DMITRI "ST. PETERSBURG" VOLKOV

DMITRI ST. PETERSBURG VOLKOV

I’m falling in the black…
slipping through the cracks…
falling to the depths…
can I ever go back?
falling inside the black.

I Feel Like We're Summoning The Devil

[/color]:[/b] Dmitri Volkov
Nickname/Alias:
Piter - Dutch for Peter it’s a nickname that still lasts to this day
Built on Bones - the reason comes with the 60,000 or 100,000 lives lost during the creation of his city where under harsh weather conditions a lot of people died and as a result this pleasant nickname was created for him and it once bothered him, but now he doesn’t care
Gender: Male
Character Type: City
Country or Country of Origin: The Russian Federation
Canon or Original: Original
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When I look into all of your stupid faces

I think how fun it will be to pound them into dust

[/color]:[/b] One ocean blue & the other milky white
Hair: Pale blond
Height and Weight: 4’9” & 108 lbs
Other Distinguishing Features:
It doesn’t take a genius for someone to see Dmitri’s most distinguishing feature because it’s more noticeable than a polar bear in the desert. A large third degree burn takes over the left side of his face from his forehead, across his eye, the top of his nose and his cheeks and down his cheek, but avoiding his mouth by a small gap. The burn easily shows up against his snowy white skin. It has turned the side of his face with his beautiful porcelain skin into a red, hideous scar, revealing no noticeable traces of his normal skin on this part of his face. The dead issue caused by the burn looks very scaly and appears to seem like it would hurt at the touch, but it’s so old he’s no longer in pain from it unless you count the emotional scars it brought with it.

Since Dmitri refuses to take off his clothing people won’t be able to see how severely burned he truly is. Underneath his clothes are even more burns coving his body in second and third degree burns throughout his body adding up to fifty perfect of his body covered in scars no one is able to see. His face is badly burned, but the worst burns he has suffered are his hands which are hidden by black, water resistant gloves. They’re so damaged that it looks completely red with scarring around his entire hand, stopping at his wrist. You can still see his filed nails which are normal compared to his wounded hands.

The scar on his face and hands aren’t the only noticeable marking. He has one stunning, ocean blue eye that pops thanks to his light skin color, but the other one stares lifelessly, ahead with a milky white tint to it and gives his eye a dull and discolored. It’s the same side as his scarred face and his eye is probably the first thing that someone notices when staring at him and then his skin, although it depends on what catches the persons eyes first, his scarred first of his lifeless eye. They say that the eyes are the window to your soul, but if that’s the truth one can see his soul is just as scarred as his face.

The last thing someone might notice is the large cut on his neck and if he has his gloves off his slit wrists. The cut looks very clean and a thin line, but some might not notice it even though it has left behind a small scar on it.

Overall Appearance:
Dmitri’s only 4’9” and although he might not be the shortest city out there, he’s by far the shortest compared to other Russians and this includes the country, capital and the other cities within Russia. The reason might come from a stunted growth after being seen while under Swedish control where the average height is 5’5” for males, only Dmitri became much, much shorter than this.

Along with his height being a problem he’s also small framed and 108 pounds. His face is full, but his body is as slim as an athlete. He makes his appearance seem more bulky thanks to heavy, puffy jackets and loose fitting pants. His clothes are very loose and seem to add fictional pounds to his appearance which is something he enjoys seeing as he has a small frame. Since Dmitri doesn’t have broad shoulders like he wants he uses an old fashion trick from the 1930’s which are shoulder pads. Commonly used for women and in some men’s suits, jackets and overcoats Dmitri had to get creative and find someone willing to add the shoulder pads to his parka because shoulder pads in parkas aren’t common. It adds a tiny bit to his fall frame, but when the jacket comes off he doesn’t have shoulder pads on his clothes underneath so it returns to his embarrassing smaller frame.

He has beautiful, lush pale blond hair that goes down to his shoulders with it being much longer in the back than Ivan’s. In the back his hair goes a little bit past his shoulders by a couple of inches. His hair is layered as though he had it professional done and his bangs are so long that it nearly covers his eyes. It always curls when it’s wet, turning his straight hair into a curly mess of tangles and ringlets. Not only does it curl, but it sometimes becomes frizzy either from the rain or in extremely hot climates making small bits of hair stick at the top and sides of his hair giving him a goofy, unruly appearance. He’s been known to pull his hair back into a small ponytail during torture sessions or before he’ll perform a violent act such as hitting someone with his baseball bat. If someone sees Dmitri take out his black hair band and tie his hair back it means he’s ready to be violent.

Since Dmitri grew up in a harsh climate he’s use to and fond of wearing parkas. He’ll wear all different kinds as long as he has them custom made with shoulder pads installed. The heavy layers in the parka keep him well protected against the wind and freezing cold weather since they’re designed for Artic weather conditions compared to normal jackets. He can be seen wearing black parkas with brown faux fur and brown parkas with tan faux fur. His parka is always buttoned up with only a small bit of his shirt underneath peeking out.

Underneath his parka, which he hardly takes off, is a long sleeved, knitted, black shirt. It’s made out of heavy yarn to conserve his body heat and gives him a bulky appearance when he takes it off. His shirt feels not as heavy as his parka. It has a couple stains of dried black on the front which he wasn’t able to wash out the stain, but he doesn’t mind if others see the bloodstained shirt because it doesn’t bother him to make others fearful of being around him.

His pants are very loose and a shade close to his parka, only it’s a little bit lighter. The pants are made out of thinner material than his shirt and parka and not made for the harsh weather, but he doesn’t mind feeling a cold breeze every so often. It appears to be more like pants for a suit instead of any type of jeans and seems a tab bit out of place because it’s not accompanied by a fancy dress shirt.

Dmitri wears one pair of shoes and it’s very heavy quality combat boots. It’s easy to clean the blood off of them and polish them again. His shoes are always well polished, glistening in the light and if it even looks a little bit dull Dmitri quickly polishes them.

The thing that most people can’t see most of the time is a small gold locket with a black and white picture of a beautiful blonde woman with a stunning smile inside. It’s hidden underneath the collar of his parka and almost never seen unless he moves a certain way or takes off his parka which doesn’t happen very often. [/size][/ul]

Man up or I'll beat you with my peace prize!

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- his baseball bat with the name Maria etched at the top of it
he enjoys the game of baseball because it’s very close to town ball which is a game his beloved Maria loved
- his locket with a picture of Maria inside it
he feels closer to Maria when he wears it
- torturing
causing pain makes him feel better about his own emotional and psychical scars, but he only wants to torture certain races
- daydreaming of having his revenge against Ivan and Alfred as well as Russians and Americans in general
his hatred for them will probably never go away because of the stress they put him through
- the country of England & Arthur Kirkland himself
grew up with a fondness of him thanks to Peter the Great
Dislikes:
- Ivan, Alfred, Russians & Americans
he has an extreme hatred for the over what happened in his past
- remembering Maria
thinking about her is too painful
- The sight/warmth of fire & the smell of smoke
he’s deathly afraid of it
- Thinking about his violent past/someone bringing it up
he’ll attack anyone who brings it up
- solitude
after being imprisoned so long he doesn’t like it, but he can handle it if he has to
Strengths:
- skilled in the “art” of torture
- experienced in the medical field
- brave which might at times appear to be foolish or stupidity rather than bravery
- a strategic planner
Weaknesses:
- inability of seeing out of one eye
- bloodthirsty when it comes to Americans and other Russians
- turns into a fearful mess when spotting fire or smelling smoke
- highly impulsive
Fears:
- forgetting Maria
- getting feelings for someone else
- never being with Maria after in the afterlife
- fire
Secrets:
Since Maria had blonde hair he has trouble being around blonde girls, especially if they have bright blue eyes. Any blonde girls with sunshine blonde hair makes it hard for him to look away and at times he’ll see Maria’s face staring back at him.
Any Quirks/Habits:
Pulls his hair black with a black hair band if he’s about to spill blood.
Always carries around the baseball bat engraved with Maria’s name on it.
Will approach someone he’s trying to intimidate by swinging his bat back and forth on his cupped hand, creating a small thud from the metal as he hits it against his hand. He has a stern look on his face while he’s swinging back and forth.

Overall Personality:
Dmitri’s grisly appearance goes well with his personality which is just as frightening as his looks. Some people might believe the old ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’, but in Dmitri’s case throw it out the window. He’s not a super nice guy with the appearance even a snake would be afraid of, he’s just as scary as his looks, if not more scary. Don’t be fooled by the old saying because Dmitri has heard of it and he will use it against someone in order to stab them in the back later on if he has to, but only if you’re Russian or American. Dmitri has a deep hatred for his own race and the Americans due to his past. If you catch him at a bad day and he doesn’t see a Russian or American he’ll take his rage out on anyway which he’ll bring back his hatred for them not helping him from the fortress centuries ago. The best way that Dmitri scares people is through intimidation. Intimidation is difficult to do with his super short height, he’s even shorter than Moscow, but he doesn’t count on that, he counts on his personality to do the talking rather than allow his height to scare those into submission. The best way to scare someone into intimidation is holding a weapon, ready to strike and explaining to them in a simple way what will happen if they fail to listen to him. In fact, he might not even give a warning and jump right to abuse to force them into submission instead waiting for them to say anything. It depends on how he views them. Dmitri will assess the personality of them and if he deems them intelligent enough to come to the conclusion by themselves he’ll give them a warning, but if not he’ll just hit them into being submission without any warning of his actions whatsoever. In the case he’ll warn them he does his habit where he swings his bat back and forth against his hand while he steps toward them. He’ll lash out against Ivan and Alfred though and possibly might not give a warning and beat them.

A sad thing when it comes to torturing is how much Dmitri loses himself in it. He also loses track of time and what he thinks is fifteen minutes is really an hour. No matter how hard Dmitri tries to keep in control he can’t. The sight of blood and the smell of blood, it makes it too difficult for him to stop a torture session. It also goes with being bloodthirsty half the time. He enjoys spilling blood of Russians and Americans. It’s a proven fact that red makes your heart beat faster, but to Dmitri it makes it goes at rocket speed. Seeing the blood coming out of people, even if it’s an accident, makes him want to attack them and cause even more. He has a real problem when it comes to causing too much blood to spill. He doesn’t have a problem of being bloodthirsty for everything, but just some people. Blood and torturing is like a drug to him, he can’t get enough of it.

He has experience in the medical field studying it through books instead of through a schooling and by others. Dmitri had to heal people after they were tortured if they would be released for some reason, but most of the time it was to have them get ready for another torture session. Dmitri won’t heal just anyone though and it’ll take a lot of convincing for Dmitri to go through with his training. As strange as it sounds Dmitri could be a top surgeon if he became a doctor, but he doesn’t want to help people all the time. He finds it very annoying and troublesome to help people.

Dmitri has an impulse problem. He’ll act on mere emotions rather than think things through first and then act upon them. He’s not able to control his emotions when impulse takes control. It takes him over suddenly and makes him act out, usually against a person, but once before he took it out on an animal by mistake. When he goes on his emotions Dmitri completely loses himself and with that he loses the ability to fight normally. He’ll swing his bat wildly in hopes to strike a target, but often times missing. Sometimes he’ll sob or curse uncontrollable or just allow his emotions to take over so much he’ll go on by rage, letting it do what it wants. Half the time after he loses himself to his impulsive action he’ll deeply reject it and wish he had a time machine to go back and fix the mistake before it happened. He never means to react on pure emotion, pure impulse, but it happens more than Dmitri would like and there’s really nothing that he could do about it either. No amount of medication can tame his impulsive behavior.

Dmitri appears to be asexual now because he lost all emotional connection with love after Maria passed away. He doesn’t want to love anyone again. He loved Maria so much that he felt as though he could never love anyone else ever again because it hurt too much to lose her and he can’t stand the pain again. He’ll pull away from love even if he gains feelings for someone. Dmitri will even resort to killing them if he knows he can’t keep from these feelings. The last thing he wants to do is gain feelings for someone else and forgetting all about Maria.

His fear of fire turns him into a stuttering, bumbling mess of sweat, trembling and tears. It doesn’t have to be the sight of it, it can just be the smell of smoke in the distance or seeing the smoke. Dmitri can’t control himself and freaks out like a little child afraid of the monsters underneath his bed. He’ll run away as fast as possible, sometimes tripping over his own to feet and crashing to the ground before he can get away from it. All the fires that destroyed his town and the bombings that caused a much of fire left Dmitri with an undying fire for it. He actually calls fire demonic and the beautiful and warmth coming from it of it is very misleading because it’s dangerous and the cause of pure destruction. It’s not the only thing that Dmitri’s afraid of, but it’s the only noticeable thing he shows fear for in the presence of others.[/size][/ul]

I'm the hero!

[/color]:[/b]
Dmitri Volkov was born with Russian blood flowing through his veins despite not officially being seen until after Sweden gained control over his Russian town then dubbed Mouth of the Neva. The Swedes changed the name of his town to Nien, one of many name changes that Dmitri would undergo throughout his childhood and in a little bit into his adulthood, leading to an identity crisis later on in his life. Dmitri never understood why the Swedes renamed the city he lived in (this was in a time when he didn’t know of his city status), but it didn’t really bother him or change the name that Dmitri knew his heart he was when he suddenly appeared on earth. In fact, Dmitri never knew how he came to be other than suddenly standing in the middle of a quickly developing town with crowds of people walking past him too busy with their own lives to see a confused boy, startled and afraid boy standing there waiting for answers. It didn’t occur to him how this creation wasn’t normal and he wasn’t like the people surrounding him.

No one ever claimed Dmitri as their own or answered any of his questions because they either didn’t have time to or didn’t fully understand why a young child would ask such strange questions. Either way Dmitri spent his time begging for food and money on his streets while he desperately searched for someone who could answer his massive list of questions.

Since most people never provided for the young city he resorted to drastic means which involved stealing both through pick-pocking for money and items in general. He had quite the sticky fingers, gasping anything his tiny hands could get a hold of and hiding it in his pockets, then slipping out of sight. No one ever caught Dmitri stealing because he was far too quick and clever to be caught. His luck continued throughout the years all while remaining the small city thanks to slow age progression that comes with being a personified city, still oblivious to being different from others.

Years passed by without anyone to call a friend much less a parental figure in his life. No one answered his questions and he gave up trying to get any answers. Dmitri continued being an invisible thief to keep from being hungry and obtain needed items. He never wondered outside the city of Nien that was until he became curious of the world around him and decided to discover what was out there, a mistake Dmitri would soon find out.

While Dmitri explored, he didn’t known of any tensions rising between the Russians and the Swedes. The Swedes were on high alert so when they heard a rustling in the bushes nearby their fortress of Nienshantz, they acted rashly to stop what might be a Russian invasion. Dmitri was shot twice. Once in the head and once in his left eye. The Swedish soldiers were shocked and rushed him into town. They knew he wouldn’t make it to the city, but they hoped he would. They were surprised that Dmitri spoke to them on the way there where they tried to encourage him to hold onto life. Not only did Dmitri made it to the hospital, but also on the operating table when the bullets were surgically removed from his fragile body. He lost his eye due to the bullet critically damaging it. Dmitri would never be able to see out of that eye again, leaving him with a blind spot.

Even with his inability to see out of one eye the doctors couldn’t believe his recovery time. Within three weeks he fully recovered from his surgery when the recovery time, especially of a child Dmitri’s age, should be months, possibly even six. It wasn’t natural. He wasn’t normal. The doctors and nurses didn’t think of it as being a miracle because even they have their limits. It had to be something else, something inhuman that kept him alive and sped up his recovery time. The doctor and nurses began looking at Dmitri funny with curious, judgmental eyes and he didn’t like it so during the middle of the night he left. He couldn’t take the stares and questions. Although he was on the streets “the boy with the inhuman recovery” and “the boy who couldn’t die” started to spread. He couldn’t get away from his new nickname, but only the doctors and nurses knew what he looked like making blending into society easier. It was thankful that no one found out about him until after he left or more people would know what he looked like and probably come to ask him questions he didn’t know how to answer. Learning about his inhuman recovery time lead Dmitri to believe something was wrong with him and a feeling of never being accepted no matter how hard he tried He didn’t even have time to dwell on the sight he lost in his eye far too concerned over how inhuman he was and not understand what’s wrong with him. He never focused on his lack of sight because he knew it was an accident and no use dwelling on a mistake.

After the confusion over everything Dmitri wasn’t sure he wanted to stay here any longer, but at the same time he didn’t want to leave the city he grew up in and felt a strange connection to this city that he didn’t understand. He remained in the city well into the arrive of Peter the Great who had victory over the fortress and the city. At six feet, seven inches Peter intimidated the young Dmitri and he hid from him even though Peter himself was Russian and just took back the city from the Swedes they lost in the Stolbov Treaty. To his surprise Peter renamed the fortress Shlotburg and the city St. Petersburg (Sankt Piter Burkh in Dutch) which he didn’t like the sound of and preferred the old names. Dmitri didn’t have a say in the matter nor did he want to approach the very tall Russian and voice his annoyance over the strange names he choose.

For some unknown reason everyone started leaving the newly formed town of Sankt Piter Burkh. He watched day in and day out as people left with suitcases in hand and it wasn’t long until it turned into a ghost town with Dmitri only remaining. He didn’t know where he could go if he left the safety of the newly named city. Somehow the town caught fire where rapidly spread from building to building. Dmitri managed to rush out of the blaze, but not without getting a nasty burn on his face which wouldn’t be the only fires he would have to deal with. It was a horrible third degree burn and felt very painful to Dmitri. An unimaginable feeling of pain swept through him. He thought he’d die, but recalled the time he was shot and lived through it.

Without any treatment to the burns Dmitri suffered until Peter the Great, the very man who took over the city and then forgot about it, returned to see young Dmitri curled up into a ball just outside the city limits. This was shortly after Peter decided to make this old land anew by creating the city he dreamt of, St. Petersburg or Sankt Piter Burkh in Dutch. Upon seeing the boy he dashed to Dmitri’s side and whist him off to safety. Dmitri could hardly keep his eyes open and kept drifting in and out of consciousness. He’d been like that for two weeks which was when Dmitri was discovered by Peter. After having someone bandaged his wounded face, only leaving the other side noticeable, he began asking Dmitri questions such as why he didn’t go with his parents when they left and why his parents didn’t come looking for him. He was too weak to answer the questions right off the bat and Peter stayed by his side, even at nighttime, to wait for him to answer his questions. Weak everyday, Dmitri answered his questions once question a day, unable to explain to him everything in one breath. It was clear he was dying. Dmitri told of suddenly appearing in the middle of the city of Nien, he told him how he didn’t have any parents, but he knew the name in his heart was Dmitri Volkov and he told of how he lost his eye by being shot at by Swedish soldiers and living despite having two critical bullets inside him and being well enough to walk and talk in three weeks time. The more Peter listened to Dmitri, the more he understood the situation he was in. Dmitri wasn’t just some boy, he’s the former city of Nien and as a result of it being burned to the ground, he was dying a slow and painful death. He already came to Nien with the purpose of rebuilding the city into a more powerful one and if he started working on rebuilding the city sooner rather than later maybe Dmitri would live.

Since Dmitri didn’t know who he really was Peter wasn’t sure how to explain it to him in terms that the young city would understand. He decided to contact outside forces, also known as the country of Russia. Ivan Braginski. Although Ivan was busy with his own problems Peter was given a simple way to explain it in details that Dmitri understood. Peter would much rather have Ivan come see him, but Ivan was too busy to do it and Peter had to tell Dmitri on his own. He told him about how sometimes people who think they’re human turn out to be countries, capitals or states. Some grow up knowing what they are and others find out later on. He told him about Ivan, but nothing too personal and continued to tell him about how it’s a great thing to be different because you’re more powerful and can’t die as easily as normal humans. Dmitri listened to what Peter said with curiosity and when Peter told him the reason why he was dying, this quickly turned into fear and anger. Dmitri recalled Peter being the one to get the land and then forgot about it, he yelled as much as he could and tried to attack Peter, but was too weak and went unconscious the moment he leapt out of the bed. When Dmitri woke up again Peter finished by telling him he knew how to save his life and that he planned to create another city on top of the old one even without meeting Dmitri. He then told him, after thinking for a little bit, that he’d make Dmitri the capital of Russia where the current title belonged to Moscow and before Dmitri could ask anything else, Peter left the room and anytime he brought up Moscow and the capital, asking many questions, Peter would just smile and shrug.

The beginning of the city and the new life for Dmitri started with the Peter and Paul Fortress. Dmitri knew very little about the building efforts of the fortress or why they needed it in the first place which was to protect the construction of the new city from the Swedes. One day Dmitri woke up feeling like he couldn’t breathe and was underwater, he struggled to breath for a little bit. Turns out the Neva river flooded and it pushed back the building efforts for weeks. Dmitri struggled to remain calm during his times of having trouble breathing where he’d experience this often because the floods always happen around August, but back then he never understood that his land was link to his body making him feel like he’s underwater and unable to breathe. Back then he just believed himself to be choking on his own breath. It wouldn’t be until he grew up that he developed the fear of water from the unable to breath spells that come with the flooding.

Dmitri started to feel more renewed with each passing day thanks to the efforts of Peter and the men who helped him create the city. Dmitri wouldn’t know until later that his city was created on the foundation of blood and bones. In fact, his nickname was “built on bones” because of the 60,000 or 100,000 lives lost from the harsh climate and backbreaking work. It was as many people as the population of the city. Swedish prisoners of war and some Russian peasants worked on the city. It was expensive to build the city where most of the money would go to the creation of St. Petersburg. Dmitri never knew how many people lost their lives while he slowly regained strength each and every day. Although Dmitri was getting better he was still ill in bed until he was strong enough which was around the time his city became a capital. His anger and hatred for Peter dwindled down to see him trying to make up for all the destruction he caused. He actually felt something he never felt before: love. It was a feeling he didn’t understand and when able to talk more he asked about it and Peter explained as best as he could all about love. He even started looking at Peter as being a father figure to him and would ask about things such as Ivan and when he can meet him where the answer was always “he’s too busy right now, but soon you can meet him” and Dmitri would leave it at that since he figured Ivan can’t be busy forever.

Peter never told Dmitri about never have a master plan for the building. He didn’t want to worry him at all and knew any stress like this might cause him to take a turn for the worse. Even though he didn’t tell him everything there was no denying it when trouble struck. The wooden buildings all knit closely together would caught fire and spread rapidly and sometimes take out a large amount of the town. Since Dmitri could feel the pain coming from his land it caused more burns to appear on his body, not on his face, but on his stomach and back. Peter tried to work on maintaining control of it by adding in fireplaces with mandatory cleaning and create hours of getting fires under control. He wanted to keep Dmitri from feeling anymore pain given all the stuff he went through already, but without being able to build with the materials he wanted, stones and masonry, he had to wait. Once Dmitri was safe from the Swedish Peter couldn’t afford spend any funds.

Although Peter moved his family to the city he didn’t introduce them to Dmitri since he believed they wouldn’t understand. All they knew was Peter found some badly burned orphaned boy and took it upon himself to be a father figure. They never spoke to one another and Dmitri never got to know them.

By the time the capital changed from Moscow to St. Petersburg Dmitri was feeling much better and could explore the thriving town where Peter forced many people to leave their own homes and enter the city he viewed as paradise. He followed Peter around like a litter dog only leaving his side when Peter had to return to his family. Dmitri lived in a small house where he’d spend his nights since half the time he’d go around the city meeting his people. Peter announced to the city about Dmitri’s city status and although some refused to people something like this could be real, others accepted the boy and showered him with food and love. Dmitri grew to love being the center of attention everywhere he went and was a bit of an attention hog. Every so often he’d think about the former capital, Moscow, and how this city must feel to have a very important status stripped from them. He want to meet the city and the country, but Peter always convinced him otherwise for Moscow and told him how busy Ivan was and wasn’t able to meet him yet. At one point Dmitri asked Peter why he disliked Moscow and wanted to change the capital, just out of pure curiosity. Peter’s response was blunt. He just didn’t like Moscow because he enjoyed the sea much more and he had big plans for the city, plans Peter had yet to tell Dmitri and plans which would later lead to many controversies surrounding Peter and the elements he included in the city would cause people to think of him differently.

Under Peter’s watchful eye Dmitri learned new Russian words, words that weren’t originally added to Russian which were created because Peter wanted to express more Western words the Russian dictionary was lacking in. Peter introduced him to foreign things such as science and ideas to Dmitri as well as the people in the city. It was clear to Dmitri just how much Peter loved Western Europe. Dmitri only liked it because the man who raised him like the culture and people. He respected Peter and that meant liking new things that Peter introduced him to. Although he personally never met any of these countries Dmitri liked them without having to meet them. He dreamt of one day meeting the country England. Arthur Kirkland. After Peter took Dmitri over to England to study the culture with him Dmitri fell in love with the country it and by the time they had to leave for Russia Dmitri refused to go unless he met Arthur. It never happened. Dmitri went kicking and screaming back to Russia where he pouted for the rest of the month. Dmitri would beg to go back to England and go to their schooling, but Peter had to refuse because Peter had to still look after the city and he didn’t want Dmitri going off on an adventure he couldn’t monitor. His love for England never faded away even after Peter pasted away.

Since Dmitri never met Peter’s family and he didn’t talk about him he never knew of the family drama going on with Peter and his son, Alexis. He never knew that Peter wanted his son to take the throne after his death and how Alexis flat out refused because he saw himself as unfit for the task. Peter gave Alexis a choice to be his successor or be sent to a monastery and in Alexis fear he fled. Dmitri never knew how many people from Moscow and people in general disliked his city and wanted to overthrow Peter. He was in the dark about the assassination plot of Peter by his own son and some other men. Dmitri didn’t even know that Alexis committed treason and after being lured back to Russia, captured and taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress to be tortured until he gave the names of those who joined him in the would-be assassination plot. Peter loved Dmitri and his ideals more than his son. Dmitri was forced to stay in the house under lock and key with soldiers surrounding his house until Alexis was found guilty and sentenced to death (which never happened because Alexis died shortly after from the result of the torture) and all the action of what took place died down. Peter never wanted Dmitri to be bothered by this or to make the young city upset.

After a long time for remaining in a child-like state Dmitri transformed into a young teenager. He grew up having to deal with flooding issues that would plague his city resulting in the feeling of being underwater and unable to breathe. The terrible floods only got worse with Dmitri’s new age. Some would say the floods were of biblical plagues leading some to believe Peter was the Antichrist and the city would one day be completely destroyed and swallowed up by the sea. This quickly lead Dmitri to fearing the sea and water in general. These weren’t stories, but prophecies of what was to come and unknown to Dmitri anyone found spreading these would be tortured and killed by Peter’s Secret Chancellery before and even after he passed away. Even though Peter tried to control these horrible rumors they only got worse. One such rumor said of a mythical creature, a kikimora who lived in the bell tower of Trinity Cathedral and told of the end of the city. Another is said that Peter’s first wise cursed the city by saying “Petersburg will stand empty”. These rumors were difficult to get order, but the worse was yet to come. This rumor revolved around a time before Dmitri was noticed and before his city was founded. It told on Christmas day Chukhni spotted a lot of candles appeared out of no where in a huge tree which stood where Trinity Cathedral now stands. They panicked and tried to cut down the tree to retrieve the candles, but they didn’t have to worry about cutting it down since the candles vanished after a couple swings of the axe. The axe left behind a scar across the tree as a reminder. That wasn’t bad part, the bad part was when an old prophet wondered over to the Trinity Square and said that on September 23 o 1720 a massive wave will devour the city up to the tree branches which would then destroy the city all because of Peter abandoning Orthodoxy and going with ungodly ways. People believed it so much that they packed their bags and left. Dmitri was upset by the rumors and how people kept leaving him. Dmitri didn’t know what to do. His feelings were hurt to see people leave over a stupid rumor. Peter decided to ease Dmitri’s broken heart by chopping down the tree in question, publicly and person created this prophecy was whipped by the stump of the tree where Peter than warned people this is the price they have to pay for believing in fables. Dmitri didn’t want brutal punishment or a lecture, but Peter went through with things his way. He never knew how violent Peter could be and it made him a little nervous to be around him for a couple of weeks afterwards.

Dmitri noticed how moody Peter became after awhile and wondered what was wrong. It turned out that it was his health rather than the stress that came with looking after Dmitri. Peter became increasingly ill as time went on and Dmitri, just as Peter had when he was ill, stood by his side and aided him anyway he could. He feared the death of his father figure. The only one to love him and went through such efforts to protect him and even chose him over his own son was gravely getting sick. He suffered from being half paralyzed in his left arm and urinary track problems. His infection became so bad that he couldn’t even move. Dmitri wanted him to remain in bed since Peter’s doctors told him it was a good idea, but Peter wanted to go on inspection tours through the city, going against both their wishes. Dmitri walked along side him, wanting to make sure if anything happened to him he’d be there to protect him. After all Peter still had enemies and he wasn’t one-hundred-percent healed.

While making rounds with Peter the two spotted a group of soldiers drowning Peter took matters into his own hands and helped them. Dmitri shouted from shore, mostly because of his fear keeping him from entering the sea to pull Peter back and helping the soldiers. The soldiers and their boat was saved. Dmitri yelled at Peter, but he was just glad to help them.

It wasn’t long after his heroic action that Peter became ill from the icy waters affecting him and his infection returned. Dmitri once again stayed by his side and this time Peter never recovered. Dmitri was horrified when Peter passed away. He couldn’t keep from crying over him, he hated the feeling of loss and wanted the doctors to bring Peter back to life. They couldn’t do anything and Dmitri spiraled into a depression. He couldn’t even go to the funeral because he didn’t want to see Peter’s lifeless body and be reminded that his father figure all his childhood and most of his young adulthood was just a human. He found out how difficult it was when humans die and he didn’t want to have any relationships with them. He would find countries, capitals, cities and states as friends, Peter told him they can’t die easily. He’ll have those as his friends, but Dmitri would one day forget the feelings of pain he felt all for a beautiful girl and would be thrown back into despair.

Dmitri was still grieving when Catharine, wife to Peter, took over the as Empress. They never officially met when Peter was still alive so he didn’t know what to expect from her, but he didn’t really care. He missed Peter too much to bend all his will to Catharine. She confronted him one day telling him and she fully intends to go through with all the same ideas Peter did. Dmitri wasn’t sure what to think and tried not to get close to her in fear of what might happen if he did. After she began getting sick Dmitri couldn’t stand the thought of losing someone else and became very distant from her. It was only two years after the death of Peter when Catharine passed away from disease and fatigue. This time Dmitri wasn’t struck by pain from loss because he barely knew her, allowing her to do what she pleaded and never listening to anything she said or did. He knew being distant would be the best thing from now on to avoid the pain or at least the pain from a human death since it would be more difficult for non-humans like him to die.

After the sudden death of Catharine Alexis son, Peter, was to hold the crown at only eleven years old. Peter II enjoyed Moscow aristocracy instead of what Peter the Great believed in during his reign. People who supported Peter’s views, including Dmitri, disliked Peter II. Dmitri disliked having some kid being in control over him, but he had no choice and had to be under his control. He continued to live up to his word of not getting close to any humans, keeping a safe distant and not paying attention to when he was engaged to Menshikov’s daughter. He only heard of Menshikov doing important things without consulting Peter II and how Peter II found out and tried to avoid marrying his daughter. The biggest shock came when Dmitri heard how Menshikov became ill and Peter II and the allies in Moscow took their chance to take full control, doing everything without consulting with him. In the end he heard that Menshikov was exiled and then died, but he didn’t hear all the details of what happened. All he knew was how much he disliked Peter II and even more so when he decided to up and leave his city in favor of going to Moscow. Dmitri became extremely antisocial when Peter II left for the city of Moscow. All he could focus on was losing Peter and having to deal with Peter II who seemed to care more about Moscow than Dmitri. Peter II didn’t move the capital back, but he moved the court and government to Moscow and factories closed due to lack of funds and the schooling for science lost funds and students and construction of new buildings stopped, leaving building throughout Dmitri’s city half built. Dmitri resorted to be a port city inhabited mostly by merchants and the military. He felt like Peter II was trying to take everything away from him and give it to Moscow. He started to get annoyed by Moscow because Peter II seemed to like this city more than his. Peter II must have realized he abandoned Dmitri and might have even felt guilty because Peter II demanded the return of people and made leaving the city a punishment with being forced to do hard labor and having their property taken away. His annoyance with Moscow began to fade away to know that he wasn’t completely forgotten. Although Peter II semi took care of Dmitri he never returned to his city and Dmitri never really seen him and he only hearing things from others on the street. He didn’t know of his death on of the same day as his wedding from smallpox until he heard it from others. Dmitri wasn’t too upset about his death because he really liked him, but he feared who would be the next person to take over his city and what else he’d have to go through.

The next inline was Empress Anna and since her coronation was in Moscow Dmitri never went. Just like with Catharine and Peter II Dmitri avoided her, but he did appreciate her bringing his city back into working order. She did stay away from his city for awhile and stayed in Moscow just as Peter II did because of the same reasons. When Anna returned she didn’t trust Russians or Dmitri for that matter so he wasn’t the only one with trust issues. The courts were moved back to his city as well as Anna’s family. Since Anna didn’t trust him she told him nothing and Dmitri went without knowing anything and he might have never knew why he suffered from terrible burns, so bad he had to hide his hands from sight, if it wasn’t for the talk on the street. He learned about what was suspected as an arson that burned down 1,000 buildings and to his horror they never found how who do it. Dmitri only knew that Anna thought of it as a blessing because now they could rebuild using stones rather than wood buildings. Just like Peter Dmitri was left in the dark when it came to the rebuilding process.

Then one day Anna offered to take Dmitri hunting with her, as long as he didn’t carry the gun for the hunt. Dmitri was fascinated by the thrill of the hunt, even though he didn’t have a chance to kill anything. She still didn’t trust Dmitri and visa versa, but they had a fun time together. Dmitri wanted to try shooting, but Anna refused to hand over the gun to him so he never learned how to officially hunt from her. Since the two went out he tried to find out everything he could about hunting and Anna explained it to him, but still didn’t hand over her gun. Instead Dmitri stole it for his own hunt. He killed one bird and that was all he could with having one working eye. He gave it to her as a present and she yelled at him until she couldn’t anymore. She kept Dmitri away from guns after that, a little bit worried he’d hurt himself because of having one eye.

Another thing Dmitri learned to like from Anna was the theater. He never knew that Peter loved it too and only learned it from Anna. He felt closer to Peter each time he watched a play and sometimes would say “I can feel his heart” when watching the play. Dmitri could watch a play for weeks, the same one even just to feel closer to the father figure that raised him.

It turned out that Dmitri was rescued by Anna from what could’ve been destruction of his city. She introduced him to something he felt more closer to Peter and he even found a love of hunting, but he’d have to learn most of it by himself as years went by. The two had trust issues and pushed pasted them. Still Dmitri tried avoiding her just the same and only wanted to see her every so often. He couldn’t hide the fact he liked her and when he realized it, he avoided her as much as he could. He had to admit that he did like the fact she created a court resembling the court from the West, but only because he loved the country England. The one thing that most of his people hated about Anna was how she added more German aspects and German people to fill positions, but during this time Dmitri didn’t feel the need to dislike the German, but his view of them changed dramatically years later.

As Anna started dying Dmitri found out how people were scheming to takeover. At first Dmitri was angry that the woman was being treated unfairly, but he didn’t know of Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth and how many times Anna tried to make sure she wouldn’t get control over the throne. This angered him because he never met Elizabeth and he hoped she was just like Peter. Dmitri couldn’t believe it when Anna appointed the child of her thirteen year old, unmarried niece who was currently pregnant, Catherine, as the one to take the throne after her passing. She changed Catherine’s name to Anna Leopoldovna and brought her to Dmitri’s city. Dmitri avoided her entirely. He heard she had a child named Ivan and he was put in charge and Anna Leopoldovna as regent. For awhile it seemed like Dmitri would have a small baby running his city and all of Russia, but it changed suddenly when someone he didn’t know, which was Anna’s supposed lover, Ernst Johnna von Biron convinced her to put him in charge.

Biron bullied Anna Leopoldovna and her family going so far as to have spies constantly watching them and the court. He’d even arrest and torture anyone he thought was opposing him. Dmitri hated him with a passion and voiced his opinion with resulted in a confrontation with Biron about finding his place. Since Dmitri was so rebellious and speaking out against Biron answered him and he was then locked away and tortured until Dmitri bowed down and kissed Biron’s boot in front of everyone important. Dmitri thought about reaching out to Ivan since he was probably effected too due to the fact this is his country, but anytime Dmitri went to wonder around Biron had assigned spies to keep tabs on Dmitri. The city could never hide or go anywhere without being watched and he knew it. Dmitri never found out about the plot going on against Biron, but if he did he’d gladly go through with it. He was there when Biron was arrested and sentenced where Anna Leopoldovna became regent. Dmitri wanted his death, but she exiled him instead.

It was soon realized that she wasn’t fit to be ruler and how the true ruler should be Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth. Anna Leopoldovna did nothing for the city and Dmitri became annoyed by her. He would much rather have the more popular Elizabeth take her spot, but having that happen would be difficult. At the time Dmitri wasn’t big on plotting so he didn’t come up with any ideas, but Elizabeth told him of a clever plot. Elizabeth told Dmitri she was seeing the French ambassador to establish a coup. They were very careful with their meetings and plotting. She explained that the French ambassador convinced the Swedish ambassador to attack Russia in order to get Elizabeth back on her throne. The Swedes only agreed because they though they’d gain lost territories such as Dmitri’s city. Dmitri panicked believing he’d be under Swedish control over again, but she never signed any agreements that they would so he shouldn’t be worried about it. She tricked the two of them and when the Swedes lost the way they got nothing in return and neither did the French. Elizabeth even tricked Anna Leopoldovna after she came to her asking about the coup, she flat out denied and had shed crocodile tears. In the end Elizabeth became the new Empress and Anna Leopoldovna and her family were exiled and her ministers were going to be executed in typical Russian fashion: one to be broken on a wheel, the other quartering and the remaining decapitated, but she never went through with it because she did away with capital punishment and instead exiled them too.

Dmitri hoped Elizabeth had similar beliefs to Peter and to his surprise she did. She resorted his city to glory. It lost the rumors of a city of antichrists and gangs of foreigners. It was well stock with everything the people needed and Dmitri felt whole again with her in rein. He couldn’t keep himself from wanting to get close to her, but he forced himself away at every chance he believed he started getting too close to her. It was even more difficult to avoid her when a horrible fire broke out one night. His body became burned all over again and to his surprise, Elizabeth direction the firefighters just like Peter did. He couldn’t keep avoiding her, but he had to. Dmitri couldn’t stand the pain again. He kept her away from him while he healed by making up stories that she either believed or understood why Dmitri wanted her to go away. He didn’t pay any attention to her efforts to the city other than what she already did and how pleased he was for that. When she passed away Dmitri was upset, but not nearly as upset as he would’ve been if he spent all his time around her like he did with Peter. He felt bad for her sudden, natural death, but humans were too fragile and that’s why Dmitri tried to keep away from them as best as he could. Still, he was broken hearted that he refused to be with the person who made him feel like Peter was right there for him. It was only after her death on Christmas day that Dmitri regretted it, but at the same time he knew having feelings for her would be a disaster. He felt a little glad that he kept himself from more heartbreak, even though he wished he spent more time with Elizabeth and never let his fears get in the way.

Peter III took over after Elizabeth’s death and yet again Dmitri withdrew from contract. He hated him from the very start because Peter III was excited about her death because he was now the ruler. He even pulled pranks and joked at her funeral which Dmitri forced himself to go to just to keep an eye on Peter III and make sure he make trouble and he did, but Dmitri could do little to stop him and Peter III even laughed in his face.

Peter III wanted to put his wife, Catharine II current Russia Consort, in position of the throne, but with Catharine II having a child with her lover it wasn’t a wise idea and only after her baby was born did she get involved in the plot of taking over Peter III. Dmitri learned of this would-be takeover from Catharine II. Although Peter III decreased the crime rate and increased the street lightening he also modeled the army after Prussia, declared war on Denmark just to get a land that Dmitri and the country in general had no interest for and completely offended the church and imposing the religion of Lutheranism. Dmitri had it with him. A couple of good things doesn’t make up for all the bad things Peter III has done. Unlike Elizabeth none of the details were given to Dmitri and he wasn’t asked to help in anyway, just a warning of what was yet to come. Dmitri let Catharine II do what she pleased and not being informed any new events. When Dmitri heard of how Catharine II called herself empress along with guards and hoards of people he was pleased to finally have Peter III out of his hair. Of course Peter III apologized for his actions and offered to share the throne, but that wasn’t part of Catharine II’s plan. They arrested Peter III and forced him into his estate until they could figure out where to put him. Dmitri wasn’t the least bit upset when Peter III died in his estate of natural causes.

Then Catharine II rein began. Dmitri ignored Catharine II just like he did to Peter III. He wanted to meet Ivan, but didn’t know where he was and no one was telling him where Ivan or Moscow lived, making it difficult for Dmitri to meet them. He decided to go back to England and see if he could meet Arthur. He traveled to England and asked where to find Arthur. The American Revolution War underway when Dmitri went to England and asked where Arthur was. Instead of being turned away he was given direction to his home where Dmitri briefly met Arthur, who was far too stressed out with the revolution to spend much time being friendly with Dmitri who very much respected him. He learned only a little bit about the American Revolution and he didn’t like what he heard. Dmitri even offered to help him, but Arthur either didn’t hear him or didn’t want his help, whatever the reason he politely declined and then shooed Dmitri away. On Dmitri’s way home a flood struck his city and that feeling of being underwater and unable to breathe hit him again, all through the ride back to Russia where he found out about it being the worst flood to date.

When he returned to Russia his views of Catharine II changed a little bit because he found out about Catharine II’s plans to build a monument to Peter the Great, the founder of Russia and the person Dmitri viewed as a father figure. Dmitri couldn’t believe how mighty and great the monument was. He was happier than he’d been in a long time and even thanked Catharine II for it. He was just glad to find someone willing to create something where people will remember Peter. He felt a little bit better about humans after Catharine II, but still held hatred for humans. Dmitri wouldn’t allow one small thing to change his views on him. It would take a lot more than that to transform his opinion and that would happen later on.

With the Second Turkish War Dmitri was threatened to be back under Sweden rule. The Sultan of Turkey convinced the King of Sweden to allow them to open a second front on the Baltic to keep Russia navy at bay so they couldn’t threaten Turkey any longer. The only reason why was that Turkey would give funds for the war and getting all the territories that Peter the Great took from them, mostly excited about getting Dmitri back. He was worried about his land back under control of Sweden, but with Catharine II jumping into emergency mood he felt better about it. She took a lot of measures to keep him safe and even called naval hero of the American Revolution John Paul Jones where he didn’t like because he disliked Americans. While in Russian John was accused of raping a little girl, but it was said he was framed by the British and never went to trial because of it. He was resented after that and left Russia after being asked by Catharine II so he never aided in the efforts like she planned. Dmitri believed in the little Russian girl over John. He would never think the British would frame him for something like that.

Dmitri didn’t want to admit how high strung he was about the war. He was confident in Catharine II, but still feared the worst. Then one day Dmitri started bleeding from his stomach, chest and mouth where it was discovered that he was bleeding internally after an accidental explosion from the artillery lab. It started his citizens and Dmitri. He stayed in the hospital for awhile to make sure he wasn’t bleeding internally anymore.

Everyone had eyes on the revolution in France, but Catharine II wasn’t worried because of having a lot of Russians in France, the French ambassador was very popular among people and young minds were being molded in France. She couldn’t deny it any longer though when a plot to assassinate her surfaced. Thus Russia joined the fight against France. French books were banned, wearing French revolutionary clothing was unlawful and the French legation was under house arrest until further notice. Catharine II broke all relationships with the French and France in general. Although they were against them French nobles escaping France were viewed as victims and were allowed in the city. Eventually the French not pledging loyalty were forced to leave Russia. Then vodka from France was dumped into the Neva which was closely resembled to the Boston Tea Party. Dmitri participated in throwing the vodka into the water.

Things died down with France, but then turned sights to Poland where Dmitri ignored this battle completely because it he felt though it didn’t concern him and he didn’t have anything to worry about. He let Catharine II handle all of this and focused his attention on making Anti-American drawings. Dmitri didn’t know who the country was, other than he fought against Arthur and won. The fact John, accused rapist of a little girl was an American only added to his hatred for them.

Time pasted by so fast and before Dmitri knew it Catharine II was gone and her successor was Paul, son to Catharine II’s lover took over. Although Paul wasn’t officially the son of Peter III he thought of him as a father and the first thing that he did was dig him up and move him to a better location all while forcing those against him to aid him either by digging or carrying his coffin. Dmitri stayed away from the funeral re-do even though Paul demanded that he join them. Paul forced Dmitri to join them thanks to the help of guards. This was the starting of Dmitri’s hatred for yet another human and this hatred was more than the others were before.[/size][/ul]

[/I] wearing old fashioned Prussian uniforms. A new, very strict dress code was enforced. There was a list of things people couldn’t wear and this included their hair style which had to be combed back properly. Those who didn’t keep up with the dress code were arrested. Foreigners were the only people who didn’t have to worry about it. Some words were even banned from use such as citizen. Russians couldn’t travel anymore and Dmitri hated it because he much rather go see how Arthur was doing. Half the guards resigned and people were worried to leave their homes in fear they broke an unknown rule. Dmitri was held on a short leash, being forced to comb back his hair because of the accepted hairstyle and his hair was “unruly” in Paul’s eyes and he wanted to make sure that the city kept his up appearance. Now more than ever Dmitri wanted to meet Ivan, but Paul forbade it because he felt like Dmitri only wanted to meet him for the first time now to insult him and plot against him. He couldn’t do anything. Paul made guards watch him, they even stood outside the bathroom door. Anytime he saw Paul he had to bow to the ground and pledge his loyalty to him. The fact this human controlled him so much annoyed him more than any other leaders. He tried to ignore it when Paul started to get involved in the Knights of Malta, but it wasn’t that easy because Paul wanted the city to be the capital of international reaction for the Knights of the Order. It never happened because, like Dmitri, Russian nobles weren’t interested in them and the were very unpopular, but this didn’t focus away Paul’s own interest in the Knights. Rumor had it he’d convert religion to Catholicism.

Dmitri found himself to be a “pet” rather than a city to Paul. He treated him worse than a dog and Dmitri wanted to bit the hand that fed him, but anytime he spoke out against him he was arrested and put under house arrest for as long as it took for Dmitri to apologize to him. He’d always apology just to get out of the house. All he wanted was to be free from his rein, but he wasn’t sure it would ever happen.

Then one chilly night Dmitri was forced to go with Paul and Prince Alexander Kurakin on a walk. Paul joked he was “walking his dog” and it ticked off Dmitri, but he bit his tongue. This night Dmitri will never forget and burned in his memory. Alexander couldn’t see the person in a dark robe ahead of them, but Dmitri and Paul did. The voice sounded familiar as it warned Paul not to get too attached to this world because he wasn’t going to be here much longer. The person showed his face, Peter the Great, the man who raised Dmitri. He tried to get him to stop from fading away, but he didn’t. He quickly vanished from sight feeling the two startled and Alexander very confused by their reaction to what he believed was nothing. Dmitri would never forget seeing the smile on his face when he locked eyes with Peter. He never said anything to him, but Dmitri wished he did. This was the last time he ever saw the ghost of Peter. Dmitri was happy to know Paul wasn’t going to live long, but Paul was stressed out.

Shortly after they returned Paul ordered the prophet who predicted Catharine II’s early passing to come and he said that Paul would die young as well and then, just like Catharine, locked him in the Peter and Paul Fortress for punishment.

A plot to put Prince Alexander on the throne went underway without Dmitri’s knowledge, but it was no surprise to him because the guards watched over him so much he’d never have any time to talk to someone in private. In the end Alexander put Paul under arrest where before he could leave Paul was beaten severely and died before he could go to trial and be imprisoned. Dmitri was finally freed of the tyrant and couldn’t be happier.

Alexander was ideal for the future of the city and Russia in general. Everyone was excited, especially Dmitri. He thought about meeting Ivan and Moscow finally, but he decided maybe it would be a good idea to wait for a little bit longer, mostly because he was more worried about meeting them than excited. Peter use to tell him how busy Ivan was and for all Dmitri knew he could still be busy. Dmitri stood back and let Alexander take away all the Prussian military uniforms, freed everyone exiled or wrongfully imprisoned by Paul and never acted out on Paul’s supports or praise those who helped plot with him to assassinate him. Dmitri went back to his unusual avoiding them while he went back and forth about meeting the two or not. He decided not to just yet. He didn’t know what he’d say to them, especially Ivan and where they lived. Dmitri also wasn’t sure if Moscow was angry about the whole capital thing and wanted to avoid a fight if Moscow was bitter about it. He would wait until the perfect time to meet them.

Since Alexander could handle things by himself for the time being so Dmitri had a vacation to England where he met up with Arthur again who seemed a little bit better than he was last time he saw him which was during the American Revolution. Everything went fine and Dmitri was even allowed to stay there for awhile and then Dmitri brought up his hatred for Americans and slipped in about the American Revolution where he was yelled at and told to leave. His vacation ended too short because of his depression and anger at Arthur for blowing up like that. He much rather have Arthur as a friend than any humans because of his hatred, but after being yelled at “for no reason” as Dmitri said he couldn’t stand the thought of even being friends with countries. The only one he had to meet was Ivan and he wasn’t sure he could met him anytime soon where he was sure they’d be friends. Dmitri vowed to only go to England to visit the country in general, not Arthur. So began his hatred for Arthur too because of how he yelled at him no good reason. It proved to be very easy to get on Dmitri’s hate list seeing as how humans were at the top followed by Americans and the French. The list would just grow until a faithful day years from now and then it would reappear with a vengeance.

When Dmitri returned to Russia things had changed. Alexander was viewed as a failure after losing all the key battles with Napoleon’s France while trying to save Europe. He heard that Ivan and Francis had a lot of friction with one another, but Dmitri didn’t want to get involved in another stressful war and tried hard to ignore what would be very stressful for him especially since he heard how clever Napoleon. He hated to admit how afraid he was of the quickly approaching French invasion. The Russian retreat and the march to Riga made him very, very nervous and just like the citizens of his city, Dmitri realized his worst fears were going to happen. Napoleon took over Moscow and left it to burn. Dmitri thought about Moscow instantly and worried about the city. His heart went out to the city he never meant, the city he feared hated him because Peter made him capital of Russia. Dmitri wanted to see if the city was okay, but he kept himself away in fear of encountering Napoleon on his way there.

Dmitri was relieved when good news came of the victory of the Battle of Borodino where the everyone celebrated with fireworks and cannon salutes. This didn’t last long because news spread of the general in charge, Mikhail Kutuzov, withdrawing from the battle, the number of deaths and how Napoleon stormed into Moscow and burned it to the ground. The news came only a few days from Alexander’s anniversary of his coronation. Dmitri wasn’t surprised how nervous Alexander was over the citizens reactions and came arrived in a closed carriage to an awkwardly silent crowd. Footsteps could easily be heard, that was how quiet it was.

Then came pure chaos in his city after Moscow was burned. Dmitri couldn’t help but think of the burns Moscow would probably suffer from it and wondered just how bad it would be. His fear kept him from running off to see the city. People started packing their bags and leaving, important Russian secrets were burned, many people in the courts and aristocracy ran off, measures were taken for the imperial family, the court moved to Kazen, treasured paintings and library books were packed up and shipped into the interior and banks locked their doors. Most in the city became anti-French, including Dmitri. Tensions were unusually high for everyone. Alexander went to Moscow to rally the nation together. Dmitri kept himself from going there, mostly from fears of Moscow hating and cursing at him.

Things only got worse as time went on and Alexander continued to disappoint. Dmitri heard of the embarrassing defeat at Austerlitz where Alexander was then told that he was useless on the battlefield and no one would be inspired by him. Dmitri was a little surprised by the way Alexander took it, instead of lashing out, he began to read the bible. Dmitri left him alone to do what he wished, but he couldn’t help himself with all this stress. Dmitri hide inside his house trying to coop with everything going on and not wanting to hear news of what happened next. All he could think of was Napoleon coming into his city, burning it and possibility Dmitri would die from it if no one rebuilt his city in time. Dmitri never learned of how the war turned in Russia’s favor until much later when he heard how Napoleon left Moscow. This was the first time Dmitri could breathe a sigh of relief now that Napoleon withdrew from Moscow.

While Alexander was drawn to the Christian faith and imposing it on the country Dmitri mustered up his courage to meet Moscow for the first time, but he chickened out at the last second. He was too unsure of meeting the Moscow or Ivan for that matter. He decided to keep to himself and continue to avoid humans for the time being. He still had a profound disgust for certain human customs such as how fast their grieving process finishes and how cruel they can be. He knew not all humans were like that because of Peter, Anna (although he did find out how cruel she was with Peter’s daughter) and Elizabeth, but he still disliked them, especially Americans and currently the French for burning the city of Moscow. He paid no attention to how Alexander tried to change the course of the religion within Russian to that of Christianity.

Dmitri was far too busy watching plays to get closer to Peter and Elizabeth to pay much attention to the revolutionary poems spreading through the underground and some published in newspapers. Everything else was drowned out by colorful costumes, witty words, inventive characters and a thrilling plot. For as long as the play lasted Dmitri was taken to a world with worries of someone else and not in his city where he had so many things to focus on. Not only that, but each time he watched plays he could almost feel the spirit of Peter and Elizabeth with him. He didn’t know of Pavel Pestel and his creation of the Southern Society or their rival Northern Society with the emperor being the chief executive with powers similar powers to the USA President as well as their Constitution resembling it. Dmitri went on without knowledge of any of this although he really should be more in touch with things going all. All Dmitri wanted to do was watch plays and allow Alexander to do what he wanted, once again avoiding a human who would one day die too soon.

It wasn’t until Dmitri was approached by Kondraty Ryleev and asked him to join him in a rebellion that would change the course of Russia’s political outlook forever. They never told him of how the Constitution they created had views driven by that of the American Constitution because they feared he wouldn’t help them because of his hatred for Americans. Instead Kondraty told him the views of it such as the three legislative branches and the emperor would be the chief executive. Dmitri liked this idea, but knew getting there wouldn’t be an easy thing given the current political status of Russia. That day he joined the rebellion and kept his distant even more than before with Alexander and he never suspected anything wrong given Dmitri’s distant nature.

Everything changed when Alexander did and a brief panic happened because he didn’t have a son and his older brother, Constantine, renounced the throne to in secrecy to Nicholas, but the panic came when Nicholas refused to take over until Constantine said it in public. With this little drama going on another drama took place behind closed doors. Dmitri and the fellow members of the Northern Society liked Constantine to be on the throne more because he liked their constitution. They still planned to go with their revolt since it didn’t seem like Constantine would be staying in control. When Nicholas found out about the plot Dmitri seemed to disappear from sight staying with Kondraty instead of being in his own home. Dmitri was still distant even though he stayed with Kondraty and although he still held his “I hate humans” attitude he realized that they’re no hiding from them and sometimes they can have useful and interesting ideas. He can’t hide from humans anymore, but he still had a dislike for their nature for many, many reasons and one of them is the thing that Dmitri’s doing right now which is being a traitor and stabbing someone in the back. He never looked it as the same though seeing it as more of something that would be better for his city and everyone in general. If he had to stab Nicholas in the back to go through with an idea he truly believed would be better Dmitri would. In a way he almost felt as though Peter was telling him to go through with a new direction in Russia to aid in the battle. It was only in his mind and hoping the Peter would approve. Dmitri wanted Peter to show up again and tell him that this was a good thing, but his spirit never reappeared so he was left believing what he hope would be something Peter approved of.

When Nicholas finally learned of the plot Dmitri was no where to be seen. Dmitri never once thought about how Ivan or Moscow would think of his actions since he was doing this all for himself and the deceased Peter. He stayed with the rebellion until the day came for the revolt. The size of members willing to revolt was very small, but they’d go through with the possible suicide mission anyway. Efforts to get the Moskovsky Regiment support ended in disappointment with only few supporters of their cause. They mostly went into battle with Grenadiers and the Marine Guards. In a desperate attempt the revolt successful Kondraty asked one of his colleagues to go inside the Winter Palace, snatch a uniform and assassinate Nicholas, but disappeared after careful consideration. They turned their sights to Dmitri, asking him to assassinate Nicholas. Dmitri never fired a gun before much less killed anyone, but he agreed on the good of the cause. He went to see Nicholas and someone leaked his involvement where Dmitri was arrested on sight, imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress and interrogated where he held his tongue and keep from leaking any information.

After the revolt and many dead and wounded thrown into Neva the trial took place where Dmitri along with 579 humans were sentenced. Kondraty and four other men to death by hanging, thirty-one decapitated and many exiled to Siberia. Dmitri was sentenced to eternity within the Peter and Paul Fortress with no human, country, capital or city contact for his involvement in the assassination plot. Anyone, including the country of Russia himself, Ivan, would be turned away instantly He was more angry at Nicholas because capital punishment was forbidden after Elizabeth put it into use where exile was the main punishment, but Nicholas went through with it despite Dmitri’s protest. While Dmitri was being escorted out of the room Nicholas told Dmitri “Petersburg is Russian, but not Russia” (this is a an actual quote given from Nicholas I quoted by the Marquis de Custine) in a hateful tone.

Just as Nicholas said Dmitri stayed in the Peter and Paul Fortress where he went mad. He began seeing Paul and even Elizabeth who didn’t act like themselves, they talked to him in his confinement telling him to cave into the darkness and madness, to give into the hatred he now felt for the humans and the Russians who locked him into a tower forever. Dmitri was drowning in anger for Nicholas and even Russians along with humans in general were being morphed into the enemy. He began to see Ivan and Moscow as being his nemesis for not coming to rescue him from his imprisonment. Slowly he slipped into pure insanity with the only contact, if you can call it that, is a man not saying a word to shove food under the bars for Dmitri. He struggled so hard to keep control over himself, but it was clear that Dmitri wouldn’t be able to ignore his hatred. He even rekindled his hatred for Arthur, believing him to be able to come to save him if he wanted to and he just didn’t care. Everyone became his enemy other than the “spirits” of Peter and Elizabeth who coach him into giving into the quickly advancing madness which devoured him more and more each passing day.

Dmitri fell further and further into despair. No one gave him any status updates on his city and he lost touch with his people. He started acting like a savage animal, wildly attacking those who silently came to feed him. He had no clue of the terror happening under Nicholas such as how he created the Third Section of His Majesty’s Own Chancery who would send spies all over, mail even for the Imperial family were opened and books where dramatically censored. No one even told him the Winter Palace, the housing for the monarchs, caught fire and added to his burns where he screamed in pain and went deeper into his hatred. Again no one told him of a chorea outbreak which 10,000 lives total resulting in severe fever and sickness. Dmitri allowed himself to be engulfed in his full blown hatred believing everything linked to him with his city was deliberate. He seemed to be forgotten about even after the death of Nicholas and Alexander II’s rein no one came to release him from his condiment.

It was during his rein that the city had the highest death toll due to terrible housing, horrible climate, bad diets and massive pollution. Public morals went out the window and crime sky rocketed to epic proportion. Drunks were everywhere since Dmitri’s city became the city with the height rate of vodka consumption and people were constantly arrested from drunken fights. Suicide hit an all time high and legalized prostitution gave way to many unwanted births. Soon another chorea epidemic shook the city and yet again Dmitri became ill. Only after the spread were housing taken seriously and problems were fixed, including problems with population. Not to mention the birth of social thinkers wanting to have a social, political and economic order dubbed populist where they started a movement which resulted in arrest and exile of the leader. Radicals sought to assassinate Alexander II and if the gun didn’t miss Alexander wouldn’t be alive. They tried again and again to kill him and finally after tossing a bomb at his feet were able to kill him.

Next came Alexander II’s son, Alexander III. Just like Alexander II Dmitri never got to meet this new ruler of Russia. Alexander III crushed all radical opposition by increasing a police presence and stopped political reform. Under his rein things were a lot quieter than the years before of Nicholas and Alexander II. He focused on increasing Russian culture through arts and loved to go to ballets, opera, concert and theater. The thing he was known for most was the Church of the Resurrection created in memory of his father and built on the very place he was killed. It was very peaceful during his rein and he even allowed populist art through forms of music, writing, painting and performing arts. His death came suddenly from nephritis and his oldest son, Nicolas II took power.

Yet again Dmitri was forgotten about trapped within the tower and it appeared no one would save him from rotting in his prison. The only contact with anyone was the still silent people coming to feed him where he’d lash out against them violently. His mind overcome with madness and his heart turned black. Disgust for the humankind, nations, other cities and even capitals were strong. No one would save him from his confinement. Dmitri had little hope of every feeling the snow or watching a play again. The ghostly visions of Peter and Elizabeth dissolved. He smelled horrible and looked just as bad. The days continued to tick down far too slow for his liking.

Nicholas II never once thought about setting Nicholas free because it sounded like Dmitri could never return to being social after years of being trapped and could easily cause a riot or kill some Russian soldiers out of rage. He went through with keeping him locked away under the sentence Nicholas gave him. While under Nicholas II’s rein a revolt to gain better working conditions from a peaceful march which ended in a blood bath of women, children and men called Bloody Sunday. The creation of the Fourth Duma (after the dissolve of the first three), a group of socialists, with a peasant President named Grigory Rasputin who was later killed by the Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, cousin to Nicholas II, because people believed he was going to ruin Tsarism.

While Dmitri stayed trapped Russia joined World War I joining the side of England and France who were against Germany and Austria-Hungary making Russians gain a violent hatred of the Germans. No one even told him how his city was named to Petrograd after mistaking the Dutch Sankt Piterburkh as German. They suffered from losing major battles in Tannenberg resulting in just ten months at 3,880,000 loses total. They were dramatically losing the war.

Dmitri did notice something different when the soldiers brought him food, bread was smaller and smaller until he didn’t have any at all and his meals were too little to make him fill full for loner than two hours. He never questioned it because he was too far gone to ask a question to a human, to his enemy and every time he saw them coming he’d lose himself in his rage, lashing out at them, but never injuring them. What he didn’t know was the shortage of food, mostly bread and flour, fuel and firewood. This brought out bread riots, strikes and stores closing. At first it was all about the bread and then changed to being more radical and political. They didn’t have a leader, but their wants were the same. In the end many were dead and Nicholas II backed down and the person who almost took his place, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, never took over because they didn’t want many more family members of the Romanov’s.

Next came about Red October a revolution brought on by the Bolsheviks, who were the only ones who didn’t want to bring together the socialist Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet, to fight for power over the Provisional Government. The fight concluded when the Bolsheviks won power over the Provisional Government where they changed it to being called the Soviet People’s of Commissar and would only last until the day after Constituent Assembly, a democratic elected legislative, was convened and then created the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Even with this Dmitri wasn’t freed from his confinement and if it wasn’t for soldiers coming to feed him he would’ve thought no one remembered him. No one forgot about Dmitri, but they were worried to release him because of how violent he acted toward everyone.

The Germans bombed his city and he became very sick, but keep him still in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Unknown to Dmitri the capital Peter the Great gave to him was moved by Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, to Moscow. He claimed it was to protect everyone in the city and Dmitri himself from the Germans, but he really despised the city because of the former tsars rein, independent intelligentsia and cosmopolitanism. Soon Dmitri’s city was suffering from thieves willing to kill for anything, including firewood. The city went into a crisis of fuel and food. Animals from all over, including those in a zoo, were dying. The death toll sky rocketed as people were dying from freezing and lack of food. People lost their homes and had to make due on the streets, possibly dying from hunger or freezing to death. Most were forced into prostitution to feed their families. People fled his city in search for a better life in the countryside making his city a ghost town like it had been years before Peter discovered him dying. Few were left to look after him, Dmitri use to see a whole bunch of faces from all different kind of soldiers, but now only five were seen. The law went into new hands as a three-man Committee lead by Gregory Zinoviev. Those who remained organized strikes, even soldiers joined in and some were arrested. Some left the naval yard. Another revolt was underway. People called for the Bolsheviks government to end and created their own Committee, the Kronstadt Revolution Committee and when they failed to give up the Red Forces and dropped bombs on Kronstadt as well as kidnapping the families’ of sailors protesting. They failed, 2,000 being killed without having a trial. The Communist won again.

His city returned to a better economy after that. Food no longer became different to locate, firewood returned for fuel and even buildings of all kinds were touched up with paint. Shops opened yet again and life went back to normal in the still named city of Petrograd. Theaters grew and started playing American films. American dances was the new craze to hit the city and Dmitri never knew how American cultures were starting to form in his city. All he knew was how far he went into madness and rage with no one saving him from this hell and he would remain here until someone remembered him and gave him the freedom he strived for. He couldn’t wait to go through with his revenge on everyone and until then he’d dream about hurting everyone in the world to get back at them. Then freedom came and it was bitter sweet.

Freedom came, but not until the passing of the revolutionary leader, Vladimir Lenin, passed away and in in his honor they renamed the city to Leningrad. The person to replace Vladimir as the Chairman of the Central Committee was Joseph Stalin and he hated Dmitri and the city linked to him. He hated Dmitri and his city so much that he never stepped in there because he despised the cosmopolitism. Instead of visiting the city he hired a lieutenant, Sergei Kirov who was arrested twice and the last time imprisoned for more than three years. Sergei knew what it felt like to be trapped in a place for so long and hearing how Dmitri suffered for so long time and Sergei released him right away. Dmitri was angry, startled and wanted to go on a rampage killing everyone, but Sergei seemed to know how angry he was maybe stemming from his own rage after being sent to prison. Whatever the reason was Sergei sat Dmitri down and made a deal with him. If he forced himself not to kill anyone, Sergei would allow him to torture and kill the enemies of Russia. Just hearing Russia made him think of Ivan and he wanted to see him, but Sergei said that would be a mistake because Ivan didn’t want to see him. This angered him, still Dmitri decided to go through with this agreement which was then created a contract that Dmitri signed. This was
only because Sergei warned him he could return to the Peter and Paul Fortress if he killed anyone he wasn’t suppose to. That day he shook his hand and agreed where he had to keep it even after Sergei was murdered by Joseph, who was annoyed and replaced by Anderi Zhdanov. Dmitri didn’t find out about Joseph hired someone to murder him because he acted like his friend and the death was a conspiracy. He never got close to Sergei, but he respected him, after all he was the one to release him from the fortress.

The deal that Dmitri made with Sergei was one that Joseph knew about and would use if he ever had to. During this time Dmitri kept his deal without causing any problems to others, but it was difficult because he still held onto his madness. This madness couldn’t be stopped by medication, not that Dmitri want to take any to keep his urges away. During his struggle with insanity and his hatred for everyone, unable to even speak to Ivan, changes were being made to his city.

Shortly after the murder of Sergei things changed. Joseph made it so he could eliminate anyone in the Party he saw as an enemy executing them the administration process. He hated Dmitri’s city so much that he strived to destroy Western views he felt consumed the city where traveling was halted, all Western books were no longer translated and anyone reading it would be arrested on the spot, even reading letters from someone in the West was against the law, speaking to foreigners mainly those from the West and showing up to anything with foreigners were arrested. The worst thing someone could do was dance with them. At first this wasn’t a problem for Dmitri that is until he met Maria Baker.

Maria Baker was an American young woman with sunshine blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her family moved to Dmitri’s city a couple years back because her father wrote novels and his latest one had Dmitri’s city as the setting and he needed to get a better feel of it. Even though tensions were high between Russia and America he decided to pack his bags and take his family with him. Her mother grew to love the city and opened up a small flower shop, but it closed because it was owned and ran by a foreigner. They were thinking about leaving, but couldn’t leave Russia since they didn’t have to money for another ticket out of the country. Maria never wanted to make trouble with the Russians so she began handing out flowers from her mother’s garden, but not to sell, just to gain friendship. A couple of people tossed it in her face or threw it away where she could see, but she continued and that’s how she met Dmitri.

Dmitri was having a horrible day when he ran into Maria and she handed him a flower. He noticed how beautiful she was and although he wasn’t one to even want to get close to humans he felt something he never felt about anyone. It was truly love at first sight and unknown to Dmitri she felt the very same way. Since Maria stood on the very same street corner he would pass her by just to get another flower and talk to her briefly. Part of him screamed to stop before he got too close to her and lost her, but despite his own screams to move on he couldn’t leave her and the offer still stood for her to come over and eat lunch with him. He thought about Peter and the feelings he felt after his death, but even that didn’t stop him. They had a nice exchange of words, but never introduced themselves. Dmitri was being oddly shy toward her for many reasons. The main reason is they had to both be careful, but mainly Dmitri because he could get arrested just for talking to her because she’s not from here. Finally he did something even more risky and offered her to eat lunch at his house. What neither of them noticed was that a Russian soldier was watching this encounter, but instead of arresting Dmitri he reported it to Joseph instead.

While the soldier reported what he seen to Joseph, Dmitri and Maria shared a nice afternoon where they learned a lot about each other. Dmitri learned of the closed down flower shop and how she had feelings for him since he was the first one not to toss aside the flowers. They both understood how this was risky and Dmitri could be arrested for it. He didn’t care for the first time in so long he had feelings that weren’t hidden and his madness was tamed by her. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she was worried he would get caught talking to her. They decided to keep this a secret and meet in the early in the morning in an certain alleyway. After they talked to one another for awhile and it became dark Maria left. Dmitri didn’t want her to leave, but he didn’t have any choice in the matter.

The next day Dmitri was summoned to see Joseph, but it wasn’t a pleasant meeting. He yelled at him for talking to a foreigner which is against the rules. He physically came over to the city he hated just to shout at him and demand that he never did it again. Joseph didn’t hesitant to tell him how lucky he is to have a kind leader willing to look the other way. Dmitri wouldn’t believe how unfair he was being, he fought back and then was allowed to leave after the lecture was over with. Dmitri returned to his home by himself and Joseph must have believed he could control Dmitri would just his words because he never assigned anyone to look after him. Dmitri ignored his demand and so began a forbidden romance.

Every night they met in the same alley under the moonlight where they talked about their day and got to know each other more. Maria told him about her favorite sport called town ball and how it also went by round-ball and baseball, but they mostly called it town ball. She even brought a bat to show him one night and told him all about how the game was played. Dmitri promised to one day take her to America and together they’d watch the game. She even said her dream was to play town ball with the boys and win to show the boys she’s just as good as them. Dmitri knew she could do anything she put her mind to and one day she’ll defeat the boys. His hatred for Americans which started with hating Alfred F. Jones, America himself, because of the American Revolution that hurt Arthur faded away. In fact, his hatred for other humans, countries, capitals, cities and states went away all because of Maria. Dmitri finally told her about his city status, how he got these terrible burns and lost sight in one eye and his imprisonment and after some time to think about it Maria was sad by for Dmitri, but pleased to know he was no longer insane from his imprisonment. He even told her about Peter and Elizabeth, as well as his fear of getting close and somehow he couldn’t stop from getting closer with her. As well as his city status. Maria learned how Dmitri never met Ivan or Moscow, but he briefly met with Arthur and how much anger she had for Alfred and then everyone else while imprisoned. They talked about everything from the weather to what animal they’d be if they were animals. Then things took a turn for the worse when Dmitri had to make due on the promise he had with Sergei and now Joseph.

Dmitri was assigned to torment those who were a threat to Joseph, but he never told Dmitri that. He had to go through with something he really didn’t want to. Maria changed his entire life and he wanted to stay with her forever. He couldn’t go through with torturing, it wasn’t fun to him. His madness was gone by the simple “drug” of love. He was high on it. Joseph wouldn’t let him back out of his promise and forced him to go through with it. Dmitri grew hatred for him, but every time he talked with Maria she reminded him of the good in human and she had to remind him often that all humans, no matter how rude they can be, have some good in them. Dmitri never told of his bloody day job in fear what she’d think. During the day he’d torture people and at night he’d meet up in the alleyway with Maria to talk.

He was seriously thinking of becoming a human for her, but he wasn’t sure if that was possible. Once or twice he thought about Arthur and his black magic. Maybe Arthur could use his black magic to turn him into a human and together they could marry, have children and grow old together. He planned on taking a trip to England to ask Arthur for his help. Dmitri wanted nothing more than to be a human all for his beloved Maria. She was against him changing what he was, but Dmitri wanted it still. Although he wanted to venture outside Russia to England traveling was also forbidden. He’d have to wait for Joseph to die before he could leave the country to ask Arthur this important question. Dmitri would do anything for Maria and if love could turn him from a capital to a human he would’ve been human a long time ago.

Dmitri and Maria had a dance in the glow of the moon and shared their first kiss. Dancing was deeply forbidden and seen as the worst possible thing someone could do. Thankfully no one was around to see it. The kissing turned into something more and they made passionate love. During it Dmitri could swear the world stopped turning and the numbness from the cold against his bare skin didn’t bother him. It ended too soon for either of their liking, but they both had to leave since the cold was getting too much for them. Dmitri seriously thought more about leaving the country with Maria and her family in tow to travel to England so he could have black magic turn him into a human. From England they’ll go to America and live out all their dreams no matter if they have to run away to be together. Dmitri no longer held hatred for the country of America or Alfred for that matter. Maria was from America and that meant this country couldn’t be that bad. He’ll abandoned his own people and his own country to be by her side.

With Valentines coming up and their secret still hidden from others Dmitri wanted to do something special for her. He thought back to what she said about town ball and decided to make the bat with her name engraved on it. Dmitri asked for her bat one night while they met and although she was confused about it, she handed it over to him. Dmitri went to work getting it engraved, making sure no one else knew about it. When Valentines Day came up he gave her the engraved bat with her first name. She hugged him right away and thanked her before handing him a small box inside a heart-shaped locket with a picture of her inside it. She was worried Dmitri would think it was too girly, but Maria wanted him to have her always close to his heart. He hugged and thanked her too and put it on right away, telling her that he’d never take it off.

They were very sneaky about things and Dmitri hide the locket under the collar of his parka. Joseph never suspected anything and no guards found them because they were even more careful this time. Their luck was running out though because on the most important day they could be found out, they were.

It was a snowy-rain mixture when they met again. Maria was panicking because her parents kicked her out of the house when they found out she was two weeks pregnant. They didn’t know anything else other than her pregnancy and they didn’t want anything to do with her. Dmitri freaked out because he wasn’t sure how it was possible a human was having a baby with a country and no telling how painful it would be for Maria. All they agreed on was they would keep the baby. Dmitri knew now more than ever he had to leave for America together, just the two of them. Maria agreed to sneak into her house and pack her things while Dmitri reached out for help from Alfred himself. He arrived home packed his own things and then tuned his attention to telling Alfred. He got the phone number from the American operator once he figured out how to call them. The moment Alfred heard the Russian accent on the other end and without hearing anything else he hung up the phone. Dmitri tried again and again, but each time Dmitri couldn’t even tell of the danger one of his citizens were in. He never listened because of the bad terms Ivan and Alfred were on at the time this was happening. They needed his help and the stupid American wouldn’t even help them. He tried one more time, but he only got a “stop calling here” response from Alfred. They were on their own.

The knock on the door was a relief because he knew Maria managed to sneak in and out of the house. He didn’t have any good news to tell her though. When he opened up the door he didn’t see Maria, he saw another Russian which introduced himself as the country of Russia, Ivan Braginski. Now wasn’t a time to be meeting his country and he told him that. That’s when he pointed over at Maria who was struggling in the arms of two Russian soldiers and standing behind them was Joseph. Turns out a Russian soldier heard about their talk and went to see Joseph where they caught Maria. Dmitri panicked even more when they told him everything that happens tonight is Dmitri’s fault and no one else. He refused to listen to them and now he’d have to pay the ultimate price.

Ivan surprised Dmitri by grabbing his arms and forcing him over to him where Dmitri held the trigger along with Ivan. He was told humans and countries having children will disrupt the system and cause chaos and how he was a traitor to his people for not listening to the law to stay away from foreigners and he must know what happens when someone doesn’t listen. Dmitri begged not to have this happen, but no one listened to him. On a fluke Dmitri managed to struggle away from Ivan and ran for the phone once again, dialing Alfred’s number who answered and told him to stop calling again and hung up. Dmitri thought that if Alfred found out about an American in danger right now, he’d talk to Ivan and they’d be forced to work something out or a war could happen. It was a false hope anything like that would happen seeing as Alfred had his own problems right now, but Dmitri held onto hope until it was dashed when Alfred hung up the phone. Dmitri was once again forced under the control of Ivan and lead to where Maria was. Dmitri apologized that he wasn’t able to protect her.

The gun was lowered to her stomach and Ivan, along with Dmitri’s fingers, pulled the trigger. Not just on her stomach too, but her chest. Dmitri started crying the first time in centuries. Maria screamed and the soldiers let her go. Ivan did the same with Dmitri who fell roughly on the ground and crawled his way over to Maria where they shared their last kiss. She begged for him not to forget her and not to do anything stupid. She told him never go back to the way he was before and to be open to love from other humans, countries, capitals and cities. She then died in his arms with Dmitri pleading her to stay and then, after her death, Dmitri stood to his feet, wiped away the tears and tackled Ivan to the ground. He didn’t stop punching him until the soldiers forced him off the country. Dmitri vowed to one day get his revenge on Ivan, but Alfred was also on his hit list as well as other Russians. He was smacked in the back of the head with a gun and passed out from it.

Dmitri woke up to familiar surroundings. The Peter and Paul Fortress became his home all over again. He was on trial again and sentenced yet again to eternity in the Peter and Paul Fortress with no chance of being free. Not only that, but his promise to torture continued under the still going on contract. The only time Dmitri was allowed to leave was to torture someone and he grew to love it, becoming a killing machine with a twisted smile because he was allowed to, without any trouble, torture Russians. Once again he slipped into his madness and turned into a bloodthirsty city. Even though he was mad, it didn’t stop him from sinking into a deep depression where causing pain and seeing blood was the only way to cope. Since he was always watched he could never end his life like he wanted to for so long, but he would soon be given a chance to be with Maria again.

About three weeks after Maria’s death Dmitri stumbled on a small pocket knife which a guard must have dropped. He had to try to be with Maria in the afterlife. Dmitri slashed both wrists and with his weakening threat slit his own throat. Then he laid there dying and seeing visions of Maria. The soldiers found him before he could bleed out which chances are wouldn’t fully kill him. He was brought to a hospital and put on suicide watch. Dmitri stayed on suicide watch in the hospital and others believed he would never recover from his depression because he loved Maria too much. They couldn’t allow Dmitri to die though and kept watch over him carefully. Dmitri wanted to be Maria, but he felt the need to go through with his revenge on Ivan and Alfred for screwing everything up for him. Alfred for not listening. Just because Maria was an American it didn’t mean he would ignore his stupidity. Ivan for forcing him to shoot Maria.

A horrible blizzard struck one night and Dmitri took his chance to leave the hospital after stealing a doctor’s uniform and leaving the hospital in a disguise. Dmitri would have to wait to get revenge on Ivan since going after him would result in his capture. He’d have to do it at another time possibly years in the future. He’ll never let this go because he made a vow. Maria’s dying words had no affect on him, Dmitri returned to his mad ways and held a love for violence toward others. Violence directed mostly toward Ivan, Joseph, Russians, Alfred and Americans. Unlike before Dmitri didn’t have anger toward other countries, capitals, cities and states for not helping him during his imprisonment. He only had hatred for these people. His revenge was only on all these people, but he also couldn’t go after Joseph either.

Dmitri went into hiding, using a scarf to hide his appearance. He hid out for a long time where the war with Germany became very serious and Dmitri was in danger of being psychically injured. Word on the street was some Russians believed they’d be better under German control, but hearing the treatment Nazis had with others changed their mind. He didn’t have any issues with the Germans. They weren’t on his hit list or at least not right away. Then Adolph Hilter had an order he titled The Future of the City Petersburg where he detailed that he would take the city off the face of the death by destroying it and starving the people inside. Instead of lashing out and being fearful Dmitri was encouraged by the thought of dying. He’d be able to finally be with Maria. Dmitri still wanted his revenge against Ivan and Alfred, but at the same time he much rather just die and be with her. He didn’t have time to go through with his revenge. The bombs struck his city and Dmitri laid in the same alley where they use to meet waiting for the end he feared would never come. He kept smiling after every attack on his city and wished he would die around, but death came slowly. When food went on a shortage Dmitri got through it eating some crumbs. Even if he stopped eating he wouldn’t starve himself to death and the hunger pains were hard for him to handle. His city was under siege by the German soldiers and the Russians soldier tried to fight back. Dmitri withered away, holding onto the locket Maria gave to him. The cold never bothered him, his body went numb through the nights and he ignored the pain. Dmitri was dying a slow, lonely death. The death toll of his city rose while Dmitri continued to die. People and animals were dying in the masses, but they still had a New Years celebration, everyone but Dmitri that is who remained in the same location for too long.

The bombing stopped and life returned to the city. Dmitri slowly recovered from all his bruises and wounds from the bombs. He hated to know he was no longer dying. He came so close to it and now he couldn’t do it. The city was starting to rebuilt after three long years under the German control. Dmitri enjoyed it because of the tough times and how close he felt to death and being near Maria again. He didn’t even care the world was happy over the courage of Dmitri’s people after all that terror and nicknamed him Hero City. Dmitri heard that Joseph sentenced death the people who he believed were trying to aid the Germans. While Dmitri regained his strength he couldn’t keep himself from daydreaming about revenge for the two.

One day Dmitri decided to see if Maria was buried in the graveyard and found her gravesite. Her parents must have set it up. He thought about the town ball she enjoyed so much and thought about traveling to America to see it. Dmitri wanted to purchase his own bat and use it to beat Ivan and Alfred, even going so far as to torturing them which he learned how to go through the art of torture during his time being forced to perform it. This would come in handy. They’ll be begging for him to stop, but Dmitri wouldn’t. He noticed how tired he was and knew it was from the bombing, the stress of escaping and hiding. Dmitri never knew how it would affect him awhile later when he thought everything was going fine other than his madness and his still being stuck in depression where he wanted to have his revenge on them and then kill himself or try to.

Dmitri was very excited when he heard the death of Joseph. He couldn’t come out of hiding though and decided to wait for the best time to leave the country. Mikhail Gorbachev was the General Secretary and so began the renewal of Dmitri’s old city. Mikhail was very kind and listened to the people. Dmitri once talked with him without showing himself and he was very polite and told him that he planned to bring down the Communist Party by a repeal of the Article 6 in the Soviet Constitution which gave the power to the Soviet State. He strived to change power where everyone was equal. Dmitri liked the thought of it, but he didn’t trust Mikhail even a little bit. To his surprise though he started allowing open discussions to talk about information even those from the West. He wanted to have democratic elections with many people talking over any and all issues, but it would need to redo the government structure. Mikhail got approve during the 19th Party Conference to redo the Soviet government. Dmitri was shocked how things were going and how he was even doing back to the old culture of his old city. The truth about the real murder of Sergei came to light which angered Dmitri more. Even television changed with Channel 5 being news and crime stories. They were back to being allowed to use everything from the West and Dmitri wished that Mikhail took over instead of Joseph. Then Maria and his child would be alive still and Dmitri would be turned into a human to be with her. The first elections went underway and the first Lensoviet, Leningrad City Council, was elected. Even though Dmitri’s city was still called Leningrad, but people still called it by the old nickname Piter.

A couple of times Dmitri wanted to tell Mikhail who he was, but he decided against it. He couldn’t show himself to anyone or at least not yet. Then something very strange happened, Dmitri fell into a long slumber in an old abandoned house that he found. The stress of the bombing and escaping exhausted him. Some might find it unusual for a city to succumb to being so tired they fall asleep for years, but Dmitri didn’t want to admit how tried and how he was still a little bit sick over everything. He slept through the death of Mikhail, the Cold War and the renaming of his city back to St. Petersburg. By the time Dmitri woke up he found himself in 1992, a year after the Cold War, the dissolve of the Soviet Union and the renaming of his town. He appeared to have went through a bear-like hibernation to recuperate entirely from everything that happened. It took him this long to wake up, but his revenge never went away. He woke up with a rekindled need to make them suffer and he would. Just how no one found him during his sleep is a miracle since he’d probably be taken back to the Peter and Paul Fortress and now he can go through with everything because he’s much healthier.

Alfred F. Jones and Ivan Braginski will pay for everything. Dmitri wouldn’t back down and the first thing he did was purchase a baseball bat, no longer called town ball, and engraved Maria’s name on it to make sure she’d have her revenge as well.

SOURCES: St. Petersburg Russia’s Window to the Future, the first three centuries by Arthur L. George and Elena George
St. Petersburg by Deborah Kent
A Travel’s Companion to St. Petersburg Laurence Kelly[/size][/ul]

You've got it backwards! Backwards!

Hurry up and throw it! If you don't hurry up and throw it, you'll go "boom"!

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Please see Lithuania!

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I Summon thee from far away lands, come forth!

You called?

[/color]:[/b] Space Cat
Timezone: Pacific

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