Believe in Revolution ©

XI

"What?" Alexei managed to say

"I think you aren't the only survivor of the execution" Gabri replied calmly.

"Why d-do you think that?" Alexei's voice trembled.

"Calm down" Gabri said but Alexei just kept stepping backwards. Like he was afraid.

"Ny-nyet" His voice was really a shivering whisper "T-that's not t-true"

And when he turned around and ran away towards the nearby forest, Gabri knew she had done something wrong. So, she started chasing him.

"Alyosha!" she screamed but the boy didn't stop.

Alexei's mind was a confused mess now. Someone else had survived? No, Gabri had to be lying or playing with him somehow. He had seen everyone he loved - everyone of his fanily - dying. What right she had to say that? He knew they were dead.

He saw himself wrapped in tree branches. He tried to get away and managed it.

But suddenly, his mind connected something. And if they knew about "that"? They sure knew it because Ivan did. And if they knew, they wouldn't have cared in hiding it. There had to be more.

Gabri kept running. Damn, she had lost him. She got into the branches where she had seen him going. She just wanted to tell him what she had seen in the regression. It was a little hope, but Alexei seemed not to want it.

She suddenly saw Alexei's necklace. It had ended in a branch. She took it, it had a medical rune. She had never asked him about it.

Alexei was so lost in thought that he didn't see the grey stone that was in front of him and he stumbled with it. He fell and the stone made a cut in his left leg. Suddenly, blood started to flow and he felt a too hard pain. "No, too much pain for this little..." he thought and looked to his chest looling for his necklace. When he didn't see it, he got paler, panicked and cried. Of fear and pain.

Gabri heard a painful cry. And noticed Alexei's voice. She started running and looked to the rune, reading the word. "Hemophilia" Gabri suddenly panicked. Alexei was haemophiliac, that was serious.

She ran faster and saw Alexei. He was crying. His leg was bleeding from a little cut. But there was too much blood, forming a little puddle in the ground.

"Alyosha!" she cried and went to grab Alexei. She took his necklace and tied it around his neck. It started glowing weakly. He was breathing heavily and repeating "it hurts" between moans.

"You found it" His voice sounded weak

"Alyosha..." Gabri said and touched his - now wet - cheek. "It'll be okay. The pain will fade soon, don't worry" she whispered, assuring him.

His dark blue eyes were looking at his leg. The blood was still on the floor but the blood of his injury was clotting. He suddenly looked at her.

"Thank you" He still sounded weak.

"You're welcome" Gabri said "I didn't know you were... well, haemophiliac"

"I hadn't told anyone. It was a secret, even when I was a child" Alexei said "This rune is the thing that keeps me alive. If not, I wouldn't be able to fight at all. I'd be useless" He showed a weak smile.

They spent some minutes in silence. The cut in Alexei's leg had already clotted. Alexei was feeling now stronger.

"Sorry for leaving this way" Alexei said shy and embarrased "I didn't even listened to you"

"I understand. You probably thought I was lying" Dani said

"I remembered while I was running that... I saw none of my sisters dead. My memories of that day are quite blurry. I'm sure that some details escape me. And the Austro-Hungarians probably knew I was haemophiliac, so if they knew it... They wouldn't have any reason to hide it, they knew I was probably gonna die" He said, calmly "But tell me" He looked with pleading eyes.

"Well, the regressions are never in someone's point of view. You see it in general. And I saw someone being grabbed by the Austro-Hungarians and a girl following her with difficulties" Gabri said while seeing in Alexei's eyes a tiny spark of hope.

"You can get up?" She asked

"Yeah, I'm alright now" Alexei smiled "Sorry for scaring you this much"

"Not your fault" Gabri smiled "It's pretty late... Wait up! The meeting! No way!" She suddenly worried

"We've probably missed it" Alexei smiled "Lilth's gonna kill us. Seems I was going to die today even though" Both laughed "I have actually been twice near death. First, I was 8, in Spala. I fell playing with Anastasia. Everyone, even I, thought that was my last day" Alexei smiled weakly "The second, obviously, the execution"

"But you're alive" She put her left arm on his shoulders.

"Yeah, thanks God I am" He smiled.

But when they got back, they stepped into Lilth

"Where were you? I warned you about the meeting and even though... YOU MISSED IT!" The Atlant was furious.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to..." Gabri started saying.

"She wanted to talk with me in private and later, I ended having an hemophilia attack because I lost the necklace and..." Alexei said but Lilth cut him off

"You had an attack?" She asked. Alexei nodded.

"That's why we got back late" Alexei said

"Alright... I pass it because it had been what had been" Lilth sighed "We're leaving in two days. And Gabri, you sure are happy about this. Our destination is Bavaria"

Nyet = No (Russian)

This chapter was really thought at last hour. I haven't planned for Alexei to have an hemophilia attack that soon, really. But I wanna write a little thing now. I thought hemophilia was a strange disease, strange, so as it's strange, I never hoped about know a hemophilia case near where I live. Well, I have to say, readers, that I was wrong (but as I didn't know him really, I'm not gonna talk about it)