DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: I do not own Anastasia.

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Death of Vladimir Lenin

In the beginning, Anya never paid that much attention to the Bolshevik leader. She knew enough to keep her mouth shut and pretend to support the regime but the first assassination attempt completely went unacknowledged in her mind. A woman had shot him, been captured and subsequently executed. Yet there was only room in her mind at the time to focus on surviving day to day. Now that she felt somewhat secure in her environment, however, that was changing. The grand leader had suffered from not one, but two strokes. He'd retired and it was that fact that made Anya take a more keen interest in his involvement in her family's demise. Adults were all too willing to tell her of his involvement. How he had been the leader of the masses that had stolen her family and her life away from her. There was little to look forward to anymore. As the years passed by, she merely went through the motions - her bitterness and anger harnessed into a rapier wit and heavy sarcasm that was tolerated, just barely, by the mistress overseeing the children. Eventually, she'd leave. Probably to go work in a factory like all the others and eventually fade into legend. She'd heard the rumors. People knew she was alive or, at least, they hoped she was alive. Like there would ever be enough support were she to come forward to lead a revolution. That part of her died the day those bastards invaded her home and ripped her family away. She was no princess. Not any longer.

It wasn't until she'd heard that the man responsible for the downfall of the Romanov line was bedridden did she allow herself to wander down that painful dream once more. If he wasn't there...if he was no longer in power, it might be possible to...to...

No, it was far too risky. To get to Paris would require capital she didn't have and the way the state was run, her true identity may be discovered. It wasn't worth the risk. She needed to live. But maybe...just maybe, if she got a sign. Perhaps if he died.

And then he did die. That bastard finally died. Only to have a much more savage bastard take over when he did. And so she gave up. For the moment. After all, she wasn't even sure her grandmother was still alive. It might merely be a rumor put out to finally trap the last of the Romanov line. But maybe one day, she'd get the sign she'd been looking for.