to the little root. “With this ring, I ask you to be mine.” He slid the ring onto the little root with a smug smile.
Now why couldn’t he do that in front of everyone else?
He sighed, standing up. What if he tried it again, but imagining everyone staring at him? He shivered, no he really didn’t want to do that. He frowned. What could help him? Talking to his sisters? Maybe?
He heard a strange rustling in the leaves behind him and glanced back, expecting a rabbit or something, but he saw nothing. Had the root always been that big? He shook his head and started to pace, the leaves shifting under him.
That was easy, that was simple.
That was…making his vows for a root…
He shook his head, groaning heavily. When he stopped, the rustling around him continued and there was a…strange…cracking sound. He looked around curiously, but he couldn’t see anything wrong in the still woods. He turned back to the root, maybe he should pick up the ring and leave…
But there was something wrong with the ground. It was moving up, like a mound of dirt, the leaves being brushed away. Ivan could see more of the root now…it almost resembled a hand…He reached forward, intent on taking the ring and leaving as quickly as he could, but the branch moved.
The fingers of the hand gripped onto his wrist and he nearly screamed, but stifled it He tried to pull his hand back to safety, away from the root, but the hand gripped him tightly. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he tried to scramble away. The mound finally broke and he could see a…a head…
Was he hallucinating? Ivan practically felt his heartbeat in his throat as he pulled away with all of his strength. He heard a snap and he fell backwards. The hand was still tightly secured to his arm, but he could clearly see more…what looked like…bones…They made up an arm.
When he looked back to the mound, he could see that more than just a head was coming out, it was an entire body, trying to claw its way out of the dirt. He did scream this time, trying desperately to shake off the arm as he scrambled to his feet, but the arm wasn’t letting go.
He looked back to the mound and clearly saw a face, two eyes staring right at him, equally as surprised as him, it seemed. They were such a bright blue, much more brilliant than Ivan had ever seen. They stared at each other for a while, Ivan barely managing to put together the fact that this…whatever it was coming out of the ground…was a man. From what Ivan could tell, with the man half out of the ground, he was wearing a white suit, filthy from the dirt and mud.
The man smiled slightly and Ivan felt his blood run cold. He really was insane, wasn’t he?
“I do,” the man muttered and Ivan started running.
He shoved past all of the trees in his way, easily jumping over rocks that would have otherwise tripped him. This was insane, this was crazy, there was a corpse coming out of the ground! He shook his head, blearily realizing that he had no idea where he was going. He stopped to look around, see if there was any familiar landmark, maybe to see if he could find the house through the branches. But when he looked behind him, he could see that the corpse had made it out of the ground, was walking towards him. Ivan couldn’t even get a good look before he was running again.
“Wait! I-” the man tried calling out to him but Ivan shook his head, running as fast as he possibly could. The arm refused to let go of his wrist, no matter what he tried. He had to find help, he had to go to an asylum or something! He stopped running when he reached what looked like a rather large lake.
It was so quiet and calm…it didn’t even seem like a corpse was chasing him here. Birds chirped and fish swam in front of him. He looked back to where the man was following him, but he couldn’t see anything. No speck of white or…or anything. Ivan sighed with relief. Maybe he’d lost him.
When he turned around, however, he found himself face-to-face with the mysterious man and he screamed again, stumbling backwards and falling right on his ass. He winced, his breathing coming out raggedly.
“Are you okay? Here, let me-” the corpse held out his hand to Ivan, who simply shook his head and tried to back up even more. His head collided roughly with a tree behind him and he winced again. This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t real, he was crazy! “Hey, calm down,” the corpse laughed and Ivan glared up at him, but the man knelt down in front of him.
“Get the hell away from me!” Ivan snapped, trying to back up even more into the tree.
“Relax, man,” the corpse laughed slightly, easily crawling on top of Ivan so that he was straddling his lap. Ivan froze, unable to really comprehend just what the hell was happening. He wasn’t even sure if he was breathing anymore. “We’re not officially married yet, after all.”
“Not…” Ivan muttered through heavy breaths. So he was breathing… “What?”
“Relax, big guy,” the corpse chuckled before leaning his face closer to Ivan’s. Before Ivan could even register or try to fight, he felt a cold, stiff pair of lips against his own. His eyes snapped open, but the man on top of him had his eyes closed, content. He smelled like death and decay, looked like his flesh was rotting, and was cold as death.
Ivan was so overwhelmed, the birds chirping overhead were the last sounds he heard before he fainted.