Chapter Text
Vasilisa was in Russia with her adopted sister Carmen, why you may ask? Simply because Vasilisa was obsessed with the culture and wanted to experience it for herself. They were in St. Petersburg, near the Anichkov palace and it was night time. The two were talking to each other on the way to the palace, where they were staying. Vasilisa had been invited by her penpal Ivan who lived nearby and was in charge of upkeep of the palace.
As they approached the palace, they saw a man with straw blond hair standing by the gates. He took notice of Vasilisa’s dark blonde hair and waved them over. Vasilisa squinted for a second before determining that it was indeed her friend and walking over, Carmen following.
“Vanya, I’m so happy to finally meet you!” She exclaimed quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone else nearby. “This is my sister, Carmen. Thank you for letting her come along as well.”
“Of course, anything for you, my dear friend. Come, let me have your bags,” he said, extending his arm out to receive their luggage bags they had brought with them. They had two bags each, having packed lightly because Ivan had said he would take them shopping at some point for whatever they may need if they wanted to stay longer than originally planned.
After a few minutes of conversing outside the gates, Ivan led them inside the palace and to the rooms where they were staying, which were right next to each other. He then gave them a tour of the wing they were in.
“Okay, so this wing is completely fine to explore wherever. However ask me before you go anywhere else in the palace, most of it isn’t, kak vy govorite, safe. Da, that is the word! If you want to explore, let me know and I will come with you or tell you if it is bad idea to be in that area.” This made sense to Vasilisa, after all this palace was from at least the eighteenth century. There was no telling what sort of damage had been done over the years to it.
“Ivan, is there a library?” Vasilisa loved books, she always had ever since she learned to read. She found that she could pick up a book and get lost in the world of it quickly.
“There is, but many books are damaged or just not readable in general. Also, can you even read cryllic?” He questioned.
“I’m learning, you know that.” She crossed her arms and huffed, in a way that was almost childish compared to her age of twenty-five. “Anyway, can we still see it?”
“I suppose, davay.” He led them through a hallway and up a flight of stairs to the library. It wasn’t the most impressive library that had ever been, but still it had its own charm to it. “Don’t wander too far in here,” he said as Vasilisa and Carmen looked around.
“I think your boyfriend touched some of these books,” Carmen said, with a smirk.
“Hey Vanya, Tsar Nicholas and Tsarista Alexandra lived here, didn’t they? I remember reading that somewhere, I think?” Vasilisa genuinely couldn’t remember where she had gotten that information from.
“Only for a bit after their wedding, less than a year. However the Dowager Empress did live here.” That was an interesting fact, Vasilisa loved interesting historical facts. She felt someone watching her and looked around, however her sister was looking at a shelf of books and Ivan was looking out the window. Hmm… that was odd.
“You said it would just be us here, yeah?”
“It is, why?” He asked.
“I feel like I’m being watched.”
“Watched? Don’t be silly, Vasya, we’re the only people here. Come on, let's go back to the guest wing.” “That’s a little sus, Iliya, don’t you think?” Carmen asked. Vasilisa laughed at that, mainly because a point was made there, but also because Iliya was not a nickname for Ivan.
“Mena, be nice. He so generously offered to let us stay here,” Vasilisa interjected, trying to do damage control.
“How kind, we get to stay in a haunted castle, with this psycho.”
“It’s a palace firstly, and secondly he's reformed.” The second part was a joke, Vasilisa knew Ivan wasn't a psycho, she had been writing to him for years at this point. Also if any of them were the psycho, it'd be her.
That night, as she lay in bed, she did feel a presence watching her. She tossed fitfully in her sleep, barely sleeping at all. She only had one dream, just her voice repeating the name “Nicky” over and over again.
The next morning, she met Carmen and Ivan for breakfast. She looked very unrested, even with makeup on her face.
“Vasilisa, are you okay?” Carmen asked, concerned.
“Yeah, friend, you look…unsettled,” Ivan added.
“I just didn’t sleep well last night, it happens sometimes. This was odd though, I only had one dream, just a name repeated over and over, really.”
“That’s interesting,” Ivan said.
“I’m telling you, this place is haunted and we need to leave, Vasilisa,” Carmen said at the same time.
“Mena, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, please don’t ruin this for me,” Vasilisa begged. Being a Romanov historian this was all very interesting to her. She couldn’t care less if the place was haunted.
That day, the three of them spent out and about in St. Petersburg looking at the sights and doing tourist type things since Vasilisa and Carmen had never been before. They went to the State Hermitage Museum and the Faberge Museum, mainly just art museums. They also went to DLT to look at clothes. Vasilisa absolutely fell in love with this one dress by St Laurent, that Ivan insisted on buying for her. He even bought accessories to match.
“I’ve decided, tonight we’ll have a small dance. Carmen, why don’t you pick out something to wear as well?” Carmen picked out a Pucci dress.
A few hours later, they were back at the palace. The two women went to put on their dresses and Ivan disappeared to go get ready as well. Vasilisa sat at the vanity doing her makeup, when out of the corner of her eye she saw something. She turned around but there was nothing there, that was odd. The blonde finished getting ready and went to wait outside Carmen’s room.