The Man in the Prussian Blue Coat

**Written by *"EatSpanishMoss"***

***The Grand City of Salena, Eight Years Before the Modern Day***

Off the coast of the main port of Salena, in one of the more sleepy parts of the nation laid a surprisingly unremarkable orphanage. Many of those in the noble society wouldn’t be able to place it on a map if you’d ask them- except tonight. Tonight, something of interest was within its walls.

Lyvia was just at the edge of sleep, until the light appeared.

Her very first night in the orphanage carried strange emotions for her, it was unfamiliar, yet close to a past that she had once held. Life had taken trust from Lyvia, but her internal habits of survival waned here, their edges dulled by the safety of a roof overhead, and heated rooms. Her cot, though narrow and thin, was still far removed from the cold cobblestone of the city's capital.

Though the feeling of comfort wouldn’t last very long tonight, “Wake, we have an esteemed guest, everyone is gathered outside.” Lyvia recognized the voice of the headmistress in the doorway speaking to her- “Come. It is an important matter.”

Her eyelids peeled away from each other. Afraid to lose what respite she had found from the streets, Lyvia sat up. Her small legs swung over the side to land on the wooden floor, and made her way into the light of the outside hall, following after the headmistress.

Blinking and adjusting to the now dim lantern light of the hallway, Lyvia took her place alongside the line of other children. All of them had arrived there today, she had seen them all before, this morning. There wasn’t a lot, just a pair of brothers, a smaller girl, an older boy who was perhaps thirteen, and herself.

“...I know the hour is late,” The headmistress spoke in a far more professional tone than Lyvia was used to as she walked down the line of little faces, “There are many demands upon the time of our patron. Still, under the will of Czar Micholash, he wishes to.. remove one of you from our care.” There was something within the mistress' words that Lyvia could not place. “It is an honor.”

It was then that each of the children seemed to notice him in tandem, as though he had appeared out of thin air. He looked massive to Lyvia, a large coat stained in some dark liquid accentuated his shoulders, making the already large figure look like a giant. The coat was so long in the back it dragged ominously behind him, the metal accents of it scraping the dark wood of the floor. He lent his weight on a thick black iron cane, making the way he walked crooked and wrong- even with a leg brace, he limped like a wounded animal, twitchy and uncontrolled despite having perfect posture.

“*Krovosos*” one of the boys murmured under their breath, and the whole room froze up.

Krovosos was one of the many names for *The* Doctor, perhaps one of his more used aliases; its title implied a sense of fantasy, as it was referring to the concept of a horrible monster. This was the man Lyvia grew up hearing stories about getting kids like her in the dark and eating them- she had always assumed he was fake- and yet, he was standing in front of her now, very much real.

Her heart shot into her throat almost instantly, and her face drained of color.

The patron seemingly took pleasure in hearing his title breathed out, and chuckled appropriately to the fear in the room. He made sure his face remained above the low lit light of the room, and simply placed a hand on the head mistress. It was almost with his presence she slipped into the background, and as he passed her, her expression became unreadable.

Slowly, the man walked from orphan to orphan, his pale, faintly glowing eyes casting them in an odd scrutiny. He passed the brothers without a thought, and gave little attention to the other girl. Lyvia felt her pulse quicken as he paused, his pale eyes falling upon her, and felt it slow again as he continued on. The eldest boy puffed out his chest defensively, catching the patrons attention. The Doctor drew out his gloved hand about halfway below a sure point, and simply looked at the boy next to Lyvia. The room was so silent that the clicking of his tongue was by far the loudest and most echoing noise in it.

At the last moment, the Paleblood shifted his attention for seemingly little reason from the eldest. “Her,” He pointed to Lyvia rather abruptly, and the headmistress sprung back out of the background to grab her by the shoulder.

Lyvia was yanked and dragged continuously out of her spot, if not for the patron, who was seemingly annoyed by the roughhousing. He stuck his cane out and taped it on the ground, “gentle with her, she's a child, not cattle.”

The headmistress, in shock, lightened her grip and now instead led Lyvia into another room past him. His lightly glowing eyes followed the pair, though he remained wordless and still.

The room she was taken to was empty, all but for a single chair and a lamp that illuminated it, along with a shut window to the side. Lyvia was led inside the dark room. “He won’t harm you, you can trust my word,” The headmistress reassured her in an attempt to dispel Lyvia’s fear. “It is an honor to be chosen,” she repeated, and rather abruptly shut the door behind her.

Lyvia stared at the closed door for a moment, processing her situation. Inevitably, she trudged over to the chair, and took a seat watching the door intently. It had felt like a long passage of time, her eyes never leaving the sole means of entry into the room, and sure enough, after a long, suspenseful wait,

The Doctor pushed open the door.

He wordlessly took a step into the room, the light from the window now only illuminating his lower half, and his top became a dark silhouette, the only thing visible were still his glowing, beady eyes. He placed his cane by the door and stood up tall, his knees cracking unnaturally, and he began taking rather normal steps forward.

“The headmistress said you wouldn’t hurt me.” Lyvia tried to challenge his obvious intentions of malice, doing her best to contain her fear.

“*Oh~?*” He took another step, adjusting one of his brown leather gloves in anticipation.

“I’ve told her to stop telling the children that- gives them false hope,” He let out a little laugh, “Ahh, but suppose I haven’t been here in a while- she must've completely forgot my preferences. Shame!”

He was already far too close for comfort, and his presence nearly suffocated the entire room. “I must tell you, it’s been a while since I whet my appetite on a child, but, this is a favor for the Czar, so if you could you try to not struggle so much, It would be far easier for the both of us if I could just sink my teeth in and be done.”

Lyvia bolted to her feet off of the chair-

“Please,” he said in response, raising his hands as he stepped fully into the light. “What did I just say?”

This was the first time she got to see his face.. He was still an adult, but she had seen the other Oligarchs in pictures… and he was so thin and.. quite frankly, not scary looking compared to the others. He had these soft, tired… even kind looking eyes placed just below a brush of dark brown hair- nothing like how her stories made him look. Nothing like how his coat made him look..

He was smiling at her, but it wasn’t as evil looking as she thought it'd be. Lyvia was stunned in place, her eyes wide- “...you’re not Krovosos.. You don’t look like him”

He feigned puzzlement, and his eyes lit up in excitement, pulling his smile into a toothy grin to show off his long black fangs. “Oh? What, calling my bluff already? I just stepped into the light- Just like that? You’re eight- you’re not supposed to be emotionally intelligent enough to try to test me.”

The man bent down and reached his hand out, folding the other one behind his back. Despite Lyvias attempt to recoil away from his touch, he grasped onto her chin, and slid his leather covered thumb up her cheek.

There was a moment of silence between the two, only broken when The Doctors once lively face grew somber, and he blew a small bit of air out of his nose.

“Now, listen close.. I couldn’t tell you particularly why, but The Czar doesn’t like you very much, I hope you know.” The Doctor clicked his tongue to continue his speech, “He brought me down all the way from my estate to go looking for you, this… ‘runaway girl’, as he put it. Unfortunately, i’m not particularly in the child murdering business anymore, though, I do hear it is booming”

“So you’re not Krovosos?”

“Oh, no- I most definitely am. I just would rather choke on a metal spoon than actually pay attention to anything that Czar Micholash spews out of his waste removal of a mouth. I’m afraid he may be suffering from delusions of adequacy, but what do I know, that's not my department.”

He released her face, “Do you understand my intentions?”

Truth be told she had no idea what was going on. One minute she was certain this man was going to hurt her, and the next she was being spoken to in riddles, so instead of answering, her eyes stayed wide and stared blankly at the man.

“Ah, well, you don’t have to fully understand then. Most adults don’t, it’s fine not to know.” He moved his hand back and took out a small card that was hidden away inside his large coat, and stood.

The Doctor strolled over to the small window in the room and with a click, pushed it open. “What I am going to do has not been approved by the council, nor the Czar. Unfortunately I care quite little for their opinions, and value my own will and the life of a child more.”

He flicked out the card towards Lyvia “Come, I said I would remove you from this place's care, Didn’t I?”

Lyvia walked forward after him, her tiny arms reached out to take the small card that simply read ‘*In the care of yours, Von Ioannovich.*’

She looked up at his massive form, and then out to the open window. “I’m leaving here..? But.. Will it get better?”

“For you?” He smiled gently, his eyes glimmering for a moment in a gentle show of sadness. “No. Not if you stay here, in Salena. I’ll hurt my standing with the court, but you will have mysteriously disappeared under odd circumstance.. In truth you had taken this small card from me, fled to the docks of Mortoraa, and handed it to the man dressed in a long black coat much like myself.”

“And what after that..?”

“A home for you in another land, complete with a loving family, and a warm house.”

“...how?”

“Don’t think about it. I did it for you, as a gift.”

“Are you finished?”

The headmistress had opened the door for the Oligarch, who now clutched a hold of his cane once again. “Unfortunately I am. I had this whole speech memorized and could you imagine, I show my face for a second and the kid doesn’t even slightly care- says i’m not even scary-” He tilted his head, producing a thin ampoule in his long fingers. “Anyway… this is as thank you, and for you to keep your mouth shut about this.”

“Please Doctor, we’ve done this enough times for you to know that your patronage is highly valued here… and.. well.. you'll get them next time.” The mistress's eyes locked to the slender tube of glass, its frosted length dulling the contents to a soft ruby. She paused for a moment.. And grabbed the ampoule, her eyes darting as she secreted it in the sleeve of her robe. “The family you found for her in Gladr was quite last minute.. Though, I'm sure she’ll be forever in your debt.”

Nikolai rolled his eyes, “You’re talking like I’m a lone shark to babies, I just hope she's happy.. Now, if you excuse me, I have larger children to deal with-- mostly The General and the Czar, but you know how The Treasurer gets, too..” The two shot each other a look of understanding..

“And.. do send me a letter if the children need anything, you know money isn't a problem.” With that, he turned and left.

Outside, the moon was full, bathing the Salein streets in radiant silver hues. He stopped at the fountain in the orphanage’s empty courtyard, and silently looked at his reflection in the water. There was a small part of him that wished he too was that strong at such an age… though, he knew very well she would not be the last person he would break his oath as the Czar's adviser for, and she would be far from the last. Though, now was not the time to dwell on everything, now was the time to act.

Nikolai dipped a finger into the still water of the fountain. Whorls of milky silver bloomed from his touch, rushing across the shallow pool until it looked to be a depthless pool of mercury. Stepping briskly up to the lip of the fountain, Nikolai dropped into it without sound or splash.

He rose from another pool within the dark halls of Czar Micolash’s manor, emerging dry, it was as though he had never touched the liquid. A chill wound through the yawning cavern of shadow and stone arches of Iron Gate, brushing over shuttered windows and priceless artworks collected over a thousand lifetimes. His step was so light across the thick rugs, it barely disturbed their very fibers as he ascended a staircase to the main hall where everyone would be waiting for him with a presumably dead body.

For a moment, his thoughts lingered on Lyvia once again. Doubtless tonight had been a strange experience, but he had seen enough encounters like this to know this night would not define her life.

Perhaps the other Oligarchs and the Czar assumed people were creatures, surrounding them, yet they believed they stood upon the opposite side of an impossible gulf, tantalizing and impermanent. What a way to think about something you once were.. To think that those in this room that were meant to be his comrades actually were very much if not worse than what he pretended to be.

Nikolai reached the top of the stairs, and pushed open the Czar's chamber door. Gold light flooded out of the hall as he walked in, the other four Oligarchs already there, waiting for him to return with the evidence of a murder.

Their eyes turned to stare at him, but they were wordless. He was melancholy tonight, perhaps it showed on his face.

“You’re late, Von Ioannovich. I’m not particularly surprised.” It was Grand General Yakov that beat the Czar to insult him first, meaning he was at least getting more efficient at it. His stupid voice was as droll as him, and it inspired such hatred when it reached The Doctor's ears.

Though The General wasn’t anything compared to the emperor of droll that sat right next to him, and now was that emperors turn to speak.
“What of the child? Where is she and where is the evidence of her death?”

“Oh.” Nikolai bit his bottom lip, “Micholash, I am happy to see you too...”