Completely based on the movie. Never played the game. Never will. (I'm just not a games sort of girl). Warnings of erm... very rusty writing skillz. And self-indulgence, as only fanfic can provide.

Feedback is always nice!!

1.

Nika follows him.

He has not written anything – god forbid that he shows personal touch, a part of her snipes unkindly – but in the envelope there are train and bus timetables, and there are railway maps. There is a schedule of sunlight and sunset hours; there is some money. There is a brochure featuring a charmingly-named rural town, located far from any major city, from watchful eyes. And there is a deed.

Her deed.

He has not written anything, but Nika follows. Follows one of the many routes to get there, offered in the plethora of precisely dated tickets. Follows the crowds when she boards trains, when they spill out of buses and rush into lines for the next. Follows her own journey in a map with a finger shaking from the rumbling of the train, marvelling at the distance she's covering.

Nika follows a man who had once thought to kill her, and does not question – mostly because she is still too stunned not to believe.

It is only when she sets foot in the – her – vineyard and the strange old couple waiting anxiously in the veranda starts hailing her as mistress, starts looking at her as if she was the one to give orders, that Nika starts to believe this is happening. Starts to believe the incredulous truth that something as precious as freedom could be hers. Could actually, truly - be hers.

Later that night, Nika wonders if he is still alive, and if he is coming.