The Last Romanov (Under Editing)

Battle Fatigue

Sasha groaned as he woke up.

He couldn't tell what time of day it was in that cellar: the two of them didn't get any sort of light down there from upstairs, not even the tiniest flicker. The only thing they had were old candles that sat in a box, half used. He guessed they were probably the candles they handed out to the parishioners during Midnight Mass. They had a small glass to hold the candles upright, one that looked like it had been a shot glass in a previous life. The candle in it was currently lit and sitting on Nadezhda's desk while she worked on... something. Whatever it was, it looked really important, judging by the look on her face.

He sat up, resting on his elbows, wincing at the pain in his knee. Sadly, the night hadn't done the damned thing any good.

"What are you doing?" he asked, blinking furiously in an effort to get used to the light. "What time is it?"

Nadezhda squinted at the face of the clock on her desk rather than look over at him. "It's... five thirty. In the morning."

Sasha may have been bad at math, but he could, at least, figure out how much sleep the two of them had gotten: not nearly enough.

He groaned, again, laying back down and covering his eyes with his forearm. "Can't that wait?"

"Can't you sleep with a little light?" She didn't sound like she intended it to be a biting remark, but... well, it sure felt like a biting remark. And for some reason, that particular one stung a little more than usual.

"No, actually: I can't," Sasha grumbled, rolling over onto his stomach. He couldn't believe he'd managed it with his knee, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to do it, again. "What are you doing up, anyway?"

He heard Nadezhda sigh. "I'm just like my husband, as it turns out: I can't sleep. Not... not when we have so much we need to do, still. Shooting Anastasia was a start, but it's not enough. I just need to figure out exactly what we need to do..."

Now, it was Sasha's turn to sigh. He'd heard people talk like that all too often, and frankly, it hardly ever ended well. It tended to end with control freaks like Anastasia snapping and making the lives of everybody around them an absolute hell.

Guess I should probably do something about this.

He sighed, standing up and limping over.

Nadezhda looked up at him, confused. "I thought you wanted to sleep-"

Sasha licked his thumb and his second finger and put the candle out.

He couldn't see the look on her face, but he was guessing that it looked something like betrayal. "What the hell do you think you're doing-"

"Helping you," Sasha said bluntly. "You need to sleep. Just like everybody else in the world."

"I already told you: I can't sleep," she argued. "I'm not going to be able to sleep until I get this done!"

"Maybe you ought to try," Sasha said. "You'll be of no use to anybody if you stay up all the time. And, frankly, whatever ideas you come up with for whatever you're doing will probably be shit, anyway."

He knew the second those words came out of his mouth that he would be lucky to escape that conversation without getting smacked. Frankly, he probably deserved it. But, she deserved to hear it, too: he got the feeling that she would need a little brutal honesty.

He heard her sigh. "I... I suppose you're probably right." She laughed nervously. "I'm turning into my husband, aren't I? I used to get angry at him for this sort of thing all the time. My, how the tables have turned..."

She fell silent. And, of course, Sasha began to feel like shit. It seemed that just about everything reminded her of her husband, and he couldn't help but feel bad for her. Lenin hadn't exactly died well, at least, not if Anastasia had had anything to do with it. And, it hadn't exactly been that long since his execution. He would probably be right over her shoulder for a long, long while.

"Yeah," Sasha finally said. "It's kind of crazy how that happens, huh?"

He hobbled back to his cot and laid back down. "Try to get some sleep," he said, again.

This time, Nadezhda didn't argue with him: she stood up and walked over to her cot.

Sasha didn't think it took all that long for him to fall asleep.

***

... and he was pretty sure that it wasn't long before he was shocked awake by Nadezhda screaming.

He guessed that screaming wasn't quite the right word, but it was close enough. Scared him just as much as her screaming would've, anyway. He hardly even thought about it as he reached under his pillow and ripped out the knife he'd hidden under his pillow.

"What's going on?" Sasha demanded as he sat up faster than a bullet. Fast enough that he started to get a little lightheaded. "Who's there?"

Silence for a few terrifying seconds. And then, he heard... sobs. He heard Nadezhda quietly sobbing from her cot.

Sasha relaxed a little, running a hand through his greasy hair. His heart was starting to slow down, the adrenaline coursing through his veins a little less. God, did that scare him: he was lucky he didn't have to change his pants.

"You have a nightmare?" Sasha asked.

"I keep seeing his face." He took that as a yes.

He heard someone running down the stairs. When the door opened, light filled the room, and Kominski entered the basement.

"What happened?" he asked, panting. "I heard screaming."

Sasha looked over at Nadezhda. Her face was red from crying, but her face was emotionless. She looked like some of the older guys he knew in the trenches, back when Anastasia was laying siege to St. Petersburg, the ones that had obviously been in the army for a long while. A lot of them had problems with nightmares, and the ones that did would all have that same look on their faces. Granted, most of them didn't cry, but all of them had that far off look in their eyes, remembering all the awful things they'd seen and done in their lives.

"It's battle fatigue," Sasha said. "She's starting to lose it."

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Hello, everyone, and happy hump day! I hope all of you have had a good day, today.

I don't really have any housekeeping, so we're going to get right to the dedication. This one's going out to one of the newest members of the "The Last Romanov" family, kami01liya ! Thank you for your support, mate :D

As always, be sure to vote and comment, and we'll see you next week with another exciting chapter of "The Last Romanov" :D