The Lost Princess

Chapter 4

For months, Bucky and Anastasia move from city to city, country to country. Bucky began to get his memories back, piece by piece. There were still a lot of pieces of the puzzle missing but he remembered enough to know at least a little bit of who he was. Anastasia on the other hand hadn't gotten any of her memories back. All she knows is her name. She has the reoccurring dream of the family being executed and she assumes that she knew them, but she doesn't know for sure.

So, the two head to Russia, hoping that something will unlock to the door to her memories. Anastasia and Bucky walk into the library in Moscow, keeping their hoods up and their heads down, being sure to avoid any security cameras. They walk straight to the computers and sit down. Anastasia takes a moment to figure out how the machine works before she types in her name, many news articles and photographs popping up. She clicks on a few links to articles, printing each one out, as well as a few pictures. The two gather the pages and leave the library, returning to the abandoned factory they were staying in.

Anastasia sits on top of her sleeping bag and stares at the papers in her hands. She wonders why there were so many articles with her name on them. Was her disappearance really that important? Were her parents really wanting to find her so badly? Did they ever stop looking for her or did they think she was dead?

"We need food." Bucky says, standing up. "I'll be back." Anastasia nods and Bucky leaves, leaving her staring at the papers. She takes a deep breath before turning over the first one, her eyes widening at the information on each page.

By the time Bucky returns, Anastasia has read through every article, her head aching from the information. He sits back on his sleeping bag across from her and raises a brow. "Well?" He asks. She slowly looks up at him and his brow furrows now, concerned at her pale face. "What is it?"

"I was a princess." She says quietly.

"What?" Bucky asks in confusion.

"I was a princess." She repeats, speaking just a bit louder. "My father was Nicholai II, Czar of Russia, my mother was Alexandra Feoderovna, Czarina of Russia. I had three sisters and one brother."

"Do you remember?" She shakes her head.

"It's all here." She says, gesturing to the papers spread out in front of her.

"What happened to them?"

"They were executed." She tells him quietly. "All of them. I think they're the ones in my dreams."

"I'm sorry." He says after a moment, not sure what to say.

"It says in here that I lived in Alexander Palace in St. Petersburg." She says. "I would like to go there. Maybe something there will help me remember." After a moment of careful consideration, Bucky nods. After all, she had put finding out who she was on hold so he could find out who he was.

He told her about every memory he recovered and she listened although she hadn't gotten a single memory back. She went with him to a museum so he could find information about himself and she just now found something about her, after six months of nothing but a name to tie her to her past. The least he can do is take her to St. Petersburg to find out who she was.

"Get some sleep, then." He tells her. "We leave in the morning." Anastasia smiles and quickly gathers the papers, placing them in her file and stuffing it in her bag. The two lay on top of their sleeping bags and stay silent, but neither of them fall asleep.

Anastasia is too busy wondering if this trip will really help or if it will just leave her with more questions and no answers. She wonders what she will do if she doesn't recover her memory. She wonders if she'll ever get her memory back.